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“You calling to tell me you are on the way to the clubhouse because you can’t handle her?”
I rolled my eyes and leaned against the porch railing. “Hardly, brother. I was just calling to see if you guys have any leads on what the hell happened at the gym.”
“Nah, man,” Yarder grunted. “Cops are being tightlipped about everything. You would think they would be a little bit nicer to us since we were the damn victims in all of this.”
“Treating you like a dirty biker?” I laughed.
“You fucking know it.” Yarder sighed. “Stretch says he’s got a connection at the police department.”
“Benny?” I laughed.
“Yeah, you know him, too?”
I scoffed. “Stretch and I went to high school with him. Works the gate at the impound. The guy isn’t even a cop.”
“Fucking hell,” Yarder groaned. “Here I was hopeful that the guy was actually going to be able to help us.”
“Well, if your car got impounded, I’m sure he could maybe help, but I don’t think he is going to be able to get any info on the explosion.” Though maybe I was wrong. Stretch kept in touch better with Benny than I did, so maybe he knew something I didn’t. “I don’t think it will hurt if Stretch talks to Benny, I just don’t think he’s going to get much info.”
“Stretch already took off to talk to him. I guess we’ll just wait to see what he comes back with. Compass was going to talk to the Bone Hawks.”
“The MC up in Oklahoma?” As far as I knew, we didn’t have anything to do with those guys. Why would they be able to help us?
“Yeah. Compass’ cousin is the prez. They have connections that we don’t,” Yarder explained.
“Connections that could get us into shit we don’t want to be in?” I asked. “Is this another solo decision you made, or are the rest of the guys in on this?”
Yarder sighed heavily. “We had church this morning, Cue. I didn’t call you in because I figured you had enough to deal with from last night. The rest of the guys are cool with talking to the Bone Hawks. Throttle said you would be, too.”
Well, I guess that was okay. As long as more than Yarder and Compass were making decisions, I was good with whatever the club wanted. “So we’re dipping our toes into shit?”
“We’re probably already in that shit, brother, seeing as someone just blew up the gym. No sense in burying our heads in the sand when we can do everything in our power to get ahead of this before it happens again.”
“You think this is going to happen again?” I had promised Olive it wouldn’t, but it was hard to stop something that you didn’t know where it was coming from.
Yarder clicked his tongue. “I fucking hope not, but I gotta believe that whoever did this wanted to do more than blow out the back of the gym. The explosives were rigged to go off when the door opened, so they obviously wanted someone dead or at least badly hurt.”
“Maybe it was a message,” I suggested.
“Yeah, well, we got it loud and clear. Now we’re going to do everything we can to make sure it doesn’t happen again.”
“Shitty timing for all of this to be happening when the show is set to start soon,” I sighed.
“And that is why we need to take care of this now. Compass is going to talk to his cousin, and I’ll let you know what he finds out.”
“What am I supposed to do until then?”
“What I told you to do,” Yarder grunted. “Keep Olive and her kid safe. The last thing we need is anything happening to them and have it fall back on the club. We take care of our own, and that includes them.”
Yarder ended the call, and I shoved the phone into my pocket.
“So I went to call Faye but realized I don’t have a phone.”
I jumped a little and turned to see Olive standing on the other side of the screen door. She had managed to sneak up on me. Her hair was piled on top of her head, and she was still wearing my shirt.
It looked good on her.
Real good.
“I also would like to know how you are going to get a burger and onion rings delivered here. No one delivers here,” she pointed out. She motioned around us. “In case you didn’t notice, we’re not in the middle of town.”
I figured that out when I went to order, and they told me I had to pick it up. “I have my ways, doll.”
She pushed open the screen door and plopped down on the rocking chair in the corner.
“You’re moving pretty good after being blown up yesterday.”
She rolled her eyes and rocked back and forth. “I don’t really have much choice. If I sit around doing nothing, it’s going to be even harder to get going. Did anyone find my phone when they were putting out the fire?”
“I think you can take a day to rest, doll, and you’ll be fine.”
She shrugged. “Maybe.”
“And no one found your phone. We can head to the phone store after our lunch gets here if you want.”
“How is our lunch getting here?” she asked again. “Pidgeon?”
“You know you’re kind of all over the place, doll?” I chuckled. “Good thing I can keep up with you.”
“I have a lot going on in my head,” she said simply. “Who is that?” She nodded to the end of the driveway and a motorcycle turning in.
“Delivery boy,” I laughed.
Dice parked behind the van and pulled a bag out of his saddlebag.
“You had one of your friends bring us food?” she laughed. “I should have figured that, or you paid the restaurant an obscene amount for them to deliver.”
I had initially tried that, but Dave’s Burgers shot me down without hesitation. Dice was my second choice, and he thankfully didn’t say no. I think he was curious to see Olive, and this gave him an in to meet her.
“You fucking owe me,” Dice called. “We were out until five this morning fixing Faye’s car, and I’ve only got about two hours of sleep because Yarder is on a tear trying to figure out who the hell blew up the gym.” He held the bag out to me and stood at the bottom of the steps. “You in the middle of nowhere with only one other person looks mighty good to me right now.”
