They were both panting, and her heart was pounding against his. He rose up to his elbows while giving her a kiss.
“So fucking good,” he chuckled.
She smiled and drew her fingertips along the bridge his nose. She did that often, and he knew it was a silent 'I love you.'
“I love you, Katze. We're gonna be okay.”
“I know.”
That was it. 'I know.' No panic, just an ensuring smile.
“Wanna tell me why you're so calm about this?”
“I'm not, but panicking or crying isn't gonna help. It's gonna suck, but we're gonna be fine.” Her smile grew bigger. “And you've got Bull with you.”
He pulled out of her with a laugh, and gave her a kiss while getting down next to her.
“I can take care of myself, you know.”
“I know, but I like the idea of Bull with you.” She turned towards him and put her arm over his chest. “If it helps me to calm down, you shouldn't nag about it.”
“Okay. Not gonna nag if it helps you.” He sighed and looked at her. “If they offer us a good deal, we'll take it. We were caught red handed, and taking a shot with a judge who might just see us as outlaw—it could be stupid as fuck.”
“So you could be going inside pretty soon?”
“Yes.” He nudged her nose with his. “So, while I'm inside... How do you want to do this?”
“What do you mean?”
He really,
really
, didn't want to ask her, but he had to. He'd rather be the one bringing it up now, than have her tell him she'd had enough while he was inside. He could deal with it now—maybe—but he wasn't as sure he could deal with it while doing time.
“Do you want us to stay together while I'm inside or... do you want to...”
Her eyes grew big, but out of anger. “Are you breaking up with me?”
“No! Fuck no! But it's not unusual that guys tell their girlfriends that what they do while they're inside doesn't matter. That we put us on hold, so you can see others.”
“I'm not doing that!” She still looked pissed. “How can you say that? I don't want that. And I know you're not with others when you're on runs, so it wouldn't... I mean.” She wrinkled her nose. “I don't want that. I want you.”
He assumed it was one of the perks of hooking up with a virgin. She'd only ever been with him and just the thought of being with someone else seemed wrong to her. He wasn't gonna argue about it—no way.
“Well, as a prison widow, you'll get free wares at the sex shop.”
“Oh!” And now she smiled. “I might do that.”
“Yeah?” He gave her another kiss and found the thought of her buying dildos
extremely
hot. “Any chance you can start before I go inside? It would give me something to think about.”
“You wanna watch me when I use one?” She had her slightly horrified look. Then he saw it for the first time months, the horrified expression turning into a shy, eager smile. “You're gonna have to make sure Dad doesn't find out I own one. I'd die of embarrassment.”
He laughed. “I'll take you to a shop in Phoenix.” He stroked her breast and ran his thumb over her nipple stud. “We got at least a month, probably more. I'll make damn sure you can get yourself off before I disappear.”
That's when he saw the first tears in her eyes, and she pressed her face to his chest.
“Katze,” he mumbled. “None of that yet.”
“Okay.” She took a deep breath and looked up again. “You need to sleep. We'll talk more tomorrow.”
He was dead tired and didn't argue. When she lay down on his shoulder, he gave her forehead a kiss without saying anything. Minutes later, he was asleep.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN:
Have We Been Dating?
-o0o-
BEAR WOKE UP NEXT
to April. He'd gone to her place once the guys were released, and she'd welcomed him without question.
She turned around and looked at him when he stretched.
“Wanna tell me what's bothering you?” she said and took his hand, moving it to rest on her cheek. “I don't mean to pry, but something seems off.”
“Are you saying you're already bored with my fucks?” he asked in an attempt to laugh it off, but she didn't fall for it. Just kept looking at him. “A few of the guys were arrested. Vi's boyfriend was one of them.”
“Arrested for what?”
“Pot and guns.”
She lay in silence for a while. “Think they might go to jail?”
Sometimes it was more obvious how different their lives were. They never said 'go to jail.' There were a few things they might say, but never go to jail. Mainly since they knew the difference between jail and prison, but they didn't say 'go to prison' that often, either.
