“Marcus reached out. Said you two were visiting Massy’s family down south.”
Massy’s eyes were trained on him, not reacting to that bit of news. “My family isn’t south,” she said.
“No, and Marcus knew that. He figured it was your granny’s cottage. Sent me to check it out.”
“He’s bleeding too fast. I can’t stop it.” I wiped the hair from my face and put more pressure on the wound. He flinched and swore at me when I did it, but didn’t fight me.
“Then don’t.” He wrapped his fingers around my wrist and pulled my hands away. “It hurts like hell when you do that.”
“If I don’t—”
“I’m dead anyway.” He nodded.
“Did Marcus or Jayson send anyone else?” Massy lowered the gun to her side, no sense in threatening death to a dead man.
“I don’t know.” He coughed again, hard, then sucked in a large gulp of air. “I told my brother…you were a pain in the ass…should have killed you with Kerri.” His mouth upturned, a cruel and bloody smile forming on his lips.
The life slipped from his eyes, leaving him lying on the ground, staring off into the open air. A drop of blood ran down his cheek. There was no sound. One minute there was life, the next nothing. I looked up at Massy from where I knelt beside him, wiping my hands on my jeans. “I killed him.” My confession, a bare whisper, I got to my feet. “I killed him.”
“He needed killing.” She pulled my arm, turning me to face her. “Lucy. You didn’t do it on purpose, but it’s a damn good thing you did. He wouldn’t have just called Jayson.” She gave me a little shake. “He would have raped us first. Over and over again. That sick fuck might have taken you back to Jayson, but me...he would have killed me.”
“You don't know that.” I shook my head. Tears built in my eyes, not for his life, but for what changed in mine from the moment I pulled that trigger.
“I’ve known these clubs my whole life,” she said quietly. “I promise you that’s what he would have done.”
“What do we do now?” I looked back over at his lifeless body.
“First we check his phone, see if he made any calls yet. Odds are he was creeping up the hill toward the cottage to see if we were there. He probably didn’t make it all the way up before he heard us over here. If that’s the case, we might be okay to stay put.”
“If that’s not the case?” I wasn’t sure I wanted the answer to that.
“His bike is probably down the road. He wouldn’t have chanced coming up close with it and us hearing it. We take it, head back toward home on the back roads.”
“Should we call the guys?” I asked, following her back toward the cottage. “What about him? We can’t just leave him there.”
She stopped, looking back at the corpse of our enemy. “Just grab his phone. Tick will know what to do with the body.” She covered her mouth with her hand and jogged the rest of the way to the cottage. Morning sickness in the middle of the afternoon.
I walked back over to Sting’s body, taking cautious steps. Too many horror movies muddied up my mind as I knelt next to him, digging in his jean pocket. I took one look at his face, then decided it better to keep my eyes where my hands were. Finally finding his phone in his back pocket, I yanked it free of his jeans. Fuck, he was heavy. His hand moved from the jostling and I squealed. Cursing myself a fool, I scrambled away from him before I swiped his phone open to get a look at his messages.
When I made it back to the cottage Massy was in the bedroom. Her head tucked between her legs she took in deep breaths. I ran over to her. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah.” She waved a hand in the air. “Just a little woozy from puking.” Tilting her head back, I could make out red lines crossing her cheeks and eyes. She’d thrown up so hard she popped blood vessels.
“His phone was clear. I mean he didn’t make any calls or send any texts within the last hour or so. Nothing to Marcus or Jayson about us, but I didn't understand what he was up to. Why is Marcus giving Jayson any information about me? I thought they hated each other.”
“They do, but better the enemy you know.” She sat up straight and let out a slow breath. “I think Marcus just wants to use you as bait to get Mason to stick around the club long enough to help Lucas take out Jayson. He gives you to Jayson, distracts him, then helps Lucas sweep in and take over.”
“What about those Mexican people?” My decision to stay the hell away from club business had been a good one, too much drama.
“Bernardo’s dead. I heard Tick and Mason talking the other morning. His brother took over down there, and is coming up here to get the Disciples and Reapers to merge, or kill one off, doesn’t matter to him. He just wants one club to deal with, Tick said. Whoever survives the next few days wins.” She rolled her eyes. “When Tick told me about leaving the club, getting away from all the MC shit, at first I wasn’t sure. It’s the only life I’ve ever known. They are like my family. But you know, settling down in a normal house, in a normal town, with a normal husband, sounds fucking great right now.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
MASON
Marcus didn’t leave his apartment all night. No one went in, and no one came out. Even while the members partied it up in the lounge, he never showed his face. If he had some big plan on how to accomplish his little task, he wasn’t sharing it with the rest of us.
A little after dawn, I headed back to my room, fully expecting to see Tick’s ass snoring away. I didn’t expect to find him pacing up and down my room, wearing out the carpet.
“What’s crawled up your ass?” I asked, shutting the door. Moans from the next room over came through the walls. Remembering the last time I had my hands on Lucy came to mind. Only a few days past, but still too fucking many. “What’s wrong?” I said again with more grit. I was fucking tired from staring at Marcus’s door all night, and I wasn’t in the mood for more cryptic shit. Not even from Tick.
