Company’s coming. An old Cajun superstition too ingrained in me to ever forget. It was innocuous—or it should’ve been. But anyone who showed up in Defiance mere hours post-storm I’d bet meant trouble.
I stopped. The storm was over and the air held that deadly quiet I hated. People were slowly starting to come up from the tubes, happy to be freed. But I stood out in the chill of the night and I stared into the darkness.
Something’s coming.
Not something—someone.
“Mathias?” Jessa gripped my arm as motorcycles rumbled the earth. There was no alarm sounded, but Defiance moved as though their lives depended on it. Women and children went back underground. Bikes roared out toward the gates to meet the intruders head-on.
Bish waited at the door of the warehouse and when he signed, They’re coming through the back gates, I knew there wasn’t time to waste.
I tugged Jessa and she followed easily. I led her back into the van and into the old trunk we kept in the van to hide guns, which was where we’d put Charlie earlier.
She backed away, shaking her head, but I caught her. Held her. Stroked her cheek, rubbed her back and stared into her eyes, trying to get her to believe me that she needed to fucking hide—all the while, prepared to shove her in with a gag in her mouth if she didn’t cooperate.
Because Keller was on his way here. And while it was too damned soon for him to miss his son, finding Jessa here would ruin everything.
Finally, she lay down in the trunk and let me close the lid. I swore I heard a soft sob when she heard the click of the lock and I clenched my teeth together and debated letting her out. But that was only for a second, because I knew the dangers inherent in that.
I stuffed the key in my pocket and joined Bish at the warehouse doors.
“Too soon for them to know anything,” Bish murmured as Keller’s truck came to a stop in front of the warehouse. The doors were still open, and now Caspar was up from the tubes and striding head on toward Keller.
We advanced behind Caspar, who had Rebel and Hammer flanking his sides. Bish’s eyes had gone stony, which was always scary and I knew we’d both have a hard time keeping ourselves in check.
But we would, if for no other reason than not to give ourselves away to Keller. Not yet.
Keller got out of the truck and marched toward Caspar. I’d only seen him once before, and as usual, he was trailed by bodyguards from his own compound as well as members of the LoV.
“LoV’s not welcome on my property,” Caspar told him. “Get them the fuck outside of the gates.”
Keller stared at him, nostrils flared for a second before making a motion with his hand. Slowly, grudgingly, the LoV retreated to just outside the gates, but still within listening distance.
“I mean, outside the main gates,” Caspar growled.
“That’s as far as they go,” Keller told him, and before Caspar could say anything more, he continued, “You think over my proposal?”
“No,” Caspar said bluntly.
“My son Victor was coming to visit you.”
“Been underground. Haven’t been taking many visitors.”
“We lost three supply trucks in this storm.”
Caspar shrugged. “How’s that my issue?”
“You know exactly why, Caspar. I couldn’t fit them into the tubes I have and they were full of enough goddamned supplies to keep a compound like this running for a month. You could grow your own food and pretend that’s going to be enough, but we both know you’re fooling yourself. You’re running this place into the ground. No one’s going to stand behind you. It doesn’t matter who your father was.”
“Don’t care much for lectures.”
Keller took a step forward. Caspar stayed where he was, an almost amused smile on his face, while Reb moved forward. Keller eyed him, then brought his gaze back to Caspar. “Don’t push me.”
“We’ll keep the deal we’ve always had. Tubes for food and gas for your enterprises. Not the LoV. We’re not your personal bitch.”
“That deal is over. Lance and Roan promised a cut.”
“Lance and Roan are dead. Keep that in mind.”
And with those rumbled words, a war was truly born. I thought about Jessa, close enough to hear this, and I wondered if trusting her was the worst thing I could do.
It didn’t matter. I already did.
The upshot was, Keller wanted the tubes for free—wanted them for his LoV bodyguards too. Normally, this all worked on trade but Keller wanted too much...and they wanted Defiance to either pay or cut them in on the tube business. Lance and Roan had been prepared to allow this for a onetime payout, which was not only stupid, but incredibly shortsighted as well.
“Cut ties with the LoV and you’ve got a deal,” Caspar told Keller, knowing full well Keller would refuse, because the LoV was his main supplier of girls for the trafficking business.
Keller shook his head at Caspar, almost sadly, but Caspar just smiled and said, “Then we’re done here. Take that trash with you when you go.”
Keller’s face hardened. “You’re making a huge mistake, Caspar.”
Caspar took a step toward him and growled, “Don’t ever tell me what I’m doin’, Keller. That’s a mistake you’ll only make once.”
Keller wisely backed away, as did his men, but it didn’t mean that we’d won. Still, until Keller realized that Victor was gone, along with his spoils, it’d be business as usual. The LoV would try to fuck with us as often as possible, Keller would short Defiance food and gas, the way he’d been for months.
I assumed that the main twelve of Defiance, the men who made the bylaws, who sat at the table, all knew what Bish and I had done. But the only one who came over to me was Caspar. He motioned for Bish to walk away too and I caught Bish’s eye, letting him know it was all right.
