Integrity Has No Bounds (15 page)

Stevie let herself be drawn down the hallway.
Her mother needed to talk to her, and truthfully, she wanted to
hear her mother’s voice.

They sat on the edge of the narrow twin bed
and June Bug held Stevie to her shoulder, patting her arm and
begging for forgiveness for abandoning her and Harry.

“Baby, that piece of shit lawyer told us we’d
get probation or I would have refused to take the fall for that
shit. We were lucky to get the sentence down after the fact. We
were supposed to be home that night. Everyone was surprised when
they took us into the prison that same day.”

It was Stevie’s turn to hold her mother,
“Momma, I know what happened, Harry came and got me, he snuck into
the bedroom window and we left that night. I was only there a
couple of weeks.

“The foster home was just a married couple,
who was either indebted to the Fed, or related to the man they
called Pascal. They were really not happy that I told them I didn’t
know anything about the club, or what you and Daddy did when you
weren’t home.

“Harry did a good job of keeping us safe and
fed, you’d be proud of him. One of the club brother’s told him to
get away from the club and if we ever showed back up that you and
Daddy would be in worse trouble than what you already were. I swear
we talked about coming back, but Harry was afraid to cause you
anymore hurt. I have so much to tell you about Harry and me, but
right now I am really tired. I’ve been driving since yesterday
afternoon. Do you think I could sleep for a couple of hours?”

Her mother became all hustle and nodded her
head, “Oh, sweetheart, of course. You go ahead and have a sleep.
The bathroom’s right across the hall.” She couldn’t help herself,
she caught Stevie in a breath stealing embrace. “You have no idea
how happy I am that you’re back. Dream big, honey.”

Stevie’s bag sat just inside the door, so she
went over to it and hefted the thing onto the bed. She pulled out
the extra clothes she’d brought with her and picked out a pair of
shorts and a t-shirt to sleep in. She walked across the hall to the
bathroom and took a quick shower before going back to her room and
falling into the bed. She was asleep within minutes of her head
touching the pillow.

June Bug looked in on her at eleven, but she
was still out. She went back to the big bed she shared with
Rolf.

His big body was lying under the covers with
one arm propped behind his shaggy head. She almost ran to the bed
and jumped on top of the only man she’d ever loved. She bounced,
giggling and hugged his wide chest. She sat up and put his hands on
his head. “Our baby is home. Oh, Rolf, our baby is here where she
belongs, and my heart is so full right now, you have no idea.”

Her eyes dimmed a little, but she kept the
smile on her face, and he knew it was for his sake. There was still
one missing, and if he wasn’t coming home, well, they’d deal with
it when Stevie woke up in the morning. Tonight they would have a
small celebration.

After June fell asleep on his chest, he found
he couldn’t sleep. He tenderly rolled her onto her side of the bed,
and moved the covers from where he’d lain and covered her sexy
body. He shook his head at his sappy thoughts, but he would kill,
lie, cheat, whatever it took to make her smile.

He went back down the hallway he’d just gone
through an hour and a half ago. He came out of the bathroom in the
hallway and almost collided with Stevie. He grabbed her arms to
stop her from bouncing off his big body and she squeaked, and then
to his surprise she giggled. He picked her up and kept walking
toward the kitchen.

Just before he sat her in the chair, he
kissed her cheek and gave her an extra squish. He grabbed a beer
from the fridge, and offered it to her, she smiled and thanked him.
The sub sandwich he tossed on the table was yesterday’s leftovers,
but he figured it was still edible, so he pulled a knife from the
block, sat down and unwrapped the multi meat, light on the garden
filled bun. He raised an eyebrow in her direction and she grinned
and held her hand palm out, wiggling her fingers in a gimme
gesture.

“Baby girl, it’s damn good to have you home.
Your momma’s been worried sick over you.” He looked at the half
sandwich in his hand and looked back to her. “Truth, I’ve been just
as bad as she is. I heard her telling you what happened, so you
know I took care of that fuck lawyer as soon as I found out he’d
double crossed us with that cocksucker Pascal. By then the damage
was done.” He picked up the sandwich again and stared at it, the
thing was dropped and he sat back in his chair.

