As the sun set in Tyler, plans had been settled for the next day.
Daniel had been told about the Sinner watching him and he’d called back to assure his family that he knew who the man was …And that he would meet the rest of them in Bowie at noon the next day.
When Silas spoke with him, Daniel admitted he’d known Flash was watching over him. Silas told him not to cause a ruckus, just to get himself away safely without being followed. Daniel assured his grandfather both he and Flash would meet them without the Sinner being on their trail.
After a supper of delivered pizzas and a frozen Dairy Queen cake to celebrate Cobra and Lola’s birthdays, everyone got to know each other for the next few hours. With about a dozen or more extra guests, they all found a piece of the floor to sleep on.
Creed was out on the back porch smoking a cigarette when Cobra joined him. Neither man said a word for the first few minutes they were out there.
Then Cobra broke the uneasy silence between them, “Look I know you don’t think much of a man that turns his back on family but I had very good reasons for thinking and doing what I did twenty four years ago.”
“I’m sure you thought so at the time anyway,” Creed spoke in a low tone.
Cobra closed his eyes as he spoke, “Nora and I had only been together about four months when things began to unravel between us. She was holding something back from me and I was determined to find out what she was hiding. Men like you and me can’t live with secrets in our lives. Secrets will get us killed. You know that as much as I do. I was falling for her but not quite there yet. She was a woman I thought I would spend the rest of my life with. Then shit hit the fan and I was told lie after lie. What Westerly told us made sense. He was a brother and I didn’t know then what I know today. There was a man dead and a huge amount of money was missing and Nora was gone.”
“Who was the man? How did he die?” Creed asked.
Cobra looked over at him in the growing darkness. “The man’s road name was King but his real name was Richard Valin and he was not only an MC brother but my real brother as well. At the time, he was my VP. We were young and wild and thought we had all the answers at the time. Nora came along and for the first time in my life, I felt like I had it all.” He paused then took a drag of his cigarette. “Maybe I did, I don’t really know now. When we found King dead, it was such a blow to everyone involved in the MC. Westerly told us Nora lured him to the shed with the idea of using him to kill King. King was just coming back after a big run and everyone knew he had a lot of cash with him. That she’d approached Westerly, making all kinds of promises about being his woman, said she even went as far as sleeping with him then she laid out her plans of killing King and taking the money and running. Westerly said he went along with it just to see how far she’d actually go. He told us King got back a little early and he got there too late to stop her. He said when she heard him coming she grabbed the bag and ran off. He’d claimed that he couldn’t leave a brother down to chase after her.” He paused and took a deep breath. “Then there was the fact that instead of staying and explaining, she ran. She took the money and ran away from me, from the MC. I was in so much pain from her betrayal and losing my brother, I didn’t know what to believe anymore.”
“And what did you believe four years later when you found her again?” Creed demanded not looking at the other man.
“I was a different man back then. I’m not making excuses for what I did. Just saying twenty years feels like a lifetime ago.” Cobra looked out into the dying daylight. “I still believed she betrayed not only me but the club. I also still believed she’d murdered my brother. That she’d slept with another man. Funny enough, it was Westerly who found her. He and two other brothers were on a run when they found her living here in Tyler. They lost her briefly but when they scoured the town, they found her again. By the time we got up here, they had her in custody and had found a place we could question her in private…”
Creed swung his gaze over to the older man as he paused.
“She tried to tell us she had nothing to do with King’s death, that she hadn’t betrayed the club or me. Her arguments made sense but not everyone believed her. Westerly was reminding everyone what she’d done, about how when he got to the shed he found King face down with a knife in his back and how the knife was King’s own blade. He told us again how she’d been covered in King’s blood, then how when she saw him arrive she’d grabbed the money bag and ran out of the shed.” Cobra was silent for a moment as he remembered that night. “It was like reliving the moment we found King dead. His words riled everyone up again and that had turned them all against believing anything she had to say.” He sighed.
For a long moment, nothing was said, as the quiet of the night seemed to envelope them.
Cobra ran his hands over his jaw. “When we let her speak, she told me it wasn’t her that stabbed King. She said she was walking past the shed and heard the fight King was having with his murderer. When she went up to the door to see what was going on, she found King down already and Westerly standing over him. She said Westerly came after her then with his knife in his hands. She knew what was going on. Westerly would kill her and put the blame on her for killing King. She told me she knew at the time she was pregnant but that she didn’t know how to tell me about the baby. That she couldn’t let Westerly get away with King’s murder, so she grabbed the bag of cash and took off. She swore she only took it to get away from Westerly and give herself enough time to get it back to the club.” He shook his head. “Westerly tried and convinced everyone in that room that she was lying. He brought up the fact that in four years she didn’t once try to contact the club or me to return the money and that now, by naming him as a murderer, she was still playing games with us.”
