Devil's Due: Satan's Devils MC Colorado Chapter #3

by Manda Mellett

  My first thought is the bathroom, but the door’s open and from here I can see no one is inside. Clubroom? I frown. I hadn’t seen her, but she may have been in the kitchen with Jeannie, Sindy or even Mo if Hellfire’s old lady made one of her rare visits to the compound. Stevie’s clearly left Max here to rest. I stroke him again, seeing his large brown eyes on me. Why is it dogs always look so sad?

  I stand, my intention to go to find his mistress. When I do so I notice a note propped up against the dresser with my name on it.

  That’s odd. Stevie’s blind.

  My senses immediately on high alert, with an unsteady hand I open it and being to read it.

  Beef,

  I’m dictating this note, and Lennox is writing it for me. I’ll sign it so you know it’s from me.

  Lennox has arranged a new place where I’ll be safe. He promises to take better care of me this time. Another marshal will be taking over from him (as Lennox fears he may have been compromised as my handler). He’s taking me to him now. I don’t know where I’m going, so I couldn’t tell you if I wanted to.

  I knew this would happen. Lennox has explained my testimony is too important for the government to trust me in anyone’s hands but their own. It’s why I know they can keep me safe. Their interest is served by keeping me alive.

  That’s the only reason I couldn’t commit to you, Beef, though everything inside me echoes what you said. I know you too. I know you’re a good man. I know you’d do everything you can to keep me safe. But at the end of the day, I have to trust the experts. The marshals have never lost a man, or woman, yet.

  I’m gutted at leaving you, and also that I’ve had to leave Max. He’s not strong enough to work yet, and I know you’ll take care of him. I would be selfish to take him with me before he’s healed. I’ve got my white stick and that will help.

  I think I’m almost in love with you too. Probably more than that.

  It’s best you forget me. If I can make my way back to you, I will, but we need to be realistic, and this goodbye might be final.

  You’ll have a place in my heart forever. You deserve so much more than the trouble I bring, and which might never be over.

  Yours, forever

  There’s a scrawled signature. A blind woman’s attempt to write her name. A name she’s never seen written as it’s not the one she was born with. And there, lying where I’d found the note, the phone Cad had given her.

  The roar that comes out of my mouth has Max up and growling. My fist slapping into the top of the dresser makes him bark. Without taking the time to calm him, I rush to the door and back out, leaping down the steps, my mind whirling. Did Stevie dictate that note? Or did Lennox just write what the fuck he wanted? She’d never know. She could have been tricked into signing it. That might not even be her signature.

  The only thing I’m certain of is that it was Lennox who lured her away. She wouldn’t have gone with anyone else.

  “Demon!” My voice thunders across the room, audible even over the blasting of the jukebox.

  Sensing trouble, someone turns the music off. “What the fuck, Beef?” Demon yells almost as loudly as he walks across the room toward me.

  Around me I spy men putting hands into their cuts reassuring themselves their weapons are at hand, just like my brothers would have back in Tucson. Devils are Devils. As he nears me, I thrust the piece of paper at Demon, while telling him the bare facts as I know them.

  “Stevie’s gone. Lennox has taken her.”

  “On it, Prez.” Thunder circles his hand around his head. Without waiting to be asked, Liz, Ink, Pyro, Skull and even the newly patched members, Wills and Dan follow him outside. Within seconds a roar of bikes can be heard as Wills comes running back inside.

  “No sign of Lennox or Stevie. Brothers have gone out to see if they can pick up the trail anywhere.”

  “Who’s on the fuckin’ gate?”

  The two prospects behind the bar exchange looks and bow their heads. Not trusting myself to speak to prospects I’ve no authority over, I turn my back on them.

  “Didn’t anyone stop him leaving with her?” I’m incensed. Anyone spotting her leaving should have come running to me.

  “Hey, I’ve been here all the time,” Bomber objects fiercely. “Your girl didn’t come down this way.”

  “The fuckin’ fire escape.” Paladin swears loudly. “Always said we should keep that locked after what happened to Jay.”

  “It’s a fuckin’ fire escape.” Rusty slaps him around the head. “Can’t lock it.”

