Bear by Lily J. Adams

 

Chapter Eleven:  The Boys Are Coming To Town

 

Bear

 

I was standing outside of Wheelz three weeks later with Keys ‒ the orchestrator of the reunion tour ‒ on the other end of my phone line.

“You ready for us? We got all six. We’re going to have a ball,” Keys challenged in an excited voice.

“I’ve got this badass route around the back half of Holbeck and we’re going to hit up the casino. I hope you can cover the losses.” I was starting the ribbing early.

“You think? No, there won’t be any losses, only wins.” Keys chuckled. “Trigger, Ranger, Wildcat, Roller, and Tank are all in. I can’t wait to see you, man.”

“I’m pumped too. We should have a good run. Look forward to seeing you bullshit your way out of losing at the casino.”

“You keep talking about this casino, but you gotta remember the last time that I cleaned you up back in Vegas. You don’t want me to skip down memory lane.” Keys was recalling a night when I was worse for wear and on the wrong side of drunk.

“That’s not a fair night. I was hitting the bottle pretty hard, and to be fair I was winning for the first half of the night.”

“You were winning? You have a hazy memory, you won two games—”

“Alright, alright, get over it. You’ll get your turn at a rematch.”

“Good one, brother. Seeing anybody?” Keys asked craftily, changing the subject.

I felt the saliva forming in my mouth as my heart muscle thumped a little. I vowed to keep our fragile start a secret for now, but given the amount of time we’d been spending together, I knew Delphia and I wouldn’t be able to keep our hands off one another or stop from being found out. I would protect our privacy as long as I could for her sake. “Nah, nothing serious.” I aimed to change the conversation as soon as I could. I didn’t want to take the chance for anything to slip.

“What? You’re not getting it in?”

I chuckled at Key’s crassness. “I wouldn’t tell you if I was. Get off my line, Keys.” He could be a little on the arrogant side sometimes, and he was a ladies’ man through and through. I wondered when he was going to settle down. Most of my other buddies were either hitched or had long-term girlfriends, except me. Serious dating wasn’t heavy on my mind up until Delphia. Grief covered my life for so long it was refreshing to even feel again for another woman. “Where are you gonna be staying anyway?”

“We’re going to stay at the apartment hotel near the wharf. Is that place good?”

“Yep. It’s good, I heard it was nice, Chalk’s girlfriend used to stay there when she was new here.”

“Ahhhh. Cool. You think you got that bid covered? Rebel Saints gonna win it?”

“I think we can. I’m about to go in right now and see about it with the president. He’s been pretty preoccupied with it. I thought we would have won it by now.”

“Well, good luck with it and I’ll see you soon. I will touch base with you later in the week.”

“Good deal.” I got off the call with Keys and walked inside to an empty Wheelz. I could hear the echo from Bones and Numbers upstairs.

“That can’t be right? We got another bidder? How can they come in so late? I thought we closed it yesterday!” Bones sounded pissed.

I raised my brows at this. I was worried about how much time Bones was spending at the club. It was becoming his second home, and from his lack of shaving, I figured he was going through it on the home front too.

I jogged up the stairs.

Bones looked red in the face and he was pacing back and forth.

Numbers stared at him. “We can still win this. Don’t worry about the third bid.”

“Hey guys. Things getting tight?” I asked, trying to break the obvious tension in the room.

Bones stopped pacing and tapped his knuckles all the way along the table. “More than tight, and I got trouble with Ryan. That’s way worse if I’m being honest. I almost had to bail him out last night.” He heaved out a long sigh.

Bone’s had a teen aged son and it seemed he was in trouble a lot lately. “You had to bail him out from where? From jail?”

Bones nodded his head. “Yup. That’s why I’m here burying my head in paperwork. It’s nuts.”

“That is nuts, he’s such a good kid. What happened to him?” 

“I don’t know, same old, same old, hanging out with the wrong crowd. That’s the norm isn’t it with kids that go nuts, right?”

“Yeah. I guess so.” I felt for Bones. He was really having a tough time, and I didn’t think anything I could say or do would help. Family matters were tough to deal with.

“Are you still checking in with Delphia?” Bones asked.

“Yes, I am. She’s up against it right now with Rocky.”

Bones raised his eyebrows. “Rocky? What’s that about?”

“Angie is still writing the story and he’s trying to intimidate her with threatening phone calls.”

“What’s your part in it?” Numbers asked me.

The same discomfort rose inside of me that I’d felt when I’d spoken to Keys. I forced my eyes downwards to the ground. “I’m just helping her along. I just pick her up sometimes from the gas station. She’s a little freaked out about the whole thing, so I’m looking out for her.”

“Is that right? Does it have to be you to do it?”

Number’s bold smirk let me know that maybe the secret I so desperately wanted to guard was already out. “Sure does. I’m a road captain after all and the bear.” I clapped him on the back keeping the energy light, hoping to get him off the scent.

Numbers frowned. “Hmm. That’s a good thing. Rocky has to be banished. That guy is still hanging around causing havoc.”

“The whole Road Warrior clan needs to be taken out.” Bones growled. “From what I’m told there’s a silent bid, and I’m damn sure they’re involved. I want them to get the hell out of the way. Imagine if the Road Warriors beat us out of that spot.”

