Taming Crow (Hells Saints Motorcycle Club) (13 page)

“Bambi’s pregnant,” Jules said without preamble.

Crow sputtered, coughed and began to choke on his beer. Jules chuckled and hit his brother hard on the back. Twice.

“You haven’t even been here five minutes and you’re gonna lead with that? No glove, no love, Brother. What’s the matter with you?” Crow managed to swallow and used the back of his hand to wipe his eyes.

“You the poster child for Planned Parenthood now?” Jules leaned back in the chair and relaxed his heels in the sawdust of Crow’s newly gutted living room.

Crow held his hands up in surrender and conceded. “There’s been a time or two I wasn’t as careful as I shoulda been. But Bambi? Jesus. Just for disease control alone, man, you should've double wrapped. That bitch has been itching to be owned since forever. The kid could be anybody's.”

“Yeah. My fucking thoughts exactly. She swore it was mine though, so I sent her on up to see Doc Gideon. Then I showed up at the appointment. The woman almost lost her lunch when she saw me. That's when I knew. Due date doesn’t line up. She lied about how many months pregnant she is. Kid ain’t mine. I had to get away before I killed her for pulling that shit.” Jules took another hit of the beer.

“Dodged a bullet, Brother.” Crow got up to grab two more beers.

Jules grunted and Crow turned around to look sharply at him. Jules was Viking-blond, built like a killing machine and had a badass scar that cut is face at an angle that the chicks seemed to dig.

“Don’t even tell me you got a thing for Bambi, man.”

“Fuck no.” Jules shuddered.

“Didn’t mind the idea of having a kid so much, though,” he added after a pause.

“No shit?” Crow arched an eyebrow.

“No shit. Surprised the fuck out of me too. But yeah, I wouldn’t mind leaving something behind to carry on. Know what I’m saying?” Jules answered.

“Yeah. I get it.” Crow thought about the little boy next door. Then he paused and gave Jules a sidelong look. “How much longer is Glory gonna be in Maryland?” Crow tried to sound as if he’d only just thought of it.

“Who the fuck knows?” Jules shot back.

Crow knew that he had to tread lightly with the subject of Glory Thomas. Jules was not a kiss-and-tell kind of guy—Crow was never sure what had happened between them. But Crow knew that Glory’s leaving had changed Jules. A lot. And not for the better.

Glory had left town over a year ago after a Marine notification team had shown up at the compound with word that her brother Hal had been severely wounded. Once the news reached her, Glory had left immediately to join her brother at the military medical facility in Germany. Crow didn’t think anyone was quite sure of all the details, but he knew that Hal hadn’t been expected to survive the roadside bomb. When her brother was eventually moved to Walter Reed, Glory moved there to be with him. As far as Crow knew, no one had seen her since.

For a while, Jules and Glory had what seemed to be a pretty good thing going on. But that good thing had fallen apart a few weeks before the shit went down with Glory’s brother. To hear Jules tell it, the woman woke up one morning and left Jules without a backward glance. Crow had always liked Glory and figured there was more to the story than that. He thought it might be time to take another shot at making his friend see reason.

“That’s gotta suck for her. Hal stuck at Walter Reed and Glory stuck out there with him. Can’t be easy being alone and dealing with that shit,” Crow said.

“Yeah well, she made her choice to be alone. Anyway, she's thinking of coming back. Prosper, without fucking consulting me, offered them the place at the lake once Hal is done with Reed,” Jules ground out.

“Last time I checked, Brother, the boss don’t need to consult with anybody,” Crow observed.

“Not my point. In this fucking case…”

“So you got a problem with Glory and Hal coming back?” Crow lit up a smoke.

“Well, safe to say I don't spend a lot of my time exploring feelings for the bitch who left me. And when it comes right down to it, Hal's not a bad motherfucker. The shit he's been through? I wouldn't wish it on my worst. This club goes deep with me just like it does with you. But I was a Marine first and that makes Hal my brother, too. So yeah. I'm okay with him coming back and doing his rehab at the lake. I don't give a fuck if she comes along,” Jules snorted.

