Nomads' Fall: Burning Bastards MC (19 page)

Demon knew by the time he was halfway through that pile of wood that he was sinking. He denied it to himself until the blood blisters on his hands broke open and began to seep. He didn’t believe in romantic kissy faced love, but he couldn’t deny the feeling of abandonment when they’d came back to the campground and found the house empty. The pep talk he’d given himself while splitting that mountain of wood had only clarified his emotional situation.

When he saw Jolly’s naked flank stepping into the shower and that silhouette of her body behind the opaque glass, his cock stirred to life. The damned thing didn’t care the rest of his body was too fucking tired to function. His prick was the only muscle he hadn’t abused today. He didn’t give into the lure of joining her in the small space. Instead, he went down the hall and let himself into the other bathroom, stripping before adjusting the temperature, and stepping under the water. His dick was just going to have to wait until he was ready to make his final decision.

Chapter
Eighteen

Knight saw crazy Charlie, Joker, and Pressley sitting in the corner drinking and talking. Joker and Pressley got up and headed toward the back door. Charlie sat by himself, staring at his longneck, and the packet of sugar next to it. Knight got a beer from Tiny and joined the greybeard. He’d become fond of the old guy, but something wasn’t quite right about him this evening.

“Hey, brother, what’s up? It’s so fucking quiet in the club tonight, I wondered if I walked into the right place.”

Charlie shook his head, “We got turned back by that damn storm last night. We were about half way up, and the wind started howling and rain started pouring, I can pretty much guarantee the sniper ain’t dedicated enough to hang around in those trees when the lightning was zapping everything it could touch. Tonight we’re supposed to get another storm. They’re already saying tornados, so we came back until tomorrow if the rain lets up.”

Knight nodded his head, the wind had already started blowing again before he’d parked the car in front of the building, so he wasn’t surprised at Charlie’s news. It looked like most of the members were staying close to home tonight, and he didn’t blame them a bit. If he hadn’t needed a change of clothes and time to think, he’d still be at the campground with Jolly and Demon. The clothes were just steps away, but the thinking, that hung over his chest like a big fucking rock.

“I needed to do some thinking and deciding on a few things, and damned if I’m any closer to either one than when I started.”

Charlie nodded in agreement. “Hell yes, I played the nice guy, and all I am is miserable. You know I planned to make Selma my old lady and set up housekeeping, right? Well, she started talkin’ bout buying me a suit, and cutting my beard off. She wants to be elected to that judge’s position at the County Family Court, and I was all for it, until she started trying to change me. She said I look too much like a disreputable biker with the beard and tats. I told her that’s ‘cause I am a disreputable biker, and don’t plan to change. Damn, man, I ain’t wore a suit since I graduated from the eighth grade at St Mary’s. Well then, and my dress blues.”

For obvious reasons, Knight had to agree with Charlie, if a woman needed to change him, he wouldn’t take too kindly to that either. “That sucks, man, sorry to hear that. I know you were getting seriously involved with the woman. That’s nuts, she knew what you were before you two started seeing each other.” Charlie nodded his head in agreement and upended the bottle. “So what are you going to do about the situation?”

“Well I ain’t planning anything now. I took the high road and told her it was better for her if I just let her fly solo. I cut her loose. All my fault and we can be friends, and shit like that. I got no reason to cuss her. I knew she was smarter than me to begin with. I could deal with buying the woman little gifts and bringing her a box of chocolates every once in a while. Hell, you know how much women like them little things. They gotta think they’re the most important thing in a man’s life. Maybe if I was thirty years younger and not so set in my ways, I might compromise a little more. Hell, who am I kidding, I ain’t gonna change. I was even wilder then than I am nowadays. She cried, and I left.” He stood and hurled the empty bottle in the trashcan. “Ain’t nothing good coming out on the short end of the stick like this, but she can be happy with her little black robe and gavel, making her dream come true, and I’ll be ridin’ the roads like I always do.” He walked to the bar and snagged a couple more longnecks placing one in front of Knight who sat contemplating the old man’s words of wisdom.

