Page 4 of Outlawed Treat
“I’ll stay as long as you need me to, Caliana.You seem pretty shaken up.Do you want me to call the cops?”she questions me, already pulling her cell phone out of her pocket and unlocking it.
“No!”I practically shout and reach out to stop her.“I’m sorry.The cops won’t do anything.I don’t deal with them unless I absolutely have to.I’ll just clean the mess up and give it to some friends of mine.They’ll be able to help me more than anyone else,” I inform her as I set my things down on the floor of the entry to my home and move past her toward the kitchen.
“Hi, Mommy,” Bryce calls out from his spot on the living room floor where he’s playing.
“Hey, Buddy.Did you have a good day today?”I ask him, needing him to not know anything about what’s going on right now.
“I did.I’ve played with my bikes all day long, Mommy.Uncle Kreed got me a new one today.He was here for a minute to see us,” my son tells me as a smile forms on my face.
Kreed shows up every single day.Even if it’s only for a minute to check on us, he never fails to stop by.Bryce loves seeing him and Caleb, though Caleb hasn’t been around as much lately.I’m not sure what’s going on with him.Every time I ask Kreed, he changes the subject and avoids my gaze.That tells me something bad is going on with my best friend and they don’t want me to know because I’ll worry.It’s not like I don’t already know the anniversary is coming up and it has to be weighing heavily on Caleb’s shoulders.He was the leader of the team they were all on and has taken responsibility for Darren's death on himself.I don’t blame him and no one else does either.Well, Darren’s parents do but they’re assholes and never deserved to have a son like Darren.At least before he started changing.
Grabbing a pair of gloves and one of the large storage bags, I make my way back out to the porch.Bending down, I carefully pick up each photo and take a look at it.Kreed and everyone else are fine in the pictures.It’s only Caleb that has the X slashed over his face.My eyes linger on the images of Darren.Especially when he was younger and so sure of himself and didn’t spend hours getting lost in his head with thoughts he never shared with me.I’m sure some of them were about the missions they were sent on while in the military.Other times, I often wondered if he was thinking of a different girl.Someone who could love him with her entire heart and give him exactly what he needed.That was never me even though I tried desperately to be who he wanted and needed over the years we were together.
Tears slide down my face as I place the pictures in the storage bag.There are definitely drops of blood on them as memories play one after another in my mind.Memories built in the happier times of our lives when we didn’t have the weight of the world holding us down so hard we couldn’t take a minute to simply enjoy the peace of our own home.The images of Darren especially hit hard as I remember the moments we spent alone together and he showed me little pieces of who the man was behind the mask he always seemed to wear.Especially when we were around his parents.Darren could never be himself when his father was home and it hurt my heart to witness the change in him.He became so cold and unfeeling.It was at those times I truly questioned why I remained with him and didn’t tell him it wasn’t working out between the two of us for a multitude of reasons.
Once all the pictures are cleaned up and locked away in the storage bag, I scour the porch to make sure nothing else was left behind.After several minutes, I find several droplets of blood leading down the steps.Whoever did this was injured in some way and it makes a chill rush through me.The nurse part of me wonders what kind of injury this person has and how much blood they’re actually losing.Then I think about calling Caleb and Kreed for help.They’ll know exactly how to handle this situation and what I need to do moving forward.Instead of calling them and letting them take care of this for me like normal, I think about what they’d do.
Caleb would go into protection mode.He’d hover over the kids and me like the threat is going to pounce at any second and take us away from them.His entire attitude would shift and none of us would be able to predict what he’ll do.Caleb becomes reckless when one of his loved ones are in danger.It’s why that became his road name.He’s jumped in without thought to dangerous situations more than a few times over the years.It’s something Playboy and Sam can’t stand and are always yelling at him for.Kreed would also become overprotective, but he’d be the one to look at the situation rationally and come up with a solid plan of action to move forward with.The first step being to install one of the best security systems money can buy.So, I grab my phone from my pocket and call Rex, better known as Master.When I asked why that was his road name, he explained that he’s the master of breaking into anything computer related and no one can touch his skills.
Master answers his phone and I explain what I’m looking for.When I try to avoid why I suddenly want a security system when he’s offered to install one several times over the last few years, he doesn’t let me push the question aside.Rex demands an answer from me and I have no choice but to tell him what I walked up on when I got home from work.Rex is pissed by the way his voice goes colder than ice and he demands to know if I’m okay.When I assure him the kids and I are fine, he finally relents and promises to be out here tomorrow morning to install the security system before doing anything else.He’s doing this because of Darren.They all watch out for me because of him and I know this.Caleb and Kreed are the only two who don’t make me feel as if I’m nothing but an obligation to them.Not that the rest of the guys intentionally make me feel that way.