There was no doubt in his mind that they'd 'go to jail.' If they got a good deal, anything less than eighteen months, it would be safest to take it. Unless there were some technical mistakes done by the cops, they'd be found guilty—without a doubt. Silver, their lawyer, was good at finding the technical mistakes, and he'd said he hadn't found anything yet.
He just didn't know how to tell her, since it meant telling her that 'going to jail' was a possibility for all of them at all times.
“Yeah, they'll probably do time.”
“How is Violet doing?”
“She's still okay. It might get worse, and she might need me when it does.”
“I understand.” April hesitated for a few seconds. “Are you saying... you want to stop coming here? Or?”
“No, I don't. Just saying there might be a lot going on for a while. Think you'd be okay with that?”
“Yes.” She leaned closer and gave him a kiss. “It's pretty hot. Big, bearded biker saying he needs to be there for his daughter. Totally turns me on.”
“Yeah?” he chuckled and turned her over to her back. “How much?”
“A lot! Think you could say it?” She lowered her voice to imitate him. “I need to be there for my daughter.”
“I don't think talking about my daughter is gonna give me a hard-on, and you should worry if it did.”
“True,” she said with a laugh. “I get it, Bear. I have kids, and I understand. I'll take the sidelines for a while, and you let me know when you've got time for me.”
“She's probably gonna be with Mac as much as possible until he goes inside. So if you don't mind me just coming by for fucks and holding off on the dating, you'll see me.”
“Have we been dating?”
He glared at her. “Yes, we have.”
“When?”
“I took you to dinner!”
“To meet Violet.”
“Are you nagging me for dates?”
“No. I just want to know what you consider as dating.”
“I can take you for a ride.”
She laughed. “No. I work at an ER. I know what bike accidents look like, and you are not gonna get me on a bike.”
“I'm not planning on crashing.”
“I don't think anyone plans for it, but it still happens.”
“I'll get you on my bike sooner or later. Fuck's sake, I've taken both my daughters with me, and I've done it since they were kids!”
“I'll consider it.”
“You know, I've fucked while riding. The girl straddled me, and it was great.”
It was something everyone tried just to be able to say they'd done it. It wasn't that great; it was a lot more work than it was worth and tended to end with a road rash.
“I'm not doing that,” she said with determination.
“Okay, we'll figure it all out. Riding and the rest, too.”
The more time he spent with her, the more he realized she was definitely worth the trouble. She was easygoing, didn't hassle him with questions he couldn't answer, and understood the fact that his kids came first. She was the same about her two boys, but she even seemed to understand what the club meant, too, and so far it hadn't bothered her. He knew it might change pretty fucking quickly, but he was gonna deal with one thing at a time.
He wondered what would happen once April found out the truth about the club, not that he was sure he'd ever tell her. It wasn't like it'd been with Ella. She'd worked at the Booty Bank; she'd had more than a hunch what the club was about. April was more like Mel, and he'd been thinking about asking Brick how he'd told her—and how she'd taken it.
Instead of worrying about the future, he decided to enjoy the moment and rolled April over to her back. He was very pleased when she spread her legs without hesitating.
“This would be a quick fuck,” he said. “I need to get going very soon.”
“Okay,” she smiled. “As long as I get off, I'm okay with quick fucks.”
He left her in her kitchen half an hour later to get to the clubhouse in time for church.
The mood among the men wasn't as bad as he'd feared; not even Dawg seemed upset. When Brick banged the gavel, they all shut up.
“Okay, got a few things we need to sort quick as fuck, since some of you might be going inside soon.” He looked at Sisco. “You need to get Mitch fully updated.”
“I can't do that in months, but I can give him the basics and tell him who else he can talk to.” He looked at Mitch. “You're gonna have to spend some time on the road.”
“That's cool.”
Bear had been with Brick when he talked to Mitch, and the conversation included phrases like 'start thinking with the head on your shoulders instead of the one hanging between your legs' and 'pull your dick out of the pussies for long enough to be of some use.' It might sound harsh to anyone else, but Brick was usually pretty straight with everyone, and Mitch knew that, too. More importantly, Mitch seemed happy for the chance to be of some use.
