The Dirty Dozen: MC Edition

by Kay Maree

  She nodded but didn’t look confident. I fished my phone from my pocket and dialed Slash. “We need eyes on Ellie twenty-four seven. There’s reason to believe this club is after her,” I said when he answered. All I heard was a growl from the other end of the line before it went dead. It was less than a minute before he stood next me, his permanent glare etched on his face. His hair was spiked as usual and the scar going all the way down the right side of his face was more pronounced than ever. Nadia’s eyes widened as she took a step back.

  “Nadia, this is Slash.” Slash nodded in her direction before turning his eyes back to Ellie. I knew there was something between them. That was the reason I’d called him. If anyone could keep Ellie safe it was him. I watched as Slash assessed Ellie. The guy was a machine always emotionless even though I knew he cared. He would never show it. “Keep her safe, brother.” He grunted a reply, but I was already turned to Nadia waving her over. She stepped past the couple staring each other down and put a hand on Ellie’s arm.

  “It will be okay.” Nadia smiled at her before coming to stand by my side. There was something about having her there that warmed me slightly. I pushed the thought to the back of my mind. I’d only known her for a day the idea of anything lasting with her would have to wait.

  CHAPTER TEN

  Nadia

  It had been quiet this last week but Tank refused to let me take the couch. I didn’t know him very well, but I guessed his crabbiness had to be because he wasn’t getting a decent night’s sleep. He was convinced the Devils were going to come after me and since I refused to go to the police, he was stuck babysitting me. Maybe that was what made him grumpy. He couldn’t go out with the guys and drink if he was watching me. I honestly couldn’t figure the guy out. Why had he made it his mission to keep me safe? He could have dumped me with the other girls at the police station and been done with the whole ordeal. Well, not all the girls wanted to go home. Some didn’t have a home to go back to. Those girls they helped out by letting them stay in the clubhouse and they were working on helping them get jobs in town. I was surprised by how kind the men were. They were all rough around the edges but when it came to innocents, they protected them.

  Sighing, I walked out of the bedroom only to find Tank stretched out on the floor. “This is ridiculous. Why don’t you just send me to the clubhouse? At least then you wouldn’t have to babysit me all the time,” I huffed. My arms were crossed over my chest as he turned glaring at me.

  “You wanna go be a clubwhore?” He growled and I flinched away.

  “Absolutely not.” I stomped my foot. He jumped up from his spot on the floor and stalked toward me. “I just don’t get why you would make yourself so uncomfortable for someone you don’t even know.”

  “It isn’t obvious?” He was so close to me now his scent was all around me. His hand came up to cup my cheek turning my eyes up to meet his. They sparkled as he dipped low. His lips touched mine so softly I thought I had imagined it. My knees buckled and his other arm came around my waist to steady me. “I’ve wanted you since the moment I saw you. I haven’t had such a bone deep reaction to a woman in my entire life. I still don’t understand it,” he whispered as he peppered kisses along my neck. I was completely boneless as he held me to him.

  A moan escaped my lips as he scraped his teeth over the sensitive part of my neck. “Mmm, you like that?” he chuckled, and I could feel the vibrations of it against my overheated skin.

  “Yes,” I squirmed against him. His breath caught in his throat as I brushed against his pants. He moved so quickly my head was spinning. He lifted me by my ass and had me pinned against the wall in seconds. His lips met mine again. This time it wasn’t soft and sweet; it was hungry and desperate. I gave him back just as much. My arms came up caging his head as my hands slid through his longish hair. Tank’s hands kneaded my ass while he ground his cock against my center through our clothes. We were like a couple horny teenagers and I wouldn’t have changed it for anything in the world. That is until someone started banging on the front door.

  “Go away!” Tank barked.

  “Son, we need to talk.” It sounded like his father had something to tell us. Yes, it was weird I didn’t know his name, but everyone just called him Prez, so I shrugged it off.

  “Shit, later baby.” He kissed my forehead before setting me back on my feet and helping me right my clothes. I was a little wobbly, so I took a seat on the couch while Tank went to open the door.

