Jase (21 page)

“She bothering you, mister?” He heard the question and recognized the voice, so without looking, he reached out to wrap his arm around the shoulders of the dark-skinned woman beside him.

“Hey, Brandy. I’m gonna miss all of your delectable deliciousness, darling.” Grinning, he looked down at her. Brandy Still was Jess’
girlfriend
and the owner of a local bakery. “You gonna miss me, sweetie?”

Jess piped up from her perch on the bar, “How can we miss you if you
won’t go
away?” Reaching over,
she
picked up a shot glass and smelled it, smiling at Mason and saying, “Oh. Lemondrops. Yum!”

Daniel looked up, asking her, “Mica come with you?”

Nodding, Jess said, “She’s sitting in the car. Something went wrong with a project, so
she’s got
folks on the phone. She’ll be coming in a minute.” She sipped the drink and turned to Jase, asking, “Why would we miss you, chunk of hunk?”

“
It’s
my last night in Chicago,” he said, watching her face slowly lose the laughter as she realized he was serious. “I’m trading to Fort Wayne.”

Without taking her eyes off him, she yelled, “Daniel!” pulling everyone’s gaze to her. Turning to look at her best friend’s husband, she continued
shouting
. “What the fuck are you thinking? Did you seriously trade Jason?
My
Jase?” She put her feet on a wobbly stool and carelessly stood while Jase wrapped his arm around her legs to keep her from falling. “Dude. You, Jase, and Gary are the magic line. You are the fucking mystical shift. You can’t do this to me. Daniel, please.” She held out her hands. “How can I like you if you trade Jase? And then, how can I stay friends with Mica if I don’t like her husband? Don’t take my best friend away, Daniel.” Her voice turned pleading. “Be reasonable. Give me Jase back. Let me keep Mica.”

Laughing, Daniel reached up and helped Jess down from the stool. “He didn’t give me much of a choice. Talk to him; he’s the one who demanded the trade.”

Whirling around, she poked Jase in the chest repeatedly and painfully with a stiff finger. “You
wanted
to leave us? I’m wounded…devastated. Why would you want to leave? These people are your friends.
I’m
your friend.”

Nodding, he grabbed her finger with his hand, pulling her into another hug. “True love,” he whispered into her ear, and she stilled against him in reaction.

Pulling back, she looked up into his face as she blindly reached behind her. Brandy seemed to know what she needed and grasped her hand, threading their fingers together. She stared at him for a long minute, then sighed and thumped her forehead against his chest, mumbling, “Well then, okay. Now
that
I can understand.”

***

“What do you mean you’re moving to Fort Wayne?” The disbelief was thick in DeeDee’s voice; the giveaway was that carefully modulated tone she used when trying to clarify something without seeming to question you. He noticed she used it a lot with the Rebel members, less frequently with him, but when she did, it meant something.

“I’m traded to the Tridents, baby,” he said, waiting for a reaction.

“You’ll be playing for the Fort Wayne team? Why would Daniel do that? When did this happen, Jase?” She sounded affronted on his behalf, which he found cute as hell.

“Daniel worked out a deal for me,” he told her. “Tonight was my last game as a Mallet. Tomorrow, I move down there. There’s a condo all set- up and waiting. Furniture should be delivered while I’m driving my truck down in the morning. Practice is the
day
after tomorrow, and the first game is Saturday.” He paused, waiting for her to respond, and when she didn’t, he said, “I was hoping you’d be pleased, DeeDee.”

An additional beat of silence passed and he sighed, smiling, ready to give her an out, take the pressure off. “I know it’s a lot to take in, baby. Let me know when you’re ready to talk about it. Tell me about your day. Did Mercy behave herself?”

Anxiously, he waited to see if she would take the opening, holding his breath and then letting it out in a silent rush when she responded, “Yeah, she’s kept her heels off customer crotches for nearly two weeks now. For a
while
there, I was afraid we had to register her shoes as deadly weapons.” Laughing, he asked more questions about managing the club, giving her a chance to establish their customary, comfortable back-and-forth repartee.

They had been talking for about thirty minutes when she received another call. She told him to hang on and placed their call on hold. Almost
immediately,
he received a text from Mason, and then one from Hoss, and then another from Mason. Putting the call on speaker for when she came back, he flipped over to the messages, and as he read them, his stomach dropped, fear rushing in. Ruby, DeeDee’s
daughter
and Slate’s
woman,
had been
abducted
.