“Massy called.” He stopped pacing and glared at me. Not his usual ugly mug. No, he looked ready to rip someone to shreds. “There was trouble up at the cottage yesterday. The girls are headed back this way. Should be here within a few hours.”
“What?” I dug out my phone. Nothing. “Lucy didn’t call me.”
“She was too busy trying to bury Sting!” he practically yelled.
I wiped my hands over my eyes. “What the fuck are you talking about? Start at the beginning, dammit.”
“Massy was showing Lucy how to handle a gun—”
“Wait. What?” I had to be hearing shit.
“You heard me, don’t get sidetracked on that, just fucking listen. She took her into the woods for target practice. On the first shot, she bagged herself a Disciple.” The fucker almost sounded proud.
“I swear to god, Tick. I’m ready to rip your fucking head off, what do you mean?”
“Sting was there, found them. When she took her shot, she missed the tree but nailed him right in the stomach. Bled out under a pine tree.”
I sat down. I needed to sit. Lucy shot someone? Picturing her with a gun in her hand put a twist in my stomach. “She killed him?”
“Yeah. Before he croaked, he said Marcus let Jayson know where the girls were. Said Marcus knew she didn’t have family down south.”
I raised my brows at him and he waved me off. “I know. I forgot Marcus’s known her longer than I have. Of course he would know.”
“What the fuck is he playing at? If he wants Lucas to take over for Jayson, why give up Lucy? What does she have to do with anything?”
“I figure she’s his way of controlling you. If Jayson has Lucy, you’d have to help Marcus get Lucas in the chair, and Marcus would help you get Lucy back.”
“He’s insane. I already said I’d help.”
“I don’t know. All I know is that fuck sent a lunatic after my wife. If Lucy hadn’t asked Massy to show her how to shoot, they would have just been in the cottage painting their nails.” He ran his hand over his smooth head, back and f
orth, back and forth, letting loose a deep growl. I knew what he was feeling. Pent up.
“They are on the road?”
“Should be. I talked with Massy a little bit ago. They found his bike down the road, she's gonna drive them back.”
“How long has it been since Massy’s handled a bike?” I asked, knowing there wasn’t much choice.
“I let her ride my bike now and then.” He looked away from me.
“When you’re drunk,” I scoffed.
“Yeah, well, we don’t live five steps from the bar like you,” he shot at me. “She rode last week. Did fine. They’ll be fine.” He sat on the bed, holding his head with both hands. Someone so confident shouldn’t look so scared.
“Yeah, they’ll be fine. Did you say Lucy asked to learn how to shoot?”
He looked up at me and laughed. “Yeah. Massy said she tried talking her out of it, but she kept on about it. Guess your little girl is all grown up.”
“Don’t talk like that, that’s gross.” I screwed up my face. Little girl. That woman was many things to me, but little girl wasn’t one of them. Every inch of her attested to her womanhood.
“Gross?” He laughed. “What about Marcus?”
“Nothing. No one in or out all night. If we have a few hours, I need to catch a few minutes of sleep. Get out.” I shoved him off the bed and jumped on, kicking off my boots.
“I told Massy to meet me at home—”
“No. Jayson could have someone there. I’ll tell Lucy to meet at our usual spot.” Typing a few directions to her to go along with the change of meet up, I tucked the phone back in my back pocket. “Now go. Give me an hour.”
“How we gonna get out of here? Marcus locked down the place.”
“The women and kids are locked, you asshat.” I turned over, giving him my back. “We’ll be fine. One hour.”
I heard the door click behind him and closed my eyes. Just a minute of sleep.
CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
LUCY
If I thought my ass hurt after the little bit of spanking Mason had given me the last time I’d seen him, it was only because I hadn’t ridden on the back of a motorcycle down back roads and dirt roads for five hours with Massy at the bars. By the time Massy circled round back of the diner and headed for the garage, I was ready to jump of the mechanical horse, parked or not.
“Not much of a biker, are you?” Massy kicked down the kickstand with her booted heal.
“Not much of a driver, are you?” I shot back at her with a grin, more of a grimace, but she got the idea. Her laugh echoed in the courtyard and the door to the garage flew open. Mason and Tick marched out, both looking ready to spit nails.
“Not now, Tick. I have to pee.” She waved him off and headed toward the diner with Tick close on her heals.
“You hurt?” Mason’s gruff voice asked. He looked like he was still debating between kissing me and yelling at me, but my stiff movements stilled him. He looked me over, assessing me. “You’re wearing jeans.” He walked up to me, hooking his fingers into my belt loops, turning me one way then the other.
“Yeah, riding in a dress isn’t very practical.” I tried to smile, but I wasn’t sure if he was mad at me yet or not.
“Hard ride?” His hands wandered up my torso, until he reached my face.
“Yeah.” I nodded. “Those back roads are a bitch.” He laughed. A loud laugh that rumbled through his chest. He cupped my face and kissed me, a hard, unyielding kiss.
