God, she missed that woman. Carolina had become like a mother to her—a mother, sister, best friend wrapped up in one.
“Hey, you still with me?” Jem’s hand was on her thigh. She’d been shivering without realizing it, and he’d turned the heat up to full blast.
“Definitely with you.” She turned to meet his gaze, which, even in the half-light was focused enough on her to make her shiver a little—a different kind of shiver. “It’s just … a lot, being here.”
“I know, babe. If there was another way. But letting you out of my sight? Not an option.”
Yes, she definitely liked take-charge Jem. “Do you think Danny has any clue that we’re here?”
“No, but we’re in his territory. I wouldn’t be surprised to see him hanging out here. The diner’s where he makes most of his deals.”
She didn’t ask Jem how he knew that. There was too much she knew already. “So, what happens now?”
“Now you stay here with the gun and you shoot anyone that’s not from our team.”
“And I suppose you’re going after Danny.”
“I suppose I am.”
“Jem …”
“Are you worried about him?”
“What? No. Definitely not.”
“Because that’s understandable.”
“No, it’s not understandable. I’m worried about you.”
“Me?” He looked at her like she’d said the most absurd thing ever. “Honey, you need to worry about the people I go after. I’m not the one to worry about.”
“That doesn’t mean I won’t.”
He shook his head. Leaned in and kissed her forehead, then her lips. “Thanks, babe.”
And then, as if on cue, Avery was sliding into the backseat. “Hey, guys.” She tossed Jem the keys. “Truck’s close to the back door.”
“Got it.” Jem gave Drea a quick smile before exiting the car and disappearing into the diner. Avery scrambled over the console and into the driver’s seat.
“You want to drive instead?” she asked Drea.
“Thanks, but I’m too nervous.”
Avery nodded. What Drea liked best about both Avery and Grace was that neither of them told her not to be nervous or worried. They were simply there for her, for each other. “We can stay and watch them come out together. Or we can take off now.”
“I need to see it.”
Avery nodded. Shut the car off, and without the headlights, it was dark as hell, thanks to where Jem had chosen to park. But no way did Drea want Danny to catch sight of her. He’d know that Jem was grabbing him because of her, but still. “He’s just going to reason with Danny.”
“Reason with talking or torture?”
“Sometimes Jem’s talking can be torture. You know how he does that talking-in-circles thing? All that babbling sometimes breaks grown men.”
Drea snorted out a laugh. “It’s definitely a gift.”
*
Jem was going to bring Danny out through the kitchen. It would be easy enough to do so, considering that Grace had slipped something into his soda that would work as a fast-acting narcotic. Dare distracted everyone by accidentally making a waitress drop her tray near Danny, getting food on him.
Danny jumped up, cursing. Jem noticed the waitress turned pale, and then Danny got a little pale himself. He clutched his stomach and lurched to the bathroom.
Dare put a hand on the waitress’s shoulder. “He’ll be okay. Don’t worry about it.”
She smiled a little; then Dare glanced over her shoulder and Jem nodded and made his move. Grace had moved to stand guard outside the bathroom door, and he went past her as she continued her watch.
Dare would clear the kitchen, get Jem out of there safely. Then Grace would go with him to the meeting spot with the OAs … and the Vipers.
But for right now, all Jem needed to deal with was Danny, who was unceremoniously slumped over one of the sinks. He’d hit his forehead, but he wasn’t knocked out from that.
What Grace had given him was a dose of one of her all-natural potions, mostly belladonna. It would keep him out just long enough for Jem to get him to the appointed spot without trouble.
Jem had argued that he just wanted to knock the fucker out in the middle of the diner. “Because you know every non-OA in there would fucking cheer.”
“Can’t argue with you,” Key said. “But no. Just fucking no, okay?”
“Okay,” Jem said now, mainly talking to himself as he eased Danny’s arm over his shoulder and held his hand. He half dragged the guy through the kitchen—Grace had already given some sob story about her brother being sick, and the kitchen staff mainly ignored them as they went through.
Dare was at his car. They got Danny in the front seat. Handcuffed him.
“You’re on,” Dare murmured to Jem.
“Bet your ass.” Jem drove away. He was angrier now than he’d been in a long time. He’d been trying to let go of some of the steam he’d acquired during his most recent fight with Drea—the one he’d caused, for her own good—but it wasn’t working.
Every time he looked at the scum next to him, he wanted to wring the fuck out of Danny’s neck. Again. Just put his hands around the guy’s throat and squeeze until he shut the fuck up for good. He actually heard Gunner’s voice in his head, reminding him that “Strangled people don’t tell secrets.”
But hell, what fucking secrets did they really need? He could get intel on those feds who’d let Danny loose in the room with Drea without this asshole. So once he pulled into the dark and camera-free parking lot and dragged Danny up the stairs, he tied him to a chair, then woke him up by putting a palm across his throat and squeezing.
Danny’s eyes opened. Bulged. And then focused on him.
“Yep. Me again, fucker. Remember what I told you would happen? It’s about to,” Jem promised.
He let go of Danny’s throat, but only because he wanted to hear Danny try his asshole talk. Danny gasped instead. “Don’t be such a drama queen.”
