Rusty Nail

by Lani Lynn Vale

  “I’m…we’re…,” she hesitated.

  I looked over at her with a raised brow.

  She blew out a breath.

  “I’m not feeling you and me anymore,” she blurted.

  I grinned.

  “You’re not feeling us?” I knew where she was going.

  Relief poured through me knowing I wasn’t the only one who felt that way.

  “Yes,” she blew out a breath. “I…I’ve met someone…and I’d like to pursue something with, um, him.”

  “Oh, Jesus,” I said, a smile on my face. “You’re dropping me like a hot potato, aren’t you?”

  I’d stolen one of Reggie’s lines, and Hannah’s relieved smile let me know she understood me.

  “I am,” she confirmed. “This thing we have between us, it’s good. But Wolf, I think we both know it’s just a friendship. I needed that friendship, and I still do, so I really hope that it will continue. It’s just…I want to find someone who’ll give me tingles.”

  My brows rose. “I don’t give you tingles?”

  Starting toward her, she held up her hand in worry. “You give me tingles. Just not the kind of tingles that lead to good things. Your tingles are more of an itch.”

  I snorted.

  “Are we still going to go to the zoo next week?” I asked.

  She nodded.

  “Yes.”

  “Nobody’s going to understand that we’re just friends if we keep hanging out with each other,” I noted.

  She shrugged. “If they don’t understand now, then they eventually will when we start seeing other people.”

  I sighed.

  “So, who is this man that you have the hots for?” I questioned my friend.

  She grinned. “You wouldn’t know him.”

  “Try me.”

  “Okay.” She backed up. “I don’t know who he is. I’ve only seen him around town.”

  My brows rose.

  “Now you really have me curious.”

  She blew out a breath.

  “I know the feeling, I’m curious, too.”

  Chapter 2

  If it has tires or testicles, it’s going to give you problems.

  -Fact of Life

  Raven

  “Hey, Travis,” I called to my boss. “Is there something I can get for you for lunch, or are you good?”

  Travis looked over from his notebook where he was inputting numbers.

  “I’m not sure,” he said. “Where are you going?”

  “We have a meeting today. Remember?” the other owner of Hail Auto Recovery, Dante Hail, called from somewhere behind us. Likely his office.

  “Shit,” Travis growled. “Is it with Peek?”

  His question made him sound almost hopeful, and my curiosity was peaked.

  Turning in my chair, a stack of prior repossessions in my lap, I studied Travis.

  Travis was a big man. Tall with blonde hair, he reminded me of the quintessential high school quarterback. Travis, at first, was a lot to handle.

  He said what he thought, and didn’t try to hide what he thought about any given situation.

  He was difficult to get to know, and if you didn’t know him well, he came off as an asshole.

  I would know.

  He’d come off as an asshole to me five months ago when I’d shown up on Hail Auto Recovery’s doorstep—out of gas and out of patience.

  I’d run out of gas right outside of town and had started walking. A mile into my trip, I’d fallen and smacked my face against the asphalt, earning a bloody nose and a permanent scowl.

  Then he’d taken one look at my bloodstained clothing, and he’d taken me under his wing.

  He’d forced me to stay with him for the night, patched me up, filled up my car, and then offered me a job. An offer I’d taken him up on.

  I hadn’t gotten far from Karnack, Texas the day I’d said goodbye.

  Just barely over the Texas/Louisiana state line, which happened to be where Hail’s headquarters was located.

  Lucky for me, I’d hit the asphalt with my face just a block away from the building that housed all of Hail’s trucks.

  Also lucky for me that Travis was there to catch me when I’d fallen out in a dead faint at seeing all the blood from my head wound on my clothes.

  Dante, however, was nothing like his brother.

  He was nice, yes, but he wasn’t anywhere near as welcoming towards me.

  He was much more suspicious by nature, and although I’d worn him down a bit over the last five months, he was still wary of me.

  He’d looked into me, though, so he knew my past. Hell, I couldn’t blame him for being wary.

  I haven’t lived an easy life.

  I’d been in foster care since the age of four because my mother had died from a drug overdose.

  By fourteen, I had run away from eight foster homes and had been sent to juvie four times.

  By seventeen, I had gotten pregnant, lost my baby and dropped out of school.

  By nineteen, though, I started turning it around. I’d gotten my GED, enrolled in college and had started working full-time.

  By twenty-two, I’d graduated with my business degree and had started working when it all fell apart. I was arrested right along with my new bosses for supposedly helping them to launder money through their business.

  By twenty-five, I’d given up on my business degree and had started picking up odd jobs here and there.

  My luck, however, didn’t hold.

  Like some kind of magnet for them, I seemed to only meet bad guys. I had dated a total of four men, three of whom had gone to jail at some point during our relationship.

  Jensen, however, gave me hope. He’d been the man who I’d thought was my turning point.

  Then I’d overheard him and his friend, Barrett, speaking about kidnapping a woman and selling her to a man halfway across the country.

  In my haste to get away from them, I’d inadvertently tripped some silent alarm they’d had installed in their yard, meaning they’d caught me before I could even make it all the way back to my shitty car.

