by Harley Stone
Breaker and I weren’t exactly lovers. Hell, we couldn’t even be described as friends with benefits. Maybe fuck enemies? Regardless, it still hurt that he would encourage Chloe and her cruel little crew to fuck me up that bad.
If he legitimately wanted me jumped into the club, shouldn’t we have had a conversation about it? Shouldn’t he have warned me or asked for my permission or something? Was this how all the women were brought into the Serpents? One minute they were fucking a member, and the next minute a bunch of bitches with anger issues were beating them senseless.
Congrats! You’re now part of the gang!
Did other women get a choice about whether or not they wanted to join?
I was trying to be cool about the whole thing, but my insides were screaming. The entire time I’d spent with Breaker felt like one epic game of chicken that I was forced to play while blindfolded. With every step, I felt like I was about to go over a cliff.
And after everything I’d gone through, I was no closer to helping those girls than I had been a week ago.
Tap was right, and I couldn’t win against the Serpents.
I also couldn’t give up.
I broke down.
Julia opened her arms to me, and I leaned into her embrace. She smelled faintly of expensive perfume and her hands alternated between patting my back and swiping the hair out of my face. I didn’t know this woman from Adam, but she held me as I cried. Her kindness made me miss my mom, made me think about how all my failures had started with her.
I wouldn’t fail the girls. I would come up with something. I had to.
“I can’t believe Tap brought you to his house,” Julia said. “You don’t understand what a big deal this is. He’s notoriously private. Nobody knows anything about him.”
I didn’t know what to think of that. Tap had reassured me that we were safe here, but I didn’t realize how safe he meant. “Is he really wearing makeup?” I asked.
Julia laughed. “Yes. And whoever applied it was a professional. It sure as hell wasn’t Tap.”
“You don’t think he’s a contouring wizard?”
She laughed even harder. “No.”
Yeah, he didn’t seem like the type to me, either. “Do you think he’s married?”
“No. Well, if he is, that woman hasn’t been doing her duty, because he’s wound tighter than anyone I’ve ever met.”
That made us both laugh, because it was hella true.
Eventually, the men returned. Tap brought out a giant first aid kit, and Havoc rummaged through it, retrieving what he needed. It hurt like a bitch and I bit down on the Popsicle stick Tap offered to keep from screaming, but I managed not to pass out while Havoc stitched up my leg. Tap couldn’t watch, though. The man was seriously squeamish about blood and needles. Thankfully, the cut across my arm was small enough to only require butterfly bandages. Once he’d covered me in antibiotic ointment and bandages, popped my shoulder back into place, and checked over my ribs, Havoc stood.
“I think your ribs are only cracked, not broken, but it would be wise to get an X-ray.” To Tap, he added, “Eagle has connections with a doctor who runs a private practice and knows how to keep her mouth shut. He took Naomi there after…” His gaze flickered back to me. “After.”
Tap wasn’t the only one with secrets. I didn’t know who Naomi was, but I couldn’t help but wonder why she’d needed a quiet doctor. I wondered if the whole club had something to hide.
“Thanks. I’ll reach out to Eagle in the morning,” Tap said.
Havoc nodded. “It was nice to meet you, Sasha, but it’s past time for me to get my woman to bed.”
“Thank you, Havoc. Julia. For everything.” I squeezed her hand.
She gave me another gentle hug before joining her husband by the door. “Remember what I said about double-tapping.”
A smile tugged at my lips. I really did like Julia and I hoped to see her again. “I won’t forget. It’s the best advice I’ve heard in a long time.”
Tap groaned and shook his head.
Tap
I WALKED HAVOC and Julia out through the garage, avoiding the rest of my house. As far as I could tell, they were still clueless about my daughter and mother, and I wanted to keep it that way. Nobody needed to see the family photos we had hanging on the wall, or the few family heirlooms Mama kept locked away in the china cabinet. With the way my night was going, it was only a matter of time before that secret was blown wide open as well, but I’d keep it safe as long as I could.
“Why’d you take Sasha out of Buzz’s house?” Havoc asked as we reached his bike.
