DARK EDGE (A Devil Call MC Book) (Talon & Everly Book Seven) (Devil Call MC - Talon & Everly 7)

by Ana W. Fawkes

  Vaughn gave a nod and the big man holding me put me down. I looked around and took my chance, swinging an open hand to the guy’s covered face. I slapped him, although it obviously did nothing with the black cloth protecting him. But it still felt good to do. This was what everything was coming down to.

  I turned and started to walk, going in the direction of Talon and Vaughn.

  “Don’t kill him,” I said. “Please.”

  “Everly, stop,” Talon said. “Let them fucking kill me. You are not leaving this lot.”

  “Good,” Vaughn said. “I’m going to kill Talon, then Everly.”

  “I’ll fucking gut you with my bare hands,” Layne said.

  I had the two of them out to protect me. Talon and Layne. These two big and tough men who had ripped through my heart and soul like nobody else ever had in my life. Layne the beast and man who brought me here, and Talon… the everything to my nothing.

  I started to shake with fear, knowing the inevitable ending to this scene.

  I was going to have to go with Vaughn.

  “I’m not going to be tied up or touched,” I said, staring at Vaughn. “You fucking touch me and I’ll kill you myself.”

  “So tough,” Vaughn said. “Just like Jade…”

  I kept walking. I saw the look on Talon’s face. He was ready to explode with anger. But he knew that any kind of movement would end up with him getting killed. And he knew that if he was dead, I was dead. Even with Layne protecting me, without Talon I was nothing again.

  “Twenty four hours,” I said. “Right?”

  “Seems we have an understanding here,” Vaughn said.

  “No we fucking don’t,” Talon yelled.

  “Talon,” Layne said. “Maybe…”

  “Fuck you,” Talon spat. “Fuck you. I’ll kill you too. I’ll kill everyone.”

  I froze and looked at Talon. He wasn’t vicious and angry, he wasn’t being tough. He was scared. Scared out of his mind.

  I approached him and couldn’t believe what the hell was happening. I should have been in bed. I should have been suffering through another nightmare, waiting for Talon to come to bed and wrap his arms around me and hold me. But instead…

  “I have to go,” I whispered. “I trust you with my life. This is how I can prove it. I know you’ll find her… and then… it’ll all be okay…”

  You’ll kill her, Talon. You’ll kill Vaughn, too. And… and I support anything you need to do to get the patch from Layne. Anything.

  I shook from the inside out now. I couldn’t even look at Layne.

  “She’s all mine,” Vaughn said.

  I opened my mouth to say something, but a hand was there again. The same big guy had come up from behind me and grabbed me again. I found myself thrashing and desperate to scream, eyes wide, regretting everything happening right now.

  “I’m leaving my two friends here,” Vaughn said. “They’ll make the call when you decide to give me Jade. Until then, Everly is all mine.” He then looked right at me. “I promise I won’t touch you, Everly. But my other friends… I can’t promise a thing.”

  All hell started to break loose again. Talon tried pushing away the big guys with guns to his head. They could have easily just killed him, but they didn’t. The entire lot seemed to swell with a sick tension as I was carried to the car.

  When my feet touched the ground I looked at Talon one last time.

  Then I got into the backseat of a car. Vaughn came next.

  Before we could even begin to move, he turned and took out a gun, pointing it at me.

  “Don’t worry,” he said. “Even if he doesn’t bring Jade back, I have her replacement. I’m looking right at her.”

  A thought hit me hard.

  I’m never going to see them again… the clubhouse, Layne, Talon. I’m never going to see them again…

  __

  11.

  (Talon)

  The worst sight of my fucking life was seeing Everly getting put into a car and taken from me. With me standing right there, unable to stop it all and unable to protect her. I understood what true helplessness was like. Being in prison took away a sense of freedom, but I wasn’t completely helpless. I had contacts and friends and was able to get through my days and nights.

