Moving to You (Rolling Thunder Book 5) Page 3

  “Oakes, did you scrape this whole building?” JT stepped back and looked at the front. Now he could see what it was, the paint had been scraped off for re-painting. But then the decks and sidewalks neatly swept afterward so the entrance would be clean.

  “No. Kayden did all but this side the last few days. I just couldn’t stand having her do this hard work, taking care of the bar, the house you’re all staying in, and me. Plus, she has Dakota.”

  “Why don’t you hire someone to do this? Neither of you should be doing any of this.”

  Oakes’ lips formed a straight line as he ran a hand through his short gray hair. Pulling the dirty bandana out of his back pocket, he wiped it across his face, head, and neck.

  “Can’t afford it right now, JT.”

  JT turned and leaned against the wall next to Oakes. He looked at the paint chips on the ground, all the shapes and colors blending together reminded him of a kaleidoscope. He toed a few of them with his boot, trying to organize his thoughts.

  “What’s going on, Oakes? Last time we were here this place was hopping. Kayden was off in New York or something, but you were able to pay for a couple full-time bartenders and cooks and waitresses. Now, the place was almost empty when we got here today, and it sounds like you and Kayden are both here at all hours.”

  Oakes sighed heavily. “We’ve just run into a bit of a tough patch; that’s all.” He stood up and walked a few steps to pick up the broom and start sweeping. “It’ll get better. We’ll paint and spit shine this place back up, and then, once she gets running good again, I’ll leave it to Kayden, and I’ll retire.”

  JT watched Oakes sweep. He couldn’t help it; he had to ask. “She wants that?”

  Oakes looked at him with furrowed brows. “Sure.”

  JT stood and reached for the broom. “I’ll do this; why don’t you go shower before Dad gets here. They’ll be down soon.”

  Oakes opened his mouth to protest, but JT ignored him and began sweeping. Oakes slapped him gently on the shoulder and slowly hobbled to the back of the bar to his living quarters.

  .

  5

  JT finished sweeping the paint chips from the side deck of the bar. This place held fond memories for him. Thinking back on it, he thought it weird that he never met Kayden all the times he had come here. She was off staying with someone the first time they came here. The last few times they made the trip out, she was in college, and then she’d gotten a job in New York. Some big fashion outfit or something. Now that he thought about it, Oakes had mentioned his daughter a few times, but JT was just always lost in his own world, dreaming about designing bikes.

  He carried the broom to the back and set it against the wall between the two back doors. One door led to the kitchen of the bar, the other to Oakes’ living quarters. JT hesitated, not sure if he should knock and make sure Oakes was okay. Rubbing the back of his neck, he rotated his head to ease the tension. This place had fallen on hard times, and still, Oakes wanted to leave it to Kayden? Why saddle her with a bar that would take all of her time running it? No way would he want that.

  He turned and faced the garage. Noting the white paint and gray tin roof, it looked to be in decent shape. The two garage doors facing the side road were newer, the windows set in the doors were clean. There wasn’t an outside staircase, which meant it was inside the garage. It would be safer inside, making sure no one wandered from the bar late at night and stumbled upstairs. There were plenty of windows in the upper part of the garage; he imagined the apartment would be bright and cheery. He smiled, remembering Dakota telling him about her pink room.

  JT turned and walked around the opposite side of the bar from where Oakes had been working and noticed the wood ready for a fresh coat of paint. He shook his head as the picnic tables came into view with their little flower jars gracing the tops. There were so many unanswered questions here. Opening the door of the bar, the strains of Tennessee Whiskey by Chris Stapleton floated over him along with the cool air from the air conditioning. There she stood behind the bar, thumbs in her back pockets, breasts pushed out. She was watching him. Assessing him. The music system softly crooned the slow, sultry song, and he thought he saw her smile. Damn. His heart began racing, and he honestly couldn’t say if anyone else was in the bar because all he could see was her. The first word that came to mind to describe her was ‘Angel.' The soft light touching her hair gave the effect of a celestial glow

  She had changed her tank top from earlier today. She was now wearing a little burgundy and black lace Harley Davidson t-shirt, which also hugged her body in the most delicious way. As he slowly approached the bar, she cocked her head to the side, and damn, if her eyes didn’t get darker.

