Hard Corps (Selected Sinners MC #7) Read online

I rubbed my palms along the thighs of my jeans and shook my head lightly. “No sir, certainly not. It’s not anything like that. I wanted to ask your permission for something, Sir.”

  I’d walk into a firefight with a dozen insurgents without question, but talking to Katie’s father made me a nervous wreck. Sitting there knowing I now needed to continue caused my throat to constrict and my palms to sweat. I swallowed the lump in my throat and forced a dry grin as he looked at me with a face filled with confusion.

  “Permission? Hell you don’t need my permission for anything, Son. What the hell you needin’?” he asked as he lowered his hand from his chin.

  “Sir, we went out the other night, and I was able to spend a considerable amount of time with the entire group, your daughters included. We had a really nice time. In doing so, Sir, I was able to get to know Katie a little better…”

  I paused, took a shallow breath, and allowed him to digest what I had said before I continued.

  “In getting to understand her more, I realized a few things. One, she wants a man in her life. Two, she needs a man in her life. And three, I believe, Sir, I can be that man. I’d like to ask your permission, Sir, to take her on a date,” I said.

  His mouth curled into a smile. “You called and came here to ask my permission to take my daughter on a date? Bug?”

  “Yes, Sir, that is correct,” I responded with a nod of my head.

  He coughed a light laugh and glanced beyond me for a moment. “Well, normally I suppose I’d have a lot of shit to say. You know, to be respectful. Or remind you that she’s been through a lot lately, and she doesn’t need a guy trying to get in her pants right now. Hell, maybe I’d offer a few choice words about wearing protection, birth control, and how there’s plenty of kids in this country that don’t have parents...”

  “But with you, I don’t think I need to say any of those things directly. Instead, I’ll say this; Mike and I have talked about you. At length, I might add. He thinks the world of you. If Mike thinks the world of you, I believe him. He’s a hard man to impress. I’ve formed my own opinions about you, and I’ll admit you easily rise to the top of the pool of men that I’d choose for Katie. Suppose it brings me to this,” he raised his hand in the air and extended his index finger.

  “Two things. First one is this. You’re not from here. And I ain’t lookin’ to have my daughter taken from me, Mr. Jacob. Not now or ever. As far as I’m concerned, she can leave Texas when I’m dead, but not before. Now, before I get to number two, what do you have to say about that?”

  I suspected as close knit as the family was he may have such concerns, but I didn’t expect him to express them prior to giving me permission to go on a date with Katie. I lowered my chin, shifted my eyes from his finger to face, and responded.

  “Well, Sir. I have been offered a job at the gym. I intend to teach a women’s self-defense course as well as a hand-to-hand combat course. Kelsey and Joe made the deal with Mike and me last week. I’ve already started scheduling people. Short of the men I ride with, I have nothing in Kansas, and I’ll stay here as long as your daughter will have me,” I responded.

  “Does that job at the gym pay you enough money to survive?”

  “I suppose not, Sir. The United States Government does. I get a check monthly. A very healthy one, I might add. Being shot half a dozen times pays pretty well, I suppose,” I said with a grin.

  He chuckled and nodded his head. “I suppose so.”

  He cleared his throat and raised his middle finger. “Alright, number two. Sunday dinners. We have ‘em here, on Sundays. I realize there are times when you may not be able to come. Hell, things happen. But you’ll never miss more than two weeks in a row, is that understood?” he asked as he slowly raised one eyebrow.

  The thought of attending that fiasco on a regular basis was not only entertaining, but something I would look forward to. Since my mother’s death, I missed the feeling of having a meal with family. My mouth broke into an immediate smile at his choice of is that understood, because it was exactly what I asked my Marines on a regular basis.

  “Yes, Sir. I like to eat, and your wife is a great cook,” I said with a nod.

  It seemed, in some respects, that he felt as if I was asking his permission to marry Katie. I suppose it was possible he was merely doing his best to look out for what he believed was in her best interest. If the things that were important to him were not important to me, he probably saw no value in letting me take her on the first date. As he began to rub his chin again, I waited for his approval.

