Colt: Devil's Nightmare MC: Book 10

by Lena Bourne

But then I wouldn’t have learned that her name is Brenda.

  Whatever that means. It means something. Because my dick is rock hard just from imagining her whispering my name while riding it.

  By the far wall, Blaze’s got Ace in a drunken bear hug type thing. He’s probably giving him the message. I completely missed Ace walking in, and my sole purpose for being here is watching for him. It’s not good to get on the Devils’ bad side, everyone knows that. And what happens if you disappoint them? I don’t even want to try and answer that question.

  Snow White with the wicked eyes will have to wait. Maybe forever. She’s got all these Sinner dwarfs to take care of and I got a job to do. A job she’ll probably hate me for once it’s done.

  Brenda

  I only stepped away to fill Lisa’s order and the next thing I know, the guy—Colt—is on the other side of the bar, leaning on the wall by the front door. His gaze still caressed my naked skin like a warm breeze every once in a while, but that was it. Smoke and bodies prevented our eyes locking. My enslavement behind this counter prevented me from walking over and throwing myself at him. I hardly even caught him looking at me.

  A waste.

  More than a waste.

  I’ve lost my touch. I knew that for certain when I returned from the back room carrying a heavy crate of beer, and he was gone.

  I never wanted a night at this bar to end more than I wanted this one to end after that. Not even my first night here was more disappointing than this one.

  But the Sinners just kept partying, kept shouting and smoking and breaking bottles and glasses, making a mess that’s gonna take me hours to clean up tomorrow morning. Stormi didn’t show. Ace never came back out from the back room. And Piston ignored every one of my attempts at starting a conversation with him. He’s probably pissed at me for flirting with that guy.

  I just can’t catch a fucking break in this place!

  Colt

  I slipped away from the bar as soon as she turned her back on me. I met her eyes one last time across the crowded room, but that was it. Mine were kinda watering from all the smoke hanging like a sheet in the air, hers were just filled with anger and regret, I hope. But what the fuck else am I supposed to do? I’m here on a job, a job that might end with every one of these bikers partying in here tonight dead. I could come back for her later when all is done, but she’s probably not gonna want anything to do with me then.

  I promise myself I’m gonna try anyway since she’s such a rare beauty, like a blue rose or something, but tonight’s all about making sure Ace gets out of here in one piece. He’s been undercover with the Sinners for a couple of weeks, blending in and trying to find out who the snitch that’s talking to the feds is. Either he’s now found that out, or our President has decided to handle the problem another way, Ace’s job here is done. He needs to come back with me and Blaze tonight.

  I keep glancing at the door to the left of the bar counter he left through, but he’s not back yet. The other guy, the one who didn’t like me talking to Brenda, is back, so’s at least one of the thugs who followed Ace to the back, but Ace is not. I’m no super clever guy, but even I know that’s not a good sign.

  None of the bikers take any notice of me as I make my way along the wall to where Blaze is still nursing his one beer, acting like he’s had at least fifty already. Even Brenda’s guy doesn’t see me anymore. He doesn’t see her either, though she’s trying to get his attention.

  “It’s been a while,” I whisper to Blaze as I slide past him.

  He bumps into me drunkenly. “He hasn’t checked in either. Something’s not right.”

  He’s swaying, not looking at me, as he whispers it. Then he pretends to lose his balance and catches himself on my shoulders, his face inches from my ear.

  “That door leads out back,” he whispers. “Go and see what you see. I’ll cause a diversion so you can slip out.”

  He gives me no time to think about it, no time to question whether a stranger wandering around their inner sanctum is something the Sinners will even try to understand if they catch me there. Instead, he starts meandering his way to the bar, waving his half-full bottle of beer, foam spraying everywhere as he demands another.

