For the Love of Dixie (20 page)

Echo

High from the show and the feel of the woman in front of me grinding her thick ass against my dick, I grip her jaw and kiss her like my life depends on it. As “Baddest Bitch” plays in the background, I press my lips to her ear. “Marry me.”

She gasps then screams, “Yes!”

Grinning, I pull the new ring I purchased out of my pocket and slip it on her finger.

“Oh, shit! These motherfuckers just got engaged over here!” MGK yells.

I exchange a nod of respect with him and eat up her happy laughter. It’s a night neither of us is going to forget. Congratulations rain down on us and I wish we could live in this moment forever. If it were up to me, I’d take her to Vegas tonight, but duty calls. We have a thing to handle before we can get to our happily ever after. Determination fills me. I’m going to handle the Mouth situation and move on with the rest of my life.

The annoying ringing of my phone pulls me from sleep. I groan.
Not today.
I roll over, reluctantly pulling my body from D’Rose and grab the evil item screaming at me. “Hello.”

“Echo…you got some time?”

“Charm?” I ask, rubbing my eyes.

“Yeah.”

“You want to talk, man, what’s up?”

“I …ugh, was wondering if I could see you in person,” Charm says.

“I ain’t home, bro.”

“Oh.”

The disappointment and panic in his voice wakes me further. “What’s up?”

“I uh—I got a situation I need to talk to someone about.”

I clear my throat. Is this the moment I’ve been waiting for? “Then come down and meet us.”

“You’re with Dixie Rose?”

“Yeah, man,” I say, biting my tongue. I hope to God he doesn’t start in on her, ’cause I won’t be able to let shit slide after last night.

“W-will she mind?” he asks so softly I almost don’t hear him.

“Nah, man. She’ll be chill. So, you coming down? We’re in L.A. went to a concert last night.”

“Damn, sounds fun.”

“It was. So, let me give you the address.”

“All right, I got a pen and paper.”

I shoot him the information, praying to God this is the opportunity I’ve been waiting for.

“I’ll see you in a couple of hours.”

“We’ll be here,” I say.

D’Rose rolls over and groans. “Who was that? Do we have to go back now?”

“No, it was Charm. He’s coming down. He said he has something to talk about.”

Her mouth forms an O, and she opens her eyes. “Do you think this is about Mouth?”

“I fucking hope so. I want to be done with this. We got plans to put into action.”

“Oh, we do?” she asks, making a confused face.

I lift her hand up and kiss her ring. “Don’t play.”

She grins. “I thought it’s supposed to be the woman who can’t wait to get married.”

“I want all these motherfuckers out there to know you’re taken at a glance.”

“So romantic.”

“You love it, and you know it,” I say nibbling on her finger.

“I do, luckily for you,” she replies.

I roll over and place her on my chest.

“Last night was amazing, Joel. Thank you.”

“I had to outdo my last proposal. You like the ring?” I ask.

“It’s different from the last one,” she says, running her hand over the solid band of diamonds.

“I was hoping we could meld it with the original one, if you still have it …”

“I do.”

“Some part of you knew we’d get back to this one day,” I say.

“Maybe you’re right,” she whispers.

We savor the feeling for a few more minutes.

“We should get up,” she says.

“Yeah, but I don’t want to.”

She laughs. “Come on, we’ll feel better once we get some food in us.”

“You got a hangover?” I ask, amused.

She pulls out of my arms. “No, but I am starving.”

I let her go, admiring the view of her bare ass as she heads to the bathroom.

She pauses in the doorway of the bathroom. “Aren’t you joining me? We really should conserve water.”

I slip out of the bed stalking her to the shower.

~~

By the time a knock comes at the door, we’re dressed and eating on room service. I get up and let Charm in.

He looks worse for wear. Dark circles line his eyes, and he looks green around the gills. His clothes are wrinkled and his hair is more than windblown. For my meticulous brother it’s odd. Part of his charm is the fact that he’s always put together and ready to woo a girl at a moment’s notice.

“You all right, dude?” I ask.

“No, I’m really not,” he answers, stepping inside.

D’Rose stands and the air grows charged.

