by Rachel Cade
Her voice stopped him as his feet hit the ground, but barely.
“Please!” she added. Her heart was about to crack her chest.
They were going to kill each other. She could feel it.
Will braced himself, his shirt buttons were ripped and he held up bruised fists.
“Tomorrow when you’re getting arraigned, she’ll be at the courthouse too, filing divorce papers.”
Lyndie saw Noa stiffen.
“Will! Will, are you here?”
The screen door swung open and Ashley stood there in her wedding gown.
They both stared at each other in surprise until disgust eclipsed Ashley’s face.
And she stepped inside, ignoring her intrusion.
That’s when she spotted Noa standing across from her new husband. “Will, what’s going on?”
Will refused to take his eyes off Noa. “Ashley, go back to the reception.”
“Will, what is going on? Why the hell are you here?”
Lyndie’s teeth grit hard.
“Getting his ass kicked.” Noa lunged for him and Ashley yelled out, slipping around the couch to hit Noa on his back.
In the commotion, Vic busted through the door. “Lyndie-”
At the sight of her, Lyndie rushed forward and gave her Max.
Noa head butted Will while Ashley was at his back. He hollered in pain, swearing as he held his face.
Lyndie grabbed the first thing she could reach, Ashley’s veil, and yanked as hard as she could.
Will pushed forward, shoving them all back. Ashley’s fingers had tangled into Noa’s hair.
“Fuck!” Noa reached for his head and Will rushed toward the front door.
“Vicky, move!” Lyndie cried out as she managed to get her arm around Ashley’s neck.
The door opened and slammed back.
Lyndie cranked on her tiara, trying to scalp her. “Get off him!”
Noa reached over his head, grabbing her wrists to pull her away.
Dropping her hands from him, she dug them into Lyndie’s arm. Lyndie snatched it back, pushing her away from them both.
Chest heaving, Noa’s eyes flashed like lightening at Ashley. “You fuckin’ bitch!”
Tires wheels squealed against the pavement as Will drove away. Noa’s mouth closed over clenched teeth at the sound, still eyeing Ashley hard.
In the next minute, he looked at her and Lyndie thought her heart would break.
“I should have gotten here sooner.” So much emotion clouded her thoughts that all she could do was step forward to reach for him.
“Lyndie!” Peggy swung open the door.
Noa moved past all of them to the front door before she could get to him.
“Noa!” Lyndie chased him to the front porch.
She didn’t touch him until he was picking up his bike.
“Noa, he’ll get back to the department. He’ll have back up! Please don’t go!” She grabbed his arm in an attempt to stop him. “It’s not worth it.”
Pulling him tighter, she felt tears dropping again, like everything and nothing was happening at once. She just knew she couldn’t lose him.
Then his battered hand was on her face. His eyes narrowed a bit, temporarily softening the rage. “You’re worth it,” he answered. “You both are.”
“Noa,” his name wrenched from her lips.
“Whatever happens, know I love you, alright?” His rough thumb softly smoothed away a tear. “We’ll always be a family.”
The hand tugging his vest trembled as she lowered it. Tears burned her eyes and throat.
Everything went numb as he revved the bike. The heat of the exhaust was on her knees as he took off down the street after Will.
What if this was the last time she saw him?
It wasn’t supposed to end like this; they were supposed to be together.
*
“Mrs. C hit the jackpot.” Chaos spoke quietly as he ran a small flashlight over the stash behind the stage. “This looks like a year’s haul.”
Bleed grunted into the earpiece from the side door where he was keeping watch. “We’re going to have to move fast.” He stood against the wall behind a dumpster to stay out of sight from people on the street.
“The best time is going to be tonight, while everyone is distracted. Drunk and happy and shit.” Chaos lifted the lid off a crate to find what appeared to be some heavy military weapons.
“I think I found something you’ll like,” he added.
*
“Where did everyone go?” Whisper heard Langley ask.
It was a good question, but then he had his eyes on Eduardo as Mitch walked up and they started to have a conversation. He couldn’t get too close, and was thankful for the shades hiding his true line of vision.
Just for the moment, he wouldn’t set off too much alarm. He pulled his cellphone out to check the tracker; Cujo was in his home territory still. That was good, but Aztecs being here was not.
It was blatant disrespect even if they weren’t in their cuts.
They were told to stay away.
Whisper wasn’t a fan of Tin or Noa’s methods. If this was Tijuana, he just would have handled it. No one would have dared open their mouths to the police.
He let go of a breath.
Feedback made him wince and when he looked up, a young skinny boy was standing near the mic.
“Hey, I’m Scott. I just wanted to offer my sister a… congratulations on her new marriage.”
“Scott, get down,” the old man hissed.
Whisper saw Mitch separate from Eduardo and soon the crowd, making his way towards a diner called Route 66.
*
There was a small alley where Will pulled up next to the police station.
Pain stung him just about everywhere.
Impulse drove him to follow Lyndie. If he hadn’t, he would have brought his gun.
And Callas would be dead like he deserved.
His hard breath should have shattered the windows as he pushed himself out of the car.