“The only one who's teaching you to use a gun is me, you got that?” He kept his forehead pressed against mine as he growled at me.
“It doesn’t really matter. I’m never touching one again,” I whispered. I’d killed a man. Good or bad, that had to sit in my memory for the rest of my life. He must have seen the guilt in my eyes, because he tilted my chin back, forcing me to look at him.
“That shit up there, that wasn’t your doing.”
“If I had been aiming for him, I would have missed.” I tried to joke, to play it off like it wasn’t tearing me apart that I’d killed. Good life or bad life, I’d stolen it.
“Sting doesn’t play games, Lucy. If he was sent up there to get you, he wasn’t playing. He would have hurt or killed Massy and taken you back with him, but not before he had his fun.”
“I know.” I yanked my chin from his grasp. “I have lived in his clubhouse for the past several months. I am aware of what shit he’s capable of doing.” I knew my mouth was irritating him; it wasn’t his fault, this person I slowly turned into. But he was the only one there to take the heat I need to get rid of. “So what’s the big plan now?” I kicked a pebble with my toe. “More shuffling around?”
“Lucy. I know you had a shit day—”
“A shit day? Mason, I killed someone. Killed. His body is buried under a pile of leaves, because I couldn’t dig a fucking hole fast enough to bury him in before we left. Someone’s going to find him, and I’m going to go to jail.” I hadn’t realized I was yelling until I noticed Tick and Massy staring at us from the corner of my eye.
“You are not going to go to jail.” Mason gritted his teeth. I knew he meant it, he’d probably confess to the murder himself to keep me from going to prison. His protection wasn’t the issue. It was that I needed so fucking much of it.
“I’m leaving.” I put up my hand to stop him from another of his growls. “Mason. I can’t do this. I don’t want to do this anymore. This shit, this isn’t my life. I’m going down to the bus station, getting on the first one that’s leaving town and going.”
“Lucy, you can’t.” Massy stepped up to me, her hand tugging on my arm. “You can’t just go off on your own. Jayson is still looking for you.”
“Yeah. And he keeps finding me, so being here isn’t helping, and going up to yet another cabin won’t work either. Fuck, look at your cheek, Massy. He’s hurt you, turned me in a killer—and fuck, I killed his brother! You think he’s going to stop now? I have to get out of this town. If not for myself then for you. I won’t be the reason you get hurt again, or Tick or Mason.”
“I don't need your protection.” Mason didn’t step toward me. His eyes fixated on me, as though he could glue me to the spot with his glare. “If you go, I can’t protect you.”
“I don't need your protection either. If you stay and I go, you can deal with all the shit going on with a clear head. Get it straightened out. If you’re here, Jayson will think I’m still in town, or nearby.”
“How long do you think you can hide?” His voice hardened, the dark emptiness of his eyes sent a shiver through me.
“Forever.” I shrugged, fighting like hell to pretend it didn’t hurt so fucking much to say the words. “I’m not coming back.” He let a harsh breath and shook his head. “I still have the money Jessica gave me to get out of town, it should get me a few states over at least.” I wanted to reach out to him, to touch his cheek, feel the warmth of his skin beneath my hand, but he shut down. The cold stare he gave me warned me off.
I turned to Massy, hugging her quickly and forcing a smile. “Thanks for the ride back.”
“You’re an idiot, you know that,” Massy whispered.
“I was, yeah. This is the right thing to do. I promise.” I didn’t look back at Mason, I could feel the tension in his body. He wouldn’t accept that I was right, not yet anyway. But once I was gone, once his life returned to normal, he’d see. My leaving was best for both of us. Even if it made me feel like I was being gutted to walk away from him.
“You know, you talk big, Lucy.” The words were spoken low and soft. Dangerous. “You say you didn’t have choice in all this. Jayson made decisions for you, I made decisions for you, but you’re doing the same damn thing right now. I’m telling you to stay. Let me get through this one patch and I’m out. A clean break. Of my choosing.”
“And I’m telling you how I’m handling this,” I shot back at him. “We never laid a claim on each other.” I said the words, but knew they were a lie. He marked me the first
time he put his hands on me, the first kiss sealed us together. I could still feel his lips against my mouth.
“You’re handling it,” he sneered. “You’re doing what you do when you get scared, you run. You ran after your mom died and you didn’t know what to do with yourself, and you’re running now.”
“Mason!” Massy stepped toward him, but Tick pulled her back, telling her stay out of it.
My breath hitched, and I felt the blood damn near boiling in my veins. Scared. Fuck that, I was terrified. And I was running. I wouldn’t argue that point, but it was to benefit us both. I didn’t respond, didn’t even look at him, I just turned and started to walk toward the street.
I heard Massy argue with Tick, then the rumbling of an engine starting up. Tick rolled up next to me. “Get on.” He jerked his head. “I’m not fuckin around. I’ll get you to the bus station, get on.”
Mason: Inked Reapers MC Page 22