  “Well, I lied,” he said as he lowered his hand and leaned forward. “There’s one more thing, and I’m afraid although I might discuss it, I won’t bargain much.”

  I pressed my palms along my jeans from my upper thighs to my knees. “Yes, Sir.”

  “My understanding is you’re a smoker, and you smoke a lot. I don’t want my future son in law, who by the grace of God almighty has made it out of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan unscathed, to die of lung cancer. I’ll need you to figure out a way to give up those cigarettes, Son. I’ll need that to happen here real soon. No exceptions. We have a deal?” he asked as he stood from his chair and extended his hand.

  I stood from my chair and proudly shook his hand. “Deal.”

  “Well, I must say, I couldn’t be happier for you or for Bug. She’s a damned fine girl. I like it that you came here like this, Son. It was downright respectful of you. I’m anxious to see how this thing pans out,” he said, gripping my hand firmly in his.

  “Can you excuse me, Sir? I have something on the bike I need to give you. I’ll need to go get it,” I said as I released his hand.

  He widened his eyes, smiled, and tossed his hand toward the door. “Sure. Hell, whatever you need to do. And when you come back in, don’t bother knocking. Family doesn’t knock.”

  I walked back to the front porch and out of habit, almost knocked. I grinned at the thought of being family, as he said, and reached for the door handle. I walked toward the living room rather eagerly, and upon walking in, noticed he and Katie sitting across from each other talking.

  I walked to his chair and extended my hand.

  He furrowed his brow and looked at the pack of cigarettes.

  “What are you doing, son?” he asked.

  “Take them. If I ever want to smoke one, I’ll ask you for it. Other than that, I’ll never smoke another, Sir. Fair price to pay for what’s on the port side of your living room, sir,” I said as I motioned toward Katie.

  He smiled and accepted the pack of cigarettes.

  “Now, the last thing,” I turned to face Katie.

  “Katie, would you like to accompany me on a date this Saturday night?” I asked.

  She crossed her legs, placed her hands on her knees, and smiled as she cocked her head to the side. “Possibly. At what time?”

  “I expect, Ma’am, I would like to pick you up around six o’clock. And bring you back at let’s say,” I hesitated and turned to face her father.

  He held one finger in the air.

  “One o’clock in the morning,” I said.

  “I’d love to,” she responded.

  “Great. Well, I’ve got to get to work now, Sir,” I said as I extended my hand toward her father.

  He stood from his chair and shook my hand.

  I nodded my head toward Katie and grinned. “Katie.”

  She smiled in return and rolled her eyes.

  I turned toward her father and smiled. “I’ll let myself out, Sir.”

  As I walked to the door, I grinned at the thought of starting over. Potentially developing a long term relationship and maybe even having a family. As I opened the door, I heard Katie’s father yell.

  “Alec?”

  “Yes, Sir,” I responded over my shoulder.

  “Welcome to the family,” he yelled.

  Somewhat premature, Sir, but I’ll accept it.

  I opened the door and stepped onto the porch. As I pulled the door closed, I
stuck my head into the opening between the door and the frame.

  “Thank you, Sir,” I responded.

  I won’t disappoint you.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  Summer 2014, Austin, Texas, USA

  People often described me as different, and I can’t say that I would argue with them. I didn’t march to the beat of a different drummer, I marched to the beat of my own drummer. Everything I did, I did for a reason; and if I was doing it, I was exceptional at it. I didn’t attempt things I wasn’t able to succeed at, and although I would consider myself to be an open-minded man, I wasn’t open to new things without a reasonable amount of consideration in advance.

  My madness had meaning.

  Always.

  “This is the coolest date ever,” she said as she shouldered the water-powered rifle.

  “You should just give up,” I said with a laugh. “That stuffed cat is ugly anyway.”