After a few steps, he burst through the side entrance to his office, yanking open the glass display case where he kept his shot guns.
He grabbed the first one and loaded it before snatching the radio off his desk.
“Boss?” Henry answered on the other line with a mouth full. “Langley was looking for you-”
“Round everyone up and get ready.”
“Wait, what?”
“You fuckin’ heard me!” He cut the line.
*
There was nothing but silence outside.
Lyndie could hear her own deep and slow breaths.
“He was here. He was here on our wedding day!”
Lyndie blinked against the sight of the road and she heard her baby, followed by shouting.
“Bitch, you get the fuck out of here!” Vicky screamed.
When Lyndie turned around, Ashley, in her huge dress, was coming down the stairs.
“You!”
Peggy ran in front of her. “No more!” she yelled out. “Vicky, bring that baby in the house!”
Ashley tried to reach around Peggy, determined to get to her. “What was he doing here?” Tears clouded her eyes. “What was my husband doing here?”
Lyndie stood there in her robe, not knowing if she was coming or going for a moment.
The collision of Will and Noa had been her nightmares brought to life.
She looked past Ashley to Max and her feet carried her in a stumbled rush back to her son.
Shaking her head hard, she reached for her teary-eyed baby and accepted him from Vicky.
“Max, I’m sorry.” She turned on the stair to see Peggy snatching Ashley back by her arm.
“Girl, you get out of here now!”
Ashley stared at Peggy wildly. “Your little shit shop is getting shut down. I promise you.”
Vicky moved down the stairs and Ashley hauled ass to her car as Peggy grabbed her daughter’s shirt before she could get by her.
Lyndie’s heavy heartbeat shook her as she whispered to Max.
“I don’t want you to be scared, okay, munch?” Warm skin pressed against her lips as she kissed his temple.
She started humming to him like she did on bad nights when he couldn’t sleep, barely hearing Ashley’s tires squeal as she sped off.
Lyndie walked in the house, slowly rocking her baby.
The living room was tousled as she walked through it, and Max’s breath was deep as he slept against her chest. She set him in the baby carrier with his extra fluffy blanket and kissed his hand, whispering, “I love you, munch.”
*
“Lyndie, what is going on?” Vicky was at her bedroom door. “Will found out about Skorpio? Where are you going?”
She was shoving her foot in her shoes after throwing on jeans and a t-shirt.
“Noa’s going to kill him.” Lyndie couldn’t even voice the opposite of that: Will managing to hurt Noa somehow.
“Lyndie, Jesus.”
She snatched her keys from the dresser, seeing her dress and their wedding photo tossed to the ground.
“I can’t let Will hurt anybody else.” With that, she rushed past the girl to get to her car.
*
When Noa arrived back downtown, he parked his bike on the side of a building.
Deep breaths filled his nostrils.
The wedding reception was still going, and on the surface, nothing seemed out of order, but he knew Durand was here.
He’d been running around town terrorizing Lyndie. That was why she was afraid. It wasn’t just because he was a cop.
A part of him knew he needed to communicate with the guys to let them know what was going on, but there was another part that only saw red, the man that got held at bay the night at the antique shop.
That mistake wouldn’t be made again.
Chapter Twenty:
Death Skulls Territory
All of this was bullshit.
Mitch shoved papers around in his office.
How did everything get so fucked up? God damn bikers might have been worse than the mob guys he’d grown up dealing with. Now he was stuck between bikers and cops. Thank God the Aztecs had stayed hidden. But now he had to figure out how to get them their shit without alerting Will.
Will wouldn’t want to give up anything to them and just hide behind his fucking badge.
Mitch had to look out for himself, and he didn’t have a badge to shield him.
As quietly as he could, he moved his filing cabinet back to reveal his small wall safe.
It contained about seventy-five thousand dollars he had tucked away for emergencies.
The safe had dust on it from the last time he’d added to it.
Maybe a portion could get them off his back.
His eyes narrowed as he moved the money.
“Shit.” His gun was focused on the door where a biker stood in all black.
Something flew from his hand and Mitch’s gun was knocked out of his grip.
When he tried to scramble for it, the man had his gun trained on him.
“I wouldn’t move,” he said with a Spanish accent. “I won’t be nice next time.”
“Christ.” Mitch held up his hands, looking up from the man’s black boots. His frame filled the doorway and his eyes were midnight dark. “Who the hell are you?”
“Eduardo asked me to keep an eye on you.”
“I’m trying to get things together to fix this, alright? Jesus, I just found out my waitress just leased one of my properties. I got to keep things cool with the police department no matter what. I can’t be sandwiched between you guys. I’m gonna get ulcers.” He released a breath. “After the wedding, I’ll see if I can up deliveries, take less of a cut, and we can exchange times when your guys are on your routes so there’s no mix up with them again.”
He walked into the room, not making a sound with his shoes. It was strange as hell from a guy his size.
Mitch shut his eyes, exasperated. “You want the money? You can take it.”