Then he gave Crow a sudden grin.

“Remember that goddamn night? Five guns pointed at the motherfucker and he didn’t even break a sweat. Almost snapped my neck. Got my own back, though. Sent him back to base with at least two cracked ribs.”

“Yeah. Hal’s definitely a cocky bastard. I’m still scratching my head trying to figure out how nobody died that night. I was itching to put a bullet in that motherfucker myself. Then out of nowhere comes Glory announcing in that damn come-fuck-me voice of hers that Hal was her brother. Can't make that shit up.” 

“Yeah, that sure as hell was some strange. The woman had steel balls standing between those nine millimeters and her blood. Never met anyone like her. Damn voice still haunts me.
”
Jules's eyes softened.

“You gonna reach out?” Crow asked him.

“Not even a question, Brother. Glory closed the door on that the day she walked away from me without a backward fucking glance.” His eyes turned hard now.

Jesus. This again.

“That how you still see it?” Crow asked.

“That’s how it was,” Jules answered.

Crow raised an eyebrow.

“What?” Jules looked at that eyebrow. “How. It. Fucking. Was.”

“Just sayin’ Brother. You not feelin’ Glory working for Gianni’s crew, then cock-slamming Bambi right under her nose. How many choices do you think that left your woman?” Crow asked reasonably.

“Yeah, well, maybe we could have worked all that out. And none of that bullshit changes the fact that she left.” Jules’s face twisted with a thousand angry thoughts.

“Brother, she was escorted out by a two-man Marine notification team,” Crow pointed out.

“Yeah, I know. I was fucking there. And she made the choice to face that alone,” Jules repeated stubbornly.

Resolute stupid bastard.

“So you gonna give Prosper shit about offering up the lake house to them?”

“Naw. Like I said bitch comes back, she comes back. That has nothing to do with me.”

Jules said it like he meant it, and Crow decided to leave it alone.

“So another girl for D and Raine?”

“Yeah. It’s all good, man. Prosper tell you what Raine named the baby?
Patience
. Ironic, ain’t it? Hearing that roll off Diego’s tongue through the years is gonna be damn pretty. You think Raine is getting back some of her own for the hell the intolerant fuck puts her through?” Jules grinned.

“Payback. Definitely payback.” Crow grinned back.

“So you gonna show me around?” Jules got up from the makeshift table that Crow had put up in the middle of the room.

For the next hour or so the two outlaw brothers walked through the house. Crow shared his blueprints and Jules gave him feedback. They moved through the rooms, talking about angles, beams and different grains of wood. Then Jules looked out the window of the upstairs bedroom and discovered the view it gave Crow into Melissa's cottage. Jules looked at Crow and raised an eyebrow.

“Do I wanna know?”

“Not intentional,” Crow growled defensively.

“Is this is one of those fucking times when we both pretend that we don’t know you’re lying? Brother, you cut out a window that looks directly into her house. How can that be a mistake?” Jules raised a brow.

When Crow didn’t answer him, Jules continued.

“So you unwrapped that yet? Put that goddamn light back in her eyes? The picture was hot, man. Nothing I like more than a challenge.” Jules was definitely enjoying himself.

“You are one messed-up dude,” Crow snorted.

“Don’t I know it. So, you tapping that, or am I free to have at her while I’m here?” Jules passed Crow a lit joint.

“It’s not like that. And stay the fuck away from her,” Crow drew deep.

Jules raised an eyebrow at the warning.

“It’s complicated, Brother,” Crow shrugged.

“Christ. I hear ya. Every single one worth anything is complicated. What happened to good old simple pussy?” Jules squinted through the curling smoke. “How she feel about the patch?”

Crow hesitated.

“She don’t know jack about what that means, Brother. No clue about the colors, the life. My world, not hers. Things work out, she’ll find out sooner or later,” Crow said.

Jules tensed, then shook his head in a slow nod.