  Vaughn’s two guys took back their guns and I lost my shit. I turned and shoulder tackled one of them. You’d have to be a complete moron to think I wasn’t going to do something. I took the guy down and started pounding at him. He hurried to pull the trigger on his gun, again and again, stray bullets sailing all around. The second guy came over and grabbed me by the back of the neck and pulled. I threw an elbow and hit him in the face. He yelled and I turned, ready to punch him again, when the first guy’s gun went off again. He shot his own friend in the face, leaving me with another close view of someone’s brains spraying out of the back of his head.

  Guys started to yell. Layne screamed my name. Two prospects turned their heads and started to throw up.

  “Fuck, Talon!” Layne bellowed.

  I hurried to stand and saw the look of shock on the guy’s face as he realized what he had just done.

  Layne spun me around and I thew another punch. I hit him in the face and he went back a few feet. I caught Drave coming at me from the corner of my eye and I turned, throwing him into a motorcycle.

  “That’s enough!” Layne yelled and took out his gun. He shot it in the air a few times. “Next person to move is getting a bullet.”

  Everyone froze, including me.

  “What?” I asked. “What do you want?”

  Layne approached me. “Bro, you need to focus. We’ve got twenty four hours…”

  “I can deliver Jade in two hours. Just get me up there to Rilen Lost…”

  “How are you going to pull it off?” Layne asked. “You want a war?”

  “We’re in a fucking war,” I growled. I turned and screamed, “FUCK!” as loud as I could.

  “Where is she exactly?” Drave asked as he collected himself from being thrown against a motorcycle.

  “Basement,” I said. “Somewhere down in that shit hole.”

  “Jack is going to start sending guys out after us when he finds out about Jony,” Buzzy said.

  “No,” Layne said. “They’ll be pissed, but they won’t attack. They’ll huddle.”

  “Then we break up that huddle,” I said.

  “How? Running them over?” Layne asked.

  An idea came to me just then. “Yes. That’s it…”

  “We can’t go in killing,” Layne said. “Christ, Talon…”

  “No,” I said. “Listen to me. We all ride up on it. But someone… Drave… you take off. Ride as hard and as fast as you can right into their rides.”

  “You want me to crash my ride into theirs? I can end up dead.”

  “If we don’t get Jade,” Layne said, “what the fuck do you think is going to happen?”

  Drave didn’t look happy, but he nodded.

  “They’ll come out and check on the noise,” I said. “Then I can sneak around and in like I did to set up Jony. I’ll find her and bring her out. I just need backup in case we get caught. But the way I see it… if they catch me, we all ride to Vaughn’s and let his muscle take them out. Right?”

  “That’s risky,” Layne said. “Too many things needed to go right and too many things that will go wrong.”

  “I’m doing it,” I said. “I’m not fucking standing here.”

  I started to walk and Layne put a hand out to stop me. “Talon…”

  I looked at Layne. “I fucking love her, Layne. You don’t…” Yeah, I did get how he felt. He was in love once too. But that was with someone bad. Very bad. “I can’t wait. I can’t sit and think and talk. I need to get up and go out and do something.”

  “We’ll back you up,” Layne said.

  He then started calling out orders as I rushed to my ride. I started it, throttled the thundering beast, and was on the move. I didn’t give a fuck if Vaughn gave me
twenty four days. All I could think about was my girl with that piece of shit. My love being hurt in any way possible.

  The streets of Brocke were Devil Call MC territory and, fuck, we rode them hard. But that day, it was like we owned the world. The MC fanned out and took up both lanes of traffic, cutting cars off the road. Even when we stormed by the local police station, there was a sense of fear in the eyes of the officers coming and going from the station. Under normal circumstances, we rode the fine line of the law, sometimes crossing and paying our dues to the outside world. But nobody fucked with us right then. They knew. Our silence in voice was the cry of our motorcycles. We didn’t ride like that without purpose and intent.

  Plus, if a war was going to break out between clubs and crews and whatever, it was best served for the innocent in Brocke to be protected by the local law.

  As we started to approach the Rilen Lost dive bar, I shot off to the side of the road and in the dirt. I left a cloud of dust and left my trust back on the road with the rest of the patched in members of Devil Call MC. They were like brothers, and through the bullshit we all shared, these were the moments that it all counted.