  So I don’t think, I just crack open the door he was standing next to and slip out into the darkness of some sort of courtyard. Most of it is in pitch darkness, but the single yellow streetlight over the trash cans casts enough illumination so I can make out a low rectangular building with many windows and all the lights off that stretches out against the wall on the other side of the courtyard across from me. There are more similar, only smaller buildings on the far side of the lot, darker blobs in darkness. There must be offices in the hallway Ace disappeared into, since one of the black painted windows there is glowing amber. I’m alone here. Good. First bullet dodged.

  I slip along the building I just exited, careful to stay in the shadows, stopping to try and eavesdrop on the office with the light is on, but I don’t hear a damn thing. I don’t breathe easy until I reach the near-perfect darkness at the dark side of the lot. In the distance, by the far wall around this compound, the handles of three bikes are glowing silver in the moonlight next to a white van which practically shines.

  That’s where the action will be if any occurs here tonight, and that’s where I gotta make my way to. I find a good hiding spot between two container-like structures, with the tall wall that surrounds this compound at my back. I have a good view of the bikes and vans in front of me, while the side exit of the bar is to my left. So I wait.

  And wait.

  And wait some more.

  The particularly loud conversations, arguments, and laughter reaching me from the bar started coming in longer and longer intervals. Eventually, people start trickling out through the side door, all heading straight for the long rectangular building which must be the sleeping and fucking quarters since more than a few are couples. The sound of choppers rumbling to life out front grows in number, then starts fading into the distance. Soon the music from the bar dies down too, and nighttime silence envelops me.

  I’ve seen nothing, have nothing to show for the hours I’ve spent here. For all I know, Ace is already safe. But they’d text me, and I received no such text. Blaze did send a text that he and Ice are waiting as backup out front. I texted back that it probably won’t be needed. As it is, I’m here for the night, or at least until I can be one-hundred percent sure I won’t be seen slinking away.

  The sight of Brenda exiting the bar drives all other problems from my mind. Moonlight makes her hair shimmer like a lake at night and attaches to her like a garment of silk as she sways her way across the courtyard to the clubhouse. I could just follow her, spend the night in her bed with my cock inside her. No one would question why I’m here then.

  And I’m seriously considering following her when the back door of the bar opens and five guys stride out. They’re not talking, just marching along like men on a mission all the way to the building the white van is parked in front of.

  Brenda’s guy gets behind the wheel of the van, another guy opens the back and the rest enter the wooden-walled building, bright white light spilling out the open door.

  Angry, arguing voices reach me, but I can’t make out what they’re saying.

  There’s no need to eavesdrop since a couple of moments later Ace and a woman are led out, their hands tied behind their backs. They load them in the back of the van. Not good.

  I only wait long enough for the bikes and van to roll past me before texting Blaze that they should follow the van, that Ace is inside, and it doesn’t look good.

  I don’t think too hard about what to do next once the bikes and the van leave the lot. I sprint back to the courtyard, not caring who sees me, jump up on the trashcans, and over the wall.

  My brothers are ready to follow the van, and I just nod at them, before mounting my bike and joining them in the chase.

  Brenda

  Stormi never showed to help me with the cl
eaning. That’s so typical of her lately. It wasn’t like that before, back in Vegas when we were still BFFs. She was always there for me then. We’ve known each other most of our lives, but we’d started to drift apart long before the Sinners took us.

  Still, I can’t just blame that for her not wanting to spend time with me anymore. Nor can I just blame Ace, the guy she found and who’s been showing her a lot of the good kind of attention. The kind I’ve never really gotten from a guy, but I can recognize it well enough. No. It was my sharp tongue and mean comments that drove her away. They seeped from how I speak to the Sinners to how I speak to her too. They shouldn’t have. But she should’ve helped me more at the bar.

  Right now, as I make my way across the dark, quiet courtyard to my bedroom, after having just loaded the last set of glasses in the dishwasher and turned it on, I’m not sure if I want to seek Stormi out to yell at her for not making an appearance tonight or to apologize for being such a bitch to her these last couple of weeks.

  I just know I want to see her. My best friend in the world. Ever. And my only friend here.

