Illusive

by Nina Levine

  “Yeah, I would. I’ll call you later, but I’ve gotta go now,” I said as I ended the call.

  The noise in the room was deafening as everyone’s voice grew louder the more they talked. “Enough!” I yelled.

  All eyes came to me again, the noise quieting.

  Looking around the room, at the men I’d called family for three years, I said, “There’s nothing else I can say about the way in which I joined the club – it can’t be changed now – but I will tell you this…I would lay my life down for Storm, for each and every one of you. I would do anything it took to protect all of you. If you look back over the years, my loyalty can’t be questioned. Assuming you still want me in the club, I have a plan to deal with Bond’s family. I’ve spent hours researching them and doing surveillance on them, and my plan is good to go – today, if need be. I just need to know whether you stand with me on this.”

  “First, we need to make sure the girls are all safe,” J said, his angry glare at me softening a little.

  “I agree,” Scott said. “How many of us do you need for your plan?” he asked me.

  “We’ll need two teams of at least six in each, more would be better.”

  Scott nodded, and began barking orders as to who was to go where. Once he had everyone separated into teams, he sent one team out to keep an eye on the girls. He had directed two men to each – he wasn’t taking any chances here.

  I proceeded to share my plan with the rest of the men, and an hour and a half later, we put it into effect. Scott hadn’t asked for a vote on my club membership, and no one had brought it up again. Not even J. But fuck knew where I would stand after the shit had settled and everyone was safe again.

  27

  Griff

  Bond ran his organisation from prison. He had one guy in charge on the outside who controlled their drug shipments, and who ran the operation from Bond’s mansion. Ten other men backed up this guy. I’d kept the operation under constant surveillance since killing Bond’s brother, in preparation for this day, should it come. Due to this fact, I knew they had a drug shipment arriving today that most of their team would be taking care of at one o’clock. That would be our best opportunity to strike – while the men were split between two locations.

  Scott called Blade, who lined up some of his men to help us. I was confident that with ten guys in each team, we’d accomplish our goal without problems. Scott led the team that would ambush Bond’s drug shipment, while I led the team at the mansion.

  We took two vans to the mansion and parked them in two different streets close to our destination. I’d hacked into their surveillance again, and set it so we wouldn’t show on their cameras, the same as I’d done the last time I came here. The same guy was stationed at the back gate when I approached. He turned just as we arrived where he stood, and he reached for his gun, but I already had mine out.

  Aiming at him, I said, “Now, now, Justin, remember how much I know about your family. All we want are the keys and the code for the gate, and then we’ll leave you like I did last time.”

  “There’s no one inside, asshole,” he sneered.

  I raised my brows. “Now you’re just lying.” I moved closer to him, and held my gun to his head. “Give me what I want, and I’ll let you live to kiss your wife and daughter again.”

  He didn’t hand them over straight away. It seemed he was hedging his bets in his mind, until finally, he muttered, “Fuck,” and he handed the keys over, rattling off the code.

  I gave the keys to Nash, who also keyed in the code and once we had the gate open, I turned to Justin. “Unfortunately, this time, I can’t keep my promise. Your boys threatened our women today, and no one does that and gets away with it.”

  His eyes widened with fear, and I pulled the trigger. He dropped to the ground, and we dragged his body inside the gate and closed it behind us. Then we moved quickly to the back entrance of the mansion and slipped inside without being seen. I motioned to the boys as to who should go where, and we split up in teams of two to tackle the house.

  Nash and I made our way through two rooms and down a hallway before coming across anyone. A guy walked out of the kitchen with a sandwich as we approached. He eyed us, and dropped his plate in an effort to grab for his gun. The plate smashed to the floor, shattering into pieces, while Nash and I aimed our guns at him. He was dead on the floor before he even had a chance to aim his at us.

  “Fuck,” Nash swore, grinning at me. “That was too easy. I want a little fight from someone.” He bounced a little, as if he was heading into a boxing match, and I grinned back.

