“Thorn,” she called out as he neared the door. When he paused, looking back over his shoulder, she said, “Thanks. Thanks for coming for me.”
Thorn nodded once, then closed the door.
He was so fucked. Because the girls were wrong. He’d never win an argument with Mariana, because he’d move heaven and earth to give the little female anything she wanted.
* * *
It was another two weeks before Mariana could move without wincing. A couple from Kentucky had come to help her with a kind of rehabilitation. Mama, the woman said her name was, and Pops. Mama and Pops were a Godsend. Not only did Mama see she was healing properly, but helped with what Mariana had come to think of as her rehab. Though, amazingly, she didn’t have any broken bones, the pain from her bruised ribs and the trauma to the rest of her body was nearly unbearable at times. Mama had taught her how to move without straining her muscles too much. All in all, Mariana suppose she had it easier than it could have been. Through it all, Thorn hadn’t much more than let her lift a finger if he was around. Finally, she had to put her foot down.
“I’m going outside. You can come with me if you want, but I’m going to sit in the sun for a while.”
“Well, at least take some sunblock,” Thorn grumbled at her.
Marinara couldn’t help herself. She let out a giggle. When he gave her a dark look, she clapped her hand over her mouth, but the giggles persisted. “You, the big tough biker, actually said the word ‘sunblock.’”
“Yeah, well, don’t tell anyone.”
He put a hand at the small of her back and escorted her outside. The day was hot and humid, but Mariana soaked it up. She was used to being outside. Working. Playing. The lack of physical activity was starting to wear on her. Mama and Pops were wonderful and encouraged her in everything she did, but even they said it was time for her to get out and back to life.
“Tomorrow, I want to go to the beach,” she told him. “I want to swim.”
“Christ, Ana,” he swore.
“Please, Thorn. I’m going crazy cooped up here. Your friends are all wonderful, but I can’t lay in bed all day and expect everyone to wait on me hand and foot. Mama and Pops are the only ones who let me do anything, and I suspect you’ve been growling at them. I need to get out. Get my strength back. I’ve got to be ready to get on with my life.”
“How about we compromise? Baby steps,” he said. “I’ll take you back to the diner. We’ll do a little shopping for you.”
“I have to be careful with my money --”
He cut her off with a wave of his hand. “Stop. Don’t start that nonsense again.”
Money had been a point of contention between them. Mariana had insisted she pay her way, while Thorn hadn’t allowed her to spend one dime. Anything she wanted or needed just magically appeared, and it was getting old.
“You stop. I’m perfectly capable of taking care of myself. I know you don’t think much of me right now, but once I’m back at work, I’ll be on better footing. I’ll be out of your hair.”
“Who the fuck said you were in my hair?” Thorn looked thunderous. Like whoever had put that idea in her head was going to pay and pay hard. “Haven’t you figured out yet I want you here?”
“Thorn!” A young man hurried into the common room where they currently stood. His eyes were wide, and he looked excited. “Ripper needs you. He’s found something.”
Thorn growled, pulling Mariana into an embrace. He rested his chin on her head. The gesture took Mariana by surprise. Though he was constantly by her side, Thorn hadn’t shown anything more than mildly affectionate gestures. A hand at her back. Tucking the occasional escaping curl behind her ear. He hadn’t hugged or kissed her since before the attack. It was one of the reasons Mariana was growing increasingly uncomfortable. She had no idea where their strange relationship was going, and she was afraid she was coming to rely on him too much.
“Give me a minute, Skip.” Thorn said over her head. “Tell Ripper I’ll be right there.”
When the prospect left the room, Thorn pulled back to look down at Mariana. He tilted her chin up gently so she had to meet his gaze. “Listen to me, Ana. I’m not letting you go anywhere I don’t follow. We’re in this together.”
What did that mean? She was so confused, but the biggest part of her was so hopeful she couldn’t stand it. Over the weeks she’d been here, she’d watched Thorn closely. He was exactly the kind of man she wanted in her life. Thorn would be the protector she wanted and needed. Not a man like Jason. A man who’d beat a woman carrying his child with the intention of making her lose it. Hastily, she shut the door on that line of thought. If she let it out, it would plague her the entire day.
