by Simone Elise
Damon put the paper he was reading down and strolled across the room to the side of the bed, throwing the blankets back.
“Come on, Abby; you need sleep.”
“Why?”
“Because I need you sharp for tomorrow.”
“You have Kim.”
“Kim didn’t shoot two French men who had a gun to my head.”
I turned to look back at him and slid off his bed and rounded it to stand next to him.
“So I killed two men to keep you alive. Isn’t that what you pay me for?”
“I pay you,” he placed his hands on my shoulders and pushed me back against the bed. Sitting on top of the fresh sheet, the blankets turned back, “because you’re family and whether you wanna admit it or not, we are family.”
“I fell in love with a man that was too scared of my family to love me back.”
“Then I would call that man stupid.” Damon pulled my legs up, tucking them under the blankets and pulling the blankets over me.
I sighed, placing my head on his pillow. “You should be scared of me.”
“I’m scared of no one, sweetheart.”
“My father is the President of the Mother Charter Satan’s Sons. He threatens anyone that gets close to me.”
Damon’s eyes didn’t leave mine. “I’ll tell you something, Abby. In this life, you only get the time you protect. You’re bound to die young and bloody, so there isn’t time for regrets.”
“I once thought that of club life, that the riders were only given a short life and a bloody death.”
“And now what do you think?”
“If you don’t have anything to lose, you aren’t really losing anything by dying young.”
His knuckles grazed my cheek. “For someone so young, you sure as hell are fucked up.”
A smirk spread across my lips. “Yeah, I love you too Damon.”
“Get some sleep.”
I leaned back into his comfy bed and closed my eyes. I doubted sleep would come, but I let the bed swallow me and listened to him going back to sit in his chair.
Damon was right; there wasn’t time to waste with regrets. So how was I supposed to let Reaper go?
Chapter 2
Reaper
I had ridden seven hours straight, only stopping for fuel. My hands were numb from the wind and I hadn’t done the speed limit, passing cars and trucks at a dangerous speed. But I didn’t care. I had one thing on my mind and a million fucking questions.
I never thought I would be back here. I never expected to lay eyes on this clubhouse or be in it again. Yet here I was, back and angry.
I strolled into the clubhouse, ignoring my shocked brothers, and headed straight for the President’s office.
A rage like I had never felt before swallowed me full, consuming every blood vessel, every muscle of my body.
I didn’t knock; I just strolled in, slamming the door behind me.
Roach’s eyes bounced up from the paperwork on the long wooden desk in front of him, and his eyes narrowed in on me. I was the last person he was expecting to see today. Hell, he never expected to see me again.
“Where the fuck is she?” I slammed my clenched fists down on his desk.
“Abby is gone.” Roach leaned back in his chair, a look of despair on his face. “What the fuck are you doing here?”
“She left?”
“She ran away with her sister.”
“You’ve been looking?”
“Of course! Been looking for months and haven’t turned up shit. The girls don’t wanna be fucking found. Now, why the hell are you here?”
So she meant it when she said she left. What the hell was she thinking?
“She called me.”
“Abby called you.” Roach was on his feet instantly. “What the fuck did she say?”
If only I had been more focused on getting answers out of her than scaring her away.
“She sounded bad.”
“What do you mean bad?”
“Like not herself, bad. Like she fucked up and didn’t know where to turn bad. Like someone should be fucking looking after her and they weren’t.” I left her expecting her to be looked after. I left her in the hands of the club. I didn’t leave to have her run off and get into fucking trouble.
“You think she’s in trouble?” Roach’s voice was hard, but the anger was gone. “What sort of trouble?”
“She wouldn’t tell me. But Prez, she sounded torn up about something.”
I hadn’t even been sleeping with the bitch I was with that night. I was just crashing at her house. Yet I couldn’t string that sentence to tell her because as much as I wanted her to hold onto me, I wanted her to move on.
Because I thought she was safe.
I thought she was ok.
But this just confirmed it. Abby wasn’t fucking ok, and she sure as fuck wasn’t here.
“You’re staying put.” Roach pointed a finger at me. “Till we find her, you aren’t fucking going anywhere, and when we find her, we’ll sort the shit out between you two.”
“What is that supposed to mean?”
“Means I would rather have my daughter here and in love with your dumb ass than not here at all.”
“Don’t think it is going to be as easy as that now, Prez. I did some damage for her to let go.”
“Shit can always be fixed.” He lit a cigarette. “Now pull the boys in, I want a meeting, and I want to find my fucking daughters. Been too quiet without them.”
***
Abby
I closed Damon’s door.
“Please tell me you didn’t sleep with him.” Kim leaned against the wall, arms crossed, looking freshly dressed, a judgmental look on her face.
“I didn’t.” I turned my back to her and walked back up the hall in the direction of my room.
“You know I would believe you if Damon wasn’t looking at you every two seconds with eyes that Reaper once had for you.”
“I didn’t fuck him, KIM!” I turned harshly back around. Couldn’t she just piss off? For once just let things be?
She raised her hands up, showing me her palms. “Calm down.”