  “Did you know about this?” He pushed a paper at Tank’s chest. He looked down at the paper and his eyes widened before looking back at me.

  “What is it?” I asked terrified. Had my father put out wanted posters for me? Did they know who I was? A million scenarios ran through my head as I stared at them.

  “It looks like you’re not the only one who came over from Mexico.” He showed me a poster with big block lettering that said WANTED along with a grainy surveillance photo of what looked like Miguel. I gasped quietly. Had I known him? He’d looked familiar before, but I could never figure it out. “It says he is wanted in connection to drug smuggling. So? We all have a dark past. We do illegal shit all the time and I’m sure there are files on us an inch thick with the local cops. I don’t see the problem.”

  “The feds are looking for him and he could bring heat back on the club. We need to have a conversation with him. Now.” He turned and left. Tank shrugged and reached for my hand.

  “I guess we gotta go,” he sighed and reached a hand out for me. I took it and let him lead me to the front door. I was not the least excited about this conversation.

  I loved riding on the back of Tank’s bike. The level of freedom it provided made me feel alive. While we were on the road this time though, I was not having a good time. Another bike pulled up alongside us and I blanched when I saw the disgusting man who’d carried me into the house. It was the Devils; they’d found us. I had known the peace wouldn’t last. I squeezed Tank and he went to look over his shoulder when the other bike swerved toward us. Tank had to swerve to keep from getting hit but the Prez was on the other side and never even noticed the commotion as he kept his eyes glued to the road in front of him.

  The two bikes collided, and I squeezed Tank tighter as we tumbled off onto the asphalt below. Tank took the brunt of the fall being sure to land on his chest, but my hands scraped the ground and I cried out. Prez was knocked what seemed to be ten feet into a nearby tree. Tank groaned next to me and I tried to get up to roll him over when there was a hard yank on my hair, and I cried out.

  “Little Nadia, did you think we wouldn’t find you? Someone very powerful wants to see you.” The disgusting man had pulled me up by my hair and held a hand around my throat. Tank jumped up and looked around wildly. I could see the indecision in his eyes, but in the end, he pulled his gun and pointed at the man holding me. He’d been stupid to come after us by himself. He was holding a weapon with me wrapped tightly in his dirty arms. I was disgusted as I stood there smelling the stench of his unwashed body mixed with stale beer and cigarette smoke. I struggled in his arms before I remembered a move an old bodyguard had taught me. Father had been furious when he found out he was training me to protect myself and fired him immediately. I brought one foot up and stomped hard with my heel on his foot. The man howled in pain just before I threw my head back. His nose crunched on impact. He released me as the blood rushed down his face and I ran back to Tank.

  Tank wrapped an arm around me putting me behind him. He held the gun on the man but seemed to change his mind. “Strip,” he commanded, and the man looked at him strangely. Tank cocked the gun and the man started doing as he was told. “Babe get in the saddle bag and get my cuffs please?” He grinned. I nodded, smiling as I ran over to the twisted metal that used to be Tank’s pride and joy. I felt instantly guilty. The whole incident had been my fault. If he hadn’t rescued me, he would still have his bike. I shook off the thought. That could wait. I grabbed the cuffs and brought them back. �
�You see the tree over there? Walk to it and put your hands behind you. Wrap them behind the tree.”

  “What the fuck?” He yelled but did what he was told. The skinny weasel looking guy wrapped his arms around the tree and Tank fastened the cuffs around his wrists before making his way over to the Prez and pulling his phone out.

  “Slash, I need a car here now. There was an accident. The old man is knocked unconscious but he’s still breathing.” I didn’t hear the other end of the conversation, but I imagined it was a series of grunts before he hung up the phone. “Nadia? Nadia!” I must have been in a daze but finally looked up to Tank’s worried eyes. “Can you check him out?” I could hear his voice wobbling. He was scared for his father and it broke my heart. I moved quickly. It looked like a sharp piece of metal had cut his side open and he was bleeding pretty badly.

