Page 1 of Slice

Prologue- Five Hours Ago

Gabriel “Slice” Willard pulled up to the address for his next Santa’s Slay MC delivery. Who knew that the Bluff Creek Brotherhood MC had a secret MC that was only active on Christmas Eve? You could have knocked him over with a feather, which was saying something because he was a big guy, when his MC President asked them to be a part of the secret MC and take vows to bring hope to others. The last vow to embody love to those you meet, and if there is something you see needed while there, promise to help in whatever situation is required, had Slice fighting tears when he answered, “I so vow.”

The enormity of what they were undertaking cemented his feeling of belonging to the brotherhood. He’d come to love his brothers at Bluff Creek over the six months he’d been at the compound. He and Cruise, his best friend, had been the only surviving members of their team who’d been ambushed. Slice didn’t think he’d ever get over the feeling of helplessness he’d experienced. He’d been injured, and so had Cruise, cut off fromthe rest of their team, who’d tried to take cover across the street in an abandoned building.

Slice would never know why he and Cruise were saved and their building wasn’t shelled. The other building had been hit with howitzer mortar, and none of his team had survived. He and Cruise had recovered from their injuries but were medically retired. Slice’s hearing in his left ear was damaged enough that he couldn’t serve. But Slice would have gotten out when his time was done anyway. Losing the rest of the men he’d served with for years had left him a shell of the man he was. After they’d returned stateside, they’d gotten their bikes that had been stored and cared for at a dealership near the base and taken off. With only the clothes on their backs and some items in their saddlebags, they’d ridden wherever the road led them with no destination in mind.

Slice would always consider it fate that they’d been aimlessly riding across the United States when they’d received the call from War and Bear. War and Bear had been on an early team that they’d served with years ago. An invitation to the Bluff Creek Brotherhood MC had changed their path, and when Slice and Cruise had said they’d stay, the brotherhood had given them a place to call home.

Slice got off his bike and picked up his red sack full of presents along with the address for Apartment B. He wondered why Bear and Winnie were here too, because he wasn’t paired with them. He’d normally have someone with him, but Bootstrap had something go wrong with his bike and had to head back to the club’s garage and switch it out. He said he’d text Slice when he had a new bike. Slice had chuckled because he was positive the President of their Texas Chapter wouldn’t ride bitch behind him.

“Slice, are you helping us?” Winnie asked. Slice didn’t say anything but showed her and Bear his address along with Apartment B. Winnie tilted their address toward him andshowed him they were Apartment A. He followed Bear and Winnie up to the door, taking note of a nice, sturdy front porch in need of a little paint but otherwise fine.

Bear knocked on the screen door. A young kid who looked to be between eight and ten answered the door.

“Mom, it’s Santa Claus and his elves,” the kid yelled.

“I told you not to answer the door,” she yelled back, walking up behind him. “Can I help you?” she asked.

“Well, we’re here to deliver to this address with the A. He’s here to deliver Apartment B,” Bear said, indicating Slice.

“Oh, I’m Apartment A, but I haven’t heard anything from Apartment B since I saw him throwing stuff in their car a couple of hours ago. If you want to double-check, the landlord gave me a key to let maintenance workers in,” she said.

“Slice, why don’t you see if anyone answers, and if not, you can get the key. We’ll bring in your stuff,” Winnie said, following the woman into the apartment.

Slice listened to the lush, beautiful woman who answered the door explain that Slice’s address was another apartment in the back of the house. He walked around the house to the entrance to Apartment B. What he’d wanted to do was stay in the house and chat with the woman in Apartment A. Her smile was quick, and it lit up her eyes. The foster kids at her house were lucky to have a woman who smiled as easily as their mom.

And the smell of fresh bread in the house had his stomach growling. He was a sucker for homemade bread and, after coming to Bluff Creek, drowning it in Sandhill Plum jelly. He’d added an extra mile to his daily runs just to be able to eat all the things he enjoyed at Bluff Creek.

He knocked on the door and waited to see if anyone answered. The wind had picked up a little but was still manageable by Kansas standards, but it was dark and cold. He knocked again. He didn’t want the family to miss out on anything just in casethey hadn’t left earlier like the woman had thought. Their porch wasn’t as nice and neat as the woman’s had been. It needed to be painted too, but the woman kept her front porch clean. This porch had food wrappers and debris littered on it.

Slice heard a sound and looked around to see if he could figure out what it was. It almost sounded like a kitten. He bent down by the porch to see if he could hear it better. Having partial hearing loss made him more aware of listening closely with the ear that did have full hearing. It was possible an animal could be underneath the elevated wood porch, but the sound seemed fainter. He walked across the porch, trying to hear the sound again. As he passed in front of the window, the sound seemed to get louder. He leaned his ear against the windowpane. He was positive the sound was coming from inside the house.

Had the family friggin’ gone off and left their animal alone in the house? Some people didn’t need the responsibility of animals. He’d go get the key, and if he had to, he’d take care of the kitten or cat. It was hard to tell what age the animal was from the sound.

He stomped around the house, wishing he had added a heavier sweatshirt under his cut, the night was cooling. He knocked and went into Apartment A.

“No one’s answering, but I think the family left their cat or an animal behind. Can I have the key to go in?” Slice asked the pretty woman.

“Sure. Here it is. I didn’t know they had an animal, though,” she said, wrinkling her forehead.

Bear followed him out. He could always count on his new brothers to have his back.

“What did you hear?” Bear asked.

“Something crying like a kitten, maybe,” Slice said, opening the screen door and sliding the key into the lock. Jiggling the key a little to make it work, he unlocked the door and walked in.The front room was empty, and it didn’t look like the previous occupants had picked up before they left. Bits of paper and strewn clothes littered the front room. The room had a chill, as if the heat had been off for a couple of hours. The place smelled like old food and dirt. Slice had spent time in foster homes where no one cared, and that’s exactly how this house smelled.

He paused to listen for the sound again. If it was a kitten, it could be scared and hiding. Slice could never understand how disposable some people considered pets.

A small cry echoed through the house, and he walked down the hall toward the sound. Maybe in one of the bedrooms or the bathroom. Bear paused and checked the bathroom they walked by as Slice continued back to what he assumed were the bedrooms.

He walked in and paused at what he saw, and then he moved into crisis management. It wasn’t a friggin’ kitten. It was a small naked infant in only a light blanket, lying in the middle of a mattress that had had the sheets stripped off it. He picked up the baby, which he estimated weighed maybe five pounds. Slice could have almost fit the infant in one of his large hands.

He opened his cut to cuddle the child close against his light shirt. The baby was tiny—oh so tiny. He pulled the blanket a little away from the baby’s stomach and saw a wet, slimy umbilical cord clamped with a clothespin. No diaper, just the baby in a completely inadequate blanket left in a chilling house. He wasn’t sure what had happened, but he was helping this child.

He walked out into the hall to Bear.

“I need a blanket or maybe a couple towels. Someone left a newborn baby boy.”

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