Page 51 of Coyote

Coyote sat down beside her and leaned over cutting her pancake into pieces to make it easier for her to spear them up, and my heart just about melted seeing them together. I ate my pancakes silently watching as they both chatted and fooled about. It just seemed so natural, the way they interacted. He was asking about daycare and nodding earnestly as she told him about what Alejandro had told her and the fight she’d had with Kelly over the pink playdough.

This was how our future could be.

***

I drove to the Dark Slayers clubhouse, with Coyote following behind on his bike. It had been over three years since I’d last been at the clubhouse, obviously the original building had been burned to the ground when they had a run in with the cult, but the new building was on the same spot. The drive had been uneventful, but once again I’d had the strangest sensation I was being watched. As I turned off to the exit that led to the clubhouse, suddenly a bike pulled up beside me, I glanced in the rear-view mirror to see where Coyote was, and I saw he’d gotten caught in the traffic lights. My eyes went to Nessa who was happily flicking through a picture book on the back seat. My heart started racing as I turned my head to the left, the biker was practically level with me and my blood chilled when I saw his dead-eyed stare and realized it was Cyclops. I started to panic as I tried to figure out how to get myself and my daughter away from him. It was clear he was trying to scare me, as when I caught his gaze he had a look of malicious glee on his face.

Almost as soon as he appeared, he suddenly sped up and disappeared along the road. I realized the reason for this when Coyote pulled up next to me. We drove like this for the remainder of the journey to the clubhouse, by the time we arrived my heart had gotten itself under control, but I was still shaken. I tried to put a brave face on for Nessa’s benefit.

“We’re here sweetie,” I said as I unbuckled her from the car seat. Coyote was by my side instantly and his arms were around me. So as not to scare Nessa he whispered, “You okay querida?”

“I just got a shock. What did he want?”

Coyote shrugged, “Twisted Metal are assholes. They like to show off around town, I’m guessing he knew you were with me and wanted to have some kind of pissing contest.”

I nodded shakily, I wasn’t so sure that was true. I’d seen the way his eyes had alighted on Nessa as he rode past us and the way he’d been at Coyote’s grand opening.

***

I eventually put my worries aside, and we had a wonderful day at the clubhouse. A lot of the other brothers’ wives had kids close in age to Nessa, so she had great fun. While Coyote was chatting with his club brothers I got to know the old ladies. In addition to the women I already knew, I met some really fun new faces, there was Bella who was married to Forge, the brother in charge of the grill. They had the sweetest toddler, then there was Aprilia who was married to Forge’s best friend Mason, a huge Cajun bear of a man. Later on, everyone had gotten excited because Jav’s younger brother Corey had dropped by with his girlfriend Dusty. She was Celt’s daughter, it seemed like only yesterday she’d been a shy little thing and now she was old enough to be studying at UCLA. I’d remembered Celt, Hacker, Renegade, and Thunder from back in the day when they used to hang out at the gym, but honestly it was like a whirlwind of names and faces today. But all of them were welcoming and watching everyone together made me think of one big happy family. And if I stayed with Coyote then they could be my family too. I had to tell him he might be Nessa’s father and my determination to do that grew.

Before long things were starting to die down, there were a few tantrums as some of the younger kids after coming down from their sugar high and missed afternoon naps, started getting cranky. Luckily, Nessa had almost outgrown that stage, but still I didn’t want to upset her routine too much. I was packing away her things as we walked through the clubhouse when Breaker stepped out.

“Can I have a word with you, brother,” he said to Coyote looking all kinds of serious.

Coyote ruffled Nessa’s hair, and I couldn’t help but notice the weird look that Breaker gave him. I guess it did look like we were trying to play happy families. Or at least maybe that’s what he thought I was doing, and he thought it was too soon. If only he knew the truth.

“Can’t it wait until later?” Coyote asked. Callie and Breaker were coming over to our house after the festivities ended. Coyote’s mom was looking after their kids tonight, tomorrow Breaker and Coyote were planning on riding to the port to check on a shipment of automobile parts from Japan. Callie and I hadn’t decided on our day yet, we thought we’d play it by ear once she’d collected the kids from her mom.

“Nope,” Breaker said, being uncharacteristically brusque.

At that point, Nessa decided to start getting cranky. She was tired and overstimulated and if we didn’t go now then there was gonna be an almighty tantrum, “Look, I’ll go ahead,” I said. While I’d been shaken this morning by my run in with Cyclops, to be honest, right now the prospect of Nessa having a full-on meltdown at the clubhouse was the worse option.

Coyote opened his mouth to protest, “Really I’ll be fine,” I said as I tried to soothe Nessa. “I’ll see you later.”

Breaker continued to glare at me, and I wondered what his problem was, we’d always been on good terms. I guessed that he was pissed at something or other and I shouldn’t take it personally.

I was halfway to the door when Coyote shouted after me, “If you can hang on five minutes, Mace, Cooper, and Axel are coming around. They’ll escort you and Nessa home.”

“Okay,” I called back. Three prospects sounded like overkill, but right now I wasn’t about to argue with him. This morning’s encounter had shaken me more than I liked to admit, so I was happy to be escorted home like a VIP.

Chapter Twenty-One

Coyote

I watched Bethany head out the clubhouse with Nessa in her arms feeling conflicted. I really wasn’t happy about her going home by herself, even if she had three prospects shadowing her. Cyclops’ antics this morning made me fucking mad. I don’t know what he was playing at, we’d had a truce with Twisted Metal for a while now, though while my prez seemed to think they were heading on the straight and narrow, I wasn’t quite as charitable. Once a fucking outlaw club, always a fucking outlaw club. There are some stains that can’t be washed out.

I turned to my brother-in-law, “What the fuck was that all about? You know someone tried to run my woman off the road this morning.”

“The fuck?” Breaker said.

Okay maybe I was exaggerating, but I didn’t like that shady fucker anywhere near Bethany. I shook my head, “One of the Twisted Metal bastards was being an ass. The fucker with one eye and the Dixie swastika bandana. I chased him off.”

“Wouldn’t want any of them near my woman,” Breaker scowled. I noticed he was holding a piece of paper, and once more I wondered what was so urgent that he needed me to stay back.

“I gotta skedaddle,” I said, “You wanna make this snappy?”

“In here,” he said gesturing to Hacker’s office. I followed him in, our IT guru was out back, so his space was empty.