by Cat Porter
“She settled her ass down?” I asked.
“She’s fine.”
She was burning for Catch is what she was doing. I’d caught him texting with her the other day. I couldn’t blame him. But I’d made it clear there was to be no physical contact until she and Butler had officially broken up.
A grin pushed at the edges of my mouth as I shoved my gloves back on. This was almost comical. “I’m off.”
Jump pulled in the courtyard in an SUV, braking alongside Nina’s car. Her head was bent over the steering wheel. She got out of her car, a scowl on her face, talking to Jump as she gestured at her RAV4.
“Looks like your woman’s got car trouble. You gonna fly to her rescue?” I asked Butler.
Jump got down from his vehicle and got into the RAV4, settling in the driver’s seat.
“Jump seems to be handling it,” Butler said.
“Yeah.” Jump was a regular hero.
Butler and I tagged fists, giving each other a nod. I swung a leg over my chopper, adjusting myself in my saddle. “Call me, let me know how the meet goes.”
“Will do.”
Suddenly, Jump propelled himself from the car, his long braid flying, shoving Nina back as he went.
Boom.
I launched off my bike, the ground shuddering underneath me. Nina’s car burst into flames, shaking like a toy. Orange fireballs rolled and unfurled in the air. Nina’s car had been bombed.
Butler was frozen to the spot. I grabbed hold of his arm, and we sprang behind a row of bikes, our hands flying over our heads. Charred debris soared in the air and rained down on us, crashing to the ground.
He shot up. “Nina!”
Women screamed, men shouted, alarms blared. Thick black billows of smoke blocked any trace of Nina or Jump.
Butler hurtled toward the burning car, me at his heels.
Nina lay facedown at the other end of the car, her one arm twisted awkwardly, blood splattered along the side of her face.
“Ambulance is on its way!” Boner’s yell cut through the air.
Jump was sprawled on the ground in a heap on the other end within the black mushroom cloud of smoke. I crouched over his lifeless body. Was he dead? I hoped to fuck he was.
“I don’t give a shit what you need. Can’t help you.” Jump’s words from two decades ago were like a snake rattling its tail at me. “Why should I take a risk for you? No fucking way,” he’d sneered while me and Serena were on the run, bleeding, in pain.
I’d never forgotten it. That was the last time I’d ever asked anyone for a favor, ever begged or pleaded for anything.
Now that me and the Jacks were finding a rhythm between us, Jump still hadn’t dropped his pent up spite with me and my club. He’d bottled it up like old wine over the centuries, releasing the cork and setting off odorous fumes whenever he felt like it. I needed Butler to function in high gear, not be stuck in stop-start traffic. Once I finally dealt with the Broken Blades and their territory was all mine to restructure, I’d need the Jacks one hundred per cent cooperative, not defensive or wary.
I leaned over Jump sprawled on the ground, and a straggly wheezing filled my ear. My pulse picked up speed at his struggling to breathe. He was still alive; there was hope.
My father’s words roared back to me: “Patience, planning, and precise calculating. And many times you need to improvise at the last minute. You gotta be ready for anything at any time.”
Anything at any time.
I was ready.
I pressed one gloved hand onto Jump’s chest, the other pinching his nostrils closed.
His wheezing intensified for a moment, his eyes jerking open, eyebrows flinching. He recognized me. Yes, he knew. He held my gaze for a split second, a choking sound erupting in his throat, and in that second the pressure I exerted on him sapped him of his shitty life. That feeling of a good, just kill never got old. Clean, bright, fucking enthralling.
Die, motherfucker.
“How’s Jump?” Butler shouted out at me through the dense smoke.
I leveled my gaze at him, and Butler’s mouth dropped open, eyes wide. He could see what I was doing. He froze.
I would crush him if he dared fuck with me.
“Butler!” Boner came up behind him. “How is she?”
Butler returned his focus to Nina. “She’s out, but she’s alive.”