His question surprised me. Like several of the Dead Presidents, Havoc suffered from PTSD. He had anger issues and he tended to punch first and ask questions later. Despite all of that, he was a good guy who would have never walked away from a beaten woman. “Did you see her?” I asked.
“Yeah. I would have taken her out of there in a heartbeat, but that’s me. That’s not you.”
“You think I’m the kind of man who’d walk away and leave her like that?” I mean, I’d tried, but I hadn’t been able to. Not this time.
“I think you’re calculated,” Havoc answered. “You’re the most careful person I’ve ever met. Hell, some call you paranoid. I know how your mind works and what you’ve been trained to do. You calculate the risks and you don’t put your neck on the line. You stay focused on the greater good. You wouldn’t have risked the mission—the chance to stay one step ahead of the Serpents—for one woman. Taking her out of there was a gamble, and you, my brother, don’t gamble.”
He wasn’t wrong. “I don’t know. She asked me to leave her behind, but I couldn’t.” And I was glad I hadn’t. The past few hours I’d spent with Sasha had been… nice. My usual interactions with women came in the form of a one-night stand after a gig, but this was different. The attraction between us was more than sexual. She was intelligent, witty, and kind, and our conversations had been easy and fun. Hell, this was probably the closest thing I’d had to a date since high school.
“I like her,” Julia said. “She’s strong and resilient.”
“What did you two talk about?” I asked. They’d spent a good twenty minutes together, and when Havoc and I returned, Sasha’s eyes were red like she’d been crying.
Julia slid closer to her husband. “That’s between me and my new friend. I want to see her again. Don’t mess this up and chase her off.”
Havoc nodded. “She’s good for you.”
“What are you two? Matchmakers? Don’t go getting any crazy ideas. Sasha has goals that will most likely get her killed, and you know I’m not into that shit. She’s only staying until she can walk well enough to go running right back into danger.” While the girls were talking, I’d shared Sasha’s story with Havoc. I didn’t want to betray her trust, but she needed the club’s help. Havoc would lay it out for Link, and hopefully they could come up with a viable plan to extract the girls.
“I’ll talk to Link about that and we’ll see what we can do to help, but you’re bullshitting yourself if you think there’s nothing between you and that woman. Julia and I wouldn’t be here right now if you didn’t care about her. You brought a girl home, brother, and you were worried enough about her that you finally opened the door to us. In one night, Sasha was able to get you to do what we haven’t been able to in a year.”
Havoc was right. I didn’t want to admit it—or think too hard about it—but he was. “Shouldn’t you be taking your wife home and putting her to bed?” I asked.
He chuckled. “One last question. Since we’re laying it all out there tonight, how old’s your kid?”
Panic seized my heart. “What kid?” I asked, surprised at how steady my voice sounded when I was freaking out internally. I hadn’t slipped up, and there was no way he could know I was a father. He had to be fishing, and I wasn’t taking the bait.
“Your office smells like peanut butter, and those glasses on your desk had chocolate milk in them. We know where yo
u live now, so you don’t have anything to hide. You should have taken me upstairs to see your house, but instead, you kept me in the garage because you’re still keeping shit from me.”
None of his evidence was condemning, so I shrugged. “I like PB&J, chocolate milk, and my privacy. So, sue me.”
“You have Popsicle sticks. No grown-ass, child-free adult owns Popsicle sticks.”
He was right. Offering Sasha a Popsicle stick to bite down on while she was getting stitched up had been stupid. “I like to build Popsicle stick houses. I don’t advertise it or anything, but I’m a stripping, Popsicle stick house building makeup artist. That’s what I’m all about. I don’t let anyone see my house because I got this shit everywhere and I don’t want them to get the wrong idea.”
“Right,” Julia said, watching me.
Havoc chuckled, shaking his head. “What the fuck are you gonna do?”
“About what?” I asked, wondering if we were still talking about the kid I hadn’t confessed to having.
He rubbed at the back of his neck. “We’re shining a light on your life, and I can almost feel you skittering back toward the shadows. Is your ass still gonna live here tomorrow? Or are you gonna take your… Popsicle stick houses and ghost us?”
