XANDER (The Caine Brothers Book 2)

by Madigan, Margaret

  “The Huntsmen can protect her,” Xander offered. “We’ll find a safe house for the two of you in Houston. Keep an eye on you both. Even Prez would think twice about taking on the whole club.”

  She smiled. “You just want to keep me close.”

  The bulk of his anger faded looking into her face. “Can you blame me?”

  “Not at all. I want that, too. I’ll talk to Lily about it.”

  “Good.” He’d never admit, out loud anyway, how glad it made him that she’d probably stay in Texas. Hopefully Houston.

  He kissed her again and walked her into the lobby, to the elevator, up to her floor, and to her door. When she opened the door, her sister stood on the other side. Lily looked surprised to see Xander, but when she did, she pushed her way past Gracie to stand in front of him.

  “This is him?”

  Gracie actually blushed. “Yeah.”

  “You look familiar. Do I know you?” Lily asked.

  “No,” Xander said. He’d seen her before at biker events, and he’d visited her in the hospital after she’d been beaten, and after they’d received the anonymous request, but she’d been asleep so he didn’t think she’d remember him. But maybe she did. Otherwise, they’d never met.

  “Well, you have good taste, anyway,” she said to Gracie. To Xander she said, “if you hurt her, I’ll hunt you down, biker or not.”

  “Yes, ma’am,” Xander said. He wondered how she could let Hank use her as a punching bag, but get her hackles up at the thought of a threat to her sister. He’d never understand the psychology of domestic violence.

  “We need to talk, Lily,” Gracie said. “I’ll call you later, Xander.”

  When she closed the door, it felt far too final. He missed her.

  “Get a grip, Killer,” he said to himself, and headed for Dude’s room.

  When Dude opened the door, he didn’t seem surprised to see Xander. “‘Bout time you showed up. You done rutting around for a while?”

  They entered the room and Dude shut the door.

  “Probably not, but I’m good for now.”

  “Good, because Prez has been nosing around.”

  Dude stretched out on the bed, lacing his hands behind his head. Xander took the armchair.

  “He came here?” Xander asked.

  “Yeah. Chico ran into him in the lobby. Told him to beat it or he’d bring all the Huntsmen down on him.”

  “I just ran into Titan in the parking lot.”

  It made sense that if Lily told Titan where she was, he’d bring Prez with him. Good thing Xander hadn’t run into Prez in the lobby, or anywhere else. Prez wouldn’t have held back.

  “What happened?” Dude asked.

  “He hit me, but out of respect for Pixie, I didn’t deal with him there.”

  “I’m pretty sure we won’t be able to avoid a rumble while we’re here. Not that I want to. I love a good fight. But Mel wants to keep the peace. I don’t think Prez cares about that anymore. He’s on the warpath,” Dude said.

  “Shit. We should probably talk to Mel. Maybe he can talk some sense into Prez.”

  “He’s got a suite on the other side of the building,” Dude said. He scooted off the bed. “But I think he’s at the bike show, helping some of the guys set up.”

  “Okay, let’s go.”

  When they reached the bike show, it was still mid-morning, so the bulk of the crowd had yet to arrive. Xander and Dude parked on the street outside the park where the show would take place. They found Mel with Chico, Tater, and Wrench working on setup and tinkering with Tater’s bike.

  “Where have you been?” Mel asked when he saw Xander.

  “Long story.”

  “You’re going to need to fill me in. Chico said he ran into Prez this morning, and Prez wasn’t happy. I told you guys, no drama with the Ravagers.”

  “It might be easier if Killer weren’t fucking Prez’s daughter,” Dude offered.

  Xander shot him a ‘thanks a lot for throwing me under the bus’ look. Dude just shrugged. “He’s pissed at us for hurting Hank,” Xander said. Prez couldn’t have known about him and Pixie when he’d gone sniffing around at the hotel.

  Mel’s lips thinned to an angry line. “You’re sleeping with Lily? No wonder Prez is pissed. First you fuck his daughter, then you take the commission to beat up her husband.”

  “The other daughter,” Xander said. Why would he be so stupid as to sleep with Lily?

  “Grace?”

