The Biker's Religion (Rough Riders MC Book 2)

by Shelly Morgan

  “No. We’re gonna talk about it now. What’s your problem? You’re acting like some guy I just met on the street and am suddenly asking him to marry me,” I say, anger coming out loud and clear in my tone. But that’s good. I’ll take anger over grief any day of the week.

  “And you’re acting like some bitch I fucked a few times who suddenly thinks we have a relationship.” He matches my tone, his nostrils flaring and his eyes as hard and cold as ice.

  His words are like a slap to the face, and his demeanor is like a frozen storm hitting me all at once. I’m starting to understand where he got his name from.

  Hardening myself from the inside out, I turn away from him. I put clothes on, grab my shit, and walk into the other room, closing the door behind me. Then, crawling into bed, I listen until I hear the hotel room door open and close. Then, I lay there all night, thinking about what I need to do now. But there’s only one option, and that’s to go back home alone and try to forget about all that’s happened the last few months.

  And when I hear Ice Man come back into the suite in the early morning hours, I ignore him. He knocks on my door, but I don’t say a word. Even when he opens the door and takes one step inside, I stay silent, though he can see that I’m awake. But he still looks cold and detached, so I do as well.

  “I’m heading back. Reggie will be staying in the room with you and get you anything you need,” he tells me, staring at me with no emotion whatsoever.

  I don’t say anything, but I don’t think he expected me to. Either that, or he just doesn’t care, because he turns around a few seconds later, closing the door behind him. I hear muted voices talking just outside my door, but I pay them no attention. It’s probably just him telling Reggie to keep an eye on me. Or shit, maybe he’s not even talking about me at all, just giving him general orders. I don’t care either way because I’m done. Done with all of this; him, the things he said, us, everything. Done.

  A few minutes later, the hotel room door closes again and I know he’s gone. But I don’t spend any time thinking about that or how it makes me feel. Like I said, I’m done.

  Instead, I pick up my phone and call the only person who can help me right now. Thankfully, he picks up on the second ring.

  “Amy, sweetheart, is everything okay?” Bear asks on the other end, the concern in his voice making all the emotions come to the surface. My eyes fill with tears, and this time, I let them fall.

  “I need your help,” I tell him simply.

  “Whatever you need, honey.”

  I don’t tell him what happened, only that I need him to get me a plane ticket home. I’ll pay him back once I get back, but I don’t have the energy to search through my purse to get my credit card or to call the airlines. I’m just so tired. But he doesn’t ask any questions, just tells me he’ll text me the information. And that he’ll get a hold of Ice Man and Torq to tell them what’s going on and see if one of them can take me to the airport since he doesn’t want me to travel alone right now. But I tell him that Reggie is here and that he can take me. No need to bother the others, though I know one of them couldn’t care less.

  He agrees, even though he doesn’t sound happy about it. After hanging up the phone, I text him Reggie’s number so they can work everything out. Then, twenty minutes later, he texts me back with my flight information and tells me he’ll be there to pick me up from the airport.

  My flight leaves in three hours, which will give me just enough time to put my things in my bag, drive over there, get through security, and then put my ass on the plane. I haven’t slept in what feels like days, but there will be plenty of time for that when I get back home.

  Just as I’m putting the last of my things in my bag, Reggie knocks on the door before slowly opening it. “You ready?” he asks, his voice sounding sad. I don’t know if he knows what happened, or if he can just feel my emotions hanging thick in the air and they are rubbing off on him. Not like it matters though. Won’t change anything.

  “Yeah.”

  We walk out the door together, him carrying my bag, and when we get in the elevator, I don’t even take one last look at the place I thought I was happiest. Even if that was the truth, it’s also the place where my heart and soul were shattered. Because after all of this, I think I realized something; there is only one reason why this hurts so bad, and that’s because even though I didn’t plan it, I’m pretty sure I fell in love with Ice Man. And if I’m being honest with myself, I think that happened long before we even came here, which only makes it worse.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  Ice Man

  The drive back to the clubhouse is a blur, but at least I have the fresh air on my face. I told Reg to take the truck and I’d ride his bike back. I barely remember leaving the hotel room. But after the shit that went down, I needed to get out of there, regardless of the job we have to do with the Latin Mafia.

