Page 20 of Blue-Eyed Jacks (Destroyers MC: Skilletsville PA #1)

Skilletsville—Jackson

“Y ou did what?” Wolf grabbed the desk edge to push himself to standing so he could tower over me.

Tits grabbed his arm. “Hear him out.”

“Fuck no. It’s bad enough my wife is still sticking her neck out—”

“Wolf,” I warned him. But he kept going.

“—every goddamned time there’s a fucking sob story on her club’s doorsteps, but now I gotta deal with the same shit from my fucking president?” His face screwed up with disbelief as he flung words at me. “You? The king of love ‘em and leave ‘em? What the fuck is next, Sprout is actually a savant?”

Considering he knew about my secret this whole fucking time, I wouldn’t doubt it. But right now, Wolf had dug a grave and stuck a headstone in the churned-up dirt right next to it with his name on it.

Tits fumed. “Tell me what you really think.”

He blanched. “Babe, I’m … sorry.”

Her face was stoic—in the way a teakettle hides the boiling water inside. I waited to watch it whistle.

“I thought you were okay with my work.” Her voice was quiet but deadly sharp.

Wolf opened his mouth and wisely shut it before saying something stupider. It was time to save his ass without actually sticking up for him.

“I need an introduction to one of your connections.”

“You’re looking at her.” Tits flashed a hand down her upper half.

Sue me, I kind of got stuck on her namesake. It was a hazard I should have been immune to by this point when dealing with her.

And for that, Wolf turned his vitriol on me. “Jackson, you’re going to take us down with this bullshit.”

“Trust me, I’m trying to avoid that.”

Tits broke in. “Has Kate contacted you?”

A great question. In fact, probably the best question anyone had asked so far. “No.”

She leaned back, putting a hand on Wolf’s arm as she did. The action turned him toward her and he deflated into his chair. Their hands stayed connected in the end. “You’re setting things into motion as a back-up, I take it?”

“Yes. In case she shows up here or calls or anything, I want a way out for her.” And Zoe .

Tits nodded slowly. “How far away should I reach?”

Another excellent question. One that Wolf pounced on. “Try Timbuktu?”

She shot a glance at him, quelling his joke.

“As far away as possible. Preferably somewhere Shock can’t find her, ever.”

Wolf didn’t hide his bitter head shake.

I addressed that. “I know it’s not going to be easy.”

“Why did you lie to Nonno?” He caught himself and corrected the statement with an addition, “Fuck, you lied to Big G, too. Christ!”

Yeah, he was a smart man. He was beginning to see the disaster looming.

Another thought dawned on him. “You’re going to have to step down.”

Right. And nope. No way in hell was I doing that until forced. “And what? Leave her swinging without an ace up the sleeve? No fucking way. Until I’m pushed out, I’m staying right here or climbing higher.”

He stared at me. “You have a fucking death wish, don’t you?”

“If it keeps her safe and the rest of you idiots out of the hot seat, yeah!” I pounded my finger on the desk, punctuating my words.

“Think about this. If I’m out, and you’re still protecting me?

You’re blamed. Any single one of you steps up for me, you’re a target.

I’m doing you and all of them a favor by being glued to this chair. ”

“He’s got a point,” Tits commented. Her eyes pleaded with Wolf to see reason.

“He’s an asshole who fucks a brother’s old lady. At least that’s how everyone else is going to see it.”

Tits indicated me with a toss of the hand as she spoke. “Everyone knows he’s an asshole.”

“Hey!” That was uncalled for.

“True.” Wolf tipped his head to concede.

“My own fucking VP. Cold , man.”

Their smiles mocked me.

A tap on the door interrupted my tirade before I could get it started. “What?” Fucking Sprout.

“Boss? I think you’re going to want to see this.

” He held up the fancy smartphone he used for the multiple businesses he inherited with his wife’s money.

The white screen wasn’t a message thread or anything on social media.

I motioned for the device, resigned to whatever dumbass shit he’d drummed up to break the tension in the room.

His gift, my curse.

