Savage Chopper, page 8
This was about when Chopper described the interviewing officer, and Kelsey realized that it was Detective Wilde. She’d ended up telling him about the renewed investigation into Hannah’s murder as a result. And now, Detective Wilde’s number was lighting up her screen. She answered. “Hello?”
“Hi, Kelsey, this is Detective Wilde, from the precinct. Do you have a minute?”
Kelsey blinked. “Sure. What’s up?” Beside her in the bed, Chopper shot her a quizzical glance. She shrugged. He turned the TV down.
“Are you sitting down?” Wilde asked. There was an audible smile on his lips.
Kelsey hesitated. “Yes ...” She dared not get her hopes up, but she could feel them rising in her chest. Unconsciously, she reached for Chopper’s hand, wrapping her fingers around his and squeezing tightly.
“We were contacted by an individual with links to an unrelated case earlier today.” Wilde paused. “He just confessed to the murder of your sister.”
Kelsey almost dropped the phone. “What?” she asked hesitantly. “Is that true?” Her hands shook so much that Chopper gently reached over and held the phone for her.
“It’s true,” Wilde confirmed. “I was there. Congratulations, Kelsey. We got him.”
Kelsey wanted to say something; she wanted to say a lot of things, but all her words ended up smothered by a torrent of tears. Somehow, she choked out a thank you that wasn’t nearly as heartfelt as Wilde deserved. The detective promised to let her know about trial dates, and he promised to send her a picture of the killer, at her request.
The man’s name was one she recognized from the media coverage of Spike Lawler’s killings: Henry Rawl, the last Mongol standing. He had fled the city, or so he claimed, to avoid the fallout that he was sure would come after word of the killing got out. And when his old leader Spike Lawler turned up captured, it changed something in Rawl’s hard heart. He began to grow a conscience.
Kelsey was positive some of that was just Rawl attempting to capitalize on the pitying impulses of the public, thinking that if he came back and showed remorse for his crimes in the shadow of Spike’s atrocities, he might be let off easy. At the beginning of her journey, that might have bothered her a lot. But now, basking in the glory that came with finally knowing as much of the whole story as she possibly could, Rawl’s confession was enough. She felt some restless shadow within her settle down to sleep at last. A great weight lifted itself from her heart. She had done right by her little sister at last. She had done everything she could, and she had received her answers. When the call was over, she turned toward Chopper and buried her face in his chest for a minute, breathing in the comfort of his presence. He rubbed the back of her neck until she lifted her head and looked up at him.
“Now what?” she asked, a little smile tilting the corner of her mouth.
He kissed her forehead. “What do you mean?”
“Well...” Kelsey shrugged. “Spike’s in jail. I know who killed my sister. Who are we now? What do we do?” She meant it half as a joke, but the more she thought about it, the more she realized how much her relentless pursuit of the truth had defined her. With that chapter finally written and tucked away, she had no idea where to go next. As painful as Hannah’s death had been, it provided her life with a structure that was suddenly missing.
“Here’s an idea,” Chopper whispered, his lips against Kelsey’s neck. She shivered, resting her hands on his strong forearms. He slid his fingers teasingly under the hem of her shirt. “Why don’t we celebrate?” Before she could say anything, their lips met, and Kelsey decided it would be okay to stop thinking for a while.
THE BUZZ OF THE TATTOO gun was like a fly droning around Kelsey’s torso — a fly that stung like crazy. She lay on her back in the parlor chair, trying to keep her mind off the pain. “Hey,” she said, running her finger along the outside of Chopper’s wrist. “Tell me something.”
“Tell you what?” he asked, looking at her with mild bemusement.
“Anything. Just say words so I don’t have to think about how many needles are poking me right now.”
He chuckled, lifting her hand to his lips. “How about this? The Outlaws are expanding.”
“Really? How much?” Since Spike’s incarceration, Kelsey had allowed herself to drift back toward club business just a little bit, but not enough to get back in over her head again. She had briefly considered asking Chopper to step down so that they might be able to live a slightly more normal life, but she quickly ditched that idea. Chopper provided for both of them, and he did it well. Who was she to tell him how to spend his time? Still, she wondered what an expansion could mean. More drug routes meant an increase in revenue, but if she’d learned anything from this experience, it was that a drug-fueled peace never lasted too long.
“I want to buy up some of those houses in that area where Spike was hiding,” Chopper said. “You know, fix ‘em up, turn ‘em into places where people could actually live.” He paused. “I think it could be good for single moms, or kids who don’t have anywhere to go.”
