Brax

by Jayne Blue

  “I didn’t trash my sister’s place. And it’s not just her place. You’ll help me? You’ll really help me? Jesus. Yes. Anything. As long as you take care of those assholes for me.”

  I wanted to smack the shit out of him. He’d just admitted someone else flipped Ridley’s. Which probably meant he knew they were coming and skipped out just like I feared. He put Nicole in danger. I had to stifle my need to make him pay for that so I could deal with the bigger issue. China White in my town.

  He still didn’t get it. “I’m not taking care of anything for you, Doug. In fact, when this is all over, you’re done here. You got me? You’re going to forget you have a sister. You’re going to forget you ever knew anyone in Lincolnshire. Because you’re going to be a marked man either way.”

  I’d like to say that persuaded him. That Doug could understand reason. That his love for Nicole made him see the light. But it didn’t. See, there’s a thing about junkies like him. His disease did the work for me. After about an hour, he started to shake. Then he started to sweat. All he could think about was getting his next fix. So I waited another hour. Then another.

  And the kid, Sam, thought of that too and came prepared. He held a syringe in his hand and the minute Doug saw it, he told me everything I needed to know. I’m not proud of it. I don’t have to be. But sometimes the ends more than justify the means. That shit he brought into my town was going to start killing kids. It probably already had.

  “Tomorrow. I’m supposed to meet Hodges at noon. There’s an old oil refinery along the Maumee River, just outside of Paulding by the Indiana border. We meet there. I’m supposed to bring the month’s take.”

  He was still sweating and his knees shook.

  “How much. How much are you into them for?”

  Doug’s eyes flicked back and forth from me to Sam. “Ten Gs. It’s not my fault. I tried to tell them. I got jumped a few weeks ago. That’s what landed me in the hospital.”

  I ran a hand across my jaw. “You told Nicole twenty.”

  “I was gonna pay off my debt and get the hell out of town. I swear to God she was never going to have to see me again.”

  “Well, that’ll be her lucky day. But instead you decided to crash at her place where you hid that fucking tainted smack. Do you realize what happens to her if anyone finds out? She could lose everything. And you knew Hodges and the Brigands were coming for you. What was your plan if Nicole had been there? Were you going to warn her or just let her get killed when they showed up looking for you?”

  “She was gone! You think I’d let them hurt her?”

  Yeah. I absolutely thought he would. I kept my fists curled at my sides but it took everything in me not to wrap my hands around his throat and squeeze the life out of him. Before this was over, I knew I still might.

  “They’re going to kill you, you know. You don’t think the Brigands have figured out you’re a liability? You show up at that drop tomorrow without their money, you’re a dead man. And you’re a probably a dead man either way.”

  He hung his head. “You promised my sister you’d help me. I swear to God, if you do I’ll leave. I meant what I said. I’ll get gone. She’ll never have to worry about me again.”

  “Yeah. You bet your ass you will. Now here’s what’s going to happen. For the next twenty-four hours, we own you. You got that? You don’t so much as take a shit without Sam being two feet away. Tomorrow, you’re going to drive your car and you’re going to make that drop. In the meantime, you don’t answer your phone, you don’t talk to anyone without Sam’s say-so. You got that?”

  I pulled a knife out of my pocket and leaned forward. Doug flinched but all I did was slice through the zip ties binding his wrists. I would have let him go after that. I started to. But Doug’s hit made him cocky. He rubbed his wrists and stood up.

  “It’s not going to work, you know,” he said. “The Brigands don’t think you’re shit. I’ve heard all about it. You’ve got everyone believing you’re a good guy. But you’re still just a thug. And now you’ve made my sister into your whore. They’re going to take this town away from you. I just hope you have enough balls left to cut her loose before she gets hurt.”

  Maybe I should have taken the high road. But fuck that. I turned and landed a right hook to the bridge of his nose. I felt the bone crack beneath my knuckles as Doug’s face exploded in a cloud of red. I gave a nod to the kid and walked out of the hangar before I actually did do something I’d regret.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Nicole

  It was nearly dawn by the time the police finished taking my statement and left. They offered to take me to a hotel for the night, but I didn’t want to go. It was stubborn of me. I get that. But this building was mine. I was too keyed up to sleep and I wanted to start the slow process of clearing the wreckage they’d made of my apartment.

