Angels and Ashes (Heaven's Rejects MC Book 2) (8 page)

“Señora Darcy,” calls out the man from behind the bar. “I didn’t know you were coming.”

I walk toward the bar and slide onto the cool vinyl stool, laying my bag on the bar next to me. “It’s good to see you again, Matteo. It’s been quite a few years. I didn’t even know if you would still be running the place.”

Matteo pulls a few shot glasses from the rack behind him and dusts them off with the white towel in his hand. “You know I’d never sell this place. It’s been in my family for far too long. Like I told my wife, I want to be buried here so I can always keep an eye on this place.”

I wince at his words. His eyes suddenly flash with an apologetic tone and his hands drop from his work and lightly touch mine. “I am so sorry, Señora Darcy. I shouldn’t speak so brazenly about death. I was very sad to hear about Señor Jagger’s passing. I wanted to come give my condolences, but I couldn’t get away.”

Taking my free hand, I pat the top of his. “I know, Matteo. My husband knew how much you cared for him.”

“I am surprised to see you, Señora Darcy. I thought that with what this place meant to you that you would never step foot in here again.”

Matteo removes his hands and pours a double shot of tequila into a glass and slides it over to me. My hands grip the smooth glass before I set the shot to my lips and tip it back. Matteo pours himself a shot while the familiar burn slides down into my belly.

“I’ll be honest. I never thought I’d be back here again, but my husband sent me a letter saying there was something in his old apartment that I needed to retrieve. It’s still up there, isn’t it?”

Matteo nods as he bends to wash the two dirty glasses in the small bartender’s sink. He dries his hands and reaches inside the small drawer next to the cash register and pulls out an old bronze key. He places the key into my hands just before he pours another beer for the man sitting at the end of the bar.

“I locked it up tight the day I heard about Señor Jagger. It hasn’t been opened since, so if he did leave something, it should still be there.”

Thanking Matteo, I slide from my seat and walk toward the back staircases. With each step up, my heart races in fear and anticipation. This used to be such a happy memory for me, and I’m afraid of what I will find behind that door. I slightly pause before taking one more step closer toward the door once I reach the top of the landing.

Brent needs you to do this, Darcy. It’s one of his last wishes, so put your big girl panties on and do it, no matter what secrets you may unlock.

Taking a deep breath, I insert the key and hear the lock click open. Gently twisting the knob, I lay my hand against the worn wooden door and push it open. Memories of our time together flood my mind while I take in the sight before me.

You are the most beautiful thing I have ever seen, Darcy. How did an old man like me get so lucky to find himself a piece of heaven on Earth?

The room hasn’t changed since the very first time I saw it the night I met Brent. The tiny twin-size bed still leans against the southern facing windows with the shabby, blue-and-white-checkered, cotton curtains. I still wonder how the both of us managed to ever fit on that thing together, but we made it work somehow. Over in the far corner from the bed rests a single wicker chair next to a tall reading lamp and a tiny, faded-blue dresser. A thick layer of dust covers everything and mutes the glow of love that used to beam from this room. It’s been abandoned just as I have been with Brent’s death. It does surprise me that Matteo never rented it out now that Brent is gone.

I sit on the thin mattress on the bed, sending the springs creaking under the weight of my body. Being in this room brings back so many memories of a time that has become a clouded, distant memory lost in time. I know that most girls would have chalked up the experience of sleeping with an older man to a drunken, college, spring break mistake, but for me, that night with him cemented our two lives together. He was exactly the kind of man I had been looking for, and even with his trepidations about our age difference, I knew that he was the one for me. A few short months later, I found myself married to a biker and living the kind of life my parents had nightmares about. It took them nearly two years to finally come around to the fact that I had married Brent and it wasn’t about to change any time soon. But, as they saw how he provided me with a good life and a dream of dozens of children, they relented in their disapproval and embraced him as their son-in-law. Brent worked hard to gain their approval, because in his eyes, family always came first, and without them, life is just a shell of an existence.

Wiping the tears from my eyes, I rise from the bed and begin to search the room. The mattress, dresser, and the most obvious places come up empty. My husband was a smart man, and he would never hide something so easily in plain sight. Scanning the room, something under the dresser catches my eye. I quickly slide the flimsy wood over and find a shiny new section of wood lying underneath where the dresser had been placed. Falling to my knees, I knock on the wood and find that a hollow sound reverberates back.

I attempt to pull up the section with my fingernails, but it won’t budge. An idea strikes me, and I bound down to the bar, retrieving a crow bar from the maintenance room. Climbing the stairs back up to the apartment quickly, I make my way back over to the spot I discovered and raise the crow bar high into the air. Just before I swing downward, heavy boots stop in the doorframe. I turn to see who has followed me up the stairs, only to stand in shock, the crow bar falling to the floor with a clang beside me.

How in the hell did Raze find me, and why is he here?

All I could think about on the ride down to Tijuana was Darcy’s reasoning behind keeping this little excursion to herself. If she felt so unsafe that she needed to arm herself, she sure as fuck should have called me to let me know her intentions. I made a promise to Jagger that I would take care of her and the boys long before his ticket to hell was stamped, and I still stand by that promise.

Darcy and her secrets have only piled up over the last year. Her sudden disappearance from the family gatherings for the club made me suspicious of her actions, but when she showed up with a rounded belly months later, I knew that she had not been entirely truthful with me. I stewed for days in a rage-induced haze before I could calm myself down enough to ask what every one of my brothers was thinking.

“What are you doing here?”

