Chapter Two

Banks

I knew that woman.

I fucking knew I did, but for the life of me, I couldn’t remember where from. Sitting in the passenger seat racking my brain, I tried to muster up every image of every woman I’d been with, and when that started giving me a headache, I forgot about it.

There were too many, anyway.

It was like looking for a needle in a haystack.

Still, there was something about her.

Something so familiar, and when she looked at me, I felt like she sucker punched me.

“Are you even listening to me!” Hawk grumbled, punching me in the arm while he drove back up the mountain. After we left Mrs. Cohen’s, the little shit King saddled us with this summer insisted on stopping in town so he could make the rounds. One of those rounds was the fucking sheriff’s station, where the little shit threatened to file a complaint against us.

I fucking hated kids.

Especially the one tied-up and strapped down in the backseat.

For a seven-year-old, that brat had more on his to-do list than the President of the United States. Kid never quit. Never said no and was giddy like an eager beaver for any bit of information he could store away in that fucked-up lunatic head of his.

I swear to God, Cameron was going to rule the world one day.

Hmmm.

That got me thinking.

If there was anyone in this cookie-cutter town that knew the 4-1-1, it would be Carnage. The problem was getting him to give up the goods.

Hawk and I hadn’t been exactly nice to the kid lately.

In fact, we’d been downright hostile to the brat. But in our defense, the kid deserved it, and he gave as good as he got.

Still, we’d done everything the little shit asked us to do. We chauffeured him around, waited while he made his daily rounds, we even bought him lunch once, hoping that would buy us enough brownie points and he would ease up.

It didn’t, but that was neither here nor there.

The fact was, Cameron knew Kai, and therefore, by default, he must know something about the mother.

Ignoring Hawk, I turned in my seat and looked at the brat.

“I need all the information you have on Kai and his pretty momma.”

Groaning, the brat rolled his eyes.

What I would give to knock those evil eyes out of his head.

I would have… but I promised King I wouldn’t touch him.

However, he said nothing about strangling the kid.

“Why should I tell you anything?”

“Because I can give you what you want.”

Little Don Corleone crossed his arms over his tiny little chest and glared at me. He thought he was so fucking tough. Kid would probably piss his pants if I told him how I grew up.

Regardless, I would not let his annoyance deter me.

He had what I wanted, and I would not stop until he told me everything.

“This ought to be good. Go on. What do I want, Banks?”

“Freedom.”

When the brat stiffened, I smiled.

See, I wasn’t as dumb as he thought.

I knew exactly what the little shit wanted.

“Go on.”

“You tell me everything you know about Kai’s mom and that shithead of a son of hers, and Hawk and I will look the other way if you two want to take off for a bit when we get back to the clubhouse.”

Carnage narrowed his eyes at me, then countered, “I get freedom for the rest of mine and Benny’s summer vacation.”

I growled, shaking my head. “I can’t do that and you know it.”

“Then no deal.”

“Come on, Carnage,” I whined. “What’s it gonna take for you to give me the 4-1-1 on that smoking hot woman?”

Looking at Benny, the kid grinned.

“You see, Benny. It’s all about supply and demand. I have something Banks wants, and all he has to do is give me what I want. It’s rather easy.”

“Yep.” Benny smirked, crossing his arms over his chest, looking at me.

“I fucking hate you both,” I grumbled. “Two days. We can give you two days before King rips our asses a new one. Sorry, Cam, but no Betty is worth that.”

“Fine. Two days and you have to take me anywhere I want to go for the rest of the week. No questions asked.”

“Agreed.” I smiled.

Hawk groaned. “Dude, you just got played.”

I wasn’t stupid.

I knew I got played.

But so did Cameron because I just got everything I wanted.

The second Hawk pulled into the compound, I jumped from the truck and opened the backdoor as I looked directly at Cameron. I wasn’t letting this kid go until he gave me everything I asked for.

“Go ahead, Benny.” Cameron sighed. “I’ll be a minute.”

“You too, Hawk. I’ve got this.”

