Through The Weeds (Nightshade MC Book 2) (10 page)

“Oh, it matters.” Edge replied. Caroline gasped with surprise and horror when the man lunged at Jillian. He slapped her across the face, hard enough to cause her to stumble. Danny was the closest, and he grabbed Edge but not before Edge took hold of Jillian's hair. “Let me go. She's going to tell me where she got the fucking car!”

“What are you going to do, Eddie? Gonna beat it out of me? Like father, like son, right?” Jillian was back on her feet, her hand pressed against her cheek.

“Fuck me.” Buster sighed. “I've got to deal with this.”

“Yeah, that might be a good idea.” She went to step forward but he shook his head.

“You stay here. Let's not make this worse than it already is.” Buster turned and strode towards the car. “Edge, calm the fuck down. Now, take it easy, Sweetheart. No one is going to hurt you, Jillian. We all need to calm down, stop making a scene. We need to take this somewhere more private, for conversation. Edge, if you go after your sister, I'm going to put you down, hard. Am I clear?”

“Fuck you. Fuck private.” Jillian snarled the words. “I'm leaving. Keep him away from me. In fact, all of you stay away from me.” She looked around. “Caroline, are you coming?”

“Now, we both know that's not a good idea.”

“You don't tell me what to do,” Jillian snapped at him. “Caroline, let's go.”

“I'm not letting her get in the car with you like this,” Buster answered. “So, you need to calm down.”

“And why do you care? She's just another conquest, isn't she? One of the
challenges.
” Jillian snarled the word like it was a curse. “Caroline, let's go.”

Caroline didn't know what Jillian was talking about as far as challenges went, but  she realized that she probably didn't want to know. Jillian's face told her that much. She walked over to the car, to where Jillian stood. “I'm driving.” She held out her hand.

“Fine.” Jillian handed over the keys and moved to get in the passenger seat of the car.

Caroline looked over at Buster, expected him to say something, but he was distracted by Edge, who was flipping out once again. She didn't want to keep Jillian waiting any longer, so she got into the car, started the engine and headed towards home.

By the time that she got Jillian calmed down, Caroline was so exhausted that she couldn't even think, but she couldn't sleep, either. Instead, she grabbed a bottle of wine, a glass and headed out into the small back yard. It was late, too late to be drinking but she still planned to finish the bottle.

During the ride home and while she was getting Jillian to settle, her friend had explained what a challenge was in great detail. See, apparently the never-ending stream of willing pass-around pussy wasn't enough for the virile men of Nightshade. Sometimes, they didn't want it easy. Sometimes, they'd set their sights on a woman who wasn't falling at their feet, work them until they were more than willing. After that, there was no more challenge and no reason to stick around.

Jillian hadn't cried a single tear as she spoke, not even when she admitted that she'd been a challenge to Ace. A week before they had their big fight, they'd had another fight and made up in a very different, passionate way. Edge had walked in on them. Days later he'd come to her, explained what Ace had been up to all along. Edge had begged her not to tell he'd told, so instead of letting Ace cut her off, she'd done it herself. Told him she didn't want him, that she never had, during the fight that Caroline had overheard. She hadn't said anything about what she'd shouted about her father, but she was quite clear that she was done with her brother. Done with Nightshade and that Caroline should be too.

The first glass of wine was gone in one long swallow. She did the same with the second. As she poured the third she heard her phone chime in her pocket. Caroline slid it out, saw it was a message and that it was from Buster. She silenced the phone and for good measure turned it entirely off before she reached for the bottle again.

She felt stupid. She hated feeling stupid. Hated not being able to see the obvious when it was staring her right in the face. Just like she hadn't seen it when Ronald, her ex, had started seeing someone else. Caroline had obliviously continued to plan their wedding even as he fell head over  heels with his other woman, who was also her best friend. The shock was too much. The pain something she couldn't even begin to describe. During the dark days that followed, she thought that she'd simply wither away and die. And she'd never wanted to feel that way again.