  It seemed like a good idea at the time, but when I finally closed the door and leaned against it, the breath left my lungs in a whoosh. I didn’t know where to start. There was one small mercy: whatever thugs did this, they hadn’t destroyed my furniture like down in the restaurant. Up here, it was just a mess.

  The kitchen seemed as good a place as any to start. I loaded the dishes into the washer and took a broom to the mounds of white rice spilled all over the floor. Why had they done that? What purpose did it serve to destroy dry goods in my kitchen? Unless they’d been looking for the bricks of white powder that I now knew were hidden in my inventory. My fists clenched around the broom handle and I tried to steady myself. I wasn’t sure I could ever forgive Doug this time. Love him? Always. But forgive him or have him in my life? Right now I just didn’t know.

  It turns out sweeping bits of raw rice can have a cathartic effect though. With each pile I scraped into the dust pan then into the trash, I felt like I was taking just that much more control of my life. If I could clean this up, I could clean the rest of it. It was going to be okay. Somehow.

  My phone buzzed in my back pocket. I felt my first genuine smile of the day when I saw the text.

  Brax.

  “You okay?”

  “Better. Getting a head start on some cleaning. It’s making me feel better.” I texted back.

  “Good. But I can send a crew to do that later. Get some sleep. Got some shit to take care of but I’ll see you tomorrow.”

  “If it seems like too much for me up here, I’ll take you up on it. I’ll definitely need help downstairs. See you soon. Love you.”

  The cursor blinked for a moment before he answered. “Baby, I love you too. More than you know. Sleep tight.”

  I clutched my phone to my chest. I’d give anything for him to be here with me right now. I wanted to curl up into the safety of Brax’s arms and forget about all the shit that had happened in the last twenty-four hours. And fuck it. In spite of everything, I still wondered about Doug. Was he hurt? Had he just run off? Would I ever hear from him again? Did I want to?

  Of course I did. I didn’t know if he could ever make up for what happened today, but if he was in danger. If he was hurt. God, if he was dead . . .

  I tried to brush those thoughts out of my head as I brushed the last of the rice into the dust bin. When I finished that, the day finally caught up with me. I was exhausted and sweaty and sore. I thanked God that whoever did this to my place had left my bathroom more or less alone. I took a shower and changed into a pair of yoga pants and a tank top. The only damage to my bed was an overturned bookcase. I righted it and stacked the books on the floor then crawled under the covers to get some sleep.

  In spite of all of it, Brax was on my mind. It had been so long since I’d had someone to lean on. It scared me as much as it made things easier. I was afraid to start needing him too much. It was dangerous. If he left me, if someday he wasn’t there, I knew it would be so much harder to face things alone again. And I didn’t want to. God, I didn’t want to. I wanted someone I could share my life with. Good or bad. But was Brax the one I could do that with? The truth was, I
hoped so. He was strong and confident. Smart and decent. He liked to think he wasn’t. He had dark secrets and I knew he’d done things in his past he was afraid I’d judge him for. But I knew his heart. Whether he liked it or not. I’d taken a risk today letting him in and leaning on him. He knew it. I just hoped that someday he’d be strong enough to do the same thing.

  Hammering at my front door woke me some time later. I woke groggy and disoriented, not knowing for sure if it was day or night. Stepping carefully around the overturned furniture, I went to the door. On my tiptoes, I looked through the keyhole hoping to see Brax’s towering frame. But a shiny badge blocked my view. The police were back.

  I swung the door open and smiled. I recognized the officer as one of the ones who questioned me last night. Davis. Tim, I think.

  “Did you forget something?”

  Officer Davis didn’t smile. He held his hat in his hands and looked down at the floor before answering me. Oh God, the last fifteen years melted away. I knew that look. That was the bad-news look. That was the, “I’m sorry but your life is never going to be the same” look.

