Outcasts MC (Complete Series), page 58
It was more than that, though. The MC here, Dax and the other guys, was basically my family. Sure, I’d still be close enough to get back and visit, or they could come to New York to visit me. But I wasn’t stupid. I would miss things. Spontaneous nights out, that sort of thing. I wouldn’t be there.
And I’d be on my own, trying to find my feet with a whole different set of guys, trying to get them to trust me. President of a club full of guys I had never met before? I couldn’t imagine that going well.
“I like where I am right now,” I said to Dax. “And you can tell Otis that.”
Dax sighed. “I had a feeling you might say something like that,” he said. He shrugged. “But you’ll have to tell Otis yourself. He didn’t ask me to ask you on his behalf. I just wanted to give you a heads-up so that you weren’t blindsided when you found out from Otis.”
I nodded curtly and headed back toward the water. I could tell Dax still had more he wanted to say, though.
“You know that if Otis wants to move you, he can do that,” he finally said.
“He wouldn’t,” I said tersely, not wanting to talk about this anymore.
Dax just shrugged, casting his line again, staring pensively out over the water. “If you don’t want to go, start figuring out what your other options are outside of the MC,” he said.
I frowned, thinking that over. But I couldn’t imagine a life anywhere else or doing anything else.
2
Cora
I finished grating the potatoes and threw them into the skillet with the onions that were already simmering there, then looked over to see how Piper was doing with scrambling the eggs. I grinned as I watched her enthusiastically swirl the fork in the bowl a few more times. “You’ve got one more yolk to pop,” I reminded my daughter.
Piper lifted her fork out of the mixture and then, tongue adorably caught between her teeth, carefully jabbed the prongs back into the final yolk, swirling that around with the rest of the egg mixture. Then, she beamed up at me. “All done, Mommy!” she proudly proclaimed.
“Nice job!” I told her, giving her a high five. I took the bowl from her and set it next to the stove, but I’d let the potatoes cook a little longer before I added the eggs. “You want to set the table for me?” I asked Piper, and she nodded enthusiastically.
I handed her a couple of plates and then laid out the silverware for her to take to the table when she returned from the table. Then a couple of cups, plus napkins. While she finished setting the table, I buttered a few slices of toast and then dumped the eggs into the pan, adding some green peppers and just a dash of hot sauce as well.
Soon, we were seated at the table together, Sunday brunch in front of each of us. I smiled at Piper as she munched happily on her piece of toast. “So what do you want to do today?” I asked her.
Piper cocked her head to the side, thinking about it while she finished chewing and swallowing what was in her mouth. Then, a broad grin broke out over her face. “Go to school!” she declared excitedly.
I tried not to laugh, but her enthusiasm was certainly amusing. “It’s Sunday,” I reminded Piper gently. “Remember, you only get to go to school Monday to Friday.”
Piper sighed, “I wish school was every day.”
“But then you and I would hardly ever get to do anything fun, you goober,” I reminded her. But being a teacher myself, I was inwardly pleased to hear that my daughter liked school just as much as I had when I was her age. I made a mental note to mention Piper’s enthusiasm to her teacher, knowing that Mrs. Cox, Wendy, would get a kick out of that.
Piper scrunched up her nose as she continued to think about what to do that day. Then, she smiled. “Can we call Mandy and ask her to go for a hike with us?” she asked.
I laughed. “Sure thing, kiddo,” I said, glancing out the window. It was a bright and sunny day outside, one of the nicest days we’d had since fall, and being outside would be good for both of us. Well, all of us, if Mandy, my best friend and Piper’s godmother, could come along. In fact, I couldn’t think of a more perfect way to spend the day.
After breakfast, I called Mandy, and she agreed to go hiking with us. I left the trail picking to her, washing up after breakfast and getting Piper dressed for a hike before Mandy came to pick us up. “Can you hang out for just a minute?” I asked Mandy when I answered the door. “I just want to change into a different pair of leggings.”
“No problem,” Mandy said, already turning toward Piper. “How’s it going, squirt?” she asked, and Piper immediately started gabbing away about her school, her friend’s loose tooth, and everything else that had happened since the last time that she had seen her favorite “aunt.”
“So how was your weekend?” Mandy asked me as we started the hike, Piper skipping ahead of us.
“Piper, remember to stop if you can’t see us!” I called ahead, and Piper turned around for a moment to wave a hand at us. I laughed and shook my head. “The little mountain goat,” I said affectionately.
“She sure is,” Mandy said, grinning as well.
“My weekend was good,” I said in response to the earlier question. “We didn’t do much, just hung out around the house yesterday. I did a little bit of cleaning and reorganizing.”
“Did you go out last night?” Mandy asked slyly.
I rolled my eyes. “You know you would have been there with me if I had.”
Mandy laughed and shoved at my shoulder. “I meant like on a date,” she said.
I snorted. “You know I don’t date,” I told her. It wasn’t the first time we’d had a conversation like this, and I was sure that it wouldn’t be the last time either. I knew Mandy meant well, that she just wanted me to be happy, but she didn’t get it.
“Maybe it’s about time you got out there again,” she said.