  “Let’s see if we can find someone for you,” I said.

  As we continued on, Nash said, “For the record, I have no issues with you being a member of Storm. I don’t fuckin’ care how you came to us, Griff, you’ve always had my back, and that counts for everything.”

  “Thanks, brother.” His words meant everything to me, but I still had no idea how other members would vote.

  Nash momentarily distracted my concentration, so I didn’t see the guy coming. The first I knew he was there was when he punched me in the face, knocking me back into Nash. We fell, and before either of us could get our bearings, the guy kicked me hard in the gut before attempting to also kick Nash in the gut. However, Nash had recovered enough to block him, and a moment later was on his feet, fighting the guy.

  I pushed myself up off the ground, and attempted to get a punch in, but an arm hooked around my neck, and yanked me back.

  Fuck.

  You lose your concentration for one moment, and everything turns to shit.

  “I see you used your common sense and came to us,” the guy behind me said.

  I shoved my elbow back into his stomach, but he laughed it off.

  “If only it were that easy to escape,” he said with a chuckle as he spun me around in his arms. Shoving a gun at me, he jerked his head toward the chair in the room, and barked, “Sit.”

  I had no idea why he hadn’t just shot me, but wasn’t arguing. I did as he said and sat. My gaze shifted to Nash who the other guy now had in his hold. Jesus, we were potentially fucked here. My mind quickly scrambled to come up with a plan to escape.

  Nash stumbled towards me after being shoved, and the two guys followed after him. I eyed the two men, and realised the one who had ordered me into the seat was the guy who ran Bond’s operation.

  He approached me now and said, “Before I kill you, Michael, I’m gonna need some information out of you.”

  “Like what?” I doubted I had anything of use to him, but keeping him talking kept me alive longer.

  “Who ordered the hit on Bond in prison?”

  “Do you really think we’re gonna tell you that?” Nash snarled.

  The guy who stood over him threw a punch that landed hard on Nash’s cheek. “Shut the fuck up, motherfucker. We didn’t ask you.”

  Nash spat at the guy’s feet, which only riled him up more. For that, Nash copped another punch.

  The guy who had me restrained pressed his gun to my head. “Tell me who the fuck ordered that hit.” His dark eyes revealed the darkness that I knew lived inside him. I’d investigated this guy, and he was responsible for a lot of death and destruction.

  “What do I get in return?” I asked. I still hadn’t figured out how the fuck to get out of this mess, and I desperately needed to keep him talking.

  He scowled, and anger flashed in his eyes. Pressing the gun harder against my head, he spat, “If I don’t get that name, the women we paid a visit to today will not be so lucky next time.”

  Motherfucker.

  The guy had said the right thing to flip Nash’s switch, and he lunged at the guy who stood over him, punching him hard in the balls. I caught it out of the corner of my eye, and knew I had to also make a move because the guy with the gun to my head turned the gun and aimed it at Nash. If I didn’t do something, Nash would die.

  As I lunged forward in the seat and wrapped my arms around his waist to try and push hi
m over, a gun sounded, and blood sprayed everywhere.

  Jesus.

  Who the fuck had been hit?

  It all happened so quickly that I struggled to get my bearings, until I heard J’s voice boom, “Fuck you, motherfucker.” And then another gun shot before J’s hand reached out to mine, and he pulled me up. “You okay, brother?” he asked, looking me over.

  He’d taken out both guys for us, and I surveyed the bloody mess on the floor. Looking up at him, I said, “Thanks, man. I was beginning to wonder how the fuck we were gonna get out of that.”

  His eyes held mine, and he said gruffly, “You would have done the same for me.”

  I nodded. “Yeah.”

  He nodded back at me, and then slapped me on the back. “I think we’ve got everyone now. The boys are just doing a final sweep to make sure.”

  “How many were there?” Nash asked as he stood.

  “We took out two other guys.”

  We walked back the way we’d come in, meeting the others along the way. “The house is clear. We got everyone,” one of Blade’s guys informed us.