I knew it would come to this. Part of me wanted to walk away and let Jessa out of the trunk. The other part knew I needed to hear whatever the fuck the leader of Defiance would tell me.
What now?
“You tell me, Mathias. I’m supposed to risk Defiance for an outsider?”
You mean three outsiders. ’Cause I don’t count that asshole Charlie—you can do whatever the fuck you want to him.
“Don’t go there,” Caspar warned.
I’ll take her out of here. Take the burden off you.
“Can’t let you do that now. She’s a bargaining chip.”
My hands fisted at his words, the old anger rushing up fast and furious. Caspar glanced between my fists and my face and jutted his chin, acknowledging that it would be a hell of a fight between us.
“So now I know how you feel,” was all he said.
That matters to you?
Instead of answering directly, he told me, “Find out everything you can about what she knows. For all our sakes. Find a reason for me not to turn her over to Keller to save the rest of this club.”
With that, he walked away, but his words echoed in my ears, burned hotter than the brand I’d endured to pledge my loyalty to him.
For a second, I was back in a different time and place, hearing different words...but the meaning behind them was exactly the same.
Find me a reason to let him stay with your family, sir. Because if he won’t admit to anything, there’s nothing I can do to help him.
I shook that off, went to the van and unlocked the trunk. I helped her out and she looked shaken, but she still gripped my hand and said, “Thank you.”
Chapter Nine
I was up before the dawn
Jessa
It had been hard to believe that only a day and a half had passed since Mathias and Bishop grabbed me, but the visit from those men who’d kidnapped me, who wanted to buy and sell me, brought it all back in vivid detail. Shaken, I’d wait
ed for the inevitable. Because everything had changed again, and the issue of who I was exactly was brought into sharper focus.
I was easily used, as was Charlie. And I was painfully aware of that fact.
Mathias looked as shaken as I felt when he helped me out of the old trunk. I grabbed him and he stiffened with surprise, like he knew I’d caught wind of some unnamed moment of weakness. But then his arms wound around me, and he buried his face in my hair and I wanted to run with him, to a place where I wasn’t the vice president’s daughter and wanted by some very bad men.
He pulled away and grabbed for the alphasmart. Not worried about Keller or those assholes. It’s just...something else. Signs.
“Will you tell me?”
He shook his head, but there was a hesitance there. I was going to push, but a couple caught my eye. A man with hair so blond it was almost white, and icy blue eyes that cut through me from across the room. A scar bisected his cheek, deforming his mouth and eye slightly. I wanted to hide my face from him, but I didn’t. After a moment, he looked to the blonde woman at his side and his entire countenance changed. Still fierce—protective—but the look on his face when he looked at her...
What was it like to finally have someone who understood you?
I looked back up to Mathias and realized I already had that answer. All I could say to him was, “I believe in signs.”
He looked pained and pleased at the same time. I wanted to tell him more, but then Bishop came toward the van. I’m not sure from where, but he definitely moved like a ghost. I caught sight of him only when he was right next to me. I was sitting in the back of the opened van facing outward, my legs tucked under me when I caught sight of him leaning against the side of the van.
He didn’t say anything—not to me, anyway. Just gave a hand signal to Mathias and the understanding passed easily between them with that barest of communication. And then Mathias signed to him and Bishop signed back, presumably because they were either talking about me, things that concerned me—or things that didn’t concern me at all, reminding me how much of a stranger I was here.
I tried not to concentrate on that painful reality when I heard, “Hey, Jessa, my name’s Tru.” I looked up to see the lithe blonde who’d been with Casper coming across the warehouse floor. She wore jeans and a tank top and she carried a sweatshirt, but I noticed that the warehouse had begun to heat up now that the storm had passed. “I’m Caspar’s old lady. You haven’t met him yet, but he’s the president of Defiance.”
“Nice to meet you,” I said, like we were at some kind of formal tea and not in the middle of hell. Politeness was born and bred into me, no matter how much I’d pretended to be—and enjoyed being—a wild child with Mathias.
Tru smiled. “Are you hungry? I’m having some food brought over to my house. If you want to follow me, we could talk a little.”
I glanced around but saw no sign of Mathias.
“It’s okay. The men need to talk. You’re safe—with me and inside this compound.” She spoke firmly and I really had no choice but to follow her. It was that nearly pitch-black out—darkness like that seemed to follow whenever the storms subsided, and with only low lights surrounding us, I’d lost all sense of time. It could be midnight or middle of the afternoon and for the first time I realized it really didn’t matter.
Before I got far, Mathias was next to me, handing me an old Walkman and a couple of tapes. He didn’t give me a chance to say anything before disappearing into the warehouse again, but I held on to what he’d given me as surely as if they were my lifeline.
Tru simply watched the exchange silently, and then we continued walking. I stayed close to her as she wound through the lit paths of the compound. We passed groups of people and they called out to her and looked at me curiously and I wondered how much people knew. “How big is this place?”
She waited until we were inside the small house to reply, “We’ve got about a hundred and fifty people here now.”
“And they’re all MC members?”