  “Yeah.”

  Mel’s entire demeanor changed. He looked surprised and maybe a little pained. Or melancholy. “I didn’t know she was back in Houston. She left years ago.”

  “She’s back. She came to help Lily leave Hank. Lily’s pregnant, by the way,” Xander said.

  “What the fuck?” Dude said. Full of loathing and disbelief, his voice soared an octave. “That piece of shit beat his pregnant wife? I’m gonna kill him.”

  Mel put a steadying hand on Dude’s arm, though Mel’s face had turned hard, too. “Peace, Dude. We already did what we were asked to do—and can get away with. If Lily plans to leave Bug, that’s better than anything else we could do.”

  “What is with you and Prez?” Dude asked. “Why are you so determined to keep peace with him? He’s a piece of shit. Why would you care? He’s a criminal. And an asshole.”

  Everyone froze, half waiting for an answer—because the feud was an ongoing mystery to everyone—and half waiting to see what Mel would say about Dude’s attitude. Their little bubble of quiet was only broken by Wrench’s wrench work, and the buzz of others in the park prepping for the show.

  “Better let it drop, man,” Tater said, voicing what everyone else was thinking.

  Mel operated on a pretty even keel, and like Xander, he had a long fuse, but there were stories. Legend type of stories. They all hinted at a wild, violent, drug-laden past; a past that Mel never talked about, but because his reputation pretty much scared the shit out of everyone, nobody asked.

  Xander figured it was Mel’s business and if he wanted to talk about it, he would. Because he was a fair, honorable leader to the club, Xander respected the guy’s privacy. It wasn’t like everyone else in the club didn’t have dirty laundry. The unspoken rule was, you don’t ask about my past, I won’t ask about yours and we’ll get along just fine.

  Dude stood taller, because he’d already put his foot in his mouth and he wasn’t one to back down. He’d take whatever came his way. The hint of a smirk ghosted Mel’s lips in response, then disappeared.

  “Details aren’t important, only that it was my fault so I’ll keep the peace at any cost,” Mel said.

  “You know Titan and Prez are after us,” Dude said. “He wants our hides. I’m not just gonna sit on my thumbs and let them take me down. I’ll defend myself it they come after me.”

  Xander agreed. No way he’d let the Ravagers beat him down over Mel’s mistakes, no matter how loyal he was to the club.

  “If they throw the first punch, you can defend yourselves,” Mel said. “But that’s all.”

  “So you think Prez sees Bug’s beating as breaking your truce?” Chico asked.

  “Probably,” Mel said. “But it’s also our job to help people who need it.”

  “If anyone needs it, it’s Lily,” Xander said.

  Mel nodded. “She does.”

  “She’s going to meet with Hank at noon, here at the show,” Xander said. “It could get ugly. Gracie says Lily plans to leave Hank, and she’s doing it in a public way.”

  “Well, shit, whose genius idea was that?” Dude asked.

  “Aw, man, that’s fucked up,” Tater said. “I mean, sure, she needs to leave him, but in public, at a rally?”

  “Make sure everyone’s there,” Mel said, his eyes hard. “We’ll need them.”

  “If Hank actually goes through with apologizing to Lily today, they’ll have opposing purposes. Things could get dicey,” Xander said.

  “You two go find everyone,” Mel said. “We�
��ll finish up here and meet out on the street at noon.” He gestured to the street where Xander had parked.

  Xander caught Dude’s attention and jerked his head in a let’s go gesture. As far as he knew they had fifteen or twenty guys at the rally. Tracking them down would be a challenge, though not nearly as bad as it would have been before cell phones. Score one for technology, even if it wasn’t as old-school as swaggering around and collecting your crew, jonesing for a fight.

  Once they’d called everyone and told them where to be and when, Xander and Dude walked the area to get a lay of the land. The crowd had begun to filter in for the show and were wandering among the bikes and vendors. The grandstand stood at the back of the park, with Seawall Blvd at the front, and beyond that the beach and the gulf. On either side of the park were side streets loaded with bikes and people.