I rolled my eyes again. “Why?” I asked. “Piper and I had a good night. We baked some cookies, and then we watched a movie. I have some cookies for you when we get back, by the way. I forgot about them this morning when you came to get us.”
Mandy shook her head. “I mean, I’m glad to hear that you made cookies, don’t get me wrong. But really, Cora, don’t you miss, you know, having a relationship?”
I knew what she was asking: didn’t I miss sex? The truth was, that was just a small part of what I missed. Piper’s father, Jackson, had been such a perfect match for me. I missed him helping out around the house; I missed his companionship. Masturbation obviously couldn’t get me to the places that Jackson had been able to take me, but it did well enough.
It was the companionship, the intimacy, that I couldn’t replace, no matter how hard I tried. That was the loss I continued to feel, even this long after Jackson’s death.
Mandy sighed at my silence. “Oh Cora,” she said.
“Don’t ‘oh Cora’ me,” I said, but I smiled to take the sting out of my words. I shrugged at Mandy. “I don’t need a man in my life. Piper and I are doing great. We’re happy. That’s all that matters, isn’t it?”
“I guess so,” Mandy said reluctantly. I could tell she wanted to say more, but just then, we came around the corner and caught up to Piper, who had climbed up on a big boulder and was sitting there proudly waiting for us.
“Look at me!” Piper cheered as we came around the corner. “I’m a winner!”
I laughed. “Sure you are, kiddo,” I said. “You think you can get yourself back down from there, though?” I couldn’t even figure out how she had gotten up there. Mountain goat, indeed. Sometimes, the girl terrified me, but I knew she was smart enough to be careful, and she listened to me when we had set limits on how high she was allowed to climb: no more than the size of a horse, and no more than an elephant’s length away from the trail.
To be honest, I was pretty proud of my kid for being as active and adventurous as she was. Among other things.
Mandy and I watched as Piper easily scrambled down off the boulder and then jumped into the middle of the trail. She came up in between me and Mandy and grabbed one of each of our hands. “Come on, slowpokes!” she said, practically dragging us along the trail.
Mandy and I both laughed and let her lead the way, all thoughts of dating left behind.
3
Xander
I was one of the last people to get to the clubhouse on Monday morning for the club’s weekly meeting, but I at least made it in before Otis did. “You okay?” Dax asked under his breath as I dropped down on the couch next to him.
I shrugged. “Yeah, just couldn’t find my keys this morning,” I lied. I knew Dax probably wouldn’t buy the lie; he knew me well enough to know that I always put my keys on the table by the front door, almost religiously.
But I didn’t want to tell him the real reason I was running late: because I’d been up half the night trying to figure out reasons why I couldn’t move to New York so I could tell Otis. If he chose to bring that up today, I wanted to be prepared. I figured that if Otis had mentioned something to Dax about it, it was only a matter of time before he brought it up to me. And I also knew that Otis probably wasn’t going to accept an excuse like “I just don’t want to.”
No, my only possible way out of this was to figure out some compelling reason why Otis shouldn’t send me. If only I could find one.
Otis stalked into the clubhouse suddenly, and the room fell silent. Otis generally looked pretty serious when he walked into these meetings, but today, from the frown on his face, it was obvious he was more than just focused on the information that he needed to impart to all of us. No, he looked downright pissed, and I wondered what had happened.
I glanced around the room, trying to see if anyone else knew why Otis was upset, but everyone else looked equally wary. Shit. This had to be important, then. I sat up a little straighter on the couch, and Dax echoed the movement beside me.
“I’ve got some bad news,” Otis said flatly. My mind immediately went wild, thinking of all the possibilities. Had our relationship with the sheriff soured again? Was our territory being encroached on?
“The presidents from the New York and Pittsburgh chapters of the Outcasts have been in contact with me,” Otis continued, looking around at all of us so that we could sense the weight of this proclamation. “And the three of us will be meeting next week to talk about a new MC that has been terrorizing the other chapters.”
“Fuck,” Dax swore under his breath from beside me.
My mind was reeling. If there was another MC terrorizing two of the other chapters of our MC, there was a distinct possibility that the Greenboro chapter could face troubles next. And even if that wasn’t the case, there was no question of whether Otis would send some of his guys to help out if that was what the other chapters needed. We were all in this together, brothers.
Even if we didn’t even know half the guys at these other chapters.
I frowned even as I thought about it, though. With the chance of attack to the Greenboro territory, our first priority had to be taking care of things at home. And our club wasn’t nearly big enough for us to help out two other clubs while simultaneously making sure that our own backs were safe. Surely Otis had to realize that.
It was a tricky situation. It wasn’t like Otis could tell our allies that we couldn’t help, but what could we do?
I listened carefully, hoping that Otis would tell us about some brilliant plan he had. But instead, all he said was, “Once we have this meeting, we’ll have a clearer idea of what the problem is and how to address it. For now, I just wanted to make sure everyone knows that we’re getting ready for a busy time. Any projects that we can finish up this week, let’s get them done.”
He paused and then looked around. “With that thought in mind…” I listened with half an ear as he detailed what everyone should be working on that week. He had surprisingly little for me to do after the past few busy weeks, and I felt a sick feeling settle in my gut. Did that mean that he was already thinking of sending me over to the New York chapter? That week, even?
