Always Read online

  After dinner, he did the dishes with Elizabeth, and his father called him out to the backyard as he picked up his keys. He’d gotten a text from Eddie about a meet-up at the back of the library.

  Pocketing his keys, he walked out back to find his dad putting some chair together.

  “You okay, son?” Devil asked.

  “Yeah, I was just about to head out and spend some time with the guys. That okay?”

  “What about school?”

  “I’ll be back. You know that.”

  Devil leaned on his knee. His father was near sixty but didn’t look a day over forty, at least Simon didn’t think so.

  He suddenly realized that one day, he was going to wake up and his father wasn’t going to be around anymore. The club would be his. He didn’t like it. To him, Devil was going to live forever, but he couldn’t deny his dad was constantly getting older. What would he do when Devil wasn’t there?

  After pulling out his cell phone, he texted his friends to let them know he wouldn’t be there tonight, removed his jacket, and knelt down. “What do you need?”

  Devil chuckled. “I can still put shit together, son. No, I was wondering on our next run if you’d like to come with.”

  “Your run?”

  “You know, when we have to go and pick out a woman or a family from a bad situation.”

  “Oh.” That was what The Skulls and Chaos Bleeds did now. They worked as a protection detail with the Billionaire Bikers MC in helping families or women in fucked-up, abusive situations and provided them shelter, a home, anything they needed. Simon had also heard that they helped to rescue trafficked women. It was the Billionaire Bikers MC’s MO. They helped lost women.

  The Skulls and Chaos Bleeds were part of it. They helped where they could. There was a time a run meant delivering guns, drugs, whatever Ned Walker wanted, or whatever deal they had going. Simon had been young at the time. When both clubs had nearly been wiped out more than once by long-forgotten enemies, Lash and Devil had both agreed for the safety of their clubs and families that it was time to go legit. No more danger surrounding them. The days of lockdowns were so far in the past, he struggled to remember them. It was crazy.

  It was during some of The Skulls and Chaos Bleeds lockdowns that he’d gotten close to Tabby. The love of his life.

  “If you’re not up for it, I understand. We never know what kind of shit we’re walking into and it’s not for the faint of heart.”

  “No, it’s not about that. Believe me. I want to.” He laughed, running a hand down his face. “You know, one day, I want to be like you.”

  “No, son, you’re going to be better than me.”

  “I doubt that.”

  Devil stopped twisting a screw and looked at him. “Being a leader, the club President, you need to have doubt from time to time. What you need is to own up to it, and accept it. You’ve always got to be one step ahead of the game. You think I’ve been rooting for your education because of your mother, it’s not. I need you to be able to think on your feet in case anything goes wrong.”

  Devil rubbed the back of his neck. “These runs, Simon, they’re dangerous. I’m not going to pretend with you. I know how desperately you want to be part of the club, and if so, you need to know what you’re getting yourself into.”

  “When do you know when a run is going to happen?”

  “We get a call. We organize. We never go in half-cocked, unless we have to.” Devil took a deep breath. “You still know how to shoot a gun?”

  “Wow,” he said.

  “Yeah, wow. Some of the places we go, we still have to deal with people.”

  “By deal you mean kill.”

  Devil looked past his shoulder and nodded his head.

  “I bet Mom already knows the kind of shit you have to do.”

  “Either way, I don’t want her to know the full extent of all the bad shit that goes down. She doesn’t need to be aware of it.”

  Devil ran a hand down his face. “You can go on out with your buddies.”

  “Nah, I’m good.”

  “Really? You’re willing to spend time with your old man after all the shit I’ve heard about you being free to make your own choices and shit?”

  Simon snorted. “Dad, I’m a teenager. Making your life hard is what I’m all about.”

  Devil shook his head. “One of the best days of my life with you was holding you.”

  “You never talk about it much. Why?” Simon asked.

  He watched as Devil opened his mouth, closed it. “You know the drill. It was a hard time. Your mother and I, we didn’t always see eye to eye.”

