“I can do that.” As soon as the last word leaves my mouth, I see Gunner light a match and toss it to the ground. The fire follows the pattern of gasoline, and soon, the night sky is light with a raging inferno.
The men jump in the vehicle, and before I’m able to say a word to any of them, we’re moving at a fast pace.
The drive back to the compound is a quiet one. But it’s one of those situations where nothing needs to be said.
Chapter Nineteen
Shamus
The next morning comes all too quickly. My eyes are heavy and feel as if they’ve been scrubbed with sandpaper. They’re gritty and dry, making it hard to hold them open for long periods of time. I can hear Star and Ella breathing deeply in the room with me, but I know there’s a lot to get done today, so I force myself up and into the shower.
One fucker down, two to go.
I know that Jeremiah has got to be going nuts over the death of Jamie and another missing woman from his stash. This means we need to be on high alert, well, higher alert anyways. Jeremiah is a fucking unhinged piece of shit right now; when you dive into a man’s income stream and take a large chunk of it away, there’s no telling how a human is gonna react to that.
And yet, I’ve taken four people from him. That is gonna put a huge target on the club’s back alone. Add, taking Jamie away from him, and it’s a disaster waiting to happen. I’m not sure of the complexity where it pertains to the business relationship that was between Jeremiah and Jamie. Hell, no one knows, not even the women. But I’m pretty damn sure we just nipped the bud on his biggest supporter.
Pops and his men decimated the tribe last night. There were only five small children living on the reservation, and they took them with them. Pops plans on finding them good, loving homes. Ones to where they won’t grow up learning and living this damn prophecy and continuing on with what should’ve been a tribe against tribe dispute. I am still having a hard time comprehending how one man’s hatred of another, and how he supposedly tainted their blood line, could’ve caused such hatred and need for taking the life of an innocent woman.
That medicine man was the one who needed to be dealt with a long time ago.
Unfortunately, he was allowed to live his life out doling out lies and vicious words in order to pay back a man for marrying a white woman. But, the stupid fucker was right about one thing, Cameron was the end of their line. Just not in the way he foresaw. It was he who did that in the end.
My mind moves to another topic. Star and I need a home. A real house to raise Ella in. Living in the clubhouse was fine for me when I was a single man, but now I have a family, and Ella needs space. Her own room, she needs a yard to play in and run wild. I want her and Star to know that they have a place just for them. A place we can unwind and eat a meal together.
Country, Charlee and Hunter all live in Ma and Pops’ old place, they gifted it to them the day they married. Gunner, Cameron and Mane have recently acquired a place only three houses down from those two. It’s only a five-minute drive from their homes to the compound, I’m thinking I should start looking in their neighborhood so that Ella can grow up with her cousins and Star can have friends close by.
Kruger is having a home built on the back forty of the clubhouse. He’s a protective motherfucker and refuses to allow his family to live outside of the protection of the men. I’d actually contemplated doing the same thing, but I don’t want Star to ever feel enclosed or imprisoned inside of walls again. So, I vetoed that shit quick like.
“Daddy!” I hear Ella’s voice shout out as I’m stepping out of the shower. I wrap a towel around my waist and hurry from the attached bathroom. Star has her in her arms, bouncing her up and down as tears flow from Ella’s eyes.
“What’s wrong? Did she have a bad dream?” I ask Star as I rush over to the two of them.
“I’m not sure, she just woke up, screamed that one word and started bawling,” Star answers. She has a frown line between her eyes, one filled with motherly concern. “Baby girl, tell Momma what’s wrong?” Ella’s eyes open, and when they land on me, she all but squirms to get out of her mother’s embrace and reaches her arms out for me to take her.
“Daddy,” she cries out again, this time more quietly. It dawns on me that it’s me she’s calling daddy and wants. My eyes grow wet with unshed tears. I’ve always been Mr. Shamus, to earn the title daddy from this angel, has my knees ready to buckle from the intensity of emotions swarming through me.
I begin pacing the bedroom floor with her, cooing and speaking words of safety and protection in her ear. “Did you have a bad dream, princess?”
She nods her head, but doesn’t say a word. Instead, she wraps her arms tighter around my neck and digs her head between the crook.
“You wanna tell us about your dream, Ella?” Star questions, her beautiful eyes filled with a battlefield of mixed emotions.
Ella shakes her head and stays in the same position. Once she’s settled down and her tears dry up, I go and sit on the bed. “It’s all gonna be okay, baby.” I try to ease whatever nightmare