Sure enough, at the end of the meeting, Otis asked to see me alone in his office. I swallowed hard and got to my feet, exchanging a glance with Dax, who gave me a sympathetic smile. This was it, then. Suddenly, all of my even halfway decent reasons for not going to New York flew out of my head. What the fuck was I going to say when Otis told me that was what he wanted?
He was president of the MC, after all. It wasn’t like I could tell him no, not if I wanted to stay a member of the club, which I very much did. Especially not when the safety of some of the other clubs was at stake. If that was the way Otis wanted to run things, then that was his choice.
I walked slowly after Otis into his office and carefully shut the door behind me. I took a seat across from Otis at his desk, trying not to look like I was nervous. But my world, as I knew it, could be in danger. It was hard not to feel nervous. I rubbed my sweaty palms surreptitiously down my jeans.
“I have another project for you this week,” Otis told me. Here it was: New York. I was sure of it. But Otis merely said, “There’s someone that I need you to check on for me. She’s a teacher here in Greenboro, at the elementary school. Her name is Cora Cole.”
I blinked at him and then frowned. Cora Cole. The name didn’t ring a bell. I couldn’t remember the MC ever doing business with her before. And I wasn’t the guy who found out information about the clients before we decided to work with them. That was Victor’s job. So why would Otis want me to check on this woman?
I couldn’t come up with a single reason.
“What am I supposed to be checking for?” I asked slowly, trying to make it so that it didn’t sound like I was questioning Otis’s authority at all. If he wanted me to check on this woman, then I would do it, even if I didn’t understand why.
I was just glad to hear that she was here in Greenboro. Maybe he wasn’t sending me off to New York just yet. Maybe that discussion would wait at least until after he had talked to the presidents for the other two clubs.
Otis shrugged. “Just check on her,” he said. “Make sure she’s okay. Let me know if you find out anything unusual.”
I wanted to ask what kind of unusual things I might find out about her or try to ask again why he wanted me to check on her. She had to be a new client, I figured. There was no other explanation for it. Maybe Otis just wanted me to check on her because the other guys were so busy this week and it was a comparatively light week for me.
That had to be it.
I smiled at Otis. “Sure thing,” I said. “I’ll check up on her and get back to you.”
“Thank you,” Otis said. “That’s all.”
I nodded at him and got up to leave. Dax was waiting out in the main room of the clubhouse, looking worried. “Was that about what I think it was about?” he asked in an undertone. “New York? What did you say to him?”
I shook my head, leading him out to the parking lot. “It wasn’t about New York,” I said. “Just some woman that Otis wanted me to check up on.”
Dax frowned, his brow furrowing. I could tell he thought it was just as weird for Otis to have asked me to check on this woman, but then he just shrugged, clearly putting it out of his mind. “Well, all right, then,” he said.
“Yup,” I said, nodding as I swung onto my bike. “Hey, I’ve got some free time this week. Let’s grab beers at some point.”
“Sounds like a plan,” Dax said, getting on his bike. We headed in opposite directions out of the parking lot, and I lifted my hand in goodbye before speeding off.
4
Cora
I managed to get us to school slightly early on Monday morning, and I couldn’t help mentally high-fiving myself. Getting both Piper and I ready for school, especially on Mondays, could be tricky sometimes. But I had a pretty good system down by now. It helped that Piper really wanted to get to school. She was generally waiting for me by the door as I rushed around trying to gather all my last-minute things I had forgotten to put into my bag the night before.
It was easier this year, though. Now that Piper was in the same school as the one I worked at, I no longer had to factor in the extra time to drive to the daycare and sign her in there before driving back over to the school. Plus, Piper was thrilled to be in kindergarten. She was one of the smartest kids in her class, already able to read, write her name, and do some basic mathematics. I still didn’t know how I had gotten so lucky as to have a kid who was both super polite and well-behaved plus smart and excited about learning.
Her father would have been proud to see her, I knew. It made me wish that somehow, he could, but I knew that that would never happen. Jackson was gone, and even though I wasn’t interested in dating anyone ever again, I had long since come to grips with that fact.
I held Piper’s hand as we walked into the building and to her kindergarten classroom. “Have fun today,” I told her as I let go of her hand and knelt to give her a hug.
Piper giggled. “Mommy, I always have fun,” she said matter-of-factly.
I grinned at her. “I know you do,” I said. “I love you.”
“Love you too!” Piper said, but she was already heading into the classroom. I waved at Wendy and then headed for my second-grade classroom.
A couple of the students were already there when I arrived, but most were still just trickling in. I grinned to myself. Yeah, it was definitely nice to make it to the school a little early on a Monday morning. I couldn’t remember the last time that had happened.
I greeted the kids who were in there, listening as they chattered about their weekends. I bustled around the classroom, getting out some of the art supplies for our first project that morning. Once all the kids were in the classroom, I took attendance, noting the couple of absences. Then, I smiled at the kids. “Good morning, everyone,” I said.
“Good morning, Ms. Cole!” they chorused in response, all smiling faces.