  I don’t give a damn whether we all burn to death. Right now I’d prefer it to that feeling of dread settling in my stomach. Stevie’s gone. I might never see her again. The room’s spinning around me as all the implications set in. She’s gone. That night I had planned when my cock was going to show her how good we could be together? Gone. The loving I’d planned to do to her. Never get a chance now.

  The implications cause my brain to misfire. I stare without seeing, hear sounds without listening, the rushing in my ears almost too much for me to bear. I let out a scream like a wounded animal and sink to my knees, bending my head and bowing, praying to a God I’ve no faith in to keep her safe.

  “Beef, man. Brother. We’ll find her. We’ll fuckin’ find her.” It’s Pal who’s one side of me, little Jay the other. It’s her arms, her touch, I lean into and take comfort from.

  “Beef, I’m so sorry. She will be okay. I feel it. I know it. She’ll come back to you, Beef.” She repeats the words, rearranging the order, then voicing her platitudes once more.

  After a couple of minutes, I feel like I can function. “You can’t know it, Jay. You, we, can hope. That’s all.”

  Tears are pricking in my eyes, I swipe them away. I won’t give up. If it would do any good I’d be out searching, but the local brothers know more about the routes out of town that Lennox would take. That’s where he’ll be heading. He won’t be hanging around. Now he’s got her in his clutches again he’ll have her far away, over the state line as fast as he can.

  I’ve no idea of what direction he’ll be heading, no clue where to start searching.

  My hopes can only be pinned that he’s honest, that he’s genuinely doing what he hopes is right for her and that he’ll do what he can to keep her safe.

  What hope do I have of ever finding her?

  I won’t even know her name.

  “Church,” announces Demon, “as soon as the others return.”

  I don’t need to ask if he thinks they’ll have caught up with them. We don’t know what start they’ve got, they could be miles away already.

  Max. She left her dog. She left me.

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Men all talking loudly enter church. As they pass by me their voices falter and looks of commiseration are passed my way. In between discovering Stevie missing and finding my seat at the table, a myriad of thoughts have run through my mind.

  I had thought that, finally, I’d found my one, the person I was going to spend the rest of my life with. Fuck, I didn’t care if I didn’t end up with a family, just Stevie would have been enough to complete my life. Now I’ve got to face that what was in my head can’t have been in hers. If it was, she wouldn’t have left without a word. That note, written by a third party, doesn’t count.

  As Demon takes his place at the head of the table, the last man wanders in, but the door pushes open once more.

  Hellfire laughs loudly, the seriousness of the atmosphere broken as a furry head appears, and the body follows to take its place at my feet. I reach down my hand and stroke Max. He must be feeling abandoned just like me. My eyebrow raises in challenge at the prez.

  Demon stares back, then shakes his head. “Fuckin’ dog doesn’t want to be left out. I suppose you want him to stay?” Not waiting for an answer, he continues, “It’s not as though he’s going to be giving away anything we discuss.”

  “Unless he’s bugged,” Cad says, quite seriously.

  He’s go
t a point. But even a dog as well trained as Max couldn’t have been told to hang around us in church. No, he’s sought out the company of the only person he now has. Nevertheless, I remove his collar, and pass it down the table.

  Cad examines it for a moment, then passes it back after removing his name tag. “I’ll put this outside and check it later. Can’t be too careful after that fucking GPS.”

  Knowing he’s right to be cautious, I don’t object as he leaves then returns minus the tag.

  “Fuckin’ dog a member now, Prez?” Ink grins.

  Mace reaches for a cigarette. “Nah, he can’t ride a bike.”

  “Beef could get him a side car.”

  I don’t bother pointing out there’s no way in hell I’ll be attaching a hack to my bike.

  “Honorary member?” suggests Rusty.

  “Whatever,” Demon remarks with a sigh. “Can we now get down to Beef’s problem?”