“What?” Crow looked at him.

“
I told you about what I dug up on her family. Bruno and Gio Pignatelli ain’t exactly choir boys. The woman didn't grow up in a convent. And marrying military, she knows all about what brotherhood means. You’re sporting the letters in ink on your arm, the emblem on your back and a tricked out bike. You don’t think she fucking gets it? She gets it,” Jules pointed out.

When Crow didn’t reply Jules let out a low growl. “Goddamn it, Crow, not this a-fuckin’-gain.”

“Not what a-fucking-gain
?
” Crow growled back.

“Really, Brother? What the hell you doing? Respect, man. But you’ve been to that damn goat rodeo before. I saw firsthand what that did to you, to the club, to the prez. Almost cost you the brotherhood. Now you telling me you got a thing for a woman who has no clue how deep the organization goes with you? Man, I'm thinking this ain’t about pussy. This is about you figuring out what you want out of life.” Jules looked at him.

“You doubting my loyalty?” Crow frowned at the thought.

“Not me. The question is, are you?” asked Jules. “Any bitch I'm with knows straight away where I’m coming from.” His eyes grew hard.

Crow tensed. “Yeah, and look where that got your sorry ass with Glory.”

“Just shut the fuck up about Glory. You want her? You can have her and her goddamn issues.” Jules grumbled. Then a thoughtful look crossed his face. “I do kinda miss arguing with her.”

“Glory could hold her own, that’s for sure,” Crow agreed.

They sat on in companionable silence for a while.

Jules was the next to speak. “So you say your woman's got a kid? Messes up your game, don't it? How he feel about you banging his mom?”

“One more goddamn time, it’s not like that. And Jett likes me. Follows me around and shit. I’m still trying to figure it out,” Crow replied.

Jules regarded his brother thoughtfully. Just then, they heard a door slam shut and the two men looked out the window to see Melissa and Jett get in the car. Crow almost leapt out the window when Melissa bent down to pick up the keys she had dropped. She had on a cute pair of white shorts and a soft pink T-shirt. Her hair fell in wild disarray around her and she was laughing at something her son had said.

“Christ. That's her? Did the hammer hit you on the head when you were renovating? Or you holding out on a Brother? Mousy and uptight is the last thing I'd call her. That ass, those legs, that goddamn hair falling all over her like that. Maybe her tits are a little on the small side, but you know I like ‘em big.” Jules peered through the window.

“Not a damn thing wrong with her tits, man,” Crow shot out.

Crow's eyes trailed over Melissa. He hadn't seen her in a week or so. After that little scene with Jett, he knew that she had been avoiding him. He let her have her space, but he had kept a careful watch on her comings and goings just the same.

Since Crow had called her out on all that drab shit, Melissa had slowly been changing her look. She wore her hair down almost all the time now and he hadn't seen her in anything black or gray or that puke green color in a long time. Crow thought she looked beautiful. And even more so because he thought that maybe a small part of the change had come because she wanted to please him. But now seeing the way that Jules looked at Melissa, Crow wished that she was covered from head to toe in a black burka.

“Grab that saws-all and a hammer.” Jules walked past Crow and headed for the tool box.

“What for?” Crow asked.

“Gonna go cut out another window. This time looking right into her bedroom.” Jules was already halfway across the room.

“Real funny,” Crow snarled.

Jules smirked at Crow. At the sound of the car engine, both men turned to look out the window to get a glimpse of Melissa driving away.

“Not another fucking word,” Crow ground out.

“Down, boy.” Jules gave him a broad grin. “I just need to get myself laid. Been too goddamn long. That bitch Bambi had me spooked. You get a good look at any of the talent in Fallsview?”

“Yeah. They all look the same. Big tits, tight everything, crazy desperate look in their eyes. Just the way you like ‘em.” Crow grinned back.

“Finally, some good fucking news. So I hear that Jury’s crew is running some kind of charity thing at a carnival in town? Prosper gave me a donation from the boys,” Jules said as he reached into his cut for the check.