  “You know what I don’t get,” Simon said.

  “What?”

  “With Elizabeth, Josh, and all the others, there are so many photos of Mom pregnant. What happened to the ones with me? Mom doesn’t have any with her being pregnant with me.”

  “They were lost, son, in a fire.”

  “Right.” He stopped, wondering. “What kind of fire?” Simon asked.

  “The kind that takes photographs. Go and grab me a soda, will you? I’m thirsty.”

  Simon shrugged, got to his feet, and headed into the house.

  His mom was in the kitchen, stirring something on the stove. The scent of chocolate was heavy in the air. After all this time, Lexie was still trying to perfect the best hot chocolate that Angel had perfected years ago.

  “Hey, Mom,” he said.

  “Hey, sweetie. I thought you were going out with some friends?” She turned to look at him.

  “I was but I decided to help Dad.”

  “Ah, he’s still pissed that his chair didn’t come with instructions. He’s determined to build it up from scratch.”

  “He’s all manly. You know that. It’s what he does.”

  She chuckled. “I love him so much.”

  He grabbed two cans of soda and closed the fridge. “Mom, can I ask you something?”

  “Sure thing.”

  “What happened to pictures of you when you were pregnant with me?”

  “Oh, I had them on my phone. It wasn’t a great phone but it took pictures. It got lost and they were all gone.”

  “Right,” he said.

  “Is that all?”

  “Yeah, that’s all.”

  He headed outside and handed his dad a soda. “What’s up, son?”

  “Nothing. Nothing at all.” He had to wonder why his mom and dad had a different answer for the pictures of her being pregnant.

  ****

  “He asked tonight,” Lexie said.

  “What about?” Devil switched off the bathroom light, watching his woman as she put her book to one side.

  She wore a sexy negligee that displayed her heavy tits.

  After all these years together, he was never bored. Not once. His dick hardened at the sight.

  “Me being pregnant with him.”

  He’d hoped this kind of conversation would never happen. “Yeah, he asked me too.”

  “Oh, no, what did you say?” she asked.

  “I said they were gone in a fire.”

  She winced.

  “What?” he asked.

  “Er, I said it was on one of those phones and it got destroyed. Did he ask you about it?”

  Devil shook his head.

  “What do we do?”

  “For now, we wait and see if he asks any more questions,” Devil said.

  “What if he does? What do we do? How do we tell him that I’m not his real mother? That she dumped him and then was killed?” Lexie covered her face and Devil went to her. He held his woman.

  “You’re his mother, baby. You will always be his mother and he knows this. You did everything you could to protect him.”

  “But he’s going to hate us. We never told him the truth.”

  “He was too young to understand the truth.”

  “But what about now?” she asked. “We’ve left it too long and now he’s going to think the worst.”

  Devil caught
her face in his hands. “This was the decision I made. I will face whatever anger he has. I will not let it come near you.”

  “But—”

  He slammed his lips down on hers. “No buts. No nothing. I wanted this. You don’t have to worry. I’ll take care of it.”

  “What if he finds out the truth?” she asked.

  “He won’t. Not until we’re ready to tell him.” Devil pulled her close, kissing her and using his hands on her body to distract her.

  There was no way he would ever allow any harm to come to his woman. He would deal with his son when the time came.

  ****

  “Man, you missed one hell of a party last night,” Eddie said.

  “Party? I thought you were hanging out at the library?” Simon asked.

  Dean snorted. “Dude, we can go to the library any fucking day of the week. Nah, there was a party at Amber’s, and guess what, she was asking about you.”

  Amber was the school queen. Most guys wanted to fuck her, and the girls wanted to be her. She was beautiful, rich, and popular. He didn’t give her the time of day and he figured that was what pissed her off. She couldn’t get under his skin and it wasn’t personal. He was taken.

  “Tell her I’m not interested.”

  “Is this all about that Tab chick?” Eddie asked.

  “Don’t, Eddie,” Dean said.

