The Possibility of Trey (5 page)

"I had no idea…"

"Dallas! Your mom's having trouble with the smell," I heard dad yell.

"Sorry!" I quickly closed the door to my brother's room and glanced back to Mr. Jackson to see him running his hands between the mattress and box springs of the twin bed.

"How much should I pack?" Uncomfortable didn't even begin to describe what I was feeling and I was hoping talk would help dispel my feelings.

"Two complete changes of threads, an extra pair of kicks, shower and bathroom shit." I saw him go down to hands and knees as he looked under the bed. "Cram them in that unused backpack in the corner, which I'm guessing he carried to school back when he gave a rat's ass."

I raced to do his bidding as he continued search the room going through every drawer and cupboard, opening up the games and DVDs cases. He only stopped once when he saw me bringing up clothes to my nose to do a sniff test.

"The shit doesn't have to be clean, Ms. Sheridan." God, those eyes and that grin alone could do serious damage to a girl's insides.

I shoved the required clothes, the first ones that met my hand, into the backpack and zipped to the bathroom for the rest of the Drake's stuff. I was moving at speed of light, thinking the faster I did what Mr. Jackson said, the sooner he'd leave. A fact I both wanted and didn't want at the same time.

He was working on the doorknob when I came back to the room.

"Disabled the lock. He won't be needing it when he comes home," Mr. Jackson advised. "You got everything?"

"Yeah. I think so," I murmured and tried to zip the bag shut. He grabbed the backpack from my shaking hands and finished it before sliding it over one massive shoulder, shutting off the light and stepping out of the room.

"Did you find anything?" I asked, trying to keep my voice from reaching my parents.

"Some. Nothing to show he was dealing or holding stolen shit."

I didn't realize how close we were standing or how my face was pointed up to his until I saw his eyes soften as they shifted down to my mouth.

Uh-oh.

"I'll see you out," I said quietly in an effort to break the tension, the keen awareness of each other.

He followed me down the hall, only poking his head back into the kitchen to offer my folks a quick goodnight before joining me at the front door.

"Your folks eat Chinese?" he asked before I had a chance to fully twist the infrequently used deadbolt open.

"Sorry?" I stilled all movement. There was no way he'd just asked me about my parent's dietary concerns.

"Can your folks have Chinese food?"

"Yeah, if it's mostly vegetables and no soy sauce." This was by far the strangest conversation I think I'd ever had with anyone, and the fact that it was with my big boss put it even further into the you're-fucking-kidding-me category.

"I'll be by on Friday at six with food and a movie."

"A movie?"

He was grinning at me again and standing entirely too close for comfort. "I'll have an update on your brother by then. The food and entertainment will help soften the sting if I have bad shit to say."

"Oh…" His flipping eyes were like laser beams and I couldn't seem to look away. I felt his warm fingers cover mine on the deadbolt as he twisted it easily. The heat of him was like syrup dripping down my side as he leaned closer. I dragged my hand from beneath his and stepped back, shoving my hands into my back pockets. "Yeah. That'd be okay, Mr. Jackson."

"For this, Dallas,
in
this I should say, you can call me Trey." His voice was in the lower registers and sexy as hell especially when combined with his full faced smile that exposed his dimples. Devastating dimples that only added another level to the heat he carried.

"I'll look forward to Friday," he said, with another brief clasp of my shoulder before he wended his way out the front door.

I stared at the wooden portal a long time after he left, my mind whirling. In the scant time I'd been around him, he didn't fit the image I had in my mind of a biker. Which, I admitted to myself, was by and large because of whispered conversations with my friends in high school. He hadn't been dirty but had smelled clean. There had been no moves to get into my pants and in actuality he'd treated both me and my parents with respect which went directly against what Jenny Talbot had claimed was true about men in motorcycle clubs.

Trey Jackson confused me and I stood at the door for a good three minutes trying to work out that perplexity before I turned to go strip and remake my father's bed. But my mind wasn't on what I was doing.

It was filled with red-brown eyes, the best color of brown, as they'd stared into mine making me feel like a girl, a sexy and pretty girl.

A feeling I hadn't had in a long, long time.

Dare pulled into the compound, noticing only a few bikes in the forecourt but knew it would be almost filled within fifteen minutes. The crew worked long and hard at their day jobs but took their club's work even more seriously. Since he'd called an emergency meeting, he knew each and every member would be on sight and on time. He walked up to the bar and saw Carly had taken over Dee's duties.

"Yo, Huff," he offered, sliding onto the stool next to the huge blonde. "What's doing?" He watched as Carly poured him a very healthy glass of Avion Silver tequila without him even having to ask.

"Little shit has started getting physical," Huff advised, turning his frosty mug of beer round and round on the coaster. "Hate the first days, man."

"Physical, how?"

"Lock came back wearing his dinner. Said he cussed her out, threw the tray at her which prompted her to take his skinny ass down. He's got a new lip twice as big as his old one and possibly a black eye for his trouble." Neither one could help their chuckles.

Yeah, Lock wouldn't hesitate to retaliate and for a girl she could pack a wallop even by just slapping. He made a mental note to check on the kid after the meeting and ride his ass about getting fucked up by a chick.

As predicted, the clubhouse filled up fast and Trey was one of the last ones to enter.

"Dare, you called it so you lead it," Trey yelled to be heard over the noise of the crowd which quieted at the sound of the Prez's voice. Dare waited for the double knock of Trey's gavel.

Dare nodded to Carly who removed herself from the main room, another couple of the Honeys exiting with her. Club's business was for members only and in spite of the times, their club didn't include women on the lists.

