Nasty Bastard (Grim Bastards MC Book 4) (5 page)

When I finally finish, I decide to order pizza, something I’ve not done since college. After our bellies are full, Parker’s bath comes first, then mine. I’m just stepping out of the bathroom, when Parker comes running out of his room, my old room.

I catch him as he flies into my arms. “What’s wrong, baby?”

He looks up at me, his lips trembling, and tears falling from his crystal blue eyes. “There’s a monster under my bed. Can I sleep with you?”

“Sure you can,” I reply, reminding myself to not let him watch anymore Scooby Doo before bedtime.

He grabs my hand and smiles. “Good, I was too scared to sleep by myself.”

A little laugh slips out as I lead him to my mom’s old bedroom. When we’re both covered up, I pull him into my arms. “I love you, sweetie.”

“I love you too, Mommy,” he says, cuddling into my side.

Seconds later, he’s asleep. When my eyes finally close, I know my past is going to haunt my dreams. I only hope a few good dreams come my way before the nightmares start.

Smoke

I slam myself into tonight’s club whore. As soon as the last wave of my release fades, I roll off her and jump from the bed. After heading to the bathroom to deal with the condom, I go to the end of the bed and grab my jeans, doing my best to keep from looking at the woman on the bed.

They are halfway up my legs, when Violet starts to pout. “You’re leaving?”

If it’s just me fucking her, she always asks the same shit, but if we involve anyone else in the bed, she knows better than to say anything like that. It’s like the woman thinks we’re in some kind of relationship or something, but there’s nothing like that going on between us. We’re fuck buddies, nothing more. She’s a club whore, has been for three years. She should know the game by now. Brothers get what they need, then they’re gone.

“Got shit to do,” I say, doing up my zipper.

She continues to whine as I finish dressing, but I ignore her and pull on my boots. I should have left her alone after she interrupted me talking with my brothers, but I just couldn’t. I’m not sure why the hell I keep going back to Violet. That’s a fucking lie, one that Boz has pointed out to me more than once. She reminds me of Gidget just enough to keep me sniffing after her, but every time she opens her mouth, I’m reminded she’s not a damn thing like my girl. This bitch wouldn’t give up shit for someone else, and my girl was willing to give up her dream for me.

After sliding on my cut, I head toward the door without bothering to look back at her. Just as my hand reaches the door knob, she calls out my name. “Smoke, don’t you want to hang out a little while longer. We could come up with something fun to do. I bought some new toys; we could try them out if you want? We can even invite Hack or whoever you want, to join us.”

“Not interested,” I reply, jerking the door open. She just doesn’t know when to quit. It’s time I found some different pussy to go to; she’s becoming more than what I want to put up with. There are other whores here who know the deal—fuck ‘em and forget ‘em—without all this bullshit involved.

I walk out, shaking my head in disgust. I’m not sure who I’m most disgusted by, myself for continuing to fuck her or Violet for begging me to do it again. Either way, it ends right now. She may remind me of Gidget, but she’s not the woman I want. No matter how many times I fuck her, she’s never gonna be able to give me what I want or need.

The only thing on my mind as I walk down the hall is getting a shower before it’s time to head to my dad’s house for supper. My hope for that dies a quick death when I see my Pres walking toward me. His face is hard as stone, letting me know something is wrong.

He stops a few feet in front of me and says, “I need you in my office.”

Neither of us says a word as we walk through the club. When we reach the common room, he calls out for Hack and Brew to join us. When we’re all in his office, Boz takes a seat at the desk and looks over to Hack.

“Shut the door and grab a seat.” He barks out the order then turns to look at me. “I have gone over all the books. Hack’s right; there’s no doubt that the money is missing.”

We all knew that, so I just nod and wait for him to go on. After a moment’s hesitation, he does. “We both know what happened to it. It was Stone. No one but a brother would even know about the bunker, and the only other brother that would even try to pull this shit was Crank, but he wasn’t smart enough to plan something like this.”

“Crank couldn’t even dream something so complex. The idiot probably wouldn’t have even understood how to read a spread sheet. No fucking way could he alter one.” Brew walks over to the fridge and pulls out a few beers, tossing one to each of us.

