by Ryder Dane
Integrity Has No Bounds by Ryder Dane
Integrity Has No Bounds
Lucifer’s Breed MC
Book Two
by Ryder Dane
© Copyright February 2015 JK Publishing, Inc.
ISBN# 978-1-31024-184-0
All cover art and logo © Copyright February 2015 by JK Publishing, Inc.
All rights reserved.
Cover by Jess Buffett
Published by JK Publishing, Inc.
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Dedication
To my online groups of friends. You make me laugh, smile, and SMH, but I can always count on you to perk me up on a rough day. Thank You!
Table of Contents
Dedication
Prologue
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Books by Ryder Dane
Excerpt from Nomads’ Fall
Excerpt from Shady
Excerpt from Seducing Wrath
Excerpt from Taking the Lead
Prologue
Curtis Mack was beginning to feel his age. He’d been a saddle tramp most of his adult life, and his ass and spine felt every one of those twenty years. His journey through life had begun in the hills of the Great Smokey Mountains, and now he found himself back in the area of his childhood. He wasn’t here to visit family, they were gone from this earth now, and he felt no attachment to the place.
He was trailing some fuckers who were double dealing the club. With his position as a Nomad of Thor’s Legion MC, one of his duties was to protect the club from Rogues and members who could potentially bring the heat down on their heads.
The information he was working off was iffy at best, but his informant certainly knew the area, and the people around the small Arkansas town. With the information he’d already had accumulated, along with his informant’s information, it made sense. It also was the reason he was heading to Juanita, Missouri.
A while back, the area was plagued by a South American who wanted in on the territory to sell their drugs. Most of the small clubs had banded with the big boys and driven them out. One small club only paid lip service to the coalition of MCs and now that he knew the connection, it finally made sense. All he needed was to prove it, and that was the reason he was on the road tonight.
The other information he’d learned was of a more personal nature, and well, if it proved to be true, he would cross that bridge after dealing with the club’s business first.
It wasn’t until he saw the young man who owned the place that things cleared up. He knew this one, and for his old friend’s sake, he would deal with this as soon as the man closed up for the night.
He waited for the last vehicle in the parking lot to leave, and went to the backdoor of the bar. The door hadn’t been locked yet, but the fist that caught his jaw as he entered the building almost knocked him off his feet. He stood back and wiped the blood from his lip before grinning and returning a fist toward his assailant.
By the time he pulled his tired ass up from the floor, he was laughing.
“Goddamned, kid, you have a fuckin’ jaw like your ol’ man’s, I think I broke a finger. It’s good to see you again.”
*****
Standing there, the shortest man, who both of the others deferred to, nodded for his minions to knock the boards back in place. He sat at the bar drinking a whiskey neat. It was the top shelf stuff, not the rotgut bar whiskey. The bartender poured him another and popped the tops from two icy cold cans of beer. He handed one to his peer and nodded to the boss man.
“I hate to bring this up, but the kid is getting snoopy. He asked me why I hadn’t swept around the stage last week, and yesterday he stayed until after I usually close the place. I had to stuff a brick of the high grade into my fuckin’ jacket and take it home with me last night.”
The tallest of the three men sneered, “Maybe it’s time to take him out. Sooner or later he’ll contact his fuckin’ father, and it will cause us so much trouble that it might disrupt our little enterprise here. You can always buy the place and run it, and no one will be the wiser. If we work it right, there won’t be anything to stop us from going bigger, maybe expand our territory.” He looked toward the man who was staring at the glass in his hand. “What do you think?”
Their leader took his time before answering, as if there might be another way to deal with the son of a very dangerous man. A man who could potentially bring this easy money to a humiliating halt. He looked at the two rough bastards that seemed to have personal interests invested in the death of the young man. He finished his drink and handed the glass to the bartender, “Do it, the roads around here are treacherous, accidents happen.”
He hated having to hop down from the barstool, once on his feet, both men towered over his own five feet eight inch frame. They were dangerous men in their own right, but they would never reach the contacts he had and they needed him. It’s what gave him the confidenc
e to be alone in a room with them. As long as he made the deals and used his knowledge to pass their product, they would fall into line.
