Lay It Down: Bastards MC Series Boxed Set (27 page)

Fingers wrapped around my arm, and I was led backward. “They’ll be at this for a while,” Rob’s voice, low in my ear, informed me. “It’s better if we stay outta the way.”

From the murderous look each wore, I couldn't think of a better idea. Something crashed and the sound of glass shattering reached us just as we closed the balcony door.

He shook his head. “See?” He sank into the padded patio loveseat, groaning as he leaned back. “Fuck, I’m old.”

He lifted a small glass filled with brown liquid to his eye and inhaled through his teeth sharply. I sat next to him, pulling up my knees and watching the siblings through the window. Every now and then I could hear a hint of a shout, but no other sound came out. He followed my gaze, sighing before he looked out at the city.

“Does she know you’re in love with her?”

“I’m not.” His eyes met mine. “Anymore.”

I raised an eyebrow. It didn’t look like that from my view.

“Lots of history between me and her. I don’t love her anymore because I can’t. Doesn’t mean I don’t care. I have a wicked haahd time rememberin’ I don’t haveta protect her anymore.” He looked back into the room, pain evident on his face. “She can take care of herself now, but…” He tipped back the glass, swallowing all of his drink. “But old habits die haahd.”

We were going to be here a while. “I googled you.”

He smirked. “Me? I hope you found somethin’ interestin’.”

I rolled my eyes. “Not you, you. All of you. The Bastards.”

Rob’s jaw clenched, and his lips moved into a thin line as he inhaled slowly through his nose.

“Then I had to google one percenters, because I didn’t know what that was either. ‘A vigilante gang that uses various degrees of violence to protect those they deem as innocent,’” I recited to him. “Another site said you were criminals that hid behind the skirts of the general public, who protect you only because they think that you are a modern-day Robin Hood.”

He snorted. “Yeah, that’s what we do, steal from the rich and give to the poor.”

“I also read that you help every charity you can, participating in anything that has a cause. However, most police believe that your involvement in those events is only to cover your illegal activities. And according to the web, you’ve all gone to jail. Sometimes the charge is as simple as assault, but more serious crimes have been committed.”

His eyes bore into mine. “And do you believe everything you read, Joey?”

I didn’t break his stare. “All I know is that Matty never mentioned any of this shit to me. So I’m asking you, is there anything I should know?”

Rocker looked away then, out over the city. He didn’t speak for a long time, and I wasn’t sure he would say anything at all.

Finally, he stretched out his legs. “We aren’t vigilantes, because we know we aren’t above the law." He turned to me. "What would you do if someone hurt your kids? Would you trust the justice system, or would you take matters into your own hands? If you found a grown man touching your child, would you call the police or murder him with your bare hands?" He sighed. "There are people in this world who need help, and we help those we can, however we can. No one should evah feel alone. Sometimes it’s raising cash, sometimes it’s us just being there, and sometimes we push the boundaries of the law.

"We aren't saints, Joey. All of us are bein’ chased by our own demons. And we’re willing to do almost anything to protect those we can from goin’ through the same shit. People are afraid of us for a fuckin’ reason. Every one of us has a breakin’ point, and we’ve done some things that would make a lady like you be scared shitless. But we’d do it all again because if we don’t help, no one will. We wanna help; that’s just who we aah.”

“And Matty? That’s who he is?”

Rocker smiled, genuine care crossing his features. “Did you evah wondah why a guy like Matt became a social workah?”

I nodded because I had.

“Did you evah ask him why?”

I nodded again. His answer had been simple—
“Because I want to help the kids.”

The memory must have shown on my face, because Rocker gave me a knowing look. “Yeah, that’s who Matt is. He may be doing it a different way now, but he is a Bastahd through and through.”

I looked back into the house, seeing the siblings still arguing. Rocker didn’t need to say any more. Looking at Matty now, I knew he was right. Matty wasn’t a saint—he had a past that I might never fully know about because he seemed so damned determined to keep me in the dark. Were his secrets really bad enough that he thought I’d leave over them? So I didn’t know about his money, or the Bastards, or even the man he used to be. I knew the man he was now, and I loved that version of him. Wasn’t that enough?

I narrowed my eyes at Rocker, but he just looked back as if we were having a casual conversation. "Did he really come down this weekend for Carlos?"

Hearing Matty bellow at his little sister, I jumped.

Rocker met my gaze full-on. "Cut him some slack, Joey. He's terrified. There is nothing scarier that realizing you could lose the one person you can't live without."

I knew he meant me. But did he mean because I could have been killed, or because I’d found out one more piece to the riddle that was Matty and I didn’t like what I’d seen? I was pretty sure he meant the latter, because a bar fight wasn’t really that big of a deal. Twice, in a matter of hours, Matty's friends had hinted that I was going to leave him. Jesus, did Matty think that too?

"I'm not going anywhere!" I snapped back.

He raised an eyebrow as if he knew for a fact that wasn't the truth. "Don't make him a promise you can't keep." It wasn't a threat, more of a plea for his best friend. 

24

I was enjoying the quiet. Matty had called out sick today, trying to recover—we were both worried that his black eye and split lip would scare his clients. Or at least get the office scuttlebutt stirred up. It seemed as though I hadn’t had a moment’s peace in weeks—so different from the life I’d lived just a few months ago. Listening to tunes on my phone, I was kicking ass entering my narrative from my home visits earlier when an email notification from my boss popped up on my screen.

