Solo took a step back and crossed his arms over his chest. “And?”
“I found this.” Eric handed over the folder. “I think that’s the reason you hate cops.”
It took a few moments, but Solo eventually opened the file and flipped through several pages, his attention finally landing on a series of copied photos.
“He was a patrol officer.” Eric rubbed the back of his neck, uncomfortable laying out Solo’s family’s dirty laundry. “Evidently, he was having an affair with your mom. Your dad must have found out and confronted him.” He gestured to the picture. “He was discovered dead in an alley behind the apartment building where you lived at the time.”
Solo shook his head. “Yeah, I know who the guy is. My mom used to send me to the drugstore to buy candy on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons in the summer. I may’ve been young, but I wasn’t stupid.” He closed the file. “My father didn’t do this.”
Eric wanted to argue, wanted to tell his partner that the evidence said otherwise.
“My dad grew up in the life. If he killed this cop, he wouldn’t have left him out for someone to find.” Solo handed the file back to Eric. “If he’d done it, no one would’ve seen that cop again.”
Eric turned and stuffed the file in the box of shit from his desk. “Okay.”
“No, it’s not okay.” Solo pressed against Eric’s back, once again. “I need you to believe me.”
“I do,” Eric replied. “I’m just embarrassed I hadn’t thought of that. You’re right. Your dad would’ve done it differently. Unfortunately, I don’t think I can do anything about it now.”
“What about one of your friends still on the force?” Solo asked.
Eric’s heart broke at the hopeful tone of the biker’s voice. Even if he could have one of his ex-colleagues look into the death, they would probably come up with the same answer, not because it was the right one, but because it was the expected one. However, there was one person who might be interested in the mystery. “I could talk to Mr. Lee if you want. He’s retired, but he doesn’t have anything else to do.”
“We could help,” Solo corrected Eric. “We’re a team now, right?”
“Yeah.” Eric leaned his head back against Solo’s chest. “If it helps any, the cops never found your dad, so he’s probably out there somewhere living under a different name or something.”
Solo kissed Eric’s neck. “I don’t know if that makes me feel better or not. He just took off and left me with my drunk mother. What kind of dad does that?”
“The kind who’s running for his life, and doesn’t want to drag his son through the hell he’s probably living.” Eric turned and gave Solo a real kiss, despite what the neighbors might think. “One day we’ll find him and you can ask him yourself.”
Epilogue
Eight Months Later
“You sure I’m dressed okay?” Blue asked, looking down at his faded jeans and crisp white T-shirt.
“Don’t worry, you’ll fit right in.” Solo climbed onto his Harley, putting his back to Blue to hide his grin. When Blue had first come out of the bedroom dressed for the big pig roast at the club, he’d worn a pair of cut-off jeans shorts and flip-flops. Although Blue looked good enough to lick, Solo had to send him back into the bedroom to put on jeans and the boots Solo had given him for Christmas.
Solo waited while Blue carefully put his camera equipment into the bike’s saddlebag. It was the first club picnic of the summer, and he’d jumped through hoops to get Blue an invitation. He wasn’t worried about the gay thing even though he knew it would take some time for his brothers to get used to it. It was bringing Blue around them for the first time that had his nerves on edge. He felt Blue climb on behind him, and his muscles eased a bit.
Since moving in with Blue almost eight months earlier, Solo had become accustomed to the soothing effect Blue had on him. It didn’t seem to matter how shitty a day he’d had, he always felt better just walking through the front door.
“Go slow,” Blue said in Solo’s ear. “I had to bring the smaller camera case, and I don’t want anything broken.”
Solo turned his head to the side to look at Blue. “You can’t ride a Harley slow. That’s just fuckin’ wrong.”
Blue stared at Solo. “Did you or did you not tell everyone I’d be taking family pictures today?”
“I did.” Solo started the bike, hoping to drown out some of Blue’s bitching. He loved the man more than his own life, but he also liked it when Blue got pissed. The fire in Blue’s eyes when he was angry made Solo’s cock hard in an instant. A few arguments a week tended to keep their sex life exciting.
