Saving Dallas 2 Making the Cut (22 page)

I stood, along with the others, and hurried
to Luke’s room. I grabbed my cell off of the bed and went into the
bathroom, closing the door behind me and hoping no one would
hear.

“Hey babe, miss me already?” Luke answered in
a jolly voice that I wasn’t expecting.

“Luke, I’m trying to be real patient here. Is
there anything else you aren’t telling me?” I asked, trying to stay
calm.

“No, babe. I think we have covered it all.”
Luke was smiling in the phone and I knew that he knew what had just
happened.

“You had them fucking follow me? Why didn’t
you tell me that?”

“I did tell you that.”

“Oh really, when?”

“I told you that when I couldn’t watch you I
had people employed by me to do it,” Luke said, his mood not
faltering in the least.

“Luke! You fucking… Ugh! I swear I could kill
you right now. Do you know how fucking weird this is? Then Maddie
stood up and informed me that they all hated me and had been
talking shit and you paid them to like me. Now, Brooklyn wants to
take me for a ride on her
hog,
and you said I couldn’t go
anywhere, but I’m fucking going. I don’t even know what a hog is,
but it doesn’t matter. If I have to sit in this house right now,
someone is gonna get hurt and it sure as hell ain’t gonna be me. I
don’t care what you-“

“You can go with Brooklyn, babe. Go have a
few drinks and calm down. Everything will be fine,” Luke said,
interrupting my rant. Drinks? With Brooklyn? He told me I couldn’t
leave. “Babe?”

“I thought you said I couldn’t leave unless
it was important,” I said, wanting to pull my hair out because he
was so unpredictable and I was anticipating a fight and my
adrenaline was pumping and he just said I could go. Fuck me. Fuck a
drink. I needed some of that shit that you see on intervention.

“This sounds pretty important, babe. Brooklyn
will take care of you. There is not a man around stupid enough to
fuck with her. I have good news,” Luke said, so excited about his
good news that he didn’t seem to give much of a shit about
mine.

“What’s your good news?” I asked, sounding
bored. Of course, he wasn’t affected.

“We have a lead on War. Leaving, just as soon
as we fuel up. It’s not much but more than we have had since all
this shit went down.”

When Luke told me this, my thoughts of my
drama went out the window and I was overcome with pure joy.

“Oh baby, that’s wonderful news!”

“Yeah, it is. I have to go, babe. I love you
and I’ll get back with ya soon.”

“I love you too and give a big kiss to War
from me!”

“Yeah, that shit ain’t gonna happen,” Luke
said laughing. “Gotta go, babe.” He disconnected and I was all
smiles as I prepared for my day on the “hog” with Brooklyn.

A “hog” is a Harley Davidson Motorcycle.
Brooklyn’s Hog was a pink, three wheeled motorcycle known as a
trike. Her husband, Ronnie, had custom built it himself. It was
wonderful. I sat behind her as we barreled down the highway,
heading south towards the beach. I had packed a pair of shorts and
flip flops to bring with me, but chose to wear my motorcycle gear
which consisted of jeans, boots and a black tank for the journey
down there. Tom Petty’s lyrics of “Free Falling” seemed fitting as
I left the world behind me for a while and enjoyed the sun on my
skin and the wind in my hair. We probably looked ridiculous, two
women riding a pink trike down the highway, but I didn’t give a
shit. I doubted anyone would be stupid enough to say anything to
us.

It was after one when we pulled up to Hank’s,
a little biker bar and grill on the beach. Brooklyn guided us under
the covered area as surrounding bikers came up for a closer look. I
climbed off the bike and shook my hair loose from my helmet. I
noticed the appreciative looks that I received and couldn’t help
but be a little smug. So what if I had a boyfriend? It was always
nice to have your ego boosted.

“Take ya dirty eyes off my bitch, you little
shit,” Brooklyn said to a guy who couldn’t have been older than
twenty-one. He was rubbing his tongue across his lip and
suggestively winking at me. If it wasn’t for the cut he wore, I
never would have guessed that he was in a Motorcycle Club.

“These little punks these days have no
respect for women. What do they think? That we are all whores or
something?” Brooklyn announced loud enough for everyone in the bar
to hear. A tall man with a braided beard and hair as long as Willie
Nelson’s came out and took Brooklyn in his arms.

