Honey Whiskey (A Bastards MC Novel) (36 page)

Tank found the girl, but he also
found the men abusing her. His gunshots brought men running in
herds, all armed to the teeth and ready to kill, or die, protecting
not only their boss, but also his high profile customers. From that
point on, the details get fuzzy. I can remember holding a woman as
she took her last breath, a hole in her chest that had been
intended for me. I pulled a woman from a kennel, even though she
screamed, kicked at me, and tried to hold on. Once she was out, I
wrapped her in my arms, assuring her everything would be ok, and
carried her out. There were the faces of women we couldn’t rescue,
and the ones I saved with a bullet instead of my hands. I will
never know if the memories were real, or if they were brought on by
the pictures that fell out of that envelope last summer. Proof that
I never knew existed until that very second.

Unfortunately, we’d only been able
to wound Dyer before he locked himself in a safe room with some of
his clients—thankfully without any of the women. For years I’d
hoped that he had gotten a flesh eating bacteria and he’d died a
slow painful death. Or, that he’d gotten stuck in the fire that we
could only assume he’d set to destroy every ounce of evidence that
he’d been there. He’d left America that night and never come back.
But, a few years ago, Wiz found him in Russia, running another
slave trade.

The thought brought up a great
point. “We’d know if he was back, wouldn’t we?” I asked to the
group in general.

Wiz nodded. “It’s not him.”
Turning his tablet around, he pointed to the picture on the screen.
“Dyer’s jet landed in London three days ago. He isn’t
stateside.”

“
Doesn’t matter
even if he was.” Tank pointed out. “There is no way in hell he’d be
coming after the three of us. We weren’t wearing our colors and
nothing on us told the world we were Bastards, let alone who we
were. He doesn’t know who in the hell broke in that night or he’d
have come after us before now.”

“
But, there is
proof!” Bear snapped back. Then, as if realizing that Tank wouldn’t
know because he he’d been serving his sentence, Ian sat back.
“Sorry Brother, I forgot.” Looking to me he added, “Mateo’s seen
it.”

I nodded and then explained to
Tank the pictures that were in Billy’s satchel of
secrets.

“
Where’d he get
the pictures?” Tank demanded. I didn’t have an answer because I’d
never asked what private investigator he’d hired. There hadn’t been
a reason because I felt like the damage with Jo had been
done.

“
That’s a good
fuckin’ point,” Rob murmured from his seat beside me. “Call that
asshole and ask him. Tell him we need to know. Then, you and Ian
track the PI down to see where he found them. The rest of us will
look into the others. We’ll meet back here Wednesday night and
report.” Everyone nodded their agreement.

I had to meet Jo and the kids at
the gym, and then I was going to have a great night with my family.
But first, I needed to call her ex-husband and have a little
heart-to-heart that I didn’t want to have. And somehow resist the
urge to tell the miserable fucker that he’d lost. It didn’t matter
how dirty he played, Jo was mine and she was never going
back.

Chapter 32

Jo

The thing I loved most about the
aquarium was that there was something for everyone to do and that
it didn’t take all day to see and do everything. In only a few
hours, we’d seen every fish and exhibit, played in the touch tanks,
watched Lily’s penguins, and sat for a sea lion show. After a quick
trip to the gift shop where they each got something pretty cool, we
were off to the gym.

“You guys don’t
have to watch me if you don’t want to,” I assured them, not knowing
how they’d handle seeing me go up against a much larger man and
take a few hits. But they all wanted to see, and I was more than a
little nervous to have my first spectators.

I was surprised to see Cris when I
climbed in the ring, instead of Nick. She smiled and moved close so
no one else could hear her. “I thought it might be easier for the
kids to see you spar with another woman instead of a man. But, you
listen to Nick. He’s gonna walk you through the moves.”

She backed away, but snapped,
“Listen to Nick!” once more before throwing a punch. For the next
forty-five minutes, Cris and I circled each other, avoiding flying
fists and feet as much as we could, although we both landed quite a
few blows. I was physically wiped when it was over, but I wasn’t as
sore as I usually was with Nick. Cris apparently had taken it
extremely easy on me, but I wasn’t going to complain.