“Dixie Rose,” Charm says.

“Charm, have a seat and grab some food.” She gestures toward the tray with leftover sides.

“Thanks.” Charm walks over and takes the seat to her left.

I release the breath I’d been holding.
Maybe I won’t have to kick his ass today.

“I don’t think I could stomach food right now, but I’ll take a drink if you have it, preferably of the alcoholic variety.”

Damn, is it that bad?

“We got beer,” Dixie Rose says, walking over to the mini fridge

“First off, I need to offer up an apology. I was out of line and blinded by the shit my father’s been feeding me my entire life. Recently, I’ve seen the light.”

“Why?” she asks, handing him a bottle.

Charm shakes his head. “’Cause you two are happy, and he can’t stand it because of melanin? I’ve seen you. You’re good people. You can’t blame one race for everything bad and ignore the horror your own people can create.”

“What horror we talking about, Charm?” I ask.

He pops the top and takes a long draw. “Dad wants to bring white power into the club and take it over.”

“Holy fuck,” Dixie Rose whispers.

“Scott and Brett?”

“Moles,” he admits, bowing his head. “They’re on a whole other level. The things I’ve seen them do, say, and preach.” Charm shudders. “It’s not for me. I never understood how fucked up and wrong Dad was until he took it to that level. I always saw it as noise. The ramblings of an old man, and I went along with it because hell, he’s my old man, doesn’t he know best? Plus, the shit about his father. I could get where he was coming from. But this—I don’t want this to touch us.”

“What happened, man?” I ask.

“Dad was pissed after the fight. He started reaching out to friends outside the club. I didn’t think anything of it. I mean, I figured it was like in high school when your best friend hurts your feelings, so you seek out those friends on the fringes while you lick your wounds.”

I sink down in the chair across from him and nod my head. “I get it.”

“But that’s not how it happened. He started attending these meetings. I noticed and asked him about it. The first few I went to seemed like exactly what I described—a group of like-minded people meeting and bitching. I went grudgingly. I wanted to stand by Dad, you know? He raised us to stick together, and he’s just lost you and some of his clout with the club. Then we came after few weeks and I saw their true faces.” He shudders.

“You all right?” I asked, disturbed by his responses.

“They showed videos of curb checking, encouraging confrontation, and talking separation like we haven’t seen since slavery. Dad starts running his mouth about the club, and how it’s just a matter of time before the N— well, a word I won’t say, take over. The leader, Ryan, starts telling him it’s a travesty and how he should step up. I saw it going down, but I couldn’t stop it. Dad didn’t want to listen to shit I said, and he fell right into Ryan’s hands. That asshole saw a chance to get his foot in the door of an established crew of soldiers.”

“Let me guess, he came up with the idea of putting his crew in as some kind of fucked up sleepers?”

“He put his own sons in, Echo,” Charm says.

“I fucking knew it,” Dixie Rose exclaims.

“Jesus. And Dad just agreed to…what? Slowly turn the tables?” I ask. It didn’t sound right.

“No, they plan on taking more drastic measures,” Charm says, swallowing hard.

“Start talking faster.”

“You cut off the head and the body falls.”

“Shit, Stone?” I say.

He nods. “They got it into their heads. Last night, I realized they weren’t just talking shit.”

“What did you see?”

“A pipe bomb. I don’t know when, where, or how, but I know he needs to watch his back.”

“Fuck, I got to call him.”

“Don’t let them know you know yet. Flush everyone out who might be involved.”

“This is deeper than those two?” I ask.

“I don’t know. I think Dad knew he was losing me, because he didn’t tell me everything. I been hanging on to try to learn everything before I came clean. KOC is coming into the modern era the way it should. I want to be someone who helps that. Not someone who hinders its natural progression.”

“Good on you, brother. We’ll let Stone know you stayed undercover and got away when you had all the information you could gather before it became dangerous.”

“You’d do that for me?” he asks.

“Brother, I been trying to save your drowning ass this whole time. Only reason I been around you and Dad the way I have recently.”

“Well, fuck,” Charm exclaims.