Creed snubbed his cigarette out. He waited, as he knew the man had more to say.
Cobra lit another cigarette and as he blew the smoke out of his lungs he admitted, “I wasn’t sure what to think by that time. I guess I still had feelings for her. I wanted to believe her but his arguments made sense too. I guess I wanted to believe she’d had my baby but didn’t understand why she would kill my brother. Before I knew it, Westerly came up behind me and looking me in the eyes, he slit her throat. It shocked the whole club. Mainly, because I hadn’t given the order yet and I think he knew some of the brothers were beginning to have doubts. I felt the loss instantly. It’s still there in the pit of my stomach. I didn’t want her to die. We figured out later that her story was turning the tide against him and he couldn’t have that. After that, he walked out the front door and rode off on his bike. We didn’t know at the time that would be the last we would see of him. When we got ready to leave, we found his cut where he had parked his bike. I think we knew then Nora had been telling the truth the whole time. But it was too little too late by then. Nora was dead and Westerly was gone.”
Creed listened to his story and wondered how hard Cobra tried to find the truth. “What did you do with her body?”
Cobra shrugged. “We buried her out in the desert. Then we began looking for Westerly. He had a lot to answer for. I also began looking for my kid. I didn’t know if it was a boy or a girl. Eventually, we found Nora’s mom lived here and we went to visit her.” He looked disgusted. “You’ve met the old bitch, so you know what she told us. The girl was no longer there and she didn’t know or care where she was. At least I knew I had a daughter somewhere out there. I checked with social services but I was asking under the wrong name. They didn’t have any girl under the Valin name.” He turned to Creed. “I never found any clue until my man spotted her today. As soon as I saw her picture, I knew she was my kid. She was the baby Nora spoke of so many years ago. I left as soon as I could. I had to find her.”
Creed lit another smoke and asked, “What did you do about Westerly?”
Cobra shook his head. “We didn’t have to do anything. About a year after he left us, he got in trouble with the law again. When he found out he’d been caught in his own lies he took to drinking and got into a bar fight near Dallas. He ended up killing another man and this time he was caught. He got life in prison. The DA called it aggravated assault with special circumstances. They didn’t give him the needle because he was drunk when he knifed the guy but we know exactly where he is now. When this is over, we’ll get justice the MC way for King and for Nora.”
“So it wasn’t you who ordered Nora’s death?” Creed finally asked.
“No, I didn’t do that. Westerly took justice in his own hands to cover his own ass.” Cobra shook his head again. “We would have had a fair way of finding the truth. We don’t work like that. The bastard looked me right in the eyes and slit her throat anyway. It was over before I could say anything. I was about to question her about the baby she said she had and then she was gone before I could even ask.”
“I think you need to tell your daughter what you just told me,” Creed finally said.
“Why?’ he asked. “Do you really think knowing how her mother died will make a difference? I may not have ordered it but I was responsible for it anyway. I was the President of the MC of the man who killed her. I was the one looking for her, hunting her down to right what I thought was a betrayal done by her. I believed the words of a murderer instead of believing her mother. I buried her mother in an unmarked grave somewhere where no one would ever find her and even if they did, no one would know who she was. Why do you think she would believe anything I had to say?”
“Why wouldn’t I believe you? I knew how much my mother loved you, and she did love you.” Lola’s soft voice came from behind them.
Both men turned and saw her standing there in the doorway.
Creed opened his arms and she walked over to him.
She let him wrap his big arms around her and she buried her nose into his chest and just breathed in his scent for a moment then she turned to look at her father. “My mother told me about you, she just never told me your name. She was sad when she talked about you though. She said if we ever met that I should tell you the only reason she left you was because you believed the lies another man told you about her. I didn’t know what she was talking about, I wasn’t old enough then to know the real world. I realize now what she meant that since you were head of an MC, your brothers would be believed first before you would ever believe a woman. She knew you were still out there looking for her though. I think she always knew you would find her one day too.”
Cobra dropped his head with her words.
She paused to tuck a strand of hair behind her ear. “We never had a lot when she was alive but we had each other and that was enough to get us through. I think she paid her mother a lot of money to keep me there with her. I don’t know what was left in the bag she buried but I do know she didn’t spend the money in the bag. She worked for the little bit we lived on.”
Cobra shook his head. “I’m so sorry we didn’t believe her in the first place. I’m sorry she felt she had to run when she did.”
Lola shrugged. “That’s the way life is sometimes. I’ve learned about the evil some people hold in their hearts.”