Danny pointed at him, his eyes blazing with anger. His voice was hoarse when he said, “You’re fucking with my woman.”
“She hasn’t been yours for a long time, asshole. And she’s never going to be again.”
Danny’s eyes glinted, like he knew something Jem and Gunner didn’t, and he was taking great pleasure in it. Jem went for his throat again, not quite a strangulation, but close enough to keep Jem moderately happy.
Danny, on the other hand? The bulging-eyes look wasn’t a good one on him.
Jem stared him down. “Listen, you asshole—I want some motherfucking details about the feds you’re working with.”
“Fuck you,” Danny managed, and yeah, Jem could see why the guy was being cocky. He figured he was being covered on both ends, by his MC and the law. But hell, in between those two groups was a lot of room for outside play, and biker-man was gonna learn that shit the hard way.
Tonight, the entire chapter—and some of the others in the tri-state area, would be the subjects of a massive raid from a combination of the DEA and ATF, thanks to intel shared by Ethan and Dirk, and gained from Keegan’s insights into the way the Heathens were pushing meth. From that, it was easy enough for the agencies to click together the puzzle pieces of the drug train these charters had going between them. But these MCs would have no idea what the hell end was up, or what hit them.
It would only be after the men Key sent here discovered Danny, and the tape, that they’d know for sure. And Jem would watch the whole fucking thing with pleasure.
But first … there was one thing he knew he had to do if he and Drea ever had a snowball’s chance in hell of working out.
*
Key watched the OA trickle into the bar from his vantage point across the street. He counted eight in all. No doubt armed, although he suspected that more of them carried knives than guns, as knives were much more easily concealed and thrown away.
“This is gonna be fun,” Gunner drawled next to him.
Next
to Gunner, Keegan smiled. “Those guys there, the ones standing around the bike? Those are your guys for Vipers.”
“What the fuck did they do?” Key asked.
“They killed a few Vipers a few years back. Took out their old ladies too, for good measure. A fucking bloodbath.” Keegan sounded troubled and Key wondered if that had been the last straw for the man, the reason he’d asked for help getting out. “Anyway, they were well hidden, so prison wasn’t an option. Police had their heads up their asses anyway, figuring that, if it was an MC revenge thing, better to let us kill ourselves off. Goddamn, they were right.”
“So the Vipers were receptive to your call, right?” Gunner asked as the sounds of revved-up bikes rang through the air, cutting through the relative calm.
“I’m guessing so,” Keegan said. Outwardly, he appeared calm, but he was holding himself rigidly, fighting the urge to move and burn off the nervous energy that emanated from him. He glanced nervously over to the empty spot where the men had stood. “How’re you going to give these guys to the Vipers without causing a riot?”
Key glanced at Gunner, who nodded, then disappeared. Keegan just shook his head, muttering, “Fucking Special Forces guys. Used to bartend for some of them.”
“Betting you picked up a few tricks.”
“Maybe.”
Key glanced over at Vipers. They’d seen them standing here—that was their concession. Vipers knew that Keegan was feeding them intel and they would only agree to come here if they could actually lay eyes on him. One of the men crossed the street casually, an envelope in his hand. He opened the mailbox and went to put it inside, staring at Keegan the whole time.
“You got your reasons,” the man said. “You’re not in trouble with us.”
“I’m dead if the OA find out,” Keegan answered.
“So why do it?”
“Karma,” was all Keegan answered. The Vipers’ MC biker shook his head and walked back to his men to wait.
Key knew that Keegan had adopted Gunner’s versions of karma—that Gunner would do favors for anyone’s life he saved, rather than the other way around, and in a way, it made Key like Keegan even more.
In the next five minutes, Gunner gave a signal as he walked blithely out into the alleyway behind the bar. He was almost immediately followed by the wanted men. It appeared to be a run-of-the-mill drug deal, and when Gunner took money in exchange for the goods, he walked away.
The men lingered. And that’s when the Vipers pounced.
Key double-timed it to Gunner. It was up to them to provide enough distraction inside the bar that the OA wouldn’t notice their men were missing.
Yet.
And Keegan would remain in shadow.
Key reached Gunner, his blood strumming with the promise of a damned good fight. He was ready to destroy.
Gunner practically rubbed his hands together with glee. “Gonna be fun.” And, since lately it’d been all work and no play for Key, this would definitely be fucking fun.
Chapter Thirty-two
They’d driven for about half an hour when Avery’s phone rang. She grabbed it, pulled over and listened. Drea’s nervousness increased.
“Okay, yes, I can do that.” Avery glanced over at Drea. “Right. Are you sure? Suppose she’s not sure?”
“She’s really fucking tired of everyone making decisions for her,” Drea muttered.
Avery smirked. “If she agrees, we’ll be back in half an hour.” She pulled the phone from her ear and touched the screen. “That was Jem. He wants you to be with him.”
Drea frowned. “I don’t understand … he’s with Danny, right?”
“Yes. He doesn’t want you in the room. But he wants you right next door. Says there’s a way he can keep an eye on you—and you on him.”
“Wow.” She took a deep breath. “What do you think brought this on?”