  This past weekend was great, in more ways than one. I mean, getting to spend some time with Amy was amazing. I think we both needed it, what with the crap we’ve been dealing with; her with her friend getting kidnapped, beaten, and raped, and then me with my friend being killed by a sex trafficking boss. Things have been hard on both of us, and being able to get away from it all and able to spend time with someone we enjoy spending time with was what the doctor ordered.

  And then closing a door on my past I never knew was still open with her by my side was something I’ll never forget or be able to pay her back for. All this time I thought I was over what happened between Brittany and myself, and I was sorely mistaken.

  But the icing on the cake was the amazing sex we had. And when I say amazing, I mean out of this fucking world, best sex of my life, kind of shit. The only problem was I thought that was all it was, just sex between two friends that just so happened to be sexually attracted to each other.

  Why did she have to go ahead and throw feelings into it? It’s not like I don’t care for her, because I do, probably more than I’ll admit. But I don’t want a relationship, or to test the waters, or whatever the fuck she said last night. That will only open us both up to heartache and I’m not going there again. Maybe it’s because she’s never been heartbroken or maybe she has and it didn’t scar her like mine did. Regardless, I’m not going down that road again where we’ll both end up miserable. And I thought she understood that. We agreed upon it before it even started.

  Just when I pull into the clubhouse and park Reggie’s bike, my phone rings. It’s Bear. Probably wanting to check in and see that I’m back and ready for this shitstorm to commence.

  “Yeah,” I growl into the phone because let’s be real, I’m in no mood to deal with anyone right now, not even him.

  “Where are you?” he barks into the phone.

  “Just pulled in to the clubhouse. Was gonna go over a few things with my guys before Torq and the rest of your boys show up. And when they get here, we’ll call you up to go over it one last time before we move on them,” I tell him, running through my head again what we need to go over as I straddle the bike still.

  Sighing into the phone, he’s quiet a moment, but long enough that the hairs on the back on my neck start to prickle and something in my gut says something is wrong. Just when I’m about to tell him to tell me what the fuck happened, he says, “I was just calling to inform you that Amy has boarded a plane to come back to Reno. And before you start bitching and throwin’ a tantrum, I’m gonna tell you that I talked to Reggie after I got the call from Amy. He stayed with her the whole time, up until she boarded the plane to make sure nothing happened to her. And I’m heading to the airport now to go pick her up. I’ll let you know when I’ve got her, but I thought you might want to know she left.”

  What the actual fuck is going on? She left? Why the hell would she do that? I mean, yeah, I left the hotel after our little spat, but she never once stated she was going to leave the state without at least telling me goodbye. Though, it’s not like she said much of anything after what happened. But still. This news
floors me, pisses me off, and completely upsets me in ways I didn’t think possible. I mean, I knew she’d be going back to Reno, especially after our discussion, but I didn’t think she’d leave right after I left her at the hotel. I thought I had more time to talk to her and fix what we both broke. Not saying I’d take back what I said, because I don’t want a relationship, but she’s been my friend for a while now and I don’t want to lose that.

  “I don’t know what happened between the two of you, and frankly, I don’t want to know because I’ll probably start killing people. But she seemed off when she called me, sad and detached. I figured it was best to bring her back home where she belongs. And she didn’t want me tellin’ you or Torq, afraid it would fuck shit up, as I’m sure she knows there’s something going down within the club because she’s a smart girl. But I thought you should know.”