“Stevie, I love you, and don’t you ever
fuckin’ think you are not enough for me. I held you the minute you
were born and you took a nice thick slice of my heart too. Thing
is, I ain’t gonna sleep until you tell me what happened to Harry. I
know it’s not good, but if he’s not coming back, well I need to
know that too.”

She nodded her head, “Yeah, well it is a
confusing thing, so let me get what I have, and you can tell me if
he’s dead, or just gone, because I have doubts, but it might be
wishful thinking on my part.” As she walked past him to retrieve
the leather bag, she asked if they had a computer. He nodded and
pointed to the living room, so she kept walking.

When she came out of the bedroom, her father
had a brand new laptop in his hands that he had just taken from the
box. She grinned. There was wrapping paper scattered around the
floor, and she had to ask. “Who’s the present for? It’s not my
birthday.”

“Still a smart ass aren’t you? It is a
present for your mother, she wore the keys off the old one
searching websites and message boards. We never gave up hope, baby
girl, not for a day, not for a damn minute. Now since you’re so
fuckin’ smart, you need to plug this thing in.”

She sat the bag down on the counter and dug
inside for the two files she had of information about Harry’s
accident, and the police report and pictures. “Here you go, this
will keep you busy while I do your light work here.” She handed
them over and found the cord and plugged it into the receptacle
while she looked for the old computer router.

She had the laptop up and running with her
external hard drive plugged into the USB port. She looked up and
saw the way her father traced the picture of the burnt bike. He had
tears trailing down his cheeks like she had the first time she’d
seen the photos.

She went behind him and rubbed his shoulders,
and leaned down next to his ear. “Look at the bike, does it look
like a wrecked bike? Does it look like it went over a gorge? The
tags are legit, they belonged to Harry’s bike, but there isn’t a
mark on the scoot. The tank is in one piece and not even dinged up,
and look at the forks, I’m no expert, but it is haunting me. The
body they found was burned beyond any form of identification, and I
never saw the body, they gave me no choice but to accept what they
told me.

“Now, I told you about the bar, right? This
guy is a real asshole, and maybe you can tell me what I’m not
seeing here. The footage is from the past week.”

She went to the bathroom and when she came
back out, her father was going through the bag on the counter.

“What are you looking for? All you had to do
was ask, I’m not sneaking drugs in here you know.”

He barely glanced her way as he removed
everything in the bag. Including the .45 semi auto. He looked at
her with a raised eyebrow. She shrugged and he began tearing the
lining out of the bag. The material pulled loose effortlessly
beneath his tugs, and the thin slat of wood from the bottom of the
bag came out and Rolf slumped back onto the counter as he pulled a
small notepad from the space.

So this was why Harry told her to grab the
bag if she could in case of an emergency
. She thought he wanted
it saved because it was all he had left of the old life.

He was smiling at first, as he read what the
notepad contained, his demeanor changed, and he began cussing very
low. By the time he was clutching the note in his hand, he was
heading to the bedroom.

Stevie watched the big man stride from the
room and she followed. Her father hadn’t shut the door, he was
reaching into the closet and came out with two wooden boxes. She
had an idea what was in those boxes, but was not quite prepared to
see the wicked looking knife clutched in his big fist. There was a
rounded guard where four of his fingers slid through to clutch in
his fist. The other box contained a set of handguns. One was shoved
into the back of his beltline and the other he carried in his free
hand. He disappeared from her sight for a few minutes and she heard
whispers, so rather than eavesdrop, she ran to her room and got
dressed. If he was leaving, she was going too.

She came out of her room and saw her parents
buckling on their chaps. She turned around and grabbed her new set
of the leather protective covering for her legs, and the hair wrap.
She looked in the mirror and grinned. This was the biker chick she
would have been if the past years hadn’t gone like they had.

She stepped back into the kitchen as her
father was stomping on his shit kickers. Her mother was wearing a
shoulder rig under her leather jacket, their colors were old
school, but both of them carried the old-fashioned denim vests in
their hands. The blade her father had earlier was nowhere in sight,
but she would bet that it was somewhere on his person.

