Page 14 of No Mercy

A smile came naturally to my face. A few hours with him, and I already loved the kid. “Looks like me. He’s terrific, smart as a whip, and easy going. Allie’s done a good job with him.” I had to give her that. She’d done a good job raising him on her own.

“So, have you given any thought to what you’re going do?” He must have stepped outside because it was quiet now.

“Yeah, that’s all I’ve done.” I paused, looking back to make sure that Sam wasn’t standing at the screen door listening. “Fuck, brother, I want the kid in my life. Him living in Florida and me living in Maine isn’t going to cut it.” I didn’t add that I wanted Allie around, too.

Hawk laughed softly. “You going to leave Phantom Riders and move down there?” He’d asked, but we both knew that that option wasn’t on the table.

Just in case he had any doubt I growled out, “Fuck, no.” Phantom Riders was my family, as much as it was his. We’d been through shit together and come out on top. I was glad to see Hawk happy again after what that bitch Sonya had done to him all those years ago. Fuck, we both deserved to be happy. He’d found Audra and she’d popped out a couple of kids for him. Maybe a woman who loved me wasn’t in my future, but at least I had Sam now.

And with Sam came Allie. They were a package deal. I still wanted her ass, which had filled out nicely since I’d last seen her. I doubted she’d appreciate my observation. Remembering that I was on the phone with Hawk, I shook my head to clear it. “Look, we should be home in a couple of days.”

“I have a feeling when you say ‘we’ that you’re not just talking about BK and Big John.”

“We might never get those two fuckers home,” I said, thinking about the half-naked and very accommodating beauties at the Moonshine. “They’re having too much fun at the Moonshine.”

“I’ve heard of that place,” Hawk commented. “Make sure you tell them any tabs they run up are on them.”

We both laughed at that. We had our own club girls at home, and never had to pay for sex. But after a while the same old pussy got stale and less attractive, so when the opportunity came to try out fresh meat the boys took it. “I’m sure the girls at the Moonshine made it clear that they didn’t put out for free.” I thought about Holly, the little black beauty who’d offered herself to me that first night. I’d been tempted. She would have been worth the hundred bucks. But Allie’s face kept interfering with my fucking libido, and I’d turned to whisky instead of pussy.

“I’m bringing Allie and Sam back with me. I’ll set them up in my house.”

“I figured as much when you began looking for her again.”

Every time I thought about the years I’d wasted when I could have been raising my kid I wanted to destroy something. In the beginning, after reading her note, I’d given up, thinking that if that was what she wanted I’d let her go. I’d convinced myself that I was better off. But I’d only been fooling myself. My brothers had known it, too. They’d all known what I hadn’t back then, what I had refused to acknowledge--that Allie had been more important to me than I’d admitted. And our fucking situation had messed with my head.

Anger and hurt had pushed her away, while I’d drowned my frustration in pussy and booze and a good fight every fucking chance I got. By the time I’d got my head out of my ass and asked Fox to start looking for her nearly five years had gone by. Too damned long I’d wasted on feeling sorry for myself.

“Yeah, she’s not too happy about it either, but she’s not going to let Sam go without her. Can’t say I blame her, she’s all he’s known.”

“How do you feel about that? Having her around?”

I grinned. “Can’t say I’m opposed to it. Fuck, she’s stunning.” Christ, I was getting hard just thinking about her, and then I thought about what she might be doing that very minute with her boyfriend. It was late afternoon and she still wasn’t home. I shook off the growing anger. “Allie was pretty at eighteen, but at twenty-six she’s a curvy little piece that keeps my dick hard without half-trying.” I reached down to rearrange it.

Hawk’s rumble of laughter came across the line. “Might as well face it, brother, you never got over her. I remember how it was with you and her back then. You couldn’t keep your hands off her, and she was sweet, naïve, and worshipped the ground you walked on.”

“Yeah, well now she’s independent, mouthy, and definitely not innocent.” Once again I thought about her with Tom. If he touched her I would end him without a problem. Hopefully Allie remembered that I didn’t make threats that I didn’t follow through on. My dick was aching with the memory of how good it felt being inside her body.

“Fuck. One of us might not make it through the next few days alive,” I growled, trying to get my dick under control.

“Well, don’t do anything you’ll regret, brother,” Hawk responded. “Just get back here so we can get on with business. Covacks is having trouble with the Russians and needs our persuasive capabilities to get them off his back.”

It was my turn to laugh. “Funny, since Covacks is Russian. You’d think they’d be working together.”

“You know Covacks, brother. He’s always been a wild card. He likes doing shit alone, and on his own terms. That’s why he’s so filthy rich. The Russians fucking with him are in the mob, they want in on his underground fighting.”

“The fucking Russian mob, are you crazy? Covacks has enough mercenaries on his payroll to take care of this shit, why us? We’re small compared to his numbers.”

I heard Hawk expel a deep breath. “Said too fucking much over the phone.” His gruff tone revealed that he wasn’t too thrilled at my response. We both knew that I’d said worse before. I was his VP and it was my job to question his decisions. Messing with the Russian mob was a death wish. “Get yourself home and we’ll hold church.”

We ended the call. I leaned against my bike and looked out over the churning ocean. The club hadn’t had any trouble in a long time. Minor shit like protection runs gone bad, trouble at one of the clubs where we provided muscle, or a fight with a rival club were all par for the course. It kept club shit exciting and provided an outlet for unleashed inner turmoil. Covacks was one of our biggest clients, and we’d been doing business with him for years. Offing members of the Russian mob would bring heat down on the Phantom Riders, and some of us could end up in prison, or worse, dead.

Fuck, all of us could end up dead. Messing with the Russians would put our families at risk, too. I couldn’t see Hawk putting Audra and his kids in harm’s way, so whatever was going down had to be fail-proof. Shit, I didn’t usually worry, I usually looked forward to the action, but for the first time in my life I had someone else to think about other than my brothers. It made a fucking difference.

“Dad?”

I hadn’t even heard the screen door open. Turning my head, I saw Sam step outside. “The movie over, kid?”

He nodded. “Boy, is it gonna storm!” he said animatedly, looking toward the beach. The wind whipped his shoulder-length hair about his young face. There was innocent excitement in his eyes. “Mom and I love storms!” He made his way to me.

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