Loving Lo: Devil's Knights Series (4 page)

              “I got to go, darling.” Lo stood up and I stepped back and bumped into the bar. I tipped my head and looked up at him.

              “Of course! Go make sure your friend is ok.”

              Lo cupped his hand around the side of my neck and swiped his thumb across my cheek. I leaned into his hand and he curled his other arm around my waist. “You going to my mom’s tomorrow?”

              “Yeah, you still need to text me her address.” I murmured.

              “I’ll send it to you. I’ll see you around ok?” Lo asked.

              “Sure.” Lo kissed me on my forehead and released me. He threw a twenty on the bar and walked out the door. I watched him until the door shut behind him and I collapsed onto the stool.

              What the hell just happened? The instant Lo put his hands on me, I lost all common sense. Then he just says I’ll see you around. What the hell did that mean?

              “You two looked pretty cozy.” Troy plopped down on the stool Lo had just vacated and nodded at the bartender for another beer. “You need another drink?”

              “No. I think I’m going to head home.”

              “Not until you tell me what happened with motorcycle boy.” Troy joked.

              I laughed. “He’s probably ten years older than you, Troy, I doubt he would appreciate you calling him a boy. Plus I’m pretty sure that was all man.”

              “Ugh, please stop.’ Troy said, as he screwed his face up into a grimace. ‘So are you going to see him again?”

              “Not sure. He had to leave pretty quick, he found out one of his friends was in an accident. He just said he would see me around. So who knows?” I downed the last of my drink and stood up.

              “From what I saw, I’m sure you’ll be seeing each other soon.”

              “Ha, please! This from the guy who could have a chick all but taking her clothes off begging for you to take her, and you would look at me and be like ‘You think she likes me?’ I just don’t think I’m going to listen to you on this one.” I smirked.

              “Funny. He couldn’t keep his hands off you.’ Troy took a swig of his beer and set it on the bar. ‘Trust me on this.”

              “I’m not going to worry about it. I’m heading out. I’ll see ya later.” I hugged Troy goodbye and headed towards the door.

              “I’m right, Meg. Trust me.” Troy yelled right before I walked out the door. The door slammed behind me and I took a deep breath. I really needed to just forget about Lo.

              In the distance I heard motorcycles revving their engines and I wondered how Lo’s friend Hammer was.

              Shit. I really was screwed.

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Chapter 5

Lo

              I was sitting at the head of the table, waiting for all the guys to show up for church. Hammer was in his room, getting patched up from Doc. I had checked in on him as soon as I had gotten in and thankfully it wasn’t too bad. A couple of broken ribs and a lot of bruises and cuts. His bike on the other hand, was fucking totaled.

              Demon walked in with Speed and Gambler right behind him. “Hammer said he got ran off the road. Ford Expedition, but couldn’t tell you the color.” Demon said as he sat to my right.

              “Probably the fucking Assassins. Fuckers think they can push us around.” Speed said.

Python, Edge and Swinger walked in and took their seats. “Cowboy and Whiskey are out with Turtle cleaning up Ham’s bike.” Swinger said.

“All right. Let’s figure this shit out. We know it’s The Assassins who did this. Now, why?” I asked, looking around the table.

“They think that we are going to try and take over their territory.” Python said.

“We don’t want their fucking territory. All they run is rancid pussy and drugs that wouldn’t even get my grandma high. They can keep all that shit.” Speed said.

“They feel threatened by us starting up a chapter here. We are two hours away from their territory, but they know how we run shit. We don’t deal in selling pussy but they know that the drugs we push are fifty fucking times better than the shit they push.” Python retorted.

“Alright, who runs the Assassins?” I asked looking at Edge. Edge was my go to for most information and he was fucking stellar with anything technology based.

“Big A runs it all. I’ve only seen him a couple times, but from what I’ve seen, the guy looks like he thinks more with his muscles than his brain. I think we just need to find a way to make him think he’s won, when actually we win.” Edge said.

“All right, set up a meet with Big A. Let’s see if we can get him on our side, maybe he can start mulling for us, giving him a percentage of the cut, but having him do all the work.” I said.

“Sounds fucking good to me.” Demon said. All the other guys agreed.

