Abandon (Midnight Saints MC Book 1)

by Iris Sweetwater

  I had just lifted my hand to knock on the last door, when it opened in my face. Suzette, Austin’s current piece of ass, stepped out. She was nude, and grinning.

  “Well, hello hot stuff,” she said, not bothering to cover any private parts. In fact, the opposite was true. She caressed her body in an open invitation.

  “Where is Austin?” I asked staring at the way her fingers rolled over her rosy nipples.

  “Sugar, I wore him out. He’s passed out on the floor, where I rode him like a stallion. I’ve got plenty of energy left, though. Care to give me a whirl?” she invited as she stroked between her legs.

  “Sloppy seconds aren’t my style,” I replied.

  “Oh, I had a shower, sugar. I’m fresh as a daisy,” Suzette answered, pulling my hand to her mound, and rubbing it. “Feel that? I’m getting wet just being near you. Fuck me, sugar.”

  Impulsively, I stuck two fingers inside her. My brain, or more likely my cock, was telling me, “Why waste a perfectly good opportunity?”

  She rode my fingers briefly, moaning, and playing with her tits. I heard noises from the meeting room, and came to my senses. This was Austin’s whore. She wasn’t his ol’ lady, but to me it was almost the same. I had more loyalty than I was displaying at the moment.

  I ripped my fingers out of her, moved her aside, and entered the room. She knew better than to shout at me, because if she did, Austin would know she’d offered me what was his. Instead, she cursed me under her breath, “You left me fucking hanging, you asshole! I was close to exploding, and now I ache. You’re a dick! Asswipe! Dickwad! Fuckhead! I hate you!”

  I ignored her and kicked at Austin’s legs. “Get up, man! Tony wants all hands on deck. The meeting starts in five.”

  When he opened his eyes, and looked at me, I added, “Keep Suzette on a leash. She’s like a bitch in heat.”

  “I know. Ain’t it great?” he answered, making me laugh. “I’ll be there in a second. Let me wash.”

  Suzette was gone when I made it back to the hallway. Hopefully, she was getting dressed somewhere, and hadn’t gone anywhere near the meeting room. It was filled with horny crew members who wouldn’t be able to resist a curvaceous, large breasted woman who smelled of sex.

  I made sure to scrub my hands before returning to the meeting. The last thing I needed was to smell like a pussy.

  My pain meds were wearing off. My leg was throbbing. All around the room, I could see that others were feeling the impact of the battle. Ninety percent of us had at least one prominent bandage covering an injury. Several were bleary-eyed from taking recent doses of pain meds to endure a meeting. Others were drinking whiskey to dull the pain, and wipe away their grief at losing friends.

  Tony called the meeting to order, and we all stopped talking to listen to what he had to say. Maxum, our President, had still not turned up. We’d called the hospitals and the morgues but had no luck. Tony was in charge, and we hoped he had an explanation for the attack on us, as well as The Preacher’s disappearance.

  “Yesterday was shitty, a damn clusterfuck. We all can agree on that,” he stated. “The attack was unexpected, and as far as we knew, unwarranted. We haven’t done a damn thing to anger the Shadow Order. We haven’t stepped on their turf, touched their whores, or gotten involved in their shitty ass business. Because of them, we lost three good men, men with families who needed them. Devon, died in my place, never getting a chance to fight. The cowards shot him in the back of the head. They invaded our bar, our exclusive territory, knowing it was an act of war. We will take action against the assholes. There’s no doubt in my mind that this is an all-out, no holds barred war.”

  There were shouts of “Fuckin right,” “They’re dead men,” and “Let’s cut their dicks off and stuff them in their mouths!”

  Tony remained calm, and asked for silence. “We can’t go off half-cocked. There are business things we need to settle first. A lot has come to light since yesterday. I’ve found some paperwork that will change everything, including the hierarchy in this club. We have to straighten out our own shit before we can deliver a storm to our enemies. And believe me, we have more enemies than we ever knew. Our fucking President seems to be one of them.”

