Strays (Red Kings #1) (10 page)

14

April 30
th

Jackie pulled the door to the clubhouse open and stepped inside, rolling her eyes at the sight that met her. It was no wonder Tyler hadn't come home last night. He was currently lying on the pool table half-naked with a blond girl on top of him. There was a pair of bikers that she didn't recognize on the bar with a few ladies of their own. TJ was on the couch with a girl and Ian was on the floor with three. The rest of the club members seemed to have been coherent enough to make it back to their own rooms. Beer bottles, glasses, and red plastic cups littered every available surface along with pizza boxes and plates. She let out a sigh as she shook her head.

Maneuvering her way through the bodies on the floor, Jackie headed to the small kitchen off to the side of the main room. She turned on the large, ten-cup coffee maker, knowing the guys would definitely need it when they woke up. She then grabbed a trash bag from under the sink and tried to pick up around the bar. She tossed the bottles in the recycling bin tucked almost out of sight and took the glasses to the sink. None of the room's inhabitants seemed to even register her presence as they continued sleeping.

Heavy footfalls from the hallway alerted her to a rousing club member heading in her direction. To her surprise, it was Luke, the charter's president, who was putting on his cut as he slowly walked into the room. He stopped when he saw her, then shook his head and continued into the kitchen.

Jackie had spent the least amount of time around Luke. She found him to be the most intimidating of the group. He was never more than civil to her and she thought he might not like her hanging around. She had seen him laugh and joke around with the guys a few times and had to say he looked almost nice in those moments, normal even. A man in his late forties, he was of regular height and build, with no hair on his head but plenty on his face. She would go as far as to say that, sans the cut, Luke could pass as any other man that hadn’t even seen a motorcycle in his life. When his cold and calculating blue eyes would land on her though, all she wanted to do was run and hide. She shivered involuntarily just thinking about it.

He came back out, a large mug in hand, and leaned against the frame of the door. “Thanks for putting the coffee on,” Luke said quietly, watching her with an inquisitive eye.

She tucked her dark hair behind her ear and looked nervously to the floor. She was pretty sure this was the first one-on-one conversation they'd ever had. “I figured you guys would need it.”

He nodded, then motioned to the garbage bag in her hands. “You don't have to do that,” he said, his deep voice carrying lowly across the room. “We got prospects for that shit.”

“I don't mind. I've been picking up after Tyler and his friends for years.”

He watched her critically and she shifted under his gaze, moving past him and into the kitchen. “Ya know,” he said thoughtfully, turning around to follow her with his eyes. “You've been nothing but trouble for me since the first time you set foot in this clubhouse.”

She turned quickly to look at him, shock registering on her face. “Excuse me?”

“You're a sweet girl, Jackie. What the hell are you doing hanging around a place like this?” She stood stock-still, trying to form words, but failing. “And this thing that you have going on with Dean? You do realize it'll only end in disaster, right? He's not the settling down type. He's not gonna give you a ring. You guys aren't gonna buy a tiny dog together. When he gets bored, he will leave you for his next hookup.”

Silence filled the room as both parties stared intensely at each other. Jackie leaned back against the counter behind her and tried to comprehend what he was saying. Sure, people had told her not to get involved with Dean in the past, but she thought that her and the biker's relationship was common knowledge by now. Everyone knew that they had something, some unnamed thing, going on. Even the skanky girls that hung around at parties hardly bothered him anymore. She thought that everyone had finally accepted her being in this world after all this time.

“Look sweetheart, I'm not saying this to make you cry or anything. I just don't want a nice girl like you to get mixed up with a guy like Dean. He will hurt you at some point, guaranteed. Just ask all of the girls that have been pining after him for years.” He sighed as he looked at her one last time. “Thanks again for the coffee.”

With that, he turned and walked out of the kitchen, barking at the slumbering bikers to wake up and get to work. Jackie was left leaning against the counter in complete shock at having found out that the Macon charter president didn't approve of her hanging around the club. She sniffed back tears and tried to shake it off as she heard loud voices coming from the main room.

“Coffee! I smell coffee!” TJ yelled, barreling into the kitchen in very little clothing. He completely ignored Jackie as he grabbed hastily for a mug.

As he was pouring himself a cup, Ian stumbled in looking a bit worse for wear. “Well, good morning beautiful,” he said with a hint of a slur, winking at Jackie as he tried to stay upright.

Jackie grinned at the playboy as he passed her on the way to the coffee pot, her original purpose for coming to the clubhouse overshadowing the previous conversation. “I need someone to fix my truck,” she said, looking expectantly at the pair. Both men rolled their eyes and left the kitchen, coffee in hand. She followed after them quickly with a sigh, noting that the room had been vacated of all its previous occupants. “Guys,” she drawled out with a whine. “It's making a funny clicking noise when I get above twenty five.”

“Then I guess you'll just have to drive slow,” TJ said grumpily as he threw himself onto the couch and closed his eyes. Ian sat down gingerly next to him and grinned up at her with a shrug.

“But I don't wanna drive slow.” She groaned as they continued to ignore her, throwing her hands in the air in defeat.

“Why don't you go wake Dean up?” TJ mumbled, not bothering to open his eyes. “I'm sure he'd be more than happy to help.”

