Needle

by Jade Kuzma

  “Yeah, no kidding,” I said with a laugh. “This is the best way. If I kept Katrina in town, there would be no way to reason with Jordan.”

  “How do you know that?”

  “Because I tried reasoning with you and failed. And outside of Ghost, you’re the most reasonable man I know.”

  “…Where are you?”

  “That doesn’t matter. Just let Harris know that his sister is safe and she will be as long as he’s willing to cooperate.”

  “I’ll call a meeting and let you know if anything comes up.”

  He hung up without saying another word. I sighed as I stuffed my phone into my pocket. Then I turned and saw Katrina standing a few meters away from me, looking up into the sky.

  “What is this place?” she asked.

  “Just a place I like to go when I want to get away from town.”

  “Get away is right,” she said, still looking around. “It looks like there’s nothing here.”

  “There’s enough for us to get by.”

  I rode with Katrina for a few hours away from Ivory. It was late into the night when we finally arrived at our destination.

  There wasn’t much around us except for the woods that surrounded us in every direction. A log cabin had enough amenities to last me a few weeks. The place was remote with a lone road leading back to the highway.

  “What’s going on?” Katrina said as I walked up to her.

  “I told Garnet to talk to your brother,” I said. “I told him to explain the situation. The two of them are gonna negotiate and come to an agreement. Once they figure out who’s responsible for what happened to Michelle, we can head back home.”

  “It’s not my brother. Jordan would never—”

  “It doesn’t matter now. Your brother owned the van. Now Garnet wants answers and it doesn’t matter how he gets them.”

  “This guy doesn’t sound very reasonable. And he’s the president of your club?”

  “He’s in love. Love makes us do crazy shit.”

  “So it would seem…”

  It had been a long night and an even longer drive. But looking at Katrina, I still managed to work a smile onto my face. She wasn’t smiling but she wasn’t angry either. She was just staring at me as if the reality of the situation finally hit her.

  “You’re holding me for ransom,” she said. “Me for my brother’s help.”

  “That’s one way of putting it.”

  “Was it really necessary for us to leave Ivory?”

  “There’s nowhere safer for you right now. Besides, once everything is settled and Garnet finds out who’s responsible—”

  “You’ll bring me back. I know. I just…”

  She looked away from me. Despite all my reassurances, she was still uneasy. I couldn’t blame her.

  “I drank with my brother, I got abducted and interrogated with my ankles and wrists bound, and now I’m in some strange place in the middle of nowhere.”

  “You’ve been through a lot,” I said. “You’re tired.”

  “That’s one way of putting it…”

  She turned around and walked toward a nearby picnic table. She sat on the edge of the table and looked up at the sky.

  “What’s wrong?” I asked.

  “I don’t know,” she said. “I just don’t know how to feel. I’m still… I’m still trying to process everything. I suppose that comes with the territory when you’re dealing with motorcycle clubs.”

  “Being a member is never easy. It’s always been hard.”

  “It’s even harder for family…”

  She sighed as she stared up at the sky, her eyes lost in whatever it was she was thinking.

  “…For as long as I could remember, my brother always wanted to be in a club. Watching those choppers drive up and down the streets every day. I guess every boy growing up in Ivory wanted to get patched in.”

  “That’s the way it seems.”

  “They don’t know what it’s really like though. Those young boys think they get to ride around on their bikes and puff their chests out with their logos on it. There’s more to it than that.”

  “I’m sorry it had to be this way. Your brother chose this way of life—”

  “I know,” she cut me off and looked at me. “I don’t blame my brother for choosing to be a club member. Hell, I’m proud of him for working his way to president. Still, it would be nice to not have to deal with some of this.”

  “It… It just comes with the territory.”

  “I guess that’s why you’re the way you are.”

  “What do you mean?” I asked.

  “You’re a Black Reaper. Apparently, you’re predisposed to hate my brother and every Winter Cobra you come across. It doesn’t matter what kind of man they are. You’ve gotta kidnap their sister and get some answers instead of trying to talk things out.”

  “This wasn’t my idea—”

  “But you went along with it.”

  I saw the frustration in her eyes that I thought I wouldn’t see. I put my hands up to try and calm her down but I knew there was nothing I could do or say to comfort her. She was pissed at a situation she had nothing to do with.

  “Katrina, I’m sorry. I really am. But you know this is the only way to keep you safe. I had to get you out of Ivory in case they decided to go to war.”

  “What do you think?” she asked.

  “What?”

  “Do you think Jordan did it? Do you think my brother is capable of ordering a hit on an innocent woman?”

  She stared at me, her eyes narrowed like she was trying to burn a hole through me. I clenched my jaw and swallowed before being honest with her.

  “I don’t know,” I said. “I don’t know Harris well enough to know what he’s capable of.”

  “But you know him well enough to hate him. After all, he is a Cobra.”

  “…What are you talking about—”

  “There’s no point in pretending. I can already tell. I know clubs in Ivory don’t get along. Your president wouldn’t have abducted me if he could have a reasonable conversation with my brother…”

  She turned away from me and looked out into the distance. Her leg was bouncing up and down. Her arms wrapped around herself as she tried to stay warm. With everything going on, I almost didn’t notice how cold the night air was.