I grabbed the bag and hitched my chin to Olive. “This is Dice.”
She gave a little wave. “Thanks for being the delivery boy and for helping Faye. I was going to help her when I got done cleaning the gym, but something came up.”
Dice chuckled. “It’s for the best we went to rescue her because I’m pretty sure you both would still be on the side of the road. The chick pretty much had her whole engine taken apart by the time we got there. I don’t know what the hell she was thinking.”
“She was thinking she didn’t want to have her ex help her, so she was going to do everything she could to get the car running,” Olive explained.
“Anthony?” Dice asked.
Olive stopped rocking, and her jaw dropped. “He showed up?”
Dice nodded. “About an hour after we got there, he rolled up half in the bag with some chick driving him.”
“No,” Olive gasped.
“Yup,” Dice chuckled. “Dude sobered up pretty quick when he realized he wasn’t going to embarrass Faye with some chick who acted like she didn’t even like him.”
“He was mad?”
Dice nodded. “Pissed as fuck. Stayed for about two minutes and then took off in a huff. Though not before he called Faye a bitch, and Fade knocked out one of his teeth.”
Olive clasped her hands together and smiled wide. “Oh my god, I freaking love you guys! That is exactly what Faye needed to happen to get it through Anthony’s thick skull that she is done with him. Though he should know they are done since he cheated on her.”
“That dude cheated on her?” Dice asked. He shook his head and whistled low. “What a fucking idiot. That chick is lightyears better than he is. He should have been thankful she gave him the time of day.”
“That is what I have been saying for years.”
“I guess things were pretty chill for us,” I laughed. “Getting blown up and staying the night in the hospital is pretty boring.”
“I would kill for a quiet night, brother. Hopefully, we can figure out this whole bombing thing, and then life can be boring for the cameras.”
“Cameras?” Olive asked.
“Tread,” Dice replied.
Olive shook her head. “You’re speaking Greek to me.”
Dice smirked at me. “You didn’t tell her we are just months away from being famous?”
I rolled my eyes and walked into the house.
“Wait,” Olive called. “What is going on?” She followed me into the house with Dice close behind her.
“Are you hungry?” I asked her.
“I’m starving, but I also want to know how you guys are going to be famous in a couple of months. Do you guys have a band or something? Hoping to have a video go viral?” she teased.
“Something like that,” Dice laughed. “We have a TV show that is going to be about us.”
“Not just us,” I growled. I grabbed two paper plates and set them on the counter. “You guys forget there are three other clubs doing this.”
“Three other clubs that will have their own show,” Dice pointed out. “We’re Tread: Iron Fiends. They’re not going to have the Fallen Lords in the Iron Fiends, will they? No. That would be ridiculous.”
I pulled the burgers out of the bag and dropped Olive’s onion rings on her plate. “This whole reality TV show is ridiculous,” I grumbled. Sure, when Yarder and Compass had told us about the reality show, it seemed pretty neat. Now I wasn’t too sure about that. People were actually going to want to watch four MCs doing their day-to-day life? I could only speak for the Iron Fiends, but that wasn’t very entertaining.
Either the production crew was going to drop us after a week of watching us fix cars and watch TV at night, or they were going to need us to liven things up.
“You’re going to be on a reality show?” Olive gasped.
“We are the reality show, babe.” Dice snagged a fry off my plate and popped it into his mouth. “Fucking famous.”
“Shouldn’t you be back at the clubhouse trying to figure out who blew up Olive?” I growled.
“We’re sitting around with our thumbs up our ass while we wait for Compass to get back from Oklahoma. Probably won’t be until after dinner,” Dice explained. “Stretch is out trying to find Benny, but I know that isn’t going to get us anywhere.”
“So you’re just going to torment us instead of sticking your thumb up your ass?” I asked.
Olive laughed and grabbed her plate. “Where’s Faye? I was going to call her, but my phone is probably charred bits at the gym.”
“She’s at the clubhouse. Fade gave her the option of where she wanted to stay, and she chose there.”
“Why didn’t you give me a choice?” Olive asked me.
I leveled my gaze on her. “Would you have picked one?”
She rolled her eyes and popped a stray piece of lettuce in her mouth. “I mean...”
“And you had a problem with me taking Rocky to school. You really think having the school bus drop him off at the clubhouse would be better?”
“Fine,” she sighed. “I guess I’m just saying it would have been nice to have a choice. Do I get a choice to see Faye, or am I a prisoner in my own home?” She sat at the kitchen island and grabbed her burger with both hands. “Is that against the rules?”
“There are rules?” Dice asked. “If there are, no one told Faye. That chick is in heaven in the clubhouse. She thinks it’s like some vacation. She’s telling everyone who will listen about Fade knocking out her douchebag ex.”
“I love Faye,” Olive laughed.
“There aren’t any rules. You can go wherever the hell you want as long as I’m with you. I’m not your warden, Olive. I’m just keeping you safe.”
“Good,” she beamed. “Because once we eat lunch, we can wait until Rocky gets home, and then we can head to the phone store. After, we can grab pizza and go visit Faye at the biker hangout.”
“Clubhouse,” I laughed.