I stared at the short email. “Who the fuck sent this?”

Sprout shrugged. “Dunno.”

Wolf leaned over to try to read upside down. I gathered the phone closer to my vest to keep his prying eyes away. Sprout was smart enough to figure out that the sender wasn’t Kate, but not smart enough to see who it really was.

But I knew.

There was only one girl on this planet who deserved the moniker Knavette . Which was her webmail handle. I hoped like hell she’d learned enough to cover her tracks; otherwise, Shock’s goons would sniff that shit out faster than a cadaver dog. The note was simple.

We’re coming to you. Four hours, max.

Four hours. That put them in a radius from here to Trenton, or maybe a bit farther out. Unless they were taking back roads, which could mean they were within touching distance.

Or, my heart shriveled a bit, they were in Pittsburgh.

Sprout glanced at Tits and Wolf. His eyes flicked to mine. He’d read the email. Seen the clue staring him in the face, and kept it quiet. I locked gazes with him for a short moment, quietly warning him to keep his mouth locked. If he could.

Which there were zero guarantees of. I handed the phone back. “Thanks for the heads up. Go back to guarding the door.”

“I’m not a fucking prospect anymore.” He’d used his low register voice, not the usual clown tones.

“I know that, and trust me, it can’t be a speck this time. It needs to be someone Wolf and I trust, understand?”

His measured nod reminded me of his father.

It was a damn shame that man was gone. Old Jolly would be a godsend right now.

I’d tried to replace him for years. But my efforts were likely in vain.

We were getting soft with good living and a bankroll that didn’t rely on illegal activity.

No matter how many quality killers I found, I failed to hire the right kind of killer who wouldn’t question the cost.

Which brought me back to the current issue of getting Wolf on board, now with a deadline. “Here’s the issue. The shit storm is coming. Now.”

Wolf smirked.

Tits, much smarter than her husband, jerked her focus to me. “Now?”

I nodded. “It will have to be you. Wolf, please understand I didn’t want that. I just wanted an introduction so I could keep you both out of my mess, believe me.”

He blinked. “ Now ?”

“Four hours. Or less.”

“Jesus.” He searched for an exit I hadn’t discovered. “We’re fucked.”

Not if I could get her and Zoe gone fast enough. “Take Tits wherever she needs to be. Wait for my call.”

Wolf shook his head. “No.”

“What do you mean, no?”

There was a moment where I swear those two were telepathic. Tits raised her eyebrows. Wolf tilted his head. Their hands squeezed so tightly their knuckles turned white.

“I never saw you as a man who runs,” Tits started.

“I don’t.”

She nodded and sent another look to Wolf. He shook his head, still arguing with her silently. Apparently, Tits was having none of it. She turned to me and asked, point blank, “But your woman is? I don’t believe that.”

“I told you her history. You both weren’t there, but it was bad, even for Shock.”

Tits flinched. She’d witnessed far worse in her life, that I was certain. I used that to my advantage.

“He might not be as powerful as some, but he’s powerful enough.”

“A bullet or two fixes that.” Wolf squinted at me, remembering exactly how he and Tits managed to bury the ghosts of her past.

I stood up and leaned over the desk, examining the leg he’d lost. “And there’s a price if you or anyone in the club does that. One I’m not letting you take, got it?” I included Tits in that declaration. “Find me a connection. Work fast. It’s going down.”

She stood up, pulling Wolf with her. “Are you sure? Because if she goes into my club’s protection, she’s never coming out. And you’ll never see her again.”

This was something I had been deliberating over for sixteen years. With every glimpse of happy families, especially ones with little girls, I ached for a better way. I wanted my family with me. I wanted Kate in my arms and Zoe under my roof.

Which would be their death sentence. Or worse. “I’m sure.” It hurt like hell to say those words.

She read my face. “No, you aren’t.”

Wolf shot her a look. His lips tightened. “She’s calling your bluff.”

