Pierce's Claim

by Jenika Snow

  Pierce was the first out. He kicked open the backdoors, nearly taking them off their hinges, and immediately put a bullet in the forehead of the guy nearest to him. The other MC members piled out, and all Pierce could focus on was the sounds of grunting, yelling and cursing, and of gunshots going off. The other members climbed out of the other van, and as everyone was fighting, shooting, and trying to dodge bullets, the sound of a vehicle approaching came through all the mayhem. And then there were headlights illuminating the carnage, the rush of voices raised around them, and of more gunshots going off right by his fucking head.

  “Get the fuck down,” Rook shouted at Pierce, and Pierce ducked just in time to feel the heat and wind of the bullet move right by his ear. It slammed into the side of the van, and he took a second to look at it, to see the hole it made, the paint it tore off, and the thought of his life hanging in the balance was fucking real.

  He turned back forward, saw Lucien up, a gun in each hand, and shooting at the men coming forward. They all had bulletproof vests on, and it was clear that’s where M had shot Lucien: in the chest.

  Pierce started shooting at a fucker that was charging toward him. Pierce shot again, got the guy in the shoulder, and that seemed to make him even madder. The asshole fired off a round of bullets, one of those landing in Pierce’s arm. He hissed out, feeling his adrenaline, rage, all of his emotions that he had deep inside of him, come forward. He tackled the guy to the ground when he was right in front of him, started beating on him, and then grabbed his gun off the dirt covered ground and placed it right at the prick’s temple. Without thinking he pulled the trigger.

  Blood started pooling beneath the guy’s head, and Pierce got off of him and made his way toward the other Brothers. They were all fighting, all shooting the motherfuckers, but Malice and Kink were standing guard by the van that the women were in. It wasn’t safe to try to transport them out of that van and into theirs, not when bullets flew all over the fucking place.

  A grunt sounded to his right, and Pierce saw Cain and M on the ground, M above Cain, a gun between them. They were both trying to gain supremacy, and although Pierce would have thought M would have tried to escape so he wasn’t involved in the carnage, Pierce had also noted the tires had been blown out in the vehicles that had been with M. A smart move the Brothers had planned so that this little bastard couldn’t try to escape. Even if he ran they would have hunted his ass down.

  The rest of the Brothers were all fighting, all occupied, but then Pierce saw M shoot Cain in the thigh, heard the member grunt in pain, and Pierce just reacted. He wasn’t thinking, just reacting with violence and needing to use his bare hands. He charged forward, tackled M to the ground, and for a few minutes both men grappled. He punched M in the face, and the little asshole fell backward, blood coming out of his mouth and nose. Pierce looked at Cain for a second, saw he was shot not only in the thigh but the arm as well, and knew he was losing a lot of blood.

  “Go to the van,” Pierce said in a low voice.

  “No fucking way. I’ll finish this. I’m fine.”

  M came after Pierce, tackled him to the ground now, and they threw punches left and right. Cain tried to rise, but Pierce heard the strain in his voice, the way he was having a hard time rising because of the gunshot wounds, and knew that this needed to end now with M.

  Pierce swung out, clocking M in the jaw, and the guy howled in pain.

  “I’m going to make sure you and your club pay for this betrayal, make sure your women know what it mean to be forced, to be fucked unconscious.”

  Pierce saw red, and the curses from Cain told Pierce the other MC member had heard what M said as well.

  “Not while I’m still breathing,” Pierce grunted. He lifted M up by pushing on his shoulders, and when he reached to try to find the gun the all he got was a handful of dirt.

  “Looking for this, motherfucker?” M asked and held up the gun. He grinned, blood on his teeth and chin. “I’m going to have fun tearing your women apart, making them bleed.”

  “Not ever, you motherfucking-cocksucker.” Tuck’s voice was right behind M, and the Brother looked fierce, angry, destructive. Before M could even react Tuck had a gun raised, and fired. The bullet tore through M’s forehead. Blood splattered on Pierce’s face and chest, and then M, who had brought this on himself, fell forward. Pierce pushed him off, and when he rose he walked over to Cain and helped the man up. He supported his weight, seeing he’d lost a lot of blood and was weak. Cain stared at him for a moment, maybe surprised, maybe still angry, but regardless he nodded.