  He pulled up a stool, and she took a step forward, placed both hands on the side rail of the bar and asked, “What can I do for you, JT?”

  Her voice slid over him like a t-shirt fresh from the dryer and gooseflesh formed on his arms. He swallowed—he had to—before saying anything. That was a loaded question, and he wasn’t sure if he should take the bait and tell her exactly what he wanted – her bent over the bar, ass in the air and him pounding into her until they were both spent—or just order a drink. When he hesitated, she smirked. The little vixen was teasing him.

  “You may just get what you’re bargaining for talking like that to me, girl.” He paused. “If you play your cards right.” He looked directly into her eyes and winked, but she didn’t flinch. Chuckling, he said, “I’ll have a beer. You pick. I’m easy.”

  She started laughing, a sexy, throaty sound, turned and grabbed a beer from the cooler, opened it, and set it on a coaster in front of him. Smiling brightly, she teased, “I had you pegged for easy this afternoon when I first saw you.”

  JT smiled, tipped his beer back and let the it slide down his throat. Swallowing, he asked, “That right? How so?”

  Kayden shrugged. “You give off that vibe. I’ve been in the bar business long enough to read people. Love ‘em and leave ‘em, right?”

  “What about you? You love ‘em and leave ‘em?” he shot back.

  She smiled and tucked her thumbs into her front pockets. “You didn’t answer me yet.”

  JT nodded once; she had a point. “I haven’t found anyone who interests me enough to keep me around.”

  “Hmm. What interests you? Have to have the perfect body? Perfect face? Laugh at all your jokes? Worship the earth you walk on?”

  JT raised his eyebrows. “Didn’t say that. I said interests me. Someone with some substance, a brain, responsible, dependable.” He watched her face as he spoke. She had a poker face for sure. “Of course, a perfect body is always appreciated.” His face split into a big grin, and she chuckled.

  She reached forward and filled a glass with white soda. “I can appreciate a perfect body myself.”

  The sultry tones of Chris Stapleton’s song drifted away, and the stereo system switched to “It’s All About That Bass” and they both chuckled.

  Oakes walked behind the bar from the kitchen, hair still wet from his shower, but his color had come back to normal, and he looked like he felt a bit better. “Glad you’re still here, JT. Let me buy you a beer for sweeping up outside. I appreciate it.”

  Kayden looked at JT and raised her eyebrows. “You were sweeping outside?”

  JT only nodded once, waiting to see what Oakes was willing to share with Kayden.

  Oakes interrupted, “How’s everything in here? Are we all ready for a crowd for dinner?” He pulled another beer out of the cooler and opened it up. As he set it on the bar in front of JT, he didn’t look at him—just turned and busied himself with some notes on the back bar.

  Kayden crossed her arms as her father turned his back to her and JT. She stepped back and leaned against the back bar, looking over at her father. “Yep. Are you ready?” She watched his face for a long time.

  6

  The rumble of motorcycles outside signaled the end of the conversation.

  A beautiful blonde woman
came in, a huge smile on her face and her hair a bit wild. She was laughing and stopped behind JT. Kayden recognized her as Emma, JT’s future sister-in-law. She grabbed his shoulders and pulled him around facing her; her brown eyes were bright, and excitement was running through her body.

  “JT, you missed it. We saw a mountain lion on the rocks right across from the house. We all took some pictures. Oh my God, you should have seen how awesome it was.”

  The rest of the group joined Emma in the bar, all talking excitedly about the big cat. JT laughed with his family and looked at the pictures Molly showed him. Kayden wondered what it would be like having a big family. She was an only child, and it was a tough childhood at that. Her mom didn’t want children—ever. She ended up pregnant anyway, and Oakes was still in the service, home only periodically. Kayden spent her childhood constantly trying to please a woman who couldn’t be pleased. When Oakes came home from the war in Iraq, he was distant, stressed, and tired. Kayden was three or four by that time, and Oakes had all but checked out.