Opening my beer, I run a hand through my hair. “I agree, but I can’t figure out how the fuck Stone could get into the safe. Only officers have the code to open the safe.”

Brew and Hack nod, letting me know they’re just as confused as I am, but Boz just shakes his head. “I just realized we fucked up, big time.”

A cold chill works its way up my back as I wonder what other shit the Pres is going to throw at us now. “What the hell are you talking about?”

“Since Dad put in the bunker out back, we’ve been storing the reserve money out there. Like you said, only officers have access to the bunker and the safe,” he says, then explains how exactly we fucked up. “After Dad’s officers stepped down, we didn’t change any of the access codes for either. Any of the past officers could walk in there anytime they wanted to.”

“Fuck,” I mumble, getting what he’s saying. “That’s how Stone got the fucking money.”

Ever since the money was discovered missing, there was no doubt in my mind that Stone did it. Still, I never could figure out how. As fucked up as it is that a brother would do this shit to the club, I’m relieved to finally know how he did it.

Boz takes a drink of his beer before going on. “Yeah, I should have changed the access codes as soon as the old officers stood down.”

I can see the guilt on my brother’s face and feel the same. As the VP, I’m supposed to watch my President’s back, help him cover the club. If he fucked up, so did I. Hell, we all did. Any of us should have thought about this shit a long time ago.

“Bullshit!” Hack shouts, moving his gaze to each of us. “At some point, we are all gonna step down. Other people are going to be wearing our officer patches, but that isn’t going to change the fact that we can be trusted.”

I nod, agreeing with Hack. “I agree. This shit isn’t on you, Pres. It’s all about Stone and his greed. Once an officer, always an officer.”

“Yeah, he should have been worthy of the trust we placed on him. That doesn’t change the fact we need to do something to keep this shit from happening again,” Brew adds, leaning against Boz’s desk. “The codes should be changed monthly on the safe and the alarm pad on the bunker.”

We all throw out ideas for a few minutes, trying to come up with other ways we can cover our asses a bit better. Nothing we do now is gonna change the fact we got fucked over by one of our brothers, more than once, though. That cut is gonna hurt everyone for a while.

Trying to focus on the here and now, I ask, “What are we gonna do to get our money back?”

“The real question is what the fuck did he do with the money?” Hack asks, crossing his arms over his chest. “I doubt the fucker was gonna just carry around half a million in cash.”

Brew nods. “That’s true. He probably used the money to set something up for his getaway. Most of it could be gone by now.”

All this talking isn’t getting us anywhere; it’s time for action. “I don’t care what we do, but we can’t just sit here talking about it forever.”

“Only thing we can do is head over to Stone’s house,” Boz says with a nod. “We’ll start there. If we don’t find anything, we’ll figure out our next move.”

“I doubt he left any money there. Even if he did, his old lady would have taken it. I saw her right before she left town; that woman was worried about where her next meal was coming from. She wasn’t carrying that kind of money,” Hack says, taking another drink of his beer.

“I agree, but maybe we can find something that will lead us to it,” Boz says, before he tosses his empty bottle into the trash. “If we find out the money is gone; I want to know what it was spent on. Drugs, guns, a fucking house? I don’t care. Whatever he bought with that cash is property of the Grim Bastards, and I want it back.”

“Sounds like a plan to me. When are we heading over there?” I ask, wanting to get this shit done as soon as possible.

“Tonight. I wanna wait until dark. Mom hasn’t mentioned when or even if Gidget is coming back. If she does, I want to get it done before she decides to show up here,” he answers with a shrug. “If it’s dark, we won’t be announcing to the whole fucking town that we’re searching Stone’s house.”

Stone’s house is pretty isolated, but there are a few neighbors down the road. I doubt they’d think anything about a bunch of bikers showing up; they’re used to it by now. Still, Boz is right. We don’t need anyone watching while we do what we have to do.

I nod my agreement. “Lisa’s making lasagna, so I’m going over to Dad’s for supper. Just shoot me a text when you’re ready to head out.”

All three men look at me with jealousy in their eyes, and I can’t help but chuckle. “I’m sure you can get one of your old ladies to cook for you.”

Hack tosses his empty bottle in the trash and shakes his head. “I don’t have an old lady, and ain’t looking for one, so I see no lasagna in my future.”