“Do you trust me, Ana?” Thorn’s gruff voice brought her back to the present.
“Yes,” she said without hesitation.
“Then rest in here for a while. I’ll go see what Ripper wants, then we’ll go upstairs and talk. After that, I’ll take you out to eat, and we’ll go for a walk on the beach. Will that be good?”
He was so patient with her, never raising his voice. Even when he sounded put out or grumpy, she knew it was to make her laugh. His brothers had commented on it too, ragging him mercilessly. Thorn just flipped them off and put his arm around her and they went about their business.
“All right,” she said softly. “I’ll wait here.”
Then he did something unexpected. Thorn bent his head and kissed her gently, cupping her face in his hands as he did. When he straightened, he held her gaze for several seconds, searching her face for something. When he found what he was looking for, he nodded once, then turned and left.
* * *
“Tell me you found that little fuck.” Thorn knew he was in a foul mood, but he had to get this taken care of so he could work on helping Ana heal -- and more. He desperately needed to get on with the business of making her his.
“He’s in Flat Springs,” Ripper said. “About thirty minutes from here, give or take. Little shithole apartment in town above one of the local businesses. According to his landlord, he hasn’t come out since he rented the place. Got buddies bringing him food, but once we knew where to look it was easy. The more time passes without anyone looking for Mariana or her attacker, the braver he’s getting. I’d say he’ll split before paying next month’s rent. Which leaves you about a week to decide our next move.”
“My move,” Thorn corrected in a steely voice. “I’ll use Bane to find him, but I’m dealing with him myself.”
“Like fuck,” Havoc growled. “We’re in this to-fucking-gether.”
Thorn looked his vice president in the eyes, not blinking. “I intend to kill the fucker. No need for anyone else to get his hands dirty. This isn’t for the club. This is for me.”
“The club is about all of us, Thorn,” Vicious said softly. “She belongs to you. You belong to us, which means she belongs to us. Don’t start fuckin’ things up now just ’cause you’re trying to be noble or some shit. We take care of this together.”
“I said no,” Thorn snapped. “This is going to be messy.”
“All the more reason for a full crew,” Havoc said, not in the least intimidated. “You’re not going alone, so bite my head off if you want. It’s still not happening.”
“I’ve already got a plan going,” Carnage, the road captain and tactical adviser offered. “Little fucker won’t know what hit him. Until you’re done playing.”
The four other men in the room looked at Thorn with steady expressions. None of them was backing down. In fact, they were ignoring his assertion in the first damned place.
“She’s a good girl, Thorn,” Beast said softly. “She deserves justice.”
Thorn snapped his gaze to Beast’s. “She doesn’t find out about it. That one has a tender heart, and it’s been trampled on again and again. She’s not going to get in her head she’s the reason that fucker died. She’s not. I am.”
“Fine. Still a simple matter,” Carnage said, distracting Thorn
from Beast’s line of thought. “Knock him out. Take him to the swamp. Beat the living fuck outta him like he did your woman, then, when you’re ready, he dies. Like Mariana’s child. We can take him anywhere you want. I have a number of places marked for just such occasions.”
Thorn gave each man a hard look. He needed to know if there was any give in even one of them. If there was, he’d exploit that weakness and continue on his own like he wanted to. There was no give. No weakness. Each man was with him to the death. Literally.
“Fine. Set it up for someplace that has absolutely no ties to Mariana. I won’t have the police looking at her for longer than it takes them to establish she was nowhere near him and has moved on. If it comes back to me, I can take it. But she’s not to be touched.”
“Won’t come back to nobody,” Carnage said, confidently. “I’ll get Blood to help with the clean-up at the site and the apartment. When we’re done, it will look like he up and vanished like a fuckin’ fart in the wind.”
