by Wyatt, Dani
She doesn’t respond, which is good. These guys are friends, but this is their territory, and everyone needs to show them respect.
“Meadow is working off her debt to the club.”
“Oh, really?” His eyes light up.
“Not like that,” I growl, drawing myself up to my full height, and he drops back.
“Hey, no offense intended, dude.”
I stare him down for a moment, letting him know that Meadow is off limits, but after a minute I have to shrug and nod. “No hard feelings, but nobody touches her except me.”
“Sure thing. I’ll make sure my guys know that. Look, enjoy your evening, Chain, I’ve gotta go mingle.”
He pushes off through the crowd, and I watch him go. Two guys I don’t recognize have just come in through the door to the club, and Bullet moves in their direction.
“You want a drink?” I ask as I turn to Meadow but find her eyes wide as she stares at the two strangers. “Hey, what’s up?”
“I know those guys.”
Chapter Thirteen
Meadow
“What the fuck, Meadow? How?”
Chain is staring at me, and it’s the fourth time he’s asked that question, and my mind has frozen. Shit. I don’t know what to tell him. What are they even doing here? This is a fucking biker bar. Suits like that stay well away from places like this. Even dirty suits. Because no matter how dirty they are, they still have a reputation to uphold.
Chain snaps his fingers in front of my face. “Meadow!”
“What?”
“Who the fuck are they? And more importantly, who are they to you?”
I draw a deep breath. “Okay, look, before I came to Seneca, I did a little job in Temple Bluff—”
“Hold on, define little.”
I turn my face down to the floor and mutter, “Fifty.”
Chain grabs my chin and turns it up so I can’t avoid looking at him. “Fifty what, Meadow?”
“Thousand. But they deserved it! And I didn’t know they were your friends, or I wouldn’t have picked Seneca in the first place. I’m not an idiot.”
He blows out a breath. “They’re not my friends. I’ve never seen them before in my life. So I’m going to ask you again, who are they? And you’d better not hold anything back.”
“All right, jeez. The one on the left, with the bald spot, that’s the mayor of Temple Bluff. And the one with the moustache, that looks like he’s had too many of your mom’s cookies? That’s his police chief.”
“You stole fifty thousand dollars from the mayor and the police chief? Fuck, Meadow.”
I glare at him. “They were taking the funding from animal shelters and the playground funds. You seriously telling me they didn’t deserve it?” I see his expression turn to disgust, and nod. “The shelters and playgrounds had to apply for a special permit, except that permit didn’t appear on any paperwork. It went straight into the bank accounts of those two. I only took a tenth of what they’d stolen, and I donated twice that to the shelters they took it from. So tell me I did the wrong thing.”
Chain’s jaw clenches and he glances over at the pair who’ve just walked in. “They stole half a million dollars?”
“Yep.”
“Fucking scumbags.” I hear a growl in his voice. “What are they doing here?”
“I have no idea. What are you going to do?”
“I’m going to slit their throats, that’s what I’m going to do. And then I’m going to go to work on them.”
I feel a tug on my collar, and before I know it, we’re moving through the crowd towards the mayor and police chief. “No, wait,” I’m begging, but Chain just keeps pulling me onward and I have no way to stop him.
“Hey, you!” Chain pushes some girl out of the way and then sizes up to the mayor, whose eyes go wide. I’m guessing he thinks some drunk asshole is about to have a go at him, but Chain hasn’t touched a drop. “Yeah, you. Both of you.”
“Chain, what the fuck, man?” Bullet glowers, clearly annoyed that someone has interrupted his conversation, but Chain doesn’t seem to care that this is his territory.
“Stay out of this, brother, it doesn’t concern you.”
“If you’re having a go at my business associates then yes, actually, it does concern me.”
“Well, maybe you should pick different people to do business with.”
The police chief glances my way, and it takes him a moment, but then recognition dawns on his face. “Well, well. Frank, look who it is.”