  “Thanks, Brother.”

  Pierce nodded, and they both turned their attention forward. A few of the men from the other charter were handling a few stragglers, but with a few shots of their guns, the bodies of M’s men fell to the ground. For a second all they did was stand there, the silence thick, and then Malice and Kink were the first to move into action.

  They started helping the girls out of the back of the van, helped them into the Brothers’ vehicle, and then they were off. Pierce knew they were taking them to a warehouse owned by the Brothers of Menace to get looked at by a doctor that worked with the club on occasion. Molly, Malice’s former old lady, and the mother of his kid, Dakota, was also meeting them there since she had medical training, and they hoped they could help the girls before sending them on their way.

  “Let’s get you back to the clubhouse,” Pierce said to Cain, but before they moved Lucien and the other Brothers came forward. They were beat up a bit, had some bullet wounds, but they were whole and alive.

  “Hey,” Cain said, and Pierce looked at the man that just yesterday wanted to kill him, literally. “Thanks again.”

  Pierce nodded. “I’d do anything for a Brother, and I know you’d do the same thing even with the differences we have.”

  Cain didn’t say anything at first. “But you care about her,” he said without question.

  “I do, a hell of a lot, but I’ll fight for her, Cain. I’ll fight for her until I am dying on the ground and drawing my last breath.”

  Cain took a moment to respond, but then he made a gruff sound and said, “Good.”

  And it seemed that was that. It might not have been an acceptance in the form of a hug and slap on the back from the father of the woman Pierce wanted as his old lady, but for Cain, and any MC member, it was as good as it was going to get.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Fallina was pacing back and forth, her heart in her throat, her whole body shaking. She’d just heard from the club and they were on their way. In fact they should have been here already, but maybe she was confused on the time because her mind was spinning, and the worst possible thoughts slammed into her head when she heard her father had been hurt.

  “They’re here,” Violet said. Her best friend was pacing just as much as Fallina, her eyes wide, tears streaming down her cheeks. Fallina went over to Violet and gave her a hug.

  “He’s okay. I know it. You know how strong he is.”

  Violet smiled, but it was forced. “Yes, that he is.”

  Callie was standing beside Adrianna, and Cookie and Jana were standing by the front doors. They knew a few of the other guys had gotten hurt, but they were told Cain had the worst of the injuries. Even Molly was here. They had a friend that was also a physician coming over to see if Cain needed anything major done, but Lucien and Pierce had assured her the bullets had gone clean through. She hoped everything was okay, because the last thing they’d talked about was her stripping. And then her father had fought with Pierce over her.

  The sound of the vans pulling into the driveway had everyone frozen. They weren’t going to rush out of the clubhouse, weren’t going to be in the guys’ way. They’d see if they needed help, and go from there. The last thing Fallina wanted was to be in their way and freaking out, not letting them do what they needed to make sure the guys were okay.

  When Lucien and Pierce climbed out of the back of the first van, and then started helping Cain out of
the van, Fallina’s heart jumped in her throat. Her dad’s leg was bandaged up, his jeans torn up the front, exposing the wound. His arm was pretty bloody, the bandage on it soaked clean through with blood. But he was walking. He might have been a little pale, but alive.

  Malice and Kink, Tuck and Tank, and the rest of the guys were all climbing out of the vans. Rook and Ruin looked a little bloody and cut up, but she wasn’t sure if it was their blood or not.

  Everyone moved out of the way while the guys came in, and Fallina twisted her hands together as she stared at her dad. His face was dirty, bloody, and a few cuts marred his forehead and cheek. He looked over at her then, smiled, and she felt this breath leave her. He then looked over at Violet, smiled at her as well, and she heard her friend start to cry harder.