“The men officially are. The women and children live on the compound because of the Chaos. Before Chaos, that wouldn’t happen. The compound was like the men’s sacred meeting place.” She managed to say it with both an air of reverence and partially like she knew she was humoring the men. “We’re locked down pretty tightly.”
“That’s good.” I took a seat at the table that had two trays of covered food on it and Tru sat across from me. She uncovered plates of burgers and fries and pushed one at me.
“This is from the local diner that’s right here on the compound. Best burger around.” She bit into it and closed her eyes like she was savoring it. I did the same and immediately understood. This food was delicious, and I hadn’t expected that outside of my protected world. Not when people were always picketing the areas where they thought our bunkers were, because they barely had any food, and it appeared that none of it was good.
We ate in silence, and then Tru pushed her plate away and studied me. “Do you want to talk about what happened out there?”
“Not really.”
She gave a sympathetic nod, but even though she was my age, it seemed like she was playing the authority card. “Look, I came back here six months ago. I was marched here by a rival gang and I wasn’t exactly given a warm welcome back into the fold. I stayed here for a while until Caspar could figure out what to do with me.”
“What did he decide?”
“He made me his.” There was a spark in her eyes when she said it. I rubbed my neck without realizing it, running my fingers over the bite mark hidden beneath the collar of my sweatshirt. I wondered if Mathias had made me his with that mark or if there was more to it than that.
Tru gave me a smile that let me know she’d figured out what had happened between me and Mathias. There didn’t appear to be any judgment on that end, but maybe she was just being nice. Or trying to get information from me.
Instead of spending time deciding what I was going to tell the people of Defiance, I’d spent time rolling around with Mathias. And while I didn’t regret a single moment of it, I chewed my bottom lip before saying, “Is that the way it is around here?”
“Mostly, yes,” Tru said. “The guys around here like to protect us. I suspect you know what that’s like.”
“Smothered,” I mumbled and she laughed.
“Yes, at times. I guess there can be worse things.”
I’d seen them firsthand, but I didn’t feel like talking about it. “Mathias said Defiance isn’t like the Lords.”
Her face clouded. “The only thing we have in common is that we’re both motorcycle clubs. The LoV have no honor. They’ve been around a long time, but the Chaos made them worse. To them, women are chattel.”
“Sounds like you’ve got firsthand experience with them.”
“I know you do.”
So we were here already. “They didn’t hurt me. I realize why now. They were going to sell me to Keller. I had to be in one piece.” I stared down at my hands and thought about Mathias, and then I looked Tru in the eyes. “What are you guys planning on doing with me?”
“Keeping you safe until you decide what you want to do.”
“So if I wanted to go back home...”
“Do you?”
“I don’t want to go anywhere. Not right now.”
“Fair enough.”
I hadn’t mentioned Charlie and she didn’t bring him up either, so I moved on to another topic. “So this motorcycle club...is Mathias a part of it?”
“He’s been here for six months. He’s fought for Defiance. He’s more like an honorary member at this point, because he hasn’t decided if he wants completely in yet. Same goes for Bishop,” Tru said.
I stored that information away as a knock on the door interrupted us. Tru called, “It’s open,” and a blonde, bl
ue-eyed, all-American-looking woman with a tentative smile came inside.
“Hey, doll!” Tru bounced up and went over to the woman for a hug. “Aimee, this is Jessa.”
Aimee said hi and let Tru tug her to the table. “How are you doing, Jessa? I’m sure this is a bit of culture shock for you.”
I eyed Tru. I guessed word of who I was had gotten out.
“Sorry—I know because I work in the infirmary. We were informed that you take priority,” Aimee explained to me before Tru could say anything. “I should’ve let Tru tell you.”
“That’s okay. I’m just...a little paranoid,” I said honestly.
“Understandable.” Aimee had a gentle way about her. “Listen, when you’re feeling a little more settled, I’d like to bring you to the infirmary to have a checkup. Unless you’d feel more comfortable having the doctor come here.”
“I feel okay. I think,” I said. “I don’t really like doctors much.”
Aimee smiled, like it wasn’t the first time she heard that, and said to Tru, “Well, she fits in here.”
“Jessa, we’d all feel better knowing you’re okay,” Tru persisted.
“The LoV didn’t touch me. Not like that,” I said quickly. “But okay. Maybe later.”
“Good. We’ll hold you to it,” Tru said.
“Okay, so since Aimee already knows...can you tell me what being the daughter of the VP’s like? Because it sounds exciting, even though it doesn’t sound like my thing.”
There was genuine curiosity, and I had enough about her return to Defiance as well, so I figured a question answered is a question asked. “It wasn’t mine either,” I said ruefully. “I wore expensive dresses, met high-level people, ate the best food, was exposed to the best education and still...”
And still, I could trace the scars on the insides of my wrists with my thumbs as we sat there talking. Something was wrong with me. Fucked in the head, I’d heard Charlie say the other day, and he’d obviously always felt that way.
But it was different here. I couldn’t have explained it easily, but I tried. I thought about that glimpse of Caspar and Tru together, and decided that if the leader of Defiance could look on his woman so openly and lovingly, that it must carry through to the rest of the club.
Redemption: A Defiance Novel Page 7
