CHAPTER THREE
Dex stood at the front window of the convenience mart and watched the snow fall. The storm had come hours earlier than forecasted, but otherwise it had come in just as the weather dude had promised: about an hour of sleet, then a shift to snow. Big flakes had been speeding from the heavens for nearly two hours, and there was already about six inches of snow on top of maybe an inch of ice. Beyond the windows, the world had gone dim and quiet. Along the street, Christmas lights glowed through the curtain of falling snow.
It was too early in December to think of this as Christmas snow; even if the cold held and this snow was still on the ground at the end of the month, it would be filthy and bleak by then. But with the shop’s sound system piping in carols and the soft-focus rainbow of twinkling lights all around, Dex felt a touch of holiday spirit nonetheless. The feeling was melancholy, but mostly good. Eased his sore heart a bit.
With accumulation predictions of up to fifteen inches total by tomorrow morning, and it being a Friday, most of Tulsa was shutting down early. Eight had wiped the service schedule for the rest of the day. The station would stay open—their little convenience mart was a major supplier of groceries for their neighbors—but only JJ and Christian were staying on.
They were out in the wrecker now. The city road crews never got around to plowing or salting this neighborhood until it was too late to bother, so back in the day, the Bulls had started taking care of it themselves. They put a plow on the wrecker and dumped salt behind it, and did a pretty decent job clearing several blocks around the compound. Tomorrow, after the storm, Christian and probably Duncan would spend the day doing a fresh circuit with the plow and then shoveling the walks of their elderly neighbors.
As all the other Bulls on shift today had families, Dex had volunteered to watch over the station until Christian and JJ got back.
He didn’t mind. The drive home would be a pain in his ass now or later, and his truck was four-wheel drive. The more snow covering the ice the better, really. Besides, he enjoyed the station like this: peaceful. The storm had brought twilight to the early afternoon, and the station was as decorated for Christmas as the rest of the block. He stood here with the market at his back, the window framed in colorful, twinkling lights, and watched the world go soft and white.
It was a good thing he’d found that little pup this morning. There was no way she’d have survived this weather, and freezing to death was a tough way to go. At least the way she’d gone, she’d been warm.
He sighed, thinking about that baby, and getting pissed at himself again for being such a pussy around Kelsey.
The thought of her conjured a memory of her coming up, leaning against him, setting her hand on his arm as she rose up to kiss his cheek. He brushed his fingers over the spot.
She’d called him Seth; he couldn’t remember the last time someone who didn’t work at the DMV or the VA or some other government office had used his given name. It had sounded strange to his ears.
Since Rad had started calling him Dexter and the rest of the club picked up on it, and then shortened it, Dex had become, in all the realest ways, his name. It was the name sewn onto his kutte. It was even the way he thought of himself.
And for years before that, he’d been ‘Denson’ or ‘Sarge.’ He was still Sarge now. ‘Seth’ was a stranger to him—yet Kelsey using that name, in that moment, had rattled him somehow. As if she’d reached inside him, grabbed hold, and squeezed.
Maybe it was nothing more than surprise that she’d evenknownhis given name. Or maybe it was just her. She’d come close again, touched him again,kissedhim again, told him he was good, and now he was all tangled up.
It would pass, but shit, maybe he needed to go to a different vet clinic. One closer to his house and farther from Kelsey Helm.
But Kelsey was a great vet and treated his dogs as if they were hers, too. She’d treated the pup this morning the same way. Most vets were animal lovers, sure, but he’d never known another vet who hung their heart out in the open like Kelsey did.
He wanted his dogs cared for by someone who loved them.
The phone rang, and Dex went behind the sales counter to answer it. The light for an internal line blinked, so somebody from the clubhouse was calling. He’d thought the clubhouse was empty. “Yeah, Dex here,” he answered.
“It’s Eight.”
“Hey, Prez. What’s up?”
“I need to get home. The wrecker back yet?”
“Not yet. Should be next fifteen-twenty minutes, though.”
“We got four girls who want to stay in the clubhouse tonight. I want Chris and JJ here with them.”
Some of the club sweetbutts first came to the Bulls because they needed to put some big men with a taste for violent justice between them and some other big men with a taste for being violent assholes. Dex didn’t drill down too far in any sweetbutt’s life, and he wasn’t big on gossip, but he figured four girls were staying in the clubhouse during a major winter storm because they didn’t want to get snowed into their real home. Probably because it would be dangerous.
They never left the clubhouse unattended if there were people in it who weren’t patches or immediate family. So the low men on the Bulls roster would have to hang out.
The consolation prize for not being able to go home was having four sweetbutts and a fully stocked bar all to themselves.
“I’ll pass it on.”
“Thanks. You headin’ out when the boys get back?”
“Yeah. Need to get back to my dogs. How’s Bear doing?” Eight and his old lady had adopted a pup for their son’s birthday earlier in the year. He was a lot to handle, and after a few months trying to get control of him themselves, they’d asked Dex to work with their kid and his new dog and get them both trained up right.
“He’s great. Ajax is doing great with him now. Took your lessons to heart.”