Chapter Four
Gaining entrance to the old building from the back side, away from the streetlights in the middle of town, was a piece of cake. What was hard was getting there in the first fucking place. The street was wide, a crossroads of sorts in the middle of downtown Flat Springs. The city boasted a little over three thousand residents, the majority of which were within a half mile of where the Salvation’s Bane crew stood now. The building was old, and the second story run-down while the first story was used as a business. Most of the buildings along Main Street were just like it, but the building across the road was adjacent to one of the oldest banks in town. Which meant security cameras. Bikes were too loud, so Carnage had furnished them with a truck pulling a small enclosed trailer. The dark Ford F-150 was in good shape and nondescript. Nothing stood out about it, and there were probably a hundred other vehicles just like it in town. A quick change of the license plate, and it now belonged to someone other than any member of Salvation’s Bane.
They parked a couple blocks away, out of the street lighting, taking different routes to the target building so they had it covered from every angle. Thorn was still annoyed Beast had overruled him and gotten others in the club involved, but it also made him smile. These men were his brothers. They had each other’s backs. He’d do the same for any one of them. Had done it, helping both Vicious and Beast secure their women.
As he waited, a pair of binoculars to his eyes, he thought about Mariana and his gut tightened. Her body was healing. After he’d met with his brothers, she’d talked him into letting her go swimming. When he and the boys had left the clubhouse, she was happily splashing around the pool with the other ol’ ladies. Lucy, Vicious’s woman, had urged Mariana and Fleur into the water with her and then it was on. They had races, water fights, and were in the middle of a water volleyball game with three of the younger prospects when he’d left them to it. Mama and Pops had been sitting under a large umbrella, watching the activities with a smile, obviously approving of the activity. Mama had promised Thorn not to let her overdo it, but had stressed to Thorn that Mariana needed to get back to normal. She had more than physical wounds to heal.
“Heads up.” Beast’s voice was a growl through the earpiece Thorn wore. “One target approaching from the north side of the building. Looks like he’s headed to the stairs. That our guy?”
Thorn looked. Really looked. At first, he thought it was. Jason was a little skinny fucker with a mullet he had shaved on the sides of his head. But this guy had tattoos peeking from under his shirt sleeve and the collar, and his hair wasn’t hardly long enough.
“Negative. But I’m bettin’ this guy knows somethin’. They look too much alike for him not to.”
“You think they’re settin’ you up?” Beast, ever the protector, sounded ready to take matters into his own hands.
“I doubt it. More likely, this Jason punk set up some putz to take the fall in case someone was lookin’ for him.” He flipped a switch on his radio. “Ripper. How sure are you about this local? Guy here ain’t the target.”
“Had eyes on him yesterday. Hacked into the city’s security feeds and made a positive ID from his driver’s license.”
“It possible this guy has a brother?” Thorn was starting to feel the sting of disappointment. He wanted this done, Goddamn it! The silence while Ripper checked his information wasn’t long, but it seemed to Thorn like it lasted a fucking year.
“No. But he has a first cousin who is nearly identical.”
“Is it possible you mistook one for the other?”
Another silence. Then a sigh. “Maybe.” Another beat. “Yeah. It’s possible. I’m sorry, Thorn.”
He wanted to rail at his brother, but it wasn’t the other man’s fault. He’d pushed, and Ripper had gotten him what he wanted. “Might not be a bust,” Thorn said. “Beast, can you get inside and question the guy?”
“He’ll likely go straight to his cousin.”
“Probably,” Thorn agreed. “Bettin’ you can persuade him to keep his fuckin’ mouth shut.”
“I’ll lay it out for him, then help him decide.” Havoc sounded like he was looking forward to the helping.
“You’ve got ten minutes,” Thorn said. He wanted to go himself but knew that, one, Beast would never let him put himself in a questionable situation, and, two, it was better that someone with a clear head talk to the innocent bystander. The way he was feeling now, Thorn thought he might take out his frustration on the wrong person.
