by Naomi West
My phone buzzed suddenly and I glanced down at it. My heart skipped a beat when I saw I had a new message from Halley and then dropped as I saw the single word there on the screen: kidnapped.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Max
I tore up in front of the Holy Flames' headquarters and skidded into a parking spot, heedless of my car at the moment. I was fucking livid; I couldn't believe that Emilio had gone behind my back like that and told Jake all about the real cause of Frank's death. We'd had a deal, he and I. And part of that deal meant that you didn't stab the other person in the back, which was effectively what the asshole had done to me.
I would have words for him.
And I would make sure Jake paid as well. I knew Emilio must have threatened Jake using Halley as leverage; there was no other sensible thing for the man to do. So, on my way over to the Holy Flames' headquarters, I had stopped off to pick up Halley. I had thought about taking the kid as well, but it was easier to pass off having an uncooperative woman in my car than having a screaming brat in case something happened and I got pulled over.
Fortunately, nothing happened, despite my speeding.
I stormed into the building, dragging Halley behind me, tugging at the duct tape that I had wrapped around her wrists. I had duct taped her mouth shut as well, so the only way I could really sense her fury was in the way her eyes stayed narrowed towards me. As soon as we reached Emilio's office, I tossed her into a chair, heedless of the way she fell into it.
“You've got some explaining to do,” I snarled at Emilio, who looked mildly up at me from behind his desk, meeting my rage with cool collectedness that only further galvanized me. I snarled and furiously swiped everything off to the side of his desk, planting my palms on the dark mahogany wood so that I was towering over him. “How dare you double-cross me!”
Emilio slowly rose from his desk, a little smile on his face. “Nice to see you too, Max. What, do you need my help again? Are the Devil's Route not listening to you still? You know, maybe if you just joined your club with mine...”
“It's not my club!” I spat. “You promised that you would deliver the Devil's Route into my hands, but you've gone back on that promise. And you've told Jake, apparently, that my father's death was on my orders! If I didn't know better, I'd say that you never meant for Jake to be killed in the first place and you planned this whole thing to get me removed from my own club!”
Emilio silkily raised an eyebrow at me. “Are you suggesting that I'd go back on my word? That's pretty dangerous territory for you to be on, given that you're currently in the headquarters of the Holy Flames. I'm surprised that I would need to remind you of that. After all, your own father died here … you know what sorts of things can happen in these halls.”
I could practically breathe fire, that's how livid I was at the moment. “Don't you threaten me!” I told him. “I wonder what the Holy Flames would think of you if they knew that after making a deal with me — that if I took out my father and his successor that I could take over the Devil's Route MC — you then went ahead and sabotaged any chances I might have at every taking over our club!”
“I told you to take out your father and Jake on your own and that then we would recognize your authority,” Emilio reminded me, a steely look in his eyes for the first time. “I didn't tell you to fling them at me so that I had no choice but to kill them. I didn't want the Holy Flames to be involved in your father's death, or in Jake's, for that matter. We're not here to clean up your messes.”
I scowled at him. “It's hardly my mess, but Jake is your problem. You're never going to take over the Devil's Route MC while he's got power there. You have to know that. He's never going to agree.”
“Every man has his price, Max,” Emilio said, shaking his head. “I begin to see why your father didn't want to put you in charge of his motorcycle club after him.”
“Hey!” I snarled.
“It's true, though,” Emilio said. “You aren't any sort of leader. You believe that everything that you want can be taken purely with brute force. But that's not the way that the world works, Max. That's not the way that these clubs work, especially when you want to escape the notice of the police, or at least to work alongside them. You need to be subtle, and you need to be able to plan ahead. You need to recognize how other men think and work, rather than just eliminating them whenever your anger overcomes you.”
“And what would you have done in my place?” I snapped. “How was I supposed to lure my father out on his own and eliminate him?”
Emilio shrugged. “Jake was your real target there. Your father would have done anything to save that man. And that makes sense. He basically rescued the kid from the streets and brought him into your fold. But Jake is an easy target. You know as well as I do what Jake values.”
My eyes slid over to Halley, and I grinned a little. “Well, yeah. I mean, I threatened his family by bringing her here and—”
“You got my motorcycle club into the middle of all of this again,” Emilio said, his tone unforgiving. “After all of this, you would think you would have learned, Max Cordell. I don't want to do your killing for you. I don't want to play the scary bad guy and ransom this girl. I've already made threats, and Jake knows I'll be good on my word if he doesn't do what I want. There was no need to do something as messy as kidnapping the woman. And now, if we don't release her, the cops will come after us, and the whole club will be in danger. Especially since, thanks to the Devil's Route, lately the cops have been breathing down our necks to clean up our act.”
I watched as he pulled a gun from his pocket, pointing it at my head and cocking it before I even had the chance to react and pull out a weapon of my own. I held up both hands, suddenly nervous for the first time since I'd entered their clubhouse. “Come on, Emilio,” I said. “You don't really want to shoot me.”