I rose from Jump’s lifeless corpse and retreated. One-Eyed Jacks darted past me, wielding fire extinguishers. Shouts and foam flew over the smoldering vehicle. Kicker, their VP, pounded on Jump’s chest, giving him CPR. Sirens wailed louder and louder in the distance, getting closer and closer.
“Jump’s gone,” Kicker hollered over the chaos. “He’s gone!”
The burn of rubber, the singe of metal filled my lungs.
Fucking enthralling.
I wanted to get out of there, but I had to play along. We all followed the ambulance to the hospital in Rapid, and Tania arrived soon after with a bunch of the old ladies who’d been with her at the birthday party. She was relieved to see me, and we stood together waiting with everyone else to hear from the surgeon who was working on Nina. I’d called Catch and told him to stay put, not to dare show his face at the hospital, that I’d let him know how the girl was doing.
Butler was motionless, in a daze. He’d had a wife years back who’d gotten killed in a bike accident, and she’d died in his arms on the road. I don’t think he’d ever forgiven himself for it, and it showed now.
The surgeon showed up and reported on Nina’s condition and how she’d be okay. He adjusted the tablet in his grip. “And the baby is doing fine.”
Tania froze at my side.
“Baby?” screeched one of the old ladies.
Tania slumped against me, and I wrapped a hand around her arm, steadying her. Her eyes were glued to Butler.
Oh, babe, I know that slice of hurt.
I let out a heavy breath, my lips twisting. There was no guarantee this baby was Butler’s. It could be Catch’s. This shit only got better and better.
Tania made a noise in the back of her throat and pushed back from me and went to him, talking to him in low tones. He took out a cell phone from a handbag. Nina’s? He tapped on the screen and handed it to Tania who then tapped on it herself. She was looking for something, someone. Her face tightened, her lips parting. Her thumb swished once, twice, three, four times. She’d found something interesting. She took in a tiny breath and glanced around, catching my eye.
I slanted my head at her.
Tania only chewed on her lips and went back to the phone, finally holding it to the side of her face. She spoke briefly and handed the phone to Butler. She returned to my side, her mouth pinched, her large dark eyes cold. She was pissed.
“What’s wrong?” I asked her.
“I just saw Catch and Nina’s hot little love texts and selfies all over her phone—in full high resolution color. The phone Butler is using right now to talk to her sister.”
I pressed my back against the wall. “Your brother’s got it bad for her.”
“Yeah, he told me, but newsflash, she’s also been sexting with that Flame who brought her to Meager. Led, was it?”
I grit my teeth. Nina was cozy with Led, Reich’s right hand man? This soap opera just got more interesting. Maybe Nina was really working for Reich undercover, setting up Butler and in turn, me?
“Good for Goldilocks,” I said.
I had to blow this shit open. Now with Nina in the hospital, I was positive that Reich would get his ass down here any day, making accusations, and I had to be ready.
Tania shook her dark hair from her face. “Where does she find the time?”
“Keep your voice down.”
“Oh please,” Tania seethed.
Jesus, she had it bad too. She needed to be patient just a
little while longer. I leaned in to her, my mouth at her ear. “Her relationship with Butler is as solid as the wind, Tania.”
“What?”
“Butler and Nina—it’s fake.”
“No,” she breathed.
“Yes. Pure business between clubs.”
“What is this?” she said loudly. “The fucking eighteenth century?”
I clamped a hand around her upper arm and dragged her down the hallway away from the Jacks, who were already staring at us. I pulled her in close to me against a wall.
Her face was red. “Did you hear what the doctor just said? Butler’s going to be a daddy.”
“What makes you think that kid is Butler’s? Could be Catch’s.”
Her mouth fell open. “Oh, shit.” She glanced over at Butler still talking on the phone. She was worried about him.
Her hand tugged on the edge of my leather jacket. “We can’t tell Catch about this baby until we’re sure. Nina’s family is going to be pissed about her getting hurt, aren’t they? You think they’ll come here and make trouble for the Jacks and for Butler? They’ll blame him? Come after him?”
“Sounds right,” I replied.