“They won’t,” Numbers reassured him. “We got a little more to play with. If you keep going like this, you’re going to pop a blood vessel, though. Just chill out and relax.”

To me, Numbers looked pretty relaxed about the whole thing. As if he didn’t have a shadow of a doubt.

Bones let out a sigh. “You’re right. I feel like we’re under pressure and we’re all in as it is. It’s a tough one to deal with. We’ve put so much on the line.”

“We’re not going to lose it,” I agreed with Numbers. “You gotta remember the Rebel part of our name. I gotta run. I have a few things to take care of, but keep me posted. Try not to stress out about all of this so much. Okay, Prez?”

“Easier said than done,” he said gruffly.

“You’ll be okay. See you both soon. Numbers, get ‘em!”

“Sure will. We’ve already won it in my mind,” Numbers confirmed.

I moved out of the room and down the stairs to the outside.

As soon as I walked out into the freshness of the Holbeck air, I thought of Delphia. Her sweetness, her kind energy, and having her next to me in the morning. Having to let go of Delphia was going to be rough. I didn’t want her to feel obligated to me, however. I wanted her to go back to her house and feel like she could get on with her life, but my fears were getting the best of me. I rode through the back streets to home. But first, I wanted to go see her and just touch base.

I let the throttle out on my Harley, riding the short distance to Holbeck Gas. As I got off, I found myself grinning; Delphia did that to me. She was the gas to light the spark inside of me again.

“Hey. I need some gas on pump five, can you help out, li’l lady?”

“Huh? Pump five?” Delphia looked up from where she was and stared at me dumbfounded. Her energy shifted when she saw that it was me. “Bear, what are you doing here? I don’t get off until later.”

“I know. I just wanted to see your face. If you’re busy, I can go away. I was in the area anyway because I was at Wheelz.” If I told her I was checking up on her, I feared she would start to think I was being overprotective even though I told her I would keep watch over her.

“No, I’m glad you’re here. I’m hoping I can knock off early tonight. It’s always slow on weeknights.”

“I hope so too, then we can get back to snuggling under the blankets like last night.” Having Delphia’s arms around me was a feeling like no other.

“Oh, my god,” she groaned. “That would feel so good right now. It’s so cold in here. I’m always having to wear this jacket.”

“You look good in the jacket though. It suits you.” I grinned as her crimson cheeks flamed at my compliment. I liked the shyness in her. She made me feel powerful somehow and like the protector I was meant to be now… and in the past.

“Thank you. I have to check in with the boss man and then I can let you know. How is the casino thing going?” She had picked up a few details about our investment through hanging out with me.

“It’s at a weird stage. There’s this other person or company trying to outbid us at the last minute. It’s one of those things we’re going to have to work through. I still think we can win it. We’ve been at it for so long now. We have to break through at some point.”

“I hope you win it and you beat them. Sounds annoying.”

“Me too,” I sighed hard. “I have some of my old army buddies coming in next week, so it’s going to be fun to take them to the casino.” I was guarding and protecting Delphia, but to watch out for her while they were here was going to be a little more difficult without telling them about us.

“Oh, cool.” She sounded distant. Her eyes showed a glint of despair when I told her my plans to ride with my boys.

“I’m still going to be around to drop you off and pick you up.” Although truthfully, I wasn’t entirely sure if that would be the case.

Delphia toyed with the cigarette cases on her table. “I can’t live with you all the time. I do have to go back home eventually, as scary as that is. I’m going to be okay.” It sounded like she was trying to convince herself more than me.

“You will be. I know it’s frustrating and scary, but this is my forte. Rocky’s scared about going to prison; that’s why he’s taunting you. Trust me, we’re going to get to him. Have you had any more phone calls come through?”

“The phone rang a few hours ago, but I let it ring out and it went to voicemail. When I played back the voicemail, it was a voice saying one word... Dead.” A deep tremble rippled in Delphia’s voice as she relayed the story to me.

I felt more anger. I truly didn’t know if I could keep my cool anymore. All I wanted to do was stomp the man into the ground. “Don’t let it get to you,” I commanded. “We will stop him. I promise.”

Delphia swept a hand through her tousled honey locks. “I’ll try not to.”

“I wish I could reach over that counter and hug you, but that’s for later. I’ll swing back tonight and pick you up. Let me know if you end up getting off early.”

“I will. Thanks for stopping by.”

I winked at her. “You’re welcome.” I wanted to annihilate Rocky for Angie. For Delphia. For the Rebel Saints and for anyone else who deserved the redemption. I rode out so I could get a hard workout in and flesh out the route I wanted to take the boys on.

By the time I finished my running workout and looking at the maps, I got the call to pick up Delphia.

“Hey I’m in luck. I’m off at nine. See you then?”

“For sure.” Even though she was due to finish at nine, I rode past her house to do a surveillance check. Her place looked clear as I briefly snuck a look down the side of her house on both sides. Scanning my vision out over the houses in her neighborhood, there didn’t seem to be anything unusual going on.

My mind drifted back to the boys coming the following week. I was going to have to sort that one out, and all of my thoughts were leading to the fact I might have to blow our keeping the relationship quiet in order to keep her safe.