  As much as I want to be pissed at him for getting her the plane ticket and helping her leave me, I understand it. Bear cares for her, and I’m happy about that. She needs someone to take care of her and always be there for her. I want to be pissed at her, but we didn’t end things in a good way, and honestly, I don’t know if it can be fixed, so maybe this is all for the best. Doesn’t mean I have to like it though.

  “Thanks for the heads up. I’ll call ya when the guys get here and when we are ready to go over everything for the last time,” I tell him, realizing Amy is gone and probably out of my life for good now.

  When he doesn’t say anything or hang up, I add, “Was there anything else?”

  “No. Keep me posted,” he says, but it seems like he wants to say more, only he doesn’t. Hanging up the phone, I make my way inside and right up to the bar. Ripper is sitting there, but when he sees me walk up and notices that no one is manning the bar, he jumps up and rounds the corner of the bar, grabbing me a beer.

  I ignore him and reach over the bar and grab the bottle of Jack Daniels. I need the burn of the liquid fire to run down my throat. I need to feel the pain somewhere else so I don’t focus on what I’m feeling in my chest. I’m not ready to go there.

  Ten minutes and a fourth of the bottle later, I get up and head into the chapel. Church will be in session soon and I need a little time to myself for that happens, even though Ripper didn’t talk or even look at me while we sat at the bar.

  Closing the door behind me and sitting down in my chair at the head of the table, everything comes crashing down on me. I feel lost, pissed, and confused. A part of me feels like I fucked up majorly with Amy, while another part of me tells me it’s for the best. Would I even be good enough for her if we did give this a go? Would I end up hurting her in the end, more than what I think I have now?

  The door opens and in walks all of my brothers, one by one. And I know we need to go over our plan again, discuss last minute changes, but I can’t think of anything right now except the look of pain on Amy’s face when I said those things about her being just a random woman I fucked. Though, it wasn’t like that exactly. She just surprised me with her confession. I wasn’t expecting that.

  “Prez, you ready?” Rack asks, already sitting on my left. Looking around the table, I see everyone sitting and staring at me. Shit, this is not going well.

  “Yeah. G-spot, what you got for us?” I ask, starting off with him, figuring that’s the best place to begin.

  “I was able to put a bug inside. It took some work, and it’s not the bug I wanted to use since it’s not as good, but whatever. And so far, we’ve got good intel. It sounds like they’re planning to move on the cartel on Thursday.”

  “That’s when we have our drop scheduled,” Reefer states.

  “Yeah. I think they somehow figured out when we do our runs. It’s smart if you really think about it though. And since it’s the first one for the month, some of the big dogs within the cartel will be in attendance.” G-spot opens up his computer and taps a few times on his keyboard before turning it around to show everyone at the table. “This is Carlos Martinez. He’s currently second in command to Fernando Martinez, the cartel boss man. Carlos, along with Marco, Santiago, and Bruno, are going to be our big hitters there with the cartel. And of course there will be a few of the smaller henchmen.”

  Turning the computer around again, he types something else in, then turns it so we can see again. “This is Mateo Gonzalez. He’s the leader of the current Latin Mafia. But what most don’t know is that he’s the son of Pedro Gonzalez, who was murdered by Fernando a few years ago. The stories are ever changing to the public, but the real reason was because he had more of a blood tie to the last cartel boss, and planned to overthrow Fernando, but he was found out.”

  “Okay, but that kind of shit happens all the time. Why do I feel like you’re leaving something out of the equation?” Axe asks, wondering the same thing I am. I mean, I would be out for blood too if it were me, but I feel like there is more to this.

  “Because you would be right. Not only did Fernando kill Pedro, but he killed his wife Sarah, their daughter Maria, their son Felipe and his wife and kids, and he killed Mateo’s pregnant wife. He tried to kill Mateo too, and would have succeeded if not for Javier, who got angry at Fernando for all the innocents he killed. Javier was Fernando’s second in command at the time, and took Mateo away before he died, and nursed him back to health. Now, he sits at Mateo’s right hand and is ready to dole out some justice.”