  Watching the family before her made her feel wistful. She wanted Dakota to have that—a big happy group of people who loved her. No one would ever love her more than Kayden and Oakes, but she wanted her to know a life better than what Kayden had known. And truthfully, when she watched how comfortable JT was in the midst of his family, she felt a little jealous. He seemed to get along especially well with Emma, which was weird that Kayden felt anything about that, but it irritated her when she watched the two of them talk. She looked over at Gunnar, who was standing next to Emma and seemed relaxed and comfortable.

  Oakes looked at Kayden and let out a whistle. She quickly turned and noticed that he was hustling beers for everyone, and she was standing there gawking. She approached Emma and Gunnar. “What can I get you two to drink?”

  Emma smiled at Kayden—a genuine smile. “Did you see these pictures, Kayden?” She quickly held the camera over the bar and showed Kayden the proud mountain lion, perched up on the rocks watching below.

  “Wow, she’s beautiful. You’re lucky. We’ve been hearing about her for a couple of weeks now, but haven’t had the opportunity to see her.”

  As suppertime turned into night, the Rolling Thunder group drank and livened the place up. OK Leathers Saloon hadn’t been that full in a very long time, and it was a sight to behold. Kayden had watched them during supper. Oh, who was she kidding; she watched JT during supper and noticed that he was often looking at her. He sat at the end of the table directly facing the bar. She wondered if it was so he could watch her. Whatever the reason, she was glad he did. She rather enjoyed it.

  The group stood from the tables and moved over to the bar and Kayden and Jess, their part-time helper, quickly began cleaning up the dishes and tables. Jess hauled the big bus tub back to the kitchen as Kayden wiped the tables down with a wet cloth. She busied herself separating the tables they had pushed together to accommodate the large group and rearranged the chairs. A few more patrons had come in for supper and drinks; a full parking lot will do that. Kayden checked on them to see if there was anything else they needed.

  A loud crack signaling the door hitting the wall made her jump, and then the cold dread filled her body; the tiny hairs stood on the back of her neck. The Devils must have seen the full parking lot too and came in to make trouble. Again.

  Kayden continued to make sure her guests were taken care of, prolonging the inevitable. Strong arms grabbed her from behind and pulled her into a slightly flabby stomach. The stench of old cigarette smoke and unbrushed teeth assaulted her nose and the arm holding her gave her a little squeeze as the other Devils came in and started yelling. “You all get on out now; this here’s our bar, and we don’t like strangers and outsiders in here.”

  A meek couple on the far side of the restaurant stood to go, but Oakes came around the bar and stood in front of them. JT and his family all turned and the men stood. Dog walked over to Oakes, but he kept his eyes on Joci. He pointed to the kitchen and nodded. She gathered the girls, and they all stood close to each other, waiting to see what would happen.

  The Devil holding her grabbed Kayden’s chin from behind and tried to turn her face toward his, but she resisted. He kissed her on the cheek loudly and then laughed from deep in his gut. Kayden jerked her head and pushed away from him. He let her go easy enough. She rounded on him. “Get the fuck out of here, Boon. You aren’t welcome here; we told you that this afternoon. Get!”

  She was shaking from head to toe. Her knees would have knocked together if she wasn’t so stiff with fear. Her hair prickled and her stomach soured with bile. She couldn’t let the stress from these guys throw her right back into the hospital. With the bike rally going on this week, these little visits were happening more often. She suspected that now that Rog was going away, they would continue. Rog was good for something, but that was about it.

  The Devils snickered at her. Boon stepped closer to her, but Oakes moved forward, and Boon stopped. He flicked a look at Oakes, then back to Kayden. She balled her fists and held her ground—her chin out, her back rigid. Kayden swallowed and then found courage. “This is not your bar. These are our customers, and you will not continue to chase people away from here. You hear me? It’s ours.”

  Boon laughed. He looked back and the other Devils, all in torn jeans and black leather vests with a myriad of patches signifying one office or another, all joined in laughing as if Kayden had told the funniest joke ever.

