Simple Ride (Hellions Ride Book 6) (11 page)

“
They have a black picket
fence?” Pamela says, as if she doesn’t understand.

I let out a small laugh. “Jenna, being
from Mexico, always wanted a picket fence in her yard. Ruby gave
her that. Then Jenna took over for Doll in the office when she got
with Tripp, and after she befriended Doll and Sass, they said they
weren’t white picket fence women, so they gave it a Hellions’
makeover and painted it black.”

She giggles and sighs. “This is what
normal is?”

“
I don’t know, honey. Never
had normal.” I run my hand over my beard.

“
Black picket fences, I can
handle that.”

“
Let’s go see your boys.” I
hop out of the truck and make my way to the front to open her door;
only, she is already out and coming to me.

It’s time to give her … normal. Her
new normal. Her safe normal. Pamela is going to have what she and
her boys should have had years ago …

A life together.

~Pamela~

I make it to the bottom step of the
front porch before my two boys barrel out the door and into my
arms. I step back to take their weight as each one latches
on.

“
Momma,” Wesson cries out,
and it’s music to my ears and heaven in my heart.

Full.

For the first time in over a year, I
feel full again with my boys in my arms and my mother’s tear-filled
face looking over me. My family.

Boomer stands behind me, giving us
this time. My boys, my mom, and maybe one day, my man all around
me. I can’t think about Boomer and the future with him right now,
though. The two precious boys in my arms are my focus.

“
Momma, we have friends.
Ms. Vida and Mr. Ruby, they have kids—two girls and a boy. We’ve
been having fun. I don’t know why we left the other house. Memaw
hasn’t had to cook since we got here. Ms. Vida, she makes good
food.”

“
A little hot,” Colt adds
with a smile.

“
It’s still good, though.”
Wesson nudges his brother as if he needs to get with the
program.

Colt tugs on my shirt. “Momma, Mr.
Ruby and his brothers—well, they say that, but they don’t look
nothin’ alike,” he rambles with his eyes wide. “They ride motor
bikes. They are loud.” He smiles excitedly, and I feel a moment of
peace. My boys seem untouched by the whole mess I have put them
through.

Tasting the salt of my own tears as
they pass my lips, I inhale deeply. I have my boys back with me,
and I don’t have to look over my shoulder. I don’t have to go to
the gas station and buy a prepaid phone to make one random call
after another. I don’t have to mail my mother cash in untracked
envelopes, sending a prayer she will get them. I can simply be with
my family.

Relief consumes me from the bottom of
my toes to the tippy top of my head. I can simply be.

A beautiful, Hispanic woman with long,
black hair braided and hanging over her shoulder comes to the
doorway. “Please come inside.”

I step into the doublewide, and
immediately, the feeling of home washes over me. We enter into the
living room, which has a brown sectional sofa with no tables, but a
rug with streets to play cars on is in the middle of the floor. To
the side of the entertainment center is a cube shelf thing with
bins of toys. Looking beyond the living area is a bar that opens to
the kitchen. The white countertops and wood cabinets are like every
other manufactured home I have been in. What covers each cabinet
door is what brings my heart joy.

On each and every one is a drawing,
painting, or school paper from her children.

I can do this. In my next home, I can
cover every available inch with pieces of my children. I don’t have
to hide who I am anymore. Who we are doesn’t have to be a
secret.

“
Vida,” I hear a man yell
from another room, “I’m hungry.”

“
He’s always hungry.” The
Hispanic woman smiles at me. “I’m Jenna, and this is our home.” She
extends her hand in greeting.

When I reach out, she pulls me into a
hug, surprising me.

“
Come in and get
comfortable. I’m making green chicken enchiladas for dinner. I hope
you’re hungry.”

“
Oh, love, she cooks
amazing,” my mom whispers beside me as she rubs her belly. “I’ve
gained at least five pounds being here in, like, a day.” My mother
laughs, and my heart feels like it will burst. When was the last
time either of us could relax?

It was before Dennis Williams. That is
the last moment of peace I have had, and as my mother, I am sure
she knew and was in knots over it.

A man comes from the back and embraces
Boomer in a manly half-hug backslap. He wears a leather vest like
Boomer with patches. Boomer is around six-foot tall, and this man
is just as tall with dark hair slicked back and a tattoo under his
eye of what I think is supposed to be a diamond.

“
Ruby,” he says, turning to
me and extending his hand.

I shake it and notice his knuckles
have the word ‘Vida’ inked across them as he pulls away.

What is it like to have a man who is
that devoted?

He walks to his wife and immediately
kisses her passionately without a care in the world that he has a
house full of people and kids around.

“
I’m hungry,” he growls
then whispers in her ear, making her blush.

“
Dinner will be ready
soon.” She pulls away and moves to the kitchen. She looks over her
shoulder at me. “Make yourself at home. Your mom and boys have been
staying in my Maritza’s room. We don’t have a lot of space, but
what we have is yours as long as you need it.”

I take it all in. Minute by minute,
second by second, I soak it all up: sitting down to a meal with my
sons, getting them ready for bed, reading to them, and then lying
down for night time snuggles.

Lying on the floor—Wesson asleep on my
right, Colt on my left—we are all together in a bed made of
blankets. This is the best moment of my life, outside of their
births. I look to the ceiling, at whoever has shined their light on
me.

“
Thank you,” I whisper to
the angels above.

I could have read for hours, but I
stopped once I was two books beyond their steadied breathing. So
what if they were out like a light? I could freely read to my boys,
so I did. Tugging on their pajamas, I note I need to find a job
quickly since these two have had a big growth spurt since I left
them a year ago.