  Once they had Cain on the couch, the doctor they’d been waiting on came inside, bag in hand, and started working on her father. Molly was cleaning up the wounds on the other guys, and Fallina stayed back, not wanting to be in the way, and having no idea how to handle the situation. She felt like if she went over to her father she’d make things worse right now. But she heard the doctor say he’d be okay, and that the wounds would heal.

  That had her breathing a sigh of relief. Pierce was over with Molly now, getting a gunshot wound she hadn’t even noticed, tended to. He was watching her, and when he winked at her, she felt this weight lifting off her shoulders. The two men she held most dear, that she loved more than anything, would be okay. Now she just needed to make her father see that she cared for Pierce, and what they had done didn’t mean they were going behind anyone’s back.

  Pierce tipped his chin toward her father, and she knew he was telling her to go over there, to talk to him. She swallowed, feeling so nervous right now, not because of the fight and what she’d told him, but because this was her father and he was hurt. She’d never seen him like this, not at any time. He’d always been so strong, so powerful and indestructible.

  She moved toward him, saw Violet look up from where she sat beside him on the couch, and she smiled at Fallina. Violet said something to Cain, wiped away a tear, and then moved to the bar, clearly giving Fallina this time. Fallina mouthed “thank you” to Violet.

  She made her way around the couch, sat on the coffee table in front of her father, and something in her snapped. She saw the bandages, saw the blood seeping through the white cloth. His face was so pale, and the dark circles under his eyes were a stark contrast. She started crying, not able to help herself.

  “Hey, hey, baby girl,” he said and pulled her close. She clung onto him, feeling like that little girl that looked up to her father like he was a superhero.

  “I’ve never seen you this way, and when I heard you were hurt I thought the worst.” She pulled back and wiped her tears. “I thought I’d lose you, and the last thing we talked about was…”

  He wiped her tears away, too. “I know, sweetheart, but we don’t need to go there.”

  She was a little taken aback by his comment, but then again she was just focusing on having her father here and safe. She looked up at Pierce, felt her affection for him grow, and knew that she could have lost both of them today.

  “I don’t want to talk about that right now—”

  “Fallina,” Cain cut her off. “Baby girl, I want you to listen to me very carefully, okay?”

  She slowly nodded, seeing the serious expression on his face.

  “It’s because of Pierce that I’m alive, and it’s because of him that I’m able to see you right now, hold you and Violet even though I would be dead in the dirt.”

  She couldn’t cry, wouldn’t shed another tear. Her father needed to see her strong right now. She looked over at Pierce, but he was speaking with Lucien. The club president had his shirt off, and a few of the other members were looking at the nasty wound on his chest. She could hear them talking about how the bulletproof vest saved his life.

  “And because he saved me, because I know he’d do the same for you, hell, take the bullet right through the head if it meant you were okay, I am just backing the fuck away from you two. I want you to be happy, and if he makes you happy then I’m happy.”

  She couldn’t stop her tears then. “Really?”

  He nodded and wiped her tears away again. “Yeah, sweetheart, really. Now, the stripping has got to stop though,” he said on a growl

  She smiled and nodded. “I know, and it will.”

  “Like now, sweetie. I don’t want you risking yourself like that. I don’t want you thinking you have no other options.”

  She nodded again She knew he was right, because she’d felt the same thing. She had done what she’d done to heal herself, but in reality it didn’t heal anything in her. She felt alive while stripping, yes, but that didn’t mean it was doing anything but holding her in place.

  “I’m ready to go back to therapy, try it again. Stripping is done. Pierce makes me happy, makes me feel alive, and I want to see how I do without resorting to taking my clothes off.”

  He smiled and pulled her in for another hug. “I won’t lie and say things won’t be tough, because they will be. Life is hard, and the shit you and Violet went through was something no one should ever endure. That takes time to heal from, maybe even a whole lifetime,” he said softly beside her head. “But you know I’m here for you, always. Violet, too.”

