Chapter 11: Bull
Jocelyn went back to work today. I hated having her go. If I had my way, she’d stay at home and never work another day in her life. She’d worked long enough supporting herself and Devyn. I wanted her to relax, but I knew she wouldn’t do that. She loved what she did too much to stop. To keep my mind off her, I went to the garage in town to see how things were going. Slash, Ace, and Joker all worked at the garage, and Outlaw managed it for the club. We had two non-members who worked for us. We had enough business to keep us more than busy. I watched as Outlaw worked on a car, changing out the engine.
“What’re you doing here today, Bull?” he asked. “That woman of yours back to work or something?,” he teased. He knew damn well she had. I flipped him off. He just laughed along with the other guys.
“Yeah, laugh it up, assholes. See what you’re like when you find a woman. I’ll see how you feel about her when she’s out of your sight.”
He sobered up. “Hey, Bull. We’re happy as hell you found someone, though I have to admit, I’m surprised. You’ve been single as long as I’ve known you. You might hook up for a night or two with someone, but never like this. We know she has to be special.”
“Damn right she’s special. I haven’t felt like this before. It pains me to say it, but I never felt like this even with Harley’s momma. I loved Kelly, but it felt nothing like what I feel for Jocelyn.”
“Have you told Harley about her yet?” Slash asked.
I shook my head. “No. I plan on telling her. I want to take Jocelyn to Smoke and Everly’s wedding in a few weeks, so, I’ll tell her before I do. I want her to like her and give her a chance. She’s never seen me with a woman. I know it’ll probably be a lot for her to handle, but she’ll have to accept it. I have no intention of letting Jocelyn go.”
Ace nodded his head. “I wanted to take Devyn with me to the wedding too. It’ll be good if they both go.”
I looked at him. “What’s the deal with you two? I know I haven’t said much, but you know Devyn isn’t someone you just casually hook up with and then dump. You’re young, Ace. Don’t settle if you’re not sure and don’t lead her on. Otherwise, I’ll have to kick your ass if you hurt her,” I warned him. I didn’t want to have him cause strife between my club and my woman.
He scowled. “You don’t need to warn me, Pres. You told me not to start anything with her unless I was serious. Well, I’m serious. I know she’s young, but she’s mature beyond her age. She makes me want to be better.”
“Do you plan on going the whole way with this relationship?”
“I believe it will. I love her even though we’ve only known each other a short while. I just know. Like you know with Jocelyn.” He gave me a penetrating look. I nodded.
“Are you planning to make her your old lady soon?”
“Yeah, when the time is right. I just want to make it special.”
From there the conversation went on to other topics. One of them was The Dark Angel’s move. The renovations would be complete on the new place in a month or so. I looked across the way to the current location. It was just up and across the street from the garage. Even early as it was, the place was busy. I needed to get Jocelyn to talk to the woman she thought was perfect to run the bakery. If everything went as planned, I wanted the bakery to be up and open within three months. Making a mental note to talk to her about it, I checked to be sure no one was around listening.
“We need to find out who in the hell broke into Jocelyn’s house. The motherfucker will not get away with it. As soon as we find him, he’s dead.” They all nodded.
Demon and Maverick came moseying up as I spoke. Demon was the one to interject, “We’ll find him, Pres. Do you have any idea if she has any enemies? Someone she hurt or rejected. It’s always possible it was a stranger, but it seems a little too aggressive to be that. What about Devyn’s dad?”
I thought hard. “Devyn’s dad hasn’t been around since she found out she was pregnant. I don’t think it’s him. As for her hurting anyone, you know her. She’d never intentionally hurt someone. Now, as for her rejecting someone, I could see that. She’s beautiful and men have asked her out a lot and she’s always said no. If I had to guess at anyone, I would say that creep she works with. He got a little handsy with her a couple of weeks ago.”
They all frowned. “What guy?” Demon asked.
“There is a lawyer at Lloyd’s office, Jonathan Burk. He’s been coming onto her for a year and asking her out. She keeps telling him no. After he saw me with her at the office one day, he got a little pissed and kissed her. She bit him and stomped on his foot. But if it was him, why wait to do something? Why now? I’ll get Outlaw to see what he can find on him.” Outlaw had left for the clubhouse already. A part of me wanted it to be Burk, so I could get him totally out of the picture. I wasn’t ruling him out, but I didn’t know how to prove it was him.
Looking at the time, I decided to go over to the Angel and grab Jocelyn some lunch. I told the guys I’d see them later and went across the street. I made it to her office with our lunch, just before one o’clock. She’d told me she liked to take her lunch around then since it was after the receptionist came back from her break. I stepped into the office. Meg greeted me. I recalled her name from my prior stop. I held up the bag. She smiled and pointed toward Jocelyn’s office. I headed straight there. I was almost to her door when I heard her strained voice.
“Listen, Jonathan, I’ve told you. I’m not interested in going out with you. I’m with someone. Please, you need to stop asking and brushing up against me. If you don’t, I will have to tell Lloyd about your behavior.” I was proud to hear she was thinking of telling Lloyd, but pissed that she was having to warn the guy. Again, I waited to hear his response before I showed myself.
“Really, Jocelyn? You can’t be serious about this biker. I know you moved in with him, but what are you thinking? I told you if you’re serious about a career in law, you can’t be with an outlaw. The Warriors are nothing but a bunch of drug dealers, gunrunners, and murderers. You don't want that.” I’d heard worse, so that wasn’t what was pissing me off. It was his ongoing pursuit of her. I peeked around the entrance to her office and cleared my throat. Both of them looked up. She got a look of relief mixed with apprehension on her face. His face showed fear before he schooled his features. I walked in the room.
“Hey, baby, I brought you lunch. Why don’t you take a break?” He looked relieved, like he thought I hadn’t heard them. I then looked at him. “If you bother my woman one more fucking time, they won’t find enough of you to bury. You think we’re a bunch of outlaws, I’ll show you outlaws. Leave her the fuck alone, or you’ll be looking for a job. Lloyd and I go way back. He won’t be happy when I tell him the bullshit you’ve been pulling over the last year with her. Now get the hell out of her office unless you have something work related to discuss.” It pissed him off, but wisely he refrained from saying anything. He scowled at her before walking out of the office, giving me a wide berth. I closed her door behind him.
She got up and ran into my arms. I kissed her. “Nick, honey, you didn’t need to do that. I don’t want him to get pissed at you. I’ve had enough. I plan to talk to Lloyd when he gets back. He’s in court today. Come on, sit down. Thank you for lunch. You didn’t have to do that either.” I took a seat.
“Baby, I did need to do that. I couldn’t care less if he gets pissed at me, it’s time he left you alone. If he doesn’t, then he knows what the consequences are. And I know I didn’t need to bring you lunch, I wanted to. I’ve got to make sure my woman eats. Let’s forget about him and enjoy our lunch.” She nodded. We spent an enjoyable lunch hour just chatting about nothing of consequence. When her time was up, I kissed her and told her I’d see her after work.
On the drive back to the compound, I thought about Jonathan. When I pulled into the parking lot, I went straight to Outlaw’s room and knocked. He yelled for me to come in. He looked surprised when he saw it was me. He was at his desk with several monitors in front of him. “What can I do for you, Pres?”
“I want you to dig into a lawyer named Jonathan Burk. He works with Jocelyn at Lloyd Sanders’ office. He’s been harassing her for a year, and I heard him doing it again today even though he knows she’s moved in with me.” He frowned.
“Do you think he might have been the one to attack her?” he asked. I shrugged.