“Well, I’ll be damned. How in the hell are
you, Brooklyn? Where’s Ronnie?” The man asked, his voice
booming.

“He is on a run. I can’t flirt as much when
he is around,” she said, smacking him playfully on the ass.

“Bullshit. Since when have you cared whether
or not he was around?” the guy asked, pulling Brooklyn in for
another hug. It was obvious that they were old friends.

“Hank, meet Dallas. Dallas, Hank,” she said,
motioning for me to join them.

“Nice to meet you, Hank,” I said with a
smile, offering my hand for him to shake.

“My goodness. I have died and gone to heaven.
Miss Dallas,” he said, taking my hand and bringing it to his lips.
“The pleasure is all mine.” Something about him made me feel warm
and toasty on the inside.

“Y’all come in. I have the best table in the
house open, and it’s just for y’all.” He led us up the stairs of
the building that was at least twenty feet off the ground. The
boards over the windows were all lifted to give a view of the beach
and the city. The music was loud rock and roll, and the place was
packed with so many bikers, that you couldn’t smell the food over
the scent of leather. He seated us at a table on the back deck that
overlooked the gulf. There were no other tables out here and even
though the music was still loud, you could at least hear one
another talk.

“Ginger is gonna take care of y’all. Give
this girl the house drink,” he said, speaking to the beautiful
blonde wearing an outfit that barely covered her. “She looks like
she needs it.” Ginger nodded at Hank and they disappeared inside to
get Brooklyn a bucket of Corona and me a house drink, whatever in
the hell that was.

“Tell me about yesterday,” Brooklyn said, not
bothering with small talk. I took a deep breath and looked out at
the rolling waves.

“There is really not a lot to tell. Luke
thought that I knew that my ex-boyfriend, Jeff, was working for
Frankie. I got the impression that he thought I was playing him. I
don’t know why he would think that. I didn’t kidnap myself,” I
said, looking at my hands. Ginger appeared with our drinks and mine
came in a quart jar. I took a big sip and almost choked. They must
have made it a double.

“Luke was upset that he didn’t know. He
couldn’t take it out on Regg, so he took it out on you. That shit
happens more often than it should, but it does happen. Don’t let
Luke scare you. Ten years ago, I would have told you to cut him
loose; now, you are a lucky girl to have him,” Brooklyn said,
sliding her lime up and down the neck of her bottle and coating it
in salt.

“Why did he change?” I asked, wondering what
my limits were with Brooklyn.

“It happened over the course of a few years.
People got hurt, people went to jail and then Maddie came along.
She was the one that pushed him over the edge.” I leaned up further
in my seat, silently begging her to continue. “When she got
pregnant, he somehow felt responsible. He knew the guy she was with
was no good, but you couldn’t tell Maddie anything. She was young,
dumb and horny. She didn’t really like the guy either, but since
Luke hated him, she wanted to rebel.”

Brooklyn saw the confusion on my face and
smiled, “Luke was like a big brother to Maddie. He was closer to
her than anyone. Some people thought that they would end up
together, but Luke thought nothing more of her than a sister. After
the baby was born, she began coming around less and less. No one
really understood why. Luke was so deep in the club that he didn’t
have time to check on her regularly, like he once did. He was in
another state on a run, doing shit he had no business doing, when
he got the call that Maddie had been beaten, almost to death. The
baby tested positive for marijuana and crystal meth. The sick prick
she was with was smoking it and blowing it in the kid’s face. Luke
rode all night on his bike to get to her, he was the only one she
asked for.”

There was a faraway look in Brooklyn’s eyes
and I was sure that mine mirrored hers. I felt sick knowing that
Maddie had endured such trauma in her life. At nineteen, she was
lying in a hospital, beaten to a pulp and I was getting drunk at
frat parties. Life really wasn’t fair.

“What happened when Luke got there?” I asked,
not knowing if I really wanted the truth.

“He went crazy. He blamed himself for letting
it happen. When she told him that she screamed for him, and he
didn’t come; he went ballistic.” My heart pounded out of my chest
as I stared at her.