  “I know.” She knew this man, this hardcore biker—her father—had killed the man that hurt her and Violet. He hadn’t told her, and she knew he had done that to protect her. She didn’t want to bring it up, because it was over with. She could sleep at night, and all she needed to do now was move on and not dwell on those things. At least not try to dwell on them.

  “I want you to be happy, and although I know you’re aware of this, I’m going to tell you anyway.” He cupped her cheeks, and she really did feel like that little girl again and waiting for her dad to tell her the most important thing in the world. “If he hurts you I’ll break his neck.”

  She chuckled and nodded. “I know you will, and that’s one of the reasons I love you.”

  He pulled her in for a hug again, and after a few seconds she pulled back. “You need to rest up.” She gently pushed him back on the couch, saw him wince, and knew he had to be in a lot of pain to show it on his face.

  “Go see him. I know he’s all worried about you,” her father said.

  She looked up at Pierce, but he was already standing right in front of her, his hair dirty, blood matted to it, but the affection in his eyes trained right at her. She loved him, she knew that, felt it, and the crazy part was she thought he did, too.

  Well, this was her life, grime and gore, violence and desperation. All of that wrapped up in a ball, but covering it all, protecting it, shielding it, were love, devotion, trust, and honesty. This was her life, and she wanted to make sure it was like this all the time, not the damaged part she’d allowed herself to be consumed with.

  ****

  Several days later

  Bobbie had to talk to him, had to tell Rook how she felt. Bobbie hated that the last conversation they’d had before he left on that MC business, the one that had put everyone on lockdown, had been less than comforting. But what did she expect? She knew Rook wasn’t the relationship type, knew that he couldn’t possibly feel the kinds of things she felt for him. But she had to tell him how she cared for him, how she loved him.

  This might be the very worst mistake she’d ever made, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t risk it, couldn’t tell Rook that she’d been in love with him for a while, that her feelings for him weren’t just about having sex, submitting to him. She wanted to be his old lady, wanted him to love her back.

  He probably would laugh at her, tell her that she was nothing but a club whore. It was true, of course. She’d slept with a few of the guys in the club already, a prospect and two of the patched-in members that weren’t taken. But once she’d given herself to Rook, fallen for him, obeyed him when he said she was to sleep with no one else, Ro
ok had been the only one she’d been with.

  Crossing her arms over her chest, she felt more exposed even if she were fully clothed. In fact, this was the most she’d ever worn while at the club. And that was evident by the looks she got from the other club whores and the members as she passed them.

  “You seen Rook?” she asked Tank. The prospect wiped down the counter, and shook his head without looking up.

  “I think Rook and the other guys are in the backroom,” Nilla, which was short for Vanilla, said. She was a newer club whore, one that looked to give blowjobs, or maybe it was just that she did it well enough that the guys kept calling her over for more. Either way she was nice, a bit on the young side, probably only twenty.

  “I think they are partying, and rightly so,” Nilla said and set glasses on the counter. “Why aren’t you back in that room getting drunk, getting high, and getting your nuts off?”

  “I can do that shit when this place is clean. I’m here to earn my place, not fucking party. I ain’t a Patch yet.”

  While Tank and Nilla talked Bobbie turned and headed down the hall, passed the closed room where moaning came from, and finally stopped at the last door on the left. She heard music, laughter, bottles clanging together, and groaning coming from the other side.

  She knew what she’d probably see on the other side: Rook shitfaced, a girl in his lap, bouncing up and down, or maybe a head between his legs sucking him off. That hurt, but she was facing reality. This was an MC, and these boys partied like there was no tomorrow.

  ****

  Rook was blitzed, so fucking drunk and high he couldn’t even see straight let alone get up and walk to his room. The boys were all in this backroom, drinking, getting shitfaced after just taking out M. It had been a couple of days, and all he wanted to do was forget about everything. He wanted to forget about the fact he couldn’t stop thinking about Bobbie, about what he’d said to her. Even now he still felt like an asshole, but he couldn’t let her think there could be anything between them aside from the rough sex they shared. That was all he could offer her, all he could ever give her.