  There was arguing among the crew. Some readily believed Maxum was a traitor, while others remained loyally defensive of the man who preached against sin on Sundays. I had heard the rumors against Maxum, and had listened to what Casey had heard from the women at the strip club. All the evidence, along with my gut instinct, told me Maxum was guilty, and that he had brought about the deaths of men in his own club.

  “Shut the fuck up!” Tony yelled, finally losing patience. “This club will stop arguing among itself. We don’t have room for that kind of shit! We have to stand together if we are to survive. A large group has left us already. Open your damn ears, and listen to what I’ve learned. I guarantee we’ll all be in agreement after I’ve finished. If not, then get out! I’m sure the Blue Diablos will welcome our turncoats. After all, that’s their main MO— every man for himself. There is no loyalty among them. They may be a large club, and deadly, but they will go down because they fight among themselves. We will not do the same. I won’t allow it!”

  There were murmurs of assent. Then, the room became silent. Tony was allowed to continue.

  “I grew tired of rumors, and innuendos about Maxum. I was also tired of his absence. This club needed a leader, so I went in search of the answers. Truthful, factual ones. I started with his house. I picked the lock, and searched it. There wasn’t much to find. All his personal shit was gone. His computer was not in his office, nor the office in the church. He’s cleared out. That’s proof he’s left us high and dry. Next, I tore apart the office here. He’d wiped shit off the computer and taken papers from the files, but he made some mistakes. I was able to retrieve some of the shit on the computer and a couple of random papers that were lost behind a cabinet.”

  Tony lifted a small stack of papers to show he was telling the truth.

  “The top four in this stack were the ones behind the cabinet. They are receipts for drugs; large quantities. They were signed by Maxum. We all recognize his shitty handwriting. The rest are printouts from what I recovered on the computer. There was a bank account in Maxum’s name, and the papers prove the damn shitfaced liar was siphoning money from the church and the club into it. That money bought the first stash of drugs, which he sold, then added the profits to the account. He got into gambling, and selling sex. Not much of a damn preacher now, right? Something went wrong after that— karma, or God’s vengeance. He began losing a fucking fortune. He took more from the club and the church, thousands, but it wasn’t enough to stop the bleeding. It appears he sought out some of our lame-ass defectors, and joined in a deal with the devil. From what I can tell, he made promises of power in exchange for money and drugs. One promise was that the Midnight Saints would come crashing down. Anyone left would join the fucking Blue Diablos, or the shit ass Shadow Order. The Shadow Order is now under his control.”

  I couldn’t hold back any longer. I said, “That means he ordered the hit on you.”

  “You’re damn right, he did! The attack on the bar was obviously his idea. He gave the Shadow Order all the information they needed to hit us where it hurt. He didn’t give a shit about innocent lives in the bar. He’s in too deep, and trying to save his own ass by destroying us. Now, we have enemies where there weren’t any before. We don’t even know who all of them are. He owes drug lords and sex traffickers who will come after us to get the money he owes. We don’t even know where the attacks will come from. Plus, he’s set the Diablos and the Shadows after us. It’s a shit ton of danger.”

  “What do we do?” I asked.

  “We clear out the riff-raff who helped him first. I know who you are, so don’t try to run or fight. I won’t order a crew member killed, unless they try to harm those who have remained loyal. Just get out. Go to Maxum, and tell him to fuck off. We know what he’s done, and we won’t
hesitate to get our revenge. Seth, take out the trash! D.J., Simeon, and Stacks are no longer welcome here. They are banished as enemies. They can take their blood money with them. Let them leave without incident, but if they dare come near here or the bar again, they are fair game.”

  A rumble went through the crowd. Wide paths opened around the three men Tony had named as traitors. D.J. sputtered, and begged for mercy.

  “He threatened me! I had no choice.”

  The other two kicked him as they walked by, their hands twisted behind their backs by Austin and me. We threw all three out the back door, and ordered them to run through the woods. Their motorcycles would be confiscated as partial payment for the money they had helped Maxum steal from the club. I doubted D.J. would make it through the night. Simeon and Stacks had no tolerance for whiny assed beggars. We watched until the pieces of shit disappeared from view.