  It didn’t dawn on me that she might be getting in on with Ace in her bedroom until I’d already opened the door to her bedroom without knocking.

  Turns out I shouldn’t have worried. The room is dark, smells fresh, yet close in the way rooms that hadn’t been occupied for a while do. I can still smell traces of the lavender scent she likes so much that she gets everything in lavender—soap, shampoo, even perfume. One time, she found these tiny satchels filled with dried lavender and she’d carry them around in her purse. It drove me crazy.

  Her room’s not neat by any stretch of the imagination. The bed’s unmade, the comforter half on the bed and half on the floor. Jeans, skirts, t-shirts, panties, and shorts are strewn all over the place. Where’d she even get this many outfits? Shoplifting, most likely. She’s always been a master at that, while I’ve never been any good at it.

  She’s not here. She hasn’t been here for hours. She’s also probably coming back here with Ace when she returns. I want to lie down on her bed and wait for her, still unsure what I’ll actually say to her when she does, only knowing I’m not ready to face the reality and inescapability of my own empty bedroom here—a room just as small and just as messy as this one.

  But I leave anyway. Because it’s inescapable that I do.

  I wish that guy had stayed at the bar talking to me. Even after he left, I kept waiting for him to return. Kept searching for him among the rows and rows of Sinners partying it up like tonight was their last chance to have some fun. But he never came back. Do I really blame him? I’d take one look at that place and turn right around and leave if I could. Tomorrow he’ll just be a memory. A day later, less than that. Eventually, I’ll get out of here too.

  My room is cold because I keep the window open all the time. Something smells god-awful in here, and I still haven’t found the source of it. Probably the mattress. Or maybe the floorboards. It’s not piss, not shit, not blood, but maybe a mixture of all three? I don’t want to think about it tonight. The fresh air coming from outside isn’t that fresh either. It’s always full of dust. But what the fuck difference does any of it make?

  I don’t even bother turning on the light as I kick off my shoes, take off my skirt, and pull off my bra without taking off my tank top. Then I get under the covers, which thankfully smell of me and no one else.

  My hand hits something as I burrow my arm under the pillow to get comfortable. It rustles. A piece of paper? What the fuck?

  I grab it and go back to the door to turn on the light since the ceiling one is the only light in this room. It’s a small piece of paper covered by Stormi’s large letters.

  I’m levaing tonight. Going acbk to Vegas. I will wiat for you tehre. We can hide togehter.

  Back in school, her dyslexia got better with time and practice, but it seems to be back full-force now. The message is clear despite her jumbled up words. She left me here alone! Left me to face the Sinners all on my own!

  I don’t know whether to cry or scream or rage and break things.

  Couldn’t she have just told me?

  Couldn’t she have just asked me to come along?

  Did we really grow so far apart that she couldn’t?

  I did talk a lot about the two of us needing to find a place for ourselves among the Sinners. I did often suggest she get friendly with Horse. Did say I’m doing the same with Piston because it’s our only way to survive.

  I’m shivering, my teeth chattering from standing in the cold room in nothing but my underwear. I should pack up and run. I should leave tonight, right now. I should.

  But where would I go?

  I haven’t felt this trapped, since I was in my teens, stuck in a small apartment with a mom who was slowly, but surely losing her mind, and the latest in the string of bad men she brought home to take care of her. I should’ve left then. But I didn’t.

  Just like I won’t tonight.

  Better the devil you know. The devil you know is always better. What happened to Josh taught me that. I should’ve stayed with Monarch. I should’ve stayed with my mom.

  I know the Sinners. I don’t know what waits in the cold, dark night outside.

  Brenda

  I haven’t slept for more than a couple of hours at a stretch since I got here, and last night was no exception. It’s a good thing, since that way, I’m usually up before everyone else. This morning wasn’t so great. I woke up still clutching Stormi’s note and the first thing I did when I remembered everything was yell, “Fuck her!” and throw it across the room.

