Prosper (Hells Saints MC Book 7) Read online

  “No kidding?”

  “No kidding.”

  “What about the big guy?” Jack gestured towards Prosper.

  “Nobody ever knows what I’m thinking. I make damn sure of that,” Prosper said with confidence.

  “Well, I admit. You took a while to figure out. But you always tap your finger when you don’t like your draw. If I see that index finger hit the table, I know I’m good to go,” Magaskawee said with glee. When he scowled at her she laughed.

  “Bullshit, I do that,” he growled.

  “Bullshit, you don’t,” Maggie retorted good-naturedly.

  “Well, I got some stuff to do before I hit the sack.” Jack threw down his cards. “You coming, Maggie?”

  “Prosper told me he’d take me down to the riverbed and catch fireflies with me.”

  Jack choked on his beer. “He did?”

  “No, I fucking did not,” Prosper growled out. “I said I would show you where the damn bugs were.”

  “Oh, same thing.” She waved at him dismissively, then she turned to Jack. “You sure you don’t want to come with us?”

  “Nah, I’m gonna have another beer and look over the map. I want to pencil out the route through the valley that Prosper wants to take tomorrow.”

  Then Jack smirked and clapped Prosper on the back. “Firefly catching, huh? This one is all yours, brother.”

  Prosper sat on the grass and watched Maggie squeal in delight as she tried to entice the bugs to fly into the mayonnaise jar. Over the last few months he had found it both preposterously absurd and ridiculously touching the way that she got pleasure out of the simplest things. Picking berries, skipping rocks, digging for clams on a sandy beach, or cooking over a low campfire—she loved it all. Everything was new in Maggie’s eyes, and seeing her singular joy brought out a side of Prosper that he hadn’t known existed and one that he was not entirely comfortable with. He grumbled and grouched whenever Maggie made Jack pull his Harley to the side of the road while she picked strawberries or wildflowers in a field, or when she insisted they waste good money on food to feed the ducks.

  But really all his grumbling was more bluster than bother. Because being on the road with Magaskawee Whitefeather had turned out to be the best part of Prosper’s life. He was as beguiled by her as Jack was. She was as kind as she was beautiful and radiated an aura of warmth and light that Prosper liked to be around. That promise he had made to himself to stay away from her had lasted about a minute.

  More often than not, he found himself even worse than Jack at indulging her every wish. So far he had let himself be roped into everything from searching for sea glass on the shores of Cape Cod to attending a lawn concert of classical music at Tanglewood. Jack, for his part, was just as happy to bow out and let his buddy take the lead in entertaining Maggie’s forays into, well, all kinds of shit that no man in his right mind would want to do.

  After about a half hour of near misses with the fireflies, Maggie plopped down beside Prosper.

  “I thought you said it was easy?” she asked with exasperation.

  “It is easy. Your problem is you’re too damn noisy. A stampede would make less of a racket,” he grumbled. “And for Christ’s sake, stop talking to them.”

  “Here you go, Mr. Know it All.” Maggie lifted her nose imperiously and shoved the jar towards Prosper. “You do it then.”

  He looked from the jar to Magaskawee and back again. Maggie continued to stare at him.

  “Follow behind me.” He sighed as he got up off the grass. “Keep the lid in one hand and the jar in your other. And your mouth closed.”

  To her never-ending delight, Magaskawee soon had a jar full of dancing fireflies. She and Prosper sat together on the riverbank and looked into the jar. “They’re so pretty the way they light up like that!” Maggie burst out happily.

  “Yeah, well, enjoy them now because they won’t last too long in a jar.” Prosper spouted out his usual negative retorts. Partly because it was his nature, and he also got a kick out of the response his attitude always garnered from Maggie. Her optimism slayed him. But this time, to his surprise, she just looked at him and sighed.

  “Nothing good ever lasts, does it?” she replied forlornly

  When she frowned and her shoulders slumped in a very defeated, very unlike Maggie way, Prosper felt a cold dread in his heart. The three of them had been together twenty-four seven for months now. If any of them were watching at all, there wasn’t much one could miss about a person when that much time was spent together.

