Bones by the Wood (17 page)

She pulled Josh’s sneakers, socks and jeans off and managed to maneuver him underneath the plain navy, cotton-covered comforter.  She toed her own sneakers off and pulled her sweatshirt over her head.  She folded it and laid it on the desk.  Then she climbed onto the bed, over the covers, wrapped herself around her son so that he was curled into her body with his back against her chest, and tried to sleep.

Thea had been lying there for some time, she wasn’t sure how long, trying to stop the tornado of thoughts and fears that was whirling through her mind, when the door to the room opened almost silently allowing a slice of light to penetrate the darkness.  She almost shot off the bed, only the fact that she was still wrapped around a sleeping Josh kept her from leaping up or shouting.  She wasn’t sure if she was relieved or even more incensed when Dizzy walked into the room and closed the door behind him.

“What’re you doin’?”  She hissed.

“There ain’t enough rooms for everyone, sweetheart.  There needs to be some sharin’, and you’re in my room.”  Dizzy’s voice was low but clear, just above a whisper.  He started to undress, beginning with his boots.

“You could’ve said.”  Thea hissed back.  She felt like Goldilocks being discovered by the three bears.  “We’ll go.”

“No you won’t.”  Having rid himself of his boots and socks, Dizzy set his Stetson down on the desk and ran his fingers through his hair, shaking it out.  When he started to pull his plaid work shirt off, Thea’s brain froze.  She couldn’t very well carry a comatose Josh right out of the clubhouse, and she had no idea whether there were still people in the main room.  From her past experience, a full on fucking orgy could have been in full swing.

She relaxed, marginally, when Dizzy stopped undressing once he’d laid his folded shirt on the desk next to his hat. She tensed all over again when he came over to the bed and climbed up behind her.  He lay down, still wearing his black jeans and black thermal shirt, and curled around her body the way that she had curled around Josh’s.

Thea tried to move away, tried to put some distance between them but he wasn’t having it.  He curled an arm around her shoulders and laid his palm flat on her chest, just under her collar bones.  She was rendered temporarily speechless by the warmth spreading out from his rough palm as he firmly pulled her back against him.

By no means had Thea been a nun in the ten years that she’d been on her own, but she had never slept through the night with a man.  She had always ensured that she was back in her own apartment, alone in her own bed, before Josh woke up for the day.  This would be the first time that she’d lain down and slept, simply slumbered, with a man since Josh’s father.

She could feel Dizzy’s breath, whispering past her hair, brushing against her neck.  His body was warm and solid behind, around, hers.  She hadn’t relaxed in the slightest, and she tensed more than she knew was possible when his arm moved.  But instead of groping her as she feared he might, he simply moved the arm that had been laid across her shoulders until it curved around her own arm, which lay over Josh, so that his hand rested over hers.

“Shhhhh, sweetheart.  Relax.  You’re safe.”

After long moments, during which Dizzy made no further movements, and which partially convinced Thea that he really did only intend to lie on the same bed to sleep, Thea began to relax by degrees.

She wasn’t sure whether Dizzy meant that she was safe from him, or safe for the night from the threat overall, but she didn’t need specifics.  Right at that moment she did feel safe.  Someone had been watching her and her son, somebody evil and twisted enough to slice pieces off an old man.  But in the present moment, she felt secure and protected enough to drift off into sleep.

Dizzy was nudged into consciousness by the buzzing of his mobile phone.  He’d set an alarm the night before and now it was vibrating a soundless alert from the back pocket of his jeans.  Thea responded to his waking, but did not wake herself.  She sighed and snuggled a little deeper into the bed and into the curve of his body.  Lying here with her, waking with her pressed against him, was having a physical effect on him, an unfortunate effect given the presence of her son in the bed.  He needed to get up before that became a problem.

Still, Dizzy was reluctant to leave her, to leave them.  It was a long time since he’d woken up with a woman in his arms.  There was something restorative in the calm peace of simply lying down and resting with her.  But he needed something more from her, something darker and deeper than this
tranquility he’d found as he interloped into the sense of family she’d created between her and her boy.

After the events of the preceding day, he wasn’t certain that the opportunity for more was still on the table.  It had definitely been a possibility, if the tone of their teasing flirtations in the store could be relied upon.  Even after she’d seen him beat the tweaker, she hadn’t run from him.  But being in the sights of a capable and ruthless enemy like the Los Perdidos was a whole different ball game.  She hadn’t caused a scene when he’d joined them in the room, but then, he hadn’t given her much opportunity to.  But now was not the time to dwell on any such possibility.  His plate was full with the need for swift retribution.

Dizzy edged carefully away from Thea and off the bed.  He picked up his boots, shirt and hat and left the room.  A shower would have to wait; he didn’t have the time anyway.  Once in the hallway, he shucked into his shirt and settled his hat on his head before leaning back against the wall while he tugged his boots on.

The next door down the corridor opened and Cage stepped out.  Dizzy noted that Cage had closed the door with a suspicious amount of care, much like he had when he had been trying not to wake Thea and Josh as he left.  But whether Cage had someone in his room, someone he thought enough of that he didn’t want to rouse them so early, was a thought for another time, too.

“Mornin’, brother.”  Dizzy kept his voice low.

“Mornin’, Pres.  Sleep well?”

“Yeah.  You?”

Cage paused before answering.  “Yeah.”  Dizzy thought that pause meant maybe Cage hadn’t slept all that much.  Either Cage and whoever he was letting sleep in had made a particular effort to be quiet, or Dizzy had slept even more soundly than he’d thought he had.

