“Looking forward to it!”
Nineteen
Country
“How’s the new girlfriend?”
“What?”
“Oh, don’t play dumb, brother. You know who I’m talking about.” I smirked at Jagger. “The hot new shrink that’s been coming ’round to see ya.”
The second I mentioned her, his eyes grew fierce, and I knew something was up with him and his new therapist. Jagger wasn’t one to discuss the women in his life. Hell, it was months later before he told us that he’d broken things off with Sadie—the girl he’d been dating before he got locked up. Even then, he didn’t go into much detail, but we all knew why he’d done it. Jagger didn’t want her wasting her life away waiting on him to be released. Needless to say, I was intrigued by his reaction to my comment, so when he didn’t immediately respond, I goaded him even more, “You two had any conjugal visits yet?”
“Did you really come all this way to give me shit about my new therapist?”
“Oh, come on, brother. Don’t be like that.” Menace was sitting next to me in the prison’s meeting room and smiling at Jagger like the Cheshire Cat. He, too, knew there was something up with him and this chick, but he didn’t say a word. Menace just sat there waiting for Jagger to admit he had a thing for her—something we both knew wouldn’t happen. I wasn’t ready to let it go, so I baited him. “I’m just making sure this counselor chick is fulfilling all your therapeutical needs.”
Jagger growled, his tone full of warning. “Country.”
“Okay, okay. I’ll stop fucking around.” It had been several weeks since I’d been able to make it over to the prison, so I was glad to see the fire back in his eyes and figured this new therapist had something to do with it. I knew better than to fuck with him any more than I already had, so I asked, “But in all seriousness, how are things going with her?”
“They’re going.” Jagger shrugged like it wasn’t a big deal. “She’s only coming around, so I can get that stupid parole hearing. Nothing more than that.”
We left that topic alone and spent the next half hour catching him up to speed on everything that had gone down at the Manor. As soon as we were done, Jagger cocked his head and sighed. “Damn, I hate to hear about Jackal.”
“It was a tough loss.”
“I’m sure it was. I hate I wasn’t there to help.”
“Us, too, brother.” Jagger had always been a strong figure in the club. He was very protective of the brotherhood, so his disappointment about not fighting alongside us was understandable. Hell, I would’ve felt the same damn way if I was in his shoes. “You’ll be there next time.”
“I sure as hell hope so.” A smirk crossed Jagger’s face as he leaned closer. “So, you’re seriously hooking up with Billy’s daughter?”
And just like that, the motherfucker had turned the tables on me. I was tempted to give him a smartass answer like he’d given me regarding his counselor friend but decided against it. “More than just hooking up, but yeah. I’m with her.”
“Damn, brother. Billy’s not a man to fuck around with.” He struggled not to laugh. “I mean, seriously. You gotta have balls of steel to get tied up with her.”
“Yeah, I’ve got some pretty impressive balls, but it ain’t like that. Billy’s all right. Besides, I have no plans to piss off the guy. Got a good thing with Kiersten, and I intend to keep it that way.”
“I certainly hope so ’cause if you fuck up, we’ll never find out what he did to ya.”
“No doubt about that.” Menace glanced over at the clock, and when he noticed the time, he said, “I’m sorry to cut it short, but we’ve gotta get back for the run this afternoon.”
“Leaving kind of late, aren’t ya?”
“Just trying to work around the fucking traffic.” Menace stood as he told him, “You know how it is coming in and out of Knoxville.”
“Yeah, I remember.”
Menace and I said our goodbyes to our brother, then turned and headed back through security. Once we’d gathered our things, we made our way out to the parking lot and hopped on our bikes. Before we pulled off, Menace looked over to me. “Jagger seems to be doing all right, don’t ya think?”
“Yeah, brother, I think he’s doing just fine.”
“I’m ready for him to get his ass out of there.”
“You and me both.”
Without saying anything more, Menace turned the key and started his engine. I followed him out of the prison gate and back to the clubhouse. By the time we got there, Hawk and Axel were already loaded up and waiting for us. Just like the time before, we made the run to meet our NC chapter without a hitch and got back just in time for my shift at Stilettos. On most days, the commute between the clubhouse and the Manor wasn’t bad at all, but after driving to Knoxville and back and putting in my hours at the strip club, I knew I’d be wiped. But I didn’t care. I was looking forward to getting home and crawling into bed next to my woman. I held on to that thought as I followed Locke into Stilettos.