  Then, to put the icing on the cake, I’d been kidnapped right along with July, and we spent the next four months getting beaten and verbally abused. And raped, but I’m working through that.

  That was where Wolf came in with July’s now husband, Dean.

  Wolf was my game changer. He was the man I would forever compare all future men to.

  He’d literally changed my life, and although I wasn’t going to see him ever again, he’d forever be in my heart.

  He’d saved me from a life worse than death. He wasn’t looking for me, but he found me. And I’d forever owe him.

  “So, who are we meeting?” Travis asked. “I know it’s not Wolf. He’s not allowed here anymore.”

  The name ‘Wolf’ was pretty distinctive. I only knew one Wolf, and it was highly unlikely that this Wolf would be different from my Wolf.

  Especially since I knew the Hails had problems with the Uncertain Saints MC.

  Curiosity was always my downfall. This time, though, there would be no downfall.

  Not for me.

  I had too many strikes against me to add more to my list.

  Wolf may be coming here, but I wouldn’t be here when he did.

  There had to be a reason Travis and Dante didn’t like The Uncertain Saints, and I was going to make sure to keep my distance. I owed Wolf a great deal, but there was only so much shame that a woman could face, and I’d faced more than I wanted to.

  “Alright,” I said, standing and dropping the papers to the desktop. “I’m going to go have lunch and catch up on my reading since y’all are having meetings. If y’all need anything let me know.”

  With my back to the door and my eyes to Travis, whom I could see in his office, I knew Dante, who I couldn’t see but I’d bet was watching me on the monitor like he always did. I backed away.

&nbs
p; I’d nearly made it all the way to the door, too, when I bumped into something solid.

  Something solid that shouldn’t be there.

  “What in the hell are you doing here with them?” a familiar voice asked from behind me.

  I closed my eyes as Dante came out of his office, clearly not happy with the way Wolf’s arms were around me.

  “Let go of her. Now,” Dante ordered, eyes hot.

  My eyes widened and I tried to step out of Wolf’s embrace, but I couldn’t make my feet move.

  My body, unlike my mind, liked where it was.

  In fact, it liked it so much that I leaned back slightly before realizing just exactly what it was that I was doing.

  Then I rocketed forward, waved at Dante and Wolf, and ran out of the room.

  I took the stairs that led down to the street at a near run.

  The man at my back, however, was twice as fast as me, landing at the bottom in time to catch me before I could go all the way out the door and to freedom.

  “Oomph,” I hit Wolf’s body so hard that I lost my footing and would’ve gone down to my knees.

  Wolf’s arms kept me up as he pulled me into his chest and wrapped both arms so tightly around me that I could barely catch my breath.

  “What. Are. You. Doing. Here?” he asked, looking down at me with those intense eyes of his.

  “I’m living,” I said stupidly.

  His eyes, which were so focused on me that I could see every single striation in his iris, warmed.

  “My sister hasn’t been able to get a hold of you for weeks now,” he said. “Why are you hurting her like that?”

  I bit my lip.

  How did I tell him that his sister, the woman that had been kidnapped right along with me, brought back bad memories that I was trying to keep buried?

  You didn’t. You lied.

  Which was what I tried to do, but his eyes told me clearly that he didn’t believe a word that came out of my mouth.

  “I’m really busy,” I replied lamely.

  “You’re really not. Not if you’re Travis and Dante’s receptionist,” he challenged.

  My mouth fell open in affront. “Are you telling me that I’m lazy?”

  His brows furrowed in confusion. “How, exactly, did you get lazy out of what I said?”

  I ran my tongue over my teeth, thinking through what I would say next.

  “How’s Hannah?” I asked.

  “Crushing on some man that she saw,” he murmured. “Would you like me to tell her you inquired about her?”

  My mouth dropped open.

  “You’re…you allow her to do that?” I asked.

  He blinked.

  “I allow her to do whatever she wants. She’s a grown ass woman,” he replied. “You’re stalling.”

  I was.

  Still, he didn’t need to have his suspicions confirmed.

  Before I could find something else to deter his attention, Dante and Travis appeared on the landing above us.

  Travis locked the door as Dante continued down the stairs, his eyes on me. In Wolf’s arms.

  Why was I still in Wolf’s arms?

  I pulled away as if he’d burned me, tripping over myself once again so he had to catch me.

  Jesus, I was such a klutz.

  Dante’s eyes narrowed on me, and I had the sinking feeling that he was assessing everything I did, and he didn’t like what he was finding out.

  Moving away from Wolf once again, I picked up the purse I hadn’t realized I’d dropped, pulled the strap over my head, and pushed my way past him towards my car.

  I’d just placed my foot onto the smooth concrete right outside when a loud pop sounded.

  It wasn’t a normal sound. It was just a sound. One that didn’t affect me in the least.

  My eyes swung to the side where I saw Wolf’s shiny black bike leaning to one side against the curb, and then to the left to see Dante’s white Tahoe, and Travis’ black Mustang, only to stop when I saw someone leaning on my car.

  “Hey!” I yelled at the man.

