Dante

by KJ Dahlen

  Dante’s blood stained her dress and she was sobbing while everyone stood around waiting for the police to get there.

  Mountain helped her to her feet as the EMT’s arrived and began working on Dante. Mountain pulled her over the side and looked her over carefully. “Are you okay?”

  Andi stared at him and shook her head. “I don’t think so.” Concerned, she glanced back at Dante. “Is he going to be all right?”

  Mountain looked over his shoulder at his unconscious brother his face a cold mask to cover his rage. “I don’t know. Did you see who it was?”

  Andi slowly nodded as she swiped tears from her cheek. “Yeah, I saw them. It was Brady and Luke. They ambushed him from behind. Brady had the lug wrench and Luke pushed me to the ground. I couldn’t see what he had in his hands but there was something he was holding.”

  Chance looked around the area and picked up a weapon. “Could it have been this?” They looked over at him and he was holding a knife in his fingers.

  “Oh my god, they stabbed him too?” Andi was horrified as her bloody hands shook.

  “No sweetheart.” Chance shook his head. “I think he was aiming at stabbing you.”

  Mountain slowly looked her over carefully. It was then he saw the tiny slash on her side. Some of the blood on her dress was her own. Her adrenalin was so high from the attack, she never felt the small stab wound.

  Chance called out to one of the EMT’s and had him look at Andi too.

  One their way to the hospital, Andi was entirely spaced out. She couldn’t stop crying, then just before they loaded, the two of them into the ambulance Andi began to fight going with them.

  “But Miss you need stitches, you really should be seen by a doctor,” one of the EMT’s stated.

  “But you don’t understand! I need to go home and explain this to my grandpa. He’ll never understand.” She fretted.

  Mountain took her hands and led her to the ambulance. Assisting her up inside the vehicle, he transferred her hand to Dante’s hand.

  Dante had come around and he fussed about Andi being hurt. He was okay other than a headache but he knew they wouldn’t let him go home without being seen by a doctor. He’d been more worried about Andi than himself.

  Mountain patted Andi’s knee. “I’ll go tell your grandpa what happen and where you are but you need to get medical attention.”

  Andi shook her head. “Oh, he’s never going to understand. He didn’t want me to go out with Dante in the first place then this happens? He’s gonna be so mad.”

  Mountain snickered then sobered as her words finally sank in. He gave his brother a look then turned to Andi. “Don’t you worry sweetheart, I’ll handle your grandpa.”

  Andi nodded then sat down by Dante. He was holding her hand tightly before he turned to his brother and gave him a look. Then the ambulance doors shut and the vehicle drove away.

  Mountain glanced over at Chance and said, “Come on, we got to let her grandpa know why she’s not coming home tonight.”

  “Oh, this ought to be fun.” Chance remarked as he rolled his eyes.

  As the two of them pulled up to the candy store Mountain frowned. There was a tension in the air as well as the faint smell of smoke. Both men looked around and finally found the back door of the candy store broken and smoke was pouring out of the kitchen.

  Chance called 9-1-1 and Mountain pushed the door in the rest of the way. Flames and smoke greeted him as he tried to find a way to put out the flames. Chance then pounded on the front door of the house behind the candy store.

  Finally, lights came on and then the door was thrown open. “What the hell do you want?” Bass Reed yelled then his eyes rounded in stunned disbelief as he watched the two men try to put out the fire. Soon, everyone could hear the sirens and the flashing lights.

  The police moved Bass out of the house and to the edge of the property making way for the firemen to do their jobs.

  Mountain and Chance were standing by Bass and the police when the cop turned to Bass and asked, “What happened her tonight?”

  Bass turned toward him and shook his head in total confusion. “I don’t know. One minute I was sleeping and the next someone is pounding on the door. I get up and find these two men trying to put out the fire. I swear I didn’t notice anything before then.”