Dean and the kids clapped and
hooted when I stepped out of the ring. Even though I laughed and
tried to wave off their silliness, I appreciated it. Lily beamed up
at me like I was her hero, and the boys were both impressed. One
member of my fan club was noticeably absent, though, and I quietly
asked Dean if Matty had stepped outside.

He shook his head. “I haven’t seen
him, Joey. Maybe he thought we’d take longer at the
aquarium?”

I nodded. Maybe. This was the time
I always came to the gym though, and he knew that. Court may have
run over. I shrugged off the worry that wanted to settle in my gut
and headed for the showers.

Matty still hadn’t shown by the
time I was clean, so we headed back to the apartment. I’d invited
Cris for dinner and was glad she’d agreed to come. It was Mexican
night in the Murphy house and I was making all the kids’
favorites—quesadillas, enchiladas, taquitos, and Spanish rice. I
figured having Cris there and cooking a giant meal would be a great
distraction for me incase Matty didn’t come home.

“
What can I do to help?” Lily
asked not long after we got home.

“Hey! I wanna
help, too!” Sam shouted from the other end of the room as he ran
towards us at full speed.

Dean leaned against the doorway,
watching us. “I have an idea. Why don’t we cook suppah? That way,
your mom and Aunt Cris can go visit on the patio?”

I turned to him surprised. “No. That’s ok.
I’ll cook with the kids now and Cris and I can visit
later.”

Ben shook his head. “I don’t want to
cook.”

I laughed. “Good. We need someone
to set the table.” I gave him my silliest smile, but he just rolled
his eyes and sighed in the way preteens do.

Dean saw him. “Hey! Don’t give
your mom a hard time! You only get one mom, kid, and I promise you,
you’ll regret your attitude when she’s gone.”

He sounded as if he was speaking
from experience, but before I could ask, Matty walked through the
door. “That’s right. You show your mom respect while you’re in my
house, boy.” Ben rolled his eyes again, but in a much more playful
manner and went to the cupboard to get the plates.

Matty came over to the stove and pulled me
into a hug. “I’m sorry I missed the gym. How’d you do?”

“She was up against me,” Cris
snorted as Matty snapped his head around. Motioning to me, she
moved her hand up and down. “She’s fine. See? I didn’t hurt
her.”

Supper was a crazy experience.
Food filled the center of the table, and it seemed like everyone
was having a conversation with someone across the table from them.
Rob made it just in time, and although I could see something was
bothering him and Matty, it was nice to have us all together. The
eight of us laughed and ate until we’d had our fill. The men took
care of clean up so Cris and I could have wine out on the deck
while the kids pulled out board games.

“So,” I demanded, “how was Friday
night?” After an amazing weekend last week, most of which she
wouldn’t go into detail about, it was clear that Caleb and Cris
were starting to become serious. I had yet to meet the man she
described as ‘devilishly handsome’ but I was hoping that would
change soon.

“
It went great, but no. That’s not
what we’re talking about right now. I want to know what you meant
when you said he told you everything.”

I shrugged. “Exactly what I said.
He came clean and told me about his past. I think we’re finally in
a place where we won’t have to worry about secrets. He doesn’t have
to keep things from me because he knows I’m not going anywhere, and
I don’t have to be afraid of what he might be keeping because he’s
going to tell me everything.” I took a sip of my wine. “Well,
everything that he can. It’s a good place to be.”

Cris squealed excitedly. “That is
so fuckin’ great! It’s real now. I can finally be excited. We’re
gonna be sisters!” She fell back against the cushions and sighed.
“When are you tellin’ the kids?”

I smiled and turned to look into
the house. The six of them were sitting around the table engrossed
in what looked to be a serious game of Monopoly. I reached for the
ring that was hanging on a slim chain around my neck. “Tomorrow
night. We wanted to give them a few days to get used to being
around us and each other. Ben already knows, but he’s keeping our
secret.”

