12. Towles
12
Towles
W e never really know how fucked up our life isn’t until we talk to someone with more problems than our own. You'll find one if you look for a silver lining long enough and hard enough.
Rose wiped her eyes, and I stared at the three urns. It would have been nice to hear my father say he was proud of me—my mother never shied away from such words—but I needed to focus on Rose's problems.
“What’s his name?” I asked. "Do I know him?”
“Randy Glover. The club calls him Tyson.” Rose cringed. “He’s a psycho son-of-a-bitch, Ethan. He’s dangerous.”
“You going to tell me why they call him Tyson?”
“Why do you think? I’m sorry, Ethan. I really am. I should have dealt with this shit on my own.”
“You didn’t answer my question, Rose.”
She stood and took a few steps away from the picnic table. She crossed her arms and turned. “Most men he hits he kills. He intentionally didn’t hit Dad hard enough to kill him. It was a warning to me. I don’t want you to get hurt.”
I held up a hand. “Wait. You think I should be scared of this guy?” I got up and stood in front of her. “One thing you can be certain of. I’m not afraid of anyone, Rose. You think this asshole is in town?”
“I’m sure he is now. He wasn’t when Mom and Dad were killed.” She put her hands on my arms. “I don’t want you to die, Ethan. If I go back home, he’ll go back home and leave you alone.”
“That’s not something you need to worry about, Sis.” I walked her to the door. “I can take care of myself. You don’t leave the club without me or an escort.” We went inside, and I handed Rose off to April. “Keep an eye on her. She goes nowhere without a club member with her.”
Beast took me and the other officers into church. He closed the door, and silence filled the room. “We need a new VP. I wanna hear from you guys. Who you think can fill Cinder’s shoes. We’ve got a lot of shit to deal with. ”
Big Kentucky was the first to speak up. “I like what I’m doing. Road Captain is where I belong. I’m willing to make a recommendation.” He looked at me and I just about fell out of my chair. “Needs to be someone with new ideas who can think about the club's future. Not just about now.”
“Watcher?” Beast said. “You next.”
Watcher shook his head. “Not me. I’m way too fucked up between the ears. I’d get someone killed.” He patted his cut where it said Sgt at Arms. “I’ll keep my position. I agree with Kentucky. Someone young with bright ideas.” Watcher stared at me.
Beast nodded at Mario “TexMex” Sanchez. “TexMex, you’re Secretary, the next man up. ”
TexMex shook his head as well. “Not me. I’m not ready.” He nodded at me and said what everyone else thought except me. “Brainiac. He meets all the criteria. He fucking loves the club. Gets plenty of pussy.” They laughed and agreed.
Everyone beat on the table and then unzipped their pants. They laughed as they laid their dicks on the table. Beast raised his gavel and hit the table, not allowing me to decline. I couldn’t decline. It was an honor and something I’d do with every ounce of dedication in my body. I think they all knew this. The club meant more to me than my own life.
Beast pulled something from his cut pocket and slid it across the table. It was the VP patch. “Wear it proudly. You deserve it and the shit that comes along with it.” He smiled the way a father smiled at his son when he was proud. The way I imagined my father smiling at me if he’d found me before dying.
“I appreciate it, brothers. I won’t let you down.”
“We know you won’t,” Beast said. “Now, let’s all go get drunk.
We joined the party at the bar, and Beast announced me as the new VP. My brothers clapped me on the back and lifted me into the air. I noticed April watching from the bar. She raised her beer and smiled. My world was spinning too fast, and I needed to make sure she spun with me. No biker’s life lived in a vacuum.
When the guys put me down, I pushed through the crowd and joined April.
“This is because of you,” I said. “Because you’ve helped me keep my shit together.”
“No, Ethan, you deserve it because you love the club and make it your passion.” Her eyes shifted to mine when we made a toast to each other and drank .
“That may be so, but you saved me from myself. I appreciate that. I’m used to my brothers having my back but nobody else.” I put my arm around her, and we looked across the room at Rose playing pool with TexMex. “I appreciate you talking with Rose. I think you may have saved her as well. You’re fucking good with people, April. The club could use an old lady like yourself.”