Havoc left the comm open so his brothers could hear, and Thorn was glad of it. He took out some of Thorn’s frustration on the cousin but didn’t injure the man too badly. In the end, it had taken a small amount of blood and the threat of losing more, but Thorn had been certain the man had given him the correct location of Jason Harrison and wouldn’t tip off his cousin they were after him. He called Havoc off, but his vice president had stayed a few minutes longer. Taking a little more blood and making his point very clear. Only then did he back off. It was probably more a show for Thorn than it had been for the other man. A message that Havoc would do whatever he had to do in order to get the job done, whether Thorn liked it or not.
Under normal circumstances, Thorn would have called Havoc out on it. He didn’t tolerate insubordination. But in this case, he could see the other man’s point. Thorn had tried to do this himself when he’d never allow any of his brothers to go it alone in a similar situation. Havoc was letting him know none of them would allow Thorn in this by himself either.
“I hear you, Havoc,” Thorn said by way of acknowledgement. “Let’s go.”
“Good,” the other man replied. “Just so we understand each other.”
“We do.” Once back in the truck, Thorn laid out his instructions as they headed back down the road to Palm Springs. The night was hot and humid, the darkness providing little relief to the oppressive heat this time of year. “When we get back to the clubhouse, get a team together. I want a working plan in a week. If this guy’s scared enough, Harrison won’t be expecting us and won’t be on his guard. Even so, I’m sure he’s looking for word on Mariana. He may be actively hunting for her.”
“That’ll make our job easier,” Carnage offered. “My only concern is that he’ll follow her out of the clubhouse. You ain’t exactly got her locked down.”
“She won’t leave on her own,” Thorn said, confident he’d made an impression on Ana that evening. Except, he’d kinda bailed on her to come here. He’d been supposed to take her for a walk on the beach, wine and dine her, then talk about their future. Instead, he’d gone off to kill her ex. Which hadn’t turned out the way he’d wanted. Which irritated the fuck out of him.
“I hope not. I have a bad feeling.”
Thorn’s gaze snapped to his road captain. Any time any of them got a feeling, they all listened to it.
“I’ll make sure of it,” he said.
* * *
It was full night. Probably close to midnight if Mariana had to guess. The half moon shone br
ight in the sky reflecting off the water of the pool inside the Salvation’s Bane compound. She had been lazily swimming laps while Mama and Pops looked on for a couple of hours now. The other women had gone back inside, and the club girls had come out to take over the pool until one of the prospects had waved them off. They’d given her dirty looks, but Mariana was too deep in thought to worry overmuch about it.
After he’d left her, promising to talk to her tonight, Thorn’s meeting had turned into a full on “run,” as the club had called it. He’d kissed her lightly, promising he’d be back soon, then had left abruptly. He hadn’t looked back once. Yeah. She was definitely in over her head with this whole situation.
On the plus side, she was feeling much better. Her body was still sore, but not nearly as much as it had been. Today, the swimming taxed her muscles, but in a good way. She’d been at it for a couple of hours after the others had left and, for the first time since Jason’s attack, she’d started to feel like herself. Well, minus the pregnancy. Which she was trying very hard not to think about.
She was slowing down, swimming for the shallow end when an arm snaked around her waist, stopping her dead in the water. Mariana screamed and thrashed about. For the briefest moment, she just knew Jason had found her again.
“Get off me! Get off me, you bastard!”
“Jesus, Ana! Stop!”
Thorn.
Her fear turned to anger in a second. “Motherfucker!” She screamed at him, turning in the water to slap at him. She even threw a punch, which he caught with little effort. “Don’t you ever do that again, you prick!”
“I’m sorry, baby,” he soothed, pulling her in closer. At first she resisted, too angry and afraid and embarrassed by her reaction to allow him to comfort her. He just ignored her protests, tightening his arms around her in the pool, their wet bodies sliding against each other. He alternatively rubbed and patted her back as if reassuring a child, repeating, “It’s just me. I’ve got you,” over and over until she stopped trembling.
Thorn (Salvation's Bane MC 3): A Bones MC Romance Page 5
