Ride Steady(26)

“Went to school with her. She was a cheerleader.”

That wasn’t a surprise.

“Remember, twenty years back, the kid on her trike who got crushed by a car in her driveway?” Joker asked.

The air in the room got thin.

They remembered.

“That was her sister,” Joker finished.

“Fuck me,” Hop muttered.

“Far’s I know, lost her mother later too,” Joker went on.

“High school friend you’re lookin’ out for?” Tack asked.

“She has no clue who I am,” Joker answered.

Honey hair. Great legs. Fantastic ass. Excellent tits. Shining eyes.

Tack bet that f*cking stung.

“Doesn’t remember?” Tack asked.

“Wouldn’t. And I’m glad. I’m not the kid she knew. She ain’t gonna remember either.”

That said a lot, and Tack didn’t like what it said. But he had no choice. Joker wanted that, he, nor any of the brothers, could make another play.

“Where do you want the Club to go with this?” Tack asked.

“Make sure I don’t get incarcerated after I make an attorney swallow his own balls.”

Tack clenched his teeth to stop a smile before he went on, “Which attorney?”

“Strike that. Make sure I don’t get incarcerated after I make one attorney swallow his own balls and another one do the same with his dick shoved up his ass.”

“You did either of those, her ex has the weight behind him she says he does, she could feel it,” Tack warned.

Joker’s jaw flexed.

“Lotta emotion there for a girl who doesn’t remember you,” Tack noted cautiously.

“Her sister was crushed, man,” Joker bit out, and Tack felt that. He had two young sons, a grown one and a grown daughter. He felt that deep in his gut. And he knew, God forbid, shit happened like that, his kids would feel it too. “And it’s been a long time, but none of us ever forgets that high school kids are *s,” Joker kept at it. “The ones who aren’t are just tryin’ to make their way without sustaining too much damage. She wasn’t either of those.”

“A good girl?”

“Last person I saw in Denver before I ran away from my old man. She knew I was doin’ it. Probably knew I was underage. Definitely knew I should do it. Kissed my cheek and told me I was gonna have a beautiful life.”

There it was.

And it was more than Joker had ever given them. Out loud at least.

Joker’s voice suddenly went quiet. “I have that life. What she wanted for me. Good around me. She doesn’t. That shit ain’t right. Now, that’s all you’ll get from me, brother. She’s worth it. Carissa Teodoro doesn’t lean against a door like she held all the joy on earth in her veins and it leaked out, not without retribution. That’s what I know. That’s what I’m tellin’ you. That’s what I’m doin’. The Club is either in it with me, or they’re out. But that’s what’s happening.”

He said no more.

He also didn’t wait for an answer.

He stalked out.

Tack looked to his son.

“Rush, on him,” he ordered quietly.

Rush nodded once and followed his brother.

“Baby,” Tyra whispered and Tack looked to her. “There’s a lot more to share.”

“Why am I not surprised?” he muttered.

She didn’t hesitate.

“She’s hurting, Kane. She has a full-time job, it doesn’t pay much, benefits are great, she likes where she works, but what income she has is eaten up by daycare expenses and paying off her old attorney. She’s tight with her dad but he’s in Nebraska. She won’t tell him what’s happening, is insistent he’s shielded from it, and now I have a better understanding of why.”

She paused and Tack nodded.

He understood too.

Tyra kept going, “Her friends migrated to the ex. You know she’s got a shit car. She’s also got a one bedroom apartment in a very bad part of town. And she’s convinced, and it sounds like she isn’t making things up, that her ex is carrying forward a strategy to take her son away from her and get her gone for good so he can set up house with his fiancée and forget she even existed.”

“What’s your take on this girl?” Tack asked.

“My take is, she lost a sister, a mother, her ex is f*cking with her head, and she still puts on a pretty dress, walks right into a biker compound with a homemade pie and looks at Joker not like he rides astride a Harley but does it on a white horse. If she doesn’t remember who he was from high school, it doesn’t matter. She knows who he is now and went out of her way not to let him forget her. No girl dresses like that if she doesn’t hope to get attention. She likes him. He made an impression, and he did it more than just being a good guy who stopped to change her tire.”