  Then something tackled me from behind, taking me down so hard that my arm landed funny, raw pain shooting from my fingertips all the way to my shoulder blade.

  I cried out in agony, but whomever had hit me wasn’t getting up.

  In fact, he stayed down so long that I started to panic.

  Pop. Pop. Pop.

  “Still,” Wolf’s dark, angry voice growled.

  I closed my eyes as silent tears started to slip down my cheeks.

  “I think my arm’s broken,” I moaned, tears clogging my throat and making my words hard to understand.

  Wolf understood, though.

  Did he get up? No.

  He stayed exactly where he was, and when I heard the loud bang-bang, I knew why.

  The sound of an engine filled my ears and tires squealed in protest as whatever vehicle belonging to those tires sped away.

  That’s when it finally dawned on me what those first popping sounds I’d heard actually were.

  Gunfire.

  I was hearing gunfire.

  The boys behind me were returning gunfire.

  Somebody was shooting at us!

  It was long moments after the loud engine disappeared that Wolf finally got up off me, and when he did, the shooting pain intensified so much that I vomited on myself.

  “Shit,” Wolf growled. “Fuck, I’m sorry.”

  “Break it?” Travis asked as he hunkered down beside me.

  He was reaching behind him, replacing his gun in his holster, I realized.

  Dante did the same on my other side while Wolf gently rolled me over.

  “Broken as fuck,” Dante observed.

  My eyes went down, and my head started to whirl as I got a good look at my arm.

  It was odd.

  Really odd.

  I’d never seen my arm that contorted looking before.

  That was about the time I passed out.

  Chapter 3

  Muscles will get you to first base. A beard will get you all the way around the bases with my vagina smothering your face right before you slide into home.

  -Beardisms

  Wolf

  My stomach churned as I sat next to Raven on the bed.

  Her eyes were on the hot pink cast being placed on her arm as she tried valiantly to do anything but look at me.

  I couldn’t blame her.

  I’d been the one to break her arm after all.

  My stomach rolled again, and I closed my eyes, remembering the distinct crack that signaled Raven’s arm breaking. In two fucking places.

  Raven’s auburn hair shifted as she turned to look at me, and my eyes locked with hers.

  Her almost navy blue irises were so dark that they only brought more attention to her eyes rather than away from them. Compared to her milky white skin, they stood out starkly, making me unable to look away from her gaze.

  I tried not to do that anyway, though, seeing as when I did, my mind wandered.

  She had a beautiful body, all generous curves and soft skin. She’d be the perfect woman to have underneath you as you took her from behind. Or lying side by side. Then again, on her back would do fine, too, having her padded thighs cradling my hips as I pounded away inside of her.

  “I know you didn’t mean to,” Raven’s soft voice broke into my inner turmoil.

  I looked up and shrugged.

  Didn’t matter if I meant to or not. I still had.

  The nurse finished up with the casting just as the woman who’d been in a few minutes before to take Raven’s payment came in.

  “I’m sorry, Ma’am, but your insurance was declined due to non-payment,” the woman apologized to Raven as she handed her the insurance card she’d fished out of her pocket earlier.

  Raven’s face immediately went red.

  “Could you give me a moment, please?” Raven asked as she avoided my eyes
.

  I got up and walked out of the room without answering her, and immediately made my way toward the reception desk that I saw on the way in.

  The woman sitting behind the computer was engrossed in a Solitaire game, completely oblivious to me coming up behind her.

  “’Scuse me,” I rumbled, knowing damn well and good it’d make her jump.

  Her whole body did a one eighty in the computer chair, and she looked at me with wide, fear-filled eyes for all of ten seconds before a slow, admiring smile filled her face.

  “Can I help you?” she asked, her voice low and husky.

  “I want to pay. Where do I do that at?” I moved around her desk, and she followed me with her desk chair.

  “I can help you with that,” she smiled. “What’s your name?”

  “I’m paying for my girl.” My voice was hard, and I could tell that the mention of ‘my girl’ didn’t sit well with the woman.

  “What’s her name?” the woman, my eyes went to her name tag, Deena, questioned.

  Her fingers hovered over the keyboard, waiting for my next words.

  “Raven March. She’s in room five with a broken arm,” I replied.

  Deena’s lips thinned as her fingers started to click on the keys of the keyboard.

  “I’m showing a four thousand and twenty-dollar bill right now,” Deena replied once she’d pulled her name up. “How would you like to pay this? We don’t accept checks.”

  “Don’t you have the cash option?” I asked, fishing out my wallet from my back pocket. “If I remember correctly, from the last time I was in here with stitches, it was a flat five hundred dollars.”

  Deena’s mouth went even tighter.

  “Yes,” she clipped. “Cash or credit card?”

  “Cash,” I replied, fishing out five one hundred dollar bills from my pocket.

  I’d planned to go buy a new pistol today with the money, but plans change, after all, and not always for the better.

  It’d all started with the call I’d gotten that morning from one of my informants and had gone straight downhill from there.

  I’d intended to talk with Travis, a man that I knew hated my guts, to ask him for help. I had the president of our motorcycle club, Peek set up the meeting. I was going to tag along and hope they would talk to me.