  Back inside, there was a somber silence. No one knew what to say. The club members were confused, and distrustful of one another. It was understandable. They had experienced a shock, watching friends die because of their own buddies. Then, having the traitors hiding in plain sight while they were patched up by those they had caused to be injured. It was a damn mindfuck.

  Tony’s exhaustion was beginning to show. He had the weight of the world on his shoulders. Dead members, a president who’d defected and tried to have him killed, traitors among the crew, and enemies coming from all sides was a fucked-up mess to get under control. He was doing his best, though.

  “I want you to know, we will fix this clusterfuck. This club will survive. First of all, the families of our fallen will be taken care of for life. Devon’s mother is confined to a wheelchair. She was his responsibility because he was an only child. She’s ours now. We will see she has the care she needs. Together, they were raising Bonnie, his daughter. Bonnie is ours as well. She’s a wannabe, but I will insist that she finishes school, meaning college, before we even consider her joining us. Buck was a loner. He had no family that we knew of. Still, as one of ours, he will be buried with honor, the same as Devon and Bryan. Bryan’s wife wasn’t part of the club, but we will compensate her for his death. Thankfully, there were no children,” Tony sighed.

  “The Shadow Order was sent a special delivery very late the night of the attack. The bodies of the dead attackers were placed on their doorstep by some very lethal allies of my family. They’ll understand the message we are sending. We don’t tolerate attacks on the places under our care. Of course, they will retaliate. We’ll be ready. Organization is the key to success. So, I need new officers in place. Is there any objection to me becoming the president?”

  Shouts of “No objection” and “No one else is fucking better” rang out through the ranks.

  “Okay, then, as President, I will name the other officers. Austin moves into the VP position. I trust him to take over in case of my death. Youth has nothing to do with loyalty, and a sense of honor. Vince is my choice to replace Devon as Sergeant at Arms. I believe he will do Devon proud.”

  Silence reigned in respect to their fallen Sergeant at Arms.

  Taking a deep breath, and pushing back his sorrow, Tony continued appointing new officers. “Jordyn becomes Road Captain. Seth will remain as our Chief Enforcer. I’ll let him choose his fellow enforcement crew. With D.J. out, we require a treasurer. I name Jed to that position. He is trustworthy, and unlikely to steal what we’ve managed to accumulate since Maxum’s theft.”

  He paused briefly, and during that moment of silence, a faint scratching sound was heard at the clubhouse back door. For an instant, no one moved. Due to the message they had sent to the Shadow Order, whatever was at the door could be a deadly trap, explosives, or an army of assassins.

  “This is my territory,” I declared. “As enforcer, I get the privilege of discovery. The officers should remain in the center of the room. Surround them and protect them with your lives,” I commanded the crew.

  Tony opened his mouth to argue, but was dragged into the midst of his loyal crew. They weren’t ready to sacrifice their new president when he was finally getting their crew together after Maxum had let it drift apart.

  Gun drawn, I eased my way toward the scratching sound. Then it ceased. It was too quiet, raising the hair on the back of my tense neck. I swallowed the lump in my throat. I didn’t like to admit it, even to myself, but I was scared. I wasn’t ready to die. I pressed my ear to the door, and heard whimpers. Frowning, I wondered if one of the banished men had returned, hurt by an animal or an enemy.

  Taking a chance, I snuck a quick peek out the window, and saw a pair of legs clad in sweatpants. None of the men I had tossed out earlier had been wearing sweats. Besides, these legs belonged to someone far smaller than the men of the Midnight Saints. I sucked in a worried breath, thinking one of our ol’ ladies or one of our whores had been hurt by our enemies.

  Throwing caution to the wind, I yanked the door open. No guns blazed. No explosives burst. Only a lone figure laid prone on the porch. It was indeed a woman. Her face was hidden by a mass of bleached blonde hair. She was rolled into a ball, her arms wrapped around her torso, as if she was protecting herself from some invasion.

  Pity was my first reaction, though I instinctively knew I should have been concerned about danger. Her arms could be sheltering a weapon, or worse, a bomb. She could have been planted by Maxum’s new crew, but my gut said that wasn’t the case.

  “Hell and damnation!” I grumbled. Shoving my gun into the waistband of my leathers, I bent to pick up the woman. My hand had barely touched her when I heard shouts from the meeting room.