I chuckle. “Welcome to the sane side of life.” I pull out my phone.

“What’s up?” Shadow asks.

“We have a new development in that issue we were looking into.”

“Shit.”

“Can you talk?” I ask.

“Give me a second,” he says. I hear him walk away from the group of people talking. “All right, speak.”

“Charm just came to me and told me Scott and Brett are plants.”

“For who?” Shadow asks.

“White power.”

“Shit. By Mouth?” he asks.

“Who else? Said he got it in his mind to change the direction of the club, and knew he needed numbers.”

“Like two would do anything.”

“They plan on toppling Stone by force. He said he saw bombs being assembled yesterday.”

“Shit.”

“Yeah. He wants you to keep it on the low, so we can flush everyone out. He’s not sure who else is all involved.”

“Your old man doesn’t have many friends in the club, so it ain’t rocket science. Okay, where are you?”

“We’re all in L.A. He came down to meet us.”

“Okay, stay.”

The sound of a loud bang made me jump. “Shadow?”

“Fuck, gotta go, man.”

My stomach drops.

“What happened?” Dixie Rose was instantly at my side.

“I think the warning was too late. It sounded like a fucking bomb went off there,” I whisper, shell-shocked.

“Oh my God,” she whispers, covering her mouth.

“Come on, we need to get back.” Images of the club burning down while Stone bleeds out rock me to the core. This is everything I’ve ever known. I couldn’t imagine life any other way. Knowing my old man is the cause of it has me sick to my stomach.

Echo

I pull up and find the clubhouse in complete chaos. A bike I think was once Stone’s lies on its side, still smoldering and black. Pieces are scattered around it on the lot. A chalk outline of a body is roped off with yellow caution tape.

Fuck, did we lose Stone?
A prospect comes down to the gate and I pull inside with Charm right behind me. “What the fuck is going on?” I ask.

“Mark went to move Stone’s bike to clean it, and the shit blew up. Homemade bomb. Shadow’s been rounding people up ever since.”

“Shit,” I say stunned. “Is Stone okay?”

“He’s on a warpath, but unharmed,” the prospect replies.

“We on lock down?” I ask.

“Not yet,” he says.

I nod and pull into a parking space. We’re off the bike and inside, passing stunned members left and right. “Where’s my dad?”

“Shed,” someone whispers.

“Damn,” I mutter.

“I don’t think you want to interrupt him right now,” Whisper says quietly.

“Got to, brother. Come on, Charm.” I scan the area. “Wrench, come here.”

The lanky brother hurries over. “Yeah?”

“Watch Dixie Rose?”

“Yeah, man.” Wrench nods.

“I’ll come and get you when I’m done, babe,” I say.

She nods and walks away with Wrench.

I trust the brother and know she likes him, so he’s an easy fix. We make our way out to the shed out back and knock.

Wizard steps out. His eyes are dead and blood is splattered across his T-shirt and knuckles. “’Bout time you got here.”

“I know, we came as fast as we could,” I reply.

“Come inside.”

We walk in and my jaw drops. My father is a mass of bruises, blood, and swollen skin. My stomach churns.

Seated in chairs next to him are Scott and Brett.

“You fucking traitor,” my father hisses at Charm.

“What you wanted to do was wrong,” Charm states.

“Weak. The both of you,” Mouth sneers.

“Shut the fuck up,” Stone barks.

Shadow steps up and buries his fist into Mouth’s stomach.

“You try to bring this poisonous ass shit into my club, and take my place?” Stone shouts.

“You’ve gone astray, brother. You’ve forgotten what this club was founded on,” Mouth yells.

“No, you’re the one who never understood the foundation. It had nothing to do with hate, and everything to do with love, acceptance, and family. What the fuck are you doing? You broke all our rules because your boy is with Dixie Rose?”

“This club is going down the fucking toilet. At least I tried to do something,” Mouth counters.

“Right? Well, I did some digging on you, Mouth. I wondered why you hated black people so much. Trust me, I heard the bullshit about your father being shot in the store by a heroin addict. But it’s amazing the information money can buy.”

I glance at him, confused. “What are you talking about?”