  “Holy shit,” Taz says, looking as if he might actually puke. But I feel his pain. It’s hard to hear shit like that.

  “Fuck, why does it seem like we’re on the wrong side of this fight?” This comes from Sims, sitting across from me on the other side of the table.

  “Yeah. It sounds like the LM are pretty fuckin’ justified in this war. I mean, the cartel killed women and children. That’s fucked up,” Ripper comments.

  I see a few of the guys nod their heads, but no one else makes any other comments.

  “Okay, look, guys. I know this is fucked up. But we know the cartel are ruthless sonsabitches. It’s to be expected from them. And honestly, I’m sure if it would have been anyone else aside from someone’s mother, brother, sister, kids, the mafia wouldn’t have batted an eye because I bet they are just the same when they hand out punishments. Yes, it’s wrong, and I don’t like it one bit, but the only thing that involves us in this is that they’re fuckin’ with our livelihoods. This is just a job. We don’t have to agree with it. We just have to do our part to make sure our business partner stays intact.”

  I know I sound heartless right now, acting like this is no big deal, but it’s all the truth. We don’t have to like who we are going to war for. The fact of the matter is, we got in bed with the cartel and now we need to lie in it. This needs to happen, even if we all want to just stand back and watch them get what they deserve.

  “I agree. The cartel don’t deal in flowers and chocolate, so this isn’t anything that should surprise us. But like Prez said, we have a job to do and we’re gonna do it,” Rack declares, his voice hard, leaving no room for argument. But I know there are some things we just can’t force people to do, brother or not. So for this instance, I’m going to give anyone who wants it an out.

  “Anyone who isn’t behind this, and willing to do whatever it takes to make sure this shit gets handled the way we planned before we knew the details, speak up now. No harm or dishonor will come to you, you have my word. All you have to do is stand up, lay your cut on the table, and walk out. But if you don’t walk, know that if you don’t do what needs to be done, you will be held accountable by the club and served whatever consequence is deemed fit by your brothers.”

  I look each of my brothers in the eye, hoping to show them that I’m serious. If they want out, now is the time, no hard feelings. I won’t let anyone go against their moral code for this job. I just wish I could offer them to stay in the club with this decision, but I can’t do that. Because I won’t be able to trust that they won’t expect this for everything we do; someone saying it’s against what they believe in.
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  The guys look around the room, some probably wondering who will take the offer and walk, while others are hoping someone will take it, maybe so they won’t be the only one, or because they think they can’t handle this and they wish mercy upon them. I couldn’t honestly tell you who I think will take this, if any, because I don’t want to think of any of my brothers walking out on the club. But I’d understand if they did.

  Ripper stands, his head down and eyes closed. Everyone is quiet while we look on, waiting for him to make his decision. Will he lay his cut down or sit back down? I know he’s a new patched member, and I personally haven’t known him very long with my absence and all, but what I have seen, I wouldn’t have thought he’d be one to consider this option. Guess sometimes you just can’t tell what a person will do.

  Minutes tick by, but I don’t rush him. This isn’t something to take lightly and I know he’s weighing his options right now and thinking about what he can live with.

  Finally, what feels like an eternity later, he sighs as he slowly removes his cut. Setting it on the table, he stares at it a moment before looking up at me, his eyes full of turmoil. “I’m sorry, Ice Man. I just don’t think I can go through with this. I know men like that do shit like this all the time, but the difference is, I don’t hear the specifics. And knowing what they did this time, I can’t defend him and keep someone from killing him who is completely justified in my eyes. I’m sorry,” he says, his tone telling me exactly what this decision is doing to him. He hates that he’s leaving the brotherhood, but he’d hate himself more if he stayed.

  Standing up, I walk over to him and pull him into a hug. “I understand, brother,” I tell him, patting him on his back, then make my way back to my chair, sitting down with more weight on me than the last time.

  We all watch as he walks out of the room, closing the door behind him.