Nasty Bastard (Grim Bastards MC Book 4) (11 page)

Closing my eyes, I think back over the years. Instead of focusing on my time with Layton, my mind goes to the day I found out I was pregnant. Suddenly, I remember holding a tiny Parker for the first time and a million of other firsts with my son. None of that, not one damn thing, would have been possible if I’d stayed here with Layton. Richard may have helped me make Parker, but Smoke gave me the chance to have him. After all these years of anger and pain, I have to forgive him.

A knock on the door pulls me from my thoughts, reminding me once again to live in the present. “Come in.”

It’s only a second before the door is opened and Trix pokes her head in. I nearly shout at my gratitude for her interrupting my trip down memory lane. Instead, I smile and say, “Come in and stay for a while.”

“Guess you’re lonely, huh?” She laughs as she walks further into the room. “I thought I’d come keep you company for a little while.”

“It gets boring here with nothing to do but sleep. I swear, I’m going to go crazy with nothing but my thoughts for company,” I say, pushing myself up in the bed.

She nods her agreement before walking over and sitting in the chair by the bed. “Yeah, I’m sure it does. Tomorrow, maybe you can at least get out of the bed for a little while.”

Just the thought of getting up for something other than the bathroom fills me with excitement. “Honestly, I feel a little better already. I’m sore as all get out, but it’s not as bad as it was when I woke up the first time.”

It’s true; I’m already feeling quite a bit better. I’m not healed by any means, but I can wiggle without crying, so that has to be a good thing. I think walking around the room would do me a world of good, maybe make me heal faster. Granted, it may be the two pain pills Trix gave me earlier talking.

“Addy is gonna bring Parker and Cam up after they eat. Watching Parker run around here for a bit will surely be the best medicine for you.” She laughs, and the thought of it makes me laugh as well. “I’ve never seen a kid with so much energy. He runs a mile a minute, until he passes out from pure exhaustion.”

I smile at the thought of my son running around the clubhouse, just like I used to do. All the club kids had free reign around here during the day. We spent hours playing hide and go seek, tag, and anything else we could think of. All the brothers watched over the kids, even joined our games from time to time. They treated us like we were their own. Hell, the brothers showed me more affection than my father ever did.

Trying to stay focused on Trix, I say, “He’s always been like that. That’s how I’ve been staying in shape the past few years. Who needs a gym when you have a rambunctious child to keep up with?”

“I can imagine running after him would be quite a work out. He hasn’t been here a whole twenty-four hours yet, and I feel like I’ve ran a couple of marathons.” Trix lays her head back on the chair and closes her eyes.

I hate to interrupt her quiet moment, but I have something that needs to be said while we’re alone. “Trix, I want to apologize again for the things my dad and brother did to you. I know there wasn’t anything I could’ve done to prevent it, but still, I feel bad. Not just for you and what happened to you, but for everyone that was involved.”

“Hold on. I wanna stop you right there,” she says, holding her hand up. “You don’t have one fucking thing to apologize for.”

“But, they—” I start, but she cuts me off with a shake of her head.

“You didn’t have anything to do with it, not one fucking thing. No matter if they were your family or not, that doesn’t mean shit to me. You can’t pick your family any more than I can, but you can pick your friends. We don’t really know each other yet, but I’ve always been a good judge of character. I feel like you would be a great friend, and I hope you feel the same way about me.”

As soon as the words come out of her mouth, I feel the tears come to my eyes. Relief pours through me as any lingering guilt leaves my soul. At the same time, hope squeezes its way into my heart. Being friends with Trix, Addy too, would be amazing.

“I never had many friends growing up. There were the other club kids, and we all played together. Shelia and Cherry were the only other girls though. They were both younger than me, so we were friends but not the best of friends,” I tell her with a shake of my head and a smile on my face. “You may have to teach me how this friendship thing works.”

“I can do that.” She cocks her head to the side and asks, “What about the kids at school? Weren’t you friends with any of them?”

With Dad coming in and out of the house, always pissed about something, I knew better than to bring anyone home. The few friends I made at school always shied away from me when their parents discovered who my dad was. It just seemed easier to keep to myself than deal with the constant let down.