She felt that way now, not to the degree of crawling into bed and staying there, but there was an ache deep inside of her that made her feel empty. Caroline was unsteady when she got to her feet. The wine had wound its way through her system quickly, no doubt helped along by the roller coaster ride her emotions were on. It was her own fault, really. She'd let herself fall for a man she barely knew. There was going to be plenty of time for picking up the pieces.

Chapter Nine

Buster rubbed his hands over his eyes. It had been one fucked up night so far. They'd come back to the bar. Edge had another meltdown. Rock, his lifelong best friend, took him upstairs, where he'd ended up asleep after a few drinks, which was a little suspicious. The thought that Edge had been high had crossed his mind, but the man had denied it.

“You should get out of here, Buster. Go and see Caroline. I'll stay here, keep an eye on Edge. I always knew that he had a temper. Never seen him like that before.” Ace leaned back against the bar, looked around.

“Jillian ever tell you that Edge did this before?” From the woman's reaction, he'd say it wasn't the first time. The revelation about the abuse explained a lot about Jillian. Also about Edge.

“No,” Ace replied. “I knew that someone had hit her, she was skittish. Figured it was her father. Guess I was right.”

“I thought I was going to have a problem with you tonight. Thought that you'd have tried to take his head off for attacking her.” It was one of the reasons why Buster had rushed over. Ace had never even moved forward.

“His sister. His business,” Ace replied.

“Don't pull that shit with me.” Buster motioned the girl behind the bar over. “Bring us a bottle of Jack. And don't get your back up, it's no secret the feelings you have for Jillian. Look, I don't want to have a fucking Oprah moment here, I'm just saying...”

“Don't. Don't say a fucking thing.” Ace grabbed the bottle of Jack from the pass-around as she came back. “Just go to Caroline's.”

“I don't think I'm going to be very welcome there tonight.” Buster replied. “You know what Jillian meant when she called Caroline a challenge?”

“No clue. It meant something to her, though.” Ace cracked open the bottle, poured two generous drinks. “Whatever it was, it had her seeing red.”

“Yeah. I got that. So, what's up with Tabitha?”

“Are we suddenly teenage girls at a slumber party? Is hair braiding up next? Fuck man. Tabitha's a good girl. She's sweet. Doesn't hurt that she's hot as shit either. I'm having fun with her. You can figure on her being around, if you were going to ask that next. So, what's going on with you and Caroline? She was pissed before all that shit went down.”

“Yeah, she was. Ever since the shit with Clark and Tabitha getting hurt, I've been keeping her at a distance. She doesn't need to get wrapped up in this shit. I'd rather her be a little pissed than have her hurt.”

“You tell her any of that?” Ace chuckled. “Of course you didn't. No wonder she's pissed. Best thing that you can do right now is call her and tell her what you just told me, minus the Clark and Tabitha part, of course.”

“Maybe I should.” Buster pulled out his phone. One touch of the screen brought up the last picture that Caroline had sent him. “Fuck it.” He dialed the number, listened to it ring straight to voice mail. He didn't leave a message because he knew that she hated messages. “Voice mail.”

“Ouch.” Ace chuckled. “You want another drink?”

“No. I'm going to head home,” Buster replied. “Monroe and Bones are on watch, but make sure that the cameras are all working.”

“I already checked 'em. They're working perfectly, and the backups have backups. We're secure here. I'll keep an eye on things. Make sure everyone gets to the jobs on time, too,” Ace offered.

“Thanks, Brother, I appreciate it. Sorry to screw up your plans for the night. I'm assuming that they were very different from these.”

“No worries.” Ace poured another cup of coffee. “I'm good.”

Buster realized that Ace was lying, but he let it go. As casual as he'd been about things ending with Jillian, there was more to the story, but he let that go as well. He left the bar, headed for his bike. He drove past Jillian's. All of the lights were out. It was possible that she hadn't answered because she was sleeping, but somehow he knew that wasn't the case. She hadn't answered because she saw it was him.