Cobra glared at her for a moment before he said, “When this thing is over you and I need to talk about the scars on your back.”
“No we don’t,” she told him boldly. “That’s the past and we can’t change what happened. We can’t really even change what’s meant to come. Tomorrow is a challenge you guys need to meet head on, knowing that some of you may die. Hopefully, you all will win the day and these men Bandit and Snake and everyone who fights for them will be defeated. That’s what you have to worry about. Not get caught up in what I might be thinking of you.”
“I hear what you’re saying Baby Girl but when this is over, I want to hear everything about your life before we met,” Cobra stated the words firmly and even Lola could her their meaning. He wouldn’t be denied. He wanted the details big and small of what she’d gone through growing up.
“Let’s find a place to bed down for the night,” Creed suggested. “We need to be fresh in the morning. Bowie is a bit of a ride and once we get there, we’ll make the plans we need with the others.”
“I brought a dozen men with me but I called in for some reinforcements. They will meet us in Bowie,” Cobra informed him. “As we don’t know how big a force we’re going to go up against in a few days or how many you got numbers for, the more men we have might even the odds.”
Creed nodded. “Thanks. We appreciate that.” He ushered Lola back into the house.
Cobra watched them go. He stayed outside for a moment and lit another smoke.
Thor joined him a few minutes later.
For a while, neither man said a word then Thor chuckled a bit. “She’s got your temperament doesn’t she? And your stubbornness too. Poor girl, no wait… I take that back, poor Creed. He doesn’t know what’s about to hit him does he?”
“Shut your mouth fool.” Cobra growled. “She may have my temper and my stubbornness but she’s a lot like her mother too.”
“Yes, she is,” Thor agreed. “Does she know what really happened that day?”
“She knows.” Cobra nodded. “She overheard me telling Creed about it.”
“And? What did she say?”
Cobra shrugged. “She told me it didn’t matter. Her mother loved me and told her all about me. How Nora warned her that she would hear the lies about what happened and that’s what they were, nothing more than lies told by another man to hide his own secrets.” Cobra turned and looked at his VP. “She told our daughter that she loved me. Can you believe that? After everything I did to her, she still loved me enough to tell my kid that.”
“What are you going to do about that when this fight between the clubs is over?”
“I don’t know. She told me to concentrate on what we have to deal with now. The only control we have is over what happens right now.”
“She’s a smart woman.” Thor nodded.
Cobra turned his intense gaze at the other man. “When this is over, I want MC Justice for Nora. I don’t want Westerly to breathe another breath of fresh air, even behind bars.”
Thor gave him a look of pure understanding. “Already set that in motion. He’ll die a traitor’s death. Everyone will know why and what he did to deserve it. Monk will make sure of that.”
“Good. Monk is a good man and he’ll be getting out soon. Make sure when he does he’s all set up again.” Monk was their man who’d gone to prison for a crime of aggravated assault. A bar fight in which he beat the hell out of a man for hitting a woman. He only received nine months behind bars but he took it for standing his ground. The man he beat up was known for hitting women and he received time also but he requested a different prison. Monk was getting out early for good behavior but would take care of Westerly before he walked out of the cement walls that held him.
“What’s the plan for tomorrow?” Thor asked.
“I called in for more of our men. They’re going to meet us in Bowie. We need numbers as we don’t know what kind of force Bandit has on his side.” He shrugged. “We also won’t know how many of the original members are going to join them either. We’ll know more tomorrow in Bowie.”
Thor nodded. “The guys are getting ready for a battle. They’re gearing themselves up for a good fight.”
“Good, because I don’t believe Bandit is one to play by the rules.”
Thor snorted. “Bandit plays by his own rules and he makes them up as he goes. We’ve known men like him before, Westerly was the same type. At least this time, we get to strike back.”
“Just admit it Thor. You and the boys love to draw blood.” Cobra chuckled.
“Hells yeah, we do.” Thor laughed.
Cobra moved to the house. “Come on, we’d better get some sleep, we need our wits about us tomorrow.”
~*~
The sun wasn’t even up yet when Lola walked out the back door with a cup of fresh coffee in her hand. The air was cool and crisp, so she had a blanket wrapped around her shoulders. She watched as the dawn broke and light infiltrated the shadows chasing them away.
She heard the door behind her open but she didn’t turn her head to see who was joining her. Someone stood at the railing and when she did turn her head, she saw it was Thor. She turned again and watched the sun coming over the horizon.
“Your dad’s a good man,” he spoke softly.
Lola held up her hand and stopped him from speaking. “I need to find that out for myself, don’t I? You’ve known him for some time, that’s time I never got with him. I’ll worry about what kind of man he is after this is over, but not right now.”
“Ok, I get that.” Thor nodded.