“Is there any way you can help him? Do you know who did this? Jump is dead. The president of a club has been murdered. All hell is going to break loose now, right?”
“You’re worried?”
“Of course I’m worried. They’re my friends. This is my hometown we’re talking about.”
“I meant, you’re worried about Butler?” I asked.
She leveled her gaze at me. “Yes, I am. He’s a good guy.”
I’d help her make it happen, if that’s what she wanted. If she really wanted him. I let out a huff of air. “Good, bad—it’s all relative at the end of the day.”
“It can’t be,” she said, her jaw tight. “Some things simply cannot be relative. For you, they probably are. But I don’t live that way.”
Some things were relative for me, yes, but the vein pulsing in my heart for Serena and the one for my club—they were absolute.
I pulled Tania in closer. “Shit’s either real, or it isn’t,” I whispered, squeezing the back of her neck. I planted a kiss on her forehead. “Relax. I’m going to see what I can do. You make sure the pics on Nina’s phone don’t get erased.”
“Okay,” she murmured, taking in a breath.
I loved how Tania could rise above the mire immediately after feeling her shit out. Her loyalty, her concern for what was just—even in the face of the ultimate rejection—always compelled her forward.
My hand stroked the side of her jaw. “You go support your guy over there. He could use it.”
She made a face at me. “He’s not my guy.”
I let out a laugh. I loved teasing her. “Baby, you haven’t been able to tear your eyes away from him. You went to him in his hour of need, then jumped up and down in the man’s defense like you just did? He’s your guy.”
52
Butler wasn’t answering his phone. I tucked my cell back in my pocket.
Either he was annoyed with me about being close with Tania. Tough shit. Or he was keeping his distance because he’d seen me kill his Prez. A good reason.
Would he tell? I didn’t think so, but I was sure it was eating him up. Even though Jump rode Butler’s ass hard since he fucked up last year, and created roadblocks for almost every damned new idea Butler had, Jump was his Prez.
“What’s up?” asked Drac getting off his bike that he’d parked alongside mine at the Broken Blades clubhouse.
We’d come to southern Nebraska to have a chat with Notch. Had the Broken Blades been the ones responsible for the bomb in Nina’s car? That was the general consensus. They were pissed off at the Jacks and at the Flames not only for destroying their deal with the Calderas Group, but for a number of their members being arrested and a lot of their property seized (the underground warehouse was still safe, luckily).
I wasn’t convinced they were the ones responsible for the car bomb. Why would they target Nina? Why not plant a bomb on a Jack’s vehicle or bike or even at the clubhouse itself? Going after an old lady was just not done, unless she was some kind of traitor, and that was real old school. Then again, Nina had a Flame connection, Reich being her brother-in-law. Were the Blades taking care of two birds with one stone here to keep the Flames off their ass?
“I just heard that Reich and his old lady are in Rapid City to see Nina in the hospital,” I said.
“Terrific.”
“Been trying to call Butler. I wanted to give him a heads up, but he isn’t answering. Fuck it.”
“We’re going to have to pay Reich a visit at the hospital, huh? Give him the brotherly welcome,” Drac said.
“Oh yeah. We should,” I muttered under my breath. “Thank fuck I have you to remind me of my manners.”
“You’re welcome.” Drac let out a snort.
“Let’s get this shit done.” I strode over to where Notch and three of his men waited for us.
Notch only scowled at me. He had pronounced eye sockets and a long nose, wrinkly, pasty-white skin, and long thin dark hair that stuck to his head. He was the Child Catcher from “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang,” a movie I’d often watched at the neighbor’s house when my mom would pull her disappearing acts. The Child Catcher had spooked me, made me actually shudder and hide under the covers at night. But boogey men in the dark and vile monsters didn’t scare me no more. Notch only disgusted me. Instead of an English accent, he had a southern one, but he was just as snide, just as hostile, and as freaky as that movie villain of my memory.
“To what do I owe the pleasure of this visit?” he said, chewing tobacco, his lips twitching under the movement. “Although, you coming here is sullying my property.”