“Ok, Gambler, you fill in all the brothers who aren’t here. Edge, get Demon all the info you can get on Big A. Demon, you set up the meet. I’m out on a run next week, so set it up for when I get back. I’m only going to need three guys with me on the next one, because I want to have as many guys here to finish up all the renovations. We all good with that?” I asked as my gaze traveled over all my brothers.

They all gave grunts and nods of approval and filed out of church.

Rigid was the last one out the door, stopping when he got to the door and said, “Who was that chick you were with tonight?”

I wasn’t sure how to answer this. If I said she was no one, there would be a good chance that Rigid would spread the word she was free game and then I would have to beat the shit out of all the fuckers that tried to get to her. If I told him the truth that she was going to be mine, I honestly didn’t know how they guys would react to the idea of me getting an ol’ lady.

“Don’t even think about her, Rigid.”

“What the fuck does that mean? She yours?” Rigid laughed.

“Yeah. Spread the fucking word.” Decision made.

“What word is that?” Rigid smirked at me.

“She’s fucking mine and tell all the club pussy to leave me the fuck alone.” I growled.

“That’s only going to make you a challenge to all the fucking girls. Bitches always want what they think they can never have.” Rigid said.

“They can try all they want, I don’t want that shit anymore.”

“Yeah, we’ll see. I’ll spread the word.” Rigid said as he walked out.

I looked at the time on my phone and saw it was close to three o’clock. I still needed to send Meg a text letting her know ma’s address.

I just sent her the address and a time. My ma was right about Meg. She was definitely broken and I was pretty sure on who had done it. As soon as I had mentioned her ex, she had quickly changed the subject and I could see her shutting down.

I knew Meg was going to be mine, now all I had to do was convince her of it.

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Chapter 6

Meg

              “Can I get you another glass of tea, honey?” I was sitting on Ethel’s back porch after enjoying an awesome lunch of hot ham sandwiches with baked beans and potato salad.

              “No thank you.” I said, as I swung on her porch swing that was suspended from the ceiling, just enjoying Ethel’s company.

              I had woken up at nine o’clock, seeing that Lo had texted me around three in the morning with his mom’s address and what time to be there. That was it. Just an address and a time.

              I tried not to think too much about the very lacking text and started my day. Remy had spent the night at his dad’s so I didn’t need to wake up early to get him to school. I threw a load of laundry in and folded the load that had been waiting for me to fold the past three days.

              I hooked up my phone to my speaker and put on my “Cleaning” playlist. I had a bunch of high energy songs on this play list to get me motivated. It had music ranging from Lady Gaga, Ke$ha, Pink, and Jessie J. It was kind of my “Girl Power” play list too.

              I hadn’t dusted in a while, so I figured I would start there.

              I had a bunch of different pictures around my house that weren’t really pictures but awesome quotes that I thought rocked.

              By my front door, I had one that said “The best thing about the future, is that it comes one day at a time.” I had it matted and framed and it was the last thing you saw when walking out the door. In my bathroom hanging above the toilet was, “You are imperfect. Permanently and inevitably flawed, and you are beautiful.”  I read it every morning and it gave me an extra boost of confidence.

              Above my bed, I had taken seven, three foot boards, screwed them to the wall and painted on them, “Wake Up & Be Awesome”. Then on another wall, I had one that said, “You say I’m a dreamer but I’m not the only one”.  I had about ten other sayings scattered around my house that were the shit. I also had pictures of Remy and my family hanging up.

              I dusted all my pictures and pulled the vacuum out and did a quick run around the house with it.

              I threw the wet clothes into the dryer and looked at the clock and saw I had to be to Ethel’s in an hour and hopped into the shower. I planned on throwing on a sun dress so I did a quick shave of my legs and got dressed.

              I kept wondering if I was going to see Lo at his mom’s, and each time I thought about him, I mentally slapped myself and tried to forget about him.

              Now, I was soaking up the sun of Ethel’s porch blissfully full, sipping my tea.

              “I talked to Lo this morning. He said you two met up last night after you got off work.” There went my resolve of not thinking about Lo.

              “Yup. We just had a drink together. He just wanted to thank me for helping you yesterday. He had to leave pretty quickly on club business.” I tried to play it off as nothing but Ethel just kept talking about him.

              “He told me about Hammer crashing his bike. He said he should be fine. Just had some road rash and a couple broken ribs. Lo said Hammer was pretty lucky seeing how his bike was totaled.”