  Xander recognized guys from local clubs, and several other Texas clubs. He knew what to expect from some of them, anyway, but he also saw colors from all kinds of unfamiliar clubs. The Ravagers weren’t popular, but they were respected as a one-percent club, as were the Huntsmen. When it came down to it, Xander hoped if a fight broke out they could keep it between the Huntsmen and Ravagers. If it spread, it could get out of hand fast.

  As he and Dude walked, Xander kept a watch for Ravagers, and with each step he psyched himself up for the upcoming confrontation. It would be great if Lily would just tell Hank she was done with him and he’d accept it like a man, and everyone could go about their business. But the chances of that happening were exactly zero.

  “No chance in hell Prez or Bug will let Lily walk away,” Dude said, echoing Xander’s thoughts.

  “Nope. I already told Pixie we’d find a safe place for her and Lily.”

  Dude nodded his approval. As they’d walked he’d become bigger. He stood straighter, his shoulders thrown back, hands fisted at his side, and he strutted. One thing about Dude, he never backed down from anything. Not that Xander did, either, he just didn’t embrace it the way Dude did.

  At noon they headed toward the street. As they stepped off the sidewalk and between the bikes lining the street, Xander noticed Mel standing in a group surrounded by the most of the rest of the Huntsmen. He headed in that direction, but as he did he surveyed the rest of the scene. Titan caught his attention, since he was so hard to miss standing a head above everyone else, just like Dude. Xander had to assume the rest of the Ravagers followed in Titan’s wake.

  Where was Pixie? She and Lily were small enough he’d never see them until he was right on them.

  He and Dude met up with Mel and the guys just as Prez and the Ravagers muscled their way through the crowd. Much like a drop of soap in a puddle of oil, the intersection cleared as people around them sensed danger and impending bloodshed.

  As the crowd moved around them, Xander spotted Pixie and Lily approaching from the opposite side of the street.

  Mel and Prez faced off.

  “Prez,” Mel said. “It’s good to see you.”

  Prez spat, hitting the ground near Mel’s feet. “Not really. A couple of your boys did a job on Bug.”

  Prez motioned over his shoulder for Bug to come forward. It had been a couple of days so the swelling had gone down some and the bruises had just started to change color, but he still had fresh stitches and basically looked like shit. Xander couldn’t help a satisfied smile, and Dude’s chuckle said he agreed.

  “Looks like someone had an accident,” Mel said.

  “Yeah, he plowed his face into someone’s fists,” Itch said somewhere behind Xander, followed by a wave of snickers.

  “You and I had an agreement,” Prez said, stepping into Mel’s personal space and glaring into his face.

  For Mel’s part, he kept a straight face and held Prez’s gaze. “We took a commission.”

  “Against a Ravager. I guess peace isn’t that important to you, after all.”

  Mel pulled himself up and something in his expression changed. His eyes turned hard as flint. “You know how I feel about men hitting their women. We’ve had this conversation before. We had an agreement.”

  Prez just eyeballed Mel, staring him down, some silent visual duel passing between them. What the hell did those two have hiding in their past, anyway? Something to do with domestic violence, obviously, but what?

  Whatever it was must have spawned the feud and subsequent truce, but the way things looked, things were about to blow.

  Mel stood like a statue, glaring at Prez, whose nostrils flared and fingers twitched like he might throw a tantrum at any moment. But Mel didn’t move a muscle.

  Prez blinked first. “That was between you and me.”

  “Bug broke it and you did nothing about it, so that’s why we took the commission. The way I understand it, Bug was given a choice. Is he ready to fulfill his part of the deal?”

  “Fuck, no. He ain’t apologizing for anything. Whatever’s between him and Lily is their business. You got no right getting between them. We don’t recognize your fucking vigilante justice.” Prez poked Mel in the chest as he continued, “You broke the peace, we didn’t, and now you’ll pay the price for that.”

  Mel’s jaw twitched when Prez poked him, but he stood firm and took it. Xander respected his restraint. He didn’t think he could tolerate Prez poking him and ranting, spittle spraying as he spoke. Xander felt rather than witnessed Dude’s pissed off energy next to him.

  “It is my business, Prez,” Lily said, stepping into the street and coming face to face with Prez and Hank. Pixie stepped up behind her sparing Xander a quick glance and smile before backing Lily up.