“You sure?”

I nodded.

When Benny and Hawk were out of sight, I narrowed my eyes at Carnage and warned, “You leave anything out, deal’s off.”

“Fine,” the kid huffed. “Her name is Laurel Shay McDonald. Never married, single mom. She’s not from Rosewood. Kai told me his mom moved here because she wanted a fresh start after his dad took a job and didn’t want them to go with.”

“Why?”

“Kai said his dad wanted a fresh start with his partner. You see, Kai’s dad is FBI. When Kai’s mom found out he batted for the other team, she packed up and left. Kai hasn’t seen his dad since.”

“I know you know more than that. What else is in that vast brain of yours?”

“Well, Kai and Nash have different dads. Kai doesn’t know who Nash’s dad is. As far as he knows, the man doesn’t know Nash exists. As for Nash, that douche is a bully. Always getting in trouble with Sheriff Mike and school. I heard he’s on probation and if he shows his face to Judge Tomlinson before he turns eighteen, the judge is gonna throw the book at him.”

I nodded.

That brat was a pain in the ass.

“Anything else?”

“Well.” Cameron frowned, rubbing his chin. “Kai did tell me his nanna is getting married to Mr. Munson. Said his nanna moved here from some little town in Alabama, looking for a new husband.”

I stiffened.

That was too big of a coincidence. While I didn’t have a hometown technically to call my own, I was familiar with several places and Alabama was one of them. In fact, one very specific town, to be exact.

“Alabama?” I muttered. “He say what town?”

There was only one town in Alabama that I knew. I wasn’t there long before my past came knocking, forcing me to bolt in the middle of the night. Knowing my luck, my past was about to catch up with me, fast.

When Cameron frowned, trying to remember when he said, “Creek something.”

FUCK!

Groaning, I whispered, “Rickett Creek?”

Cameron snapped his fingers and smiled. “Yeah. That’s it!”

Fuck my life.

I was officially up Rickett’s Creek without a paddle.

Leaning against the truck, I remembered how I knew Laurel.

She was the young girl I lost my virginity to, and it also just happened to be the same night I disappeared from Rickett Creek forever.

The night my life went to shit.

If that wasn’t bad enough, I did a quick calculation and grimaced.

Please God. Help a brother out here. Tell me my math is off.

“Hey, kid.”

“Yeah?”

“Out of curiosity. How old is Nash?”

“Sixteen.”

Yep… up Rickett’s Creek without a fucking paddle.

I was a dead man.

Taking a seat at the bar, Enigma slid a beer toward me.

“You okay, Banks?”

Nope.

No, I was not okay.

Not one bit.

Taking the beer, I chugged it all before placing it back on the bar.

“Give me another.”

How could I have forgotten the beautiful, innocent, sweet Laurel McDonald? She was everything good and decent in a world of fucked-up nastiness. In my extremely brief stay in Rickett Creek, she became my reason for everything. That wonderful, glorious summer I spent with her made me the man I was today.

We were like best friends, pals, two peas in a pod.

She was the Freddie to my Jason.

The Rachel to my Ross.

The Deadpool to my Wolverine.

And then one fateful night, everything changed.

We were just two stupid, drunk, innocent kids.

We didn’t know what we were doing. All we cared about was how good it made us feel. Hell, we did it three times that night before I dropped her off at home, promising that I would see her tomorrow.

Only that never happened.

Because by sunup, I was on a plane headed for Wisconsin, of all places. The only good thing that came out of Wisconsin was the Green Bay Packers and cheese.

Lots of yummy cheese because the Packers sucked.

Damn. Now I was hungry. I wondered if Sugar had anything to make a sandwich with.

More importantly, I wondered if she would make me a sandwich.

“So, you get the demon to give up the goods?” Hawk chuckled, taking a seat next to me.

Nodding, I reached for the fresh beer Enigma placed in front of me.

“Yep.”

“Was it worth it?”

“Haven’t decided yet.”

“So, when are you going to claim her?”

“I’m not.”