  “You’ve had a long night,” I said. “You should probably get some rest.”

  “I’ll be fine. I’m just going to stay out here—”

  “Katrina, don’t do this. Sleep in the cabin. It’s warm. You’ll be comfortable. I know you’re mad but being angry isn’t gonna solve anything.”

  I was surprised at how rational I sounded. If this were any other woman, I would have been doing everything I could to get into her panties.

  But Katrina was different. Even with an angry frustration burning inside of her, Katrina was still an angel in my eyes. An angel I would have done anything for at the moment.

  “Katrina…”

  She finally looked up at me. I smiled softly at her, trying to goad her into bringing out the angel I knew was inside of her. After a few seconds, she finally gave me a smile in return.

  “This is insane,” she said.

  “If your brother is innocent, he doesn’t have anything to worry about.”

  “And if he’s not?”

  “…There’s no point in worrying about it right now. Katrina…”

  I took a seat next to her and took her hands in mine. She didn’t protest as I squeezed her hands tight in my palm. I looked into her eyes and tried to be as sincere as I could be.

  “All I’m concerned with right now is making sure you’re safe,” I said. “Come on… Why don’t you go inside of the cabin and get some sleep?”

  She nodded softly with a warm smile on her face. She raised an eyebrow at me as she shifted her eyes up and down my body.

  “Don’t get any ideas,” she said as she examined me.

  “It’s too late for that. I get ideas whe
never I look at you.”

  She laughed at my response. It was music to my ears.

  She gave me a nod and took her hands from mine.

  “Okay,” she said. “I’ll stay with you, here, wherever the hell we are. I’ll stay here as long as I need to.”

  “Once this shit blows over, everything will be back to normal.”

  “Normal. I’m beginning to think life in Ivory is anything but that.”

  Chapter 10

  KATRINA

  Blake had taken me to the middle of nowhere. Trees in every direction made it impossible to see what was beyond. Even the road that led back to the main highway seemed perilous.

  Despite that, the cabin was just as Blake suggested. There were multiple rooms inside of it and the amenities were surprisingly luxurious. My bed was soft. The wood was insulated from the cold. There was even some electricity provided by a generator. And there was enough canned food stocked in the kitchen to last for a good amount of time.

  I woke up in my room later that morning to the sound of my phone vibrating. Jordan called me to make sure that I was all right. I reassured him and he explained his side of the situation. Apparently, Garnet and the rest of the Black Reapers had gotten in touch with him.

  Jordan maintained that he had nothing to do with the accident. I told him it didn’t matter. I couldn’t go back to Ivory until things had been worked out.

  There was no sign of Blake in the cabin. I searched every room but all I found was a messy bed where I assumed he spent the night.

  “Blake!”

  I called out his name when I stepped out of the cabin. His bike was still parked outside, so I knew he hadn’t gone far.

  “Blake!”

  I shouted out again as I searched the nearby woods. As I got near the trees, I could see between them. Just a few meters ahead of me was another forest clearing. I made my way through the brush and saw that the clearing was more sprawling than I expected it to be.

  “Wow…”

  There was a giant lake in front of me. The water stretched for more than a mile, surrounded by trees. The sun was bright and reflected off the water. The scene was like nothing I’d ever seen in Ivory before.

  Blake was standing on the edge of a pier above the lake. I got closer to him and got a better look.

  He didn’t have his shirt on, the tattoos on his arms and chest on full display. The way the sunlight shined on his tan skin highlighted all of the cuts and muscles on his body. In nothing but a pair of jeans, Blake stood on the pier with a fishing rod in his hand, whistling softly to himself.

  I walked up behind him and looked out into the water.

  “I talked to Jordan,” I said.

  “Me, too.”

  “You did?”

  “He has my number after you called him the other night, remember?”

  “Right… What was that conversation like?”

  He looked at me and smirked. I couldn’t help but smile. Knowing my brother, I was surprised he hadn’t reached through the phone and tried to strangle Blake.

  “It was pleasant,” he said.

  “Pleasant? That’s surprising.”

  “He said to make sure you’re all right. Of course, I told him he had nothing to worry about.”

  “Makes sense.”

  “And he said if anything happened to you, he’d cut my balls off and shoved ‘em down my throat.”

  The smirk on Blake’s face grew even wider before he turned back to the lake.

  “What did he say to you?” Blake asked.

  “He just wanted to make sure I was all right. He also told me that he started talking to Garnet. He said if getting to the bottom of this will get me back to Ivory, then he’s willing to do it.”

  “The two clubs working together will figure this out.”

  “I also asked him if he had anything to do with it.”

  “I figure Harris maintains his innocence.”

  “He maintains his innocence because he is innocent. He’s no angel but I know he would never pull something like this.”

  “I know,” Blake sighed. “He is your brother after all.”