As Solo roared out of the driveway, a barely audible buzzing in his ear made him smile. Oh, yeah, Blue would be well fucked before the day was over.
* * * *
After handing Blue a beer, Solo left him to his work. He spotted Rowdy leaning against the side of the clubhouse in the shade and joined him. “Hey. You getting your picture taken?”
“With who? Nothing more depressing than a family picture of one,” Rowdy growled, drinking Jack straight from the bottle.
Solo mimicked Rowdy’s position against the wall. It was the first indication he’d ever received from Rowdy that his single status bothered him. Solo wondered if his apparent happiness with Blue had anything to do with his friend’s current mood. “I wouldn’t mind having a picture of the two of us together.”
Rowdy scowled. “I’m fine where I am.”
Solo noticed the direction of Rowdy’s scornful gaze. A tall leggy blonde with big tits stood next to Joker, the club’s Sergeant-at-Arms with Joker’s big hand resting comfortably on her gorgeous ass. “You know her?”
“Who?” Rowdy looked away from the blonde.
“Don’t give me that shit. Who’s tits over there?” Solo asked. He knew for a fact Joker and Rowdy had shared plenty of women in the past, so his best friend had to know the blonde’s name.
“Ruby. King’s daughter.”
Solo whistled. King Jensen was the Prez of the Salt Lake chapter of the Grave Diggers. “And he lets her hang out with Joker?”
Rowdy chuckled. “You gotta know Ruby. She has her old man wrapped around her little finger. Joker met her when he went to Salt Lake last month. Evidently, he assured King his intentions were honorable, and although King didn’t buy it at first, Ruby must’ve talked him into it because she showed up three days ago.”
“Have you fucked her?” Solo asked a moment before a fist slammed into his jaw. “Motherfucker!” he gave Rowdy a push. “All you had to fuckin’ say was no.”
Rowdy shook his head and walked off, leaving Solo to wonder what the hell had just happened. He and Rowdy talked about the women he shared all the time, and it had never been an issue. Solo rubbed his jaw and returned his attention to Ruby and Joker. Maybe Joker wasn’t willing to share such a fine piece of ass. That would make any man angry, especially a man like Rowdy.
“Hey,” Blue said, coming up beside Solo. “What was that all about?”
“To be honest, I’m not really sure.” Solo rested his hand on the small of Blue’s back. “You finished?”
“For now.” Blue bumped his side against Solo. “I overheard one of the women saying they didn’t have enough paper plates, so I volunteered us to get them.”
“You what? Let one of the old ladies get ‘em.” Solo couldn’t believe Blue had volunteered for the duty. The men of the club were in charge of cooking the meat, nothing more.
“Come on. I feel bad enough because we didn’t bring any of the food. The least we can do is take a ride and pick up some damn paper plates.”
Solo had no idea where Blue was coming from. “You just spent the last three fucking hours taking pictures. Don’t you think you’ve done enough?”
“I want them to like me,” Blue mumbled.
Solo took a deep breath. It meant everything to him that Blue felt that way, but if he did what his partner asked, he’d be setting a precedent. He looked down at Blue to tell him no and was met by those big fucking blue eyes.
Hell.
He couldn’t say no when Blue gave him that look.
Compromise
, he reminded himself as he dug a set of keys out of his pocket. “How about you take the Nova and pick up the plates?”
Blue snatched the keys out of Solo’s hand. “Thanks.”
“Be careful,” Solo hollered as Blue took off at a jog. It would be the first time he’d let anyone besides Rowdy drive his baby. It had sucked that Blue’s driveway wasn’t deep enough to store the Nova and leave room for Solo to work on his bike, so he’d left it parked in its usual spot at the club. Someday, he’d promised himself he’d extend the driveway and maybe add a garage, but that was down the road another six months to a year.
Solo lifted his hand as Blue pulled out. The other brothers all turned to stare at Solo, obviously wondering if he’d lost his damn mind. Yeah, he reckoned he had. With a groan, he went in search of another beer. He needed to find Rowdy and work shit out.