“Don't I?” Emilio asked, raising an eyebrow at me. “I didn't want to kill your father, but you left me with no choice. And even if I didn't want to kill you right now ... well, you've left me with no choice. I need to send a clear message to Jake and to the authorities that I don't stand with you. I don't agree with this kidnapping. This isn't the way I would run things. And you have crossed the line for the final time.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
Halley
The first thing I did when Emilio let me go free was to call Jake.
“Honey? Honey, where are you?” he asked, his voice frantic. “Are you all right? Are you hurt? Are you—”
“Jake, relax,” I said, trying to keep my tone soothing. “I'm fine. Everything is fine. Emilio let me go.”
“Emilio?” Jake swore colorfully. “I'm going to fucking kill that bastard! And I'm sure that everything he said about Max was a lie too, wasn't it?” He swore again.
“Jake, wait,” I pleaded with him. “It was Max that kidnapped me. He brought me over to Emilio's and ... look, can you just come meet me? Please?” I couldn't keep from sobbing. It was one thing to know that I was caught up in some sort of motorcycle club stuff, one thing to know that sometimes people died on these “missions” that they had and everything else. But it was another thing to hear the gunshot, to see Max fall to the floor right in front of my very eyes. I couldn't believe I had been stupid enough to get Cole involved in all of this, even if it did mean that we were free from Brian.
“Where are you?” Jake asked immediately.
“Outside the Holy Flames' clubhouse. But Jake, I don't want to stay here and wait for you, I want to...”
“Right,” Jake said. “Look, if you get on the number 56 bus that leaves from that corner — it runs every ten minutes or so — that'll bring you from downtown out towards the suburbs. Get off the third stop after that, at the cemetery. That's the one where Frank was buried, okay? I'll meet you there at Frank's grave in half an hour.”
“Okay,” I said in a watery voice. I didn't really like the idea of meeting him at a cemetery when I was already thinking of Max's death, but the inst
ructions were easy enough to follow, and there was a number 56 bus coming up the street even as we were talking. It was easy to get on it and let it whisk me away.
When Jake finally met me at Frank's gravestone, I could feel how worried he was in his arms, in the way he ran his hands over me as though checking for injuries that I hadn't told him about. Then, he folded me into an embrace and held me tightly. “Jesus, Halley, you scared the crap out of me,” he said honestly, his voice raw. “That text...”
“Sorry I couldn't tell you more,” I said. “I was afraid Max would see what I was doing and throw my phone away.”
“No, that was perfect, sweetie,” he said. “Jesus.” He ran a hand over his face, looking exhausted. “What happened? I should have known better than to turn Max free, it just seemed like the right thing to do. But god, I'm going to kill that fucker.”
“Too late,” I told him grimly. “Emilio already beat you to that.”
Jake's eyes widened. “What?” he asked.
I shrugged a little, trying to be casual about this whole thing because if I thought about any of it for too long, I was going to be on the next plane out of there, assuming a new identity, and never coming back. But this was what I had signed myself up for, I had to remember that. Jake had been very clear about the risks right from the start.
“Max came up to the house and rang the doorbell. I answered it. Thank god my parents were out with Cole doing a little shopping before our trip.” I shuddered a little, and I could see the anger build on Jake's face. “Anyway, he dragged me off into his car. I didn't put up much of a fight because I didn't really know what he would do if I made him really angry, and I didn't really want to find that out. I figured it was best to just go along with him until you could come get me, or until he threatened worse than kidnapping. But I figured I was probably worth more to him alive than dead, so at least I didn't really have to worry about him killing me.” I looked to him for approval and was glad to see a small smile on his face.
“That's perfect logic,” he told me warmly, reaching out to stroke back a bit of my hair, his strong fingers brushing my cheek. “I hate that you had to calculate all of that, that I ever put you into such a situation, but at the same time—”
“I knew what I was signing up for,” I reminded him. “You told me about the risks before I agreed to get engaged to you, before I agreed to be part of this whole motorcycle club thing. I needed some way of getting free from Brian, but if any of this had really bothered me, I would have found some other way.”
Jake stared at me for a long moment, a strange look on his face, and then he bent down to kiss me, his frantic movements from before only slightly calmed. Between his worry and my own adrenaline — still humming from the kidnapping and from watching a man be killed in front of me in a way that I thought only happened in movies — well, that meant that the kiss was full of zinging passion, our tongues coming together in a desperate dance. For a moment, I totally lost myself in the feeling of his lips moving against mine, in the feathery touches of his fingertips against my cheek. When we pulled apart, I actually had to catch my breath.
“I never imagined you could be so brave,” Jake told me, his voice raw. I smiled a little at that. “So, what happened next?”