"We've got someone trying to move in. There's been sightings of girls working our streets and some deals going down our acreage." All eyes were on him as he gave them time to process the information. It had been more than a few years since another club or gang had tried to infiltrate the ten mile radius the Hellions held in Missoula. And since Trey had helped bring the club out of prostitution and drugs, they hadn't had to worry about either.

"The boys who observed this shit politely asked the players to move their fucking business elsewhere, but that didn't seem to stop it for more than a night. Think we need to figure out how we're gonna play this." Dare allowed his eyes to roam the ranks. There was a lot of experience in the room even though most of the old guard were gone.

"How many times?" Stick yelled from the back.

"Twice…" Dare began but was cut off when Trey growled, "One fucking time is too many."

"Any word from the street?" Silo called from the back of the pack.

"Heard the Ghosts were swelling their ranks with new blood. Maybe they've got a few with some lofty ideas," someone to Dare's right shot back. The Ghosts were another biker club in town but as their name suggested, they were heard of but not much seen. Basically, they were nothing more than a group of guys that rode motorcycles and liked to get fucked up together. They created mayhem with their parties and attitudes around town but other than the occasional glimpse stayed well enough away from the Hellions.

"Them Asians have been getting bolder," came another voice, which Dare thought might have come from one of the recruits. "Thought they were only laundering money through the mini-marts but maybe they're thinking to move into other stuff."

"Fat Jack?" Dice yelled from the left side of the room. "We know he's already selling gash and trash from his titty bar maybe he's taking it to the streets."

"And, rumor has it he's taken on a partner too," Huff said from Dare's side.

"You think a partner would help Fat Jack grow a pair after we took the original set?" Trey's voice called out. The subsequent laughter helped to dispense some of the tension in the room full of men.

"He'd have to since the partner ain't got none," came Huff's reply. "The fuckin' partner's a full on bitch of a bull-dyke according to a couple of the dancers."

"Here's how it's gonna go down. Starting immediately, I want two teams of two members patrolling between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. Those teams will engage with said activity and gather info as well as keep up the nice-nice by asking them to fucking leave and stay gone. You with me?"

The room was a sea of nodding heads.

"We'll update on Sunday morning and go from there. Also, we've got a kid on lock-down in six. That room will be unavailable until his six months are up and, just to let you know, he's scheduled for the full program," Trey announced.

A number of hands performed fist-pumps. "Six months of free laundry service!" one of the guys crowed in delight. One of the responsibilities the kid would be performing would be doing laundry for any and all of the single men in the club, which usually meant doing at least six loads a day, seven days a week. If the wash wasn't done correctly or to the member's satisfaction, the kid would also learn the ins-and-outs of how to work an iron. And the Hellion brothers were picky about their threads.

"I'll post a schedule and expect you to know where you're supposed to be and when," Trey finished. "If there's no other business, I call this meeting adjourned." The slap of the gavel was loud in the quiet room.

Catching a chin lift from the Prez, Dare held his place at the bar and waited for the other man as he wove through the crowd of men exiting.

"Good call, Trey," Huff offered as Trey went behind the bar to grab his personal bottle of High West American Prairie Reserve. Almost all the booze in the bar was free if it was of the no-call variety as was the beer, but if a member had a taste for his own particular blend, they bought it themselves and kept it behind the bar, knowing full well no other member would touch it without getting permission first.

"How's the kid?" Trey asked carefully, pouring two fingers over the ice in his glass.

Dare recapped Drake's evening which had Trey laughing so hard, he had to put the cut-crystal tumbler back down on the bar.

"Aw, shit. I fucking
love
first days," Trey exclaimed when he could finally talk. Huff shot his eyes to Dare, a look that Trey caught. "What? Did I miss something?"

"Huff here was just saying the opposite," Dare advised with a smile.

"You gotta be kiddin', amigo. This shit is good. We get to fuck with his head and scare him so bad his little balls will be trying to crawl back up into his body!"

"Yeah, but the mouth on these fucking punks nowadays. Makes a man want to…"

"It's just talk, Huff. That's all they are. Nothing but talk." Dare threw his two cents in.

Trey blinked at the large blonde man over the rim of him glass. "You don't have to be a part, Huff. Know this is hard on you, man, so stay out of it. I've got enough people that can work him."

Huff's eyes were on the remaining inches of his beer.

"I met the folks tonight. Dad's only got one-arm and is completely blind. The mom's got medical issues too, if her blue nail-beds and lack of color in her face are any indication. The only person in that family is a daughter who's trying to handle it all." Trey didn't usually take the time to explain himself to anyone, but Ben had been Huff's younger brother and he knew each one of the young cases HMC took on hit the man hard. There was always the possibility of another kid taking his life before the new knowledge and new way of handling themselves kicked in. "The punk's escalating and about to age out. It's now or never for him. And I think we are just the fuckers to pry his head from his own ass."

Huff seemed to take Trey's words on before he rapped his knuckles on the bar. "I'll steer clear then." Dare and Trey's eyes followed the large man as he lifted himself from the stool, picked up his glass to drain the last bit in it. They exchanged chin lifts before Huff exited.

"That stuff about Sheridan's home life true?" Dare asked after the door closed.

Trey leaned his elbows on the bar and nodded before adding, "unfortunately."

"Shit…" Dare drawled. "Think Silo knows?"

"Why would he? According to him, she's the best he's got on all his crews. Knows her shit, doesn't create drama with the boys and keeps her personal issues to herself. A model em-ploy-yee."

Dare eyed the man across the bar who was his friend, his boss and his brother after catching a tone in his voice. "Seems like one little gal is getting a promotion. Or is there more?"