Staggered, he texted DeeDee to call him back as soon as she could and hung up,
dialing
Mason as instructed. “What can I do?” he asked by way of greeting.

“Get your ass down there. DeeDee’s gonna need you, even if nothing else happens tonight, and especially even if she doesn’t think so right now,” Mason growled. “I’m hanging tight here until things are
resolved. Then
I’ll be in the wind myself. Mother
fuckers
don’t know what they stirred up with this shit. They do not fucking understand how it is. We will coat the motherfucking streets with red. Get to the Fort; someone will text you with DeeDee’s location. She’s being moved right now to make sure she’s safe.”

“I’m on my way, Mason. Keep her safe for me,” he pleaded, not knowing if she was in danger, but wanting Mason’s reassurance.

“We will, brother. She’s family. We got her, man. Ratchet it in and get
in
the wind.” Mason disconnected the call and Jase leaned back on his couch for a moment. Straightening and unfolding to his feet, he looked around the apartment, glad he already packed the truck with everything except what he had on his back. As the door pulled closed behind him, he focused on what was ahead of him, easily setting aside what was behind.

“I want a hard around dump and chase.” The coach was yelling from the bench area, calling a multi-player skills practice routine and Jase lifted a tired hand, indicating understanding. This was the second week as a Trident, and he was pushing himself harder every day, learning new drills and trying to anticipate the offensive needs of the team. They won three of the four games in which he played, but things still weren’t clicking
with
his line.

Since nothing was instinctive yet, he couldn’t relax and flow with the play. He thought he understood now why Daniel was so tired after
playing,
because that man was constantly analyzing
games
, even when they were going on around him. That was how Jase had to skate right now, reading things on the fly and then matching the way the line was skating to a mental index card of plays.

He knew it would come with time, but he wanted very much to make this work
quickly,
since he requested the trade. There was a deep need to prove his worth to the organization, even if none of the players were aware of the circumstances. In fact, as far as anyone on either team knew, this was
an ordinary
trade, something management had worked out. Daniel had gotten a good backup goaltender in the deal, which was key for the Mallets, because while Dierk was talented, it was important to have a strong second in the wings.

“Good,” the coach yelled, “that’s good. Bring it in, Spencer.”

Skating over to the bench, he stepped off the ice and onto the mats, grabbing a water bottle and shooting a long stream of water into his mouth. He pushed his unfastened helmet on top of his head, took a towel from one of the equipment guys with a thankful nod, and wiped the stinging sweat from his eyes.

“Looking
good
, Jase,” Leeland Dugger, the Tridents’ long-time team captain, told him as he slid to a stop against the boards beside the bench.

“Thanks, Cap’n,” Jase responded, feeling a twinge of disloyalty. Daniel had been his captain for a long time, but that was part of what was behind him. From what he saw so far, this man was well deserving of the honorific, working to develop a good rapport with all the team members and encouraging everyone during practice and game play.

He wasn’t one to take
shit
from opposing, though, and had earned the nickname Duke It Out Dugger. Jase had watched some promo reels of the man’s fights. He was good on his feet and with his fists, hammering on his opponents with both finesse and power.

Finally
, he thought,
practice is over
. The rest of the team was leaving the ice. Not wanting to seem eager to unlace, Jase stepped back onto the ice and skated to the far boards.
He worked through an agility routine he learned in Russia, skating through neutral ice, pushing his legs hard as he moved forward and backwards across the rink, then repeated it to come to a stop against the far wall.
Turning, he saw Coach and Dugger were both watching him and was afraid he had held them up, thinking maybe they didn’t leave the ice until everyone else was off.

Skating back across to them, he nodded as he stepped onto the mats, pleased when the coach said, “Good initiative, Spencer.”

***

In the parking lot outside the practice arena, he straddled his bike, pulling on his gloves. His helmet balanced on the tank in front of him and he was staring blankly at it, straightening the seams on the fingers of the gloves when he heard a bike enter the lot. Looking up, he recognized Slate’s bike and lifted a hand, watching as the man rode over to him.