  Mountain took over the story, “Bass’s granddaughter was out on a date with my brother Dante, and as they were walking out to his vehicle, they were both attacked from behind. Dante was hit with a lug wrench and Andi was stabbed in the side. They’re both on their way to the hospital but Andi wanted us to stop and talk to her grandpa. She didn’t want him to worry about her. When we got here, we smelled the smoke and woke Bass up. We called the fire department and stayed here until you guys got here.”

  “My Andi?” Bass gasped as he grabbed Chance’s arm. “Is she ok?”

  Chance nodded. “She’s fine, but she was so worried about you, that’s why we came.”

  “Well, thank god you did,” the officer said. “If the fire would have had a chance to take hold it could have burned down both the shop and the house. Probably would have killed you as you slept, Bass.”

  Bass nodded. “Yeah, I get that. I sleep like the dead once I’m out for the night.” Turning to the officer he asked, “Is the house safe enough to sleep in tonight?”

  The officer shook his head. “I don’t think I would if I were you. The smoke might make you sick if you breathe in too much more.”

  “You can stay at the warehouse with us,” Mountain offered. “We have the room and Andi can stay there as well when they release her.”

  Bass glared at them. “Now why would she be staying there, might I ask?”

  Mountain turned to face Bass. “Because old man, she’s been linked with Dante and he’s got an enemy out there. Whether they are together or not, she needs protection and I will not leave her out there, without our protection.”

  “What’s going on Mr. Morgan?” the officer asked. “Is this going to involve the police?”

  “It might but you aren’t going to like who’s behind it,” Mountain told him. “This...” He motioned at the shop and the house. “...this was set in motion because of Abigail Stroker and her brother.”

  The officer frowned and crossed his arms over his chest, “And you know this how?”

  “Because Dante ran into her tonight and she wasn’t happy with him being with Andi. She threatened them both. Oh and the two men who ambushed then at the diner work for her brother. Brady Paulson and Luke Colliard. Andi saw them as they knocked Dante out with a lug wrench.” He turned to Bass and stated, “So yeah Andi’s coming to stay with us while all this is going on. Now you can join her or stay here on your own and take your chances with those bastards. They won’t let you alone just because you’re an old man either.”

  “Looks like I don’t have much choice do I?” Bass grumbled.

  “No you really don’t and neither does she.” Mountain nodded. “Not after this.”

  “You do know don’t you,” the officer told them. “You’ll never find anything you can pin on Jed Stroker. We’ve been trying for years. He and his crew are like damn Teflon, nothing sticks to him.”

  “No offence man but he hurt one of our own and that don’t fly with us. We won’t step on anyone’s toes but we are watching him now,” Chance assured him.

  “Just watch your backs boys.” The officer urged them then he paused. This don’t mean the Sin’s are getting involved is it?”

  Mountain shrugged. “We are the Sin’s man, so is Dante, so we’re past that question now, aren’t we?”

  The cop shook his head. “It’s bad business for Jed then. We’ve seen them take many illegal things down around here. We could never figure how they do it and not leave blood in the streets.” He raised a brow at Mountain.

  The big man shrugged with his arms crossed over his chest. ‘Trade secret but just know, we have connections far and wide. If we call them all in, your town will know it.
”

  “I hope that ain’t no threat?”

  Chance shook his head. “We aren’t after no one except Jed and his crew. His sister too. They are all going to prison.”

  The officer nodded and turned to Bass, “You got lucky tonight that they were here.”

  Bass nodded. “I’ll just go pack a few things and get some stuff for Andi.” Looking at the shop, he shook his head. “Something like this is just about gonna kill her. She never had much in her life and then she found her passion. Then a snot nose bitch takes it away from her on a whim.”

  “Well, old man,” Mountain shook his head. “She’s got us behind her now. We can call in the Moore’s and rebuild for her. No worries. Even if she and Dante don’t stay together, we will be there for her.”

  Bass nodded and went back into the house to collect his things.

  The officer turned to look at Mountain. “So you really think this has to do with Strokers?”

  Mountain nodded. “Oh, I have no doubt that it does.”