“I wouldn't do that if I were you,” said a deep voice from behind them. A surprisingly sober Mack entered the room looking quite awake. “I think he drank a whole bottle of tequila last night.” He walked up to the small, pouting woman and slipped an arm around her shoulders. “What's wrong, darlin'? These boys givin' you a hard time?”

“My truck is making this weird clicking noise and I need someone to fix it. These idiots-” she kicked TJ's legs from their position on the coffee table, causing him to curse, “-are too hungover to do anything at the moment.”

The pair on the couch mumbled incoherently as they tried to go back to sleep. Mack only laughed and began to lead her outside. “C'mon, let's go have a look at it.” He stopped long enough to yell for Taco to get his ass outside, then they exited the building.

Thirty minutes later, after Taco had finally managed to back Jackie's truck into the garage, Mack had successfully determined the source of the clicking noise and set the prospect to work fixing it. Jackie was now leaning against the front of the vehicle talking to Taco as he replaced the faulty parts.

A soft growl and a set of hands on her sides alerted her to Dean entering the garage. She giggled as he kissed his way down her neck, his hands trailing up her body. “You just woke up, how could you be horny already?”

“You know I love it when you wear those shorts,” he whispered as he turned her around and captured her lips.

“Yep, don't mind me. I'll just pretend I can't see you guys,” Taco muttered under his breath, causing Dean to flip him the bird. “Oh, that's real nice.” Dean lifted Jackie up and moved to set her on top of the counter.

“What the hell did I tell you guys about doing that shit in the garage?” Luke yelled, stomping into view with a scowl on his face.

Dean groaned and set Jackie back on the ground. She blushed and tried to hide behind the man in front of her, remembering all too clearly the conversation she had had with the charter president less than an hour ago. Dean grinned wickedly at his friend and leaned down to Jackie's level, whispering loud enough for Luke to hear. “He didn't say anything about not fucking behind the garage.”

Luke glared at the pair while Jackie gasped, slapping Dean on the chest. “We will do no such thing.” Dean laughed and picked Jackie up once again, this time throwing her over his shoulder. She squealed and slapped at his back, demanding that he put her down. He began walking out of the garage and Jackie gave up her fight. “At least the view is good from back here.”

Rolling his eyes at their antics, Luke turned and saw Taco watching them with a smile. “What are you looking at? Get back to work.” Taco cleared his throat and nodded before returning to the car parts.

Dean and his cargo made their way through the clubhouse, receiving a few knowing smiles and whistles. Jackie waved upside down at Nash, who merely shook his head. As they entered Dean's room, he tossed her on the bed as he had done countless times in the past ten months.

The events proceeded as they normally did, with clothing flying to the floor and the sounds of pleasure filling the air. But it was somewhere in the middle of this routine occurrence that the most unlikely of things happened.

Jackie began to cry.

She began to sob hysterically, causing Dean to shoot up in surprise. He looked around rapidly for the source of her tears and, finding nothing, he looked at her in worry. “What? Did I hurt you?” This seemed to only make her crying louder and more violent. He moved off of her and situated himself on the edge of the bed, afraid to touch her for fear of making it worse. “Jack? What's wrong?” He had no idea what to do and no idea what had caused this sudden outburst. He also had no idea how to handle it.

“Everything is wrong!” she shouted between sobs, pushing herself into a sitting position. “Your friends hate me, my only friend loves you, and I don't fit in here!” She began wailing and Dean tried to shush her, which only made it worse.

“Maybe I should go get Tyler,” he said hesitantly and tried to stand from the bed.

“And now you want to leave me! Oh, everything is so wrong! I'm gonna be sick.” She pulled the covers over her head and curled into a ball. Dean stood with wide eyes, trying to figure out what the hell was going on.

“Definitely going to get Tyler.” He turned and quickly fled the room, shutting the door behind him. He paused in the hallway and shook his head, wondering if he was just dreaming. But a sharp wail from behind the wooden door told him he was indeed awake.

He jogged into the main room to a round of comments about his previous activities. “That was quick, bro. Losing your touch?” Murphy asked with a laugh. Dean ignored him and walked straight to Tyler, grabbing him by the back of the shirt and dragging him down the hall. “I didn't know you were into threesomes with guys, Dean!” the blonde shouted after them with a laugh, frowning slightly when it evoked no reaction from his friend.

“What the hell, Dean? I'm really not interested in joining you two.” Tyler looked up cautiously, wondering what the man would need him for at this exact moment.

“I need you to go in there and fix Jackie.”

Tyler stared at him blankly for a few seconds, then replied, “I'm sorry, what?”

Dean rolled his eyes at the prospect's lack of understanding and tried to explain again. “She just started bawling her eyes out and I have no fucking clue what to do. I need you to go fix it.”

The shorter man snickered and crossed his arms. “Maybe you're just not as good as you used to be. You are getting a bit old. Ow!” Dean smacked him across the back of the head and shoved him towards the door. “Alright, alright. I'm going.”

He carefully opened the door and was greeted with silence. “Jackie?” he asked softly, poking his head into the room and looking around. When he didn't see her, he turned back to Dean, who motioned for him to continue his journey inside. Tyler rolled his eyes and stepped in, then shut the door behind him. In the quiet of the room, he could now hear the water running in the bathroom and walked towards it. “Jack?” he asked again, louder this time. “I'm coming in.” He turned the knob and braced himself, then entered the room hesitantly. What he found surprised him.