Chapter 2
TWO
Dempsey
Iwatched on as Shae hurried to the shop in the middle of Kilkenny, coffee in her hand, her blonde hair braided down the side.
She had a new tattoo, just under where she shaved her head.
I wondered what it was. That woman lived for new ink.
I did too, it was how we bonded when I was working for the Nomads.
I think I loved her then, but I was too scared to admit it.
She had been so sure of herself, so strong and resilient on her own and I fed off that energy.
It had been frightening and yet I couldn't get her out of my mind when I was meant to be working.
I had found reasons to be with her, to talk to her, to spend alone time with her even if I had suffered the next day from lack of sleep.
Every minute with her had been worth it.
Even now, even knowing I loved her, she didn’t stray far from my thoughts. I looked down at my wrist, my freshest ink, a memory of her. I liked the Viking inspired typography with the V that stood for Valkyrie. Her call name. How funny that my own call name would fit hers so perfectly.
I was Viking.
I’d never understood why, but it had something to do with my tattoo on my shoulder.
The other Outlaws had given it to me when I had vowed to be one of them.
I looked down at my secret app that all Outlaws had on their phones.
It was how we got our jobs. I’d been locked out the day they found out about my deceit.
I had no idea why I kept the app, but somehow I found myself checking to see if I could get back in.
I knew what would happen if they caught me here in Kilkenny again.
I’d be strung up, shot and killed, buried in the woods somewhere or I’d be flayed, my Outlaw tattoo pulled from my back and I’d be dumped on the side of the street to die from the pain.
Shae disappeared inside the shop and I fought the urge to go in there and kiss the life out of her. Fuck I missed those lips, the way she looked at me as if I were a King, the way she would wind her legs over mine in bed and hold me there, making sure I couldn’t leave.
I loved every fucking thing about her.
Most of all, I missed that smile, the way she would laugh at things and just the sound would shoot blood to my cock.
Turning before I did something stupid, I came face to face with the stern look on someone’s face I hadn’t expected to see.
Fear shot through me as I waited to see if he was here to kill me or to talk to me.
I’d known for a while that he was an Outlaw, but I’d never come across him before.
Not until this past year when he’d had dealings with the club.
He had a sharpness to him, a way to make you quiver in fear just from a look.
“Wolf.”
”Do they know you’re here?” He asked me.
“I don’t know.”
He nodded briefly. “Come with me.”
I could run. After all, I didn’t know the guy that well, just his reputation for brutality. He was an Outlaw, a guy who could easily turn me in. I broke the same vow he had made, and he took me for someone who followed rules.
I didn’t run. I followed him away from the town centre and down an alleyway behind an abandoned cafe. The alley stank to high heavens and I almost threw up from the stench but I hadn’t eaten in a day or two, so all that’d come up would be Jack and I’d rather not waste that.
Wolf stood with his back to the wall, his eyes on the street behind me. I turned to the side, keeping an eye behind me too, while also on him. My heart rate was through the roof, blood rushing through my veins so that I could scarcely hear.
“Why did you come back?” he asked me.
“I want it over with.”
”You know what they’ll do to you if they catch you.”
”I can’t run forever, Wolf.”
He nodded quickly. “Tell me. Come to the clubhouse tonight and tell me what happened, your motivation and I’ll help you if I can.”
I frowned. Wolf wasn’t known for his candor; he was a brutal, take no shit guy.
“Look, I have a lot of respect for Bear, and I will do what I can for his big brother. I know being an Outlaw can be hard, but I don’t like that you have so many after you. There has to be a reason, you don’t seem the type to fuck around.”
I nodded. “You’re still with the Rebels?”
He nodded. “Yes, I am.”
“Make sure no one else is there tonight,” I said. “I don’t want them getting hurt if I’m followed.”
Wolf nodded. “Come at midnight. It’ll be dead then.”
I nodded and watched as he left the alley first and disappeared. Tonight was a Tuesday, the club was always quiet save for Monday, Friday and the weekends. It could be a trap. I could be walking to my death tonight, but either way, it would be over with soon enough.
I closed my eyes momentarily before leaving the alley myself and heading back to my bike. The shop was busy, and I wondered just how much had changed in Kilkenny while I’d been gone.
