Lola wandered out of the kitchen and moved to the living room to stare out the window at the backyard for a moment. The name Wyatt Westerly was somehow familiar to her. She didn’t know from where just yet, but it was a name the Young family hated. She really couldn’t blame them.
This man Bandit had a lot to answer for apparently. If what they knew about him was true, he was responsible for at least one person’s death and two others going to jail for trumped up charges. Plus, the disappearance of Creed, Jack and Harry’s father.
Leaning her forehead against the glass of the window, she racked her brains for where she heard the name Wyatt Westerly. It had been a long time since she heard the name and for the life of her, she couldn’t remember where she’s heard it.
Creed stepped inside the doorway and motioned for her to come back to the kitchen.
She walked back in and everyone turned to watch her. Lola felt a little off, being the center of attention as she sat back down in the chair next to Creed. “What’s up?” she whispered.
Harry shrugged. “Well little lady, when my brother Jack told me about what your situation was, I started digging into the Steele brothers and their little operation. Lonnie and Ginger are quite the pair aren’t they?” Shaking his head, he continued, “Unfortunately, there is no evidence of a connection to Hector Gratis. At least, none I’ve been able to find.”
“That’s because he doesn’t really exist,” Lola informed them. “Hector Gratis isn’t his real name.”
Harry glanced over at Annie then at Creed before turning back to Lola. “And you know this how?”
She unzipped the backpack and dug around for a moment then pulled out a flash drive. “I saw Ginger coming out of Lonnie’s office one night so when she was gone I went in to see what she’d been in there for and I found this on his desk. When I heard someone coming, I grabbed it and ran. I haven’t looked at it but I think he wants it back. That’s mostly why they’re hunting me down the way they are. I found out later that night, Ginger accused me of taking the drugs. I was friends with the other bartender Junie and she overheard Ginger telling Lonnie she saw me coming out of his office. Junie told me Lonnie ran to his office and came back a few minutes later, steaming mad. He got a hold of his brothers and they started looking for me. I didn’t even have time to pack any of my clothes, I just took off, and I’ve been running ever since.” She handed it over to Harry hesitantly. “Like I said, I’m not sure what’s on it but I would imagine Lonnie and his brothers don’t want that information to get out. I’m trusting you with my life and your family’s by giving you this. They will kill to get it back and I’m sure by now, they know its missing.”
Harry smiled. “I’ll take very good care of the information on this.”
“How do you know Hector Gratis isn’t his real name?” Silas asked her.
Lola shrugged. “When you’re a waitress, you overhear a great many things. One of the things I overheard was Hector on the phone. He was speaking Spanish but whoever he was talking to was calling him Manny, not Hector.”
“You didn’t hear a last name did you?” Jack asked.
Lola shook her head.
“So you speak Spanish too?” Creed asked as he raised a dark brow at her.
Lola nodded but didn’t say how or why she spoke a second language.
Creed stared at her for a long moment then whispered, more to himself than anyone else, “Just who exactly are you Lolannie James?”
Lola just gazed back at him with a blank expression. She turned her head as Harry got up and disappeared down the hall.
He returned a few minutes later with a laptop and as he sat down, he plugged in the flash drive she’d given him. A few minutes later he raised his shocked eyes to her. “You didn’t look at this before you gave it to me did you?”
Lola shook her head with a frown. “No, I didn’t, why?”
Harry just shook his head. “Honey, this right here is a gold mine. You got your hands on the bonus. This is his spread sheet of all his illegal transactions. Times, dates and contacts, this drive has them all.” He looked at the info on his laptop again and nodded, “Oh yeah, there’s no doubt that he’d kill to get this back.”
Lola swallowed hard and looked over to Creed and Silas. “Then, I’m a dead woman either way.”
“Why do you say that?” Creed narrowed his eyes at her.
“Because I have a feeling I’m not the only one that got this information that night. Like I said, Ginger was coming out of his office when I saw her that night and I did find the flash drive just lying on his desk.”
“Like it had been copied recently,” Creed concluded. “And she didn’t get the chance to put it back?”
Lola nodded.
Creed ran his fingers through his long hair and growled. Looking at his brother Harry he asked, “Is what’s on that flash enough for Liam to destroy the Steele brothers?”
Harry nodded slowly. “He’ll destroy them and completely take over their businesses. This drive lists all their contacts and deals and who they owe money to and who owes them money. It even lists their dealers. Hell, with what’s on here, Liam could wipe out half the fucking town of Port Arthur and the Romane Cartel.”
Annie startled and grew pale. “The Romane Cartel? Are you sure it’s the Romane Cartel?”