Darcy’s thin frame had begun to round with pregnancy. She looked so much like the young girl draped on Jagger’s arm with her added weight. I had to admit that her thin and almost sickly appearance made her beauty fade into nothingness. I liked my girls healthy, and so did Jagger. I knew it would have killed him to see her so unhealthy.

Darcy’s eyes narrowed with each step I took. Her body tensed as I stepped directly in front of her and paused.

“I came here to ask you something.”

Darcy’s eyebrows arched upward, and with her arms crossed over her chest, she puffed herself up to automatically go on the defensive. Even with the growing bump on her stomach, Darcy was still the spitfire I’d always known. Maybe it was just the heat fucking with me, but she was even more beautiful when she was pregnant and pissed off. Would I tell her that? Fuck no.
I like my balls where they are

“What business do you have with me that would warrant you coming all the way out here to ask me a question? You know there’s this little thing called a cell phone you could have used.”

Her words flew with clipped and angry intent, which only added fuel to the slow-burning rage and arousal that simmered inside of me.
Jesus, that sassy tongue of hers is sharp.

“I didn’t come all the way out here to fight with you, Darcy. I just need to know whose baby you’re carrying. Is it Jagger’s, or have you already worked your way into some other man’s life and got yourself knocked up?”

Her eyes flared with anger as her fingers clenched tightly into fists around her enlarged tits. Just watching her heavy chest heave made my dick harden. Angry bitches never turned me on before, so I had no idea why my cock decided to stir at that particular moment. She was still Jagger’s old lady, even if he was dead, and sinking my dick into her would have been trespassing on my brother’s memory. Nevertheless, my hard dick didn’t ever seem to have a conscience when it came to warm pussy.

“You’ve got some fucking nerve accusing me of fucking another man. I buried my husband three months ago, and for you to think that I could move on so quickly goes to show how much you really don’t know me.”

“How the fuck was I was supposed to be able to get to know you, Darcy? From the time you two were married, you retreated to Jagger’s house and only came out to the clubhouse on special occasions like your family is fucking prized China. That doesn’t exactly make you warm and fuzzy to be around, darlin’.”

The tension in her body grew before her arms fell from her chest and landed on her hips.
God, the sass on this woman is infuriating and arousing all at the same time.

“I didn’t come around because Brent didn’t want me around some of the sleezeballs you call your brothers. After that prick, Trax, from that other chapter cornered me at a club party, Brent kept me at home to keep me safe.”

The thought of Trax even touching her made my blood boil. The number one rule for old ladies is you don’t go sticking your hands into someone else’s honey pot. We’d kicked men out for less.

“Why didn’t you or Jagger come to me for the matter? I would have protected you.”

“Brent didn’t want to stir up trouble and was far more content knowing I was safe at home.”

“I was his club president. He should have come to me and let me handle it since that’s part of my Goddamn job. Now, enough deflecting and re-hashing the past, woman. Just answer my Goddamn question.”

Her fingers began to unclench and a stream of tears rolled down her face as her small hands grasped tightly around her rounded belly.

“It’s Brent’s. I found out a few days before he died.”

A heavy breath exhaled from my lips when the urge to pull her into a deep embrace filled me. I forced myself to stand my ground because I honestly did not know what she would do if I initiated contact on that level with her.

“Why didn’t you tell me when I told you about Jagger?” I questioned sorrowfully. He would have jumped from the rooftops knowing that he was going to be a dad again. I knew that after all the medical shit went down when Wesson was born that Jagger wasn’t ready to face the fact that more kids would be too risky, making his dream of a little girl impossible. Most men like us would want boys, but he always wanted a daughter. He used to yammer on and on after a few glasses of whiskey at the club about having a baby girl. I, for one, thought he was bat-shit crazy because little girls in pretty dresses don’t exactly fit into our lifestyle. But, to each his own.

Her eyes trailed down to her belly while fat tears dripped off her cheeks onto the ground.

“That’s why I didn’t tell you, or anyone but my parents about my pregnancy. Deep down, I thought that if I said it out loud that someone would come and take my baby away from me just like they took my husband.”

I walked closer to her and lifted her hands from her body. Gripping them tightly between my hands, her eyes rose to meet mine. The angry and mournful sorrow behind her brown eyes nearly gutted me. She shouldn’t have been facing this alone, and I hated that she thought being near the club would take away the only things she had left to love in this world.

“An MC is about brotherhood and family. It’s not the club whores, turf wars, and any of that other bullshit.”

Removing one of my hands, I gestured to the club insignia on the front of my jacket.

“This patch means that we pledge our lives to protect the bond we have as brothers and our families. Brent wanted you to still be a part of this family because he knew we’re the only people who would be able to keep you safe if bad shit came to our doorstep. I think you should know that I made Jagger a promise, and I intend to keep it, Darcy. If you need anything, I want you to call me. Even if it’s an extra pair of hands to change dirty diapers or an emergency babysitter, this club will be there for you. We take care of our own, and I plan to make sure you, the boys, and this new baby will never be scared again.”

The memory of our confrontation continues to linger in the back of my mind as her cherub face blurs into my vision. Darcy has always been a looker, and now after three kids, her body has filled out completely. Her curves hit at all the right places, and that ass of hers is one for the record books, making me wonder what it would feel like to be inside of her with that ass ramming hard against my cock.

Where in the fuck did that come from?

Shaking off the forbidden fantasy that just played inside of my head, I cross the border into Mexico. Most people wouldn’t be able to move across this much of a heavily-guarded border with the sheer amount of steel strapped to my body, but with a little cash and my security license that I keep in my wallet, anything is possible.