Old Ghosts: Gypsy Riders MC (15 page)

Love you, Todd”

As happy as I was, as much as I had lost myself with Mike tonight, locked away from the world in my bedroom, I hadn’t for a second forgotten the message I had received from Todd.  It nagged at me like a bad dream, but I had resigned myself to the fact that I just needed to stay vigilant and aware, and I could handle it if he showed up.

Now that he had my phone number, I knew that he probably knew where I lived, too.  I now had no doubt he was going to show up.  Worse, he was probably watching my every move. 

I pulled my gun from its locked case in my closet, and laid it on my nightstand next to my phone.  I had no desire to shoot Todd, but I wouldn’t hesitate to do it if he gave me no choice.

Todd had a surprise coming.  I wasn’t the same woman I used to be.  

I wasn’t afraid of him anymore.

☼ ☼ ☼ ☼ ☼ ☼

The sound of Reaper whistling greeted me as I walked into the clubhouse the next morning.  

“Now that is a happy man right there, folks!”  His voice bellowed through the cavernous building.

Everyone turned to look at me, and I did my damnedest to wipe the smile from my face.  The same fucking smile that I couldn’t rid myself of from the moment I walked into Daisy’s apartment last night.  

“Yeah, yeah…” I said, slinking past the brothers sitting at the bar.  

“So, hey, boss?”  Reaper said, his voice filled with amusement.

“What?” I replied.

“Does she taste as sweet as she looks?”  Reaper and the rest of the crew howled with laughter at Reaper’s lame joke.  

“A fat fuck like you will never know, Reaper!”  I shot back, turning on my heel and walking into my office, slamming the door behind me to the sound of even louder laughter.

Okay, so maybe that was a little harsh, but goddammit, Daisy wasn’t like all the other women the club was used to having around.  And I didn’t want anyone talking about her like she was.  

I made some phone calls, and afterward, my thoughts drifted to Daisy once more.  The sound of her moans in my ears and the feel of her body moving under me ran through my mind over and over.  

My phone rang, and I saw once again that it was Kelly abruptly pulling me out my delicious daydream.  I had been rejecting her calls for days. I knew that if I ignored her any longer, it would be bad news.

“What’s up?” I said, bracing myself for the unpleasantness.

“What’s up?  Mike, I think the question is what is missing from my life?”

“And what’s that, detective?” 

“You, Mike.  You and that incredible mouth and cock you have in your possession. Gosh, I knew you’d be great at eating pussy, but I didn’t know you’d be that amazing. You haven’t been ignoring me, have you?”  Her voice made my stomach churn.

“No, Kelly,”  I said. “I’m not ignoring you.  I’ve been really busy.  Club shit.”

“Club shit.  Yeah, I bet.  Heard you’re helping out a friend of mine,” she said.

“Yeah?” I asked.  “I didn’t know you had any friends, Kelly.”

“Very funny, asshole.  I’m talking about Jackson Sullivan.”

“Jackson Sullivan is a friend of yours?” I asked.

“Well, more of a colleague, I guess. But you know, shit gets around.  Intel gets thrown around in the most curious places sometimes.”

“Cut the shit, Kelly.  What are you trying to say?”  I was so tired of her games.

“I’m just saying, Mike, that I hope you are doing your research and you know what you are getting yourself into. I wouldn’t want anything to happen to injure that my favorite fuck machine.”

“Listen, Kelly, I appreciate you looking out for me, but I assure you I can take care of myself.”

“Okay, whatever you say, big boy.  Now, speaking of that beautiful creation between your legs, I’m going to need you to come by the precinct this afternoon.”

I silently groaned to myself.  There was no way in hell that was ever going to happen again.  I just needed to buy a little time before I was rid of Kelly’s bullshit completely.

“I can’t today, Kelly.  I’ve got this thing….at Rosie’s school.”  Now that wasn’t entirely a lie.  The thing at Rosie’s school just happened to be tastier than a Georgia peach.  Not that I gave a shit about lying to Kelly.

“Well, that’s a convenient excuse,” she said. “But I’ll let you off the hook this one time, Mike.  Don’t keep me waiting too long, though.  You don’t want to see me angry.”

I resisted saying what I really wanted to say.  I reminded myself that with patience and determination, I would be out of this situation fairly soon and without ever having to lay my hands on this slimy snake of a woman ever again.  

“I hear you, Kelly,” I replied.  “I’ll talk to you soon.”

I hung up before she could utter another word, and promptly called Demon’s number on my phone.

“Hey, boss,” he answered.

“How’s it going, man? You got anything for me?” 

