Breath on the Wind (23 page)

“Okay?”  Chiz didn’t sound convinced at such a generalized answer.

“Yes, okay.  Okay, I will come to Louisiana with you, and I’ll find a way to build another club there.  No, I will not live in the clubhouse, whatever the fuck that is, with you.  I want to take a minute to think about whether we start picking out curtains and dishes, but I do want to be with you.  We might not’ve been together all that long, but I don’t think I can go back to the person I was before I met you.”

Chiz’s face split into a broad, relieved smile as he pulled her, a little awkwardly, into his lap.  “Me either, doll.  Me either, and I don’t want to.  I just want you and me.”

Andy slipped her arms around Chiz and let him hold her close.  The sensible part of her brain wondered briefly if she was making a bad decision in a post-traumatic state, but her heart knew there was no other answer that she could have given him.

Chapter Twenty

Not one to think about the long game.  Well, that was understatement. He’d come to Alabama not knowing if he’d find Elmo alive or dead, and now it looked like he’d be going home with her as his old lady.

He had an old lady.

Shit.

Chiz had never, ever, thought that would happen.

It figured, him being him, and the way these things seemed to happen around him, that at the same time he ended up with an old lady, some righteous circus freaks had tried to kill her.  They hadn’t succeeded, but they had hurt her, deeply so.  They’d killed her friends, destroyed her business, desecrated her home.  And now all of that was his business.

Chiz supposed that the whole situation was a fairly typical SNAFU for him.  Situation Normal, All Fucked Up.  He’d offered to see if he could get Elmo on board to help the set up a club in Absolution now he’d be bringing her back to do it herself.  He knew that Samuel would get a kick out of the fact that he’d gone overboard again.  At least this time, no one had ended up dead.  Well, not by his hand.

Chiz got a fairly slow start to his day.  That had a lot to do with the weighty conversation that he’d had with Elmo, and also owed a little something to him helping her to shower again, so that she didn’t get her stitches wet, because naturally the shower had led to a fuck. 

The painkillers that she’d been given by the hospital were weak, deliberately so because of her concussion, so they barely touched the sore pulling of the sutures.  That didn’t stop her from trying to take strips of skin off his back with her nails.  He wasn’t bothered about a few marks, but he didn’t like hearing the pained gasps that she made when she moved her arms.  He’d wrapped his hands around her upper arms, and used his weight to pin them to the bed, since she wouldn’t stop hurting herself to touch him. 

By the time he was dressed and in a state to call Shark, at least he knew he wasn’t going to get his head bitten off for waking his brother.  It turned out that Shark had ended up at the same motel that Chiz had stayed in over Christmas, so Chiz was under instruction to find some breakfast food to bring with him.

Chiz’d made the call in the bedroom, and then found Elmo in the kitchen.  He gratefully accepted a second mug of coffee.  She was dressed in black sweatpants and a little red t-shirt that had a neckline that dipped distractingly into her cleavage.  It was the most casual he’d ever seen her, apart from naked.  As much as he liked the high maintenance look, he was a fan of the easy-access Lycra, too.

“Thanks, doll.”  He took a sip, relishing the caffeine hit. “I need to go talk to my brother.  Don’t s’pose you’ve got Shane’s number around?”

Elmo dug around in one of the drawers, and triumphantly dug out a little book covered in gold material.  It wasn’t much larger than the size of her palm.  She flicked through the pages.  “Yeah, here it is.”  Elmo reeled the number off as Chiz tapped the digits into his phone.  “What do you want to speak to him for?”

“He seems like an okay guy.  Just wanna catch up with him, see how he’s doin’.”

Elmo very obviously didn’t believe that was the whole truth, but she didn’t ask him any further questions about it.

Elmo returned the book to its rightful place, as Chiz took another hit on the coffee.  “I don’t like leavin’ you on your own while I’m about and about, doll.  I don’t trust those Church freaks much right now.”

“I was thinking I’d go to the hospital, to see if I could see Jackie.  Shane didn’t call here, so I guess she’s pulled through.  If you’re thinking they’re going to come after me again, I should be safe enough there.”

“You up to that, doll?”

He could tell from the tightness around her eyes that she wasn’t being entirely honest, but also from the way she drew herself up, and straightened her spine, that there would be no arguing with her.  “Yes.  I will be.  I have to be.”

“You need a ride? I can pick you up after I’m done with Shark.”

“No.  I’ll take my car, then I’m not tied if either of us finishes later, or earlier, than the other.  I promise I’ll come straight home if I’m done before you.”

She’d been a little sarcastic about the last part, but as long as she did come straight home, he wasn’t going to ride her about it.  “You sure you’re okay to drive?”

“Are you sure you’re not going to keep fussing over me like a mother hen, twenty-four-seven?”  Elmo asked with a cheeky grin.

Chiz put his mug down and slipped his arm around her waist.  If he wasn’t careful he’d be bringing Shark lunch instead of breakfast.  “Hey.  I’m worried about you is all.  Thought I’d lost you yesterday.  If you start feelin’ like shit, call me, and I’ll give you a ride home.”

“Yes, Daddy.”  She hadn’t lost that damn grin.

Chiz pulled her closer, so that she could feel the effect she was having on him.  “Oh, I like that, doll.”

“I told you, I’m not into infant play.”

“I don’t want you in diapers, but I did like the pigtails.”

“Well, maybe we can work on that.”

Damn.  Now he was going to be riding with a hard-on.  Elmo brought her hands up, and gave a little shove against his chest.  “Go play with your friend.”  She tilted her head to one side.  “Do I want to know how either of you ended up with your nicknames?”

“In all honesty, doll, no, you don’t.”

“Okay.  Do I actually have to call him that?”

