Devil May Care (Four Horsemen MC Book 4) (15 page)

 She was the light of his life and there wasn’t a day that went by he didn’t thank God he’d married her mother, even if it had been a distraction from Eddie, a way of coping. Lex had been worth all the struggle.

He’d known it from the beginning, but he’d been a desperate man in love with a woman who wouldn’t even look at him. She’d decided to be faithful to her husband, even though he wouldn’t get paroled for twenty-five years. Ironically, it only made Captain love her more. Most women couldn’t have toughed it out. Eddie had been strong enough to raise her boys by herself as well as manage a business..

“And how are things going with you, baby girl?” he asked.

 Lex was so far beyond him when it came to academics. He’d barely squeaked by in high school. Mostly because he’d rather spend his time on the water. He’d assumed he’d be a captain until he retired, so school seemed pretty damn pointless.  

She shrugged. “Pretty good.  I’m writing a paper for my advanced psych course right now.”

“What’s it on?” he asked.

Lex flashed a sly grin. “Deviant sexual behavior.”

“What the hell?”
 
She loved to embarrass him and damn if it didn’t throw him off every time. No man liked to think of his little girl knowing a damn thing about sex.
 
He blinked several times, doing a fuckin’ owl impression, before he switched topics.  “Moving on.  And what about the, err, rest of your life?”

She folded her arms across her chest. “Which life?”

He smiled at her. “Come on. Tell me about the boys.”  He wanted to know if there were any little shits he needed to intimidate.

“There aren’t any boys,” she said stubbornly.

“But—”

“Dad,
seriously
. Drop it. You’ll go into overprotective mode.”

She had a point there. When she’d been getting dressed for the junior prom, he’d used the time to grill the boy who was taking her.
Poor kid.
After a few minutes of questioning, the pimply teen had nearly pissed his pants. “While you’re at school, it wouldn’t hurt to look around, see if there is anyone there you like.”

“Are you actually pushing me to get a Mrs.?”

Captain heard the term before. Back in his day, sometimes women attended college, so they could meet smart, successful men in the making. Once they’d secured an engagement, they dropped out of school. “Hell no. I want you to get your degree, but I don’t want you to miss out on any good prospects.”

Where else would she find a pool of men who were young, single, and getting a college education? He worried she’d end up with a biker, like him. Then she’d spend the rest of her life lookin’ over her shoulder –whether it was the feds, or a rival gang.

Lex bit her bottom lip. “Honestly? I don’t know if I’d be interested in some college guy. I’ve tried dating them before and zero sparks.”

“Why not?” He thought someone in school would be better suited to her. They’d have somethin’ in common and when she started spouting all her fancy pants Freud talk, at least the guy would understand what the fuck she meant.  

She stared up at him, eyes widening and then stared at her feet, flustered. “You know why.”

He patted her hand. It was fucking sweet as shit, but he couldn’t let her end up with an asshole like him.  “I don’t want you to marry someone like me, baby girl. You deserve a guy who isn’t an outlaw. Someone who’s a professional, who makes an honest living.”

“And what’s so bad about you?” she asked, lifting her chin. “You aren’t exactly Jesse James, Dad. You help people.”

“I do, but there are plenty of guys who help people in legal ways.”

She shrugged. “I’ll think about it.”

 That meant she’d consider it a second or two and then promptly discard it, in favor of her own opinion. “Why? Have you been thinkin’ about dating a brother?  Have any of the guys been hitting on you? Who is it? Steele? Is it Steele? Because I will shove a fucking grapefruit up his nose.”

“Breathe!” she said with a giggle. “You’re starting to turn colors. It was only some idle flirting, I promise. Leave him alone. I’m not…dating a Horseman.”

 
That was a long, suspicious pause. What the fuck did that mean?

  She might not be dating one of his brothers right now, but she wanted to?
Shit.
  That’s all he needed, his daughter as an official old lady. And God help the poor fool, because he’d have to lay down the law. The hard way.

But he didn’t press it, for now.

“Grapefruit?” she asked, after a moment. “Why a grapefruit?”

“It’s an expression,” he lied. “Are you trying to give your old man a heart attack?