  “Well, if you can make a case against them or the man behind them the police will welcome anything you can find. Stroker has been making fools of us and running roughshod over the judicial system for too long now and most of us are sick of taking his shit.”

  “We’re working on it,” he assured the officer.

  “Just be careful who you tell about it. We figure Stroker has more than one of us watching his back.”

  Mountain turned to look at the officer. “I will be careful.”

  “Good because I want to see that man put away. He deserves it.”

  “Well, he’ll be down two men if you guys do your job.”

  The officer nodded. “We’ll do our job. It might not stick but we’ll do our job.”

  “That’s all I can ask.”

  When Bass showed up at the hospital with fresh clothes Andi was more than happy to see him. “Oh grandpa, I’m so sorry about this,” she wailed softly.

  “Oh baby girl,” Bass whispered as he folded her into his arms. “This wasn’t your fault. This was that stupid bitch Abigail’s fault.”

  “Yeah but I was with Dante Morgan when this happened.”

  Bass cupped her face with his hands and looked her in the eyes. “Like you said earlier sweetie, you have the right to go out with whoever you choose. You’re a grown woman now and I have to let you go. You’ll make mistakes along the way and you’ll hurt that big ole heart of yours probably but I want you to know I’ll be there for you until I breathe my last.”

  Andi closed her eyes slowly. Then she opened them again. “Thank you. I know he’s a biker, but he is so much more too. I would like to see where this will go.” She shrugged. “Even if it doesn’t go anywhere at all.”

  Bass smiled. “Then you go for it. Do I think you’re making a mistake? I don’t really know but I guess we’ll find out. Just don’t let him hurt you sweet girl. Life has hurt you enough.”

  Andi nodded then stepped in the bathroom to change her clothes. Her side hurt, her knees hurt and her hip hurt from where she landed on the ground. However, she knew Dante felt worse than she did. She also knew she wouldn’t let him know how badly she was hurt. She’d never shown anyone her pain and she wasn’t going to start now. Besides, there was always the threat Luke made before he left. She did not intend to give credence to it, so she shoved it out of her mind altogether. She was just glad they both came out if it okay. Those men looked like they were out to kill them both.

  Pulling her shirt over her head, she smelled another scent on her clothes. Andi got goose bumps on her arms as she pulled the shirt down to cover her belly. She gathered her clothes and went back out to the room.

  Bass was there as was Mountain and Chance.

  “Ok, what’s going on?” she demanded. “Why do my clothes smell like smoke? What happened?”

  “Actually, that’s what we need to talk about, sweetie,” Bass said.

  “What he doesn’t want to tell you is that someone lit your shop on fire tonight,” Mountain told her point blank.

  Andi stumbled over to the bed and sat down hard. “What? What did you say?” she whispered with dread in her voice.

  “I think you heard me.” Mountain watched her closely. “And yet, you don’t seem surprised,” he surmised. “Why is that?”

  Andi looked up at him with tears in her eyes while feeling worried and distracted. So they did it. They actually did it and she hadn’t even got to go home before they did. “Before they left us broken and bloody, Luke whispered something to me. He said if I didn’t leave Dante alone, they would burn me out.” She began to sob. “I guess they made good on their threat huh? They didn’t even give me time to make up my mind.”

  “It doesn’t matter now.” They heard a voice from the doorway. Dante was there in a wheelchair. He rolled into the room and went straight to Andi. Reaching out he took her hand. “You aren’t going anywhere girl. I won’t let you leave me now.”

  “What the hell are you doing here?” she whispered. “You shouldn’t be here.”

  “Too bad sweetheart. I’m here and I’m staying.” He growled. “I’m not leaving you to the tender mercy of my brothers either.” He paused, as he looked her over carefully. “Are you okay?”

  “No but I’ll get there,” she told him with tears in her eyes. “They burned down my shop tonight.”

  Dante frowned and turned to look at his brothers. At Mountain’s nod, he growled and pounded his fist on his leg. “Those lousy bastards.” He brushed her tears away from her cheeks. “Did you happen to see who it was that ambushed us?”

