Hell Froze Over (5 page)

She put her keys in her knuckles like she had been taught, making sure she had one between each knuckle so she could jab at someone if they attempted to attack her.
Shit, shit shit
, she kept saying, and
damn it all to hell
, she thought when she pushed open the door. All of her clothes, all of her stuff, everything she had worked for, was all in big pile on the floor. She stepped closer and felt the tears gathering in her eyes. Her shoulder hurt. She had been accosted by a guy with bad breath, then she had to go to the school and grovel to the admin head, which really pissed her off, then the two guys she had secretly been crushing on for like two years finally decided they were going to pay attention to her, but not the kind of attention she wanted. No, they were all bossy and shit, and now this. There was seriously only so much a person could take. This was pretty much it. She had reached her boiling point. The fat lady had sung a crappy off-key song. The chicken had crossed the road and got hit.

Boo pressed the heels of her hands into her eyes and rubbed them for a second. Then she took a deep breath and let it out, repeating it several times until she could get control of her emotions and deal with this.

When she finally put her arms down, she turned and looked into her cracked mirror, which was hanging sideways. Her blond hair was disheveled; her clothes were sweats, nothing special because it was all she could put on with her arm being strapped to her side, immobilized. Basically, she looked like shit, worse than shit since she was now pale, and had that pinched mouth thing going on because of her anger.

She turned, looked around, and grabbed the phone off the wall. Shit, it was the first time she was actually happy she had a landline. No one had them anymore, but when she had gotten this place, she had wanted to see her name in a phone book, yes it was weird but this was her first home by herself. Good thing too, because she was certain right now she couldn’t hold the small cellphone still enough to make the call. With her home phone, 911 was speed dial 1.

Bic knocked on Jilly’s door and waited. Something was going on and she was going to find out what. Boo was acting weird, and Bic had waited for two weeks letting Boo settle down and get over the fact she was shot here at the compound. Free told her to let Boo be. Let her calm down and come to terms with what happened. She had agreed at first but as the days went on, she seriously was regretting it.

“Hey, Bic,” Jilly said when she opened the door. The girl was certainly coming out of her shell lately, hell, she was even dressing like the Lady Riders. Bic grinned at the tank top and jeans she was wearing with long black boots.

“Hey,” Bic said and then asked, “have you talked to Boo lately?”

Jilly frowned and shook her head, “No, Boony said I should probably wait and let her come to us, you know, since it happened here. He said she could be battling PTSD, you know, because of how intense everything was. Bob being pregnant and us all wanting to protect her. It made sense I guess.”

Bic nodded and said, “Yeah, Free told me the same shit, and now Boo isn’t talking to me at all. I have been waiting for her to come to me, but she seems to be pulling farther away.”

Jilly frowned and then said, “Have you talked to everyone, because now I am worried too. Boo is one of us, I mean, I know I am not a Lady Rider per se.”

“Says who?” Bic snorted. “Jilly, you became a Lady Rider the second you fell in love with one of the Ops.”

“Oh!” Jilly said and then she turned and yelled at Boony to watch Buddy and Angel. “Well then, lets go. I need to get me one of those cool patches you have, Boony ordered my cut and it is gonna be here next week.”

Bic smiled and shook her head. The two walked to the Lady Riders house and entered. Everyone was here now, so all of the offices were full as well as all of the schedules were locked in. It was awesome to have more hands, and more people. It allowed them to all have breaks with their men.

Everyone was in the large living room doing their daily chatting when Jilly and Bic walked in.

“Hey, Bic, hey, Jilly,” Shady called from the other side of the room. Their leader was sitting in a chair with her jean-clad leg thrown over the arm, letting her boot-covered foot bounce to the sound of the music. Her long dark hair was in a ponytail and to complete her outfit, she wore a fringe covered tank. She was the optimum Bitch, and she dressed like it. There was only one Shady.

“Hey, Shay,” Bic said and walked toward her. She spoke loud so everyone could hear. “Has anyone heard from Boo?”

All of them frowned and Shady stopped bouncing her foot. “Nope,” the leader began. “But we did have a message on the business line saying she was sorry but she didn’t think she would be able to continue helping out here. I was gonna call her, she sounded, I don’t know, off.”

Bic put her hands on her hips and she grimaced. “Damn it.”

“Why, what’s up?” Rain said, standing up. “Shay told me and I just figured that she was entering in her last year to become certified, she told us she would have to cut back, Bic.”

“Yeah,” Bic agreed. “She did, but she also sounded a bit off when I spoke to her as well. Someone approached her this morning to deliver a message to Free and the other guys. She called and you know she wasn’t freaked out and worried about the guy approaching her like I would have thought, she was more irritated when I kept trying to talk to her about coming here for safety. She said she needed space.”

“Space?” Shady frowned. “I didn’t get that vibe from her.”

“What vibe?” Treat asked with a frown. “Boo is Boo and that is just it. She is one of us you know. Has been since we showed up, why are we even letting her think she needs space, because her space is here with us. If she needs anything, support, all that shit, it is us who gives it to her. Why are we even talking about this, call her right now and tell her to get her little ass here pronto.”

“Yeah,” Harmony said. “I mean, we haven’t had time to bond or anything, but Boo is one of us, she shouldn’t have even questioned coming here. This is her home, is it not?”

Bic shook her head. “She has an apartment on the outside.”

“Why?” Freedom asked and they were all silent.

“I told her a few times she should tell Freebyrd to assign her a bungalow.” Bic shrugged. “She always said that they were for the members.”

“Well yeah, and she is a member,” Bob said, walking into the room with a container of Ben and Jerry’s ice cream, with Jas, Shady’s daughter, following with a spoon.