Pain fills me and I push it
down.

No looking back. I have to focus
forward. I can’t think of the time I lost with them. I have to live
in the joy that I have a future with them now. It wasn’t promised,
and two days ago, I never thought it would come, yet here I
am.

I walked through hell and found my way
through. I hit rock bottom and climbed my way up from the depths of
despair.

I sigh and squeeze my boys closer to
me. I have everything I need right here, right now, and I’m free to
simply be.

I don’t sleep. Instead, I count their
breaths and count my blessings to be here with them once
again.

When Dennis found me, I didn’t think I
would see them ever again. I made peace with giving up my life to
give them a future. Now here we are, all together.

The next morning, I get up to find
Boomer slept down the road at the Hellions’ compound. Apparently,
they have little apartments there for the guys. I am a little on
edge that he left us, but it’s obviously with people he
trusts.

Vida is making omelets with Ruby’s
arms wrapped around her from behind as he whispers in her ear. She
smiles, and I feel the love they share.

That is what I wanted for my boys. I
wanted my kids to have a home where their dad loved me so much he
couldn’t take his eyes off me, didn’t want to keep his hands off
me—in a loving way—and there would be no angry disputes. I wanted a
house full of love.

Ruby and Vida have made that for their
kids, RJ (Ruben Jr), Mariella, and Maritza. They have given them a
foundation made of love and loyalty.

My sons didn’t get that start in life,
but they will know, without a doubt, their mom and grandma will
give anything to keep them safe. They will know the love we have
for them. Most of all, I’m going to show them that, even when we
are broken, we are not defeated, and we will fight to thrive
again.

Never give up and never give
in.

Chapter Eleven

Six Months Later

~Boomer~

If I thought moving on was hell
before, nothing compares to knowing you have feelings for someone,
but you are no good in their life.

Pamela is doing well in Haywood’s
Landing.

I should be happy about
this.

Should be …

She has a job at the garage where
Roundman and the guys look out for her and give her a steady
paycheck. Ruby and Vida got her set up in a doublewide three doors
down. She has set it up nicely for her mom, her, and the
boys.

Wesson started kindergarten alongside
Colt. With them being in hiding last year, they held the oldest
back. It was smart.

Things are good for her, so why do I
feel the loss? It’s not like we had some long-standing love
affair.

She had so many secrets; did I really
ever know the real Pami? I would like to think I did. I would like
to think we had a connection. Was it love? I don’t know. Our
circumstances weren’t conducive to allowing us to find
out.

Now the time for that has
passed.

I tip the longneck bottle to Corinne
so she knows I need another as the front door to Ruthless opens,
and I hear one of my brothers telling someone to get out. Looking
to the left, I see red.

“
Keri, you were warned,” I
say as she moves toward me.

“
Boomer, let me
explain.”

“
You betrayed Pamela.
Nothing to explain.”

“
It wasn’t like that. He
sucked me into his story. I thought he cared. I thought she had
post-partum depression and ran away.” She looks down. “I’ve been
down the rabbit hole, Boomer. I know the pain of loss. I have
secrets, too.”

“
I don’t give a shit, Keri.
The club doesn’t give a shit. Loyalty, look it up. Your secrets
might have mattered one day. Your pain might have mattered, too,
but the moment you gave up any information on anyone even
associated with the Hellions, you lost that. Lick your wounds
somewhere else and learn your lesson.”

“
I messed up. It all worked
out, though.”

“
All worked out!” I yell,
pushing off the bar stool. “Pamela was almost shot by the father of
her children. How the fuck do you think that worked out,
woman?”

Corinne comes around from behind the
bar. “Time to go, ho.” She pushes on Keri’s shoulders.

Keri slaps Corinne’s arms away. “Get
your hands off me!”

“
Nah,” Corinne says with a
smirk. “See, these boys won’t put their hands on a woman, but me …
I wanna get you out front and beat the
shit
out of you.”

“
W-what?” Keri
stammers.

“
You gave up Pamela. You
put her in danger. It wasn’t your business. We’ve all got issues,
Keri.” Corinne waves her hands wildly through the air. “Not one
person is innocent in life, but even if their only mistake is a
white lie, a lie is still a lie. He didn’t find you out-front and
scare you. No, you let a little money tossed your way allow you to
get sucked into a crazy man’s game to torture a woman he claimed to
love. You turned your back on her without even giving her a chance
to explain.”

Corinne starts poking Keri in the
chest. “You fucked up. You were told not to come around here, and
yet, here you are. You’re not deaf, and you’re not dumb, so you’re
just a plain pain in the ass. Your days of sucking dick are done.
Your days of a good time with any of the Hellions are done. You
were told, yet you come in the bar I work at and rile up the boys I
serve and just piss me off in general. So take a hike before I get
you outside and give you a lesson you won’t soon
forget.”

“
I … I … I,” she stutters.
“You’re a bitch.”

Corinne laughs in her face. “Tell me
something I don’t already know.”

Keri steps back and drops her head to
look at the ground in defeat. “It was a mistake.”

“
Yeah, it was. Want a
cookie for owning it? Nothing you can do will change it, so move
on. That’s what the rest of us are trying to do,” Corinne
adds.

I decide she has it under control, so
I slide back on my stool and finish my beer.

Move on. That’s what the
rest of us are trying to do.
Truer words
haven’t been spoken in a long damn time.

I have spent weeks at a time out on
the road. I have joined Rex and Tripp on transports and sometimes
just hit the open road alone. Every mile between us only makes the
pain feel sharper.