  Unless, of course, you were Jack. Jack was a Mr. Fucking Magoo, walking through life blissfully in a fog. Unaware that the sky was falling until a big chunk of it hit him on the head. If Prosper’s suspicions were correct, and by the looks of Maggie now, he figured they were dead on, then Jack was about to have that life-is-a-big-bowl-of-cherries attitude bite him hard in the ass.

  “When are you planning on telling him, Maggie?” Prosper fought to sound casual. Just so he would have something to do with his hands, he began to pick up stones from the small pile next to him and pitch them into the stream.

  Maggie swung her head around and looked at him in horror and surprise. “How did you … when did you … how did you …?”

  “Hell, Maggie, you have a bigger appetite than I do. For a skinny girl, you sure can chow down with the best of them. I don’t think you’ve ever met a piece of red meat you don’t like.”

  “I’ve always had an appreciation of good food.” Maggie blushed in embarrassment. “Is there a point to this?”

  “Yeah, the point is, for the past few weeks you can’t even look at a piece of bacon frying in the pan without gagging, you’re overly sensitive to smells, and your tits—”

  “My tits?” Maggie sputtered out.

  “They’re getting bigger.”

  “You look at my tits?’

  Prosper just stared at her. Then Maggie sighed and went silent for a long moment.

  “I don’t know how to tell him,” she whispered. “I don’t think he’ll want this, and I don’t know how he’ll handle it.”

  As far as Prosper was concerned, Maggie was right to worry. Jack was just about as far from being ready for the responsibility of having a kid as a man could be. There was nothing Prosper could say right now to make Maggie feel better. Nothing he could say that wouldn’t sound like complete bullshit.

  So, he said nothing.

  “Their lights are so pretty, so luminous,” Maggie’s voice broke through the stillness. “They look contented, don’t they, sitting in that jar?”

  “They’re real pretty, Maggie,” he said gently.

  She paused for another long moment. “You know what I think, Prosper? I think I know the reason they’re still able to shine so brightly, closed up in that glass.”

  “Oh yeah? And what’s that, darlin’?”

  She laid her head on his shoulder and whispered, “It’s because they don’t know that they’re trapped.”

  Prosper sat on a picnic table a few hundred feet away from the tent that Maggie and Jack shared. He could see their silhouettes against the illuminated canvas. Maggie stood as still as a rock in the middle of the storm of emotion Jack seemed to be creating. Jack’s hands were wildly gesticulating—he threw them up in the air, rubbed them over his face, and stabbed the air with his fist—all evidence pointing to Jack’s surprised outrage at what Maggie was telling him.

  Prosper stomped out his tenth cigarette in as many minutes and lit up another one. “Really, brother? That’s the way you gonna play this?” Prosper muttered to himself. Fucking Jack. Fucking Jack and his fly-by-night, irresponsible, Peter Pan existence.

  It was about a half hour later when Jack left the tent and made his way towards Prosper. Then without a word, he plopped himself down on the hard wooden bench. Prosper reached into the icy water of the cooler and pulled out two cold beers. He twisted off the bottle caps, handed one to Jack and kept one for himself. They were on their second brew before Jack spoke.


  “So … uh … Maggie’s pregnant,” Jack began hesitantly.

  “Yeah?” Prosper kept his eyes on the joint he was rolling.

  “Yeah.” Jack scrubbed a shaking hand through his hair. “Last fucking thing I expected, brother. I don’t know what the hell to do.

  “What do you mean, you don’t know what to do?” Prosper took a hit of the weed and handed it to Jack. “Seems to me there’s one choice here, and it’s already been made.”

  Jack inhaled deeply. “So, you think I should stay with her and raise the kid?”

  “’Course I think that. What the fuck else would I be thinking, Jack? I sure as hell ain’t thinking that you should leave her to deal with this on her own.” Then Prosper added with meaning, “Only a real asshole would think about doing that.”

  “I know. I know what you’re sayin’. Just didn’t plan on this, brother.” Jack scrubbed a shaking hand over his jaw. “I’m just not ready for this. Me with a kid? I just don’t see it. I don’t know how to do the father thing.”