  “Lily, baby,” Hank said. “You ready to come back to daddy?”

  Xander cringed. Yuck.

  Lily turned and despite the fact he had several inches on her, she managed to look down her nose at Hank. “No. I’m leaving. I’ve had enough of you.”

  “Oh come on, baby. I didn’t mean it. You know I didn’t. I love you. I’d never hurt you on purpose,” Hank said.

  “Gross.” Dude stood next to Xander watching the whole scene, editorializing. “She better not fall for that shit.”

  Lily had a moment of hesitation at the pleading look on Hank’s face, but Pixie jabbed her in the ribs and she stood up taller. “No, Hank. I’m done.”

  Hank’s pleading face morphed so fast into an ugly sneer that Xander didn’t realize what was happening until it had already started. Hank threw an open-handed slap across Lily’s face. Her head snapped to the side, and Hank pretty much lost it from there. “You stupid bitch. Nobody leaves me. You’re my wife. You belong to me and I’ll do whatever the hell I want to you, and you have to take it.”

  By the time he spit the last words out, he was screeching and had managed to throw a couple of punches at Lily, landing one. Dude launched himself across the space to grab Hank by the hair and pull him off Lily, and that’s all it took for all hell to break loose.

  Xander charged in, determined to get Pixie out of the way before he did anything else, but everyone closed in so quickly, he lost sight of her. He wedged his shoulder between a couple of guys, trying to get past them to find her, but before he could get through someone grabbed a handful of his hair and swung him around.

  It was Titan.

  “I’m gonna kick your ass,” he said.

  Without further comment, he threw a punch. Xander managed to duck, and using the momentum plowed his shoulder into Titan’s gut. Titan let out an ‘oof’ and stumbled back a step, but otherwise seemed unaffected. He came at Xander like a herd of stampeding elephants, fists swinging wildly. One of them connected and Xander saw stars, but managed to stagger out of range.

  At six feet, Xander was by no means short, but Titan still towered over him. Xander had spent enough time sparring with his little brother Colton to know fighting a taller opponent meant body shots. Xander shook his head to clear his vision, then closed the distance and got in a couple of good punches to the gut. All he could think about was getting Titan out of his way so h
e could find Pixie.

  “Not today,” he said.

  Titan’s belly was a washboard of muscle, so Xander threw a hook to the space just below Titan’s ribs on the left side. Titan bent sideways, favoring the area and bringing his head down into Xander’s range.

  Xander threw a jab to Titan’s temple and the big guy crumpled, slamming his head on the curb of the sidewalk.

  Xander shook his hand out. “Fuck, you have a hard head.”

  He spun to find himself in the middle of a battlefield. Fists flew, blood spattered, and grunts and curses filled the air. He couldn’t see anything but the writhing mass of bodies.

  Where had Pixie gone? And Lily?

  Xander shoved his way past two guys beating each other bloody, looking for Dude. Mel and Prez were going at it a few feet away. It looked evenly matched, though the rage on Prez’s face was disturbing, even for a street fight. Xander ducked a wild punch and saw Chico held his own with a Ravager named Dallas. Itch and Tater looked pretty damn happy taking on a couple of guys Xander didn’t know.

  In the middle of the action, Xander found Dude using a Ravager as a punching bag. When Dude saw Xander, he grinned ear to ear. He was in his element.

  “You seen Pixie?” Xander yelled. “Or Lily?”

  “No. Before I could get to Hank he weaseled away, so I just grabbed the first Ravager I could get my hands on.”

  Dude threw another punch and put the Ravager out cold. Dude dropped the limp body to the street. “I’ll help you find the girls.”

  Dude spun to head for the sidewalk and Xander followed, but Dude came up short after a couple of steps and Xander ran into him.

  “What the hell?”

  He stepped to the side to see what had stopped Dude, only to find Hank with a knife in his hand and maniacal look in his eyes.

  “I’m gonna kill you,” Hank said.

  Xander stepped between them. “Hold on, Hank. Be reasonable. You don’t want to kill anyone.” He didn’t like the glassy crazy in Hank’s eyes.