Page 43 of Blue-Eyed Jacks
“Shut up.”I glanced at the door, suddenly uneasy, like there was a target on my back.I shuddered.It was almost closing time.
He kept making up names, giving me shit.
The phone rang, saving me from Pinner’s idiocracy.“Your dime, your funeral,” I answered.
“Hi, I’m looking for a part, but don’t remember the name of it.I talked to someone about it a while ago.”The woman on the other end was timid.But it was a woman.Which meant I turned on the charm.
“Do you remember who you talked to, pretty lady?”
“A man named Jackson.”
I smiled at Pinner, who rolled his eyes and mouthed something vulgar my way.Then he pantomimed getting a phone number along with a quick thrust of his hips twice.Too bad Lily in his arms made the action terrifying.Otherwise, I’d have laughed.“You got him, darling.”I didn’t remember talking parts with this voice, but she did sound vaguely familiar, so I probably did.
“Do I?”
There was a sharp note in her tone.A chill ran down my spine.I knew that voice.“Remind me when we talked last.”I checked on Pinner to confirm his back was to me and fiddled with the computer to make this look legit.
“July.”
“Uh-huh.The ’05 Ford Fiesta with the sticky third gear problem.I remember you.”I strode into the shelves of parts, bullshitting my way in a one-sided conversation until I was sure I was far enough away to not be overheard at all.I still lowered my voice to a whisper.“I told you not to call me.”
“I had to.”
“Bullshit.”I didn’t need this fucking crap today.Fuck, Shock was right next-fucking door.“I’m hanging up.”
“No, please, I just had a baby.”
“The fuck?”I stared at the phone in my hand.Was I hearing things?That shit with Pinner was messing with my head.“Kate?”
“Her name is Zoe.She was born this afternoon.Crystal said you’d want to know.And we’re fine.I’ll hang up now.”
And she did.I stared at the number.Maine.It might as well have been the other side of the planet.A girl.My girl, Zoe.I leaned against the rack, dislodging a box of hose clamps.I quickly straightened the mess and tucked the phone away.Then thought better of it.I went to the call log and deleted the number from the history.Covering her tracks as best as I could.
I wasa father.
Pinner came around the end of the aisle.“Yo, church is starting.”He bounced Lily in his arms and smiled down on her, a light on his face not many got to see.
One I’d never have on my face.Ever.I vowed that.Kate would be my one and only, and Zoe would be my one and only.And that’s the way it was meant to be.A biker clubhouse was no place for a baby girl.Or love, or weaknesses.
The vote swung my way easily.Toro whispered in my ear that Nonno approved me personally, despite Shock’s bitching.I celebrated.Drank, fucked, toasted the patch and my brothers, and even raised a glass with Shock.All the while, trying to forget that this was the last best day of my life.There would be no other day I’d remember more.Even if they someday voted me president of the entire region.This was it.
About midnight, the spell broke.Shock came at me, bitching his usual rant about stealing his wife.He had the hooker I’d fucked earlier under his arm.She didn’t want to be there.It was plain on her face.The lack of smile, the fear in her eyes, the marks on her skin.And she was one of mine.Ours.Whatever.Skilletsville’s stable, not his.“Take your hands off her.”
“I beg your pardon?”
I stood up and wavered slightly from the heatwave of whiskey fumes trying to overpower me.“I said, take your hands off her.”
Shock’s eyes narrowed.A grin spread across his face.“How does it feel?”
“How doeswhatfeel?”
“Seeing me steal your woman.How’s itfeel?”
Terry wasn’t mine, except in the protective sense.But if that’s where Shock was going with this, I was in a mood to play along.“Take your hands off of her, now.”
“You ain’t no president.”
“Yet.But this is my club.The club’s girls.My officer patch means it is my responsibility.So, hands fucking off our property.”