  “Okay, let’s get the hell out of here,” J said, and we all moved as fast as we could back to the vans.

  As we drove towards the clubhouse, I hoped like fuck that Scott and his team were successful. Who knew where it would all lead if they weren’t.

  * * *

  “Fuck, where’s Scott?” Nash asked as he paced the clubhouse bar.

  We’d been back for an hour with no word from Scott or Blade who was with him. Nash had been pacing for the last fifteen minutes, and I was beginning to get worried. I would have thought they’d be back by now.

  “Nash, can you give it a rest?” J snapped, clearly agitated by Nash’s pacing.

  They glared at each other, but Nash eventually sat.

  My phone rang, and we all zeroed in on it. I checked the caller ID and frowned when I saw who it was.

  “Harlow. What’s up?” I said as I answered it.

  “Are you with Scott, Griff? I’ve sent him some texts and tried to call him a few times today, and he hasn’t answered any of them. It’s unlike him, and I’m getting worried.”

  Fuck.

  That was unlike Scott. Even when he was busy with shit, he always made a point to at least reply to a text from Harlow.

  “I’m not with him, but as soon as I see him, I’ll let him know you’re looking for him. You good for now?”

  “Yeah, I’m okay. Thanks, Griff,” she said as she hung up.

  I turned to J and Nash. “We need to head over to where the delivery was taking place. I’ve got a bad feeling about this.”

  They both nodded, and we rounded everyone up to come with us.

  As we were about ready to pull out of the car park, a van screeched in, and pulled up at the front door to the clubhouse. Scott jumped out of the driver’s seat, and quickly slid the back door open. Blade exited from the back and the two of them then pulled Wilder out. His shirt was soaked in blood.

  “Shit,” I muttered, and we left the van to follow them inside.

  As we walked in, Scott’s eyes came to mine. He shoved his fingers through his hair, and said, “Doc’s on his way, but Wilder’s in a bad way, brother. Other than that, everything went to plan, and those assholes won’t bother us again.”

  “How many were there?”

  “Five.”

  “Fuck,” I muttered, doing the maths.

  He frowned. “What?”

  “We’ve missed one.”

  Scott took that in, and said, “It’s not what we would have preferred, but one guy on his own can’t do a great deal. We’ll deal with Wilder, and make sure he’s going to be okay, and then we’ll focus on finding that other guy. Yeah?”

  He was right. “Yeah.”

  Our doctor arrived and took care of Wilder while Blade pulled Scott and me aside. “I just had word. Bond is dead.”

  “Thank fuck something is going our way today,” Scott muttered.

  Blade eyed him. “I’ve seen men worse off than Wilder pull through. He’ll make it.”

  “I hope so, because if he doesn’t, it’s on me,” Scott said, clearly angry with himself.

  “Why?” I asked.

  “It wasn’t your fault,” Blade said before Scott could answer.

  “Yeah, it was. I lost concentration for a second, and that was all they needed to shoot him,” Scott said.

  “I’m not with you on that, brother,” Blade said.

  “I agree. You can never predict how this shit will go down,” I said.

  Scott scowled and began pacing while we waited.

  “Harlow rang. She’s been trying to reach you,” I told him, and he nodded.

  Pulling out his phone, he headed outside to call her back.

  Eyeing Blade, I said, “He won’t let go of the blame if Wilder doesn’t pull through.”

  Blade nodded. “Yeah, I know,” he said quietly.

  We sat in silence in the bar as we waited for the doctor. Scott joined us at some point, but I hardly noticed. A tense cloud hung over the clubhouse, and I felt responsible for it.

  If it hadn’t been for me, none of this would be happening.

  28

  Griff

  The doctor was with Wilder for a long time. When he finally stepped out to talk with us, I couldn’t read his face.

  “He was in a bad way,” he said, his voice holding no trace of positive news, and my gut twisted with fear.

