Page 9 of Jake's Angel

It’s time to enjoy the finer things indeed.

CHAPTER THREE

JAKE

“Asshole is calling! Asshole is calling!”My phone screeches loudly from my pants, where they lie on the floor in my old bedroom. We got in late last night and I knew I’d have to be into the tattoo shop early to set up for my day. My parents’ place is closer to town. I knew Pop wasn’t there, so I spent the night at the house with Mom. She didn’t mind. She loves it when I crash there. Besides, she was up watching mindless tv alone anyway.

Game of Thrones.

Mom’s a huge fan of the series. I have to admit, hearing her get pissed off at some of the characters was the main reason I sat through a couple of episodes with her. At one point she went so far as to take her spoon out of her Rocky Road ice cream, point it at the television and say, “I’d gut that motherfucker starting from his cock to his throat for the evil shit he’s done to that girl.” The conviction in her voice led me to believe her.

My reply to her outburst wasn’t what she expected. “I think I understand how you managed to fall in love with and marry the club’s Enforcer. I have to tell you, it’s a little scary how alike thetwo of you think. But I don’t think Pop would let the guy off so easily” She didn’t miss a beat. In fact, she shocked the shit out of me with her response.

“You’re right. Your father would string him up naked, cut off one piece of his body each day, while leaving him to hang out in the freezing cold.He’d keep going until either the poor bastard bled out or froze to death. He wouldn’t make it as quick as I would. I prefer to get rid of my problems quickly. Your father, well, he likes to play with his prey. He gets off on watching the life drain from their eyes.”

The way she said it so nonchalantly left me speechless. She must’ve realized what she’d said was pretty messed up because she giggled, then winked at me, giving me her bestwhat did I saysmile. Like she didn’t know why my jaw dropped.Not that what she said wasn’t accurate, but it was still fucked-up.

I wasn’t sure if I wanted to know how she came to her conclusions. Women aren’t supposed to know about the horrific shit we sometimes have to deal with orhowwe deal with it. It’s club business.

I opted to stay in my old room instead of on the couch for the night. I have my own place out by the lake. Moved out when I was nineteen. Even so, Mom refuses to change my room, which is a good thing, though I wish she would get a bigger bed. I’m not exactly twin sized anymore.

Since Pop and Jayde are gone all the time and I don’t like the idea of Mom being alone so much, I spend whatever time I can here. Of course, she complains about my visits like it’s a hardship for her to share her space and her food, but we both know she’s full of shit.

I pick up my still ringing phone and answer, my voice still groggy from sleep.

“What do you want now, Dipshit?” I changed Hawk’s ringtone after my little mishap the other day, so I’d be sure not to confuse the sound with my alarm again.

“Pres is calling church. Told me to get the word out.”

“What’s going on?”

“Not sure, but whatever it is has the Pres on edge.”

“How soon?”

“He said one p.m.” It’s only ten thirty now. “We’ve got time to go grab a bite at Magpie’s if you’re hungry,” he offers.

“Yeah, all right. Let me get dressed. I can meet you there in twenty,” I tell him.

“Hey.” He stops me short of hanging up. Hawk asks, “Is Sadie there with you?”

I lay back on the bed, throwing an arm over my face. “I don’t make a habit of taking Sadie to bed with me, you sick fuck.”

“No, motherfucker. I mean, is she at your mom’s house?”

“No. Why?”

“Well, do you know where she is? Her phone shows she’s at the clubhouse with Loretta. Her car is there, but she’s not,” he says, sounding more pissed than concerned.

I let out a long sigh. “You seriously need to stop tracking her all the time, man. This shit’s getting to be an obsession.” Hawk has always been extremely protective of Sadie. Since she was just a little girl and he was old enough to fuck around on a computer, he’s had ways of keeping tabs on her. Of course, she always finds out and gets even with him for it. He says he’s just trying to watch over her because she tends to do stupid shit and get herself into trouble. An accurate account of her behavior, unfortunately, but I still think he’s doing it for his own personal reasons, and one day it’s going to bite him in the ass.

Shrugging to myself as I scrub one hand down my face, I let him know the only information I have. “Last time I saw her was when she rode out of the clubhouse parking lot with Jayde,flipping you the bird. Haven’t heard from her since. But that’s not unusual.”

“Yeah, but when have you ever known Sadie to be without her phone?” He asks. “To be without her car is rare, but it happens when she needs maintenance done. She never came to pick up the car when it was done. The guys at the shop tried to call her and found her phone ringing in the Challenger’s floorboard.”

That is odd.

“Fuck. I remember Mom saying Sadie was planning on staying with Jayde for the weekend. She was supposed to go back to Baron’s Edge to get her diploma and some other shit from Pop’s place there. Maybe she’s using Jayde’s phone for now,” I offer as a solution, but I know it’s bullshit. I can tell by his dramatic sigh; Hawk isn’t buying it either. “Or maybe she’s playing games on her computer, too busy to care about missing her phone.”

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