Rolf stood in front of her. She knew he was
assessing her and wondered if she would be up for whatever happened
tonight. She nodded her head, reached around him and took the colt
from the counter to holster it in the small of her back.

“I’m a James, we don’t run and we don’t quit.
I don’t know who you plan to deal with, I don’t care, I’ve got your
back, Daddy, let’s do this.”

His grim smile grew rueful and he looked at
June Bug, getting the nod from her. “The man that betrayed us and
told Harry to leave and not come back is none other than the VP of
the club. I plan to take care of the rat, and anyone who follows
him. If the prez and the brothers decide to take sides, it is gonna
get bad, so if I tell you to get lost, I mean it. Don’t fuck with
me on this one, baby girl. A pitcher of beer ain’t gonna stop this
from happening. He engineered the whole fuckin’ thing, and ran our
kids off so he could get in my former position. Bernell fuck face
Cornell is getting what’s coming to him tonight. I hate to think
Trencher is in on this shit, but right now, hell I’m expecting
anything to happen.”

Harry kept updating the notepad and all the
time she hadn’t known he’d been so close. Why did he hide from her
of all people, and where was he hiding out? Oh she planned to punch
him in the gut when she saw him. To make her go through all that
grief and pain was just mean. What in the hell was he thinking? She
packed up the laptop and she was ready to go.

June Bug took the hard drive and put it in a
bucket under the sink, before she walked out of the door.

Stevie hopped on the bagger with her father
and June Bug started the Glide. Rolf leaned over and gave his wife
a lip lock and Stevie thought of John. She looked away rather than
flooding her mind with thoughts of his kisses. He’d probably
forgotten her by now. She still felt bad about duping Lonnie, but
one day, maybe he’d understand.

They had a short drive, but the most direct
route was through the small town, and now Rolf knew why the two
cops in the town had pulled him over last week. Bernell. That
fucker, was not just a fuckin’ stool pigeon, he was a goddamned
traitor. They took the eastern route out of the area and went the
long way around town.

The ride helped Rolf clear his head, made
things separate from the red haze that threatened to take over. The
times that happened were few, but he knew he was deadly when that
happened. Those punks back at the bar yesterday were right about
the berserker coming out, his heritage was Scandinavian, and his
lineage could be traced back to the Vikings. His temper was
legendary, and while he wasn’t particularly proud of his exploits,
he’d almost always been honorable. Knowing his former friend was
behind all of the hurt that had befallen his family, he didn’t know
how he could filter the information into a non-violent solution, he
actually didn’t want to try.

The parking lot was still full of bikes, and
Rolf pulled the bagger right up snug behind that fuck Bernell’s
ride. He waved his girls into the spot next to the fucker’s scoot,
and waited for them to dismount. “You all ready for the shit to
splatter the walls?” He held his colors in his fist and June Bug
pulled hers from the seat of her bike.

“I’m ready, Daddy, let’s go sort this shit
out.”

Stevie had to smile at them, “Yeah, Daddy,
let’s do this.”

Rolf walked in the door first, looked around
and turned back to nod at his women. All three James family members
walked slightly spread, Stevie cut over to the bar where the big
screen was hung on the wall behind the long planks polished over
the years with seat and beer. She walked around the bar, checked
out the gaming system cords, and made her selection. She plugged
the laptop in and began the feed to the big screen. She gave the
bartender a look, and he held his hands aloft and backed away. She
nodded her head. The brother grinned at the scene behind her back.
She turned in time to see her mother throw her colors in the
president’s direction, and her father sneered at the big man as he
shoved his vest under his nose, and left it on the table in front
of him.

“I was born into this club, my fuckin’
granddad started the fucker after the war because he and his war
buddies wanted to keep in touch. They had each other’s backs in the
goddamned foxhole fighting the reign of that pencil lipped little
cocksucker. They wanted to protect each other from their own
fuckin’ unjust laws and restrictions. My goddamned father bought it
two weeks after he got back from that jungle in Nam.