Page 21

Chapter Twenty

Abuela’s Garden

D arrow stood outside the bathroom with a hot cup of coffee. When the door opened and Mara stood there, looking miserable and pale faced, she curled her lip and said, “I hate you.”

“To be fair, you’re the one who did this,” Darrow said. “This pregnancy thing is on you.”

“That makes me feel hopeful,” Mara said as she took the coffee cup. “This is all on me. Thanks for the heads up this early in the day that I’ll be a fucking single mother.”

Darrow quickly placed his hand to Mara’s belly.

“Not a chance in hell, babe,” he said. “This baby is mine. And so are you. There is nothing you can do to escape me. I’m not like your rat husband.”

Mara gasped and swung her free hand. Darrow caught her wrist, then brought the palm of her hand to his mouth and kissed her.

“I was touching the toilet with that hand when I was throwing up a minute ago because of your child,” Mara said. “I hope your mouth is full of germs and you get sick.”

“You think some germs off a toilet are going to bother me?” Darrow growled. “You want to know the stuff I’ve had in my mouth, babe?”

“Gross,” Mara said.

As she said that, she caught herself smirking. It was really unfair just how sexy Darrow was. And how he made everything sexy. Mara curled up on the couch with her coffee and her thoughts. Darrow stood behind the couch and leaned down to kiss the top of her head.

“I have to go to the clubhouse,” he said. “Check up on things.”

“Wonder how green in the face Cyrus will be.”

“Maybe today will be the day Priest wakes up from the coma.”

Mara turned her head, looked up, and frowned. “I still can’t believe that. That Fitz did that to him. I feel like I’m part of it, Darrow. And I know I’m not.”

“I get it. I’ve been feeling all fucked up for a while, babe. Watching you in the clubhouse. Watching you drink and seeing how sad you were. Picking fights with Maggie.”

“She’s a slut.”

“She’s a deecee .”

“She’s a protected slut.”

“Yeah, she is.”

“Have you and her… you know what, don’t answer that. I don’t want to know.”

“Don’t worry about where I stick my dick, babe.”

“Gee, that’s sweet of you to say. You know, I’m actually pregnant, Darrow. I can’t have you… fucking other women and then come back to me.”

Darrow touched Mara’s face. “Don’t ever tell an outlaw what he can or cannot do with his cock. Ever, babe. I don’t give a fuck if you’re pregnant or not, my cock is my business.” He leaned down. “And if you think for a second I would do anything to hurt my unborn child, then you don’t know a fucking thing about me.”

Darrow kissed Mara softly and then backed away. When he got to the door, he looked back.

“Also, you should probably call your doctor. I don’t mind making fake reports and hacking into things, but this time it’s for real.”

Darrow grinned. Mara smiled and then bit her bottom lip. When Darrow shut the door, her eyes filled with tears.

She was never so happy and scared in her entire life.

Cyrus sipped his coffee, then threw back a shot of whiskey. He stretched his neck and blinked his heavily bloodshot eyes a few times.

“How many is that?” Linc asked.

“Three,” Cyrus said. “That’s what JC taught me. Best hangover medicine in the world. Cup of coffee, shot of whiskey. Repeat it three times.”

“Seems standard,” Slade said.

“Well, you start the morning with two deecees wrestling for your cock,” Cyrus said. “Shoot those loads out and jumpstart the heart a little.”

“You know, I can picture Priest here right now,” Darrow said, pointing to the empty seat. “Making comments about drinking so much that his cum would have alcohol in it. And how he’d want to sell it.”

“Fuck,” Cyrus said and chuckled, shaking his head.

“Right?” Darrow asked.

“Remember the time he wanted to trick a woman into taking birth control?” Monte asked. “So he suggested jerking off and putting the pill into his cum. Like people do with pills for dogs and peanut butter.”

“What a sick fucker,” Linc said.

“The worst,” Dee said.

“Disgusting human,” Custer added in a gruff voice.

Cyrus stood up and grabbed Priest’s chair and threw it back, smashing it against the wall.

“This table is too empty!” Cyrus roared.

“ Prez ,” Linc said. “We have business at hand. Word is out about the club having a rough go. SS13 last night…”

“Where are they?” Cyrus asked.

“Chained up in one of the garages,” Slade said.

“Keep them there. Alive. Leave them be for when Priest gets back. He can slice them up.”

“Let’s give Mouse a call,” Linc said. “Show force.”

Mouse was the nickname for Miro, President of Steel Streets 13. They all called him Mouse because he loved to sample yellow bunny and anyone who stood close enough and tried to talk to him, all they’d focus on was his nose twitching like a mouse.

“I got into the phones of the two guys and they have nothing about our rat problem,” Darrow said. “So it’s not connected. They were really thinking of making a play last night. They were going to take me out, Cyrus.”

“Well, Chief Dick has all the background noise of it under control,” Cyrus said. “You know what? Call up Mouse . Get him here. Let him see his guys. I’m going to have another cup of coffee and a shot of whiskey. Hangover is almost gone.”

Cyrus exited prayer. Darrow and Linc were the only two who stayed behind. So they could call up Mouse and tell him to come get his guys.

Which was a total lie.