“Well, Max dragged me off to the Holy Flames' clubhouse, I guess. I didn't really know that was where it was until we were inside and he was talking to Emilio, of course, but I was able to piece things together pretty quickly once they started talking — they were acting as though I wasn't even there in the room with them!”
“Was Emilio in on the kidnapping, though?” Jake asked urgently. “Or was it just Max involved?”
“Just Max,” I told him. “Emilio was really pissed about it. He said something about how he had already made hit threats and that you would go along with what he wanted or else you knew that he would do whatever it was that he had threatened you with?”
Jake's mouth tightened a little. “But he may have just been saying that as a show for you,” he said.
“I don't think so,” I told him, shaking my head. “He was pretty mad at Max, both for kidnapping me and for bringing me there to the Holy Flames' clubhouse. He said that Max wasn't being subtle enough and that his actions were pretty stupid. I can't remember his exact phrasing, but that's basically what it boiled down to. And then he went off on Max for having implicated the Holy Flames in the kidnapping, by bringing me there. He really wasn't happy about that.” I took a deep breath, running my hands over my sweater. “So, he pulled out a gun and put a bullet through Max's head.”
Even the thought of it made me want to throw up, but I knew I needed to stay strong, to make sure that Jake calmed down a little and didn't do something stupid like go after Emilio on his own.
Jake stared at me for a long moment, an unreadable expression on his face. Then, he pulled me into his arms again, kissing the top of my head. “I'm so sorry,” he murmured into my hair. “Jesus, Halley, I never meant for any of this to happen. I didn't realize all of what would happen if I brought you under the protection of the Devil's Route or else I never would have agreed to any of this.”
“Jake, it's fine,” I told him. “I'm safe. That's what matters, right? And Cole's safe too. We'll all go on a little vacation while you sort things out here, and then–”
“Are you sure Cole's safe?” Jake asked suddenly, pulling away, his face white as chalk. “What if Max sent someone after them as well? Or Emilio?”
I blanched as well and had my phone out, dialing my mom's number, almost before he had finished what he was saying. I pressed the thing against my ear hard enough that I could hear the plastic creaking under my fingers, but I didn't let up my grip until my mom actually answered the phone, sounding just as pleasant and normal as ever.
“Hey sweetie, what's up?” she asked.
I breathed a sigh of relief and tried to sound normal when I responded, even though I could feel tears in my eyes. I was glad when Jake brought up his hand and began lightly stroking my arm, offering me that small amount of reassurance. “Nothing's wrong!” I said, voice falsely cheerful but not falsely enough that I thought she would pick up on how strange I was sounding. “I just wanted to check in and see how shopping was going. Cole's being good, isn't he?”
Mom laughed a little. “He's being just a little darling, don't worry. Of course, we have promised him ice cream if we can get through all of this on our best behavior...”
I managed to laugh a little as well, practically melting with how relieved I was. “That's good, I'm glad to hear that. Well, I guess I'll see you at home...”
“We shouldn't be too much longer,” Mom told me. “Maybe another hour or two. Depends how long it takes Cole to decide which ice cream flavor he wants!”
“Sounds good,” I said. “See you soon!” I hung up the phone and the practically fell into Jake's arms. “I didn't even think about that,” I said over and over again. “I just didn't think that they might have been kidnapped as well.”
“We have to keep you safe,” Jake said. But there was a note of uncertainty in his voice.
“What's wrong?” I asked him, looking up at him, suddenly afraid that maybe he was having regrets about this as well. What if he told me to leave him and never come back, because obviously, I was too much of a liability? What would I do? I was starting to realize that I couldn't imagine my life without him—and how was I supposed to explain to Cole that we were never going to see Mr. Jake again, when the kid was already somehow so enamored of his father, without even knowing that it was his father?
“Emilio gave me a choice,” Jake reminded me slowly. He shook his head. “I still can't choose between you and my brotherhood. That's just not...”
“So, don't,” I said simply. “Jake, you're letting Emilio force your hand. Instead of just reacting to whatever he's said to you, why don't you come up with some sort of plan on your own?”
“Like what?” I asked. “God, Halley, if I knew what to do, don't you think I'
d be doing it?”
I bristled a little at his tone, but I knew he was only lashing out because he was upset. And I couldn't blame him, not with everything that had been happening lately. And not with ... I looked sharply down at his leg, suddenly realizing that he wasn't using his crutches like he was still supposed to be. “You're not supposed to be walking around like this yet,” I scolded.
Jake smiled a little and sighed. “I know,” he said. “I forgot the crutches at the Devil's Route clubhouse, in my haste to come make sure that you were okay. It's fine, it's just a little sore.”
“Come on,” I said, moving to support him, ducking under his shoulder. “We're going to get you somewhere where you can lie down, and we're going to make sure that we change the bandages on your leg. The last thing anyone needs right now is for you to get, I don't know, gangrene or something like that.”