She shrugged and took a huge bite of her burger. “Whatever,” she mumbled around a mouthful.
“Well, then I’ll let you two eat, and I’ll let everyone know you’re coming over with dinner tonight.” Dice knocked his knuckles on the counter and smiled. “Later.”
“I like him,” Olive announced after Dice roared out of the driveway.
“You talked to him for five minutes, doll.”
She shrugged and shoved an onion ring in her mouth. “I can tell if I like someone after ten seconds.”
“No, you can’t,” I laughed.
“I can, and I do,” she insisted.
“What, after ten seconds, made you think that you like Dice?” I asked.
She shrugged. “He was funny, and he was genuine. He also seemed to like Faye.”
“In the first ten seconds, he told me I owed him for making him bring us lunch.”
“He also said he was out until the early morning helping Faye. Very noble of him to help someone he didn’t even know.”
I chewed thoughtfully. “You do know last night and today, I’ve been here with you, right?”
She nodded. “Yes, but I’ve also tried to run you off more times than I can count. You insist on staying.”
“And that doesn’t make me noble?” I laughed.
“It makes you annoyingly noble,” she whispered.
I would take that. “Rocky likes me.”
“Rocky is ten,” she pointed out.
I shrugged. “Sometimes it’s harder to impress someone younger because they have high standards of liking superheroes and football players.”
“Are you comparing yourself to a superhero because my son likes you?” she laughed.
“If you would just tell me you liked me after ten seconds, I could just let this drop.”
She shook her head.
“Why not?” I asked. “Does that mean you don’t like me?”
“Cue.” She rolled her eyes and took another bite of her burger.
“Olive.”
She stared at me and chewed thoughtfully.
“Do you really have a thing for Rocky Balboa?” Maybe a change of subject was needed.
“Did your Mom really have a thing for Bon Jovi?” she countered.
“Was your Mom’s pregnancy craving olives, and that is why she called you Olive?” I asked. That one I really didn’t know the answer to. I had just taken a guess to get under her skin a bit. “Green, black, Kalamata?” I drawled.
Her eyes narrowed, and she swallowed. “My great-great-grandmother, who came from Europe and once single-handedly fought off two rabid goats to save her daughter from their jaws, was named Olive.”
I tipped my head to the side and wiped my mouth. “Seriously?”
Olive nodded her head. “Nope, I’m totally lying.”
I laughed and shook my head. “You had me going for a moment there.”
Olive shrugged. “I just didn’t like the fact that you so easily guessed why my name is Olive.”
“Come on,” I laughed. “You had to know after I told you my name was Jovi that my Mom was obsessed with Bon Jovi. When I was just a baby, the little mobile thing that spun above me was guitars and had 80s big hair bands on it.”
“It did not,” she laughed.
I held up my hand. “I swear to Christ, Olive. My mother was obsessed.” I finished my fries and walked to the fridge. “You didn’t have cutouts of Rocky Balboa in Rocky’s room, did you?”
She ducked her head. “Of course not. That would be ridiculous.”
“My god,” I laughed. “Did you dress him up in the sweat shorts and a headband for Halloween, too?”
She pointed her finger at me. “I will have you know that he enjoyed it each and every time.”
“Every time?” I burst. “How many times did you dress the poor kid up?” I demanded.
“I plead the fifth,” she muttered.
“You want a drink, Adrian?” I turned to the fridge and opened the door.
Olive’s mouth dropped open, and she gasped.
I busted out laughing, and she launched an onion ring at me. “How dare you!” she giggled.
“Just calling it as I see ‘em.” I grabbed her a bottle of water and set it in front of her. “But please tell me you dressed up, too.”
She ducked her head and nibbled on a French fry. “I might have been Adrian, Mickey Goldmill, and Paulie at some point.”
“Ivan Drago?” I asked.
Olive wrinkled her nose. “God no. I hated that man. Loathe,” she drawled.
“Sounds like you still do, doll.”
“You wouldn’t be wrong,” she sang. She finished her burger and pushed the last of her onion rings to me. “I can’t finish those. I also need to go get dressed if we are going to leave when Rocky gets here.”
“It’s not even two o’clock, doll,” I pointed out.
She stood gingerly and smiled. “Yeah, I think it’s going to take me a little longer than normal to get my butt presentable.”
“You look good to me, doll.” She did. Even the day after getting blown up, Olive was beautiful. Her dark brown hair was piled on top of her head; her skin was free of makeup, revealing the natural blush of her cheeks. Granted, I had never seen her before being blown up, but if she had looked better than this, I had to wonder how she didn’t have men lining up at her door.
She grabbed her bottle of water and headed toward her bedroom.
I popped an onion ring in my mouth but froze mid-chew.
“I didn’t need ten seconds to know I liked you, Cue. I knew the second I looked into your eyes.” Her footsteps hurried down the hallway, and her door clicked shut.
Well, hell.
I was not expecting that.
I thought Olive wasn’t a big fan of me since I was insisting on staying with her.
More times than not, she was arguing with me or rolling her eyes at me.
But it didn’t matter if she liked me or not. That wasn’t what I was here for.
I was here to keep her safe, and that was going to happen if she liked me or not.
*