  “What is it?” I asked, blood rushing to my head. I felt faint.

  “Miss Ridley.” He looked over my shoulder, to see if I was alone.

  “Please tell me. Is it my brother?”

  He drew his mouth into a hard line and nodded. “I’m going to need you to come with me. We can talk on the way.”

  I moved in slow motion. I couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t swallow. The lights in the apartment seemed brighter and bees seemed to buzz in my brain. By some miracle, I found my Converse sneakers and grabbed a hoodie. Officer Davis waited patiently by the door. He put a gentle hand at the small of my back as he led me down the stairs. I didn’t even see the wreckage of the ice cream shop as we left. Blood roared in my ears and I felt lost. It was happening again. And I didn’t want it to end this way. I stupidly thought it would be a relief. If Doug finally died one day, at least maybe it would be a relief.

  But it wasn’t. I just felt cold terror as Officer Davis held the door for me and I slipped into the passenger seat of his unmarked patrol car. I thought about calling Brax but that would have been the exact opposite of keeping a low profile with the club. When I was finished with whatever I needed to do with Davis, I’d call The Den and have one of Brax’s guys pick me up.

  I pressed my forehead against the window glass as Officer Davis pulled away from the curb. Squeezing my eyes shut tight, I gripped the door latch and tried to keep my nausea at bay. Davis took several hard turns then sped up.

  I don’t know how long we drove. The district station was only five minutes from the ice cream parlor. All I could think about was Doug. Would I have to identify a body? Finally, I couldn’t stand it another second.

  “Can you at least prepare me for what’s going to happen? Has Doug been arrested? Is he hurt or dead?”

  Davis let out a sharp exhale as he took another curve and pressed his foot on the gas. We were going incredibly fast. He had to be doing close to seventy through the city streets, but he wasn’t using lights or sirens. I sat up; dread skittered along my spine, feeling like spiders’ legs. We were on Long Street, two blocks past the police station and the hospital was in the exact opposite direction.

  “Where are we going?

  Davis kept his gaze straight ahead. “We’re almost there. Just sit tight. I’ll explain everything.”

  I didn’t like the clipped tone he used. Something wasn’t right. He took another sharp turn and increased his speed. We were heading for the on-ramp to U.S. 24. This wasn’t right. Icy fingers of panic bubbled beneath my chest.

  “I need to call someone,” I said. “Tell me where we’re going so I can have a friend meet us there. I thought I could do this alone but I’d really like someone with me.”

  Davis pulled to the side of the road and left the car idling. He turned around and reached into the back seat. We were in the middle of nowhere with the freeway a quarter mile ahead. I don’t know why, but everything in me told me to get out and run. This was wrong.

  “Relax,” Davis said as he turned and grabbed my arm; his fingers dug into my flesh. Then he pulled me into his lap and shoved something wet and putrid over my face. I was drowning. I kicked out but just hit the side of the car door. I tried to hold my breath. Then I tried to scream, but he held that filthy rag over my face and finally I couldn’t help it. I breathed in the pungent chemicals.

  Then everything went black.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Brax

  Twelve hours with Doug Ridley was about all I could fucking stand. Against my better judgment, Sam talked me into keeping him leveled out as best we could. His habit was worse than I thought but he was no good to me dope sick.

  At ten thirty, we rode out. Sam, Joker, and I rode in Doug’s car. He drove. They made themselves as flat as they could in the back seat while I ducked down in the passenger seat. When Doug got twitchy, I showed him my holstered Nine. I didn’t think I’d actually kill him, but it didn’t mean I wouldn’t use it on him if he did anything that would put me or my crew in danger.

  Colt and the others rode a safe distance behind us as we hit U.S. 24 and headed west. We had friends with the Wild Bunch M.C. out of Fort Wayne and they kept their ears to the ground. More recon would have made me feel a lot better, but we risked spooking the Brigands if they saw us coming. This should be quick and clean if Doug didn’t blow it.

