Chapter 38
Ricochet
Two days later, we all piled into the meeting room inside the clubhouse. It was only seven a.m., so a few of my brothers looked pretty rough from a night of celebrating, but they were here. I pulled Jordan down onto my lap. There were enough chairs for everyone, but I liked having her close.
“Don’t you dare,” Seek told Hush, slapping his hands away as he tried to do the same. “I’m as big as a house and I’m going to end up squishing you.”
“Shut up, Woman,” he grumbled and pulled her down onto his lap.
“When the hell is your wedding going to happen?” Riptide asked. “You’re running out of time if you want to have it before the baby gets here.”
“Nope, screw that,” Seek said, shaking her head. “It’s waiting. I pushed it back. I’m not walking down the aisle as big as a whale. Besides, then I get a super adorable ring bearer.”
She waited a beat, her eyes wide with excitement. She was looking around at all of us. Everyone was present, but Lock hadn’t started church yet.
Jordan gasped. “It’s a boy?” she squealed.
I grinned, and so did the other men as the women jumped up to congratulate her. There would be multiple rounds of beers to be had in order to congratulate Hush, but that would have to wait.
Lockout smiled at Seek. “We’re so happy for you both.” He waited a few more minutes while the girls all hugged, then took their seats again.
Lock had even asked Kit and Gwen to be here today, plus Static. We’d start the meeting with the news that Static had for us, then send everyone out to finish celebrating Seek’s news while we finished up church.
“Go ahead, Static,” Lock told the man.
He cleared his throat. “As you know the DA was pressing charges against Trent-”
“Was,” Gwen interrupted, her eyes wide and fearful. “Is he getting out?”
“No,” Static told her, his eyes softening. Even his gruff, formal way of talking eased into something more gentle for her. “Gwen, Trent is dead.”
Her mouth worked a few times as she processed that information, but didn’t say anything else.
“What happened?” I asked.
“Shanked. In his cell. They found him this morning,” Static replied.
We all looked around at each other. Riptide frowned. “That’s a bit…”
“Convenient,” Hush finished for him.
“So this guy is connected somehow with the DA and the mayor,” Toxic said, “gets arrested, tossed in prison, and dies less than a week later?”
“It’s not that surprising, given what he did to Gwen. I may have insisted that he be placed in General Population,” I admitted.
“He wasn’t there when it happened,” Static said. “They’d brought him back to the county jail, while he awaited a preliminary trial. They found him when they came to bring him into the courtroom.”
“Sounds like shady shit to me,” Butcher clarified in case any of us weren’t picking up on the vibe.
“I’m fucking glad he’s dead,” Smoke interjected.
“Agreed,” Hell said, wrapping his burly arm around Gwen’s shoulder to give her comfort. “He deserved to die. Since we couldn’t do it ourselves, I’m glad someone took care of it.”
“Word probably got out about what he did,” Smoke shrugged.
“Maybe,” Lock said, but his expression was worried. “Something tells me it’s more than that. It’s too much of a coincidence. Someone wanted him shut up. For good.”
“Fremont did tell me he wouldn’t forget about this. We expected as much, but he moves quickly,” I said.
“Fuck me,” Priest muttered. “Shit was just starting to calm down from the whole cult incident.” He rubbed a hand over his chin. Jenny patted his chest.
“I could ask some of the guys I know at the station,” Seek offered. “See if they heard anything about it. They don’t have any say about what happens over at county lockup, but they might have heard some rumors.”
“That’d be great,” Lock told her with a smile.
“Just make sure you do it in a way that doesn’t arouse suspicion.
If this was an inside job, I don’t want you becoming a target.
We suspected that Trent was some sort of fixer.
If Fremont had him killed this quickly, then he’s definitely up to something bad, and in a big way. ”
A dull red crept over Hush’s face at the thought of someone coming for his pregnant old lady. “I’ll fuckin’ kill them all if they try.” His promise was a low growl.
“We don’t know anything yet,” Lock told him. “Calm down. Rip, could you and Dash look into it?”
“Definitely. We haven’t found the link yet, but something tells me we’re getting closer,” Rip told him.
“Do you think it had something to do with Ethan?” Sloane asked hesitantly. She was still incredibly quiet around everyone, but each day she came more and more out of her shell.
“No,” Rip told her. “There’s no way that Ethan would have worked with anyone, let alone a politician.
He’s dead. The cult is gone,” he reassured her.
“I couldn’t even find traces of bribes going to the DA.
Some county inspectors, of course, but no link between him and Fremont.
This is something else entirely, unfortunately. ”
“We’re telling you all this,” Lock said, looking around at the women, “so that you all know to be on watch. Trent was a real piece of shit and what he did was awful,” Lock’s eyes fell on Gwen, “but if the DA wanted to silence him, there’s no telling who he’ll go after if they think we know his secrets.
The best thing for the women and kids is to lie low while we try to figure this out. Agreed?”
Everyone nodded their heads. “Keep a watchful eye whenever we’re not home with you,” Hush added. “Those of you livin’ at the clubhouse have extra protection since we always have members patrollin’ our place.”