Harry turned then noted her paleness and frowned. “Yeah baby, that’s the name of the cartel the Steele brothers are doing business with. Do you know them?”
Annie nodded slowly. Tucking her hair behind her ear, she told them, “When Jack said they were doing business with a Mexican cartel I began looking into the different possible groups and the Romane is the biggest, also the deadliest. Jesus Romane controls a good portion of everything south of Mexico City. His sister, Carmen, married into another big cartel- the Gola Cartel and between the two cartels, they control most of the empire of the drugs shipped here. Zeus Gola, Carmen’s husband is a sadistic bastard and they have three sons, Manuel, Jose and Carlos.”
“Fuck a duck,” Silas swore. Turning to look at Lola, he whispered, “Hector Gratis could be Manuel Gola.”
“That could be big trouble for Ginger and Liam if they don’t know who he really is,” Harry informed them. “If Liam takes Hector out, he’ll bring the whole fucking cartel down on Port Arthur. And from what I understand, Zeus and Jesus will enjoy the war he’s about to start.”
“How did you find out all this information?” Lola asked. “I mean isn’t this kind of stuff kept quiet?”
Annie grinned. “You can find out anything about anybody, if you know where to look and don’t stay long enough to let them know you’re looking.” She shrugged. “And I don’t stay long enough to let them know I’m looking.”
Harry chuckled. “She’s good at what she does and we don’t break the law, just bend it to the point of breaking without doing any permanent damage.”
Creed shook his head. “That skill will come in handy when we take back the club.”
Jack and Harry both snapped their heads around to stare at their older brother.
Finally, Harry asked, “Is that what we’re doing here? Taking back the Lost Sinners?”
Creed steeled his eyes and his jaw clenched. “Yes, we’re taking back the MC. Those bastards had no right to take it in the first fucking place. They had no right to take out Dad and no right to run us out of town. We built that club with generations of our blood and they don’t deserve it. Damn fucking right we’re taking it back.”
Jack began to smile. Harry joined him and together, they slowly raised their fists in the air.
Creed and Silas raised their hands in the air and all four gave a war shout of the Lost Sinners club. It sounded like a pack of lions roaring.
Their war chant scared the bejesus out of the baby who began to cry.
Kalinda and Annie jumped from their seats in alarm.
Lola sat very still, though she flinched. She felt nothing but dread in her heart. Two powerful cartels and a motorcycle club mixed in with the Irish mob? And being hunted by the Steele brothers? What had she done that was so wrong to find herself in this kind of a mess? Not only that but she had a feeling her own past was going to come out and slap them all in the face. And that wouldn’t be good at all.
At least they were far enough away from San Antonio that they wouldn’t run into the Soldiers of Hades MC. That would be a disaster anyway you fucking sliced it. From what she’d heard of them, it was best to not even mention them aloud.
Looking over at Creed and his family, Lola kept quiet about her past. For her whole life, her past had been kept a secret and she had no reason to tell anyone about it now. She wasn’t even sure if she knew what the truth was but there was no reason for it to come out now. They had enough problems.
~*~
In a compound forty five minutes west of San Antonio, near the small city of Hondo, a man sat at a table with a bottle of Black Velvet in front of him. The sun wasn’t up quite yet but the man had been sitting there all night.
His black cherry colored hair was sprinkled with grey and his white beard flowed down from his chin well onto his chest. His violet colored eyes were well hidden by his tinted glasses and even though he was inside, he kept his glasses on. At six foot six inches tall, he was a big man. He was still an imposing figure of a man at his age and he’d lived a good life. Today was his 50th birthday. Like anyone in any MC, he had some regrets but not many.
Glancing down at his hand, he took note of the ring he wore on his pinkie finger. He hated what the ring stood for but he wore it to remember his one regret. Nora. She had come into his life twenty three years ago and when she left, she left nothing but chaos and pain behind her. She’d cost the life of one of his brothers, stole, lied then left a hole in his MC and his soul.
Nora…he’d thought about her every single day since she left. He hated her with a passion he felt that was equal to the lust he felt for her for those few months they were together. He couldn’t keep his hands off her and for at least a short time, he thought he’d been happy but like her, it had all been a lie. A lie he found out the day she disappeared.
She’d not only taken his money when she left but she took his baby with her. A baby he never knew about until he caught up with her four years later. She told him about the baby in the hope that he wouldn’t kill her but that hope died when she’d seen the look in his eyes. What she wouldn’t tell him was where his daughter was. That information might have spared her life but she didn’t or wouldn’t tell him where the girl was.