Finished with their business, the three men headed through the backdoor with no regards for anyone or anything because plans had been set and everything was falling into place. To them no one was smarter—a shame they didn't notice the small blinking light in the corner.
The backdoor slammed shut and the light went out before he moved silently in the tiny room. Another plan formed, it would devastate a few, but the outcome would be worth a little pain. Payback’s a bitch.
Chapter One
John walked into the bar the club held the note on, looking for the owner. He spied her mounting the steps of the small dais and found himself a seat at the bar ordering a beer. He could wait, it wasn’t like he had somewhere to be tonight. He planned to go home after this last stop.
The tables were full of people, some of them wore their desperation to find a significant other or just tonight’s bed partner. The bartender handed him a draft beer he had yet to order, and told him the lady at table fourteen sent it. He nodded toward the table and saw Ronnie Davis with three other women. Ronnie didn’t smile at him, she stared at him with what he could only describe as heat. He shook his head and told the bartender to take the drink to her. It surprised the man, but he shrugged and took the glass over to the woman. Ronnie smirked, put the glass to her lips and drank half of the contents without taking a breath.
He understood what she was doing, the challenge was what she thrived on, and she had him firmly in her sights. John didn’t fuck around playing games when he wanted someone. He paid for his pleasures one way or the other, sometimes he’d take a chunk off the price of an oil change, or some repair that was too pricey for the vehicles owner to pay cash for. Sometimes it was money, or even dinner and a few drinks. He never took without giving back. Too many fuckers took advantage of women and vulnerable ones at that. No meant no as far as he was concerned, there were plenty of others who always said yes.
Ronnie was a beautiful woman, there was nothing innocent or complicated about her, and he wished they could be friends instead of him being her prey. He didn’t like aggressive women, and she wore her independence like a neon light. If she were a man, she’d be the perfect companion, always ready for a new adventure, always ready to fight, just uncomplicated and fun to have around.
He rapped on the bar and ordered a longneck. The bartender gave him a shake of his head, but brought the bottle. He twisted his own cap and flipped the thing on the wooden surface before turning around on the stool to watch Stevie Hill begin to play her guitar. She played two acoustic pieces he didn’t recognize, but still liked the music, and then she began singing. Her voice wasn’t angelic as some women could be described as having. There was a rasp and he could only describe it as a halting earthy sound, he liked it. Her voice made him think of hot sex on cool sheets.
She fascinated him. Her hair was straw colored blond, and if he had to guess the length, it would be long. The way she twisted it in a knot at the back of her head made it difficult to tell. The first time he looked into her blue eyes, he felt his stomach tighten, and each time he watched her curvy body walk into a room, onto the stage, hell, she could be sitting twiddling her thumbs and his dick would wake up. She was probably five ten in height, and she had a smart mouth on her, but it didn’t stop him from wanting her.
She was intelligent, and could really keep him on his toes to hold a conversation with her. It was damn difficult to multitask when she laughed. There was no restraint when she laughed, he’d been like a damn dog every time he caught sight of her, and if he were on his deathbed, the sound of her laughter would wake him up. Something he would do to just to see that smile.
He stayed away from this place as much as he could because of the woman on the stage. She took the place over when her brother left, and she was actually doing better at managing the business than her brother had been. She never made excuses, and was never late on a payment. It was why he was here tonight. Burger asked him to pick up the money for him, and since John couldn’t come up with a legitimate reason not to come tonight, here he was, torturing himself with listening to the woman whose voice haunted his nights. The more he knew about her—the harder it was to keep himself from begging her for any little scrap of attention she might give him.
The reason he hadn’t made any advances toward the pretty woman was she had no need of him. He knew it was fucked up thinking, but he liked things straight forward in every aspect of his life. Everything and everyone had a place or a niche in life, hers would be labeled as a possible lover. But where did he fit in her life? The second, and probably the most important reason was her brother. Viking had warned his MC brothers away from his little sister. A real man didn’t cross the line when dealing with family, and John understood the man’s reasoning, even if he didn’t like it.
