THE DEVIL’S BRIDE

by April Lust

  “Yeah, we’ve got to get out of Dodge for a little while, let things cool down a bit before we go back,” he said with a smile. He was cruel. Everything he said was intended to taunt me now.

  “And you and I have to talk, right?” I said, looking out the window.

  “Right.” He laughed.

  “Do we have to have an audience for our little discussion?” I asked him. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. I couldn’t believe I was playing along with his twisted little fantasy about me.

  “We don’t, unless you want one.”

  “Up to you. You’re the boss,” I reminded him.

  “Yes, that’s right. I am,” he agreed.

  I knew we were just playing at this point, though. He didn’t want me to work things out with him some other way. I’d been kidding myself with those thoughts of him wanting me the way he wanted those other girls, or wanting to work out a deal where he took whatever frustrations he had out on my ass. If we were heading towards the cabin upstate, it meant my time was up. I was going to be one of those people who didn’t come back.

  The air in car grew heavy as the realization weighed on my conscience. It seemed Skull could also sense that I realized what we were doing. He grew quiet and stared at me with a thoughtful look in his eyes. We rode in silence for a few minutes as the air hung over us. The only sound was the wind outside as we sped down the interstate.

  “I’m very disappointed in you,” Skull said to me after a few minutes of dark silence. His tone was even heavy at this point.

  I knew he was talking about more than just my getting caught by Mason. I could hear it in his voice. He was being serious with me now. The whole mood of our ride had changed. He wasn’t just messing with me now, taunting me with his words. If things went the way he had planned them to go, this was very likely to be our final conversation. It was time to air things out.

  “I expected more professional behavior from you,” he continued. “Even after getting caught, I expected you to continue treating this business with Storm’s Angels as a job.”

  “But I was,” I argued. “From the moment I walked in that room and saw that it was empty except for Mason standing against the opposite wall, I could tell he desired me. So I decided to use that desire against him, and that’s what I’ve been doing.”

  He kept his eyes straight ahead as the light beyond his headlights faded almost completely away.

  “I was trying to seduce him to get intel out of him. I knew the best way to get him to open up to me was to play into his desire for me, and that’s what I’ve been doing. He didn’t want to torture me. He barely even tried to interrogate me. He took me under his wing almost immediately,” I explained.

  “What does that mean to me?” Skull asked me.

  “That means I played along so I could find out that he was coming after you. That meant I knew he’d moved his drugs elsewhere. I knew where he was at all times. I knew who was at their headquarters at all times. I’m in, Skull. Or I was. Now that I’m gone—”

  “Now that he’s dead, you mean,” Skull interrupted.

  “Anyway, it doesn’t matter. I’m no longer in. I ran away to try to get back in with you, but it seems like you’ve got other ideas,” I told him.

  “I do.”

  “I figured as much. When I realized where we were going, I realized what you were planning. I’m not going home, am I?” I asked finally, getting straight to the point.

  “Well, Clara, you tell me what you would do. Put yourself in my position. You’ve got someone who’s been working for you for years. Normally, they do a damn good job. Occasionally they get off track a little to make things work faster, better. Like they might let themselves get caught so they can get information that wouldn’t otherwise be available. Maybe they sleep with a mark to get what they want out of them. Stuff like that. Now people know who your person is, and they can keep an eye out for them, making it harder for them to do their job. Sound familiar yet?” he asked.

  “Getting there,” I said flatly.

  “So, when I see what I saw with Mason, naturally, I get suspicious. I decide I need to keep track of my investment, because that’s what you are, Clara. You may work for me, but don’t forget how much time and energy, or how many resources I’ve put into you, into helping you hone your skills.” Again with the accusing tone.

  “If you’ve got something to say, Skull, just say it,” I told him.

  “Okay, I’ll say it. I had someone follow you and report back to me everything he saw. I’ve got recordings, photos, videos.” He paused to let that last word sink in. “I’ve seen you two on his balcony. I’ve seen you two prancing around naked in his apartment. I’ve watched the two of you fuck. Several times, Clara.”

  I felt my face flush, and I was thankful it was dark enough in the car now that no one could see it. I was vaguely aware that the man in black next to me turned to glance at me. Even through those damned sunglasses that he never seemed to take off, I could feel his eyes undressing me to help him imagine what watching me in bed must have been like.

  “Okay, so you saw me working,” I said, trying to keep my voice even and hide the fact that I was quite shaken by this revelation.

  “I even saw him toss a guy out for you,” Skull added, and I knew he wasn’t just grasping at straws, but I wondered. How did he know it was for me unless his guy was planted somehow on the inside?

  I didn’t say anything. I figured I’d let him keep talking and give up more secrets. He may not have thought much about what he was saying—after all, I was going to be out of the picture soon—but I wanted to know everything I could about his little tail that he’d put on me. It sounded like it might have been more than one person because someone on the inside would have been noticed near the apartment.