I try to slink back, but the collar keeps me held firm. The music has stopped, and I can feel all eyes on us. Already, I’m trying to plan some sort of escape, but what can I do with this damned collar around my neck? And even if I managed to slip out of it, would I really stand a chance of getting out of here with my life intact?
“Patricia?” The mayor uses the fake name I gave them as he looks down, away from Chain’s eyes, but it’s a mistake.
A second later, Chain is roaring as his hand goes to Frank’s throat and he pushes him back, up against the door. Frank’s feet, about an inch off the ground, scramble back and forth, trying to find purchase, as nothing more than a squeak comes out of his mouth.
“Motherfucker!” The police chief grabs a bottle out of Bullet’s hand, rearing his arm back, and everything seems to slip into slow motion.
My heart jumps into my throat as I realize what he’s about to do. Chain is big. He’s strong. But if that bottle connects with the back of his head, it’s going to do damage. Maybe it will just knock him out, and perhaps I’ll be able to get this collar off and get out of here. But that’s a lot of maybes.
And I don’t want it.
The thought hits me like a freight train. I don’t want to get away from Chain. I don’t want to leave the Heartlands MC. As much as this isn’t the life I would have chosen, perhaps it’s the best life that could have chosen me. Chain means everything to me. I love him.
I’m in love with him.
Fuck. Meadow. What the fuck?
It’s no use arguing with myself, because it’s the truth and I know it. I can’t watch as that bottle hits him, not knowing if it might kill him.
I slam my palm into the police chief’s wrist, screaming at the top of my voice, hoping that the noise will cause some sort of confusion, because what I have planned next shocks even me. I grab the end of my leash, getting up close to Chain to give myself more slack, then loop it around the police chief’s throat. He tries to push me away, but unlike Chain, who’s surprisingly fast for his size, this guy is slow and he doesn’t react in time. A moment later, I’m pulling the leash tight as his mouth falls open.
And then all hell breaks loose.
Bullet shoves me back, out of the way, and climbs up on Chain’s back, wrapping a forearm around his neck and pulling him off the mayor. But that’s the least of it. Elsewhere in the bar there are screams and thuds as the Heartlands MC starts fighting with the members of Hell Fire. There are screams, people are running. Some of them push past me as they make their way outside, and in the commotion, I’m knocked to the ground, letting go of the leash as I raise my hands to defend myself from running feet.
“You fucking...little...bitch...” The police chief is in my face a moment later, gasping for breath, his eyes red from the strangulation but fierce with anger. “You think we...don’t know...what you did? I’m going to...fucking kill you, little...whore.”
Chapter Fourteen
Chain
“...little...whore.” The words make my ears prick up, and I see red.
Swiveling on the spot, I fall back, slamming Bullet into the mayor so that both of them are sandwiched between me and the door, before letting them drop to the ground. The bar is complete chaos, my own brothers fighting with the members of Hell Fire. Most of them are grinning, it’s been a while since we had a proper fight, but there’s a lot of blood on the floor too.
But I have no time to worry about anyone else. Meadow is on her back on the grou
nd, her leash at full stretch, and the police chief is crawling all over her.
He draws back an arm, and I see a glint of broken glass in his hand, but he doesn’t get a chance to use it.
Dropping Meadow’s leash, I grab his shoulders with both hands and yank him away from her, hearing him squeak with surprise as he’s hefted into the air. I don’t waste a second as I slam him down into a table beside me, face first.
There’s a laugh, and I turn, ready to slam a fist into the face of the next fuck to come near my girl.
“Shit, Chain, it’s me, kid.” Troy laughs as he stops my fist with a raised hand. “Haven’t had this much fun in a fucking long time.” He draws his arm back, and I think he’s about to punch me, but his fist goes wide of my face and I hear a squelch beside me as a spurt of blood sprays the left side of my face. “That’s on me.”
I nod, then look down, expecting to find Meadow. But she’s gone.
