The Thunder Wolves MC - Jaylee (Book #1)

4. Knuckles

***Present time***

The sound of a dog barking woke me up. I moved back into my mother’s house a few years ago. My stepfather and president of The Thunder Wolves MC had decided that he was tired of the police not doing anything about the guy next door. The guy seemed to enjoy beating his wife, and the police refused to do anything about it. So Crow moved some of us, single guys, into the house, threatening the guy that the cops would not be called if we heard or saw him beating on her. Crow even went as far as telling him that his body would never be found. And for the last few years, the guy had behaved himself and treated her with the respect he should have always shown her. Although we had pretty well taken over the area and even kept an eye on him when he was at work and made sure he never went home drunk. Which was when he would decide to take out some hidden anger on her. For the last month, I had been living alone, though. The other two guys who lived in the house with me had decided to get their own places. The house across the street had come up for sale along with one down the street, and they had jumped on them.

The barking didn’t last long but being a light sleeper, it didn’t take much to wake me up anyway. Grabbing my phone, I looked at the time and noticed it was already halfway through the day. Rolling off the bed, I got up, moved into the bathroom, and relieved myself. As I peed, I heard my phone ring from the other room and tried to hurry the process up but didn’t make it to the phone before it went to voicemail. Before I could look and see who was calling, I heard someone pounding on my front door, and the dog started barking again. I ran down the stairs and opened the door to find Gunner, one of my MC brothers, and my best friend standing at my door. “What the hell, man? You aren’t even dressed yet. Were you still sleeping? It’s halfway through the day, man. Come on, we got s**t to do.” Rolling my eyes at him, I turned and walked back up the stairs so I could get dressed. He was always up before everyone else. It didn't matter if we had all been up all night or not. The man was a machine. Thankfully, the dog stopped barking again by the time I got back to my room. I don’t remember any of the neighbors having a dog, and wondered who had gotten one.

When I got back downstairs, Gunner was standing at the bottom of the stairs holding out a cup of coffee for me, “We got somewhere to be, s**t, man.” I took the coffee from him, moved around him, and walked into the kitchen, drinking it. “Yes, actually, did Crow not call you?” I shook my head and took another drink. Just then, my phone rang, and Crow’s name showed on the screen. I answered the call holding up a finger, “Morning.” My stepfather sighed on the other end, and I was sure he rolled his eyes, “Word is a guy named Jay is in town to take care of the Whitemans and their properties. I want you and Gunner to be at the bar. If this guy decides to sell, I want to know.” I pulled the phone away from my ear and put the call on speaker so Gunner could hear the conversation, “You think this guy will make that decision today?” Gunner walked across the kitchen so he could hear the call better. “I don’t know, but I want you guys there in case he does. If he chooses to sell, I want to know first. Got it?”

“Yes, sir.” I hung up the phone and finished my coffee. “Let’s go, then. I will eat something there.” Putting on my cut, I shoved my feet into my boots.

Outside, a massive dog was sitting in the yard next door. It set there watching us standing up when Gunner walked around his bike, barking at him while his whole back end shook. We got on our bikes, and as we kicked them on, the dog turned and ran back to the house, running inside. As we got onto the street, the front door to the Whiteman's house closed, and in the driveway, I noticed a black SUV parked up by the garage. Strange, I wonder if this Jay guy was staying in the house or if he had hired someone to clear it. Before I could say anything to Gunner, he took off down the road, and I was forced to follow him. We made it to the bar in no time and soon had our orders of cheeseburgers and fries in and set so we could see the door. Gary, the bartender, said he had gotten a call that Jay was in town and would be stopping by to look at the books and let the staff know by the end of the week if they were selling or what. So today would be a waste of time if he wasn’t going to decide today. Why bother being here? But whatever, I would be getting paid to sit here and eat a burger and have a few drinks.

I wondered who the Jay guy was and was kind of surprised that all of this wasn’t being left to the Whiteman's daughter. Although, who knows, maybe she didn’t want to deal with any of this s**t. From what my mother had said, she had left after the night I went to jail. We only knew she was still alive because I had never been charged with murder, and then there was a letter she had written to the parole board that actually was the reason I had been released from prison when I had been. But try as I might, I couldn’t find any information on her. She was nowhere on social media that I could find. Hell, I didn’t even know what she looked like now.

Gary walked over with our food breaking me from my thoughts. They didn’t make a lot of food here, but what they did make was about what you would expect from a bar. Full of grease and perfect for soaking up the alcohol. As we started eating, the door opened, and a woman walked in. She had long black hair that fell to her waist. She had on a V-neck top that showed the tops of her full breasts and clung to her hourglass figure. Her legs were covered by skin-tight black pants and thigh-high-heeled boots that added a good five inches to her. I could see a tattoo that wound around the upper part of her left arm, ending at her elbow. Tucking her hair behind her ear as she walked over to the bar, she revealed multiple piercings in her ear that started at the top and worked their way down to her ear lobe. f**k she was hot.

She stopped at the bar and spoke to Gary for a moment. We couldn’t hear what she said, but he soon walked her back to the office, returning with his mouth hanging open. He brought us both refills on our drinks, “So apparently Jay is a girl and not a guy.” Gunner and I looked at each other briefly, then looked back to the door of the office and back to Gary, “You mean that was Jaylee Whiteman?” I pointed to the office door. “Sure is. She has really grown up.” He turned and walked back over to the bar.

I am not sure how long Gunner let me sit there in shock or even how long my mouth had hung open as I stared at the door she had gone into. Finally, I was brought back to the present by Gunner pushing my mouth closed, “s**t, Knuckles, get your s**t together.” He shook his head as he went back to eating. I slowly went back to eating my food as well, still staring at the door. The girl I had never spoken to before, I had saved her life. The girl I went to jail for and who later helped get me out. The girl I had secretly watched from my room as she hid in her room, drawing on anything she could get her hands on. She was here and was even hotter than she was back then. And looked to have way more confidence than she ever did before.