She turned to him. “We’re leaving in a few hours. I’m not going to cause any friction with anyone. Y’all need to concentrate on what’s coming, not on what’s already been.” She paused then laid her hand on his arm. “I know he’s a good man. My mother never would have loved him if he wasn’t.”
Lola walked back into the house.
~*~
Tate opened his eyes and stared at the ceiling for a moment. The bed he was on felt so strange for a moment. It was soft and comfortable. He still couldn’t believe he’d been rescued after six years of being held in a cave by Bandit.
His belly was full and for the first time in so long, he was clean. His skin was still stained by the filth he lived in but it was at least clean from most of the dirt he’d accumulated over the last few years. That shower was like a new life for him. He’d never take one for granted again, that was for sure.
He smiled when he thought about what today would bring. And it was odd to finally smile too. He hadn’t had any cause to smile for a long ass time. Bullet had called in the remaining brothers that were still loyal to him. He also called in his sons and his father. Bullet brought him up to date as to the events that happened after Bandit’s ambush. Tate was enraged by the news of Bandit and Snake beating his dad almost to death and by the news, Snake thought his baby girl would make a good club whore. Kimber was a club princess not a whore and Tate knew one thing—he would enjoy skinning Bandit from neck to heels.
Tate realized he had changed over the years. Being held and housed like an animal had brought out the worst in him and he wasn’t sure he could ever go back to the man he once was. Being locked in a dank cave with no light and no hope had changed him forever.
But today, his family would be reunited and they would make plans to take back what was theirs.
Creed was a free man and he would take his rightful place as President of the Lost Sinners. Just as it should have been years ago.
He heard Bullet wake up and when he sat up, he looked over at Tate’s bed.
The two of them smiled.
“Well old man, are you ready for a showdown?”
“I’m ready for a reunion, the showdown will come.” Tate sat up.
“The rest of the guys are coming in this morning. Everyone should be here about noon.”
“Good that gives us time to go over the plans and set something up.” Tate nodded.
“But first we should eat something,” Bullet suggested. “I don’t know about you but my belly’s empty.”
Tate grinned. He knew what the other man was doing. Tate had lost a lot of weight by not having enough food over the last several years, but that was ok, he’d eat. “Sounds good to me, man”
A few hours later, they heard the sounds of cycle engines coming their way. They had spent the time making plans, discussing who would go where and who would do what. Tate turned toward the door and felt his heart pounding in his chest.
In the next few minutes, he would be reunited with his family. He looked over at Bullet and saw the other man grinning back at him.
“They’re here Tate. Your family is coming to take you home.”
“I know.” Tate grinned feeling joy for the first time in forever. “I never thought this day would come. I thought I’d die in the fucking cave. Bandit did his best to make that happen but I wouldn’t give up or give in. Not to him. I think this moment is the reason I survived as long as I did.”
“Then what the fuck you waitin’ on man?’ Bullet asked. “Open the damn door and let your family know you are a survivor.”
Tate took a deep breath as he heard the engines outside die off. Opening the motel door, he stepped outside.
The silence was broken by Kimber’s scream, “Daddy!”
Tate braced himself as he saw her running in his direction. He opened his arms and a moment later, she slammed into his embrace. Her tears wet his neck as she sobbed loudly.
Three men got off their bikes with a stunned look in their eyes.
At the same time, an older man got out of his truck.
One of the men reached up and removed his sunglasses as he stared at Tate and Kimber. Stepping closer he barely spoke in an audible tone, “Dad, is that really you?”
Tate looked over at his oldest son, Creed while still holding tightly to Kimber. He looked so different. “Creed… damn boy, you’ve grown since last time I saw you.” He stood taller than even Tate himself and wider. The man was a wall of muscle too.
“How is it you are still alive?” Harry asked as he joined Creed. He looked ashen with shock. “Bandit told the club you died in his arms? He showed us your bloody cut!”
“Bandit is a god damn liar and he has a lot to fucking answer for.” Tate seethed. “There was no accident. He, Snake and three other men stopped me on the road. Bandit asked again about doing business with the Russians and again, I said ‘fuck no’ and that’s when Snake and three others began beating the living hell out of me. I gave as good as I could for as long as I could but one against four ain’t good odds. When I woke up, they had dragged me off the road and threw me into a cave Bandit had set up as a prison. I’ve been there since day before yesterday when Bullet busted me out.”
“I’ll fucking kill him.” Creed growled as he clenched his fists.
“You’ll have to stand in line boy.” Silas stepped up and grabbed his son. Hugging him and Kimber close he whispered loudly, “Damn glad to see you again boyo. I thought I’d be meeting you over on the other side!”