  “That stuffed cat’s name is Winky. Pardon my French, but that son-of-a-bitch is mine,” she growled as she nodded her head toward the man in charge of the game.

  In my travels on my motorcycle a few days prior, I had found a carnival a few miles south of the city, and decided it would be the first event of the night for our date. Once we were in the gate, our first stop wasn’t a ride, but a carnival game; and we had been there for almost an hour. The BB gun she was shooting was powered by water, and to win the prize she had to shoot the red star out of the center of a sheet of paper.

  This was her sixth attempt.

  As she nodded her head the man flipped the switch on the timed water pump. As close as I was able to tell, the time allotted was 30 seconds.

  The BB’s spit from the barrel of the rifle toward the target like rounds from the USMC Squad Automatic Weapon. With great form, one hell of a cute pair of jeans, and a never-say-die attitude, she sprayed the target until the buzzer went off.

  The man retrieved the target and handed it to her without looking as if he already knew she hadn’t won the prize.

  “Sorry,” he said with a shrug of his shoulders. “Looks like this isn’t your ball of wax.”

  She glanced at the target. A small corner of the red star remained on the paper, one shot away from being eliminated. She shook her head and tossed the target beside the others.

  “According to who?” She snapped back. “The sights on this piece of shit are off. I’ve about got it figured out, let’s go again.”

  “You want a different rifle?” he asked, waving toward the five other unoccupied stalls.

  “No,” she said sarcastically. “I already said I have this one figured out.”

  “Again,” she said as she nodded her head toward the gallery.

  He placed another target on the chain, secured it in place, and widened his eyes comically. “Ready?”

  She nodded her head. “Yep.”

  He flipped the switch.

  Again, she sprayed the target with B.B.s as fast as she was able. I stood and admired her choice of jeans, turquoise sneakers, and well-fitted top she wore, but above all, I admired her devotion. As the buzzer sounded, she slammed the rifle down on the edge of the counter and pointed at the target.

  “Let’s see that one,” she said, wagging her finger toward the target as she spoke.

  He reeled the target to the end of the chain and pulled it from the metal clip.

  “Sorry,” he said as he handed her the target.

  She studied the target at length. “Sorry what? Sorry you’ve got to give me the cat?”

  She handed him the target. “Have another look, Buddy.”

  I raised my hand to my mouth and tried to cover the grin on my face. It was apparent, even from where I was standing, that she had won the prize. As she stood on her tip-toes and eyed the prize, she glanced over her left shoulder and grinned a prideful grin.

  In return, I lowered my hand and revealed my smile.

  He glanced down at the target, raised it over his head, and held it under the dim overhead lights. After a few long seconds of staring at it, he sighed heavily and pinned the target to the wall of fame.

  “Which one?” he asked.

  “You know which one,” she said as she nodded her head toward the stuffed cat.

  He pulled the striped cat from the overhead hook and handed it to her. “One prize per group per night. Have a nice time, folks.”

  She turned to face me, grinned, and shoved the cat into her purse. “That took longer than I expected.”

  “You could have given up an hour ago,” I said as I glanced at my watch.

  “Seriously? And give up? Uhhm, no. I would have stayed there until midnight if I had to,” she said.

  Good to know.

  “Pretty nice shooting, though,” I said.

  “I’m from Texas. Everyone in Texas knows how to shoot,” she said.

  I nodded my head in agreement. Texas was without a doubt the most gun friendly state I had even been in, that was for sure.

  “Your brother teach you?” I asked.

  She shook her head. “No, dad did. Our house used to be on the outside of town when I was a kid. The city kind of grew around us. But yeah, dad taught me. He taught all of us.”

  “Pronto Pups. Holy crap. When was the last time you had a Pronto Pup?” she asked as she pointed to the hot dog stand on our right.

  “Easy. Never,” I said.

  “You’ve never had a Pronto Pup?” she asked.

  “Nope.”

  “It’s a banquet on a stick,” she said, quoting from memory what was painted on the wooden sign displayed over the wooden structure.