“Who says I’m bluffing?” I had a shit hand. One I knew better than to play. In little over four hours, I’d finally see my daughter. And then I’d have to give her up. Forever. There was no salvaging that. No happily ever after. It would gut me. I’d be a shell of a man waiting to die.

Which was what life was truly like; you lived to die, and it was just the way things worked in a perverse way.

I wasn’t the kind of man who deserved the fortune I got.

I was a murderer and a liar, and had stolen a sworn brother’s woman.

Wife or not, that shit didn’t fly. And for a possessive yet powerful man like Shock, a beating wouldn’t be the end of it. He wouldn’t stop until I was dead.

“You better talk to your woman, Wolf. It’s going down like that.”

I turned my back to them both, motioning for them to get their asses gone.

I stared at the window in the wall, not seeing the trees or the piles of junk outside, but rather wondering where and when my life took a wrong turn.

It likely wasn’t even my fault. It was a birthright.

The son of a hooker and a killer would never live easily. That was a fact.

Sprout made a noise, so I knew he was behind me.

“What the fuck do you want now?”

The door snicked shut, and he cleared his throat. “We?”

Fuck . Sprout was too damned smart. I closed my eyes. “Yeah.”

He sat in the chair, clothes rustling and leather coat creaking. I took my time to push all of my fears and hopes out of my expression before turning to see what kind of insanity Sprout cooked up.

“Well?”

He tapped his fingers on the padded arm. “Shock’s?”

Sprout was a hell of a lot smarter than I knew. “No.”

He visibly relaxed. “Cool.”

“That’s it? Cool?”

He grinned, the gape of his mouth widening and taking over more space on his face than was natural. “I can’t wait to be a Dad. What’s it like?”

“How the fuck would I know?” I hadn’t even met my daughter. And she was almost an adult.

His grin grew impossibly wide. “Oh, you know . Good thing it’s a boy, right?”

Whatever amusement I had left dropped into my shoes. “I’m fucked.”

Sprout’s smile wilted like wet toilet paper. “You’ve got to be kidding me. A girl? Holy shit. You are fucked.” His laughter shook the panes in the glass.

“I hope your first born is a girl, too, damn it.”

He grinned again, softer this time. “She’d look like Danielle, or Ma. We’ll know next ultrasound.”

I buzzed to cut him off. “Nope, she’ll have your big ears and gangly limbs.” That made me smile maliciously.

But Sprout was undeterred. “That would be amazing.” His smile quirked up to one side, and the lines around his eyes deepened while the worry marks on his forehead eased. I recognized that expression. I felt it mirrored in my heart. If Zoe looked like me, God…

“What’s her name?”

“Zoe.” My voice was a reverent whisper.

“Fuck man, that’s a good name.”

It was. And I had nothing to do with it. Just like I’d have nothing to do with her future. I wouldn’t be there to cock-block assholes when she started dating.

“Oh shit,” I whispered, my thoughts already screwing with me.

“What?”

“She’s sixteen.”

Sprout’s horror morphed into a puckered face, and then he guffawed. “Oh shit , boss. You’re going to go gray overnight once we collect her. Brace yourself for your ultimate nightmare. You’re not only going to be a dad in a couple of hours, but a dad of a teenage girl. A little female clone of you.”

My head dropped, and I rubbed the budding headache from between my brows. And emotion hit me hard. I didn’t want to give her up. Not ever. And I certainly didn’t want her going off to God-knows-where. A place I couldn’t be her protector.

Tits was onto something. I was not certain about giving them up.

Moreover, I wasn’t the kind of person who ran.

Sure, I lied, I evaded, I flexed reality as much as I could to mask my crimes.

But I also was not a man afraid of tackling a tough problem and meeting it with force.

I’d spent years building the club, picking fearless men.

My immediate brothers didn’t shy away from challenges.

And they could not be ruled, except by the High King of Fools.

Me. Their brother. The one guy who made sure this madhouse had walls twelve feet high and enough killers in the ranks to wage a regional war.

I texted Wolf. It was short and sweet.

Tits is right. I’m fighting for her this time. Brace yourself.