  “I’ve told you many times, Eddie, you don’t understand, and if you talk shit about my girl again, I’ll hurt you.” He wasn’t afraid of fighting. He’d gotten suspended a few times over the years for defending his club.

  Piston County High, so original, was like any other school. The same groups of people. The jocks, the nerds, the hippies, and then of course there was him, the bikers. There were a few biker groupies as well. A couple of the guys liked to ride and play the part of an MC, but they weren’t part of Chaos Bleeds.

  “Sorry, man.”

  “I told you once and I’ll tell you again, don’t ever bring her into this.” Tabby was for him and him alone. Eddie and Dean hadn’t seen her yet. Whenever she visited Piston County, he rarely shared. His friends weren’t a high priority during that time. Just his girl.

  They entered the school. He carried his books but they headed to Dean’s locker, which also happened to be next to Amber’s.

  Simon looked down the hall to see the little group of jocks. Wayne was one of them. Captain of the football team and all-around asshole. They’d come to blows a few times when they were younger. Now, they just had verbal sparring.

  “What’s happening tonight?” Dean asked.

  “Got that thing with my parents.”

  “You’re still doing the trick or treating thing? Come on, really?”

  “Yes, really,” he said. He looked at his friends. “What?”

  “There’s going to be a party and we figured seeing as you’re here and all for the first time, you’d come with us,” Eddie said.

  “Not happening. I don’t back out from my responsibilities.”

  “Hey, Simon,” Amber said, coming to stand close to him. Behind her were five other girls. All of them wore short skirts and had this weird smile on their lips.

  “Amber,” he said.

  “You weren’t at my party last night.”

  “I was busy.”

  “Well, what about you make it up to me for Halloween? You be my date?”

  “I’ve got nothing to make up for.”

  Amber pouted. She went to touch his arm and he caught her hand before she even got too close to him.

  “Don’t ever fucking touch me. Do you understand?”

  This was the first time Amber had come on to him strongly. Sure, she’d smiled at him and tried to giggle and laugh. He’d ignored her. He had his woman back in Fort Wills. Anyone else wouldn’t do.

  Eddie and Dean said it wouldn’t count if he wanted to fuck a chick. Tabby would never need to know, but he wasn’t going to cheapen their time together by fucking another chick. What he felt for Tabby wasn’t some quick flirtation. He loved her so damn much. He only saw his future with her. That was never going to change.

  “Come on, Simon, don’t be that way.”

  He got into her face. “I’m not someone you can control or manipulate. Go back to the pussies who want yours. I’m not interested.” He let her go, turned on his heel, and walked toward his homeroom class.

  Eddie and Dean weren’t far behind him.

  “Are you fucking crazy?” Eddie asked.

  “I guess you can say that,” he said.

  “I can’t believe you did that. No one has ever defied her at all. Holy shit, I think I’ve got a hard-on for you right now.”

  He laughed. “Don’t be crazy.” He took a seat in the back. Amber would try to piss him off again. He’d heard a few tales of what she liked to do to hurt the guys who wouldn’t give her the time of day. He hoped if she tried, she was ready for a fight because he was more than happy to take her on.

  The rest of the day went by without much event. Sure, people were pointing at him, but Amber kept a wide berth. At lunch, the tension mounted, but he sat at his usual table, staring at the jocks, waiting for one of them to come and try to defend her honor. He relished it, in fact.

  Nothing happened. By the end of the day, he was a little disappointed. Unlike in Fort Wills, Piston County didn’t have a fighting club. Any fights he got into were on school grounds, or sparring with a couple of the club guys.

  After school, he arranged to meet up with Eddie and Dean later on that night, and stopped off at Natalie’s to pick up the Halloween costumes. There were so many of them and she told him Lexie was expecting them at the club.

  He didn’t linger to chat, even though he adored Natalie. She was a lovely person. Instead, he made his way to the clubhouse, pulling his bike up at the end of the lot. Compared to all of the Chaos Bleeds crew, his bike looked so small and pathetic, but this was just practice for him. He intended to join the crew as a prospect as soon as he hit eighteen. He removed the large bag stuffed with all the costumes as he climbed off his bike.