  I stopped and got off my ride. Against the horizon I could see them all slowing, with the exception of Drave. I was about fifty feet or so from the Rilen Lost dive bar and I started to run. I knew exactly how to get into the back of the place and down into the basement.

  I kept an eye on the front of the bar and watched as Drave rode fucking fast right into the line of parked motorcycles. He went up and over the handlebars, took down every damn motorcycle, and then landed hard on the front of his body.

  It took five seconds for a crowd of Rilen Lost to come pouring from the bar to see what the hell had happened.

  Now I needed to just keep the trust.

  They’d come out and see it was a Devil Call member. They’d laugh, make jokes, and the rest of the guys would come forward. Tensions would mount and I’d get Jade and get the fuck out of there. We’d either go back to the clubhouse or straight to Vaughn. Piece by piece, it would fall into place.

  Until another fucking storm came…

  I rushed to the back of the bar. There was an old door with a metal latch. It was hidden by old crates of metal cans, motorcycle parts, and looked like a cemetery for motorcycles. I had already broken the latch, so I knew it was open. Last time, when I left I just closed it all back up. I put everything back in its place and nobody knew a damn thing. I got lucky when Jony was taken out. Detective John must have went in through the front door of the dive bar and accessed the basement from there. I couldn’t afford anything to go wrong.

  So I easily knocked away all the trash and skeletons of nice rides and opened the door. There was a feel of cool and stale air as I rushed down the steps into the basement area. It was nothing but dust, dirt, and hints of mold and shit.

  “Jade?” I called out. “Where the fuck are you?”

  Cobwebs clung to my face and I gritted my teeth as I peeled them off my face. The ground was soft from the dirt and it had the weird feel of a grave that I somehow was able to climb into and walk around.

  Then I heard a voice.

  “… like it’s easy…”

  I followed the voice and heard a muffled scream.

  “You learned too late about who and what to fuck with, ain’t that right, baby?”

  I kept going. I turned a corner and saw an old wooden door. Through the small spaces of wood that made up the door there was some light.

  “I wish we had more time, baby. I mean… just… damn… from the second I saw you… I know Jony would never let me do this… but he’s not here right now… and you won’t…”

  I was ready to kick down the door and get this shit done.

  “Yo, Jack!” a voice yelled.

  I jumped back and slammed against a wooden pillar. I bit down hard and tried not to scream. The damn voice sounded like it was right next to me.

  The door flew open and Jack came racing out. He didn’t see me in the darkness, and I slowly reached for my gun.

  “What?” he bellowed.

  “Devil Call is here,” the voice said. “You have to fucking see this.”

  Jack turned and looked right at me. He still didn’t see me, but I fucking saw him. I heard the soft sound of crying and it grabbed my attention long enough that Jack was able to slip away. But he didn’t go upstairs, not yet. Instead, he ran back into the room. That’s when a gunshot rang out.

  “Fucking whore,” Jack’s voice said.

  He left the room and went to the steps, his feet hitting the old wood with booming sounds.

  I was in shock for what I was going to see.

  I pushed off the wooden pillar and went into the room. It was just like Jade had described it to Everly on the damn phone. And there was Jade. On the floor, skirt hiked up, everything showing. Tape over her mouth, hands tied behind her back, and finally, a gunshot to her chest.

  “She’s dead,” I whispered.

  I dropped to my knees. I was sick to my stomach.

  I reached out and touched her ankle. She had one fucking high heel on. I didn't bother looking for the other.

  I shook her leg and body, fighting my urge to scream.

  Jack had fucking killed Jade. But not before he… did whatever to her.

  My options were not much of anything right then. I had to keep the plan held together the best I could. That meant getting Jade out of the basement and getting her to Vaughn. But I needed Rilen Lost for it to work.

  I collected myself and reached forward and grabbed Jade’s skirt. I did my best to clean things up a little and make it not so obvious what had happened to her. I took the tape off her mouth, the rope off her wrists. I then took her other high heel off. Then I scooped her up in my arms and lifted her.

