Page 32 of Drax (Iron Thunder MC 3)
Drax was thinking. He was silent for a few moments and then I heard him grunt an approval.
“Okay, give me a minute. I’ll call Ghost and let him know. You have a nice day out but be fuckin’ careful, okay?”
I was too delighted to contain my excitement and I made sure he knew exactly how happy he made me.* * *I decided to meet Jackie at the usual cafe near the studio space I’d recently purchased. She came running in when she saw me sitting at our regular table.
“Mary-Beth, where the hell have you been?”
I stood up so we could hug. Jackie was my closest friend and now she was also going to be my business partner. At Drax’s insistence, I’d only kept in bare-minimum contact with her these past two weeks and I could see she was worried.
“Sorry, hon, there’s a lot of stuff going on right now.”
“Stuff? What stuff?”
“With my brother and Drax…”
“Drax? How is he involved in all this? Have you been seeing him again?”
I licked my lips nervously. I wasn’t sure what Jackie would say about him. I knew she had completely taken my side when Drax and I broke up. And all this while, I’d avoided speaking about him because discussing him made me sad. So I didn’t know what she thought of him.
“Yes. I’ve moved in with him again.”
“What!” she squealed.
“Shhh…keep your voice down. I’m trying not to attract attention,” I whispered. I looked over my shoulder, out of the window and saw the Iron Thunder prospect across the street. He had already instructed me to sit by a window where he could keep an eye on me.
Jackie saw my reaction and looked even more worried now.
“Do you want to tell me what’s going on exactly? You’re acting way too suspicious.”
I sighed and pressed my eyes closed for a moment.
“It’s kinda complicated and it’ll take a while to explain, but in summary, Drax is trying to keep me safe. From my own brother. I don’t know what’s happening with Crash, but he’s started acting a little crazy lately.”
Jackie was watching me intently, but she wasn’t saying much.
“What?” I urged her and she shifted in her seat. “Tell me what’s on your mind, Jackie!”
She waited a beat and then looked down at her hands.
“Well, I didn’t want to tell you because I thought you’d feel bad. I know you love your brother and you’re protective of your family…”
“Jackie, come on, just tell me already!”
“Well everyone is scared.”
“Everyone?” I asked.
“You know, people in the neighborhood. The community…Crash and his goons have been acting like jerks lately. Totally unreliable. Extorting money and beating up people they were supposed to look out for.”
I could feel my stomach tightening. I was embarrassed and angry.
“Why didn’t you tell me this sooner?” I snapped at her. And there I was…blaming Drax for starting a fight with Crash.
Jackie shrugged. “I didn’t know whose side you were on, Mary-Beth,” she said.
I shook my head; this was unbelievable. Jackie and I had grown up together. I thought she knew me. “I’m on the side of justice,” I replied.* * *After my short catch-up with Jackie, I decided to go to Fifth Element and see how things were going there. I didn’t know if Drax was going to be there, but either way, I wanted to start trying to get comfortable around the Clubhouse.
I knew most of the guys there weren’t too happy about us getting back together, but I wanted them to see that things were different now between us. We were both calmer and more mature, besides, we’d discovered how good we were together. The time we spent apart had given us a new perspective on our relationship.
The prospect followed me all the way to the Clubhouse and when I finally walked through the doors, I was tempted to go look for Drax and point out the fact that nothing had happened to me yet! Maybe Crash had better things to do right now rather than hunt me down and punish me—the way Drax thought he was going to do.
The Clubhouse wasn’t too busy. It was still early enough in the day and the guys were out conducting business.
The ones who were there looked up at me as I made my way toward the bar area. But nobody said anything, nobody approached me directly.
Sophie was at the bar as usual. We used to be friendly before the breakup, but I wasn’t sure if she was happy to see me again. Besides, I didn’t want the lowdown on how many chicks Drax had banged in my absence. I was sure Sophie kept count. She knew everything about everyone around this place.
The two new girls were there too. Bolt and Flash’s women.
They were all chatting but stopped when I walked up to them.
“Hi, Mary-Beth, how are you?” Sophie asked.