“Hey,” he offered as a greeting, continuing to fiddle with his gloves. With away games last weekend, it had been a week since he had seen DeeDee, and it had been nearly as long since he talked to her. All his calls went unanswered, except by an occasional, brief text.
After Ruby had been located and rescued, she had spent several days in the hospital, and during her stay, DeeDee was understandably busy, spending a lot of time with her as the girl recovered from her ordeal.
The
few details Jase knew
were sketchy, but it had sounded seriously scary for a while.

He had gotten a text from Mason earlier today, thanking him for looking out for DeeDee. Responding
with
a brief
No problem
, he hadn’t thought anything else of it until now. Seeing the look on Slate’s face, he had an idea that Mason’s communication and Slate’s visit were connected
somehow,
and
strongly
suspected he wasn’t going to like it.

“Jase.” Slate reached out a hand and they gripped wrists, shaking firmly. “How’s Road’s old ride treating you?”

“Good, man. Loving the bike,” he responded, settling back
onto
the seat and tapping his fingers against the sides of the helmet. “What brings you out this way? How’s Ruby doing?”

“She’s doing
really good
. Everything is beginning to settle back down like it was before that shit all happened. Doing good. Still needs some help, but we have plenty of that around the apartment these days.” He took a deep breath. “Kinda on that topic, DeeDee wanted me to let you know she’s going to be busy for a while. What with helping Ruby and still managing Slinky’s, she’s got a lot on her plate right now.” Slate had the good grace to look bashful as he delivered the message. If his heart hadn’t been clenching in his chest right now, Jase might feel sorry for the man.

“She couldn’t tell me herself?” Every breath he sucked in brought
pain,
as if he were breathing
ground-up
glass. He was breaking apart inside, and his chest hitched when he locked his eyes on Slate. “She had to send someone? She afraid I’m going to go off on her if she dumps me? That’s what this is, right? She’s dumping me?”

“Dude, I don’t know what this is, honestly. She’s been with Ruby so much, her and Bear’s mom, and I don’t know if she’s tired, or scared, or yeah…
dumping
you. No fucking idea, man. I got nothing.” Slate shrugged at him. His face twisted as he said, “Mason
told me to remind
you there was an understanding.”

“All right.” He closed his mouth resolutely, locking the rest of the words in his throat. After a minute, he swallowed and nodded, saying, “All right. If she wants me, she’s got my number. I’m aware of Mason’s words to me before I came down here, and I…I won’t bother her.” He swallowed again, shook his head, and said sarcastically, “Beauty. Just fucking beauty.”

Slate looked at him for a long minute, then without another word, kicked his bike to life, pulling away and out of the lot. Pain in his chest at the thought of losing DeeDee, Jase watched him leave, sitting on the bike, his shoulders rounding with exhaustion. He tipped his head and pulled on the helmet. Turning the key to start the bike, he turned towards home, wondering what he had done to make her draw away again.

***

She stood in Ruby’s kitchen waiting, hands twisting in the hem of her shirt. Slate had just gotten home and she wanted to ask him if he had a chance to talk to Jase. He stalked into the room and threw her a disgusted look, then glanced around. “She’s napping,” she said quietly, knowing he was looking for Ruby.

“Woman,” he took a step closer to her, his voice low and harsh. “If you didn’t matter so much to my Ruby, I’d be kicking your ass right about now.” The venom in his tone surprised her, but she kept her face
expressionless
, waiting. “Man was devastated. I don’t know what kind of
fucking
game you’ve been playing with him, but this shit stops right the fuck here. You don’t want him, well then that’s just fucking fine. You just stay the fuck away from him.”

She balled up her fists, and then consciously relaxed them. “How did he look?”

“Nope, you don’t get to ask
that kind
of fucking question. The man’s as close to a brother as an unpatched friend of the club can be, and I am not going to be goddamn well sucked into your game. This is the last time I fucking play messenger boy for you.” Angrily he stripped off his jacket and shrugged out of his cut. “I’m going to go lay with my woman. I’m going to lay with her, because I fucking love her, and I ain’t afraid to tell her, so she knows where I stand. She
do
n’t play no fucking games, so I know where she stands, too. You need to get your shit straight, DeeDee. You’re family, but
part of being family
means I get to call you on your shit, and this is shit.”