Mitch was the brain in the Baxter family. It wasn't that anyone else was stupid, both Brick and Mac were sharp, but Mitch was more than sharp. He really was close to a fucking genius. He'd been driving his mom and dad insane, since he'd never, not once, during his years in school had studied for a test or done his homework. He still aced everything. If he'd made an effort, he could've gone far. He was just too busy with using his looks and brains to figure out how to get girls to drop their panties for him. Something he was very good at.
“Silver is talking to the DA,” Brick said and was going to continue, but was interrupted by Mitch.
“Technically, we don't have a DA in Arizona. It's called an Arizona County Attorney.”
“Nice. A Cunt Attorney,” Bull mumbled. “She's sort of a cunt.”
“No we don't!” Mech objected. “We have a DA.”
“Who gives a fuck what the fuck she's called?” Brick interrupted the discussion. “Whatever her business card says, Silver is talking to her. She seems eager to get a deal out of this, so it'll probably be a good offer. We just need to be careful with what she wants for it.”
“So pot and guns. Do we think it'll go down as possession or sale?” Dawg asked.
“I don't think we'll get away with simple possession,” Bear said. “The combination of pot and guns—which makes it Felony Firearm—is gonna mean the DA... sorry, the Cunt Attorney, wants you locked up. If it goes to court she might argue distribution, and that's a problem. That's when we're looking at a possible decade.”
“And we all know that the first thing she'll bring up in court is that we're an outlaw club,” Wolf said and lit a smoke. “And we also know what that would do to a jury and more importantly, to a judge.”
“Silver's good,” Brick interrupted the discussion. “He'll fight all that.”
“But we don't think it'll be just possession?” Mac asked.
Brick knew why he asked. If it was just simple possession, Mac wouldn't do time, because first time offenders didn't get incarceration for possession. But the DA—or whatever she was called—would never allow that. Not with the guns involved.
The club knew about this, but they couldn't transport the pot without the guns, and the guns were an extra problem when they were arrested. That was one of the reasons it was better to plea bargain. A deal also tended to stop any further investigation into the club.
In general, it was almost always better to make a deal; there was a reason ninety percent of the criminal cases in the US were settled with plea bargains.
“No,” Brick replied. “But since you don't have any priors, it'll probably be easier for you.”
“And for Bull and Sisco?” he asked.
“We'll get more,” Sisco said and winked at Mac. “They're easier on you virgins.”
His comment made the others laugh, which Bear knew had been Sisco's intention. There was no point in scaring the shit outta everyone yet.
“I think we can all agree that it's better to plea bargain,” Bull said. “And we chose Silver as our lawyer because he's good at those. Any deal he can get us is going to be better than what we'd get if we go to court.”
They all sat in silence, and then Dawg nodded. “I just want this over with. If we wait for a court date it's gonna take forever. I'd rather not walk around with this shit hanging over my head.”
“We'll talk more when we hear from Silver,” Brick said. Then he smiled. “And make
sure
your wives, old ladies, and girlfriends know they have free wares at the sex shop.”
Once he'd said it, he looked at Bear with a grin. When Bear turned his attention to Mac, he seemed to do his very best to look at anyone but him. When he almost growled, everyone at the table, except Mac, laughed.
He was gonna get Brick for that comment.
-o0o-
I was standing in the middle of a sex shop in Phoenix, and I was bright red. At the same time I was curious and looked around with a firm grip of Mac's hand. He leaned closer to me.
“If you want us to go, we're out, Katze.”
I shook my head and eyed the shelf with vibrators. Some of them were quite cute.
Mac had, once again, told me I could get whatever I wanted for free at the sex shop the club owned, but he'd also mentioned how Dad had immediately looked at him when Brick'd pointed it out at church. And that he'd looked pissed. Just knowing Dad was thinking about me with... one of these was a big enough of a turn off for me to be prepared to pay for them no matter what they cost, and they weren't
that
expensive. At least not all of them.