              “That’s good to hear. I mean about Hammer being ok, not about his bike being wrecked.” I stammered.

              “You think you two are going to see each other again?” Ethel asked, smiling at me.

              Gah! Between Troy and Ethel, I was going to go crazy thinking about Lo. “I’m not sure. We didn’t make plans to meet up again so probably not.”

              Ethel hummed and said, “Well, you never know.”             

              Thankfully, Ethel left it at that and we talked about the plans we had for the weekend. “I think I’m just going to putter around the garden and catch up on some reading.” Ethel placed her glass of tea on the small side table next to her and stretched out on the chaise lounge she was sitting on. “Do you have any plans this weekend, honey?”

              “One of my friends from work is having her bachelorette party this weekend up in Falls City. We rented a couple of hotel rooms and plan on making a night of bar hopping up there.” I really was looking forward to spending time with Cyn. Ever since she had started seeing her fiancé, I really only saw her at work anymore.

              “That sounds like fun. How many of you girls are going?”

              “Should be around fifteen of us. I’m one of her bridesmaids, so I came up with a bunch of fun games and a scavenger hunt to play while out in the bars.” We talked about some of the wild parties Ethel had been to back in the day and just chatted about anything we could think of.

              Before I knew it, it was close to Remy getting out of school and decided it was time to head home. “I think I’m going to head home, Ethel.” I stood up from the swing and stretched my arms above my head.

              “Oh, but we never had any pie! How about I cut a piece for you and your son?”

              “I’m sure Remy would love that, thank you, Ethel.” Ethel shuffled past me and headed into the house. I grabbed my keys from the side table and followed her into the house.

              “You know what, why don’t I just give you the whole thing. I know he’s a growing boy and probably eating you out of house and home and, before you argue with me, I insist and that’s that.” Ethel reached into the fridge and handed the pie to me. “This way you have to come back over to return my pie tin also.” Ethel winked at me and I laughed.

              “I see how it is. I’ll give you a call next week sometime and we can set something up again.” I grabbed the pie and headed out the door with Ethel following behind me.

              “You could always give Lo a call or just drop it off at the shop with him. I’m sure he wouldn’t mind.” 

              I slide my sunglasses on my face and smiled at Ethel. “I think I’ll just give you a call.” Man this woman was a matchmaking fool. “I don’t think Lo would appreciate me just dropping in on him. I’m sure he’s busy getting everything ready for the grand opening.”

              “I wouldn’t be so sure of that. But it’s up to you. See you soon, darling.”

              I waved at Ethel and hopped into my truck. I had decided to get my 55’ Chevy Rat Rod out of the garage today and cruise to Ethel’s. It had taken the past four years of building and tinkering with it to get it where it was today. When my dad and I had found it, it was buried under a collapsed barn and we had to dig it out. The second I saw it I knew that I had to have it. It was a 4 speed manual transmission with a small block V8. Instead of repainting it I just had it sanded down and the dents somewhat pounded out and then just clear coated it. It was white with rust and small dents all over it. It looked like a piece of shit on the outside but if you popped the hood or peeked in the interior you would see it was a lot more than it seemed to. I don’t drive it every day. I had my Chevy Malibu that was my daily driver. When the weather was good and I felt like a cruise (which I had to admit was often), I got my truck out of the garage.

              I loved it. Mainly because it was something my dad and I had done together.

              Plus she kicked ass off the line.

              I cranked her up and looked out the window at Ethel. She was waving at me and had her phone pressed to her ear. I waved back and headed home.

              I missed Remy and hoped he didn’t have plans tonight so we could spend some time together. He was spending the night at his dad’s tomorrow night because I would be in Fall’s City overnight, so this would be the only night I would be able to see him before the weekend was over.

              I needed to just chill and not think about a certain guy. Pizza, ice cream, and a movie with Remy should help with that.

              I glanced at the pie sitting on the seat next to me. Maybe I could drop the empty pan off with Lo. It would give me a chance to see him again.

Shit, now the fucking pie was making me think of Lo.

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Lo

I was watching Speed and Gambler bringing in furniture to the main room of the clubhouse, when my phone rang. I looked at the time and saw it was after three and knew it was my mom calling.

“Hey, ma. How did lunch go?” I said.