  “Not a part of your diet?” she asked.

  I chuckled. “Not exactly.”

  “Two Pronto Pups, please,” she said to the attendant.

  As he produced the two hot dogs on sticks, I reached for my wallet. She shook her head, reached in her purse, and paid for the hot dogs.

  “My treat. Your first, and probably last, Pronto Pup,” she said as she handed me one of the oversized corn dogs.

  I held the stick in my hand and stared down at the glob of fried cornmeal batter.

  “Mustard. You’ve got to put mustard on it,” she said as she squirted mustard along the length of the dog.

  I leaned to the side and did the same. In unison, we bit into our dogs, each widening our eyes toward the other as we attempted to fit the oversized Pup into our mouth. As I continued to eat the World Famous Since 1947 carnival favorite, I was slightly disappointed.

  Not in the Pronto Pup – because it was actually quite good – but because I knew that I was adamant in maintaining my diet, and realized this would likely be not only the first time – but the last time – I would ever eat one of the tasty treats. As I finished the snack and stared down at the stick – making sure there was no remaining fried batter to gnaw off – I paused and glanced up at Katie.

  With the sides of her mouth covered in mustard and her mouth curled into a smile, she stood and stared at me.

  “You’ve got mustard on your mouth,” I said.

  “And you’ve got nice teeth,” she said.

  I reached beside the condiments, grabbed a few napkins, and handed her one. “Thank you. I try to take care of myself, teeth included.”

  “Well, it shows. I’m guessing you liked it?” she asked as she tossed her stick and the mustard-covered napkin in the trash.

  “It was actually pretty good,” I admitted.

  “Stick around,” she said. “I’ll change your mind on a lot of things.”

  As much as I hated the thought of change in my life, I hoped she was right.

  “What’s next?” she asked.

  “Ferris wheel,” I said.

  She grabbed her stomach. “Oh God.”

  “What?” I asked as I walked to her side.

  “Those things kind of make me queasy,” she said.

  “So…”

  “No,” she said. “I’ll do it. We’ll see how it goes. It’s been a long time.”

/>   A few minutes later, we were atop the Ferris wheel, sitting stationary, gazing back into the city we had driven from earlier.

  “I haven’t seen the city from this perspective. It looks peaceful and small,” she said.

  “That’s one of the reasons I like these things,” I said.

  She glanced over her shoulder. Although it was pitch black, and I was able to see very little, her blue eyes stood out in clear contrast to her tanned skin. After a few seconds of staring at each other silently, she grinned. “Why?”

  I felt like I had been awoken from a dream, and couldn’t immediately remember what we were talking about. I shook my head, feeling somewhat foolish for losing my train of thought.

  “Why do you like them?” she asked.

  I pried my eyes from hers and gazed out over the city as the wheel slowly began to turn, lowering us to our next stop. The city of almost 2,000,000 people seemed to be much smaller than the city of 400,000 I had recently moved from. The speeding traffic, busy highways, and overcrowded restaurants and bars were hidden by the distance, making the city seem rather unoccupied and peaceful.

  “Perspective. It lets me see things from a different perspective,” I said as I shifted my eyes to meet hers.

  As she gazed in my direction, waiting for me to continue, she tossed her blonde hair over her shoulder. She was obviously more comfortable on the ride than she expected she would be. After gazing over her shoulder for a moment, she turned to face me again, and I continued.

  “It’s all too easy to be stuck in a certain mindset about something, and often we can’t convince ourselves to maintain an open mind. This lets me see the exact same thing from a different vantage point. It doesn’t change anything; it just provides a different point of view. It’s a great reminder to maintain an open mind,” I said.

  “I like that. And, I like you. Let’s do this again,” she said.

  “The Ferris wheel?” I asked.

  She shook her head and grinned.

  “No, this,” she said as she waved her hand in a circle over her head. “Do something together.”

  And I couldn’t have agreed with her more.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

  Summer 2014, Austin, Texas, USA