“What’s left of it. Ain’t much.”
“Whose fault is that?” He spat on the ground.
“Yours, for shitting on it for so many years,” I replied. “Didn’t appreciate what you had, didn’t handle it right. Your problem. Now it’s come to this. I’m here to offer you an out.”
“Sweet. I ain’t buying.” He covered his balls with a hand, a smirk on his ugly, thin face. The tall, bulky guy at his side, Pick, remained grim.
Was Notch just being cocky or cock sure?
The sneer on his face stretched from self-satisfied smirk to all out taunt. “Keeping the Flames of Hell away from my club is high on my list of priorities.”
“You don’t want to give in to me. I get that. But this is your only way to survive. I’m not demanding total annihilation here. Patch in. You know you need to. You know it’s the smart move. The strong one. You inviting outsiders into our territories is a huge mistake. You can’t see that, you’re an idiot.”
“Fuck you.”
Drac let out a heavy sigh, more like a grunt.
“You set the bomb in that old lady’s car at the Jacks?” I said. “Because you know she’s a Flame by family. Not to mention, Jump is dead because of it,” I said.
Notch crossed his arms, his eyes narrowing. “Why the fuck would I do that?”
“You’re pissed at them, pissed at us. Who the hell knows how your rancid brain works?”
He laughed, a lazy, wheezing sort of laugh, an I-got-nothing-more-to-lose-by-fucking-with-you laugh. “Oh, I like your compliments so early in the morning, I do.” He ran his tongue across his yellow teeth. “Someone set off a fire in our junkyard last night. Fucking with our business. Today’s Jump’s funeral, and I’m thinking the Jacks’ are playing games with us, but this ain’t high school, and I ain’t playing. Why don’t you let them know for me, huh, seeing as to how you all sniff each other’s panties now?”
My phone vibrated in my back pocket.
Catch. He’d called twice before, but I didn’t want to interrupt the articulate poetry that was Notch. I’d left
Catch holding down the fort while Drac and I were gone. In fact, I’d been giving him plenty of extra responsibilities lately, plenty of short term runs out of town in order to keep his head in the game. He was like a caged tiger, and I didn’t want him going off again. Not now. He needed to feel the hum of work filling him, steering him. So far so good.
I lifted my chin at Notch. “You’ll come crawling to me real soon. And it’ll be too late.”
“Yeah,” he returned.
I aimed a look at Drac, and we both stalked off to our bikes where I dialed up Catch.
“Hey, Prez,” said Catch. “I thought you should know that Reich called me earlier.”
“And?”
“He’s in town and wanted access to a safe house for tonight. And get this, he wanted one in South Dakota. Said he didn’t want to cross state lines.”
A sharp prickle razored up my spine. “Then he’s up to no good in South Dakota.”
“I sent Split to open up for him. I had too much shit to do around here, plus I have that call from Texas in about an hour.”
“When’s this happening?”
“Split’s on his way now to Reich’s motel in Deadwood to meet up with him and escort him to the cabin.”
“All right. Drac and I are done with Notch, and we’re on our way to Colorado now. Keep me posted.”
I shut the phone down, and ground my jaw at the thought that Reich was on my territory using my property for fuck knows what. I wanted to head up there right now, but I couldn’t blow off this funeral we were headed to in Colorado.
Drac and I took off toward Sydney, Nebraska where we’d shoot south on Route 80 to Colorado Springs.
All through the three hour ride, all through the funeral and then a meeting with our brothers over a new shipment of guns and assorted weapons, plus special top of the line surveillance equipment Den insisted we all had to get, the thought of Reich gnawed at me, clawing at one inch of intestine at a time, the sensation twisting through me. Couldn’t shake it.
After business was taken care of, we spent the evening at our brothers’ clubhouse in Denver. The barbecue pit fire had been cleared of the steak grill and was now roaring to keep us warm in the chilly night air as we shot the shit outside. I’d just finished my third beer when my phone buzzed, the screen lighting up with the time. Midnight. And Catch’s name.