“What do you mean?”

There was no fucking way I could claim Laurel.

Not with my past.

It was bad enough that she lived in Rosewood. If she remembered who I was and made a few calls, she would put herself in danger. She was a single mom. She already had enough trouble on her plate. She didn’t need my shit too.

Refusing to answer, I slid off my stool.

I needed to talk to King.

I didn’t have to look far. The cranky bastard was holed up in his office, thinking that a piece of timber would protect him from the woman he married.

Even I knew a little match would take care of that problem.

Knocking on the door, I opened it to find him sitting behind his desk.

“Got a minute, King?”

King didn’t bother looking up from his paperwork on his desk as he nodded.

Walking in, I closed the door behind me. Taking a seat, I took a good look around his office. It had been a hot minute since I’d been in here. The last time was a few weeks ago when Hawk and I begged him to release us from the punishment that was Carnage, but the asshole wouldn’t relent.

Fucker told us to grow some balls and deal with it.

“If you are here to talk about Cameron, forget about it. You only have four more days.”

“It’s not the kid.”

Shifting in my seat, I hated being the one to stir the pot, especially with the club on high alert for whatever Carnage had planned, but I didn’t have a choice. King made me promise a long time ago that if any part of my past came back around again, that I would let him know immediately.

Unlike the rest of the brothers, I didn’t grow up in Rosewood. I didn’t serve time in the military. I didn’t have any family in the area or know any of the brothers before becoming one myself. In fact, I didn’t have anyone.

“Don’t have all day, Banks.”

“Remember when you told me to tell you if my past ever became a problem?”

King dropped the pen in his hand as he slowly looked up at me.

Shrugging, I smirked. “Think I have a problem.”

Leaning back in his chair, the big man groaned.

“Swear to God, Banks. If you are here to tell me you got some poor unsuspecting woman pregnant, I’m going to kill you myself.”

Grinning, I muttered, “Funny you mentioned that.”

King growled.

Gulping, I quickly blurted, “She’s not pregnant. Well, I don’t think she is. Could be, but I’m not sure. She didn’t look pregnant. But then again, I just saw her today.”

King frowned, crossing his arms over his chest.

“If you don’t make sense fast, I’m going to lose my shit.”

“Okay,” I sighed. “You know I’ve been on babysitting duty. Of course you know that. You ordered me to watch the brat. Anyway, I was at Mrs. Cohen’s today, diligently watching the kid like you ordered. Well, I may have run into someone from my past.”

“Either you did or you didn’t.”

“Okay. I did. But the good news is I don’t think she knows. Well, I’m pretty sure she doesn’t. Maybe she does, ‘cause she was staring at me a lot. I mean, look at me. I am fucking way hotter than I was when I was a teenager. Look at my muscles.”

“Banks!”

“Fine!” I huffed. “Her name is Laurel McDonald.”

“Kai’s mom?”

I nodded. “And she’s also the mother to Nash.”

King groaned. “That kid is a pain in the fucking ass. Mike told me last week, he and some of his shithead friends were out at Rosewood Lake, throwing fireworks into the water at the fish. A month ago, Mike arrested him and his delinquent friends for public indecency at the bowling alley. A month before that, he stuffed cherry bombs in the tailpipe of Gunner’s wrecker, damn near causing an accident.”

Smirking, I hid my smile.

Kid sounded like a blast.

When I stayed quiet, King glared at me and slowly shook his head. Getting to his feet, he gasped, “NO!”

“Um.”

“Oh fuck NO!”

“Well…”

“Banks if you tell me you are that shithead’s dad, I will do the world a favor and kill you myself.”

“Maybe?” I slyly admitted. “I’m not sure. Could be a possibility. Okay, maybe a strong likelihood, but I could be wrong. I mean, I’m not good at math like Carnage. Though, now that I think about it, the kid does look like me. But everyone looks like someone, right?”

“Get out.”

“But what about me?”

“I said get out.”

“You said to come to you if my past showed up. It showed up!”

“GET. OUT!”