Chapter Six

Chapter Six

Mary Jay

Running a few minutes late. Need to finish up some paperwork. I texted Hail. I turned off my car and looked around.

I'll be waiting.

It had been two glorious weeks since I had literally been pushed into Hail's world, and it had been fantastic.

But now I was thrust back into reality and back to taking care of my dad's debts he had left behind.

Which also meant I had just lied to Hail.

I wasn't stuck at work doing paperwork.

I was parked just one street away from my apartment, waiting for Trick.

A knock sounded on my window, and I jumped.

"Jesus, Trick," I grumbled. I rolled down my window and glared at him. "Next time, give some warning before you scare the hell out of me."

"You got it?" he asked bluntly.

I rolled my eyes and grabbed the envelope from my passenger seat. "Same as always."

He grabbed the envelope and counted the bills. "Always good doing business with you, Mary Jay. Hobbs appreciates your eagerness to handle this matter."

The only thing I was eager about was getting the Broken Jokers MC out of my life. "Same time next month?" I asked.

He tapped the roof of my car. "Like clockwork, sugar. Enjoy your night."

Trick headed down the street, and I took a deep breath.

Reality sucked.

Being wrapped up in Hail's arms was way better than paying my dad's debts in the middle of the night.

I cranked up my car, and my headlights shone directly on a man standing in front of me.

Hail.

Oh, shit.

He didn't look so happy. Not like Hail was constantly smiling, but I could tell that he was wondering what in the hell I was doing.

He walked over to the passenger door and slipped into my car.

We sat in silence while I tried to figure out what to say.

"You know I'm the president of the Lost Mavericks MC, Mary Jay?" he asked.

"Yes," I whispered.

"Do you also know that guy you were talking to is part of the Broken Jokers MC? An MC I fucking hate with every fiber of my being?"

I did, in fact, not know that. "Uh, no."

"You wanna know why I hate them?"

"Sure."

"Because they don't care about anyone but themselves. They take and take without caring about who they are taking from."

I knew that firsthand. My dad had racked up quite the gambling debt with the Broken Jokers, and after he had died, they still expected to be paid. "Uh, I would believe that."

"I'm trying really hard not to jump to conclusions, Mary Jay, and trying to think of any legit reason why you would be meeting with one of their members in the middle of the night when you texted me five minutes ago that you were stuck at work."

Yeah, when he said it out loud, this really did not look good.

"Can I explain?"

He finally looked at me. "I think that would be a really good place to start."

I could tell his anger was boiling, but he was keeping a lid on it.

"I wasn't doing anything illegal." At least, I didn't think it was illegal.

"What did you give him?" Hail asked.

"Money."

"Money for what?" he growled.

I held up my hands. "I really think that we should start from the beginning, okay?"

"You have five minutes, Mary Jay."

I took a deep breath and started way at the beginning. "My mom left right after I was born."

"I know that."

I needed to speed this up. "My mom wasn't a good person, so she left; the problem is she didn't leave me with the best dad in the world. Sure, he loved me, but he never made the best choices when he was alive. I can still remember being two, and I used to suck on the dice he left lying around. Looking back now, how in the hell did I not choke on them?" I waved my hand. "That is beside the point."

"I know he"s your dad, Mary Jay, but he sounds like a fuckstick if you have memories sucking on dice."

I wasn't going to argue about that. "Gambling. My dad was a gambler. It didn't matter what it was. If he could bet on it, he would. I never really understood how bad it was until I got older, and he would get the shit kicked out of him every couple of months because he couldn't make good on his debts. They would beat him up, give him another month or two, he would rack up more debt, and then would be back to kick his ass."

"The Broken Jokers?"

"Well, yes, but there were others, too, but the Broken Jokers were the ones he could never seem to get ahead with. And then he died."

"But his debts didn't die with him," Hail guessed.

"Yup," I sighed. "It was not even two weeks after his funeral when Trick showed up at my door and informed me that my monthly payment was coming due."

Hail slammed his fist against the dash. "Fucking assholes!"

"I'm taking care of it, Hail. As long as I pay them, everything is fine."

"You shouldn't have to be paying your dad's debts, Mary Jay. They should have just forgiven them and left you alone."

"It's fine, Hail."

He shook his head. "It's not fine, Mary Jay."

"Well, I don't have any other choice, Hail, so this is how it is."

He turned in his seat, and I could still feel the anger rolling off him, except it wasn't directed at me anymore. "I'll handle it."

"What? What do you mean you'll handle it? You just told me you hated the Broken Jokers, so I have to assume that the feeling is mutual."

"It is," he growled.

This didn't make sense. "Then don't go talk to them, Hail. What if they get mad you're talking to them about my problem and then make me have to pay it all right now?"

"Your problems are my problems now, Mary Jay. You should have told me about this."

I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, sure, sure. I'll tell the guy I just started seeing that I also owe over seventy-five thousand to the Broken Jokers. A conversation you would totally have over cereal and coffee in the morning."

"I'll handle it," he growled. "Don't even worry about it. You don't owe another cent to the Broken Jokers."

"Hail, you're crazy. I don't know what you think you are going to do, but this is not just going to go away."

He cradled my face in his hands, and I finally saw the man I had been falling in love with for the past two weeks.

"I got you, Mary Jay. I'm not lying when I say your problems are mine."

"I don't want you doing anything that will get you in trouble."

He shook his head. "I'm not going to get into trouble."

"Then what are you going to do?"

He brushed his thumb across my cheek. "I'm just going to talk to Hobbs and show him the errors in his ways."

"Hail," I whispered.

"Do you trust me, Mary Jay?" he asked.

I did. More than anyone. I was still trying to figure out how that could be since I was still getting to know him, but I did trust him. With my life. "Yes."

"Then let me handle this."

"You shouldn't have to deal with this. It's my dad."

"And your dad should have made sure you didn't have to deal with it. I'm going to rectify that."

I slumped in my seat and broke down crying.

Hail gathered me in his arms and pulled me over the center console. "Shh, babe. Everything is going to be okay. This must be weighing on you so much. I don't know how you've handled it for this long."

I didn't know how I did either, but I had. And now I had Hail to help. "I'm sorry." I buried my head in his chest, and he wrapped his arms around me.

"It's going to be okay, Mary Jay. You're protected by the Lost Mavericks now."