“I called Reaper last night.”
Her face melted with understanding, and she tilted her head to the side, looking interested. “And what did the big old Reaper have to say?”
“He’s screwing other women.”
“Men. Useless.”
I scoffed. “Look. I’m going to get changed and then we can run through how this job is going to go down.”
“Abby. About Damon?”
“What?”
“Don’t fuck him.”
“Fine. I won’t fuck him.”
“And why can’t she fuck me?” Damon was standing behind Kim, causing her to flick around.
“Because it complicates shit. I don’t need you two becoming a couple. I can barely swallow the way you two are now.”
What was wrong with us?
I treated Damon like I treated everyone.
“Twins fucking screwed up,” he muttered, turning back around and going downstairs.
“Happy we aren’t sleeping with each other?” I arched an eyebrow at her.
“Close to happy.” She shot me a fake smile. “Now get dressed little sister, got shit to organize.”
Yeah, we always had something to organize. Always a job to prepare for. I pushed my bedroom door open. I needed a shower.
***
I was spinning a glass around, listening to them chatter in the kitchen, when the kitchen doors spun open.
“Well if it isn’t Abby,” Matthews smirked and shouldered past me.
“If it isn’t the whore himself.”
“Jealousy doesn’t suit you, Abby.”
“You’re right, good thing I’m not jealous.” I poked him as he gulped down the contents of the milk container.
“You’re replacing that.” Kim pointed a finger at him but didn’t take her eyes off the layout of the barn. “We should have
men at the back too. Storm the front, then they come from the back to push across the message.”
“Abby, will you pay attention?” Kim slapped her hand down on the kitchen bench in front of me. “And stop playing with Matthews.”
Rolling my eyes, I sighed. “Kim. The plan is tight; going over and over it isn’t going to change it. We can’t prepare for the unexpected, so going over these plans isn’t doing shit.”
“Having a locked-in plan will back us up.”
“And what if they come with more than five men? What if the Chinese decide to throw a few extra in a car that we’re not expecting? The details will work out on the day. Anyway, if things get hot and heavy, just shoot everything and anything that isn’t Hellbound. Speaking of,” my eyes landed on Damon. “I need to talk to you.”
He arched his eyebrows. “Isn’t that what you’re doing now?”
“I wanted to get permission.”
“Permission for what?” Kim crossed her arms.
“I’m ready.”
“For?” Damon and Kim said together.
I looked at Matthew’s broad back, seeing the tattoo on his shoulder.
“I’m ready to get the ink.”
Kim’s mouth dropped, and Damon’s eyes narrowed in happiness, like he had finally got me - all of me
Damon had been right, the Hellbound were a family, and this time I wasn’t going to let love get in the way. I wasn’t going into this blind. I knew what they expected of me and I was up for the task. I had never felt calmer or colder in my life.
***
“Were you even thinking straight?” Kim shot me a look from the driver’s seat. “Or have you finally lost your last bit of sense?”
“It’s a tattoo, Kim, get over it.” I blew a mouthful of smoke out. “Shouldn’t you be sweating each detail of this job instead of worrying about my tattoo?”
I wouldn’t lie and say that this life wasn’t hardening. I had a few new piercings, a dermal, and now a tattoo. I wasn’t ashamed of my new ink and was wearing a racer tank top to show it off.
“Aren’t you even a tad nervous about this?” Kim looked at me with disbelief.
I moved the strap of my machine gun, which was clinging to me. “I have this,” I lifted up the gun “I also have a shotgun in a holster down my leg and two automatic guns on my sides. I’m loaded, Kim. So no, I’m not worried.”
“You should be wearing a vest,” she muttered as we pulled up to the barn.
The van to our left slowly went around the back while Kim and I took the front.
“You ready, Matthews?” I smiled in the back at him.
“Ready and loaded.” He clicked his gun safety off.
“See, Kim? It will be fine.” I ruffled her head and pulled my aviator sunglasses down. I was ready to take this place down with guns blazing.
Climbing out of the van, I twisted my machine gun to the front. Kim pulled her gun out and ran to the barn door.
I dropped the cigarette to the ground and ran up after her.
Signaling her, I counted back from three. Then she pulled the barn door back and guns raised, Matthews and I stormed in.
“GUNS DOWN AND ON YOUR KNEES,” I screamed at the group of Chinese and bikers in the middle of the barn. There was a line of motorcycles to the left and two black vans in the middle of the empty barn. I counted heads, coming to a total of eleven.
Eleven hits, we could handle that.
“What the fuck is this?” A Chinese man stepped away from the guns that we were about to take. “You do this?” He looked at the biker beside him.
“Abby?”
My eyes widened under my sunglasses.
You had to be fucking kidding me.
I heard Kim curse behind me.
“Guns up, Kim,” I shouted over my shoulder.
“Father, it’s been a while.” I looked coolly at Dad.
“Why the fuck do you have a gun pointed in our faces? Can’t you see you’re outnumbered?”
As if on cue, the back of the barn came down and in stormed the rest of my men.
“You were saying, Father? Now guns down and down on your knees.”