“Shay!” Jas yelled loudly. “Bob totally ripped off the last of the ice cream.”

Jas and Shady had developed a tenuous relationship. Although Shady was her mother, she hadn’t raised her. No, Jas had been hidden by her father, but Shay and Jas had finally been reunited. The young girl was a chip off the old block though. She fit right into the Lady Riders.

“Shut up,” Bob said and pushed the younger girl playfully.

“Nope,” Jas said and pushed out her jean clad hip the same way her mother did when she was being ‘sassy’ (this was the new word Slider and Cajun were calling Jas, they all thought it was gonna be her road name soon).

Shady looked up and winked at Jas and then said, “Bob, how many times have I told you to stop eating my kid’s ice cream?”

“The same amount of times you told me I had a big ass, but it doesn’t matter, my little Baby Bear needs nourishment,” Bob said and took a big bite of ice cream and moaned.

Jas laughed, then flicked her long hair and left the room. “That little girl is like a mini Shady,” Bob growled. They had all commented on the similarities between Shady and Jas these days. The girl wore only Harley like her mom, and also had begun asking Kink for a tat. Totally not going to happen though.

“Okay, back to Boo. Call her,” Nike said frowning. “We are just sitting here speculating, call her, no wait, I will call her and tell her to get her ass over here.”

Nike pulled her phone from her back pocket and leaned against the door jam and hit one of her speed dials. Of course Boo was on there just like the rest of the Lady Riders, she thought,
why the fuck wouldn’t she be
? Rolling her eyes, she put the phone up to her ear and listened to it ring…and ring…and ring… Nike began tapping her foot and then held her phone out and glared at the screen checking to see if she dialed right.

“No answer,” Nike snapped. “That is not cool. She always picks up the phone, I don’t think she has ever ignored me.”

Bic nodded and said, “I tried calling her several times, and she sent me to voicemail.

Shady stood and walked to her saddlebag and pulled out her phone. She dialed and waited for a second and then frowned. “Hey,” she said into the phone. “Trace Boo’s phone and tell me where she is.”

The girls were all silent as they waited. All of the Lady Rider’s phones were low-jacked with a tracker. It was necessary because of some of the clients they had coming into the safe house, anything could happen, which was why the guys insisted on this.

“Great,” Shady said into the phone and then hung up and turned around. “I have the address, let’s go.”

The girls all got up and before Bob followed, she scooped out a huge spoonful of ice cream and shoved it into her mouth before leaving. Rain shook her head and said, “You are gonna get an ice headache.”

Bob shook her head and ignored her and then shoved one last spoonful in her mouth and then instantly crossed her eyes. The women all laughed as they made their way to their bikes. Jilly was the only one who got into her car since she hadn’t taken her Basic Rider’s Course for her M1 license, but she was signed up.

Kink and Magnum made it back to the club and parked their bikes, both men were frustrated, right now they wanted to drink and talk with their brothers. This woman shit did not make sense to them at all. Neither of them could remember a time they had this much trouble with a female.

They entered the main room and smiled, the place was brimming with their brothers. Since the two clubs combined, and they were on lockdown, the main clubhouse had been a hopping place, mostly for the guys to hang out and away from their old ladies. All of them had approved of this move to San Diego, it hadn’t even been debated. When Creed and Fork said they wanted to move here, everyone had asked how soon, not why. They all knew why, the Warriors had the mine which gave them a huge income. With that, they were able to do several things, like open Bitches and Slinging Ink. However, they also had a side job, one that wasn’t so legitimate, and since everyone was all up in arms about the gun laws and shit, their business had been thriving.

Since pot had become legal in a few states they had also dipped their toes in that industry, and so far it was paying off. They were suppliers for lack of a better word. When someone needed a shipment of guns, the Warriors got it for them, when they needed pot, they got it for them. Now, with the property Creed and Fork had invested in in San Diego, they were in a prime spot. No one could run a shipment across the border into Mexico or vice versa without the Ops knowing about it. They had their connections that they had groomed very well. No one made a deal without them hearing about it. If they wanted to move anything over this border, they had to pay the Ops for the privilege to do so.

Of course, this made them not only unpopular, but also extremely vulnerable. While Free and his men in the chapter had been able to watch and catch some of the major shipments, they hadn’t been able to catch all of them, mostly because of their manpower. Well, things had changed since the Ops had combined chapters here in San Diego. They had the manpower now and the word was out. If you wanted to even bring a dime bag over the border, you had better have permission. The Ops wouldn’t fuck around with people who tried to slide through.

They had been here two weeks and since then, they had made examples out of three groups who tested them. This was a new era for the Ops Warriors, and it was one Creed and Fork were determined to succeed. They had multiple businesses and the Lady Riders had their business, of getting battered women away from their abusers in a way they would never be found again. All of this required slow and deliberate planning to keep some of their businesses buried deep. They had the money and resources to do all of this; however, they were going to be reorganizing the leadership in the club to handle all of these areas.

Kink and Magnum were going to be named the head of the legitimate businesses, they had already known Creed and Fork were planning this. They would strictly be dealing with Slinging Ink and Bitches. They owned a mile section in the dicey part of San Diego right at the start of the inlet to the bay. It was the perfect place to have their club, because they had three blocks of store fronts concealing their compound. Their compound was a large fenced in area most people couldn’t see, unless they got lost that is. They had five blocks of houses, all of them occupied now since the clubs had merged, and still, they had room to grow. They were also safe, and now almost impossible to penetrate. They had learned their lesson the day Boo had gotten shot. It was a completely new era for the Ops and one they were all determined to make successful.