Walking back inside, I let Tiffany know I’m going to clean up before she leaves for the day.Heading for my room, I quickly stash the bag of pictures deep in my closet so no one can find them and jump in the shower.I wash and rinse off before drying off and dressing in a pair of sweatpants and one of Caleb’s old tee-shirts.I’ve had it for years and it’s the softest piece of clothing I own these days.It’s been washed so many times over the years I’m surprised the picture on the front of it is still visible.Now, I have to push everything else to the back of my mind and focus on the kids as I walk into the living room just as Rory starts waking up.The rest of my night will be spent with them.
Chapter Two
Reckless
TODAY IS CHURCH.Wehave church every week on Friday evenings before the parties and chaos kick the weekend off.When we decided to have our weekly meeting on Friday, it was because I knew we’d have a week’s worth of information to go over and our work week would be over.Well, for the most part.The strip club, bar, and towing don’t end on the weekends.We also open our parts store for a few hours on Saturday morning.Count, our Treasurer, could go over the numbers for the week and let us know what we need to work on and what’s been working for us so far.The move to Glendale was a choice we all made to be closer to Caliana since she moved here after Darren’s death to get away from his parents and start over somewhere without a ton of memories.Because we don’t know anyone here, we’ve had to prove ourselves to everyone in the small community in our new home.It’s taken time, but we’re slowly winning everyone over by how protective we are of our community.
Our room for church is one of the largest rooms on the first floor.The only rooms larger are the kitchen and common room.This room is big enough for the huge table we’ve had custom-built and all the chairs surrounding it.The table is solid oak and has been hand carved with our club colors in the center.Each chair has been built to match the table and is padded with leather and a thick cushion to make them comfortable for a long meeting.There are extra chairs around the table none of us sit in and against the wall in case we ever have guests here for any reason.With our close ties to the Phantom Bastards and Wild Kings, there’s always a chance one of those clubs will show up for one reason or another.Plus, we’re forming allies close to us so we have back-up if it’s ever needed.The walls of our room are white and there’s nothing on them with the exception of the wall behind me.Our club colors have been painted there by Rosa.She’s a talented artist though she hides the fact she can draw at all.
We have a screen that comes down from the ceiling behind Master.We use it for when we all need to see information on his laptop.So far we’ve only had to use the screen a handful of times.The reason we decided to keep the walls bare in this room is because it’s a place no one else will ever step foot in.We don’t need to see the memories we’ve made over the years or the time we’ve spent together.Those pictures are all hung around the clubhouse.Especially the common room.Cali made sure that was the first thing we did.She has a thing for displaying pictures all over the place.She always wants the good memories displayed for all to see.I think it's something she got from my mom if I’m being honest.
As usual lately, I’m distracted beyond belief and having to sit in church is the last thing I want to do.Right now, I don’t give a fuck about the numbers of each of our businesses, what the guys have going on in their side gigs, or anything else.A feeling deep in my gut is telling me things are changing and something isn’t right.I’m not sure what it is, but something is about to happen.Something horrible that will affect someone extremely close to me.The only people I haven’t seen are Caliana and the kids.It’s been my choice to stay away from them lately because the only thing I want to do is make Cali mine and she’s been outlawed when it comes to me.We can never be together as I told Kreed so I stay away from her and only stop by once in a while when I know she’s not home.
Every single time I see the girl I’ve loved most of my life, it gets harder to remain distant and not claim her in all the ways I want to.Cali is every single dream I’ve ever had and she makes me want to be the best version of myself.I love Bryce and Rory as if they were my own children and not Darren’s.The only woman I’d ever have kids with is Cali and that isn’t something that can happen.To say my mom is disappointed she’s not already a grandma by me would be an understatement.I hear about it constantly and tend to avoid her calls.Anyway, knowing I can never make Caliana mine means I have to stay away from her.I know this is the time of the year I should be at her side regardless of my feelings, but I’ve been lost in the bottom of a bottle every single day and I refuse to be around her when I’m like that.I refuse to be near the kids when I’ve been drinking because it’s the last thing they need to see.Rory is too little to remember this about me, but Bryce isn’t.He saw that too much from Darren the last few years and I just found that out recently.