She was talented, and smart. She didn’t need her vehicles worked on that she couldn’t pay for. She didn’t need him for protection, she had the entire MC chapter of Lucifer’s Breed to take care of that. No one would fuck with her that had any sense. Her brother was a full patched member when he left her, and now that she was alone in the world, the brothers kept a close eye on her safety.
“Walk away, or kiss me” was the final words of the last song she sang, and she stared at John Handy as she voiced them. The big mechanic was far too tempting for her peace of mind. Every time she saw him, she wanted to ask him why he never asked her out. She could see and sense his interest in her, but he always collected the mortgage payment and left without allowing her to introduce any small talk between them. They had exchanged complete sentences maybe four times that she could remember, and it gave her hope each time they spoke. Yet he kept his distance, and she had no idea how to make him understand that she wanted him. She laughed at his jokes, tried her best to flirt with him without being too whorish, hell, the only thing she hadn’t done was to install a stripper pole and invite him for a private show. The thought of his face if she did that made her smile.
She’d sung the last song, one she had written, just for him. It was doubtful he understood what it meant, but she could always hope. She set her guitar on the stand behind the stool she had perched on while she sang, and made her way toward the office where the safe was located. She needed to give him some information to take back to the club’s president too, so when she got to the end of the bar, she tilted her head toward the door and looked at him.
He stood and set the empty on the bar, and she shifted her gaze to Leon, the bartender, who got her meaning and handed John another bottle as he made his way to where she stood.
He opened the door for her to pass through ahead of him, and she liked that—he had manners. She unlocked the office door with the key hanging on her wrist. He shut the two of them in the small room and stood by the door with his arms crossed and the unopened beer still held in his hand.
She went to the safe and placed her hand on the screen under the panel, which appeared to be a combination lock. It was a nice trick, and John nodded approvingly while he watched her.
“I needed to talk to one of you guys any way. I know that you don’t want to be bothered, but could you sit down for a few minutes while I show you something?” She pulled the envelope from the stack of bills, and shut the safe, before turning to walk to her messy desk.
She sat down and watched as he sat in the chair in front of her. She handed the envelope to John and waited to see his reaction. He looked puzzled for a second, until he read the note she’d put in the envelope with this month’s mortgage payment.
It was essentially an extortion note. Complimenting her on owning such a “popular, and well run establishment” and “we want to continue to see the place thrive, so for the meager price of one thousand dollars a month, cash only,” they would provide security for both her, and the bar.
She could see the anger building in the big man.
His head cam
e up, and his eyes pinned hers as he asked, “When did you get this, and why didn’t you call the club?”
“I found the note last week. It was in a stack of invoices I was paying, and it kind of jumped out at me. No one seemed to know how it got on my desk, and no one remembers any strangers walking back into the hallway, so I figure it was probably one of the staff that dropped it in here. I didn’t take it seriously enough before, because I didn’t believe someone would be so stupid as to threaten a business the Breed had their tentacles into.” She looked away to hide the pain she was felling from him. “My cat was a grouchy old Tom with a bad attitude toward strangers, and a habit of attacking men with bad intentions.”
She stood, and came around the desk to stand in front of him, before saying, “This isn’t a peep show so don’t fear for your virtue, big boy.” The long sleeved sweater she wore was pulled off her head, leaving her standing before him in a peachy-colored tank top with bruises on her upper arms, and around her throat.
The purple dots across the top of her breasts enraged him. One bruise would earn the fucker a beat down. This earned him death. There was a small cut on her neck where it was obvious to the man seeing it, was caused by a knife or another sharp object.
“I had a visitor night before last, he was in my place when I got home, sitting in the dark. He was on me before I could turn the lights on, or even scream. He said that bad things happen to good people, and that I should take the offer of protection seriously or he’d be back.” She pulled the sweater back over her head and settled the cowl neck to hide the low lying bruising from prying eyes. “He killed my cat, and cut the mattress on my bed. I called the cops, and they have the report, and a sample of the man’s blood and DNA. Tom must have scratched him, and he tried to wash the blood off in the kitchen sink.”