“Just keeping you on my toes. But enough about me.” Lex changed the subject and he couldn’t say he blamed her. “Is it true? You’re seeing Miss Eddie?”

He got awfully tight-lipped. Fucking club gossip. “A gentleman never tells.”

“Good thing you aren’t a gentleman. Tell me about Eddie.”

He loaded his gun, placing the bullets in methodically, before shutting it and throwing on the safety lock. “What about her?”

“Dad!”

“What?”

“Tell me how things are going with Eddie.”

 “What have you heard?” he asked, with a shrug.

She smirked. “Just a rumor or two.  And I wanted to let you know, I think you should go for it.”

Now that shocked the shit out of him. “You do?”

She nodded. “Yeah! I mean come on, I’m over the whole I want my parents to get back together phase. I love Brad. He’s a good guy. You and mom are happier apart then you ever were together.”

He couldn’t refute that. The last few months had been fucking awful for all of them.

“Mom has been married for what? Like a decade, now? It’s about time you started dating. You aren’t getting any younger, you know.”

“Hey!” He smoothed his hair back. Sure, he had some greys, but he didn’t look
that
old. A man in his forties was still in his prime, right?

“Well, you aren’t.”

“I guess.” Lex liked Eddie, and she didn’t mind if he dated her.  It made everything a bit easier.  “And if we became an item, it wouldn’t bother you?”

“Not at all!” she said quickly. “You know I like her. She’s always been kind to me. And I already know you’re in love with her.”

He tried to appear aloof. Fuck, how’d she get so observant? Must be all that psych stuff she studied. “How do you know?”

“Oh, come on. I have eyes. I’ve seen the way you look at her.” She widened her eyes and batted her lashes.

 “I don’t stare at her like that!” He grabbed all their gear and headed out of the range, with Lex in tow. “You look like you’re havin’ a stroke.”

“Oh, shush!”

Captain chuckled.

She sighed, pressing a hand to her chest as they arrived at his bike “You look at her like she’s the only woman on the planet.  That’s how Brad looks at mom. Someday, I want a man to look at
me
like I’m the only woman he sees.”

Charmed, despite himself, he pulled her into a hug. “See that you do, baby girl. Don’t ever date a man who doesn’t treat you as well as I do. You make sure he thinks you’re the moon and stars, too. Promise me?”

She bit her lower lip. “Promise.”

“Unless a biker looks at you that way,” he joked. “If he does, tell me, and I’ll shoot him, and then you can find another guy to date instead. Deal?”

“Dad!” Lex said, but she snickered. 

They got on his Harley and took off for milkshakes at Hades.

***

After dropping Lex off at campus, he rode back to Hell. But as soon as he got in the city limits, he got picked up by the local police and brought back to the same goddamn interrogation room. Again.

Deja fuckin’ vu.

This time he only waited twenty minutes. He crossed his arms over his chest as Warner walked in. “Good to see you, Captain. Thanks for joining me on such short notice.”

“Didn’t have much of a choice, since you sent out the welcoming committee. Am I bein’ charged with something?”

Warner shook his head. “You’re a person of interest in an ongoing investigation, so I thought we could have a little chat,” he said, sitting down.

“Sure we can. As soon as my lawyer gets here.” He’d called Jane as soon as he’d gotten pulled over, and she was on her way. “I’m not answering shit until then. And maybe she’ll have a conversation with a judge about FBI agents abusing their authority, haulin’ innocent people in without chargin’ them with anything.”

“Oh, I’m sure a federal judge will bend over backwards to help a convicted felon like yourself. And, anyway, I don’t want you to talk, I want you to listen.” He opened the file. “I’ve been going over your club’s old RICO case to get some perspective on you and the Horsemen.”

Fuckin’ hell. The agent had it in for the Horsemen. No way this would end well.

“Since you took over, things changed. They used to run drugs and guns. Anything that turned a profit. But not now. You’re in the vigilante business. Helping the helpless.”

He said it with a smirk and Captain itched to slap it off his fucking face. 

“That has to be your influence, right? Let me guess, when you started prospecting, you found out this club wasn’t what you thought? You had a romantic vision of the life, but you found yourself working with a bunch of thugs. And you didn’t want to live that way.”

Captain put a
fuck you
on his face.