  “How fucking hard can it be, Jack?”

  “You serious? We ain’t talking about a pet here. Shit just got real.”

  “You love her?”

  “Maggie? Yeah, I love her.” Jack nodded.

  “Then, like I said, how fucking hard can it be? Just got to be there, man. Provide for her and the kid, lay off the booze, and you’re good to go. Maggie will do the rest. You do your part, she sure as shit will do hers. You got this, brother.” Prosper clapped Jack hard on the shoulder.

  “Yeah?” Jack sat up a little straighter. “You really think so?”

  “I know so.” Prosper hoped he sounded convincing because, really, Jack and fatherhood? Not so much.

  “Well then, it looks like we need to start figuring out where we’re going to wait out the winter. It might be for a while this time,” Jack said with thought. “You mentioned somewhere in the Carolinas a few days ago. You still thinkin’ that way?”

  “Not sure what I’m thinkin’. I need a few days to consider all the options. In the meantime, I think it’s best you go ease the mind of your woman. Let her know that you’ll be sticking around for her and the kid.”

  “You down with this, brother? ’Cause I sure as hell can’t handle this without you.” Jack frowned.

  Prosper hesitated. “Yeah, I’m down. But don’t expect me to change any diapers.”

  Prosper watched Maggie as she hung the clothes to dry on the line. A few weeks had passed since that night the pregnancy had been revealed, and things had happened fast. Once Jack had wrapped his head around the daddy thing, he had stood up in a way that made Maggie feel proud and Prosper feel relieved. Because of Maggie’s love of the ocean, they had decided to settle in a small town on the Southeastern Seaboard. Prosper and Jack had spent time there on previous trips and had made some good connections. Prosper knew a guy who knew a guy who had an old farmhouse that needed some renovations done. He agreed to do the work in exchange for rent. Once the renovations were completed, if they still wanted to live in the house, the owner would negotiate a reasonable rental fee.

  So, while Prosper got busy tearing up musty rugs and pulling down rotting cabinets, Jack and Maggie got busy preparing for the future. Jack found a landscaping job that not only paid pretty well, but also offered health insurance. A week into the job, he and Maggie went to city hall on his lunch break and got married so he could add her to the policy.

  As far as things went, Prosper thought they had worked out better than expected. Both Maggie and the baby’s medical needs were secured, Jack was happy at his job, and Prosper was having a good time tearing shit apart.

  Yeah, everyone was happy enough and life was good. Except for just one little thing: Prosper had fallen deeply, irrevocably, and undeniably in love with his best friend’s wife.

  He blamed it on the renovation.

  Day in and day out, Prosper and Maggie were caught together in a strangely intimate web of domesticity. The owner had given Prosper a healthy budget and free rein on the design. While Prosper was good to go as far as carpentry, he didn’t have a clue about putting colors or textures together. Magaskawee, on the other hand, had a natural artistic eye, and Prosper had employed her help in picking out flooring, cabinetry, paint color, and the rest. Together, while Jack was at work, they made countless trips to the lumber yards and home improvement stores. They argued, debated, and even sometimes agreed on the components for each phase of the project. It was a friendly, healthy partnership and things were still moving along nicely.

  It was the outdoor lighting that did them in, or more precisely, it was when Prosper let Maggie have her way and bought that damn lantern. It was a fancy thing with all kinds of scrolling on the top and bottom. Since Prosper was not a fan of reading directions, he installed it without looking at the pamphlet. When Maggie came out to check on his progress, she looked from the lamp to Prosper then to the lamp again with incredulity.

  “What?” he growled at her.

  Maggie’s eyes danced while she bit her bottom lip in an obvious effort to keep a straight face.

  “What the hell is so funny?” Prosper barked out. That lamp light had ended up being a bitch to put up. Prosper’s shoulder ached from holding the parts at an odd angle, and he was sweating from the damn heat and needed a smoke. Instead of answering him, Maggie broke into a fit of laughter that had her clutching her belly and wiping the tears from her face.