“I do,” Boz says, his lips tipping up just a bit. “But, I sure in the hell don’t want Trix trying to make me anything more complex than a sandwich.”

Brew laughs as he says, “Addy made chili last night. It’s fucking ninety degrees outside and she made chili. My ass would be happy with a sandwich.”

Standing up, I walk to the door with a smile on my face. “Sorry y’all are missing out, but I’m out of here, brothers. Gonna go grab a shower and then go eat some of Lisa’s good food.”

Gidget

After a restless night filled with dreams of my childhood, I woke up with a terrible headache. Parker, on the other hand, woke up full of energy. Every bit of yesterday’s resistance to living here disappeared when he discovered a box filled with my brother’s old matchbox cars. Since then, he has been playing with them and I’ve been working on the house.

Lettie got most of the house cleaned before we showed up. I’m sure she spent hours here working her ass off, but it still needed a deeper cleaning. I’ve spent the last three hours this morning alone, cleaning everything. Granted, it felt like I was trying to polish a pig. Everything in here is so old, there is no way to get it really clean.

It needs new paint, carpet, furniture—the works. I’ll worry about all of that after I get a new job. With any hope, that shouldn’t take very long. I left my last job at the hospital in good standing, so hopefully, with that and my nursing experience, I’ll find something quick. Until then, this place is going to stay looking shabby. It may not be much, but it’s a place to live, and I’m grateful for that.

“Mommy, is it lunch time yet?” Parker asks, as I wipe down another cabinet.

Turning to look at the clock on the wall, I nod my head. “Yeah, want some leftover pizza or a peanut butter and jelly sandwich?”

Instead of answering, he starts shaking his little hips and singing. “It’s peanut butter jelly time, peanut butter jelly time.”

Laughing, I pull out what’s needed to make his sandwich. Once it’s done, I cut off the crust, tossing the extra bread he refuses to eat in the trash, and pull out a cup of blueberry flavored applesauce. The crap makes me want to vomit every time I look at it, but it’s his favorite and healthy, so it’s a staple in our home.

“Do you want chocolate milk or grape juice?” I ask, setting his plate down on the table and pulling a chair out for him.

“Grape juice,” he replies, crawling up in the chair and grabbing his sandwich.

Once his drink is in front of him, I grab a piece of leftover pizza and a Pepsi then join him. We eat while he tells me all about his new cars, for the hundredth time today. Because of his endless stream of chatter, it takes forever for him to finish eating.

My mind wonders over what else I need to do, and I quickly realize the inside is as good as it’s gonna get for now, so I need to focus on the outside. First things first, that yard has got to be mowed. Hopefully, there’s a lawnmower in the shed. If not, I’ll have to run and pick up a cheap push mower. I’m not even sure if a mower will cut this grass, since it’s so tall, but I’ll have to try.

Thinking about all I need to get done, I say, “If you finish your sandwich, I’ll let you play outside for a bit.”

The thought of playing outside has him finished in minutes. A few minutes later, our dirty plates are clean, and we are heading out the door. As soon as we step on the porch, I hear something that stops me in my tracks. No matter how long I’ve been away from home, I know the sound of motorcycles coming when I hear it. Not knowing who it is, I get a bit nervous. I really think Dad and Crank are probably dead, but there’s no guarantee. Just the thought of seeing them causes goosebumps to prickle down my arms.

“Parker, you need to stay in the house,” I say, pushing him inside.

“But, you said I could play outside if I ate my food,” he whines, tears pooling in his eyes. “You promised, Mommy.”

He’s usually a really good kid, but there are times he can throw a fit. I just pray this isn’t one of those times. “Please, baby. Someone is coming, and I don’t know who they are.”

He looks down the road toward the sound and asks, “Are you scared, Mommy?”

“I’m not scared, baby, just trying to make sure you are safe.” I try to explain as quickly as I can. “Right now, I want you to go to your bedroom and shut the door. Do not come out, no matter what you hear, until I come get you. All right?”

He looks at me for a second then nods his head, causing his brown locks to flop into his eyes. Then, he turns and walks right in. I wait until I hear his bedroom door close, then close the house door and watch as the bikes come down the road. They don’t even bother with pulling into the driveway. They drive right through grass and stop just a foot or two away from the porch.