His daughter… he had a daughter out there somewhere and it was driving him crazy that he might never find her. He realized that his kid would be all grown up by this time. She’d be twenty-four years old and she didn’t even know him. Today was her birthday too. Nora told him she’d been born on his birthday just to torment him. She knew after what she’d pulled, he would kill her and he had as his club and the death of his brother had demanded it but she’d taken his daughter’s name and location to her grave with her, leaving him to wonder what had become of his kid.
He reached for his glass of whiskey as he heard a door open behind him. He didn’t bother looking up as he took a sip of the glass in his hand. Velvet was a smooth whiskey but it still had a burn as it slid down his throat.
When someone slid into the seat next to him, he knew it could only be one man. His VP, Thor.
“Happy birthday old man.” Thor’s rough voice addressed the white elephant in the room.
“Fuck off man,” Cobra suggested with a growl in his own gravelly voice.
Thor chuckled then reached for the bottle and another glass. Pouring himself a drink, he lifted it in a silent toast to his President.
Cobra lowered the dark glasses to the edge of his nose without taking them off completely and glared at the other man.
Thor just smiled and clinked his glass with Cobra’s. “Wasn’t gonna say it man, lighten up. It’s your birthday.”
Cobra grunted and lifted his glass to his lips again, slamming the entire shot down his throat as he swallowed it hard. The whiskey burned going down but Cobra didn’t care. He reached out for the bottle and poured another shot.
Thor caught the glint from the ring his friend wore on his pinkie and he sobered up quickly. He shook his head and motioned toward the ring. “Why do you wear that thing anyway? You really don’t need to remember that bitch. It’s been twenty years man since you’ve seen her, you should just bury that fucking ring.” He took a sip of the whiskey. “She certainly wasn’t worth your time, not after what she did to the club.”
“What about my kid?” Cobra growled. “She’s still out there somewhere and she doesn’t even know who the fuck I am.”
Thor swore out loud. He’d forgotten about the kid Nora told him she had. Cobra had hunted down Nora with every intention of getting the million dollars back but she only had half of it. Then she told him the other half went to support his daughter. Thor remembered the look on his friend’s face when she told him about the baby she took from him when she left. “Are you still looking for her?” Thor asked.
Cobra growled. “At this point, I’m not even sure she exists. She could have been nothing more than a lie Nora told to prolong her own skanky life.”
“She’d be twenty four wouldn’t she?”
Cobra nodded. “Yeah, today is her birthday too.”
“You want me to send out some feelers? Maybe hit up Nora’s mom again?”
“She still living up in Tyler isn’t she?” Cobra asked.
Thor nodded. “Jett is up in the area, we could have him swing by her mom’s house and ask some questions.”
Cobra swallowed his shot of whiskey while he was thinking then before he could change his mind, he looked over at Thor and nodded. “Yeah, have Jett stop by the old lady’s place and see if she’ll talk to him. I have to know one way or the other.”
Thor nodded and reached for his phone. Jett was in Longview at the moment but Tyler wasn’t that far away. Thor spoke to the other man a few minutes then hung up the call. Reaching for the bottle of velvet again, he poured both of them another drink.
~*~
Lola was standing by the window looking out over Harry’s neighborhood. This neighborhood was quiet during the day and that was giving her too much time to think. She glanced over at the calendar on the wall beside the door and took note of the day.
Resting her forehead against the glass she whispered, “Happy birthday to me. Happy birthday daddy, whoever and wherever you might be.”
She was startled when she felt arms wrapping themselves around her waist. When she inhaled and smelled his scent, she relaxed and leaned against him. His scent of leather, man and tobacco surrounded her with comfort.
“What are you doing baby?” Creed asked.
“Just looking outside,” she answered quietly.
“You were whispering something… what was it?”
Lola shook her head.
“What was it?” he insisted.
Lola sighed hard. “I was just wishing myself a happy birthday.”
Creed froze. “Today is your birthday?”
Lola nodded. “I’m twenty-four today.”
Creed smiled. “Well, happy birthday kiddo. Do you have any family somewhere in the world?”
Lola paused then shrugged. “I’m sure I do but they gave up on me a long time ago.”
“What does that mean?”
Lola shrugged again. “My mom dropped me off here in Tyler at her mom’s house and my grandmother turned me over to social services. I knew her the total of less than twenty-four hours before she put me in the foster system. I never saw my mom again and never knew who my father was or where he lived. As far as I know, the only family I got is the old woman who hates me.”
“I’m sure she doesn’t hate you,” Creed protested. “I can’t imagine anyone hating you.”