  “Give me your shirt.” I held a hand out for it. He didn’t hesitate to remove the article of clothing and hand it to me. “Put your hand here and apply pressure while I check for other injuries.” I moved over so he could kneel next to his father and apply pressure to the wound. I felt for a pulse and listened to his breathing. Both were strong so I didn’t think he had a punctured lung or any kind of internal bleeding, but I couldn’t be sure. I peeled the helmet from his head and felt around for any lumps but it didn’t look as if he had any visible signs of injury. It was probably a concussion. “He’s gonna need a real doctor, Tank.”

  “We’ll get him one,” he said dismissively. His eyes stared down at his father’s wound for a few minutes before we heard tires squealing around the bend in the road. I braved myself for another collision, but the car pulled off to the side and two of the guys Tank had introduced me to hopped out of the front seats. There was another car pulling up behind and I saw Ellie and Slash get out. They looked at us wide eyed as they moved toward us.

  “Is he okay? We need to take him to the hospital.” Ellie gasped. The man tied to the tree laughed.

  “Oh, this is too good. The boss is gonna be so happy when I get unchained from this damn tree.” He howled with laughter and I watched as Ellie took a shaky step back.

  “Snake,” she almost whispered the name. Slash put her behind him as he glared at the man. I saw him reach for his knife, but Jayden stopped him.

  “Easy, he’s tied to a tree. Once we get this cleaned up, we’ll call in an anonymous tip to the cops that one of the kidnappers is cuffed to the tree. He’ll never get the chance to tell his boss where she is.”

  “Bunch of pussies. You call yourselves an MC you’re a bunch of wannabes. Protecting whores and calling the cops instead of fighting like men.” I guess Mike had had enough of his yelling because he walked over to the tree and pulled his gun, smacking him in the forehead with the butt. He was knocked out cold, but I had no idea for how long.

  “You guys clean up the mess and stash his bike in the woods out of sight,” Tank said to Mike and Jayden. “Slash and Ellie are gonna take us back to the clubhouse. Call the doc on the way so we can get him checked out.” He rattled off orders and picked up prez and carried him to the car. He put him in the middle, each of us positioned on one side of him.

  The drive to the clubhouse was tense and I knew it was a bad idea. The man needed X-Rays. We needed to be sure he wasn’t in serious trouble. Except we had no explanation for what happened and anything we said at the hospital would throw up a bunch of red flags. I saw the logic, and I didn’t particularly want to be in a public place where someone might recognize me.

  We raced through the streets and made it back to the clubhouse in record time. Three men came racing out the front door to help carry Prez inside and I breathed a sigh of relief. The car ride had been cramped and I desperately needed to take care of my scraped hands. Tank reached for my hand but when I pulled it back, he looked at me curiously before he looked down and cursed. “Why didn’t you tell me you were hurt?” He growled lifting me out of the car bridal style.

  “I can walk,” I giggled. Tank shushed me. “It’s just my hands. I’ll live. Your dad was seriously injured he takes priority.”

  “Yeah, I just don’t like seeing that.”

  “I just need to clean out some gravel and get some antibiotic ointment on them. It will be fine.” I patted his cheek. Tank smiled looking relieved. We made our way to his father’s room where a bunch of men stood in the hallway awaiting news from the doc. We passed them and went straight inside.

  “How is he?” Tank asked, setting me down on my feet.

  “Without a proper scan I can’t be sure, but it looks like a mild concussion. If he doesn’t wake up in the next hour, I would advise you to take him to the emergency room.” He scrubbed a hand over his face. “Let me stitch up his side. It doesn’t look like anything serious was hit so he should be okay with just the stitches.”

  “Thanks doc.” Tank smacked him on the back, and he pitched forward slightly and glared. “Sorry. Let us know if anything changes. We need to get cleaned up.” He showed the doctor my hands.

  “Yes, make sure you put some antiseptic on that.” He pointed at my hands and I nodded. It was gonna hurt like crazy, but it would keep them from getting infected.

  Tank led me from the room and down the hall. I hadn’t realized he had his own room at the clubhouse, but it made sense. They had a bar there, having his own room meant he didn’t drive drunk. He could just go upstairs and sleep.