Kelsey’s heart swelled. She had always known Chopper could be sweet, but their hard times together seemed to have transformed a part of his spirit. The bitterness over his own rough start was gone, replaced by a desire to help others like him overcome their own. No words existed to express the depth of her pride in him. Even if he didn’t see it himself, he’d come so far. They both had. And there was so much farther to go. She took his hand and held his palm against her cheek, suppressing a wince as the tattoo needle dug into the skin below her breast.
“I love you, Jesse,” she said softly.
He smiled, a genuine, gentle smile. “I love you too, gorgeous.”
The buzzing stopped. “You know what I love?” the tat guy said, carefully wiping over his finished artwork. “I love this piece. Check it out.” He held up a mirror so that Kelsey could see. Her eyes widened as she gazed at it, the pain immediately forgotten. She’d wanted her first tattoo to be simple—a small, fiery flower standing vigil over the name she had chosen for her fallen baby boy, inked directly underneath her heart.
“What do you think?” she asked Chopper, turning her eyes to his face.
He didn’t say anything, but she saw the gleam of tears in his eyes, and she sat up gingerly, wrapping her arms around his neck. Graciously, the artist turned away to afford them some privacy. “It’s perfect,” he whispered finally. “Like you.”
Kelsey smiled. She nuzzled his neck. “And there’s plenty of room there for the others ... when they come.” She knew that there would be a time when the hole in her heart could be filled, when she could carry and deliver a little soul into the world. Maybe she wasn’t ready just yet, but someday, she would be. And when she was, there was no question in her mind that Jesse would be standing by her side.
She pulled back and looked at him, soaking in the magic of his sea-blue eyes, the warmth of his touch. She’d come to him from such a dark place, and he had helped her create the vision of a beautiful future.
“Thank you,” she said, running her thumb over his bottom lip. “You saved me.”
He laughed, his eyes tender. “Kels, the only reason I could save you is because you saved me first.”
“That’s not true,” she protested, her features lit by a smile. “As if Chopper Slater needed saving.”
“Just because I wasn’t lost yet doesn’t mean I wasn’t getting there.” He pressed his lips against her temple. “I needed someone to come in and challenge all my idiot ideals. Show me there was somethin’ beyond bikes and money and hating Spike. Call me by my real name.” He ran his hand through his hair. “That was you, and that’s why we’re here right now.” He reached across her and picked up the mirror, and together they looked at the name inscribed on her body. “That’s why we have this.” She had never spoken it out loud, but she didn’t need to. It was a secret, hers to keep until she chose to release it.
The name of their unspoken love, carried in Kelsey’s body and heart for as long as she could bear it, and even after that.
The beginning of their legacy.
Aiden. Their little fire.
THE END
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Did you love Savage Chopper? Then you should read Beast by Naomi West!
Beast is book 1 of the Hounds of Hades MC trilogy. Books 2 and 3, Beast and Brawn and Beast and Baby are available everywhere now!
He ripped me apart like a savage beast.The bad boy biker came to the auto shop to fix things up..Then he came to my bedroom to break me down.But when someone I trusted turns out to be a monster, I have no other choice:I have to beg the outlaw to protect me.JESSIRip is an engine, a dynamo, loud and dirty and aggressive as hell.And just like the bikes he loves, he's dying to tear me apart.Piece by piece, bit by bit, he's going to dismantle me – just for his own savage pleasure.But when he's done…He sure as hell isn't going to be the one to put me back together.It's not just my body that's falling apart under the biker's touch, either.My dreams for the future are crumbling to dust at the same time.I thought a college education would be my ticket to the big time.Fame, fortune, the whole nine yards.But it turns out Rip isn't the only beast who's hungering for a bite of me.There's far worse out there, hiding their cruel vices behind friendly faces.And all of them -all of these animals – want one thing and one thing only:To shove me down onto my knees and make me their property.RIPShe was a pretty little peach…And she f**king hated my guts from the second I walked in her daddy's chop shop.That only made me laugh.I love a good challenge.And even though she's far from my first vicious conquest…This little vixen will be the most fun yet.Go ahead and resist, I tell her.We'll see how long you last.But then something happened that I never anticipated.Jessi begged me for my help.There's someone else who thinks they can lay their hands on my woman.Hell f**king no.I don't share; I don't play nice.And if this creepy son of a b!tch plans on touching so much as a hair on her head…I'll rally every damn brother in my motorcycle club and we'll bring burning hellfire to his doorstep.I'll make him suffer and plead for mercy.And right before I end him, I'll tell him the one thing in this world that's a pure f**king fact:She. Is. Mine.
Read more at Naomi West’s site.
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Naomi West, Savage Chopper