“Oh, that old woman hates me,” she insisted. “She was so bitter when my mom left her, she turned that bitterness on me. My mom told me she hated leaving me with her but she found out that the man who fathered me was looking for her and she could move around faster without me. I think she took something that didn’t belong to her when she left my dad because she said he was very pissed at her and she had to hide from him. All I know was that when she left me behind, I was four years old. My grandmother kept me overnight then pushed me out the next morning. She told the social worker that she’d raised her kid and she wasn’t going to raise me. She was an unpleasant old woman back then and I don’t imagine she’s changed much since then.”
“Are you going to visit her while we’re here?”
Lola shook her head. “No.”
“Well, I think you should. She’s your family, probably the only family you got,” Creed insisted. “You don’t throw family away. Sometimes, they’re all you got.”
Lola wished that was true in her case, she really did. She’d lived most of her life with no one to call her own. She was almost sure her mom wasn’t alive anymore. Not that she was much of a mother to her but at least she had tried. Her grandmother hated her and she never knew anything about her father, except her mom was afraid of him for some reason. She didn’t even know if he had looked for her at all.
She sighed and wrapped her hands around his arms. The last time she’d seen her grandmother she’d been taken aback by the hatred in the old woman’s eyes. She didn’t understand it then and she didn’t know if the older woman would even open the door to her today. She turned her face to Creed. “Do you think it would do any good to stop by and see her?”
Creed looked down and shrugged. “You should at least try. If she’s still a mean old woman at least, you’ll know and then she’s not worth your time. But if she wants to see you again, it might be worth it.”
Lola looked out the window again and thought about how much she’d wanted a family, her own family. That would be nice but she also didn’t want to bring them into the mess she found herself in right now. “Maybe.”
“I can go with you if you like,” he offered.
Lola snapped her head around to stare at him. For a moment, all she could do was stare at him. “You would do that for me?” she whispered.
Creed nodded.
Lola felt a surge building inside her. She wasn’t sure if it was excitement or fear but she almost didn’t want to put herself out there to reconnect but like Creed said she had to try. “Ok.”
“Then let’s go and find out,” he insisted.
Twenty minutes later, he stopped in front of a weathered little house on Cramer street. The lawn was burnt by the sun and was brown instead of green but this was Texas. The paint was peeling from the walls and the yard was bare, with no lawn ornaments or flowers.
The last time Lola had seen this house was twenty years ago when her mother had dropped her off. Exhaling loudly, she opened the truck door. They had taken Silas’s truck instead of Creed’s bike. She got out and shut the door quietly. She was afraid of what she might find on the other side of the front door.
Creed came around the truck and grasped her hand. He wouldn’t let her face this alone. Pulling on her just a bit, he led her to the front door. His eyes were so focused on her he missed seeing the big black Harley pulling up down the street.
Lola reached out and knocked on the door. She bit her bottom lip and glanced over at Creed while she waited for her grandmother to answer the door.
Creed took note of her nervousness and chuckled. “Relax baby girl. What’s the worst she can do?”
“You don’t know my grandmother,” she muttered under her breath.
They both heard the lock being turned and turned to face the doorway. When the door was pulled open, they saw the older woman on the other side. Her face was lined with something more than age and her hair was snow white. Her eyes were dimmed by time but sharp enough to see who it was that she was seeing. Her eyes narrowed and sharped as she looked up and down at Lola. “What the hell are you doing here?”
“I came to see you. You are all I have for family.”
“Huh…” she snorted. “Well, I don’t want you or need you around here. Didn’t back when you were small and I don’t need you now. You’ll bring nothing but trouble to my door, the same way your mother did. She didn’t listen to me all those years ago and she got herself knocked up with you, then she crawled back here with you and I told her then I wasn’t gonna help her. And I didn’t. I didn’t keep you then and I won’t take you in now. So, get the hell out of my doorway and never come back here again. I got nothing left to give you. You aren’t welcome here and I don’t need your troubles. I don’t want you around me if your daddy comes back around. Go away.”
She went to slam the door but Creed wouldn’t let her. He was pissed and he didn’t care if the old lady knew it or not. He pushed the door open again, and leaned in close. “She didn’t come here to ask you for a damn thing old woman. She just wanted to find you. She tried to tell me you didn’t want her but I told her you were family. That was my mistake. She don’t need your nasty old bitter kind of family.”
“Good, you take care of her then. Maybe she’ll listen to you. Her mother never listened to me and got involved with less than good men. Maybe you’ll be her family instead.” Her grandmother snarled at then then slammed the door shut in their faces.