  His room here was similar to his house. Everything was very minimal. I looked around as he led me to the bathroom and sat me on the toilet seat. The scene was seriously familiar as he washed the dirt and grime off my hands with alcohol. I flinched at the sting which caused him to wince. “Sorry.”

  He grabbed a pair of tweezers and started pulling small bits of gravel from my knuckles so carefully he kept missing bits. It was hard to reconcile the gentle Tank with the big bad biker guy he was known to be. He’d been nothing but kind to me, but he still exuded this raw power that demanded submission. It was dizzying sometimes.

  Once he was finished digging in my hands, he kissed my knuckles before putting antibiotic ointment on them and wrapping them up.

  “Thank you,” I smiled at him.

  “No problem.” He shrugged uncomfortably looking away. I turned his head kissing him softly. It was the first time I had initiated contact with him. His surprised eyes met mine as he pulled me to him deepening the kiss. I realized belatedly we had other things to deal with. I stopped abruptly.

  “We need to figure things out. How much do the Devils know and will they be able to get to Snake before the cops do? If they do, I’m not the only one in danger. From the way he laughed, they had no idea Ellie was here. Now they do and if the “boss” is anything like Ellie described, he’s sadistic and obsessive. He’ll want her back just so he can torture her again.” I was rambling and we both knew it, but Tank wrapped his arms around me, pulling me in closer.

  “It’s going to be okay. I’m Prez while the old man heals and I’m not going to let anything happen to either of you, okay?” His eyes begged for my trust in this. He had it. He didn’t have to beg me to trust him. From the first moment when he saved me from that awful house, he’d had it.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  Tank

  She was right. There was way too much going on for even just a brief minute of time alone. “Babe, I need to know who this powerful man is that is looking for you. Can you trust me with that please?” Her eyes widened probably hoping I hadn’t caught Snake’s words, but they had been plaguing me. Someone in Mexico wanted Nadia for something and I had a feeling it had to do with her family. “Please? The best way for me to protect you is to have all the facts.”

  “But…” she averted her eyes. “You’ll come to the wrong conclusions,” she huffed.

  “How bad could it be? I’m in a motorcycle club. I’m not exactly an upstanding citizen.” I shook my head. I didn’t understand why she would be hiding the way she was.

  “That’s the pro
blem!” She jumped up and started pacing. I had no idea why she was so agitated. It was a little confusing. I took her arms in my hands halting her in her place.

  “What’s the problem?” She refused to meet my eyes.

  “My father is the problem. I didn’t want to tell you because I thought it would make you think I was a spy. I honest to god ran away from a man who basically held me prisoner and never let me choose anything in my life. He probably even has a man whom I despise picked out for me to one day marry. He’s an international agent who works on a human trafficking task-force that is so hush hush I shouldn’t even know about it.” She hung her head defeated. I reared back at the words. He hated human trafficking as much as I did but that didn’t mean he would turn a blind eye to what we did. Shit. This was bigger than I’d ever thought. A thought occurred to me.

  “Miguel?” I looked at her, but she shook her head.

  “I don’t know. He looked familiar to me when we first met but he could just have one of those faces.” She shrugged. Her whole body shook and I wanted to comfort her, but I also needed time to process. I brushed by her, doing my best to not look at the tears in her eyes. I couldn’t let her grief get in the way of my decision. I needed to think. This was a huge bomb. I could very well be dealing with a crazy Mexican drug cartel leader trying to kidnap her to hold for ransom; or I could be dealing with an international agent trying to get his daughter back. Either way, I needed to figure out who was after her and end the threat once and for all. Then, and only then, could I decide whether I trusted her the way I’d just begged her to trust me. Life was so fucked up sometimes.

  “Don’t leave this room. I’ll be back in a little while. I just need to think.” I left the room in a hurry closing the door behind me. I pretended like I didn’t hear her sob as the door closed behind me, but it cracked something inside of me. I wanted nothing more than to go back to her and make her feel better but she’d withheld information that could put the entire club at risk. Crystal sauntered up to me as I stomped down the hall toward the old man’s apartment. Even the furious look on my face didn’t seem to deter her.