“With a dad like Stone, it wasn’t easy making friends,” I reply, knowing she will understand my meaning. “When I started college and was finally away from him, I was too focused on getting my education to worry about friends.”

“So you’ve never had anybody?” she asks, her voice full of concern.

“I had Layton.” The words pop out of my mouth before I can even consider the meaning behind them.

She smiles. “Yeah, but Smoke’s definitely not a chick, so it’s not the same. Every girl needs a best girlfriend to share her secrets with. I don’t know what I would’ve done without Addy by my side.”

My thoughts go to the ladies who’ve called themselves my friends over the last few years. Each and every one of them were wives of Richard’s buddies. We all hung out together, went shopping, and had playdates for our kids, stupid shit like that. That all ended when my husband found someone new.

“I thought I had a few friends when I was married. I was wrong though. When the divorce happened, they all turned their backs on me,” I say, hoping like hell she doesn’t hear the pain of their betrayal in my voice.

Just as she opens her mouth to say something, a phone starts ringing. Jerking my head to the other side of the bed, I notice my phone is laying on the nightstand. “I wonder who the hell brought it to me?”

Trix shrugs as I pick the phone up, see Lettie’s name on the screen, and bring it to my ear. “Hello.”

No hello, no how are you, nothing. Lettie just starts to scream. “Why didn’t you call me? What the hell were you thinking, Gidget? You know I would’ve come home to take care of you and Parker.”

“I’m sorry,” I start, but she doesn’t even stop to listen.

She continues to rant as I look over to Trix and mouth,
Lettie is pissed.

Trix smiles and stands up, heading toward the door. “Good luck with that.”

Smoke

The entire way to Stone’s house, my mind is occupied with thoughts of Parker. It’s hard, damn near kills me, to know that Gidget had a kid with someone else. Then, I remember the feel of his little arms wrapped around my legs, and I start to forget that he has a father out there somewhere and start making plans for our future as a family.

The biggest question is, where is the fucker? If my woman, even an ex, and my kid moved to another damn state, I’d be checking up on them. As far as I know, he hasn’t even tried to call her. What kind of father is that? I fucked up huge when I pushed Gidget away, but there is no damn way I’d let my child go.

I shake off the thoughts of Gidget’s dickhead ex as we pull into Stone’s driveway. When my eyes land on the porch, thoughts of what that fucker did to my woman fill my head. My heart beat increases, banging painfully against my chest, as thoughts of what he didn’t do push their way into my mind. She’s lucky; I’m lucky. Hell, we all are lucky the son of a bitch didn’t rape or kill her.

Cutting off the engine, I climb off my bike and try to push the image of her broken and violated body out of my mind. “We need to get some boys out here to mow this fucking yard before the town condemns the house. Last thing we want is for the government to get their hands on this place.”

“Yeah, we do.” He nods as he climbs from his bike. “I’ll have some prospects come by tomorrow and get started. Hopefully, a lawnmower will do it. If not, they might have to bring the brush hog over here.”

Brew points toward a rusted out truck sitting on blocks in the front yard. “We need to get someone out here to pull that piece of shit to the clubhouse. You never know what we could find inside of it.”

My mind goes to Hack’s advice about hiding things in plain sight, and I nod my head. “Yeah, I’ll call Dad. He and Rocky can bring it in and search it.”

The conversation dies as we walk toward the house. Once inside, Boz turns to look at Brew and me. “Mom said she and my aunt Sierra came over and cleaned the place up before Gidget got here. She didn’t see shit but trash and dirty dishes.”

Part of me is still angry as fuck that Lettie didn’t tell me Gidget was coming back. If she had told me, I would’ve been here, and Gidget wouldn’t be hurt right now. There’s another part, a very fucking selfish part, that is glad. As things are, she doesn’t have a choice but to stay at the club and let me protect her. I just hope that gives me enough time to make her fall in love with me again.

“When Hack and I walked in, the smell of cleaning supplies nearly knocked our asses out. I’m guessing Gidget did a little cleaning of her own,” I tell them, trying to focus on the situation at hand. “If she would’ve found anything, she would’ve handed it over to Torch before he beat the fuck out of her.”

Brew turns his head my way and asks, “Are you sure she didn’t do just that? If she gave it to him, that would explain why he left her breathing.”