I clicked on it, confused by the “Vacation Time Approval” subject line. I hadn’t requested any vacation time. Pulling out my earbuds, I rolled my chair back into the cubicle opening.

“Connie?” I asked loudly, knowing she could hear me in her nearby office.

“Come on in, Jo.” I walked over and leaned into her office, but she motioned me in with her hand. “Close the door.”

I shut it quietly behind me and looked at her with confusion.

I was about to ask about the email when she leaned forward and asked, “How is Matt doing today?”

I raised an eyebrow. “He had a rough weekend. I haven’t talked to him yet today though.”

She raised a perfectly waxed eyebrow and mmhhmmed. “I talked to him earlier, and he seems to be nursing his pride a little bit, amongst other things.”

She knew. I knew she knew.
Fine, I’ll change the subject.
“I didn’t request any vacation time.”

Connie nodded. “I know. But you’re going to request it in a little while, and I wanted to make my approval official so there isn’t any confusion later on. So that’s where the email comes in.”

“Why am I going to request vacation time in a little while?”

My supervisor smiled at me. “You need to talk to Matt. If you decide you don’t want to take any time off, you don’t have to. But on the off chance you will, don’t delete the email.”

I stood, realizing that I needed to talk to Matty right away.

I was reaching for the door when Connie cleared her throat. “Jo? Would you please tell Matt to check his work email? His approval is in there as well.”

I nodded before walking back to my desk. Was there never going to be a good old-fashioned normal day while I was with Matty?

“What do you mean it’s a surprise?” I demanded.

Matty grinned. “I mean I’m not telling you where we’re going until we’re on the way. All you need to know is that it’s gonna be sunny and hot. You need swim gear and shorts and sunglasses. Oh, and comfortable shoes. It is somewhere you really wanna be, and we have to fly to get there, so you should just bring a carry-on.”

“I did tell you I don’t have my passport, right?”

He chuckled and nodded. “No passport required.” He moved over on the couch to lay his head on my lap. “Say you’ll come away with me?”

I couldn’t help but smile down at him. “Of course I’ll come. How could any girl say no to you?” I reached down, smoothing his hair back. “But why are we going on vacation? We just got back from Boston.”

He pushed my hand away and sat up. “Boston was a fucking nightmare.” He stood and walked over to the fridge.

We still hadn’t talked about anything that had happened over the weekend, and at some point, we needed to discuss both the events and the Bastards. I just didn’t want to.

He turned back to me then. “This is a mini-vacation to say I’m sorry for that.”

I stood and walked to him. “You don’t need to take me away to say you’re sorry.”

Reaching an arm around me, he kissed my temple. “I know. But I want to take you away from everything so we can have fun and forget ourselves for a little while.”

I sighed. He was right. That sounded absolutely perfect.

Wednesday afternoon came quickly, and before I knew it, we were in my car, two carry-ons packed, and headed for Boston. Wherever our destination, Logan Airport had a non-stop flight and we were going to spend the night at the apartment. But we had to make a quick stop at Becky’s so Matty could say good-bye to his son.

Matty slowed before pulling into the driveway, and I glanced over to see how he was holding up. This weekend was his weekend with Sam, and instead of spending time with his son, he was taking me away. He had seemed so calm about it, which surprised me, but I just assumed that he’d hold it together until after we left.

I was wrong again. As soon as we got out of the car, the little boy came out of the house, pulling a suitcase behind him, followed by Becky. I frowned at Matty, and he just shrugged, smiling.

It took us almost fifteen minutes to say our good-byes, but then we were on our way again—this time with an extra passenger.

“Okay.” I turned in my seat to face the boys. “What’s going on? Where are we going?”

Matty just smiled. Sammy could barely contain his excitement though.

“Fine. You can tell her, bud.”

“Yay!” Sammy was practically jumping up and down. “We’re going to Disney World!”

Disney World? I loved Mickey as much as the next girl, but why was that someplace I really wanted to be?
Florida!
My heart stopped beating.

“Is someone else in Disney World?” I asked Matty, my voice barely a whisper.

“Lily and Jamin are waiting for us right now!” Sam couldn’t wait for his dad to answer, and this time he was actually jumping in his seat, dimples showing with his grin. “We’re gonna be there all weekend!”

I turned back to Matty, who was beaming. He
was
taking me to the one place I really, really wanted to be. God, I loved this man!

25

The flight lasted forever. Okay, with the security check, boarding time, and actual flight time, it took us four hours to get from Boston to our driver in the Orlando airport. But for a mom who hadn’t seen her kids in weeks, it definitely felt as though it lasted forever.

I tapped my foot in annoying eagerness as Matty checked us in at the Polynesian Resort, and I wished the woman behind the counter would move just a little faster. We had adjoining rooms, and the other half of our party—my family—had already checked in.

Familiar giggling on the stairs behind me had me spinning around. Seeing their faces, I felt as if I’d won the lottery. My hands came over my mouth as tears burned my eyes. Matty’s hand rubbed my back gently as a petite eight-year-old, her wavy blond hair pulled away from her face by a Minnie-ear headband, spotted me and squealed.

“Lily-belle!” I smiled as she ran toward me full tilt and jumped into my arms. I gave her the biggest hug I could, looking over her shoulder for her big brother.

Much too cool to run to his mom, especially in a public place, my dark haired mini-me strutted across the lobby, giving me a gapped-tooth grin.