Chapter Five:
1985
Jesse
I sat at the bar talking to Pops. He was telling us some old war story from back in the day. He clearly didn’t realize that I’d seen the movieDeer Hunterseveral times, and Pops was definitely no Robert De Niro. Not even way back in the day.
But I played along with him, part of me enjoying the story and part of me worrying that maybe the old guy was slowly beginning to lose his damn mind.
Skinny—one of the drivers for the club—was in that day, waiting to speak to Hardy about the next shipment, and he obviously hadn’t seen the movie either, because he was just as enthralled as Rose. The pair of them were staring, completely engrossed by everything Pops said.
“And then Nicky, aww he was crying like a little bitch, but so was I. In those days, a man weren’t afraid to cry. Ain’t nothing wrong with crying, ya know, Jesse? So the Jap, he slaps my face over and over and he’s screaming at Nicky to put the gun to his head and fire the gun, but of course Nicky’s scared. Russian roulette ain’t no joke! And me, I’m practically pissing in my pants not wanting him to do it either, but we ain’t got no choice. And so I stand up and hit the Jap in the face and then we all scuffle, but in the end it’s all for nothin’.” Pops shook his head and swallowed his whisky. “All for nothin’…” His words trailed off and he went silent, his gaze far away as he thought back to the memory, even though it wasn’t real. It was to him.
“And what happened then, Pops?” Rose asked, eager for the end of the story. She was sitting next to him, leaning on one hand, her eyes wide as she imagined all the things he was telling her, believing every word and eating it up like candy.
Pops came out of his daze and looked at her. “What?” He looked over at me and then back to Rose before sliding a hand up her thigh and under her skirt. “Oh, oh, we killed those Japs good. Shot one right between the eyes and then Nicky and I got the hell outta there,” he laughed.
Rose fluttered her eyelashes as Pops slid his fingers into her panties, and I took that as my cue to leave. I patted him on the back as I stood up, and he grunted something to me. Skinny followed close after, heading to Hardy’s office and looking jealous as hell that Pops and Rose were about to get it on.
I was halfway to my room when the clubhouse door opened and Hardy, Gauge, and Rider all walked in. Rider was a new member to our charter. Though he’d been a Highwayman for as long as I could remember, he’d always been a nomad; but just recently he’d decided to come in and settle with a club.
Trailing behind all three men was Hardy’s latest woman, Silvie, and then Laney. Her shoulders were back and her she was walking tall and proud, her mouth pinched in a way that told me she took no shit from anyone. Not even Gauge.
I stopped walking and tried to act casual about seeing her again, though there was nothing casual about the way I was looking at her, that much was for sure. But Rider saw my stare and patted me on the back as he passed me by.
“Down, boy,” he said, and I’m grateful that Gauge didn’t hear him or I’d have been a dead man.
“Silvie, fix us something to eat, we’ve got visitors coming in later,” Hardy called as he walked to his office without giving me a passing glance. The three men followed him in, shutting the door behind them and closing the blinds to give them some privacy, and Silvie and Laney headed into the kitchen.
I stood there wondering what the hell to do. I hadn’t seen Laney in a long-ass time—not since Hardy’d made a damn fool of me in front of her and she’d practically saved my ass from a beating. I swallowed, looking at the door to the kitchen and wondering if Silvie would let me speak to her or if she’d been ordered not to even let me in.
Silvie was pretty cool—a little older than Hardy normally liked ’em, but she had spirit and she cooked a damn good pie. I kinda hoped that Hardy would make her his old lady at some point, but you never knew with him. One minute he’d be blowing hot and the next not so much. Either way, I liked her. I liked the way she tried to cover for me when I fucked up, and the way she always made sure my clothes were clean and I ate breakfast before going to school. Shit, I even liked the fact that she made sure Iwentto school. No one other than Butch ever gave a damn before, so it was kinda nice to have a mother figure around, if I was being honest.
A couple of minutes passed and I was still standing in the center of the room with my proverbial dick in my hand, wondering what to do with myself, when Silvie came back out. She glanced at me before quickly looking away.
“Need to go get some more beer and potato salad,” she said before heading to the exit with her keys in her hand.
I nodded at her retreating back and watched as she left, and then I took a deep breath and walked into the kitchen, letting the door swing shut behind me. I looked around for Laney, finding her chopping salad next to the pantry. She looked up as I entered, a small smile playing on her lips. I was practically thrown back to her kneeling on my bed and drawing a smiley face on my poster—a poster that still hung above my bed, not for the topless woman on it but for the connection to Laney that it now held.
“Hey,” she said, quietly. One hand was holding a head of lettuce and the other was using a large kitchen knife to chop it in half. Her hair, as usual, was hanging down her back in long, dark waves. And I couldn’t help but wonder what her hair would feel like trailing down my chest as her lips moved across my stomach and down to my cock.
“Hey,” I replied, going forward, my mouth suddenly dryer than it’d ever been before. “Not seen you in a while, how’ve you been, darlin’?”
She looked up at me and raised an eyebrow, a sexy smirk hanging from her mouth that made me want to reach over and kiss her. “Good, I guess. Gauge is letting me stay with him, finally.” She kept on cutting the lettuce, and I swear to God I’d never seen someone cut lettuce and look so sexy. I wasn’t sure if she was doing it on purpose or if she was just naturally gifted one thing was for sure though; I’d never look at lettuce the same after today.
I leaned back against the kitchen counter, arms crossed over my chest casually. “So, you’re stayin’ with him now, huh?”
She made an agreeing noise without looking up, and her hair fell over one shoulder.
“Guess I’ll be seeing more of you then.”
I swear it was casual when I said it, and it wasn’t obvious that inside I was cheering like I just won a gold fucking medal, but when she looked up at me, her gorgeous brown eyes soaking me in, I knew she must have been a witch because it was obvious that she could read my damn mind and knew exactly what I was thinking.
“If you’re lucky,” she replied, winking at me.
She’d finished chopping the lettuce and she piled it all into a large silver bowl and went to the sink to rinse it out. The water sprayed back against her white T-shirt and I almost came in my pants when she turned around and I could see the outline of her breasts.
She opened the pantry and took out some more food before placing it on the countertop, and then like a scene from some soppy romance movie, she dropped the package of tomatoes and they went rolling in all directions as they hit the floor.
