Page 28 of The Enforcer

Zeke shrugs, walking over to me and putting his hands around my waist. “That’s okay, baby.” He kisses my lips once, soft and chaste. “I’m tired myself. The shit with the cops today gave me a headache. I just want to relax.”

I gesture towards the tub. “Then this is perfect.”

After stripping down, we sink down into the water, my back to Zeke’s front and he wraps his arms around me. A sigh leaves my lips as I get comfortable. I never knew bathing with someone could feel like heaven. It feels like home.

My eyes drift shut when Zeke’s wet fingers glide through my hair. His blunt nails trailing over my scalp relax me further and I lean more heavily into him. He plants soft kisses on my neck, but not to try to start anything. It’s more for comfort. There’s no heat behind what he’s doing, though my dick doesn’t know the difference, chubbing up beneath the warm water. I ignore it. We’re both too drained to make it good for one another.

Breaking the silence, I recount what the police captain said and what I think he means. “I’m worried about the club,” I tell him, running my wet fingers over the muscles of his thighs. “I’m not sure why he has it out for you guys, but he was practically foaming at the mouth when he said the club would be going down.”

“He’s like most of the government officials in this town. They want us to go away. Our mere presence is lowering property values,” Zeke says with a trace of humor.

I smirk at his accurate assessment. Having the motorcycle club in Mellbind is a blight on the town’s records. Add to that the sensationalized trial of the previous Enforcer for murder, prison escape, and kidnapping, no one is clamoring to move here with their families.

Zeke continues talking as he starts to drift his fingers from my hair down to my collarbone and up and down my arm. It tickles, causing goosebumps to break out across my flesh. “If it were up to him and the mayor, we’d be gone by now. This is probably a way to get rid of us in one fell swoop.”

“It’s bullshit. I’ll figure out what the hell is going on. In the meantime, you all have to chill out with your dealing. You’ll have to be clean for a little while since you’ll be under a microscope. Don’t give the police any reason to fuck with you.”

“We plan on it,” Zeke mutters, kissing my hair. “Devil’s Mayhem has been around since eighty-five. We planted our roots here. They’re not going to get rid of us that easily.”

A question pops into my head, one I never thought to ask before now. “Why did you join a biker club? I know you said your dad was an Enforcer too, but why join? Following in his footsteps?”

I feel him nod behind me. “Yeah. We moved to Tennessee from my dad’s old Missouri chapter when I was nine. I think after my mother …” he falters, his words halting suddenly. It takes him a moment to pick the thread of conversation back up. “My dad wanted a fresh start and the president at the time knew him, so he welcomed us with open arms. When we got here and my dad took Rax in, we spent a lot of our time around the clubhouse. My dad was a single father and Rax had no one else, so when we were growing up, a lot of the brothers baby sat us.

“We grew up listening to their stories, learning what it meant to be a brother, working on bikes and basically preparing for when we could finally prospect. I haven’t known anything else and there’s nothing else I’d rather do than be in Devil’s Mayhem.”

I’m silent for a moment, wondering if he’ll tell me if I ask. We’ve been friends for all these years, but steer clear of talking about family, besides Zeke’s dad. On any given day, I’d like to forget my family, namely my brother, exists. But I think it’s time for me to stop skirting that bit of information. Maybe Zeke will too.

Quietly, I ask, “What happened to your mom?”

His breath flutters over my skin as he exhales deeply. Like he’s gearing himself up to talk about her. I wish I could take the question back.

To my surprise, he answers. “She was murdered. Some guys thought they could kidnap and rape her and no one would care. They didn’t realize she was the old lady of a patched member of Devil’s Mayhem. My dad and about fifteen other brothers tracked them down and fucked them up good. I’m not sure the cops ever found every piece of their bodies the MC scattered around the city. But my dad couldn’t be there anymore after losing the love of his life. So, we left.”

“I’m sorry,” I mutter thickly. What a fucked up thing to happen, his mother being treated that way and him losing her so early in his life. “Can you tell me about her?”

I can hear the smile in his voice. “Her name was Delyse. She was amazing. She was what my father called a spitfire. She was a fast-talking Jamaican woman that could light up a room with her laugh and fill your soul with her love. So pretty, the prettiest woman I’ve ever seen. While my dad was off with the club, I was with my mom. We had a lot of fun together. We didn’t have a lot of money, so we’d go on what she’d call our adventures. Some days, we’d go to a thrift store and I’d watch her try on the most ridiculous outfits.” He chuckles briefly and I squeeze his hand, encouraging him to share all he wants about his mother. The love he still has for her is evident in his voice. “Or we’d go to the library and she’d read me books in the corner away from everyone. Before she died, she was teaching me how to cook. I wasn’t very good at it, but she was patient. She let me try to crack eggs or flip bacon or whip up some grits. I taught myself after she died, wanting to keep her memory alive cooking the foods she used to cook for me and my dad.”

My heart breaks for him. She was taken from him far too young. The only good thing is his father got his revenge. I’m glad to hear that he punished those that hurt Zeke’s mother. I would have been pissed if they were walking free.

“I wish I could have met her,” I mutter. She sounds amazing—probably where Zeke got his good heart from. And maybe her spitfire personality. “She sounds wonderful.”

“She was.” Zeke’s voice holds a note of finality and I know the topic is closed. “What about your family? All I know is you have a brother.” He leans to the side, meeting my eyes. “What’s your story?”

“Not really much to tell. My parents are still married, living in the house I grew up in. I have an older brother. He lives near my folks. He’s on the city council back home.” I try to keep the bitter edge from my tone, but the negative feelings I have towards my brother still linger. They probably always will.

If I’m being honest, I don’t think my brother ever had a desire to do anything like law or working in the government until he heard me tell my parents my desire after my false arrest. After that, he spent every moment he could telling people that my ordeal was so horrible that he wanted to be the buffer between the police and an innocent victim. It wouldn’t have been so bad if I hadn’t told my parents those exact words when I shifted my career focus from football to law.

No matter how much I told my parents he was just trying to one up me, they brushed me off. It’s like they never saw the bullshit he did and I was left on my own to defend myself.

Water sloshes around the tub as Zeke shifts me around, settling me until I’m straddling his lap. I wrap my arms around his neck, rubbing the bases of his spine. “I take it you two don’t get along.”

I shake my head. “No. I don’t think we ever did. I’m three years younger than him, so I was always the annoying little brother that he was jealous of. He took my toys, my books, my games, everything. My parents let him get away with it, saying that’s how a sibling relationship was.”

“I call bullshit,” Zeke says with a scoff. “I might not have any siblings, but I know that’s not how it’s supposed to be.”

“It’s not, but my parents never addressed it. I started to resent them. It’s one of the reasons I’m here. I went to law school in Tennessee, with no intention of going back to North Carolina. I haven’t been back there in close to five years. I don’t have much to say to them.”

“‘S okay, Counselor. You know me and my brothers are your family, right?”

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