Glancing around me, I see that the mayor and Bullet are also nowhere to be seen, and it doesn’t take a genius to work out what’s happened.
“Follow me,” I say to Troy, then stomp out through the door, into the parking lot.
Bikes are stood in a line against the front of the bar, and I see Meadow being roughly carried towards a big black Harley. She’s kicking and screaming, but Bullet has her tight and he’s no pushover.
The mayor is right behind them, but when he sees me and Troy he nearly loses his balance. A second later, he’s taking off towards a shiny new Mercedes Benz, fumbling in the pocket of his bloodied suit pants for the keys.
“Stop him, man,” I say to Troy, and he nods as I turn towards Bullet and Meadow.
“Let her go!” I shout as I start to run, and they both look my way.
Bullet pushes one of the parked bikes, knocking it over, and it crashes into another as they both fall into my path. “Leave it, Chain, you don’t want anything to do with this. She’s nothing to you, just let these guys have their fun. I’ve got business with them.”
I ignore him, jumping the first bike and dropping into a crouch as I slam into him shoulder first. “She’s mine,” I grunt, as my fist lands in his face. “I protect what’s mine.”
Another fist to his gut leaves him gasping for air as I stand and grab Meadow’s hand, roughly pulling her to her feet. From behind me, I hear whoops and hollers, and turn to find the other members of the Heartlands MC, along with a few stragglers from the bar, standing watching me. I snarl at them, turning back to Meadow.
“Are you hurt?”
“A little. Nothing serious. This collar is a bit tight.” She pulls it away from her throat, and I relent, detaching it from her.
“Don’t go running off.”
“Chain.” I turn to find Troy marching across the parking lot with a slightly bloodied Mayor Frank held in a full nelson in front of him. “What do you want to do with him?”
I growl and take a step forward, ready to deliver a few choice blows to the fuck’s face, then feel a hand on my arm, holding me back. “What is it, Meadow?”
“Let’s get out of here.”
“You sure?”
“Is he going to bother me...” She hesitates, then draws a breath. “Us. Is he going to bother us again?”
I eye the mayor up and down. His nose is broken, probably Troy’s doing but it could have been done inside the bar. He’s struggling to breathe. His suit is a mess. “I don’t think so, but there’s only one way to be sure.”
As I take a step towards him, he shakes his head violently. “No. Please, stop! I’m the mayor of Temple Bluff, do you know what will happen to you if you do this?”
Troy leans into his ear. “Only if they find you.” He chuckles.
I raise my eyebrows. “So, what’s it going to be, Frank?”
He shakes his head. “I’m out of here. If you let me go, you’ll never see me again. Please.”
With a sigh, I turn my lips down. “I’m not sure. I think maybe it’s safer just to get rid of you. But then again, Meadow thinks we should let you go. Seems like you’d owe her a debt if we did.”
“Sure, yes!” He winces in pain as Troy tightens his grip. “Patrici...Meadow is off limits. I’ll never, ever see her again. I’ll forget she exists. Who cares, right? She only took a little money, forgive and forget, that’s my motto.”
“She tells me you stole half a million from animal shelters and fucking kids playgrounds.”
“I didn’t steal it, it was—” His eyes go wide as I take a step forward. “I’ll pay it all back, every penny, I’ll tell them it’s a tax rebate.”
I hear a grainy voice from over my shoulder. “With interest.”
Surprised, I turn to find Bullet standing there beside Meadow, wiping a trickle of blood from the corner of his mouth.
He shrugs. “What? I didn’t know anything about this. Taking money from animals and kids? That’s fucked up, man.”
Turning back to the mayor, I see him nod. “Sure. Five percent interest.”
“Twenty percent,” Meadow counters.
“I can’t afford that! I’ll make it ten percent. Please, just let me go.”
“The lady said twenty.” I fold my arms over my chest and stare him down, and eventually he nods, dropping his gaze to the floor. With a sigh, I nod to Troy. “Let him go.”