  “You seem pretty loyal to Mason, Clara, and that bothers me,” he added.

  “What do you mean?” I asked.

  “I mean, it takes you days to call me sometimes. You can’t pull yourself away from your new boyfriend to make time for your boss, your employer, the man who brought you off the fucking street and gave you a place to stay. No, instead, you’re out there sleeping with my top rival when you’re supposed to be helping me take him down!” His usually calm tone was gone. He ripped it to shreds right in front of me as he let his anger out. “You’re a traitor,” he added.

  “I’m sorry, what?” I asked.

  “You are a traitor. Yes, you may have called to let me know he was on his way to the hideout to take me down, but that was only after you’d told him where it was. Did he fuck that information out of you, or did you give it to him willingly?” He spat his words out in the darkness.

  “He found out from people on the street, Skull. He told me as much himself that morning. He told me one of his guys called to say they had located you, and they were getting ready to go after you. So, of course I called you to let you know you were in trouble,” I defended myself. “I didn’t have to do that,” I added under my breath.

  “No, and maybe you shouldn’t have. It might have saved you your life, but tonight, I’m going to handle you the way I’ve always handled traitors,” he threatened me.

  “Skull, there’s got to be another way we can resolve this,” I said.

  “Oh, all that sex talk from earlier? I could tell I was making your skin crawl. You didn’t like thinking about me having fantasies about you, did you, sweet little Clara? No, I was just messing with your head. I would never touch you,” he said.

  I didn’t know whether to be thankful or offended. He said it like he found me disgusting.

  “You were never the right type,” he continued, insulting me even more. “You were always too rebellious and headstrong. When I picked you up on the street that day, you weren’t even attractive. You were a ratty little tomboy with a dirty face, matted hair, and dirty, grubby little hands. I’m impressed you turned out the way you did, but I guess it’s pretty amazing what a bath can do.”

  I looked down, away
from his hurtful words. I knew he was just saying them to be mean. The man I’d known for the last five years had been nothing to but kind and gentle with me. The man driving this car was a hateful asshole.

  “Even once you cleaned up, you were still too headstrong to be attractive,” he continued.

  I could feel uneasiness growing as the two other men in the car seemed to grow tired of listening to him insult me. We had been in such close quarters for so long that even the slightest shift in someone’s mood had become noticeable to everyone, even in silence. Especially in silence.

  The silence in the car had become another passenger. It seemed to eat the rest of Skull’s words before he could say them, leaving him speechless in the dark and giving me time to recover from what he’d said. I knew he didn’t mean it, but, still, he knew those could have been some of the last words he said to me. Once we made it to the cabin, he and the other two were going to take care of me, and I was going to be put down like some wounded animal.

  I carefully glanced out the window. Hope sparked briefly as I saw headlights in the distance. They didn’t look like motorcycles, though, so my excitement passed pretty quickly.

  “Still think there’s another way to work things out?” Skull asked me.

  I didn’t answer. I looked at my ghostly reflection in the window and let that be my answer.

  “I mean, I might take you up on the offer,” he continued. “You have turned into quite the nice young woman. I liked what I saw in those videos I received of you. Maybe I will see for myself what’s driving all these other bosses crazy about you. And if you’re lucky, it’ll change my mind.”

  I shook my head. He was so sleazy, and he just wouldn’t quit.

  Suddenly glass shattered as one of the windows was shot out.

  “What the…?” Skull jerked the wheel and the car darted off in one direction, then the other, slinging me side to side in the back.

  More shots rang out and I ducked down.

  Suddenly, shots were ringing out all around me. Glass was shattering everywhere, letting air burst into the car. I could hear motorcycle engines outside. They were here! They’d made it! But we hadn’t seen any headlights.

  Of course, I wouldn’t have put it past Mason and the rest of Storm’s Angels to ride up on us in complete darkness without headlights. That definitely seemed like the kind of thing he would have “had the balls” to do, to use his words.

  Skull cursed as the other two men drew their weapons and fired blindly into the night.

  Then, there was a shot, and something blew out in the front of the car. It sounded like a tire, but the next thing I knew, we were flipping over onto the shoulder of the highway.

  Glass went everywhere. I knew I wasn’t going to make it to the cabin at that point. I didn’t know if I would even make it out of the car unless I was thrown out by the flipping, and that seemed like a distinct possibility with my hands and feet tied together and no seatbelt holding me in place.

  How ironic. Mason shows up to save me and ends up killing me in the process.

  I closed my eyes as I tumbled inside the car.

  Well, at least Skull didn’t get the satisfaction, I thought before something hit the back of my head and took all my thoughts away.

  Chapter 22

  Mason

  I told her I would protect her. I’d told her that on multiple occasions. I had offered to help her walk away from Skull and the life she had been living for so long. I promised her I would take care of her.