“I bet you never did tell your boys the truth,” Stone says.

“Lies!” Mouth screams.

I glance over at Charm. “Do you know what this is about?”

“Not at all.”

“See…what you didn’t tell them was that the man who shot your
father
was more than a random man on heroine. He was the man your mother had an affair with. Your real father. Your real father was the black man who shot your old man. He wasn’t high, he was getting revenge, because your fake father wouldn’t let him have you.”

“No. That’s not true,” Mouth defends. The defeat in his eyes and the loss of conviction say the opposite.

My jaw drops. “You fucking hypocrite.”

“I’m not the mistakes my mother made! I was going to make damn sure you didn’t do the same,” Mouth growls.

“See, this is why we’re going to deliver you to the front door of your new friends. I’m sure white power will love to know they’ve had a snake in their fucking grass all this time. We’re going to bargain or they’ll never see their precious little princes again,” Stone says.

“Oh please…they’re ready to die for their cause, unlike you cowards,” Mouth responds.

Stone’s head snaps back as if he’d been punched. “Seems like he still has too much fight in him, Wizard.”

“Oh, I’ll shut him up, believe me.” Wizard stalks over and cocks back his fist. When he slams his hand into Mouth’s jaw, the sickening crack echo’s through the room.

My father’s strangled cry hurts my heart. I know he earned this, but it still aches.
I’m part black. No wonder I was so into D’Rose.
My head is reeling from the lies I’ve been told. He hated himself so much, he wanted to turn us into an extension of that animosity. I glance at my brother and see he looks as lost as I feel. Did we ever even know this man?

Stone turns his attention to us. “You boys know what has to happen next, right?”

I nod my head.

“You going to be able to stomach that?” Stone asks.

“Club first,” I say.

“Charm?” 

“I’m not sure I even know the person I’m looking at right now. No wonder he had us with a Spanish mother. I guess you figured she’d account for the tan and dark hair if we came out on that spectrum. I always wondered why you only hated black people. God, you preach about pride and honesty, and you’re nothing more than a sad ass liar, hating his own genetic make-up. You put us through hell, and damn near ruined Echo’s relationship for what? To feed some sick need inside of you?” Charm steps forward and spits at his feet. “This time, I’m the one disowning you. I’m ashamed today. I love you, but I hate what you decided to stand for and what you did to not just us, but the club you brought us up to love.”

I glance at the man in front of me, knowing this is the last time I’ll see him alive. “I’m sorry you let one aspect of your life ruin everything else. I can’t blame Mom for leaving you with the way you treated her, and how you warped our minds.” I shake my head. “Despite it all, I want you to know I don’t hate you. You showed me what that emotion can do to a person. I’m going to go on, marry D’Rose, have children, and never give you another thought.”

His eyes burn into me.

I step back. “I’m done here, Stone. You need me for anything else?”

“Nope,” Stone answers. “Little brother can tell us what we need to know.”

I walk out of the shed and into the clubhouse, scanning the crowd for D’Rose. My chest is tight and my eyes are burning from the effort to hold back the tears forming. I just said good-bye to the man who raised me. Misguided, broken, and horribly flawed, he was the only Dad I’ll ever know. I spot her playing pool with Wrench. I move up behind her and place a hand on her hip.

She looks up with a smile that fades quickly. “Thanks for the game, Wrench,” she says, setting down her pool stick.

I pull her to my side and guide her outside.

“What do you need?” she whispers.

“A good memory to replace the one I just gained.”

“Whatever you want to do, we’ll do.”

“I want to go to Vegas and get married the way we always said we would,” I say, shocking myself.

“Then let’s do it, babe.” Her grin lifts my heart.

“Yeah?”

“Fuck, yes,” she says.

I kiss her forehead and thank God for her. If she hadn’t called me that night of the party all those years ago, I’d be sitting there beside my dad out of some twisted form of loyalty.

“How about you let me take care of you? I’ll drive us there.”

I peer down at her and nod. My mind is too full of shit to focus on the road the way I need to right now. The ride away from the clubhouse is a somber one. I feel like I’m in a one man funeral procession.