I take a step forward, ready to knock him on his ass, but he puts up his hand and says, “I’m not talking shit about your woman. I’m talking about the fact she’s Stone’s daughter, and I don’t know a damn thing about her. From what I hear, you don’t know much anymore either. Are you sure she’s trustworthy, or are you just hoping so, so you can get your dick wet.”

My fingers itch to reach out and knock him to the ground for even questioning what Gidget told us. Still, I keep myself in check and my hands at my side. He isn’t asking anything I wouldn’t ask if I was in his shoes. Knowing me, I probably wouldn’t have been so damn nice. I would have just called his woman a lying bitch.

“Yes, we can trust her. She’s not a fucking thing like her dad,” I growl out, pulling in a deep breath. “She’s not lying. Gidget’s looking for any excuse to get away from me. If she wasn’t so damn worried about Torch getting his hands on her or her son, she’d tell me whatever she had to say to get out of the club.”

“I trust Gidget, and that’s all that fucking matter’s right now.” Boz steps between us, obviously understanding how close I am to taking Brew.

We stay silent for a few seconds, before we go our own way and start searching. Room by room, we tear apart furniture, pull up old carpet, and cut through sheetrock. Still, there’s nothing useful to be found.

I end up spending most of my time in Gidget’s old room. Instead of searching for the information we need, my mind gets lost in the memories of the time she and I spent here together. When I stumble upon a box of old pictures in her closet, I carry it to the bed and sit down, forgetting all about the search.

Each photo I pull out brings up a new memory. The first is of all us club kids; even my sisters are in the picture. We’re posing for Gidget’s mom, wearing goofy smiles on our faces, at her eleventh birthday party. The next is Boz and I. It was taken right after high school graduation. We are both sporting a blue cap and gown, looking proud as fuck. Finally, I find one of just Gidget and me.

It was taken right after I got my first bike, a rusted out low boy. I’m sitting on the bike, with Gidget standing beside me. Her long black hair is down to her ass, which is covered by a pair of tight daisy dukes. One of her hands is on my chest, the other in my hair, while she whispers something in my ear. Even in the picture, I can see the smile of anticipation in my eyes. Fuck, how I miss those days.

I pick up the pictures to put them back in the box, when I see something that makes me drop them back to the bed. Reaching inside the box, I pull out the ring I gave Gidget when I asked her to marry me. I have mixed emotions, looking at the small ring in my hand. I’m relieved that she kept it, even if it’s in a box at a house she never hoped to come back to. On the other hand, I’m pissed that I ever gave her a reason to take it off, when I told her that I never would.

“I think I found something,” Brew shouts from the kitchen, drawing my attention back to the present.

It takes a second for me to put all the pictures in the box and put them back in the closet. Slipping the ring in my pocket, I leave Gidget’s room behind. I walk to the kitchen and see Brew standing at the table. Papers, mostly past due bills, are scattered over the top of it. I take it all in, wondering what the fuck he has found.

“What did you find?” Boz asks, as he walks into the room. “Hope it’s good, because I didn’t find shit.”

“Stone has an industrial sized storage unit, paid up to the end of the year,” Brew says, lifting his hand to show us a slip of paper that reads Redtop’s Easy Storage. “Don’t you think it’s fucking strange that he didn’t give a shit if anything else got paid or not, but he made sure this was paid in advance?”

Boz and I both nod as Brew goes on. “What’s even more fucked up is the fact that this place is in Clarksville. Why the hell would he keep a storage unit there, nearly a fucking hour away, when we have three places in Trenton? Especially when you consider we found the guns he stole at the one he rents here in town.”

“I want you two on the road,” Boz says, not bothering to answer his question. “Get down there and find out what the hell he was hiding. Do what you got to do, but get in that unit and find out what the bastard was hiding.”

I nod, letting him know his orders will be followed. “While we’re there, I’m thinking we should stop by and talk to the Saints MC. Clarksville’s held tight by that club. There isn’t shit going on in that town they don’t know about.”

“Yeah, go in easy, but make sure they know you aren’t scared of doing what you need to do,” Boz says, turning to walk away. “I don’t care if it means war with the Saints. Find out what they knows.”