*
“Come back out, man, we need to regroup,” Bleed spoke into the earpiece as he looked around. He couldn’t place it, but the continued feeling that something was off plagued him. And he knew from experience to listen to it.
Evening was settling in and light would be dying out fast.
“You’re not gonna believe the shit they’ve got in here.”
A small motion above his head from the next building over caught his eye.
A person on the roof.
He opened his mouth to alert Chaos and a whizz went through the air: bullets from a silencer.
The sting hit the side of his head, knocking him into a dumpster.
“C-” His earpiece was gone.
So was the man he raised his gun to.
The pain hit, but he shut it out. The loud celebration easily drowned out the sound of the bullet.
The dumpster provided some cover, but he could hear steps starting from the edge of the alley coming closer. Blood was pooling into his eyes. Fuck, his mouth swore in the silence.
He raised his gun to the figure, but the hit to the head threw off his equilibrium. A little giggle hit the air and a body appeared. In his hands was a shock baton the size of a baseball bat.
*
Chaos covered the crate. “Yeah, man, I’m moving.”
The theater was dark as fuck. Chaos smiled like a kid in a candy store.
His phone rang, and when he saw it was Whisper, he answered, “Yeah, man, what’s up?”
“Aztecs. They’re here with the fat man, hidden in the crowd.”
Chaos’s eyes went heavenward. “Holy shit.”
He needed to get back outside. As his eyes slide back down, they caught on something that shouldn’t be there: a shadow in the dark.
Chaos dropped the phone and lifted his gun at the same time.
His light landed on a body whose head tilted awkwardly.
The face raised to his light.
Chaos recognized the face tattoo.
Trip, Cujo’s brother.
“Don’t shoot.” His rasp echoed off the high ceilings as he held an Uzi on him. The smile on his face was wide. “You guys should have killed Cujo when you had the chance. Now it’s the end of the Death Skulls MC.”
*
“I hope everyone is having a good time,” Noa heard Scott over the loudspeaker. “My brother Craig’s probably somewhere drunk or stuffing his face, so I guess I have to speak up for my sister. Is everyone gettin’ good and drunk? I know I am!” The microphone sounded like it hit the ground.
Noa stalked through the crowd, not seeing any of the guys. His phone had been damaged in the fight and he couldn’t use it.
Rage lit a match to his body. He moved with persistence through the crowd but all he could think was getting his hands on that fucker again his teeth ground down.
The son of a bitch was somewhere pulling reinforcements.
Noa would go through the entire police force if he had to.
Durand was fucking done.
“My sister Ash is going to make a hell of a wife, I’m sure.”
A pop went off.
Noa looked up to see fireworks beginning to explode in the sky.
His hand was already on the gun concealed under his cut.
Scanning the crowd, Noa saw a huge man hop on stage and grab Scott.
“Welcome all to the real reception, courtesy of the Death Skulls.”
The fucker holding Scott was no Death Skull.
It was Cujo.
He must have found the tracker. Near them was his psycho brother Rez, armed with an AK.
God damn, they were here!
An explosion that had nothing to do with fireworks and sent heat everywhere threw Noa into a wall with the force of it.
As brick and rock fell, he knew he had to fall back, and stumbled into the theater lobby though the broken glass door.
*
Will’s men were i
n the station taking up guns and ammo.
Henry was near his side.
“Lord, this is supposed to be a wedding!”
Will didn’t know who spoke up, but his own voice rang out as he shoved a magazine into his M&P 9. “Protect who you can, but the main priority is getting this scum out of our town.”
“Where’s Ashley?” Henry asked.
Will hid his irritation. “I don’t know, somewhere out there.”
“If we go out there armed like this, it’s going to scare everyone.”
Fireworks started going off again.
Will sensed the alarm in his men.
Then the explosion hit.
Perfect.
“Let’s move!” he shouted.
*
Lyndie hit the brakes hard when a blast rocked the ground.
“Oh my God!” she cried out. “Shit!” Her hand trembled on the wheel as the car came to a halt near the diner. Lyndie pulled into it and jumped out of her car, using her key to get inside.
Mitch probably had a gun somewhere in here. That was her hope.
And her bigger hope was that she wouldn’t have to use it.
What the hell was happening?
She’d lied in an attempt to protect her family.
Was the whole town going to burn because of it?
At least she knew Max was safe.
Noa, on the other hand…
Her husband.
Trying to steady her breath, she took quick steps down the basement steps to Mitch’s office.
The fact that the light was on would have alarmed her more if her adrenaline wasn’t already at max.
The office was even more jacked up than usual.
Someone had been here.
Lyndie stepped around paperwork on the ground as her sneaker hit the office floor.
When her other foot hit, she saw Mitch in the corner.
He was holding money in his lap but looked scared out of his mind.
“Mitch?” Lyndie asked warily. “Mitch,” she whispered.
An object was on his desk, something strange. It looked like a doll or a totem.
“Mitch, what the hell is going on?”
He was mumbling to himself.
Lyndie smacked her hands hard. “Mitch!”
After blinking a few times, he looked at her. “Lyndie. Did you see him up there? Did you see him?”