Shae
The cafe had been a monster to deal with. You’d think after working close by for the last few months they would be used to me coming in, but noooo, every time I get questioned, the eyes that told me they didn’t want me in their cafe. If the coffee hadn’t been so damn good, I wouldn’t bother.
“You good?” Bear asked me as I came around the corner to start working on the car that had come in for a service.
“Yeah.”
”I’m heading back to the club for the rest of the day,” he said. “Shona’s not well. Will you be good here?”
I nodded. “Yeah, I got Fury and Joshua here with me. I’m good.”
He nodded and headed out the door without so much as another word.
He was a man of little words, except for when it came to his woman, Orla.
I wondered how someone as fun and flirty as Orla landed a man like Bear.
He was quite literally a bear sometimes, but he was also the brother of the only man I had ever seen myself with long term.
I kicked myself for the thoughts of Dempsey again.
Fuck.
He left, Shae, he didn’t want you.
The nagging voice in the back of my mind was back. I hated that bitch. She could go to hell.
I put my coffee down on the counter and picked up my tools, heading over to the car suspended over me.
Work. It was the only thing that kept me going some days.
The dreams were getting worse, the longer it went on.
I needed to find some kind of dick to ride before I lost my mind completely.
Dempsey was gone, and he likely wasn’t coming back.
As much as that thought killed me inside, it was something I was going to have to get used to.
I thought with his brother being here in Kilkenny, and his sister Tierney seemingly sticking around for her new found relationship with Brogan that he would come back.
I knew he had, but he always kept away from me and the clubhouse.
I didn’t know if it was a rival MC thing or if he was giving me the space because he knew I was patched in there now, but his beautiful face hadn’t been around.
I missed it.
I didn’t want to, but I missed the fucker who had grown on me.
Never in a million years did I think I would ever put down roots or fall in love again, and yet here I was, on the verge of settling on an apartment in Kilkenny and healing my broken fucking heart.
He’d been different though. I knew that. He wasn’t like the other bikers I grew up around, or the ones I thought of like my brothers.
He was…just Dempsey.
Viking.
I felt a chuckle rise in my throat at that. His call name was Viking because of his tattoos, and the way he could sneak up on his enemies and surprise attack them. I laughed because my call name was Valkyrie.
It’s almost like we were destined, and yet, here I was, hating how lonely I was and desperately wishing I could see him.
The one thing I hated the most, though? I wasn’t able to hate him. I didn’t hate him for leaving, even though I wanted to.
He’d been soft, gentle, when he broke things off with me. He’d been sweet, and because of that, I couldn’t possibly think of replacing him in my bed. I wanted it to be his.
I needed to be his.
“Hey,” I heard Fury call out to me from the office. I looked over just as I saw him coming out. “I gotta head off for a bit. Bear can’t go see the boys, so I’m taking over the day.”
I nodded, wondering why Bear wouldn’t be able to see Chains and Razor in prison. It was usually only him, Hawk and Ace who went in, on the odd occasion Viper or Savage would go, but Fury was a newer recruit, only patching in as Fury just over a year ago.
“Josh is in the office, and I know Viper said he was coming by later to check in. If you need anything, give me a buzz, yeah?”
I nodded and watched as he moved over to his bike sitting in the driveway.
I liked Fury, he was a good kid, and usually the first one I would call for a card night, the kid just had no poker face and I usually cleaned up when he started drinking.
He rode away and I looked over at Joshua in the office.
He was on the phone and it looked pretty heated.
I was not meant for the admin portion of the job, much preferring to be under the hood of a car or tinkering with my own beast outside.
Fuck the cliche that a woman was good with paperwork, I wasn’t even good with technology, much preferring you to come and talk to my face over a phone call any day.
I got back to the car and tried to finish the service job before I moved on to the others needing work done.
The shop was busy, finally after a few months of hosting town fundraisers to show we weren’t assholes like the old prez had been, the townspeople were finally starting to trust us especially since that asshole Neal Foley was behind bars. We were slowly rebuilding Kilkenny.
He should have lost his life for what he did to Sheridan, and Orla, but I knew Brogan had been trying to tow the line with corruption in the police force in Kilkenny.
He wanted to show that the MC were good people and he’d helped us in the long run now.
We had a future in Kilkenny, and it looked fucking bright.
If only I could stop thinking about Dempsey, I’d have a better time with it.