Page 123 of Deserter

“Who the fuck is Bobby Ewing?”

“Dallas? The writers killed him off only to bring him back later. Will you stop with the jokes and tell me what’s really going on? I feel like I’m on the verge of a heart attack.”

I sighed, “It’s real, princess. We’re gonna lure the Outlaws out to the clubhouse and send ‘em to the Reaper. Lucy’s been taking blood from me and we’re gonna dump it in the clubhouse… make it look like I didn’t make it.” When her face paled, I added, “It’s just temporary. We’ll head north and wait the investigation out and then take back what’s ours.”

“Where will we go?”

I gnawed at my lower lip. “Well, Comedian and Wolverine felt that it’d look suspicious if I moved you three out. You’ll stay here—”

“Oh, Wolverine and Comedian thought?” She shoved me away and stood up. “Good. As long as the two of them are running the club, then things will be just great.”

I made the mistake of taking Celia’s sarcasm as truth and tried approaching her. With her hand on my chest, she backed me up against the wall. “We’re your family,” she seethed. “You don’t let other people decide what happens with us. How could you agree to this?”

“Because it’s the best thing, Celia. Look around you. You like knowing we’re at war with every-fuckin-body in the region?”

She shook her head. “Jamie, this is a bad plan. What about Lucy and Molly? The club’s fine with leaving them here?”

“They’ll be moving out when the club goes. You have to stay though. Otherwise, the entire thing falls apart. I’ll have Hawk watching you at all times. You know him. You know he’ll never let anything happen.”

Her hand fell away, and she began pacing. “It’s your job to keep us safe. Not Hawk’s. Or Wolverine’s. Or Comedian’s. What am I supposed to tell the girls?”

I sat down on the edge of the bed. “Tell them I died. It’s better if they don’t know the truth. That way, if the cops start poking around, they won’t have to lie.”

“You said this was temporary though. What happens when you miraculously come back? Do you know what that’ll do to them?”

“I’m sure they’ll just be happy to have their daddy back,” I growled, quickly losing what little control I had over my anger.

“No. You can’t mess with their emotions like this. It’s manipulative and, and wrong on so many levels. If you leave, Jamie, then you leave for good.”

I crossed the room and grabbed her roughly by the shoulders. “You tellin’ me that I’m not welcome in my own fuckin’ house?”

Her eyes filled with tears, but she tilted her chin up at me with a glare. “You go through with this and you won’t have a family to come home to.”

“Is that a threat, Celia?” I tightened my grip. She was supposed to have seen the benefits of the plan. I’d needed her to understand why I was doing it.

“The girls deserve better than a father who abandons them,” she said softly. “Now, let me go.”

I released my hold and she left, slamming the bedroom door shut behind her.

“Are you and Daddy getting a divorce?” I heard Kate ask softly and I brought my fist up to my mouth with a tight throat.

Since moving Mikey down south, I hadn’t been able to see him as often. Slim had assured me that things were good, and that Mikey and David had become close, but it wasn’t the same.

Was I really considering doing the exact same thing to my girls?

Wolverine had said that he could work it to where I could come back every four months or so, but was it enough? I’d always been the soldier, never the brains behind the operations, but damn did I fight to find a better solution as Celia got the girls to bed.

I worked through half a pack of cigarettes, trying to come up with a scenario where I got to stay with my family and everyone else fucked off.

By the time Celia returned and padded across the carpet to where I sat with a full ashtray, I’d come up with exactly zero ideas. Short of fleeing the country and abandoning the club, I was fucked.

“When does this happen?”

“In two nights.” She sucked in a sharp breath and I reached for her. “I don’t wanna spend it fighting.”

Her eyes closed for a brief second before she stepped back and began unbuttoning her dress. Each button was undone slowly, her lips pushed into a deliberate pout.

Celia was going to try to use what was between her legs to get me to change my mind. And I was just enough of a bastard to let her.

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