“Fine Hun. I sent her home with a pie and I told her to return the pie tin to you. She didn’t seem too keen on the idea though. What happened last night? You better have treated her good.”

“I’m not giving you details, ma. Ham laid down his bike last night and I had to leave pretty quickly. I plan on seeing her again.”

“Good Lo. You need that girl. I’m pretty sure she needs you too.”  Ma pointed out.

“I know, ma. She might need a little convincing though.” I said as I watched Speed drop the recliner on Gambler’s foot.

“Mother Fucker! Watch what the fuck you are doing!” Gambler roared at Speed.

“I gotta go, ma.”

“Was that Gambler yelling? Tell him to chill out and come over for lunch tomorrow.” Only my mom would make friends with all my brothers and treat them all like her sons.

“Will do mom, except you know you’re gonna end up with half the brothers over there as soon as they hear you’re making lunch.”

“I’ll make extras. I’ll talk to you later, Hun.”

“Later, ma.” I hung the phone up and watched Gambler slug Speed in the gut. Speed dropped to his knees, the wind knocked out of him.

“Alright fuckers, back to work. I want all this shit done today.” I walked to the bar and poured myself a shot of Southern Comfort and felt it burn down my throat. I thought about texting Meg, seeing if she wanted to get another drink tonight but then heard a crash outside the door and shook my head. Motherfuckers are going to be the fucking death of me. I poured another shot and tossed it back. We still had the rest of the main room furniture and all the bedrooms to set up today.

I slammed the shot glass down, deciding I would text Meg when all this shit got done. Hopefully.

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Meg

              “What do you think about me dating?” I asked Remy as I scooped ice cream into two cups and handed them to Remy. 

              “I don’t care, I guess. Just make sure he treats you good.” Remy poured root beer over the ice cream and headed into the living room.

              “I kind of feel like we just reversed roles. Plus, what makes you think you need to tell me to make sure he treats me good. I make good decisions.” I grabbed my float, flipped the kitchen lights off and headed into the living room after Remy.

              “Mom, I’m not blind. I saw the way dad treated you. You stayed with him for over ten years.”

              I plopped down on the couch and looked at Remy who was sitting in the big comfy chair. “I was with him for over twelve years.’ I was getting credit for all those years I put in. Thank you very much! ‘You think your dad treated me bad?” I questioned.

              “No offense, mom, but he treated you like shit. It was kind of hard to miss.”

              Geeze, even my kid knew how shitty my marriage was. I always thought I shielded it from him. Evidently not.

              “Don’t say shit.” Yes, that was the only reply I had. I couldn’t really lie to him and say he was wrong.

              “Whatever, mom.” Remy rolled his eyes at me and turned on Transformers.

              Ok, time to do some damage control. “Your dad, he, well…” Nice Meg, that was a well thought out speech.

              “Dad is a good dad mom. I know that. He is just a shitty husband.” Remy pointed out.

              “Don’t say shit.’ I insisted. ‘Don’t let your dad hear you say that about him.” I grabbed my deep purple blanket off the back of the couch that I snagged at an awesome Black Friday Sale last year (it was so lush) and wrapped it around me. I could never figure out how they made blankets so soft. It was borderline ridiculous.

              “I don’t know why you stayed as long as you did, mom. He treated everyone else awesome, but when it came to you, it was like all you did was piss him off and he just made you sad. I was relieved the day you told me you guys were divorcing. I hated seeing you sad.”

              Shit. Why the hell did I not realize that Remy saw all this? Hunter and I tried not to fight when Remy was around. That was the one thing we both agreed on. Apparently we didn’t do a good job of hiding it. “Rem, why haven’t you told me this before?”

              “Because you’re happy now, mom. Why would I bring up some shit that makes you sad?” Remy explained.

              “Don’t say shit.’ I was starting to sound like a broken record. ‘I’m sorry, Rem. You shouldn’t have had to deal with all that crap.”

              “Whatever, mom. You’re happy, I’m happy, and dad leaves you the hell alone now. It’s all good.”

              “When in the hell did you get so wise?” I slurped down some of my float and stirred it around waiting for the ice cream to melt. “So, would you be ok with me going out on dates?”

              “As long as they don’t make you cry and I don’t have to call them dad, I don’t care. Toss me my blanket.”