“Well, it’s better than some of the names Paul called me.” April stood and reached for her back pocket. “Shit, my phone is in the car.”
“Here’s what’s going to happen next, baby,” I said. “I’m going to the room and will start a shower. You go out, get your phone, and I’ll make you wet when you come back in. What do you think about that?”
“So poetic,” she said. “You have a deal.”
I watched April’s ass as it twisted side-to-side as she left. I snaked through the crowd and reached the room without anyone stopping to talk. Life was fucking good. My father was proud of me. I hadn’t been the one to get them killed; I had a good woman, and my brothers thought enough of me to elect me VP. I was on top of the fucking biker world.
I started the shower and looked at the man in the mirror. He looked back with more pride and happiness than he’d ever had before. I finally loved the guy in the mirror. I was also proud of him.
“You’ve come a long way since Stanford,” I told myself. “Be thankful for what you have.”
I stepped into the shower and closed the glass door. The water felt amazing. I felt amazing and couldn’t wait for April to join me. I remembered what she said about me crawling in bed next to her and not fucking her the way I knew how. I laughed and stepped under the water .
Through the mist covering the shower door, I saw the figure of a woman enter the bathroom. She stood there for a long time, doing nothing.
“You getting in to get some of this big dick,” I said jokingly.
“Ethan,” Rose said.
“What the fuck, Rose? What the fuck are you doing in here?” I slid the door open just enough to stick my head out. “Where’s April?”
Rose began crying, and I stopped in the shower. She handed me a towel, and I wrapped it around my waist. In the bedroom, Beast, Skittles, and Watcher waited.
“What’s going on?” I asked. “Where is she?”
“The Prospects who were supposed to be watching the gates were inside getting drunk,” Beast said. “A car pulled into the lot while April was outside. A masked gunman got out and forced her into the car. We have it on surveillance.”
“The Punishers,” I said.
Watcher shook his head. “We don’t think so. He wasn’t wearing biker clothes and sure as hell wasn’t built like one. We aren’t sure who it is. Couldn’t see the license plate to track the car.”
“Keep your shit together, Towles,” Beast insisted.
“I’m good, brother.” I pulled the towel from around my waist and dried off in front of everyone. I dressed and started outside. “Beast, I need to do this alone. Keep everyone here. I’m pretty fucking sure I know who it is and where they went. Give me an hour.”
Beast nodded and ushered everyone back into the club. I got on my Harley and left, heading toward April’s house, except it was no longer hers. The asshole made sure of that. I had no choice; if she wanted to stay with me, she would have to understand what I needed to do .
Not a light was on in the house. I assumed Paul’s car was in the garage. I pulled to the curb and walked up the driveway. I kept the Glock in my waistband.
I knocked several times, and when nobody answered, I turned the knob, and the door opened. Although it was one of the nicest neighborhoods in the city, people didn’t intentionally leave their doors unlocked. Paul wanted me inside. He knew I’d come alone.
“April,” I said and entered the dark house. In the living room, beer cans littered the coffee table. Several pictures with broken glass lay on the floor. “April,” I said again.
“She’s in here, Ethan. Why don’t you come in and join us.”
I turned to the right, and although it was dark in the house, I could see Paul sitting at a cherry desk, the glow of his computer screen distorting his face.
“Where is she, asshole? Give her to me, and you may live through this.”
“That’s very noble of you, Ethan, but I’m not giving you anything. Your kind doesn’t deserve a woman like her.” His voice cracked. He was way over his head with whatever he was planning.
I walked across the foyer and entered what I assumed was Paul’s home office. The place was fit for a king, and this king’s queen sat on the floor under his desk, eyes filled with tears. I heard the click of a gun and leaned my head to the left. Beneath the desk, Paul held a gun to April’s head. He had to die.
“She was just about to service me,” Paul said. He showed his other hand, the one also holding a gun. “Have a front-row seat.”
For the moment, I did as he said. It wouldn’t be like that much longer. When I arrived, I considered letting him live. Come to a gentleman’s agreement that he had temporarily lost his mind. I decided against that idea as I saw April whimper. Paul definitely had to die .
“Go ahead, April, take it out,” Paul said. “Let’s show Ethan how well you know my dick.”