“If it comes down to it, we could always have the rest of you come live on property until we get this sorted out,” Lock added.
“There’s plenty of room,” Priest said. “I could make sure the extra apartments get cleaned out. That way they’re prepped in case anyone needs them. Would only take a few days.”
“Good idea, do it,” Lock told him.
“If any of you want to come stay prior to trouble finding us,” Rip offered, “you can. Like they said. There’s plenty of space.” His eyes fell on Gwen.
“If that’s on the table, I want Gwen and the kids here,” I said. “And, of course, Jordan will stay with me.”
“Hey, wait,” she said, turning in my arms. “I can’t just abandon my house-” The look I gave her made her swallow her arguments. “I guess I could have Mom and Dad take Haze for a while,” she amended.
Gwen was scowling at me, but I knew I’d be able to talk her into it as well. It was the safest course of action and after they’d already been attacked, I wasn’t going to accept anything less than them living here.
“Besides,” I said while eyeing Gwen, “Priest’s girls have taken a liking to Sean.”
Priest growled at me, but Jenny smiled. It was going to be so much fun to torture him since his second oldest, Taylor, was already giving my nephew love struck looks.
“Kit, you, too,” Smoke told his sister, getting back to the subject at hand.
She looked around at the others, brows furrowed, but then sighed. “It’ll be fun,” she relented.
The other women seemed to get on board easily after that. It was going to be a lot of people in one area, but at some point down the road we all wanted our families living together on this property anyway; it was just a jump start to that.
“Any ideas on what you think is going on with Trent’s death? I mean, specifics beyond Fremont ‘cleaning house’?” Lock asked Static.
The older man shook his head, his light brown hair falling onto his forehead. He was in jeans and a t-shirt today instead of his usual suit. Minus the lack of a cut, he looked more like a biker today than a lawyer. “I haven’t heard anything, but I’ll keep my ear to the ground.”
“Thanks,” Lock said. “Alright. Static, ladies, if you could give us the room. Feel free to enjoy the bar outside. We’ll discuss moving arrangements after church.”
“It’s not even eight in the morning,” Jenny said with a laugh.
“Sounds like the perfect time for mimosas,” Kit declared.
My eyes were glued to Jordan’s ass as she left the room. It was hard to pay attention to the rest of the meeting. It was mostly finalizing plans for everyone to move in and more ideas on how to figure out what Trent was into.
“Alright. That’s enough for today,” Lock said. “We’ll find out what’s going on soon enough. Someone will end up slipping up and we’ll be there to see it. Get the fuck out of here.”
I went out into the rec and bar area, looking for my sunshine. Frowning when I didn’t find her, I pulled Seek to the side. “Hey, have you seen Jordan?”
“Oh, yeah, she stepped outside real quick.” Her dark brows rose. “Some girl came through here as we were coming out of church and Jordan and Gwen knew her.”
I blinked at that. “Did they say who she was?”
“Nope,” Seek said with a shrug. “They just asked if we could watch the kids while they went to speak with her.”
“Thanks, Seek.” I turned and pushed the door open. It didn’t take long to find my girl. She and my sister were standing near the gate, watching a car drive off.
I made my way across the property. “Who was that?”
They turned, giving each other secretive looks. “A friend we know.”
“What was she doing here?” I asked.
“I think she spent the night with one of the guys,” Jordan said. “She wouldn’t say which one, though.”
“She was in a real hurry to get out of here,” Gwen added.
“How do you know her?” I asked, eyeing the tail lights that were disappearing down the road suspiciously. With everything that had happened I wasn’t feeling very generous and everything was on my radar.
Gwen sighed. “She’s one of Sean’s teachers.”
My head jerked back in surprise. “What the hell? Teachers aren’t usually the type we attract.”
“No?” Jordan asked in a sugary sweet voice. “What kind do you typically attract, Ricochet?”
That was a trap if I ever heard one. I grabbed her and leaned her back into a dip. “Gorgeous, courageous, wonderful women,” I replied.
“Good answer,” she laughed, then moaned as I kissed her.
“That’s my cue to leave,” Gwen said, giving my shoulder a pat. “I’ll be inside when you’re done.”
I couldn’t respond because I was all wrapped up in my sunshine. With her in my arms, I had no worries. We’d figure out the situation with Trent and resolve it. The school was back on track and my family was happy and safe.
I planned to find out later who the teacher had stayed the night with, but first I planned to drag my old lady off somewhere secluded so we could have some alone time.
If I took her back inside the others would distract us before we could get up into our room.
I’d have to ignore Lockout’s directive of no sex on the property.
Lifting Jordan up onto my shoulder, I strode away from the clubhouse. Her laughter cut through the morning air. If I heard that every day until my last, I’d be a happy man.
* * *
Thanks for reading!
If you’d like to see a little more of Ricochet, as a side character, during his time with Shep and Jen, check out Confessions of and Apache Pilot. This is Shep and Jen’s story.