Mouse came with four guys.

They had low steel frames on their motorcycles with the high reaching handlebars. They looked and sounded like toys. Each was wearing bucket helmets with flames on the sides.

Far from looking like a formidable crew, but the truth was SS13 were a ruthless bunch. If they could just find a way to sell more yellow bunny than they put in their arms and up their noses, they would be a really big problem for the other crews around.

“Seems like two of your guys got lost last night on the way home,” Cyrus said as he approached Mouse .

The two exchanged a forced handshake.

“Who did you grab?” Mouse asked. “I bet it was Lilo and Nio. Those shady fucks. Every time we talk about expansion they want to run right through this town. I’m sorry, Cyrus. Some of the young blood just can’t respect what we have here.”

“Yeah, what we have here …” Cyrus grabbed Mouse’s left shoulder. “I’ll show you the guys. You tell me if they’re definitely yours. Tattoo on the neck gives it away but you never know.”

Mouse walked and when his other guys tried to follow, members of SOFRAW appeared from nowhere, forming a wall of pissed off outlaw bodies. One of the guys called out something to Mouse in Spanish. Custer swung an ancient fist, hitting the guy in the mouth, knocking him out cold.

“Let the boys handle their shit,” Cyrus said to Mouse.

When they got to the garage, Cyrus pounded on one of the large doors and it opened a second later. Linc appeared and turned sideways to give Mouse full sight of his two guys, naked and chained up. Their clothes on the floor under them, their leather cuts with SS13 right on top, making it so every time one of the guys took a piss, it landed on the leather cuts.

“I don’t fuck around, Mouse ,” Cyrus said. “You’re lucky if you leave here today alive. What do you think, because we have a guy in the hospital we’re unable to function?”

Mouse swallowed hard.

“Lots of rumors on the streets, huh?” Cyrus asked.

“Yeah,” Mouse said.

“Here’s what we do now,” Linc said. “You tell us if Fitz has talked to you guys. Be honest.”

“I’ll help with that,” Darrow said. He had a cellphone in his hand. A few swipes on the screen and a live camera feed popped up. “Here we go. Look at this.”

Darrow turned the screen around and Mouse ’s eyes grew wide.

“You fuckers,” Mouse said.

“I think that’s your… abuela …?” Cyrus asked with a grin.

“Stay the fuck away from my family,” Mouse said.

“Your grandmother is working in her garden,” Darrow said. “You know, Virus might take a ride by. Just check up on things.”

“I haven’t heard from anyone from your club,” Mouse said. “I swear on it. I just know you guys are rumored to be falling apart.”

“Far from it,” Linc said.

“Thing is, Mouse , we need to know if this rat of ours shows up, you’ll do the right thing,” Cyrus said.

“You going to let me run yellow bunny through town?” Mouse asked.

“I’m texting Virus,” Darrow said. “To bury grannie alive in her tomato garden.”

“Please, no!” Mouse yelled.

Cyrus grabbed Mouse by the throat. “That means to fuck off. Stay the fuck away from this club. Stay the fuck away from this town. Got that?”

Mouse nodded. Cyrus shoved him back.

“What about my guys?” Mouse asked, rubbing his throat.

“Not decided yet,” Cyrus said. “But you won’t go home empty handed. Since you think we’re falling apart…”

Cyrus walked to a workbench and grabbed a pair of very sharp cutters. He then placed the cutters to the pinky finger of one of the SS13 guys. With one hard squeeze, the guy’s pinky finger popped off like a twig snapping. Blood sprayed into the air as the SS13 member began to scream in obvious pain.

Cyrus tossed the cutters to the floor and he picked up the severed pinky finger. He walked it to Mouse .

“Who’s falling apart now?” Cyrus asked.

He slammed the pinky finger off Mouse ’s chest, then walked away.

“Take that with you,” Darrow said, referring to the finger. “Or else grannie gets her fingers cut off. All ten. One at a time.”

Mouse ’s jaw tightened. He knew better than to say anything else. He rounded up his SS13 guys and got out of there.

“Scum,” Cyrus said when Darrow and the others went back into the clubhouse.

“What do we do about the guys chained up?” Slade asked.

“Leave them,” Cyrus said. “They wanted to kill a member. And they would have killed Mara and that baby too.”

That was that. Darrow respected Cyrus’s words.

“Word is out about the club,” Linc said. “ SS13 is the lesser of the evils. Bad enough we already had Damien and his crew here.”

“ Mouse will tell everyone what happened here,” Darrow said. “Or if he doesn’t, we could make him. I’ve got access to everything now. These SS13 morons don’t use proper disposable phones.”

“Forget about them for now, Darrow,” Cyrus said. “We need the rat. We need this over with. Hack everything you can think of.”

Darrow nodded. Cyrus demanded another cup of coffee and another shot of whiskey. Darrow skipped the whiskey and ordered a beer. As he drank it, he thought about Mara. Beautiful, pregnant Mara.

It was the first time Darrow had a second to himself to think about it. How much everything was changing and would keep changing. A wild fire burned in his chest, right at his heart. His feelings for Mara. His feelings for his unborn child. Darrow felt something intense.

Love.