I watched with pleasure as his face twisted in anger. Well, now he knows what it feels like to be fucked over by a family member.
“NOW!” I roared and sent a few stray bullets across the hay floor to prove a point.
“Couldn’t plan for this, could we, Kim?” I muttered to my side, but when I glanced at her, her eyes were locked on Trigger’s.
Of course.
Looks like I would have to handle things.
“Matthews, Eric, Don, do me a favor and take the guns off these fine gentlemen and load them into the van.” I strolled through them, pointing my gun at the Chinese’s head. “I said drop to your knees.”
“I’m going to kill you.”
I cocked my head to the side, “Really?”
“You slutty bitch, you're dead.”
I pulled the trigger, shooting him squarely between the eyes, and his body went limp and fell to the right.
I wiped the blood off my cheek. “Does anyone else want to keep standing? Or did I just prove my point?”
The rest of the Chinese dropped to their knees. Now I just had to deal with the bikers.
I eyed the bag of cash that lay next to the dead man and leaned down. Yes, that was the money Damon was talking about.
“Abby, we need to talk,” Kim hissed over my shoulder.
“Why, things not going according to your plan?” I gave her a dry look.
“No, because Reaper is standing behind you with a gun pointed at your head.”
I froze.
Surely not.
I slowly twisted around, only to be met with a gun in my face.
“Put the bag of money down, Abby.”
I smirked at him. “Matthews.”
Then just like that, things went from boring to interesting. Reaper had four guns pointed at his head instantly.
“Put the gun down, Reaper.” I dryly spoke to him. “Before you get killed.”
“I’m stopping you from making a fucking mistake. You know no one rips us off and fucking lives.”
“Yet,” I pushed the gun out of my face and whispered in his ear, “you’re about to watch it happen.”
“The guns are loaded.” Eric slid the van door closed, and his eyes landed on the money. “Want me to get that?”
“No,” I ordered and swung my gun to the back. I zipped the black bag up. “I’ve got it.”
“Abby, don’t fucking take it.” Reaper’s eyes were painted with fury, yet his words lingered with warning.
“You know, Kade, you deceived me right from the start. You broke a promise, filled my head with dreams of you and me together.” I pulled my gun from my holster and pointed it down. “You broke my fucking heart and now,” I pulled the trigger and he hissed, falling to the ground.
I dropped to my knees, pulling his head back and looking him in the eye. “You tore my heart to pieces; now I hope you can feel some of the pain I’ve felt for the last three months. And harden the fuck up, it’s only a bullet in the foot.”
I stood up to see Kim staring at me, mouth open. “You shot him.”
“No shit.” I glanced at Dad. “Still taking your heart medication, old man?”
“Morning and night, don’t see why you give a shit though.”
“No point hating a dead man, is there?” I threw the bag of cash at his feet. “The Hellbound want no war with you.”
“Yet you just killed my business connection.”
I shrugged my shoulders. “Sometimes that happens.”
“Come back home, Abby.”
“Um, let me think about that. No.” I smirked a little. “Bye, Father. Let’s go, Kim.” I gripped her elbow and dragged her away.
God, she was fucking useless when it came down to it.
“Damon wants that money,” she muttered.
“I’ll handle it.”
“Abby.” Sh
e shook her head, “Seriously, go back and get it.”
“Just get in the van, Kim. Let’s go.”
So she did, and I followed her, not looking back at Dad or Reaper. They knew about us now, and that meant they knew where to come to find us, and Kim should be more worried about that than the money.
Chapter 3
Abby
You have to lose yourself to really find yourself.
You have to crawl through the dark times to understand and crave the light.
And sometimes you need to lose the man you love to realize what you had in the first place was love.
The ashtray was filled with cigarette butts, and my mind was consumed with regret. I can’t believe I shot him. I stood there and shot him! The man I care about and wanted to spend the rest of my life with. I shot him. Me.
I blew a mouthful of smoke out and reached for the bottle of liquor.
I was like fucking Alice in fucking wonderland. I had gone down the rabbit hole. Only my hole was filled with bullets, drug money, tattoos, and fucking bad mistakes.
I had fucked up, and now, now I was paying for it.
My hand was shaking as I poured myself another drink.
I can’t believe I shot him.
It was like it had broken me like I couldn’t pull my mind away from it.
Damon had understood about the money; that didn’t mean he was happy about it. He just understood it.
Now I stood for everything they hated. I was part of something they could never fully understand or accept. I wore the ink of a gang they loathed. All for what? To prove a point that I could get my own ass in trouble without their help?
I put out the cigarette and went to sit on the edge of the bed. I pulled my boots back on, reached for keys and phone.
I had to see him.
I had to explain myself.
Though I still wasn’t sure how I could explain shooting him.
Was it out of rage? Jealousy? I don’t know. It was like I was numb and just filled with this undying attitude that had to prove something.
I closed the front door and walked out into the night air. Breathing in the coldness of the night, I knew there was a very limited chance of me getting into the clubhouse. I was going to have to get him to come out.
I unlocked the car and closed the door.