Good question. Sasha needed help. I couldn’t put Hailey and Mama in danger. I didn’t know what to do. So, I called in a lifeline. “What would you do in my position?”
He chuckled. “I’m probably the last person you want to ask, brother. I’ve never run from a fight in my life. I sure as hell wouldn’t hide from one.”
I laughed. “No, I can’t imagine you would.” Glancing at Julia, I asked, “But what if she was in danger? What if you needed to run in order to protect her?”
Havoc looked at his wife with so much emotion that not even a fool could mistake the love they shared. “Then I don’t deserve her.”
Taken aback by his response, I stared at him. “What do you mean?”
“I could stash Jules away somewhere and keep her to myself, but how fuckin’ miserable would she be? She’s a gem; she was born to shine. She hid herself away when it was necessary, but she has me and the club at her back now. It’s not my job to keep her from the world. It’s my privilege to walk beside her and guard her back. Your… person deserves an opportunity to shine, a chance to make a life filled with friends and family, people he or she can grow up with and trust. You’ll never find that on the road, running from one threat or another. You can’t keep anything hidden forever; all secrets come out eventually. Let us help you protect what matters most to you.”
He was asking too damn much, and I didn’t know how to respond.
“By the way, Morse told me to pass on a message. He’s got eyes on your house.”
“I bet that motherfucker does. Tell him to keep his eyes above the waist. If he sees the size of my junk, he’s gonna need therapy, and I’m not payin’ for it.”
Havoc and Julia both laughed as he pulled a helmet out of his saddle bag and started to put it on her. She grabbed his hands, stopping him, and leaned in for a kiss. I thought it was just going to be a quick peck, but apparently I wasn’t the only person trying to traumatize a brother. The two of them went at it like a couple of horny teens on prom night. I didn’t need to see that shit, so I headed back into the house.
I couldn’t stop thinking about what Havoc had said. Hailey did deserve to shine, but gems were easy to break, and even easier to steal. The sergeant at arms didn’t have a child. He had a wife who’d proven she could take care of herself. It wasn’t the same.
By the time I returned to the basement, Sasha was fast asleep. I grabbed a pillow and a blanket and made her comfortable, then I sat at my desk, started up my laptop, put in my earbuds, and checked the audio feeds from Buzz’s house. The data was uploaded and stored on the cloud, allowing me to listen to it at my leisure. Since it only recorded when there was sound over a certain decibel, I didn’t have to go through hours of dead air, but I did have to listen through plenty of drunk broads cackling and screaming in the next room.
Nobody came into the office looking for Sasha until close to midnight. Intrigued, I turned up the volume and closed my eyes so I could concentrate on his deep, angry voice. “Danielle, get your ass in here!” he shouted.
Seconds passed, and then she answered. “What? You’re interrupting my party.” Her words slurred together, sounding almost like a song.
“She’s not in here. Where the fuck did you and your bitches put her?”
“In here. I swear, Breaker.”
So, this was the asshole who’d been fucking with Sasha. I opened a browser and searched his name, landing on a social media profile that made me cringe. Buzz’s oldest looked like a fucking neckbeard, like a hipster who’d let his beard and hair get out of control since that seemed to be the cool thing to do nowadays. I scrolled through profile pictures of him drinking beer and manhandling women. He put all his shit out there on social media like he was proud of the fact he’d never had to work an honest day in his life. His icy blue eyes made him look detached from reality, unhinged. He looked every bit the sociopath Sasha had described.
“Look at the window. She must have climbed through it.” Danielle said, bringing my attention back to the conversation in my ears.
“I brought her here to get her ass kicked. She shouldn’t be able to climb out no damn window. Chloe! Get in here!”
I stopped on a close-up and stared into the face of the man who’d drugged Sasha, taken advantage of her, toyed with her, and thrown her to the wolves, encouraging them to rip her apart. Shitheads like this gave men a bad rep and kept me awake at night worrying about my daughter’s future.
“Da fuck you want, asshole?” Chloe asked. “We’re tryin’ to have fun out here.”
“Don’t play with me, bitch. Where’s Sasha?”