“You don’t have to do this, babe,” I said.
“Babe.” Paul’s jaws tightened. “My, you two have become close.” He tapped April on the head. “Suck my dick, babe.”
April looked at me, mascara running down her cheeks. She saw my fists clench and shook her head no. Then, she winked at me, a smile creeping across her face.
“What’s next, Paul? Back to the whore house to beat on another woman?
April took Paul’s dick out of his pants, and it took every bit of willpower not to laugh. The man’s dick looked like a half-eaten hot dog. April put a finger against her lips, silencing me. I knew then that my baby had a plan. I was probably the only man in the world who was proud of his old lady while she had another man’s dick in her hand.
“It’s too bad you’ll never experience this, Ethan,” Paul said. “She’s quite good at it.”
“You’re a sick fuck.” I swallowed hard and fought every urge to save April.
I couldn’t bring myself to watch her put Paul’s dick in her mouth, but I did watch him. I watched him moan, and I watched him shudder. The more April sucked the limper his hand above the table went. I assumed the hand beneath the desk did the same.
I let April continue doing her thing. Paul eventually laid his head back, the asshole forgetting I sat in front of him. The hand holding the gun lay on the desk. I glanced down and noticed the butt of the gun dangled from his fingertips, not one finger close to the trigger.
I sat upright, ready to make my move, and then Paul’s eyes shot open, and he screamed like a man being dragged straight to hell. He dropped both guns and grabbed his dick, except for a couple of inches April spat out on the floor.
April moved from under the desk, and I stood next to her. Paul was too busy trying to find the rest of his dick to grab the guns.
April grabbed the gun on the desk and started to shoot the man. I didn’t want that weighing on her conscience for the rest of her life. I eased the gun from her hand and pointed the gun at Paul’s head. I had gloves on, so I wasn’t worried about prints. I pressed the barrel against his forehead and fired a single shot. He was no longer a problem for April.
April stood in front of the desk, staring at Paul. I put a hand on her shoulder. “They’ll know it was us,” she said.
I moved around Paul and stuck my finger in the mess on the wall behind him. With the blood on my finger, I drew a P on his desktop. “Problem solved.” I cleaned the gun of her prints and laid it on the desk. I took April by the hand and led her outside. Sure, if the neighbors were watching, we were caught. If not, we’d walk away free. April deserved to be free of the psychopath.
“He’s really dead,” April said. Relief rather than terror covered her face.
“It’s time to move on, babe. He’s not going to hurt you anymore.”
We pulled away from the curb around midnight but didn’t return to the club. When we got to my apartment, I sent Rose and Skittles a message, letting Rose know she could take my room for the night. April and I were staying at my apartment.
I opened the apartment door, and April stepped inside—not exactly the scene she was used to. I kept the place clean, but it looked like it belonged to a twenty-five-year-old man. I did not apologize for how I lived because it suited me fine. I didn’t mind making the necessary adjustments to make April feel comfortable .
“I’ve got something I need to do,” I said. “Go ahead and shower if you like. Look in the bathroom closet; I think you’ll find everything you need.”
“Always prepared to bring a woman home?” she joked.
“I’m not going to lie, darling. I was as big a man-whore as there is.”
“I’ll pretend I didn’t hear that.” She left my side and walked through the bedroom to the bathroom. The shower started, and I walked out onto the small balcony.
The club needed to know what I had done. Or did they? If I didn’t say anything and it got back to Beast Paul had been shot, he’d naturally ask me if I did it. I wasn’t sure if the P I left behind would lead Manning to the Punishers. Manning would question April. I had to make sure she was prepared for that.
I called Beast and told him what happened. I told him I had no choice; he knew I was telling the truth. He assured me the information would stay between us, and there was no need for the club to know…yet.
I ended the call and grabbed two beers from the fridge. I sat on the couch and waited for April to finish showering. We both knew what was next. For the first time in a long time, I was giddy about getting laid. Fuck, life had a way of working things out.
The shower turned off, and moments later, a naked April left the bathroom. My dick grew hard, and I handed her a beer to work on while I showered. Next time, we’d shower together. Next time, we’d probably not make it to the shower.