“Not much. Not yet, at least.  Outside of work and the gym, she hasn’t traveled much.  Last night, she went to dinner with the guy she lives with.  I’m guessing it’s her husband or boyfriend.  Nerdy guy.  But rich, apparently.  Drives a Jag.  I’m guessing with her job, she’s not the one pulling in enough cash to afford the swanky McMansion they’re living in.”

“Husband, huh?  Now, that right there is the kind of thing I want to know. Find out his name and where he works.  And keep watching her.  Follow her at work.  I want to know who she’s meeting with, what she’s working on.”

“Sure thing, boss.”

“Thanks, brother.”

I hung up the phone feeling satisfied.  If Detective Kelly Jones thought she could manipulate me by aiming at my family, then I could play just as dirty as she could.

She didn’t know who she was messing with.

☼ ☼ ☼ ☼ ☼ ☼

I jogged under the dark canopy of the treelined pathway that led to Silver Lake Reservoir on Thursday evening with my eyes darting in every direction along the way.  I was determined not to let Todd’s messages keep me locked away in my apartment another moment.  I had spent the previous evening miserably failing in that endeavor.

But then, I realized that was what he wanted.  He wanted to imprison me.  He wanted to keep imprisoning me, just as he had when we were together.   If he wanted something else, he would have shown himself already.  Instead, like the coward that he was, he was all talk.  Crazy talk!  He wanted to poke me, tease and prod at me until he could see me break down.

But I wasn’t about to let that bastard succeed.  No, I was going to go on with my life as I damned well pleased, and if he decided to appear in front of me and get in the way, then I would just barrel right through his pathetic, cowardly ass.

It had only been a few months since I left, but I truly felt like a different person.  The instructor at my self-defense classes was amazing.  Tall, thick and heavily tattooed and pierced, Justin was the most intimidating man I had ever seen.  But when he spoke, his voice was gentle and quiet, and yet filled with confidence and authority.  You believed every word that came out of his mouth.  

Our class was filled with women from every walk of life.  Housewives, college students, strippers, businesswomen, mothers and daughters - we were all there with one mission - learning to defend ourselves in a world that was rife with unpredictable violence, often coming from unexpected places.

Justin kept things simple. He taught us which were the weakest parts of an attacker’s body that we could use against them - eyes, ears, throat, and groin.  He showed us how to quickly break someone’s fingers.  How to poke out their eyeballs.  How to cloud their mind so that you had the best opportunity to escape.  And most importantly, he taught us that staying in the best shape possible was imperative to staying safe during an assault.  Just the ability to continue breathing in a situation that sucked all the adrenaline from your body was nearly impossible.  Stamina always wins the fight, he said.  The person that can run the fastest, for the longest period of time, is the one that gets away alive.

So, that’s what I was doing.  I was running my ass off, sweating profusely and panting so hard my lungs were burning.  But I was determined to keep going, no matter how much I wanted to stop and crack open a beer and daydream about Mike in my locked apartment.

The reservoir was filled with people at this time of night.  Dusk was still a few hours away, and the hot sun blazed down on all the other joggers and dog walkers and kite flyers.  I flew by them all, a blurry stream of activity flowing past me.

I ran all the way around the reservoir, a little more than two miles, before I let myself slow down to walk around it the second time.  I slowly caught my breath, and began to look around at all the people around me.  

Silver Lake had a little of everything.  Young families, old families, groups of hipsters sitting on blankets and sneaking puffs of weed, tons of single women and men jogging, lost in their thoughts or music blaring into their ears.

I smiled at a little girl that caught my eye.  She was sitting on a bench with her mother, eating an ice cream cone that was almost bigger than she was.  It made me think of Rosie, and how much I was really beginning to love her.  She didn’t know about my feelings for her dad, but we would have to tell her soon enough.  Maybe if we did so over a banana split, it would soften the blow a little.  I wasn’t sure how she would react to sharing her father with me.  She had had him to herself her entire life.   But I was determined to make things happen slowly, comfortably and gracefully.

It was remarkable to me how quickly I had turned around.  How I had gone from not wanting anything to do with another man, to feeling like Mike’s arms were home.  These kinds of things only seemed to happen in movies, or books, or other people.  Not my life.

But when I thought about Mike, I knew it was impossible to resist.  He had my heart.  That’s just the way it was.

My cell phone buzzed in the pocket of my turquoise running shorts.  I was still walking at a fast pace around the pathway and I stopped to pull it out.  When I read the message, my heart jumped in my throat.

“The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God!!  Your legs are looking great, Daisy.  Those shorts are awfully bright though. You never looked good in turquoise. See you soon. God Bless, Todd.”

What the fuck?!

I quickly looked around, but there so many people in the park it was impossible to see everything.  He wasn’t in my sight, though.