Red (Hell’s Jury MC #5)

10. Chapter 10

CHAPTER 10

Red

I’m so fucking pissed at the world, I decide to go home rather than the clubhouse. I can’t be that close to my brothers’ egos and aggression without knocking someone’s head off. And that won’t cut it with Hangman or Joker. It’s in the Jury’s charter. We fuck up the enemies, not each other.

I don’t give a shit what the neighbors think as I thunder towards my house full throttle. As I crest the top of the rise, I see Stella standing in the middle of the road, holding a door. I’m so surprised I forget to turn into the driveway. To her credit, she doesn’t flinch as I barrel towards her, but then again, she’s paying no attention to my bike. Only me.

I hit the brakes hard and stop dead in front of her. My heart’s in my throat as I think of what could have happened. It’s selfish because it’s all about me. She’s in my orbit and I like her there.

The fear quickly turns to fury at her for being so careless.

“What the hell are doing?” I snarl as I get off my bike. I know I’ve gotta settle. I can’t take my shit life out on her, and I’m not like that anyway or didn’t used to be. I’m easy-going, keep my temper in check, but right now, with all the shit going down, I’m becoming the biggest asshole in the world.

“Uh,” she starts, then pauses as she takes a breath. She’s not crying or trembling and she doesn’t seem embarrassed. In fact, she looks exactly the way she did yesterday when I kicked in my door. She looks caught. But this time she isn’t running. She’s groping around to find the right words to explain whatever the fuck she’s doing.

“Start talkin’, Stella. Now!”

“Uh… I was… I mean…” She looks down at the door and talks to it. “I’m responsible for breaking your door so I was going to fix it for you.”

I stare at her in disbelief. “By stealing it?”

“I didn’t expect you to be home so soon.”

“Why?” I wave my hands in the air. “You don’t know my schedule or anything else about me, so why would you think you know what the fuck I’m doing?” The words are unfair and mean, but that’s how I’m feeling right now.

She sets the door on the pavement so it partly shields her. “I wasn’t exactly stealing it. I was … umm… taking it over to mom’s house.”

“Without my permission,” I reply flatly. “Which is actually the definition of stealing.”

We’re still in the middle of road, standing almost nose-to-nose when a car comes up the road. The driver stops when she sees us.

Stella waves. “It’s Mrs. Latimer,” she whispers to me as if the old woman can hear us with her window up.

After a moment of hesitation, Mrs. Latimer carefully drives by, using the curb to get around us.

Stella follows the car with her eyes, then returns her attention to me. “I’ll introduce you next time we see her.”

“Terrific. My life will be complete.”

“She’s a nice lady. Probably shouldn’t be driving anymore.”

I wanna shake her. “Stella, forget about Mrs. Latimer and tell me what the fuck you’re doing.”

She raps on the door. “I needed to take it to mom’s house so I could replace it.”

I look over at her house. “What the hell are you talking about?”

She bites her lower lip. “I was going to exchange your door for mom and dad’s door.” She shrugs. “You know. As a joke.”

I gape at her. “Are you trying to get me arrested again?” Inside, I’m laughing my ass off at the idea, but after yesterday’s fiasco, mommy dearest would be pointing the finger at me again.

“No. That wouldn’t happen. Even if mom realized it was you, she wouldn’t call the cops. At least not right away.” She shifts the door so she’s propping it up by one hand. “Besides I’d be here anyway, to intervene.”

“Because that worked really well yesterday.”

She lifts the side of her mouth. “I’m sorry. I didn’t think that far ahead.”

I hate that she’s aways apologizing, but now’s not the time to discuss it. “One of my brothers is coming over to fix it, so you can relax. I have it well in hand.”

“Good,” she nods, relief in her eyes. “I don’t think I could’ve afforded to buy you a new door anyway.”

I try to keep my grin inside. She’s like a breath of fresh air in my otherwise shit day. “Let’s go inside and have a talk about boundaries.”