“I’m gonna have a niece!” Cris
squealed again. “And another nephew!” Instead of screeching again,
she started to jump up and down like a little kid excited about the
idea of a new puppy.

I pulled my feet up and tucked
them under me, grinning at her. I understood exactly what she
meant. Matty and I had done our damnedest to sabotage ourselves
along the way. It was as if one of us was always pulling away
because we thought we didn’t deserve to be happy. We’d learned our
lessons and were holding on tight this time. If, or when, one of us
started to drift away, the other was going to hold on tight with
everything they had.

Once we told our kids there was no
going back because even though we’d hurt ourselves and each other,
we weren’t ever going to break their hearts. She was right—it was
real now. We were finally grabbing onto our happiness and each
other, and not letting go.

*****

Cris stayed just late enough to do
the bedtime routine with the kids. She took Ben into the living
room, I took Sammy into my room, and Matty took Lily into the kids’
room, and we each read stories. After we made sure teeth were
brushed, prayers were said, and they were all tucked in, we turned
out the lights and cuddled with our respective kiddo until all
three were asleep. It was my favorite moment of the
weekend.

Once they were asleep, Cris
quickly made her excuses to leave. As excited for us as she was,
and as great as things seemed to be going with Caleb, she couldn’t
hide the sadness in her eyes when she looked at Rob. I knew that
she was rushing away so she didn’t have to spend any more time with
him. Matty insisted that she couldn’t drive home alone and
suggested that Rob take her. She immediately declined, saying she
was fine. Thankfully Dean interrupted and said he’d take her
because he needed to stop by his apartment to get clean
clothes.

I knew she
couldn’t see it, but Rob’s eyes followed her every move, and he
always looked a little lost when she was around. He was genuinely
disappointed when she refused the ride from him. As soon as she
left, he said his goodnights and retired for the evening.

Matty and I took wine onto the
deck and snuggled on the love seat. “I wonder who he’ll choose,” I
said more to myself than to Matty.

“Hmmm?” he
asked, tracing the alphabet onto the back of my arm.

“
Rocker. I hate love triangles,
but I wonder who he’s going to pick.”

Matty pulled his arm off my
shoulders and sat up. “Love triangle? I think you have outdated
info. There’s only Jess right now.”

I giggled. “Right now, maybe. But,
when he realizes he loves Cris as much as he loves Jessie, maybe
more, there’ll be hell to pay. That boy is knee deep in love
triangle angst.” I gulped down the rest of my glass in the most
un-lady like manner there is. “I need to call Jessie. I need to
make sure we’re still on for coffee tomorrow.”

I stretched for my phone, almost
falling off the couch, and Matty reached out a hand to steady me.
“It’s late. You can call her in the morning. How much have you had
to drink, Babe? I think you may be a little drunk.” His voice was
full of humor.

I shook my head to fast and had to sit back
because the world started to spin. “Noooo. I’ve only had four or
five glasses.”

“Four of five?” he asked,
laughing. “Yeah, you haven’t had much at all. What time are you
going for coffee?”

“Ten-ish. Right
before class. I have a test at eleven.”

He nodded. “I have to work
tomorrow.” He pursed his lips. “Is Dean staying here with the
kids?”

I shook my head, slower this time. “No. We’re
taking them to the clubhouse to play in the treehouse.” I giggled.
“Why is there a treehouse in the clubhouse?”

He grinned, tucking hair behind my
ear. “It’s a fort in the playroom that’s wicked neat. Sam loves it
there.”

“Ah. Well,” I cleared my throat,
“we’re taking them there, and then Jessie and I are going for
coffee, and then she’s going back to there to stay with ‘em, and
then I have a test and then…”

He kissed me, cutting off my
words. “And then tomorrow night we make it official. We tell the
kids, and you put my ring on your finger where it will stay the
rest of your life.” I nodded, my grin as large as a jack
o’lantern’s. He sobered a bit. “I’ll ask Rocker to send someone
with you. Stay with him, yeah?”