He could have kept driving past, probably he should have kept driving past, but instead he stopped. Since it was the middle of the night, he didn't go to the front door. Instead he went to the window of Caroline's bedroom. He tapped several times lightly and saw the curtain move. “Come out and talk to me or open the window. Please.”

She stared back at him for a moment and then nodded. She pointed to the front of the house and disappeared into the darkness. Buster walked around to the front, waited for what seemed like an eternity before she stepped outside. She still wore the clothes she had on earlier, her hair was a disaster and her face was streaked with mascara. She'd been crying.

“What do you want?” He didn't like the way she looked at him. Her eyes were hostile, full of anger.

“I want to talk to you.”

“Really? That's what you're going to go with. Well, I wanted to talk to you for the past week. You know how well that worked out.”

“This past week is what I want to talk about.” Buster had harbored some foolish hope that she would have somehow gotten over being pissed. He'd known it was a long shot.

“I don't need to hear your version of why you haven't been talking to me. I can only imagine it's not going to be as interesting as the truth.” She crossed her arms over her chest and glared daggers at him.

“And what truth would that be?” Buster asked. “Enlighten me.”

“I know about the challenges. I don't know how any of you manage to look at yourself in the mirror, because that is just despicable behavior.” She huffed the words.

“I might agree with you, if I knew what the hell you were talking about.”

“Oh, you're going to play it like that? Fine. I'll explain it. Is that going to get your dick hard? Hearing how you pick a woman who doesn't instantly bend over and drop trou for you. And you woo that woman, you get her interested. Of course, once she does sleep with you, she's dropped like a bad habit and you get to go back to the rest of the guys to spill all the dirty details. Is there some sort of proof they require to know that the challenge was completed? Her voice cracked. “I know. So just go!”

“Where did you hear that?” Buster took a step closer to her, but she took one back. “I'm not a saint by any means, and that is not what happened with you. It's not even close. Now, will you sit down with me and let me explain?”

“You have five minutes and then I'm going back to bed. And I'll stand.” She didn't seem like she was going to give an inch.

“Fine.” Buster sat on the top step. “There's not much I can tell you about Nightshade business, Caroline. You know that because we spoke about it. Things have happened. Things that made me think it was best for you to stay far away from us. A woman was hurt.”

“One of the pass-arounds?”

“No. Not really. She'd been seeing Ace,” Buster replied. “Regardless of who she is, she was in the bar. She should have been safe and she wasn't. And I didn't want that to be you.”

“And ignoring me was a better option than telling me the truth? Because it seemed pretty easy, what you told me right now. I'm damn sure that I told you how I feel about lies, Buster.”

He was surprised when she sat down next to him. “You never did tell me why,” Buster pointed out.

“And I'm not telling you now. This isn't about me or my past. It's about you and the right now. And right now, I don't know what to believe.”

“Who told you about this challenge thing?” Buster asked, although he had a good idea that it was Jillian. And there were a limited number of ways that Jillian could have heard it. He realized the likely culprit was Edge, even if it didn't make any sense.

“I don't want to cause any trouble for anyone.”

“Seems like someone is trying to cause trouble for me,” Buster pointed out. “So, it seems only fair that I know who's talking shit.”

“You're not a stupid man, Buster. I'm pretty sure you've already figured out who told me. It was Jillian. She's my friend.”

“And it was Edge who told Jillian.” Buster knew that his hunch had been right by the expression on her face. “I don't know why he told her that I was doing that to you.” He was damn sure going to find out.

“He didn't tell her about you. He told her about Ace. And she didn't say anything to me until after I'd told her I was pretty sure that you'd fucked and chucked me. So, you can't say anything.” She sighed. “And even as I say that, I know it's stupid to even ask that.”

“You're not stupid, Caroline. Not by a long shot. So you have to know that me not saying something isn't an option. Edge is my brother. He's Ace's brother. He's supposed to be loyal to us above everything else, so I have to say something. I have to ask him why he did what he did.”