“Okay.” She hefts the door up. “I’ll just carry this back to your house, then go back and get the hardware.”

“What hardware?”

She looks at me like I should know what the fuck she’s talking about. “The hinges and stuff.” She starts heading toward my house.

I yank my door out of her hands. “Between you, your mom and my fucking ex-wife, my ego has taken all the abuse it can handle. Get the hardware, then go sit on my couch.”

“Okay.” She grins and salutes as she heads back to her parents’ house.

I haul my door back across the street, thinkin’ I should’ve ordered her out of the neighborhood rather than inviting her in.

Stella’s part-way across the street with my hardware, then freezes when the blast of a bike breaks the sound barrier. Rider’s here.

“Get off the fuckin’ road!” I yell.

She runs towards me as Rider comes into view. “Who’s that?” she says as she shoves the hinges and doorlatches into my hands. Her eyes are wide and wary, like she’s been caught again.

“My brother, here to fix the door.”

Her face brightens. “I hope he’s better at it than I am.”

“Me too,” I mutter as I walk up and fist pump him. “Thanks for comin’ over, bro.”

Rider removes his helmet and combs his hand through his shoulder-length hair. “You know your bike is parked in the middle of the road.”

I look over at it. Jesus fuck, Stella messes with my head. “Yeah.” I shove the hardware in Rider’s hands, then go get the bike, wheeling it onto the driveway.

Rider’s eyes stray to Stella as she strolls towards us like she did yesterday when she saw me. “Hi,” she says with a smile.

I can’t believe how innocent she is. There’s not another soul in the world who would saunter up to two one-percenters without at least a little caution.

“Hello. Ain’t heard about you yet,” Rider says to her, then raises his eyebrows at me.

“She’s a pest I can’t figure out how to get rid of,” I say.

Her face lights up. “I kinda am.”

Rider turns his attention back to me. “Heard it didn’t go well with Erin.”

“Aw, fuck. Caseworker cancelled my visit with Gabby on Wednesday. Wants to meet and discuss what happened yesterday.”

Stella sucks in a breath. “Because you got arrested?”

“What do you think?”

“Oh my god. This is all my fault.” She stares at the door leaning against the garage like it has the answer.

I try to think of something to say that doesn’t sound hostile. It wasn’t her fault, it was her mother’s, but it’s hard not to blame her.

Rider gets out in front of me. “Shit happens. Only thing you can do is step on the burning bag, then shove it up someone’s ass.”

Stella furrows her forehead. “I’m not sure that makes sense.”

Rider shrugs. “It don’t in your world, darlin’. Now both of you get the fuck out of my way.” He looks at the door frame, then says to me. “Why’d you take the hinges off?”

I narrow my eyes at Stella, who twists her lips. She starts to open her mouth, but I don’t need Rider to know what a total nutcase she is.

I change the subject as I herd her towards the door. “I’ll get some beers.”

Stella leans into me and says in a hushed voice. “It’s not even 11 o’ clock.”

I grin at her. “That’s a late start for Rider.”

“I heard that,” Rider calls.

Stella follows me to the kitchen. “What happened? I mean about Gabby.”

I pull out a beer and point it towards her.

She shakes her head.

“Gabby’s caseworker heard about the arrest, and despite it being a misunderstanding, she still wants to fuckin’ hash it out.”

“Where?” She asks as she looks around. “Here?”

“Of course not. Family services. Somewhere neutral.”

“So not at Erin’s.”

“No.” I look down at my beer. “Erin’s been good about this, on board with me gettin’ weekend custody. I mean, I saw this shit coming, because the caseworker is a cunt, but for Erin to call instead of Trula seems out of character.”

She flinches and I replay what I just said in my head. Cunt. That’s it. I almost apologize for my crudeness, but I can’t promise her it won’t slip out again.

I wait for her to challenge me like she did Hangman yesterday, but instead, she says, “I could come with you and explain.”