  Blake whistled as he calmly continued fishing. I stood next to him, going over everything in my head. There was nothing more either one of us could do at the moment. All we could do was wait for the situation back in Ivory to resolve itself.

  With my thoughts starting to clear, a slight hangover throbbed at the front of my head.

  “Damn,” I sighed.

  “What’s wrong?” Blake said as he turned to me. “You okay?”

  “It’s nothing. I… I drank last night. Not a lot but my body isn’t quite used to it.”

  “Why don’t you take a seat over there? It’ll only be a few more minutes until breakfast is ready.”

  “Breakfast?”

  The rod started to bend. He reeled it in and just a few moments later, there was a fish flopping back and forth at the end of the line.

  “Breakfast,” he said as he held it up.

  Seeing Blake standing there, his shirt off and the fish in his hand… He was unlike any other man I’d ever met before. I’d been to the big city. I’d been to Ivory. But Blake was the picture of a man I didn’t know existed.

  I watched him catch a few more fish before heading back with me toward a nearby picnic bench. I watched as he washed the fish off with some bottled water in a nearby cooler. After that, he got some matches to light a small bonfire in front of me.

  “You seem to know your way around here,” I said. “You’ve been here often?”

  “I like to come here from time to time. It’s nice to get away from Ivory when I get the chance. The simple life, you know?”

  Blake was handier than I’d imagined. He skewered some of the fish on sticks and roasted them over the open fire. I watched in slight amazement as he prepared breakfast in a way I’d never seen before.

  “Biker, mechanic, fisherman, cook,” I said as I shook my head. “Is there anything you can’t do?”

  “Don’t ask me to fly.”

  “Why not? You’re going to fly back to Ivory and leave me here?”

  “I wouldn’t dream of it.”

  He winked as he handed me one of the sticks with the roasted fish on it.

  Steam rose from the meat and filled my nostrils. I just now realized how hungry I was. Blake took a seat on the ground in front of the fire while he burned his fish to a crisp.

  “How did you find this place?” I asked.

  “I used to go out with friends,” he said. “We used to go camping all the time. Not here but places like it. It was something I got used to. And I guess I just never grew out of it. I found this place and thought it would be nice for an escape. I invited some of the club members. But most of them are used to Ivory life, so they don’t come out here.”

  “What about your family?”

  Blake didn’t answer immediately. He just stared into the fire, lost in whatever thoughts were running through his head.

  “Never went camping with my family,” he said.

  “Did they not want to go?”

  “I don’t know,” he said with a shrug. “I never asked. My parents were used to the town life and my brother…”

  His words trailed off. I waited for him to finish but he never did. I looked into his eyes and they were still lost. It was like he was somewhere else. I watched the flames dance in his pupils before he cleared his throat and sighed.

  “What about you?” he asked. “You go camping often?”

  “Me?” I said with a laugh. “I’m not much for camping. I need television. I need electricity and wi-fi.”

  “Civilization is nice,” he said, chuckling with me.

  “But it is nice to get out here, too. This a hell of a place to be held captive.”

  He winked at me as he pulled his burned fish away from the fire.

  I started picking at the meat with my fingers. The fish was more tender and juicy than I expected it to be. Maybe I was just hungry,
but I found myself craving more of it with every bite.

  Blake and I sat next to the fire and basked underneath the warmth of the sun. I’d gotten so comfortable that I forgot about the circumstances about why I was here.

  “Didn’t you say you wanted to open up a flower shop or something?” he said.

  “That… That’s right,” I said, slightly confused. “You remembered.”

  “Of course, I did,” he said with a smile. “Why wouldn’t I?”

  “I don’t know. I just didn’t think it was that interesting.”

  “Well, I like to spend time out here. I’m surrounded by trees and flowers. I figure this must be nice for you.”

  “Now that you mention it, there is some nice shrubbery you don’t see in Ivory.”

  I examined my surroundings and they seemed even more foreign than they did just moments ago.

  “Jordan would hate a place like this,” I said.

  “Why’s that?”

  “He’s just like me. Can’t live with all of the things we’re used to. Civilization, as you put it.”

  “What’s the point of riding a chopper if you can’t enjoy the freedom of the open road?”

  “Good point. I’ll mention that next time I talk to him. Maybe I can convince him to take me out to a place like this.”

  “If he doesn’t, I wouldn’t mind taking you out here again.”

  I saw a smirk forming on his face. Blake was so cocky, so confident. But the way he looked at me was charming, too. I hated not being able to look back at him.

  Dammit.

  As the heat rose in my cheeks from embarrassment, I stuffed another morsel of fish into my mouth and waited for the moment to pass.

  Blake caught enough fish to last us for a long time. I ate my fill and before I knew it, my full stomach bothered me more than my hangover.

  I leaned back in my seat and sighed. It was still in the morning and I had the whole day ahead of me. Even though I was out here for the worst reason, I couldn’t help a contented feeling I had.

  “Now what?” I asked.

  Blake was busy picking at the scales from his last piece of fish.

  “What do you mean?” he said.

  “I mean, I can’t spend all day eating fish. I have to do something.”

  “What do you usually do back in Ivory?”