  JT had had enough of these jerks long before Boon took a step forward. One stride had JT between Boon and Kayden. Lucky for JT they were the same height, Boon was heavier, but JT would bet he was the stronger of them. Boon definitely smelled worse. He straightened his back, pushing his chest out a bit, ground his teeth together, wrinkled his nose and waited to see how this would shake out. Boon stared at him for what felt like ten minutes; the sweat was already forming and trickling down JT’s back, and his shoulders were beginning to ache from the tension. The bar was dead silent, even the hum from the beer coolers could be heard.

  Boon finally broke the silence. “Aww, look here boys, Kayden’s got herself a boyfriend. He’s going to defend her honor. Isn’t that sweet?” Sarcasm dripped.

  Some of the Devils chuckled, but most of them were poised to fight if this went that way. JT continued to stare directly at Boon, his teeth ground together to the point that his jaw ached. He sensed his brothers stepping closer, then his dad stepped alongside JT and directed his comments at Boon. “This bar belongs to the Leathers. It appears you’ve been making yourself a nuisance. We don’t want any trouble, but we’re also not going to back away from it.”

  Boon looked up into Jeremiah’s eyes and smirked. “That so?”

  The Devils, who had been standing closer to the door, slowly stepped into the bar. The tension in the room was palpable, the heat intense. Jeremiah only nodded once. Boon’s eyes shifted from Jeremiah to JT. He floated his gaze over Gunnar and Ryder then Oakes. The remaining Rolling Thunder group who were along closed ranks. Frog and Chase stepped behind the Devils, the other three closing in and completing the circle. JT quickly calculated six Devils and ten of them. They’d be okay.

  Boon took a step backward and chuckled. “Well, boys, why don’t we leave the Leathers to their guests?”

  He took another step backward, and Kayden stepped out from behind JT. That’s when JT noticed Kayden had grabbed the back of his shirt. He hadn’t felt it before since he was a bit stressed himself, but now, the feel of her hand even knotted up in his shirt felt fabulous. He looked down at her set jaw, the tremble of her lips caught his attention then he saw something in the depths of those hazel eyes that hit him harder than if Boon would have punched him in the stomach—fear. She was afraid, genuinely afraid of these men.

  JT turned to Boon, narrowed his eyes and growled. “Get the fuck out of here now!”

  Boon smirked. It was sickening the way he looked at Kayden. “We’ll be going for now. But, we’ll be watching and waiting, and when
lover-boy here is gone back to Wisconsin, we’ll be back.” He let out a sinister laugh, and Kayden shivered slightly, the hand still holding JT’s shirt tightened as the Devil’s slowly exited the bar. The two Rolling Thunder employees, Chase and Frog, followed them outside to watch and make sure they didn’t do anything to any of the vehicles in the parking lot.

  JT heard Oakes let out a long breath and slowly walk back behind the bar, his shoulders slightly slumped. Dog and the men followed him and joined the women. Kayden stood frozen for a second longer and then let go. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to wrinkle your…”

  “Don’t worry about it, Kayden. Are you okay?”

  JT turned and looked into her eyes. She looked up at him, and he saw the shiny glaze of tears threatening. He reached up and touched her cheek with the backs of his fingers and softly stroked her cheek.

  Kayden swallowed and then quickly stepped back, wiping her hands on the back of her jeans. She softly said, “Um, yeah, I’m good. Let’s get something to drink.” She quickly walked back to the bar and stepped around behind it. Oakes walked over to her and gave her a hug. JT watched him whisper something in her ear, and she nodded.

  7

  “Oakes, you need to tell me what’s going on here.” Dog leaned against the bar, one elbow on the edge. His long hair was pulled into the ponytail he often wore, his build broad and strong; even though you could tell he was in his forties, he held himself well.

  Oakes walked to the end of the bar and stood across from Dog, JT, Gunnar, and Ryder. The others were close by, talking softly, the additional customers asking Kayden to check them out so they could leave. Her soft murmurings of apology tightened JT’s stomach. Oakes looked over at Kayden and watched her.