  The plan was simple: show up with enough force to make the Brigands understand we weren’t fucking around. Doug would pay the debt he owed, plus an extra twenty grand for their trouble. A peace offering. They didn’t want a full-on club war. Though our numbers in Lincolnshire weren’t up to what we wanted, we had strength in Grand City, Michigan, Chicago, Green Bluff, California, and about six other points in between. They either backed their shit out of Lincolnshire, or we’d burn them to the ground.

  “You cool?” I said to Doug as he made the turn toward the abandoned refinery. The place was burned out except for a single standing warehouse. There were no other cars or bikes around and I wasn’t sure that was a good sign. I sure as shit didn’t want to get here first.

  “Y-yeah,” Doug said; his hands were shaking on the wheel. I crouched down lower.

  “Doug, pull your shit together. Nothing’s going to happen. You’re going to pay your debt. Then I’m going to have a little chat with Hodges and whoever else shows up. You get back to the car when I tell you to and keep your mouth shut and your hands on the wheel. That’s all you gotta do.”

  He nodded and pulled the car in front of the warehouse doors. He slammed the gear in park and went for the keys. I pressed my fist into his thigh as I rose slowly in my seat. “Keep it running. Now what happens next?”

  “They should already be here. They usually have me pull into the warehouse. Someone opens the door.”

  “Not this time,” I said. The last fucking thing I needed was to get surrounded. No, we were staying outside. A text came through. Colt and the others were in place just around the corner and out of sight.

  Doug started to sweat. “I don’t like this. They never make me wait out here.”

  “Calm. The fuck. Down.”

  Easy to say, but I was jumpy as fuck too. I was having one of those “this seemed like a good idea at the time” feelings.

  But then the warehouse doors slid open. Doug put his hand on the gear.

  “Leave it! You’re going to get out of the car slowly. We are not driving into that building. Got it?”

  Doug nodded and lifted his hands off the wheel. He opened the door and shot me a look. Jesus, could he be more obvious that he wasn’t alone?

  Hodges came out of the warehouse; the sun was in his eyes so he put his hand up. My own hand twitched near my weapon. But I needed to take the advice I’d just given Doug. Be cool.

  I sunk low while Doug approached Hodges. Way too quickly, he stuffed his hand in his jacket pocket. He had the envelope stuffed with money
I’d given him. But Hodges didn’t know that.

  “Stupid fuck,” I muttered as Hodges lunged at him and shoved him to the ground.

  “Easy, easy!” Doug screamed. “I’ve got the take. That’s all, man. Just reaching into my pocket to get it.”

  Hodges had a gun to Doug’s head. I moved. Joker shot a hand out and shoved me back down.

  “Not yet,” Joker whispered. “Give the idiot a chance.”

  But I couldn’t hear what they were saying. Hodges had Doug on his knees. Then two other men came out of the warehouse. Had there been any doubt about who was running this show, it vanished. Ethan Corey and Rance Hawthorne walked over to Hodges. Rance was the Red Brigands’ Sergeant at Arms, Ethan their V.P.

  “Motherfucker, they are gonna kill him,” Joker said, recognizing the pair.

  They absolutely fucking were. I recognized Rance’s posture as he looked straight at our car. Doug was a liability they couldn’t afford anymore. Chances were, they’d already lined someone else up in Lincolnshire to take over from him. Except we weren’t going to give them the chance.

  I got my hand on the door handle.

  “I’ll get the rest,” Doug pleaded. “I swear to God.”

  “The rest? Son of a bitch, he’s light.”

  Fucking idiot. Doug lied about the money. Or they’d just tacked on more interest. Whatever was going on, the Brigands weren’t happy.

  “Time to shut this down before he gets his head blown off,” I said. I’d just about opened the door when another Brigand stepped into view. This one wasn’t alone.

  Bloody Christ! Nicole.

  He shoved Nicole ahead of him, keeping one hand on her arm and twisting it hard and backward. His other hand closed around the trigger of the gun he held to her head. The guy was big. But calm, methodical. He was here to do a job. It all fell into place. She was an insurance policy in case Doug didn’t come through. But she knew too much. She’d seen their faces. And Hodges knew she was with me. They had no plans to let either one of them out of here alive.