Page 6 of Vex

Tessie looks deep into my eyes and I know she’s looking for conviction in what I’m saying. I steadily meet her gaze. After a moment, she slumps back and sighs, dropping her eyes from mine. I lean her direction and wrap my arm around her shoulders. We sit, heads resting against each others, for several long moments before Tessie speaks again.

“With Mom gone, and me under the age of 18, do you have custody of me now or can Dad come get me?”

I can hear the quiver and the fear in her voice, and my stomach bottoms out.

“Mom spoke with an attorney about that and it’s complicated. At your age, he said most judges would take your wishes into account and that would have a lot of sway. The attorney is filing the paperwork tomorrow for me to be your guardian. Hopefully, Dad won’t care and everything goes through without a hitch. If he does, we’ll fight him. You’re not going to live with that man or that club. I won’t allow it Tessie, no matter what we have to do.”

“Dad doesn’t care about me in the least. He doesn’t care about either of us. But he will care about any money he could get from the government for me. He’ll want the Social Security check he’d get if he has custody of me. He’ll fight this, and we can’t afford to pay an attorney for a custody dispute. How do we win if we can’t hire a good attorney?” Tessie asks with a worried thread to her voice.

“Mom already paid the attorney to file the papers. If Dad fights it, we’ll do whatever we have to do to win. We’ll come up with the money one way or another. We’ll sell the house if we need to. College classes can wait for another semester. I can pick up more hours at Zero. The manager, Freddy, offered me a job at Dreams. The pay’s better and the tips are great there. We have options, Tess. We’ll be okay,” I tell her while hoping like hell that I’m not lying to my baby sister.

Tessie still looks uncertain but nods her head in agreement. Now I just have to make my words come true.

Chapter 4

Vex

“Meow.”

Looking down, I see Duffy strutting his chubby self across the clubhouse floor in my direction. Duffy’s a gray and white, humongous ass cat, owned by my President’s wife, Ava.

“Hey, Fat Cat. Where’s your dad?” I ask as I bend to give his head a rub.

“I’m not that fat bastard’s dad, you jackhole,” grumbles Gunner, the MC President, as he ambles into the room.

“Who’s your daddy?” screeches Mac, Ava’s very naughty Macaw, from his perch on Gunner’s shoulder. “Hey pretty boy!” he adds soon after.

“You on babysitting duty, Prez?” I ask with a smirk totally ignoring Mac because I know that annoys him. He can’t stand not being the center of attention.

“Yeah, for now, anyway. You need something?”

I indicate a table and chairs and we both take a seat. Duffy immediately starts pawing at my leg wanting to be picked up. The damn cat’s obsessed with me, and nobody knows why. If I don’t pick him up, and soon, he’ll unleash his tiny switchblades on me without batting an eye. I lean down, lift him up and place him on the table in front of me. He immediately lays down and rests his head on my forearm. Then the purring commences, and he does that shit loud.

“Was working last night and had a biker, with a cut on, approach a temporary employee in the parking lot. I wasn’t close enough to identify the patch. The employee said she didn’t wait around to see what he wanted. Took off for the door as soon as she saw him coming her direction.”

“You sound like you’re not sure you believe her,” Gunner states while raising an eyebrow.

“I don’t know her, so I’m not sure whether to believe her or not. Biker took off as soon as he saw me step out the door. She looked pissed but that could’ve been from anything, I guess.”

“Freddy usually does background checks on anyone he hires. Anything in that indicate an affiliation with another club?” Gunner questions.

“He didn’t do one on her since she’s only filling in for Suki for three days. She does a great job, and I know he’s offered her full-time employment. If she takes the job, I’m sure he’ll have Rex do one then. It’s probably no big thing, but I wanted to make you aware that another club had someone outside Dreams,” I explain.

“Yeah, probably not. Keep an eye open to see if he comes back and get a closer look, if possible. I haven’t had any requests from other clubs to be there, so he was not where he should’ve been. Let Freddy and the other security guys know too.”

“’Will do, Boss,” I affirm as Gunner stands, raps his knuckles on the table and walks off with Mac still riding on his shoulder.

I look down at the fat, sleeping cat and know that I’m ready to imitate him. I stand, lift him and head for my room for some shut-eye.

-*- -*- -*- -*-

Walking into Dreams, my eyes instantly search for Taja behind the bar. It annoys me, again, that I need to see her, but it happens just the same. When she sees me looking her direction, I notice the slight hesitation in her movements, and a smirk finds its way to my face. She’s not as indifferent to me as she lets on to being.

“She’s fucking hot,” says Rod as he steps up beside me.

“Yeah, Freddy don’t hire ugly ones,” I agree.

“Too young for me though. Guess I’ll have to step aside and let you have a shot,” he laughingly says to me.

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