  Slowly, I walked her through the dark basement to the door. The outside light hit my face and I froze, letting my eyes adjust. I then stood there and looked at the lifeless body in my arms. I looked at Jade’s face and shook my head.

  This could be Everly.

  This… will be Everly…

  “Christ…”

  I looked up and saw Layne standing there. His face in shock, beads of sweat rolling down his face.

  “She’s dead, man,” I said.

  “Did you…”

  “Jack did it. He fucking… touched her… then killed her.”

  “Touched…” Layne then shook his head. “Oh, fuck. This is bad, Talon. Jack is up there with his guys. We’re going arms and arms, man. He knows something is up with Jony. He knows we did it. And he knows… fuck, he knows that by killing Jade, he’s fucked us hard.”

  “Fuck,” I growled. I looked down at Jade in my arms. “Fuck you. You fucking bitch…”

  “Talon, what do we do here?”

  “Keep the plan,” I said. “Get Vaughn here. Let him see what’s happened and who did it. That’s the only choice we have here, Layne.”

  “If he sees Jade dead… Everly…”

  I gritted my teeth. “If anything happens to Everly, I’m blowing it all up. Everything. Rilen Lost. Los Ahn. Devil Call. Fucking Brocke will go down if I have my way.”

  Layne stared straight at me. “I’ll kill you before you get the chance to do any of that, Talon.”

  Layne turned and took out his cell phone. I stood there, Jade’s lifeless body in my arms. If I hadn’t been holding her I would have shot Layne in the back. I had enough of these games. I wanted everything back to the way it was supposed to be. That meant showing power, force, and finding a way to hide my fucking love for Everly.

  My mind raced as fast as my heart did. Some days the MC life was actually fun. Riding through town, fucking women, drinking until we passed out. Sometimes it was fun to pick a fight or start a little battle with a rival crew. Other days the life was so serious it was sickening.

  And some days… you just knew people were going to die.

  That day was today.

  People were going to die…


  __

  12.

  (Everly)

  The office was big and actually beautiful. Almost like a giant library, the smell of clean wood and leather-bound books filtered through the air. Vaughn had put me in a big leather chair that was on the opposite end of a large desk. I had no idea where I was… in Brocke or not. In a building. What floor? The purpose of the building?

  Vaughn sat behind the desk, his chair turned as he stared out the window. We were in silence for what had to be close to an hour now. The entire scene had a sense of calm to it, but it was just merely the calm within a greater storm. A storm so great I stood no chance at survival without Talon to protect me.

  The door to the office opened and a large man walked in. Vaughn’s chair slowly turned. His face was worn out. The hair on his face looked messy. His actual hair was not washed or combed in days. His bloodshot eyes were weary. But that didn’t make him weak though. It just made him more unstable.

  “Mr. Vaughn,” the man said. “We have shipment issues. Suppliers…”

  “This is all dead until I get Jade back,” Vaughn yelled.

  “There are threats, sir. Contractual obligations.”

  “We have no fucking obligations,” Vaughn said. He put his hands to his desk and stood up. “I have an obligation to my sweet Jade. I need her back…”

  “Sir…”

  Vaughn pulled a gun from somewhere in his suit and shot the guy. The small bullet defeated the big guy in a second. One straight shot through the chest and the man was on the ground. Dead.

  I started to shake.

  “I’m sorry, Everly,” Vaughn said. “I can’t let anything get in our way.”

  I felt tears in my eyes. I hated to be that way in front of Vaughn. All I could think about was when Talon got out of prison. How fast he was to try and take the MC back. Me on the back of his motorcycle, going to confront Tommy and Gabel. Then Talon pulled the trigger and took out Tommy.

  That’s where it all started, where it all ended.

  Vaughn moved from around the desk toward me. He stood before me, his head bobbing. The guy was definitely heartbroken over all this. He really loved Jade. But I had nothing to do with this. Neither did Talon, Layne, or anyone else in Devil Call MC.