  Glancing past the bikes, he saw Dick on the ground, eyes closed, legs crossed, hands resting on his knees. He was one of the guys who had no choice but to put himself in rehab. Chaos Bleeds hadn’t been strict on their rules and Dick had been a user, an addict.

  “What are you doing?” he asked.

  Dick opened one eye. “I’m meditating. What the fuck do you want?”

  “Why are you meditating?”

  “It helps me to find inner peace.”

  Simon couldn’t help it. He burst out laughing. Now Dick was staring at him with both eyes.

  “Inner peace.”

  “You ever tried it?” Dick asked.

  “Hell, no, that shit doesn’t work.”

  Again, Dick was staring at him.

  “Does it?” Simon asked, trying to be polite.

  “I won’t tell you if it does or not. Piece of shit.”

  Again, he laughed. He just couldn’t help it. He held up his hand in surrender. “I’m sorry.”

  “Leave him alone,” Martha, Dick’s wife, said, coming out of the clubhouse. “Lexie’s waiting for you inside, and meditating helps.” She sat in front of her husband and Simon watched as the two held hands, their knees touching.

  Simon couldn’t look away.

  Both were staring into each other’s eyes. Their connection clear. They breathed as one and were together. At that moment, he missed Tabby.

  She would be his one.

  Whatever was happening between Dick and Martha, they were a team and could handle anything that was thrown at them, together.

  “Right, I better, go.”

  He didn’t want to keep watching what he couldn’t have, at least not yet. He hadn’t heard from Tabitha that day, and he was already missing her.

  Heading inside, he couldn’t see his mom. Ripper was playing pool with Snake.

  “Hey, guys, you seen my mom?”

  “She’s outside,�
� Ripper said. “Judi’s with her.”

  He nodded and headed out back to see Judi already helping with some of the costumes. A couple of the kids were in shorts and a vest.

  After he dropped the bag, Lexie came at him with a hug. “You’re a star.”

  “That’s what I am. I’m hanging with some friends tonight.”

  Lexie reached into her jeans pocket, handing him some cash. “Don’t forget to eat, and don’t be too late. Your dad will be pissed.”

  He took the cash, kissed his mother, waved goodbye to the rest of the guys, and headed back to his bike. Martha and Dick were still doing some kind of breathing and totally digging each other.

  Sending a quick text to his boys to meet him outside of the library, he took off and didn’t stop until he was right there, going through the main street of the town, seeing it was still pretty busy, before riding around the back.

  After turning off his ignition, he climbed off, leaned against the wall, and saw on his cell phone that Eddie and Dean were having some kind of family crises and would be there as soon as they could. He was bored.

  Pulling up Tabby’s name, he dialed.

  “Well, this is rather late of you,” Tabby said.

  “It’s been a busy day.” He told her about what happened in school with Amber, then the outfits for Halloween. “You talked to Anthony yet?”

  “Yep, I did after we stopped talking yesterday. Daisy and I are going shopping tomorrow.”

  “That’s cutting it a bit late, isn’t it?”

  “Yeah, but it’s fine. I’m just pleased I’ll get to get Daisy’s ass into a costume. She’s in her pissy mood. We’ll see what happens.” She sighed. “So, tell me more about this Amber chick.”

  “You’re not jealous, are you?”

  “No, but you don’t think I don’t know girls like her. I do and believe me, I don’t like them. I don’t like her being near you.”

  He couldn’t help but smile at that. “I won’t ever stray.”

  “Simon, I know you won’t, and I can hear you smiling.”

  “I can’t help but smile. You care.”

  “I’d be careful if I was you. It sounds like this Amber is a bad person and I’d hate for you to be on the firing line.”

  “All of the guys were there. Nothing will come of it.”

  “Don’t be alone with her.”