“Sound familiar?” she asked, taking a pull
from her beer. She leaned closer to me, staring me down. “That man
would give his life for anyone he loves. That includes you. If he
could have stopped Frankie from hurting you, he would have. The man
has a lot on him. He is gonna fuck up. That’s when you step in and
stand behind him, no matter what. That is your man, Dallas. Your
superior, your lover and your soul mate. He has protected you,
loved you and waited for you. He has the hardest job of them all.
If you can’t handle it, get out now, but I’m warning you, if you do
leave, we will lose the brother we love.”

I wanted to say so much. I wanted to tell her
that I didn’t need anyone convincing me that Luke loved me. I knew
that he did. I knew he fucked up and I knew that he was forgiven. I
didn’t want to be without Luke. Instead of saying these things, I
nodded my head in agreement. I wished that I could take those words
back. Luke was already living with the fact that another man had
put his hands on me and he wasn’t there. I didn’t have to tell him
that I screamed for him. I could only imagine what he must have
felt. Not many people have to live with something like that, and
Luke had dealt with it twice.

“Drink up,” Brooklyn said, clinking her
bottle against my full glass. “I’m leaving in the morning and I
want to be shitty tonight. We will flip a quarter when we leave;
heads I drive, tails you do.” Shit.

Chapter 12

LUKE

I had been without Dallas for seven full
days. That’s over one hundred and sixty-eight hours since I had
touched her soft skin or smelled her sweet pussy, not that I was
counting. My cock twitched just at the thought of her. It would be
another night with Rosie Palm and a cold shower. Our search for War
had ended up with nothing. I was beginning to think that my brother
was dead. Another death was not something that I wanted to deal
with. Everyone kept telling me to stay positive, but I wasn’t
stupid. He was gone; his bike chopped up and sold to the highest
bidder. There would be no finding him. It was a search that was
fucking pointless, but something we had to do. I wouldn’t stop
until I found something. We were getting closer to Frankie, maybe
we could beat the whereabouts of War out of him, but it didn’t seem
likely. He would fucking suffer for the blood that he had
spilled.

None of the guys could stand to be around me
anymore. The cheap ass hotel that we were staying in didn’t have
enough rooms for all of us, so we were doubling up. Crash was stuck
with me and he wasn’t happy about it. I still had to keep my cool
around him. I don’t like people touching my girl, and his hand fit
just a little too perfect in hers for my liking. I stripped down
and stepped into the shower. I put my hands on the cheap tiles and
let the cold water beat down my back. I was fucking up. My club was
becoming suspicious of my actions and I knew there was talk about
whether or not I could keep my shit together. I hadn’t spoken to
Regg since we left, and my pride wouldn’t allow me do it now. He
was my brother; one of my best brothers. He was my right hand man,
the one that answered only to me, and now I felt like I couldn’t
trust him. He was wrong for keeping shit from me, but I knew why he
did it. He was fucking right. I would have murdered Jeff and anyone
else that stood in my way.

Fuck, I missed Dallas. I was a pussy whooped
little bitch and I didn’t care. I was dead inside until she came
into my life and at every opportunity to fuck it up, I did. Red was
probably the only reason that she even spoke to me anymore. I
slammed my fist into the tiles, welcoming the pain that shot up my
arm. I had to get my shit together. First, I would fix my club.
Second, I would find Frankie and remove him from this world, and
third, I would go home to Dallas and fix my fuck-ups.

I got out of the shower with new goals in
mind and more focused than I had been in months. This was my job.
My brothers looked to me for guidance and if I couldn’t give it to
them, then it was time to pass the gavel. I worked too fucking hard
to get this club where it is, and I would be damned before I let
my
actions ruin it. I had to do something fast, before I
lost the respect of my brothers. There was no doubt in anyone’s
mind that I could handle the pressure. I wasn’t scared and I put my
heart into everything I did. It was the smart decisions and
rational thinking that got me where I am and that’s what the club
felt that I had been lacking here lately. It was time to clear my
mind and focus on what was important and what I could control right
now. My cock would have to wait.

The guys stood around outside the hotel,
smoking and drinking, getting ready to call it a night. No one was
allowed to drink more than the legal limit. The last thing we
needed was to get a call and have to leave and someone get a DUI,
or be too fucked up on a ride. I implemented the rule the day that
I got the gavel. When we rode, I needed soldiers, not drunks who
couldn’t keep the rubber down.