  “Ain’t got a problem, Prez.” In some ways Max’s appearance has consolidated the thoughts I’d had between finding Stevie was missing and the members having gathered for church. At the quizzical looks sent in my direction, I carry on, meeting their faces one by one. “I’m gutted she’s gone. Wasn’t what I wanted at all, but in the end, maybe this has worked out for the best.” She wouldn’t have wanted me to claim her. If she had, she wouldn’t have left. Think of the club. The brothers I’ve ridden beside for so many years. “Stevie’s done nothing but cause us trouble.” I absorb the gasps from around me, but don’t let them faze me. I’ve still got the floor, I use it. “She’s brought us into the sights of the Wretched Soulz. My solution had been to turn in my patch and take her away, but she’s saved me from making probably the worst mistake of my life. It’s best, this way, for the club. She’s gone, no one knows where and if the marshals do their job, no one will ever be able to find her.”

  “Jesus, Beef. It was all I could do to hold you down…”

  “Prez, yeah. My first impulse was to go out searching for her. I admit it, I wanted to claim her. But this has opened my eyes, shown me I was going about it the wrong way. That note she left? She doesn’t trust us to keep her safe. Don’t blame the girl at all, blind like that, can’t do much for herself. She’s put her faith in the marshals—”

  “She fuckin’ trusts you, Beef,” a deep voice snarls by my side. Turning quickly, I’m faced with a death stare from Hell not too dissimilar from Drummer’s. Seems the prez glare doesn’t fade once you step down from the job.

  My temper flares. “Does she? Walked away without a backward glance.” My voice rises in volume.

  “Did she?” Thunder’s question is asked in a similar tone. “Or was she fuckin’ coerced?”

  My fear, which I’m trying to tamp down.

  “She might have thought she was keeping you safe. Thought her being here was placing the club in a difficult fuckin’ position.” Demon’s snarl is much like his father’s. He lets his words sink in, before adding, “You hadn’t had a chance to tell her what you were planning, to go into the details of how you were going to take her away. What would you have done, Beef, if the tables were turned and you thought she was in danger? If you feel for her as much as you say you do, I think you’d have done the same thing if you were persuaded her life was in danger if you stayed.”

  I don’t reply. I go to say I’d have found a way to keep us together, but would I? Would I really? Or would I have sacrificed my own happiness to keep her alive? Only one answer to that question.

  Prez hasn’t finished. “I don’t like the way she left like a thief in the night. My gut feel is that Lennox didn’t give her much choice.”

  “Could have taken her at gunpoint. Threatened you? Threatened the club? Could have played on the fact that we’re an MC same as the Warped Jokers.”

  “Ain’t nothing like them,” Buzzard objects.

  Mace waves his hand in dismissal. “She’s a citizen. A few well-placed words about taking us down using the law could have got her on his side.”

  Max takes the opportunity to nudge my knee with his nose. When my hand automatically reaches down, he licks it. What’s he trying to say?

  I had a good woman once, no, I didn’t, but there was one I wanted. Only she had eyes for somebody else. Am I fated never to find anyone like Rock found Becca? Have to return to Tucson and live vicariously through the lives of my married brothers? I rub my chin absentmindedly. I don’t know what to think. One minute I want to race around like a headless chicken doing all I can to find her. The next, I want to forget she ever existed. Chances are, whatever I do I won’t be able to find her. That’s if she even wanted me to.

  The table has gone silent, looking to me for direction. My gaze starts at the top, looking from Demon to Mace, then Thunder and Buzzard. Sparky has his head tilted to one side, Ink’s eyes are focused on a spot on the table in front of him. Rusty looks confused, Lizard and Cad just seem waiting on me to put forward my suggestions. Skull’s intrigued, and Hell just downright annoyed. Pyro and Bomber just seem poised to act on whatever decision I make. Pal, well he knows me better than anyone, his expression is sympathetic, as if he knows the turmoil in my head. Dan and Wills are keeping silent, too new to the table to challenge me.

  What do I do? I’ve a club full of brothers who’d support any action I deem worth taking. If I say leave it, they will. I might not have my true brothers around me, but I know everyone here would have my back just the same.

  “Beef?” It’s Pal who gets my attention. “She it for you?”

  Giving a deep sigh, I reply, “I thought so.”

  Paladin chuckles. “You know what the women are like, Beef. Seen enough of it in Tucson. See, we brothers think we’re the protectors, that we decide what’s up and what’s down. That we have all the answers. Trouble is, sometimes they think that way too. Way I see it, if you want my opinion?”

