27. Chapter Twenty-Seven

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Aleko

I t’s been a little over a month since our race season started and we’ve been to a couple of them, having a great time with the brothers and other racers. Funny how we don’t realize how much we miss our street racing until we get back to it.

This year is special since the season will be interrupted by the greatest of events, which will no doubt also be the most exhausting. I don’t mind. In fact, I can’t wait to spoil that kid so much I’ll get shit for it all day, every day. Guaranteed, I’ll be pretzeled around the baby’s finger from the get go and the number of fucks I give about that, is the sum total of zero.

“Hey.” Spinning around at the sound of Mackenzie’s whispered voice, I bite my bottom lip when I see her pale green bikini top peeking out from beneath her white, off the shoulder, sweater. “Vanessa’s coming. So…” Frantic, she looks around at everyone standing beside me and gives them her best narrowed eyes and pinched speech. “Act natural, like this is no big deal and it’s all fine.”

Silence falls, and in this place, that’s a fucking miracle in and of itself.

“Why wouldn’t we be natural, Cherry?” I’m truly confused. It’s fucking great that Vanessa is feeling strong enough to join us at the beach for an impromptu picnic.

“Well, because it’s her first time since…” Throwing her arms in the air, she and her growing belly, turn and walk away. Fuck, I’m hard. Between her tits falling out of her tops and her ass filling out both of my palms every time I fuck her, I’ve never been so fucking horny, so often, in my life.

The thought of keeping her constantly pregnant crosses my mind but I have to remember that pregnant women should never be in prison. Which is where she’d be for attempted murder…of me.

Yeah, I guess I’ll let her choose all that shit. I’ll just reap the fruit of her hormonal horniness.

“Yeah babyyyy! We’re so fucking happy you’re comin’ with us!” No one misses Grinder’s over-the-fucking-top enthusiasm as soon as Vanessa walks out of the compound. My hand flies to my mouth, palm pressed hard against my lips to hide the need to laugh my ass off. My Cherry Pie is not happy.

“You are so on my shit list!” Mackenzie’s hiss is practically a yell at this point but it goes way over Grinder’s head as he trots over to Vanessa, picks her up, and squeezes her into a massive bear hug.

“Come on, Cherry Pie, lunch waits for no one. Let’s go!” Huffing the entire time, Mackenzie hops—more like crawls in the most awkward of ways but I’ll never say that to her face—into the passenger side of one of two not-so-new trucks the club bought a couple of months ago. It’s new to us but we bought them used from an app Prez made us download a couple of years ago.

“I’m glad we’re going to the beach.” I frown at her words because her tone says the exact opposite. “It’s fitting since I feel like a whale.”

It’s a close call but I manage not to laugh, swallowing my urge and coughing to hide it.

“Babe, you’ve never looked more beautiful.” My grin is genuine. I love how her body changes and her love for us grows. But when I turn to wink at her, the withering glare on her face stops me from twisting the key in the ignition.

“Really? The three thousand pounds in my belly and the bags under my eyes turn you on? Or wait, maybe it’s the swollen ankles that get your dick hard.” With every accusation, my gaze travels to said part. Her rounded belly that starts just below her nice, juicy, tits feels like a miracle. Her cheeks are filled out, her skin glowing like there’s a permanent glow light on her. Her ankles? Maybe they feel swollen to her but I can’t fucking tell.

One thing I’ve learned though…to shut my fucking mouth.

“Yeah, I didn’t think so.” Oh, she’s going bratty is she?

I guess I didn’t learn my lesson well enough because I turn, snap my arm out, and tangle my fingers into her hair, pulling her just half an inch from my mouth so she can hear me loud and clear.

“I need you to pay close attention here, Cherry Pie. I don’t allow anyone to talk down to you, least of all yourself.” Tears spring up without spilling over as she keeps her gaze steady on mine. “Whatever flaws you see in yourself, they’re tiny miracles you didn’t get to experience last time, so unless you want me to spank your…” I bite my bottom lip as images of her riding my dick start playing like a fucking movie roll. “Very fine ass in public, I suggest you start being kind to yourself.”

Then I slam my lips to hers and drag out her bottom lip to let that lingering taste of her fill my mouth.

“I love you.” Her words are breathless and my heart fucking grows twice its size…just like my cock.

“You fucking better.” Reaching into the inside pocket of my cut, I take out two cherry suckers and hand one to my wife. “Here, suck on this before I make you suck on me.”

By the time we get everyone on the road and over to our favorite corner of the beach, it’s nearly time for lunch. The heat isn’t yet overwhelming but the sunrays feel fucking awesome after the winter months. One of the great things about living in Rockford Beach is the temperate weather. I had enough brutal winters in New York and unbearable summers in Greece to know that a little balance in life isn’t too much to ask.