He didn’t know what was eating at the younger man, but with that kind of blank look, it had to be woman troubles. “You know, seems like there’s something in the air around here lately. Me and Selma, Big Dog and Future, Beadle deserves his misery, so I got no sympathy for him. George, well he’s a hard case, and if he don’t get his head outta his ass, he’s gonna lose Gladys too.

“Tiny is home with his ol’ lady tonight, he left here like his tail was on fire. Said he wasn’t taking any chances that Lila would catch whatever’s going around. You see the way Tarzan and Seth dote on Harlow. Pressley was tellin’ us that he was thinking about making Tinkerbelle into a house mouse. Tiny’s woman is a smart one, she saves her bitchin' for when he’s home, never seen her say shit to him here in front of the brothers, and that was when she had cause.

“So, what has your dick in a knot tonight?” While he waited for Knight to get around to talking, he watched Teach’s technique as the man buried his face between Pinky’s thighs. “Ain’t no way Pinky’ll come that way. He’s licking, but if he don’t pay attention to that clit of hers, she ain’t gonna get her goodies. Pinky likes her clit sucked on and her tits are real sensitive too. If the man ever watched what she does to get herself off while he was plowing her pussy, he’d know she needs that little bit of extra incentive. Dumb fucker thinks a few licks and pokes are enough for a woman. Any man that thinks him tellin’ a woman what she wants is how it goes, hell that’s just dirt dumb.

“We can only hope one day he’s gonna figure that out. There ain’t nothin’ stronger than a woman. You tell me one thing you think’s stronger,” he demanded from Knight who had no idea what the old man wanted him to ask. Women were strong, hell they had to be, but to say they were stronger than a man, was just wrong.

“I know they have strength, Charlie, no disrespect, but not many women can match the strength of a man, it’s not their fault, it’s just the way they’re built.”

Charlie laughed in his face. “I was with a couple of them when they birthed babies. You ain’t seen strength till you see a woman push out a baby, then laugh and cry about it afterwards. Put a woman in a fuckin' cave with a dirt floor and she’ll make that cave a goddamned cozy nest. Before he knows it, her man gets used to the luxuries and does his best to keep her happy. Cave or mansion. It don’t matter to most women as long as her man stays true and makes her feel like she’s important and not just for fuckin’. You ain’t ever seen anything more loyal or deadly than a woman defending what’s hers.

“I knew a woman that stood over her man, who was bleeding to death by the way, and had two little kids hanging on her skirts. She stood over them with an old double barrel, she was ready to kill ol’ Fred the Chinaman. Course that was back in the biker wars, and there wasn’t any place for her to take cover with them. The Ghouls had burned the house down. We came up on them before she had to shoot. Not that it would’ve been a shame if she’d done the world a favor.

“All I’m saying is that any man who thinks a woman’s weak, deserves it when she hands him his nuts and walks out. That’s why I decided on Selma. She’s everything I admire in a woman. Strong, and you might not know it to look at her now, but she was always a beauty. You shoulda seen her go after Joker when he got to making fun of me thinking about domestic shit. To you and me it was just him trying to bust my balls. To her? She was ready to gut his ass.”

Charlie was laughing in remembrance of the way Selma had gotten that haughty look on her face and narrowed her eyes at Joker. She’d actually tried to stand in front of him while she verbally started cutting his old friend down to size. It’d taken a few long kisses and, hahaha, yeah a good fuck, before she calmed down enough to listen to him tell her about men busting each other’s chops. That had put the bracelet on his ankle as far as he was concerned. A woman that was smarter than he would ever hope to be, defending him like she’d done, made him near to bursting with pride to be the man she took home with her.

“Might as well face the facts, if all you got in common, or can find to admire a woman for is her ability to fuck or suck, then you ain’t gonna invest the time to get to know her. You find a woman that you can talk to, and I don’t mean sex talk or get me a beer talk. She might teach you what you don’t know.”

Charlie got up. “I got things to look into tonight.” He left Knight sitting there feeling like he’d been schooled by the old man.

*****

Demon was warming pizza in the microwave when Jolly decided to gather her courage and join him on the porch. She noticed he was moving a little slowly, and he held a bottle of unopened beer between his hands, rolling it back and forth. The microwave dinged, so she pulled his food out and grabbed herself a coke, before finally sitting down and listening to the sounds of nature at night.