“Hell if I know. She was right there. See the blood?”
“I see the fuckin’ blood. What I don’t see is her. You need me to remind you how to kick someone’s ass so they can’t move to leave?”
And now, he was threating a woman. I wasn’t normally a violent man, but sometimes violence was the only thing people could understand. This motherfucker made me want to speak his language.
“Maybe your little cunt couldn’t hang.” Chloe sounded cowed, frightened. “Maybe she called someone to come and get her?”
“You were supposed to watch her ass!” Breaker shouted.
“It’s my bachelorette party,” Danielle shot back. “We’re not babysitting your fuckin’ bimbo! You shouldn’t have brought her here.”
Cunt, bimbo, derogatory terms to imply his sexual relationship with Sasha. They made me want to rip his head off.
“You’re both fuckin’ useless,” Breaker said. “I’m gonna find her ass and let her beat the shit out of you, Chloe.”
A door slammed.
“I’ma find her ass and let her beat the shit outta you, Chloe,” Danielle repeated in her best word-slurring Breaker imitation.
The two girls dissolved into drunk giggles.
Sasha’s story checked out. Breaker was every bit as pissed as she said he’d be, and he was looking for her. I watched her sleeping on the sofa, amazed that someone like her had put up with an asshole like him to rescue girls she didn’t even know.
I was worried about Sasha’s injuries and didn’t want to leave her alone, but I was exhausted and needed some sleep so I could deal with whatever new shit tomorrow brought our way. Since I was all about solving problems, I brought down the baby monitor from Hailey’s room and slid it under the sofa in the basement so I’d hear Sasha if she woke up and needed anything. Then I headed upstairs to shower and sleep.
Sasha
MY LEG ITCHED. I must have been scratching it in my sleep, because the pain of a nail biting into my tender flesh woke me. My left eye still felt swollen and tender, but I could open it. Someone had draped a blanket over me. I pulled it back far enough to check out my leg. The bandage was st
ill in one piece, so whatever I’d done in my sleep, at least I hadn’t popped a stitch or reopened the cut. I dropped the blanket back down and closed my eyes.
I wanted to go back to sleep, but my shoulder was stiff and swollen. Leaning on my other side, I slowly rotated it forward and backward, hoping to loosen it up. The stretches hurt like hell, but at least I could do them. By the time I finished, my shoulder felt more sore than stiff. I sucked down a deep breath and my ribs screamed with pain. I shifted, and tried to get comfortable, but no matter how I adjusted, I was putting pressure against one painful bruise or another.
I felt like I’d been run over by a steam roller.
Unable to fall back to sleep, I turned my attention to my surroundings. I was still lying on the overstuffed sofa in Tap’s basement. The security screens that monitored the outside perimeter were brighter than they’d been last night, bathing the area in pale light of early morning.
“Tap?” I called out, wondering if my reluctant host was still around.
No answer. I glanced toward the bathroom, but the door was open, and the light was off.
Last night, I must have passed out while he was walking Havoc and Julia out, because I had no memory of him returning. The pillow beneath my head and the blanket covering me made it clear that someone had been in the room while I was asleep, but I was alone now.
My bladder was full and demanding to be emptied, so I threw back the covers and carefully sat up. A low-grade headache pulsed over my left eye, and my tender right butt cheek cried out in protest. One of those vicious bitches had literally kicked my ass. What kind of person did that? The horrible kind, because it was stupidly painful to sit or move. I cursed her existence as I gingerly scooted to the edge of my seat and slowly stood. My leg throbbed, but there was no shooting pain like last night. I took things slow and easy, making it to the bathroom only seconds before my bladder decided to give up.
When I finished on the toilet, I noticed a new toothbrush, still in the wrapper, on the countertop next to a tube of toothpaste. Since neither had been there last night when I’d showered, Tap must have brought them in for me. Silently praising him for his thoughtfulness, I cleaned myself up. My breath was minty fresh, and I felt almost human by the time I emerged. Finding my purse, I brushed out my hair and tried to make myself look a little more presentable in case my dark and sexy rescuer returned.