* * * *
“You’re full of shit.” Solo couldn’t stop laughing at Crane’s story. Unable to find Rowdy, Solo had taken a spot at one of the long picnic tables.
“I swear to God.” Crane held up a hand. “There I was, trying to do a good thing by helping the old bitch across the street and she fucking slams me in the head with her purse,” he continued. He pointed to a small scar next to his right eye. “Fuckin’ buckle messed me up.”
A loud crash cut through the laughter, making everyone stop and look toward the street.
“Fuck!” Solo yelled as he took off toward the end of the drive. Struck from behind, the Nova had barreled into one of the brick pillars. From the look of it, the car that had rear-ended Blue had to have been going well over the forty-five mile per hour speed limit.
“Blue!” Solo reached the Nova minutes before his brothers surrounded the other car. He yanked on the door handle, trying like hell to get to his man, who was slumped forward with his head against the steering wheel. As much as he loved the older cars for their solid construction, he hated that they didn’t come with airbags. Unable to get the driver’s door open, he ran around to the passenger side.
“Hang on, Blue.” Solo climbed headfirst into the car. Blood oozed from Blue’s nose and forehead where it rested on the steering wheel.
Fuck.
Solo’s hands shook as he carefully put his fingers against the side of Blue’s neck, searching for a pulse. When he felt the beats against the pads of his fingers, tears began to fall from his eyes.
“Get an ambulance!” Solo screamed out the passenger door.
“Shhh.”
Solo spun around and saw a big blue eye looking straight at him. “Blue. Don’t move.”
“I’m so sorry,” Blue mumbled. “I was trying to be so careful with your car.”
“Fuck the car.” Solo pulled a bandana out of the glove box and wiped the blood from Blue’s forehead before it could drip into his eye. “I need you to stay still until an ambulance gets here.”
“I’m fine. Just a little woozy.”
“You’re not fine. You hit your head.” Solo held the bandana against the cut on Blue’s forehead. “Where’s that fucking ambulance?”
“On its way,” Rowdy said, moving to lean against the open door. “How’s he doing?”
Solo shook his head. “I don’t know.” He nodded toward the other car. “Tell the brothers to go back to the clubhouse if they have weapons on them. There’s no need for anyone of them to get involved in this shit because you know the cops’ll show up before the ambulance.”
Rowdy chuckled. “You should know better than that, but I’ll send the old ladies back with any hardware.”
Solo gestured to the other car. “Anyone seriously hurt?”
Rowdy shook his head. “He’s drunk. You know drunks never get hurt.” He nodded at Blue. “Your man’s looking better.”
Solo turned back to Blue. “I told you to stay still.”
“I’m fine. Just knocked my head.” Blue lifted the bottom of his T-shirt and wiped the blood from his nose. “Fucker broke my nose.” He tilted his head back against the seat. “Oh, God, I think I’m gonna throw up.” He pushed against Solo’s chest. “Move!”
Solo scrambled out of the car as he eased Blue to the passenger seat. “It doesn’t matter. Just fuckin’ puke if you need to. I told you, fuck the car.”
“No.” With his chest on the seat, Blue stuck his head out of the car and emptied the contents of his stomach.
Solo did what he could until the medics pushed him out of the way. He stumbled back, feeling helpless. Loud voices drew his attention to his brothers. Two patrol cars had pulled up with the ambulance and the officers were doing their best to get the Grave Diggers away from the driver who’d struck the Nova. It seemed the man had locked himself inside, and was refusing to open the door for the cops.
Shit.
Solo knew if he didn’t step in, all his brothers would be going to jail instead of eating homemade pie and ice cream. “It’s okay,” he said to Switch. “It looks like Blue’s going to be okay.” He stared at one of the cops. “I’d suggest you get that piece of shit out of here.”
The young policeman nodded as he glanced at the crowd of tattooed bikers. “Yeah.”
“Why don’t you step back so they can take that fucker to jail?” Solo asked his brothers. He appreciated the way his brothers had automatically shifted into protective mode for Blue’s sake. It made him feel good to know he was slowly earning back some of the ground he’d lost when he’d come out to the club about his relationship with Blue.