  Then I tried to get back to sleep, but it wasn’t happening. What the fuck am I gonna do all alone here, surrounded by men who hate me? It was Stormi’s deal that we get paid as a way to work off the money we stole from them. But now she’s gone. Are they gonna honor it, or just sell me to the highest bidder? Horse’s obsession with Stormi was the thing that kept us relatively safe. When he finds out she’s gone, he’s gonna take it out on the closest thing to her he can. Me. What the fuck was I thinking not splitting right away last night?

  As soon as that thought lights in my head, I throw my comforter off and spring out of bed. I grab the first pair of jeans I can find, pull them on with one hand, the other already reaching for my bra. I’m dressed in record time. The light outside is bright white, but I don’t think the sun’s really up yet. With just a drop of luck, none of the Sinners will be up and about yet. I dare not pack a bag, there’s nothing here that I want to take with me anyway. Except for the money I’ve managed to save in these last few months. It’s not a lot, since they didn’t give me a lot, and I gave some of it back to try and be a good girl and pay off my debt.

  I dig the tin can I keep it in from under my smelly mattress and pull out the wad of cash. Less than two-hundred dollars. But it should be enough to get me away from here. I’ll spend it all on a bus ticket to somewhere as far away from here as this money will buy. I’ll worry about everything else later. Or never. It’s time I started that new life I tried to start with Josh six months ago.

  The front door of the clubhouse banging open, followed by thudding footsteps in the hallway and shouts of, “Where is she? Where’s the bitch?” interrupt me while I’m putting on my jacket.

  They’re looking for Stormi! They gotta be.

  The door of my bedroom is kicked open and I’m just standing there, one of my arms halfway inside the sleeve of my jacket, transfixed by Griff’s angry glare and frothing mouth.

  “Where’s that bitch friend of yours?” he barks at me. “Who helped her get away?”

  He barges into the room as he says it, and I instinctually step back from him. I almost landed flat on my ass as my feet get tangled up in the comforter.

  A sour smell is coming off Griff, and it’s more than just unwashed old man stink. Fear? But why? Stormi meant nothing to him.

  I glance at the men who came with him, desperate to find Piston among them. This is the moment I�
�ll find out if my charms worked on him at all. But he’s not here. The only thing I see on the faces of the man crowded in the doorway of my bedroom is hate.

  “I have no idea where Stormi is, or what you’re talking about,” I say as I right myself, and pull my jacket on all the way.

  I have no time to even be afraid as he lashes out, grabs a fistful of my hair, and drives the other one into my stomach. The blow takes my air, takes my vision and hearing too before it all returns with a whoosh accompanied by explosive, fiery pain that just keeps on growing. I’m on my knees and only vaguely recall them buckling. He’s still got a hold on my hair, the stinging pain an afterthought to the one radiating from my stomach.

  Despite that, I look up at him and almost snarl that I’ve been hit worse by better men than him.

  But that’s stark raving crazy in his eyes. They’re more white than dark and bulging, and he’s panting. I know there’s very little stopping him from beating me to death right here. So little I don’t know if it even exists.

  “Please, Griff, I have no idea where Stormi is. I tried to find her last night, but she wasn’t here,” I say in my best poor wounded woman voice. “Whatever she did, I had no part in it. Please, please believe me.”

  Tears are streaming down my face. They’re from the pain in my stomach and my scalp since his vicious grip on my hair only grows and grows. Slowly, so very slowly, his eyes lose the crazy glare.

  He drags me towards the door by my hair, and as much as I don’t want to show him how much pain he’s really causing me, I scream from it anyway.

  “Lock her up,” he tells the men. “She might come in useful.”

  He finally lets go of my hair and the guys by the door part to let him exit. Then two of them grab me, taking one arm each, and start dragging me out of the room. Every cell in my body wants to fight. But Griff doesn’t need a very big excuse to kill me right now, and I’m not gonna give it to him. No matter how terrified I am of being locked back in that stinky dark cell I started my time with the Sinners in. The cell where I spent my first night here listening to Josh’s screams and knowing me and Stormi will be next.