  “Fuck,” Scott muttered, his face holding the same fear I felt.

  “I’ve removed the bullet, and I’m hopeful he’ll make a full recovery,” the doctor said, and I realised that even when he gave good news, his voice still held no trace of positivity.

  Relief washed over Scott’s face. “Jesus, Doc, you had us worried there for a moment.”

  “He’s not out of the woods yet, Scott. You’re going to have to keep an eye on him, and call me if he deteriorates.”

  “We will,” Scott promised, and he walked the Doc out.

  When he returned, he sorted out a roster for who was going to look after Wilder while he recovered, and I took the opportunity to call Sophia.

  “Hey, you,” she answered the phone, and I could hear the smile in her voice.

  “You having a good day?” I asked.

  “Yeah, but I’m ready to go home. I’ve had enough of work today.”

  “Meet me at my house, sweetheart,” I said, feeling the need to be there tonight. I had security on my place that she didn’t have on hers, and with this one guy still on the loose, I needed to know she was safe.

  “Okay, handsome, you’re on, but I get to watch my show tonight.” Christ, she had an unnatural interest in reality fucking television.

  “The TV stays off tonight,” I said firmly. “I’ve got other plans for you.”

  “Oh…well, that’s good, too,” she said, and I caught the desire in her voice.

  “I’ve gotta go. I’ll see you later,” I said, and hung up.

  Scott walked back in at that moment and jerked his head at me to follow him into the office. When we were inside with the door shut, he said, “We need to call Church again, Griff. Some of the guys aren’t happy that I didn’t call a vote on your membership today. I’m going to wait a day or so because I want Wilder to be able to vote, but I wanted to give you a head’s up. I don’t think there’s enough numbers to vote you out from what I’ve heard, but fuck, you just never know. Obviously, it’s not what I want to happen.” The hard expression he normally wore had been replaced with torment. It was clear to me he was torn by this – torn by loyalty to his club versus loyalty to me.

  “I appreciate the head’s up, brother,” I said, and he nodded.

  When I’d joined Storm, I was made well aware of the only way a member left the club, and it didn’t involve walking away drawing breath. That had never bothered me before because I had nothing in my life worth living for. Now, I did. And fuck, to even think about leaving her behind - that sliced pa
in through me.

  * * *

  I found Sophia waiting for me on my couch. She looked up and smiled as I came through the front door. And then she frowned. Moving off the couch, she came to me and asked, “What’s wrong?”

  “Nothing,” I lied, not wanting to get into this with her tonight.

  Her hand came to my cheek and she pulled my face down so we were close. “Griff, I can tell there is something wrong. I don’t need for you to tell me, but I want you to know I am here for you if you do need to talk about it.”

  I held her gaze for a beat, nodded, and kept on walking. “I’ll be back in a minute,” I said as I headed into my bedroom to get changed. I’d already changed out of my bloodied clothes at the clubhouse, but the grime of the day felt glued to me.

  Fuck it. I decided to have a shower and headed in there, stripping as I walked. A moment later, the hot water ran over my body, helping to ease some of the tension in me.

  I was lost in thought when Sophia startled me. My gaze shot to her when she placed her hand on my shoulder. Dropping my eyes, I took in her naked body, and my dick jerked.

  Fuck, she’s beautiful.

  “What are you doing, Sophia?” I demanded, not sure if I wanted to be interrupted. I had thoughts running around in my head that I needed to work through. Alone.

  She stepped into the shower with me and closed the shower door after her. Having her this close to me made it hard to say no to her.

  I curled my hand around her neck, and moved her back up against the tiled wall in my shower. My eyes searched hers. “Do you want me to fuck you?” I growled as I ground my dick against her.

  “Yes,” she replied, her eyes meeting mine and not letting go.

  “How wet are you?” I demanded to know as I reached down and ran my finger through her pussy while keeping one hand firmly around her neck.

  “I’m ready,” she said.

  “No. I want you wetter. I want you fucking dripping for me.”