“I think he’d say you don’t know him well enough to call him by his real name, doll.  You’ll get used to it quicker than you think.”

“Do you all have crazy names in your biker club?”

Chiz laughed.  “No, but it looks like I’m gonna have to give you the MC 101 before you meet everyone else.”

Elmo shrugged.  “Hey, you know bikes, I know Kinbaku.”

“Kini-what?”

“Erotic rope play.”

“Doll, I think I’m gonna wanna try that.”

“We’ll have to work that out.  It’ll take a while for you to learn, if you think you’ll be tying me up.”

“I’m a quick study.”

“I’m sure you are.”  She gave him another little shove.  “Now, go play bikers, and I’ll go visit my friend.”

Chiz left Elmo with a kiss, as innocent a one as he could mange, given their conversation.  He still wasn’t happy about leaving on her own, but there were things he needed to speak to Shark about, and Shane, and he didn’t want to drag Elmo along just to tell her she couldn’t take part in the conversation.  He didn’t think that would go down so well.

Chiz made sure to pick up some decent food for Shark as a peace offering for being on the late side by the time he got to the motel.  He followed a recommendation for a place that Elmo told him about, and got a little carried away when he realized that it had been close to twenty-four hours since he’d eaten.  He had some very fond memories of his time at the motel, none of which needed to share the same headspace as thoughts of his MC brother.  He swung by the vending machine in the reception to get coffee before he knocked on Shark’s door.

“’Bout time,” Shark griped, as he answered the door, but Chiz knew he was forgiven when Shark smiled as he took the bag of food from him.  Shark got the food set up on the small table in the room, sat down, and began to eat like a starving man.  For a minute, Chiz thought Shark was going to devour all the food, and considered holding the coffee hostage, but Shark pushed one of the plastic containers in his direction, so Chiz relented and set one of the Styrofoam cups in front of Shark.

“Your girl okay?”  Shark asked between mouthfuls of pancakes, bacon, sausage and eggs.

“Yeah, she’s as good as she can be, considerin’.  She’s gonna come back to Louisiana.  We haven’t sorted out the details yet, but there’s nothin’ left for her here now.”  Chiz answered as he concentrated on digging into his own similar meal.

“That was quick work.”  Shark remarked.

Chiz shrugged and continued eating.  He wasn’t going to explain in detail what was between him and Elmo.  He wasn’t sure that he could.

“You speak with her about the blast at all?”  Shark asked, after he’d finished his food and started on his coffee.

“Yeah.  The strip club wasn’t open, but the dungeon was fully booked all day.  She says that was usually the case on Tuesdays.  She had a paper diary on her desk.  Anyone who went in her office could’ve looked at it, and would’ve known the place was full.”

“But no one walked out alive?”

“We don’t know that.  I haven’t asked her, yet, who could’ve been in there.  The cops might find somethin’, but she thinks they’ll drag their asses.  There’s no love for her line of work ‘round here.”

“Evidently,” Shark remarked, with no small amount of sarcasm.  “What’s the story with that Shane?  He looks like someone I should know.”

“He used to ride with the Dirty Rats. Patched out after a change of leadership.”

“Yeah, I heard some stories.  Not our style of crew.  He solid?  No designs on your lady?”

“I don’t think so.  He’s a loyal employee.  Says he’s got an old lady at home.  Seems sound.”

“Maybe we talk to him about who had access to that diary, let your girl deal with her own worries.”

“I was thinkin’ the same thing.  Got his number from her.  I’ll give him a call.”

While Shark cleared up the remnants of their breakfast, Chiz called Shane.  He was careful about how much he explained over the phone, but Shane got it, and was at the motel inside of half an hour later.  While they were waiting for him, Chiz went out for supplies for Shark, a bottle of tequila, some beers, and more vending machine coffee.  It was kind of an apology for him being two states away from his pregnant wife.  It was likely that Ashleigh had not been pleased to find out that her husband had taken off on an impromptu road trip, with no set return date, when she was due to give birth in a couple of weeks.

When Shane arrived, he and Chiz took seats at the table. Shark sat on the bed, citing the discomfort of the chairs, which were too small for him.  Shane, being as big as Shark, also made the furniture in the room look like it belonged in a dollhouse.

Chiz got straight down to business.  “Andy told me about the club diary.  Said anyone who went in her office had access.  What this boils down to, is that we’re thinkin’ this was planned to hit the club when it was busiest, but we can’t figure out how that plays out, unless whoever did it turned suicide bomber.  Are those Church freaks that far gone?”

Shane didn’t even take a beat before he answered.  Chiz would bet good money that the same theory had occurred to him.  “There were four rooms upstairs, all fully booked.  I don’t think Andy got a lot of cancellations for that side of the business.  Once people made the effort to book, they were committed to comin’.  The clients never went into the office, they were buzzed in and shown straight to their room, but the dommes and subs did.  Their facilities were through there, and they used the diary themselves, too, but they were all good people.  They’d all worked with the boss lady for years.  Our little thing was like a family.”  Shane paused and thought for a moment.  “The cleaners were the only other people who ever went up there.”

“You didn’t have any workmen?  Repairs or anythin’ that week?”  Shark asked.  Shane shook his head in response, so Shark continued.  “But you said the two cleaners were killed.”

“Yeah, but… shit.”  Shane scrubbed his hand over his bandana and down his ponytail.

“What?”  Chiz asked, before Shark could.

Shane answered, looking less than happy.  “There were always three cleaners on in a mornin’.  They did both floors.  The dommes and subs took care of a lot in the rooms themselves, you know, cleaned up after the sessions, cleaned the toys.  But the cleaners would throw the vacuum around, sweep and dust a little.  There wasn’t as much to do as downstairs, so one would take the first floor, while the other two did the strip club.”