  I nod, to show that I do. I value his input as much, if not more, than anyone’s.

  “Well here it is. Stevie’s handicapped, no other way of looking at it. She’s limited as to what is in her power to do. I suspect it broke her to leave you, but she was persuaded it was in hers, and your best interest to go. What would happen if she just agreed not to testify? Jokers walk free, but she’d still remain a target. She has to go ahead and put them away, she’s been through too much shit to step back now.”

  He’s right. “Even if she puts them away, she could still have their sights set on her.” I don’t add we all know what can be achieved even from behind bars.

  Pal’s got more. “In her view her only option is to start anew once again. She’s already left her family behind. My guess is that leaving you will be killing her, but she’s got guts and will do what she has to do whatever the personal cost. She left her family, Beef. She’s wrenched herself away before, probably was no easier leaving you.”

  “I was going to go with her,” I tell what not all of them know. “Turn in my patch, accept whatever beatdown I was given. I wanted to be there for her.”

  Instead of outrage, my admission makes them go quiet. Surprisingly it’s Pyro, who I’d thought was disinterested, who’s first to respond. “It seems you don’t have a choice, Brother. You feel that much for her, put her above your loyalty to the club? Then you can’t turn your back on her now. She means too much to you.”

  “But we’re not letting you go,” Thunder steps in. “Beatdown or not, know you too well, Beef. You might not have sat around this table long, but you live and breathe the club. What we need to do is find Stevie, and a way for you to have both. Satan’s Devils don’t walk away when the going gets hard.”

  “Going gets hard?” I echo incredulously. “Impossible, more like what if the Wretched Soulz revoke our charter? I can’t be responsible for that.”

  “No.” Demon appears to think he’s let everyone else speak for too long. “You can’t. But you can be responsible for your ol’ lady. Wretched Soulz would respect that.”

  “What if she puts the Warped Jokers away?
” I shake my head.

  Hellfire has been quiet, thoughtful. Now it’s his turn to speak. “The worry has been that the Wretched Soulz don’t want the feds to get greedy. They take out one club, might set their sights on more. Seems to me, if we, and that’s the big ‘we’ including the dominant, are seen to be backing the Warped Jokers, we’re only confirming we turn a blind eye to, and support those committing, criminal activities. If, on the other hand, we come down on the side of right, feds got no reason to dig deeper to see if our blood runs the same.”

  I have a new respect for Hellfire. He might be onto something.

  Demon’s eyes sharpen as he looks at his father. “I’ll talk to RIP. You’ve made a good case, Hell. If we can get the Wretched Soulz to revoke the Warped Jokers’ charter rather than ours, it could send a message they’re out on their own, on the inside as well as out.”

  If that works, Stevie might be safe. She might be able to return to her old life. But would that be with me, or back with her folks? Could she just step back into a life she left?

  It’s Pal who seems able to read my mind. “If you love her, Beef, really love her. You’ll want what’s best for her.”

  His words make me feel selfish. Here I am thinking about my loss without giving a moment to think about hers. Do I love her? Her image floats in front of my eyes. Her voice echoes in my ears. Her courage, her ability to do so much more than I ever imagined. Her bravery, her independence, the way I feel when I’m inside her, or simply holding her, breathing in her smell, the way she makes me feel, all comes to mind.

  Placing my hand over my heart, I give them the answer. “I feel her, in here.” My fist taps my chest. “I’ve been looking for something, didn’t realise I’d found it. Yeah, Pal,” I raise my chin toward him, “I love her.” Then my voice hardens. “And I’m fuckin’ scared shitless what’s happening to her. Need to know she’s alright. Need to know Lennox is doing right by her.” I let my heartfelt words sink in, then, aware I’m taking over but unable to stop myself, I start issuing orders. “Cad, get together with Mouse and find out who the hell found the information on Max’s tracker. Prez, you meet with the Wretched Soulz. I’ll get onto Drummer, see if I can locate Devil—Jason Deville—he’s a consultant. Works with the feds but has been on our side before. He may be able to find shit out we can’t.”