“According to your tox report at the time, you were clean. Most of them were junkies. Maybe you had a clearer head. And you changed the club for the better.”

That notion had been in the back of his mind, but he hadn’t had any power as a prospect. Frankly, he’d been ashamed of the shit they did. He’d spent a lot of sleepless nights contemplating quitting and walking away.

“What kept you here? It would have been easy to cut and run. Money?”

Captain laughed. Prospects don’t make shit.

Warner got closer, leaning over the table, staring at him, as if he could snatch the secrets right out of his head. “No, it had to be
more
than that. Something personal. Love?”

Captain glanced away.

“That’s it, isn’t it?
You fell in love.
And you stayed…my bet is, she’s still here. Or you’d have moved on. But who? Not Sailor, she’s married. No, it’s the other one. Edna Rollins.”

“Eddie,” he said automatically. She’d been named after her father. He schooled his features into a blank mask, but his fists clenched.

“Yeah, that’s it. You fell for Eddie, who happened to be married to…wait.” He paused, checked the file again. “Joker Rollins. I believe he got shanked in prison. The woman you loved was finally free of her bastard of a husband. All of the dickhead brothers behind bars, so you could start the club from the ground up.” He whistled. “You caught a real lucky break.”

“Everyone knows Viper cooperated, turned witness for the prosecution,” Captain blurted out. Fuck, he shouldn’t have said anything. It sounded defensive.

The agent nodded. “Yeah, but that only happened after the FBI showed up at the drug warehouse. What I don’t understand is, how the RICO case got started to begin with. How did the agents know where the meet was going down?”

The agent stared at him.

And he stared right back.  He made sure he didn’t so much as fucking flinch.

“Well, I’ll have to do a little more digging, maybe talk to the case agent at the time.”

“Knock yourself out.” Captain said it like he couldn’t fucking give a damn.

Thankfully, Jane walked into the room and shut the interview down.  But Captain left the precinct shaken.

Chapter Twelve

A text message made Eddie’s pocket vibrate. When she dragged her phone out, she saw it was from Captain.

Captain:
Let’s go for a ride tonight, Killer Queen.

Damn, she couldn’t remember the last time she’d been on the back of a Harley. Well, with a man she wasn’t related to, anyway.

Eddie:
Count me in.

Captain:
Was hoping you’d say that.
Pick you up later.

And just like that, she had another date. Hopefully, they’d make some progress. She glanced up from her phone to see Ryker standing in the doorway of her office.

  His handsome features were pinched.
Oh, shit.
She had a good idea what he wanted to talk about…Captain. They were about to have this out.

“What’s up, kid?” she asked.

He shut the door and twirled one of her chairs around before he straddled it.  “You’re smiling.”

The tone was accusatory and she raised a brow. “Yeah, I do that sometimes,” she quipped. “I’m tryin’ to quit, but they don’t make a patch for that.”

“Is it true? You’re dating him.”

 “You heard the rumor, huh?”

“Yeah, well, everyone loves some good gossip.” He shook his head. “They said he’s stayed at your house the past two nights. Apparently, Axel’s quite the matchmaker.”

Eddie had a feeling her boys were about to have a conversation, the kind with fists. She kept the information short and sweet. “Yes, he’s been keepin’ an eye on me. And, yes, I’m dating him.”

His jaw clenched. “Why, Mom? You could do better.”

“I’m dating, not getting married,” she huffed. “And it ain’t like I’ve got ‘em lined at the door, kid. I like him. He likes me. We’ll see where this goes.”

He raised his chin, nostrils flaring. “I don’t like it.”

Okay, time to lay down the law. “You don’t have to, because my personal life doesn’t affect you.”

His nostrils flared. “He’s a man whore, Mom. When we’re out on a run, he fucks around. You want to be with a guy like that?”

She flushed. “His prior sex life is his business. Now, that we’re going out, he won’t be screwing around.”

“But—”

She rubbed one of her throbbing temples and tried to control her temper. “But what, kid? It’s my life.”

“But—“

  “I’m not finished. Besides,” she reminded him, “You, of all people, shouldn’t be casting slutty stones.” At one time, Ryker had been the reigning man whore of the club. He’d taken a crack at every new hellion in the group.