  “Look at it!” she sputtered out in between gales of hilarity. “I don’t know what’s funnier, the fact that you installed it upside down or that you still don’t see that you installed it upside down. Mr. Perfect and Precise …”

  “I’m looking at the damn thing right now. Not a fucking thing wrong with the way I installed it.” Prosper glowered at her.

  “Come here and take a look at it from this angle … how could you … how could you not see it…” She tried unsuccessfully to reel in her hilarity.

  “You’ve lost your damn mind, woman!” Prosper turned to walk away from her.

  “No, wait!” Maggie hurried down the steps to the driveway. Then she grabbed Prosper’s hand and pulled him back up on the porch. “You have to come here and look … Just look,” she spouted out between spasms of glee. “It’s just that you’re so picky about everything … and now … you have to come look.”

  Prosper stomped his way up the porch steps, then stood beside her and looked at the fixture. Maggie pointed at the top of the lantern, then stared at his face and waited for it.

  “Holy shit. It is upside down,” he said incredulously.

  The moment Maggie saw that light of understanding cross his face she started laughing all over again. And seeing her laugh like that at him? That should have made the staid, serious Prosper Worthington madder than hell, but instead, it had the opposite effect. Maggie’s laughter was so infectious and genuinely filled with fun-spirited delight that he couldn’t help but chuckle a bit too. Then he laughed a bit more and some more, which was totally out of character for Prosper, who seldom cracked a smile. But now, out in the warm sunlight, looking at the ludicrous lantern and watching Maggie bent over in hysterics, Prosper couldn’t help himself. Soon he was laughing as hard as she was. Every time one of them started to calm down, the other one would point to the lantern and they would start hooting all over again.

  And that’s where it happened.

  In between the spaces of no holding back, joyous, and raucous belly laughter.

  That’s the place where Prosper Worthington fell hard and head over heels in love with Magaskawee Whitefeather.

  Prosper wiped the rising steam from the bathroom mirror and took a good, hard look at himself. Long ago he had come to terms with the man he was and with the man he would never be. He lived his life by an established and clear set of standards. The rules he lived by were simple. There were lines he would not cross, promises he would not make, and lies he would not tell. He was a man of clear purpose, little compromise, and honorable inte
nt. But now those carefully honed and sacredly held values were all blown to hell because of Magaskawee Whitefeather.

  Prosper stepped away from the mirror, disgusted with his own image. Then he pulled on a new pair of boxers, an old pair of jeans, and the concert tee he’d gotten when Bob Seeger and his boys played Madison Square Garden. A pair of thick cotton socks and his heavy biker boots were pulled on last, then he grabbed his already-packed duffle bag and headed out down the hall.

  Dawn was just breaking as Prosper continued to make his way as quietly as he could down the creaking staircase. Every squeak of the bowed floorboards made him wince. The boards were on his repair list. Now that list was in Jack’s hands, and it was up to him if he wanted to fix them or not. His best guess, knowing Jack, was that he would let it go until the wood rotted clear through, but then again maybe not. Jack Winston had been full of surprises lately. That was for sure.

  Prosper and Jack had taken the Harleys out on a long ride yesterday, something they hadn’t had a chance to do in too long. It had felt good being together again, just the two of them. Prosper hadn’t realized how much he had missed it: the open road, the cool, fresh wind, the sun warming his back, and the company of a good friend.

  A best fucking friend. A friend who deserved better than what he currently had, because right now what Jack had was a guy who lived under his roof and wanted his woman.

  Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s wife.

  That shit was even in the bible. And before Prosper crossed that line in a way, which would not only betray Jack’s trust but Prosper’s own sense of brotherhood and integrity, he knew he needed to get his ass out of the situation, and fast.

  “I’m gonna be hittin’ the road first thing in the morning,” Prosper told Jack over burgers and beer. “Thinkin’ you and Maggie might need some time alone before the baby comes.”

  Jack took a bite out of his hamburger. “Nah, man. We’re solid. I appreciate the gesture, but you don’t have to do that.”