“Where are Ninja and Bandit?” Cherry speaks as she drops her jean-shorts and whips off her sweater, leaving her in her swimsuit. I use that word loosely because she’s got barely more than two triangles covering her luscious tits and a bottom that’s nearly overshadowed by her round belly. Fuck, she’s beautiful, but also, I’m about to get stupid violent if I catch any motherfuckers’ gazes lingering on her.

I really do not want to go back to jail.

“Who’s surfin’ with me? The swell looks fun.” Boner is pulling up his wetsuit. It’s too early in the year to jump into the ocean without one.

“Nah, man. All yours.” Bear answers for everyone as we get settled and start rummaging through the coolers for our lunches. While Mackenzie piles up her plate, we all get blinded by Grinder’s winter whiteness when he drops his jeans and gives us an eyeful of his neon Speedo. Jesus, I was sure we’d burned those fuckers.

“Goddamn, brother. Tuck your junk in, man.” Bear’s groan speaks for us all.

“Whoa, someone forgot to manscape, them ball hairs ain’t trending, my friend.” Boner is laughing his ass off as he pulls up the back zipper of his wetsuit.

“Fuck all y’all. Au natural is the ultimate trend.” I can’t with this guy.

Instead of worrying about the legitimacy of ball hairs being popular on social media, I concentrate on setting up the beach tent to protect Cherry from the sun.

The sunscreen is next and hundred times more fun than anything else going on around here.

“I feel like a princess eating grapes and cheese on the beach with a hot man spreading sunblock all over my back.” Silly Cherry…

“Baby, you’re no princess.”

“Geesh, way to work up my confidence, Aleko. You want me to cut you while you sleep?” If she thinks she’s scaring me with her threats, she’s missed her fucking mark because the thought of her getting violent with me just made me fucking hard as a rock.

My hands pause on her shoulders as I lean in, my front pressing against her back. “You’re the goddess princesses come to worship on their knees.” Biting her earlobe, I take in a deep breath of her cherry shampoo and thank the fucking universe she’s still here with me.

“Hmm, is that supposed to make you my god?”

“According to your screams every time I make you come, yes, Cherry. I’m your motherfucking god.”

Turning on her knees, she places both of her hands on her protruding belly and stares at me. “You’re going to be a dad soon, Aleko. It’s time to learn synonyms for ‘motherfucker’.”

I scoff. “Foul language is a sign of intelligence.”

“Did you read that on a meme?”

“Maybe.” And I fucking choose to believe it.

“Hey, no fucking on the beach, you fucking pervs.” We both look at Grinder as he shouts across the entire group so anyone within earshot can hear him.

“Says the guy who has stories about ‘furries’.” This time I don’t try to hide my laughter and neither does anyone else as he holds up his two middle fingers at us and grins like a madman.

I love our family.

“Listen up, everyone!” All laughter stops as Hoops’s serious tone cuts through the group’s chaos. Boner, all suited up and holding his surfboard under his arm, stops dead in his tracks and gives one hundred percent of his attention to our new president. “Our warehouse is burning down.”

There’s nothing worse than having to leave my Cherry alone. Obviously not without some of our brothers hanging back and making sure our women are safe, but without me.

Our New Bern warehouse, about two hours north of Rockford Beach, is burning down. As soon as he heard Hoops’s news, Boner was out of his wetsuit and jumping into his riding clothes. His cousin took over our supply chain when the Myrtle Beach guys tried to screw us over.

By the time we get there, the local fire department has the fire under control and is on the verge of putting it out completely.

“Was anyone hurt?” The first question out of Hoops’s mouth is the same one we all have on our minds, especially with Boner’s cousin, Jed, being the owner.

“I think we got everyone out but there are a couple of my employees I can’t find.” Boner pats his cousin on the back and we wait in the background, all worrying about the same things. A criminal investigation is going to bring a fucking giant loop onto our business and that is dangerous for everyone. “I’m sure everyone is fine.” Just as Boner tries to reassure Jed, we hear the fire marshall’s truck arrive on the scene.

The smoke is heavy now that the fire is out and, to our relief, only one of the warehouses took the brunt of the flames.

“Where are our supplies?” My question is whispered so we don’t get unwanted ears listening in. Hoops nods to the warehouse farthest from the main building. Last year, Jed had expanded his site to accommodate the new deliveries and I remember something about the neighboring businesses not liking the surplus of traffic. Would rivalry cause people to lose their fucking minds? I mean, if anyone is killed, they could go from simple arson to manslaughter. There’s a big fucking difference behind bars, right there.