“It looks like Gladys will have plenty of firewood when the nights start getting colder. That was really nice of you.” He nodded while he chewed. She tried a different track of conversation. “I loaned Knight my car. He said he needed to go to the club and check on a few things, and grab you both some clean clothes. I was planning to hold his hog hostage, but when I looked outside for it, I didn’t see either bike. How’d you guys come to be in the vicinity when the storm hit?”

He wiped his fingers on his pant leg, and cracked the top of the beer open, after taking a long pull from the bottle, he pointed to the back of the property. “There’s a spot next to this place that nobody claims, and it’s a good place to study a problem. Knight and I had some problem solving to do, so we stopped there. The storm came up, and this huge damn tree fell right behind the bikes. There we were, no place to hide and dodging lightning bolts. We spent all day today clearing the path to the bikes, but that huge tree needs a few more men to move the trunk, providing we can get the thing chopped into pieces manageable enough to move.”

He became quiet, and picked up another slice of pizza, then tossed it back onto the plate. “When you weren’t here at two o’clock when we took a break, it wasn’t a big deal. When we came back at seven, and you were still gone, it bothered us. We had no transportation, and no cell phones ‘cause mine’s broken, and Knight's was out of juice. If the office phone hadn’t rung, we would have really been upset. I was getting ready to hotwire that old truck in the barn when you called all humming and chirpy as a bird.

“Let’s just say that pile of wood saved your ass from my hand busting it. I don’t worry about people. I figure they can take care of themselves.” He picked up the pizza again, and took a large bite.

Jolly couldn’t believe they were actually having a conversation that didn’t involve him telling her what she was going to do. To be honest, he was kind of hinting at his feelings on the subject of her absence. On the bright side, at least he wasn’t demanding she do his bidding either. Yet, that three letter word was small, but always hanging in the air when he talked.

“I didn’t mean to worry either of you. I wanted to see Gladys and while I was in town, I did some exploring. I found a couple of small places that had some clothes I needed, so I took my time. It didn’t occur to me you’d still be here, until I started thinking about supper. That’s why I called to see if you were still here so I’d bring home plenty to eat. I’m not in the habit of feeding a man, let alone two huge men. You have to admit, you two aren’t the average six foot tall hundred-eighty pound guys.” It was her turn to take a drink from her coke stalling for time.

“I spent most of today thinking about what you and Knight told me, and once I got over being mad and hurt, I tried to look at it from your point of view. I still can’t turn myself into a fuck toy for the two of you, tempting as it may be, I have to live with myself. I loved what we did, there’s no use in denying that, and great sex is a big plus on my list of what I need in a relationship.

“You see, I’m not the kind of woman that goes into a relationship looking for the end. If and when I agree to take that step, I’ll be looking forward to the future, happy to be heading toward a home and kids type of arrangement.” He kept chewing and nodding his head, but she didn’t hold out a lot of hope he understood what she was saying. “Rationally I know you guys are sincere, and to you, what you’ve offered is a compliment. My mother thought she was getting more than William was offering. She hung her heart out for him to stomp on, and she never let herself care for another man. She wasn’t a masochist, but she cut herself off from the possibility of being hurt again by simply refusing to allow another man to change her mind. I refuse to let myself get into a position that ruins my self-esteem and life. I’m a person, and I don’t want or need to have someone tell me what I can or can’t do.”

He was staring at her blank faced, but at least he didn’t appear mad. “If there’s love in a relationship, trusting in that person should be enough until they screw it up. My opinion should matter, I have a brain, and I know how to use it most of the time.”

He just kept staring at her and it was making her more nervous. “Look, you can talk you know, I’ve been blabbering all this time, and haven’t heard a word come out of your mouth.” It took him a few minutes, but she was happy she’d waited once he began to talk.

“Nail Faultersak, I’m thirty-two years old. I have most of my teeth. I served two tours in the Middle East, and I speak four languages fluently enough to ask where the bar and bathrooms are.” He finished his beer, and continued his list. “I was raised by my mother and Knight’s father. My old man took off sometime between the diapers and the rent coming due, so my mother worked her ass off to keep us fed and a roof over our heads. I spent a lot of time hanging at Knight’s house. His dad is one mean sonofabitch, but I love the old fart.