Creed felt his blood run hot. He wanted to tear the door off its hinges and rip the old woman apart with his bare hands, he was so mad. Then he looked down at Lola and saw the devastation on her face. Tears rolled down her cheeks and they were stark white against her dark red hair.
She swayed a bit and Creed wrapped his arms around her to steady her. He pressed his lips against her forehead and whispered, “Hang in there girl, you’ve got us for family now and we take care of our own. You may not have your true family but you’ve got us.”
Cred turned and led her back to the truck. Helping her inside, he finally noted the biker watching them. He glared at the other man and the other man glared back. He wasn’t intimidated by Creed and this was his way of showing him that.
Creed nodded his head to acknowledge the biker then got into his truck and drove off. Driving around Tyler, taking turns and streets he was hoping to lose the biker who followed them from Lola’s grandmother’s house then he finally ended up at Harry’s again. He thought he lost the biker but didn’t really know if he did or not.
Silas came out of the house as they pulled up. When he saw the look on Lola’s face, he frowned. “What the fuck have you been doing Creed?”
Lola shook her head. “He didn’t do anything Silas. I promise. Excuse me.” She rushed past both men and disappeared into the house.
Silas stared at his grandson.
Creed shook his head and exhaled. “I just made a huge mistake.”
“What did you do?” Silas growled.
Creed ran his hands over his head and looked toward the house. “I found out her grandmother lived here and I encouraged her to stop by and visit. She tried to tell me her grandmother was a real bitch but I thought family is still family. I should have known that wasn’t always the case. We went to visit and that fucking old lady tore Lola up one side and down the other. She really hates that girl and as far as I know it’s for no reason.”
“What the fuck?” Silas looked angry.
“Yeah, she was a real gem.” Creed scoffed. “Her mom dropped her off when she was four and the old lady took her to social services the very next day. Nice huh? She didn’t even try to keep her.”
“That poor girl.” Silas shook his head.
“Did you know that today is her birthday? She’s twenty-four today.” Creed let him know.
“Really?” Silas turned to stare at the house. “Wonder why she didn’t say anything?”
Creed shrugged. “She didn’t think it was a big deal. I don’t think anyone has ever made her feel special on her birthday. Certainly not her grandmother and I don’t know about her mom but after she got put in foster care, I’m sure no one cared enough either.”
Silas shook his head. “That’s just not right boy. Not right at all.”
Creed turned to his grandfather. “And we might have another problem.”
“What kind of problem?” Silas frowned. “We sure as hell don’t need another mess.”
“When we left her grandmother’s house, there was a biker sitting across the street watching us. I didn’t see his cut but he was definitely watching her. Then when we left, he followed us. I tried to lose him but I don’t know if I did or not.”
“Was he one of the Sinners?”
Creed stared at his grandfather. “I don’t think he was. I don’t know why but he didn’t seem like he was one of us.”
Silas turned and began searching the streets around the house. He didn’t see anyone that shouldn’t have been there but if this guy was a biker he would know enough not to be seen.
~*~
The huge biker had pulled off his sunglasses and stared at the couple on the porch of Nora’s mother’s house. Jett decided to wait and see what would happen before he made his move but he did take out his cell phone and point the camera at the girl. When the picture snapped, he looked down at it and when he enlarged it, he sucked in his breath at her face. Cherry black hair, just like Cobra’s. This girl also looked enough like her mother and he knew exactly who she was. If that wasn’t enough, her eyes told him this was his President’s kid.
Jett narrowed his eyes at the couple on the porch and the anger inside him grew. The old bitch that lived in the house had been lying to them for years. This wasn’t his first visit here but it would be his last. At least now, the truth was out and Cobra would know his daughter. Jett tapped in his message and sent the picture off. Then he decided to wait until this little meeting was over.
Then when the couple got back into the truck, Jet followed them. The biker who drove the truck tried to lose him…yeah he could tell the man was MC just by the looks of him. Well, the guy was smart while trying to lose him. Though, not smart enough for Jet. He was a hunter and a tracker, had been for years. You couldn’t lose him even in a fucking snow storm and some had tried.
Jett stopped a block away from where the truck had stopped. He watched as the couple got out. The girl looked upset and then the older guy came out and the two men spoke then she disappeared into the house. He watched as the two men talked then he pushed his bike away from the curb. He didn’t start the bike until he was far enough away, so they wouldn’t hear it. He went back to the old lady’s house and parked. He walked up to the front door and pounded on it.
When she answered the door, she paled as she saw the patches on his vest.
He smiled and stepped through the open door.
The old lady backed away quickly as if she were afraid to get too close to him.
Jett gave her a cold grin. “Yeah, old woman, we got something to talk about, it seems.”