  The words I had pledged to Clara weighed heavily on my mind as I rode into the darkness with my brothers around me. We rode like bats out of hell. We were on a mission, and we didn’t have a whole lot of time to waste trying to catch up to Skull and his men. We weren’t exactly sure what we were riding into. We didn’t know what kind of fight lay up ahead waiting for us, but we were determined to take him down.

  I was determined to bring Clara back unharmed and make her mine. Against everyone else’s best advice, I had already forgiven her for the things she had done and for the trouble she had caused. No matter what had happened so far, the fact remained that I had promised to protect her and to keep her safe from harm. I had learned at an early age in this MC that we always honored our word. People were far more important than the business.

  There wasn’t much traffic on the highway, which I figured would help us spot Skull’s car, but it also meant he would be able to spot us more easily, too. I began to worry that we’d lost him as the light began to fade around us.

  I had no idea where this fabled upstate hideout of Skull’s was supposed to be, so if we weren’t able to track him down on the interstate before he got there, our chances of catching up to him were slim to none. It would take days to track him down through our usual street networks. We didn’t have days. The longer it took, the more danger Clara would be in. Not catching up with him was not an option.

  I gunned my engine, pulling ahead of the rest of the pack. Everyone sped up to keep up with me. I was pushing the old Roadster as hard as I could, and probably harder than I should have been, but if I had to sacrifice her to finish this job, so be it. It was worth it to me. Clara was worth it to me. Getting Skull out of the picture was worth it.

  Finally, as night began to take the highway, I spotted taillights up ahead. The trees lining the interstate on either side were fading into the darkness. The only thing I could see was the patch of highway passing underneath our bikes through our headlights. And the taillights in the distance, threatening to get away from us.

  We were riding so close to each other that the glow from our headlights allowed us to see each other just fine. I signaled to Mick to speed up ahead and check out the car. He nodded and dipped out of the pack. He killed his headlights so they wouldn’t see him approaching. He disappeared into the night up ahead as he gunned it to catch up with the car the rest of us were beginning to approach.

  My nerves began to ball up in knots deep in my gut. I wasn’t planning on getting into a gunfight in the middle of the night. I figured that at least the highway was pretty deserted other than the few of us and the other car. If it did turn out to be Skull, the lack of traffic would make handling him a breeze. Still, it didn’t feel right. I felt like so much could go wrong shooting at each other blindly in the dark.

  Mick cut his lights back on as we caught up with him and gave me a thumbs up. It was Skull. I nodded at him and killed my headlights. The rest of my brothers followed suit. Suddenly, we were immersed in darkness. Luckily, the moon was full, and bright enough that we could sort of see each other.

  Without our headlights on, the night around us became much brighter. We could see more details of the road and the surrounding woods. Skull’s car up ahead was a beacon glowing in the night, calling us to it. I took a deep breath.

  As far as I could tell, Skull and his men only numbered three. We were riding up on him six deep. We outnumbered them enough to hopefully keep our losses minimal or, better yet, nonexistent. We’d lost enough men already for one day. I wasn’t looking forward to risking more lives.

  We picked up the pace again, and I signaled to the rest of the guys to hang back behind the car as I rode up close beside it to make sure it was, in fact, Skull’s sedan. I couldn’t get a good look inside. I couldn’t tell where Clara was sitting.

  I backed off, not ready to risk taking a shot at the car and hitting the one person I didn’t want to kill.

  Mick gestured back at the car but I shook my head and pointed at my eyes. Man, we were on same damn page. That was why he was my second-in-command. He knew exactly what I was thinking.

  He pointed at the back, passenger side, and I knew he was telling me Clara was on that side. I didn’t know how he could have known that, but I trusted his judgment. He knew better than to try to screw me over, especially when it came to her.

  I looked back at the car and started to pull up beside it again. I was honestly surprised they hadn’t tried anything. With six motorcycles right on their
ass, it was amazing they hadn’t heard us and realized we were there.

  I didn’t see who shot first, but a couple of shots rang out in rapid succession. Shots were fired at the car, and shots were fired from the car.

  Motorcycle headlights came on. There was no need to try to hide in the darkness, and we had every reason to let them know how many of us there were. The car jerked one way and then the other. I had to jerk my bike to keep from getting hit as the sedan swerved back and forth across the lanes.

  A shot rang out from my left side as one of my men pulled up beside and fired at the back, driver’s-side window. The glass exploded and rained down in sparkling shards all over the road. I saw into the car and watched as Clara ducked to keep from getting struck by glass or bullets.

  Mick had been right, and whoever it was who’d pulled up beside me to shoot out the window was an awesome shot. He took out one of the men who had apparently helped Skull kidnap Clara. It still didn’t make any damn sense to try to kidnap someone who already worked for him, but that was him, not us.