Troy releases his hold, and the mayor rubs his arms as he turns, dejected, and starts towards his car.
“Hold on, take him with you.”
Someone shoves a man forward out of the gathered crowd, and laughter erupts all around as the police chief, naked from the waist down, stumbles forward across the parking lot. His cupped hands barely cover his dignity as he waddles after the mayor, and even Bullet and Meadow are quietly chuckling to themselves.
But the show’s over, and Troy meets my eyes. His expression turns serious as he nods at the bikes. “There are things we need to discuss. Back at the clubhouse.”
Chapter Fifteen
Meadow
“There are some things I need to know before I go in there.” Chain meets my eyes, unblinking, as we stand outside the clubhouse.
I nod, trying not to cry. These guys just stood up for me when they didn’t have to. They fought for me, and they took my side. Nobody has ever done that for me, not since my parents died. I don’t know how I’m supposed to feel except grateful.
“What’s your real name?”
“Meadow Greene.”
“Those motherfuckers called you Patricia.”
“That’s the name I used when I conned them. If you look at the fake service order I handed to your guards when I came here posing as a utility worker, you’ll find that I used the name Chloe Valley. I always use a fake name for cons. But when you asked me, I told the truth.”
He nods. “Okay. Are there any more issues we need to know about? People that might want to come looking for you?”
I think for a moment, then shake my head. “I don’t think so. Usually I don’t go for such high-profile targets. In and out, take what I need, nobody remembers I was even there. I think we’re safe.”
“And you were telling me the truth about your parents? They’re both dead?”
I nod. “What are you going to do with me?”
“Meadow, I won’t let anyone hurt you. If Troy decides to call a vote, and it goes against us, I will get you out of here. You have to trust me. I can’t be without you. I can’t. I’d rather die.”
“I love you,” I say without thinking, and he pauses. For a moment, I think maybe I’ve said something wrong. But then he nods.
“I love you too, baby. It’s all going to be all right. Trust me.”
***
Two hours later, we’re sitting in Chain’s living room, and I’m breathing a sigh of relief. Apparently, Chain explained to them everything that had gone on, and they took a vote.
It was unanimous.
“So, I really get to stay?”
He nods. “You want that? I mean, I’m glad you do, but aren’t yo
u kind of a nomad?”
I laugh and wrap an arm around him. “Kind of. But...”
“What?”
“It’s something your mom said to me, actually.”
“My mom?” He sounds incredulous.
“Uh huh. She said you guys are like a family, and family looks out for each other. I experienced that tonight. You guys stuck up for me when you didn’t have to, you risked losing your friendship with that other club and you risked yourselves for my sake.” I look up into his face. “I never knew things could be like that. I’ve had to watch out for myself since I was eighteen years old.”
“Baby, we’ll always look out for you. And I’ll always look out for you. You’re mine now, and that means more than just words. Wait here.”
He stands and walks out of the room, then a few minutes later he’s back, crouching in front of me and holding out a small white box.
“This was my grandmother’s. For whatever reason, my mom and dad never wanted it. They had their own. But I haven’t had time to go buy you something. I want you to be my old lady, Meadow. Let’s get married.”
I open the lid of the box, and what I see has me gasping. It’s a beautiful ring. Antique jewelry was always my favorite, way more than anything new. It has a single diamond in the center, surrounded by emeralds and rubies, and amazingly, when I try it on it fits perfectly. Like it was made just for me.
“Yes,” I murmur, then look up and meet his eyes properly. “Yes, let’s get married!”
He gathers me into his arms, then frowns. “I think I should remove this,” he says, pulling on the collar, but I shake my head.
“Leave it. I like belonging to you. I like knowing that you’re protecting me and keeping me safe. That collar reminds me that I’m yours. It’s our thing.” I lift myself up, wrapping my legs around his waist, knowing that he can take my weight with ease. “I love you.”
“I love you too, baby. And I always will.”
Chapter Sixteen