Dizzy pushed away from the wall and took the first steps down the corridor, but Cage stilled him with a hand on his arm. 

“Pres, you can tell me if I’m over the line, and that’s fine.  But I gotta say this.  That could be a great little family you’d have yourself in there, but you need to ask yourself some hard questions.  I don’t know you well enough to know if you’re the hit and run type, but anyone with eyes can see that she ain’t, least not once her kid’s involved.  But that’s all your business.  What is my business, is that what’s inside that room gives you somethin’ to lose, somethin’ that could hurt you.  And what hurts you, hurts the club.  And for your own sake, those two people in there just about triple the size of the target on your back.”

“I know, brother.  I spent a fair bit of yesterday thinkin’ about that.”

“You come to any conclusions?”

“Only that none of it feels like a bad thing.”

Cage shook his head ruefully.  “Brother you are down and tapped out.  You just don’t know it yet.”

Dizzy thought about asking if he was the only one, but decide that he’d let Cage keep his secrets for the time being.  The aroma of coffee drifted down the hall.  They both caught it at the same time.

“Come on.”  Dizzy clapped Cage on the shoulder, “or those other fuckers’ll’ve emptied the pot.”

They walked together into the main room.  Nut was behind the bar, pouring coffee into mugs like a good Prospect.  He’d come in asking about work in the garage and everyone’d taken to him straightaway.  They’d decided to forgo making him spend some time as a hangaround before bringing him in as Prospect, but they were paying close attention.  They hadn’t had any reason to be disappointed with their choice so far.  Ferret and Easy had already claimed stools and mugs.  There were cooking noises coming from the kitchen, so Dizzy assumed some of the girls must be up.  He and Cage had taken their first sips of coffee when Fitz joined them.  There was a short commotion in the hallway that announced Scooby and Shaggy’s arrival before they stumbled through the door, accompanied by Lucy and Britney.  It didn’t escape Dizzy’s notice that rather than go straight into the kitchen where there was work being done, the two girls headed over to a vacant sofa.  Reba was occupying one of the others, seemingly dead to the world despite the noise.

Annelle swung around the jamb of the kitchen door.  “Breakfast’ll be ready when you’ve finished your meetin’ boys.  Don’t worry, we’ll keep it warm.”

“Thanks darlin’.”  Dizzy tipped his hat to her.  She glanced around the room and Dizzy saw her notice Lucy before she returned to whatever was being prepared.  He waited until Nut had made sure that everyone had a full mug of caffeine in front of them, and then he slid down from the stool and led the way to the Chapel.

During their meeting the day before, they’d discussed what they wanted to do about the potential transfers that Samuel had suggested.  That was going to take some further discussion today, since they needed bodies in the club, but they also needed to discuss what they were going to do to keep the charter, and the MC’s arrangement with the Rojas family, in one piece.  It was going to be a long day.

Ferret spent a few moments setting up a laptop before they began the meeting.  He’d set it on the table in front of a vacant chair on Cage’s right.  Ferret and Easy had moved down to make the space.  Ferret tapped away for a few seconds, and then angled the screen so that Dizzy could see it.  Between them, Ferret and Crash had set up a connection so that the mother charter of the Priests could be part of the meeting, too.  The screen was filled mainly with Samuel and Terry’s faces, and in a small box in the bottom of the screen Dizzy could make out the view that Samuel was seeing.

“Mornin’, Samuel.” 

“Mornin’, Dizz.  You boys have a quiet night?”

“We did.  Did you?”

“Yeah, too quiet.  We ain’t had any problems at all yet.  I’m thinkin’ that they’re testin’ you.  They’ve got our measure.  They know what we’re capable of and what we’re willin’ to do.  You’re the new kids on the block, and they’re tryin’ to find out what you’re made of.”

“That sounds about right,” Cage agreed.  “But I gotta say, I don’t want to give them a chance to test us some more.”

“Me either, me either.”  Samuel was nodding, his movements oddly jerky as the pixels on the screen relayed the action.  “I’ve spoken to Eduardo, and we’re agreed.  It’s time we go in and put these yahoos down for good.  You boys on board with that?”

Dizzy looked around the table, making sure to meet the eyes of each patch.  It wasn’t an official vote as far as one went, but it was enough to cover the formality required.  As suspected, each nod confirmed that everyone seated at the table wanted in on the action.

“Yeah, Samuel.  We’re on board.”

“Good.  Eduardo wants in, too.  He’s had enough of these fucks disruptin’ his business, so we’ve got more bodies and more guns right there.”

The discussion devolved from there into the specifics of the action that they wanted to take against the Los Perdidos and the technicalities involved.  It was part of the arrangements that the mother charter would be visiting Texas, and both charters would cross the border with the help of the Rojas family.  Dizzy voiced his concerns about the safety of the other strip clubs that the Priests owned across the state.  Even on a quiet day the club didn’t have enough members to protect all of them at once in any effective manner, and now all hands would be needed on deck.  Samuel agreed to speak to Eduardo again about making use of his resources to ensure that the Los Perdidos did not have the opportunity to hurt any of the Priests more distant interests.

“Hey, Shark.”  Dizzy said.  Samuel twisted the laptop at his end and the screen in front of Dizzy blurred momentarily until the image settled on Shark Reardon seated at the Louisiana table.  “I’m sorry again about Maguire, brother.  We’ve made sure the remains we were sent were well taken care of.  I know you were tight with him.”

“Thanks, brother.”  Shark had a look in his eyes that Dizzy recognized even over the digital connection.  Some Los Perdidos were going to die hard in payment for the death of Shark’s mentor and friend.