“Jed reassured me that our stuff is safe but we need to clear out the best we can.” Before we left Rockford, Jed had told us to bring at least two vans, and we did. Tonight, once everyone has cleared out, we’ll go in, load up, and take our supplies to Jed’s storage unit a few miles down the road.

“Crow and Jonesy parked the vans down the road and are walking up here. No need to draw any attention to us.” I chuckle at Bear’s comment since a bunch of street racing bikers with some badass motorcycles standing around watching a fire is probably noticeable enough, I’d think. But yeah, vans are creepy on any given day, even if they’re not the dreaded white ones.

“We need to figure out what happened so we know how to react.” Shade is speaking in hushed tones and the way he’s staring at the remains of the main warehouse, it seems he’s talking to himself. I answer anyway.

“Way I see it, it’s either aimed at our business and the fucker missed by a mile, or it’s a beef between locals and our shit’s safe.” It seems unlikely that we’re at the epicenter of this problem. No one besides the Sons and Jed knows about our stash here.

“Doesn’t matter,” Grinder’s normal joking attitude is on the back burner. This is the killer talking. “We have to step in and shut it down or else we take our shit elsewhere. Simple as that, really.” We all agree and the conversation ends there as the fire department reels back their hoses and the police surround the site with yellow tape.

The smell is fucking painful to my lungs so I step back farther into the parking lot and into one of the few spots with shade.

From the corner of my eye, I see two young men and an older lady walk up to Jed, and from the relief on his face, I’m guessing these are the employees who were unaccounted for, which means we’ve got one less thing to worry about and three families who won’t be going through Hell.

“Yeah.” Hoops answers his phone and walks away since the noise around here is deafening. From the look on his face, the news isn’t good.

“That was Glitch.” As soon as our President speaks, we all turn and follow him because whatever that short conversation was about, it’s fucking important.

Standing far from the spectator crowd—every fire fucking has one—we all gear up for the bad news.

“Harrison surfaced in New York City. Some documents were signed, he doesn’t know what they were but we’re guessing it has something to do with Risus Pharmaceuticals giving all power to Emily Beaufort.” Yeah, this doesn’t help my suspicions about the woman. Then again, this could be good news for our town. “Also, he’s been in contact with the remaining Irish back in New Jersey. The CCTV cameras Glitch was able to hack showed that they were pissed off.”

“I mean, I would be, too, if some fucking rich douchebag got my men killed then bailed like the fucking coward he is.” We all nod and grunt and, in Bear’s case, growl at Grinder’s comment. The Irish wanting to skin Harrison makes sense but then…why didn’t they?

“Yeah, thing is…” Hoops pauses like he’s fucking acting in a soap opera. “These people are all tied up in one way or another. My guess is, they need him alive more than they want him dead.”

“Money,” I add, it’s the only thing that makes sense.

“Fucking money,” Shade agrees and everyone else nods.

“Well, he’s back in hiding and, for now, he’s still in New York. Glitch will let us know if he gets any more hits.” Hoops looks over at the burnt down building before turning back to us. “We need to take care of this bullshit first. Get our shit, move it, and go back home. I have a feeling we haven’t seen the last of that fucker. Not by a long shot.” He’s right, but contrary to his tone, I’m hoping that piece of shit comes back just so I can slit his throat and paint his house with his blood.

“Hey, guys?” Jed runs over to us, frantic and stressed out. Alarm bells go off in my head and by the hard lines of my brothers’ faces, there’s no doubt they’re feeling the same. “We’ve got a problem.” No shit.

“The fire marshall just showed me a picture of one of the back walls that wasn’t completely burnt down. Asked me if it meant anything to me.” We’re used to these kinds of close call situations, we know how to keep our cool, but Jed here? He’s fucking losing his mind faster than a forty year old virgin in a porn movie.

“What was in the picture, cousin?” Boner gives Jed a hug like he’s trying to support him, like family does, but really, he’s trying to get him to calm the fuck down.

“A message written in red paint.”

“Fucking hell. What’s with the half answers? Just spit it out already.” No one has ever accused me of being patient.

“This 1’s 4 U’.” Squinting, I look over the grainy image but I don’t see anything that says this is about us. Literally anyone could have used generic red paint and written that threat. And I mean anyone. If it weren’t for the height of the message on the wall, I’d say a kid wrote it. Come on, no self-respecting adult would abbreviate like that past the age of sixteen.

“And why would this have something to do with us? Didn’t you say your neighbor is pissed at you?” I ask, all the while taking note of the tint of the red—more tomato than strawberry.

“I guess it could be.” Then he turns to us and asks. “Can y’all off him for me?”

Oh for fuck’s sake.