My eyebrows shoot up. “Are you kidding me? Do you realize I’ve known you less than 24 hours and during that time you got me arrested, broke into my house, and stole my door.”

She looks at me with wide eyes and I tighten the grip on my beer bottle to stop myself from wrapping my arms around her and kissing her breathless.

“It does sound like a lot. But no one knows about the other stuff, only the arrest.”

“Which is the shit part.”

“Where’s my beer?” Rider calls at the same time my phone rings. It’s Meredith Luther, my advocate.

I pass the beer to Stella. “Give it to Rider,” I say.

She nods and leaves.

“So,” Meredith starts. “Why am I the last to know you were arrested yesterday?”

“Shit was going down that I had to handle, then I forgot to call.”

“Good to know where your priorities are.” Meredith’s intense and bitchy, but that’s what makes her so good.

“You fuckin’ know where my priorities are. Besides, I didn’t know Erin and Trula were gonna fuck me over until this morning.”

“You should have seen it coming when you got arrested.”

I switch to speaker and set the phone on the counter so I don’t crush it out of frustration. “I did fuckin’ see it coming, but I couldn’t stop it from happening.”

Stella steps into the kitchen and I wave her out, but she shakes her head. “It’s my fault,” she says to the phone.

“Who the hell are you?” Meredith snaps.

“Uh. Stella.”

“Who the hell is she?” Meredith says to me.

“She’s the fuckin’ reason I got arrested.”

“Would someone please explain what’s going on?”

“Nothin’,” I growl. “Stella’s not involved.” I seriously don’t want Stella at the meeting. Who knows what the fuck she might do?

Stella ignores me. “It started because there was a spider in my hair.” She goes on to tell the rest of story while I stare stonily at her. She finishes by adding breathlessly, “I could come with Lachlan and explain what really happened. Would that help?”

Meredith says yes at the same time I say no.

“No.” I repeat loudly. “This is my problem. I don’t want Stella there.”

“This is all of our problem, and if we have Stella there explaining, it will add some credence to the story and having a girlfriend might give the appearance of stability.”

Is she kidding? “She’s a kid. That’s not stability, it’s underage soliciting.”

Stella’s face falls. “I’m not a kid. I’m 20 years old. You’re not that much older.”

“In years, sure, but I’ve had a life outside of dorm rooms and basketball.”

“What the hell are you two talking about?” Meredith interrupts.

“I’m a NCAA athlete and working towards an Arts degree at the University of Nevada. Clearly, I’m disciplined and reasonably intelligent.” She takes a pause as she glares at me. “I’m also almost six feet tall and in very good shape.”

“What the fuck has that got to do with it?” I say.

Meredith sounds exasperated. “What she’s saying, you obtuse asshole, is that she fits well with you. You’ll look like a couple, not a circus sideshow.”

“We’re not a couple.”

“You two bicker like you are. You don’t have to tell them you’ve only known each other days. You don’t lie, you omit. Say you’re in a stable relationship. Sidestep any questions about how long, or answer coming sideways at it.”

“I don’t even know what that means.”

“It means that we can say something like we’ve known each other since you moved into the neighborhood,” Stella says to me. “Which is true. I didn’t know you before you moved here and even if we’ve only just met it’s still since you moved here.”

I can’t decide if these women are more logical than me or off their meds. Frankly it probably doesn’t matter, because I’m not gonna win this argument.

I try to picture Stella in the meeting room, think of what she could possibly do or say that would fuck me over. “Fine,” I growl. “But this better not turn into a shit show.” I’m speaking to Stella, but Meredith takes offence.

“Nothing I do turns into a shitshow.”

“I’m not talkin’ to you,” I say with irritation. “I know you got my back.”

“Good. Drive your car and not your bike. And dress like you give a damn. You too, Stella.”

“I don’t own a bike,” Stella replies.

I can almost hear Meredith roll her eyes. “You two are made for each other.”