  “Brady and Luke. Luke told me if I didn’t leave you alone, they would burn me out.” She sniffled. “I guess they meant it didn’t they?”

  Dante looked at his brothers again and asked, “How bad was the fire?”

  “It was just getting started when we got there,” Chance told him. “The Fire Marshall came and deemed it arson so until we can clean up the debris, she won’t be making chocolates there. It might take a couple of days to a week.”

  “The house?” he asked.

  “Is okay but they can’t stay there until this is over. I offered them rooms at the house.” Mountain shrugged. “Shouldn’t be a problem is it?”

  Dante smiled. “That’s perfect, we can watch over them and still get on with our digging.”

  Andi frowned and stared at Dante. “What exactly are you digging?” She didn’t know him so well, so she didn’t know if this was a biker expression or what.

  Dante took a deep breath. Looking at his brother, he saw Mountain nod. “We’re looking into Jed and Abby Stroker. Something isn’t right about their setup and we want to know why. Why is she so interested in me? I have no idea, but in the past, she seemed almost desperate to get together with me. I thought at first it might have something to do with her brother’s racing career but now I’m not so sure. And Jed? Well, the accident that killed his father never seemed to bother him all that much. I mean he didn’t even slow in the race, instead he went on to win, and the trophy seemed more important to him that the fact his father had just died.”

  Bass snorted. “You’d be right about that.” He grumbled under his breath.

  Chance turned to look at the older man and took note of a certain look in his eyes.” do you watch the races? “

  Bass shrugged.” It’s a past time. Like baseball and football. But what has been happening here in New York has been mighty interesting, don’t ya think?”

  Chance glanced over at Mountain then back at Bass.

  Mountain nodded then suggested, “Maybe we should get you all home for now. Get settled in for the night.” He looked over at his brother Dante. “Are you staying or coming home?”

  “They wanted me to stay but here’s no way I’m staying. Not with trouble waiting for us. I don’t want to wake up tomorrow morning with my throat slit, thank you very much. So, I don’t trust being here where they can just wander in and do the deed anytime I’m sleeping. Hell no. I’m done with
being bushwhacked. We need to figure this out and quickly.” He looked over at Andi and reached for her hand. “Now we have guests to look after.”

  “Let’s go home then and we can talk about this there.” Mountain motioned to Chance. “Go and see about getting them released. If they give you shit, talk about suing or something. Whatever it takes. Get the release forms for them to sign.”

  It took another half hour. They argued with the doctor, but in the end they convinced him that the pair was in more danger while out in the public venue that their wounds would ever cause.

  They left the hospital and made their way back to the warehouse they used as their home.

  Chapter Six

  Deke and a few of the brothers were at the Morgan’s warehouse, waiting for them.

  Andi stared at the group of large men that were legends in this town. She tried not to gawk. She had met Deke before but just briefly, when he came in to buy candy for his kids. He had them with him. She had never seen such good looking children before and they were lively. Funny too, as the little boy was the spitting image of his father, so it had been like looking at a min-Deke. Everyone knew of his wife and they were all proud for Troy after Cassie had built the Redemption Houses.

  An MC with a heart, Andi had heard more than once in her shop. How they had protected the town. The old timers told stories of what the Satan’s Spawn MC before them were like. The town was nearly lawless. Overrun with thugs and drugs, one old man had said. Until Deke Tory took the Spawns over, then things began to change for the better. She couldn’t believe her grandpa had said what he said. These bikers weren’t like the ones you heard about. They were as good as anyone else was and perhaps better, if you asked her. Which no one had. She looked over at Dante to find him watching her. Except maybe him. He had asked her if she minded him being a biker like her pops had said, just before they were attacked. Maybe sometime soon she would answer him.

  Everyone sat down at the table in the main dining area and Deke began telling them what they found out so far. Deke, Sam, Zipper and Gator were there from the MC and Mountain had been joined by all his brothers.