“Yeah, I do. And I figure you're going to do it now.” She pressed her hands to her eyes. “I'm going back to bed while I still have a bed to go to.”

“What does that mean?” Buster demanded. A sort of ease had settled between them as they spoke, no matter how unpleasant the conversation was, but it was gone now.

Caroline sighed. It means that Jillian is going to kick my ass out once she figures out I told you what she told me. And you say I'm not stupid. I should have kept my mouth shut.”

“You're not stupid.”

“Yes, I am. Because she straight out told me that...” she shook her head. “You know what, forget it. It's not your problem.”

“Caroline.”

“Your five minutes are up.” She rose to her feet. “You should go.”

Buster got up. “I think you may have given me more than five minutes. Thank you.” He reached out, grabbed her hands. “I'm sorry for the way I handled things, but that challenge shit is nothing but a lie.”

“I'd like to believe you, but there's one thing that just doesn't make sense, why would Edge lie? Why would he deliberately break his sister's heart like that for no reason? She was in love with Ace. I think that she still is, and this new guy is just a distraction. And he's a douchebag, but that's besides the point.”

Buster blinked when the porch light flipped on. Jillian stepped out the door that Caroline had left open. “Caroline.” Buster hoped she'd stop her tirade, he was pretty sure that Jillian had heard enough.

“What? It's true. And she'll realize it soon enough.” She huffed out a sigh. “Why are you looking at me like that?”

“Probably because I'm standing behind you.” Jillian's voice was as cold as Buster had ever heard of it. “Nice of you to finally be honest about how you feel about Jake. Honestly, he can't stand you, and I could never understand why, until now. I'm going to stay at Jake's. I can't even fucking look at you right now!” She slammed the front door and stalked across the porch.

Caroline tried to block her path but Jillian shoved her back. Buster grabbed Caroline before anything else could happen. “Let her be for now.” He pulled her tight against his chest, even when she struggled.

“Fuck you. Let me go.” She landed a pretty solid kick to his knee, but he held on to her until Jillian pulled away with a squeal of tires.

“Right now, she's too upset to hear a word that you're saying. Trust me, I know a thing or two about women. Give her time to cool off.” Buster released her and she whirled around to face him.

“I was capable of handling that situation without you physically restraining me. So next time, let me handle it. If I need your help, I'll ask for it.”

“The two of you would have been trading blows within thirty seconds. You'd have never gotten past that and been friends again. Words you can get past. I was looking out for you. That's all.” Buster held up his hands. “Is there something wrong with that?” He could see she was trying to come up with something wrong with it.

“Maybe you're right,” she said. “You know what? I'm too tired for this shit. I'm going inside. Going to bed. Good night, Buster.”

“Can I see you tomorrow?” Buster asked. “Take you to breakfast?”

“I don't know. I've got to think about it, which is probably not what you want to hear.” She shrugged her shoulders. “It's all that I have at the moment, so you're just going to have to deal with it.”

“How about if I call you in the morning? See how you feel then?” Buster suggested. “Say around nine?” Without thinking too much about it, Buster closed the distance between them when she nodded. “Make sure that you lock up. And if you need anything, you call me.” He was going to go in for a kiss but thought better of it as she stiffened. Instead, he reached out and ran his fingers over the side of her face. “Good Night, Caroline.”

<#<#<#<#

Buster burst through the door of the bar. One of the pass-arounds let out a small shriek when he slammed the door behind him. He scanned the bar, looked for Edge but didn't see him. It was probably a good thing because he'd gotten good and pissed on the ride back.

“What the hell are you doing back here, Buster?” Ace asked.

“Stopped by to see Caroline on my way home,” Buster replied. “Heard a real interesting story Edge has been telling about a game we play with women. We need to wake him up, have a talk with him. Something's been off with him the past few weeks, and I really hope this is all that it is.”

“Yeah, something has been.” Ace ran his hands over his hair. “Think he's been flying a little too often, if you know what I mean.”