  “What the hell is happening? Who was it? Seth, are you there?”

  I cursed, “It’s a damn woman! I think she’s hurt. She’s unconscious.”

  “Don’t you fucking touch her!” Tony screamed, running into the hall. “It’s got to be a trap!”

  “I don’t think so,” I replied evenly. “She’s been beaten. See her ankle. It’s swollen and bruised. She’s cradling her ribs.”

  “She’s hiding a damn weapon, you fool!” Vince chimed in from behind me. “Listen to the Prez. Leave her there. We’ve got enough troubles without some whore screwing with us.”

  “No,” I flatly stated. “Demote me. Send me packing if you want, but I’m helping her.” Without waiting for a reply, I finished what I’d started. I lifted the limp body in my arms. She moaned as her arms fell from their protective embrace. The blonde hair slid off her shoulders, revealing a bruised and swollen face. Tape was stretched across her disfigured nose, proclaiming that it was broken. Her throat was swollen, black and blue, from a strangling. My pity returned. There was something vaguely familiar about her, but identification could wait for later. She needed medical care first.

  “Move,” I ordered, despite my lesser rank. “Someone better damn well fetch old Doc Sanders. Don’t argue with me on this. I won’t allow a woman to suffer the way she is right now. Fuck the danger! We aren’t animals who let the broken die or tear them apart because they are weak. We’re better than that.”

  “Call the doc,” Tony ordered. “We’ll address this insubordinate shit later. Seth, you know the consequences if you’ve brought hell down on us. You saw what happened to the traitors tonight. I won’t hesitate to rip your ass apart, and set the dogs on you if this proves to be a fucking mistake.”

  “I get your drift, and I accept the responsibility. This shit’s on my head. Let me pass. I think she’s waking up.”

  Grumbles and curses followed me as I made my way to one of the bedrooms. The crew would willingly beat me to death if this woman proved to be a trojan horse. I didn’t blame them. I already knew what I was doing was beyond fucking foolish.

  Chapter 7

  Reagen

  I was surrounded by softness, lost in a cloud of comfort. I felt no pain, and my brain was fuzzy. Whatever painkillers I’d been given, they were really excellent. In my mind, I was still in the hospital from my last beating. Then, my memory started to
stir. I had been home, and Jacob had beaten me again. The maid’s brothers had helped me escape. Shit! I had thought I’d made it to the Midnight Saints club, but apparently, I was back in the hospital, though the sheets were damn soft for a shitty hospital bed.

  I had to get out before Jacob found me. If not, I was as good as dead. I jerked, and tried to rise. Pain! It screamed through me, overriding the pain meds. Damn it all to hell and back! I couldn’t do this. I had given it my best shot, but it had been too shitty of a try. I was a goner. I began to sob, both from fear of death and the pain that now surpassed what meds could fix.

  “It’s going to be okay,” a deep male voice confided. A rough hand patted my arm. I suppose it was meant to soothe me, but it did the opposite.

  “Please! Don’t touch me. Don’t hurt me anymore. I give up. Tell Jacob to just shoot me. I’d rather die than continue suffering like this. Better yet, you shoot me before he gets here. Set me free from the pain,” I begged, despite the pain talking caused.

  “I don’t know who Jacob is, but he’ll never fucking touch you again. I swear. I’ll damn well kill him before I let that happen. I won’t hurt you. None of our crew will. You’re safe. Doc will give you some more meds, so just sleep. It will get better soon,” the voice answered.

  I had no reason to believe him, but somehow, I did. He made me feel safe. I liked this hospital, a lot. There was a sharp prick on my arm, then the world was dark once more.

  I woke up to arguing. It was clear that I was a problem for someone. I wanted very much to tell them I wouldn’t betray them, that I was the one who needed protection, but I couldn’t get the words past my swollen throat.

  “She can’t stay here,” a red-haired man argued. “We know who she is now that her face is less contorted. She’s marked as the ol’ lady of a Blue Diablo. It doesn’t matter that he was once a Midnight Saint. He’s the enemy. This war is already too big for us to win. Get her out of here.”