Avery shook her head. “I’m not even going to attempt to get inside Jem’s head. I was there once. It’s not pretty.”
What the hell was the man thinking? And Drea realized it didn’t matter, because whatever he was attempting to prove, she’d prove the opposite. “Take me to him.”
“Consider it done.” Avery did a U-turn in the middle of the road and sped back the way they’d come. She drove past the diner where Jem had taken Danny, and then about ten minutes later, she pulled behind a building that looked like office space.
“What’s this place?”
“Not what it looks like. I didn’t even know this kind of thing existed before a few months ago. Oh, to be innocent again.” Avery rolled her eyes, but she actually looked semiflushed with excitement.
Would Drea be able to feel like that one day? God, she hoped so.
With Avery waiting in the car, Drea buzzed the third-floor button and waited until the door clicked. She went inside with a wave to Avery, took the stairs up and found Jem waiting for her.
“Yeah, she’s here. Thanks, Avery.” He hung up and motioned for her to follow.
“Hello to you too,” she murmured.
He turned on her, backing her into the wall. “Don’t. None of that sarcasm shit right now.”
“But it’s okay for you.”
“Was I sarcastic?”
“No, but you’re being an asshole.”
Jem’s face softened for a mere instant before he told her fiercely, “I think you need to be here. You need to see exactly what I’m going to do.”
“You didn’t want me here.”
“Changed my goddamned mind. You want to know me—all of me—then you stay with me and see what I do. Because if this has any chance of working, you don’t get to sit back and wonder what I do. I never want you to worry behind my back that I might be fucking nuts. You need to know that I am, that I take chances most people won’t take. Maybe that’ll change as I get older, but so far, no such luck.”
“Is that what happened on the island? You took chances?”
“Yes. And left all of you behind while I did it.”
“Avery and Grace seemed to understand.”
“They do. They’re different.”
“Right,” she said hollowly. “Avery said I’d be staying in another room. That you could monitor me.”
He stared at her. Shook his head. “I want you in there with me. Confronting your own goddamned fears.”
“Why? I’ve seen him. It didn’t go well.”
“You hit him with a chair.”
“I …” She clamped her mouth shut. “I don’t think I can do this.”
“If you don’t, you’re always going to wonder if you could stand up to him, if you could defend yourself—hold your own—and I know you can. But right now you’re unsure and I’m not dealing with that. I’m not letting you not deal with it.” With that, he pushed off the wall and pointed. “This door? There’s an empty room and a monitor, where I can see you but you can’t see me. If you pick that, go in, lock the door and wait. This room? That’s where I’m going. Same deal. Come inside, lock the door behind you.”
“And wait?”
“You’ll be doing more than waiting. You’ll be confronting your past in a way you never thought.”
*
Jesus, this was fun. Key’s fist connected with a cheekbone that shattered. The man howled and Key took another swing, breaking the guy’s nose.
“Fucking pussy,” he muttered as he ducked to avoid a pool cue through his eye socket. He stood, grabbed the cue, broke it over his knee and slammed one of the bikers across his throat with it.
The guy went down silently, hands on his Adam’s apple.
“Some help here!” Gunner called. Key swung around to find Gunner fighting off six OAs circling him, some with knives, others with pool cues.
“Come on, man—you know you don’t need me,” Key chided. “You just want me to watch.”
“Damned straight.” Gunner laughed and grabbed for the nearest pool cue. He broke it over his knee, took the closest two out by slamming it across their throats. The kn
ife guy was next. Gunner grabbed the guy’s other arm, and when the knife came Gunner’s way, he ducked, wrapped the man’s arm behind his back and broke it with a clean snap.
The man dropped to his knees and Gunner grabbed the knife and pocketed it. “Great souvenir.”
Key agreed. The whole place was in a fucking frenzy. They’d concentrated on the OA, but there were other MCs here, and all of them were raring to kick some ass.
It was a dangerous place, and Key was glad that the only women he saw were the bartenders. They’d huddled in a safe corner, holding bats.
And then Key noticed Ethan, dealing with a fucking bear of a biker, with massive forearms and the biggest head Key had ever seen. Like the fucking Paul Bunyan of bikers. And Ethan was kicking his ass.
Impressive. And Key didn’t want to be impressed with anything Ethan did. Also, both Key and Gunner had told Ethan to wait in the car behind the bar, to provide backup only if necessary. Key made his way over to him, had to sidestep as the Paul Bunyan biker went flying past him. “What the fuck?”
“Thought it was necessary,” Ethan said.
Key noted that his knuckles were bruised. “How’s it feel to really get back in the game?”
Ethan smirked. “Key, I never left the game.”
Key rolled his eyes. “The others are waiting for us. Cops have been notified by the neighbors—as always, time to run.”
“It won’t always be the case,” Ethan assured him. “However, now it definitely seems like a good idea.”
Chapter Thirty-three
Jem didn’t want this for Drea. But seeing Danny, hearing him fucking gloat about how he had Drea running like a scared rabbit … how easy it was to break her … well, Jem could only deal with so much of that.
He could—and he would—beat the shit out of Danny before turning him over to the OA members who’d heard the tape about Danny being a snitch. But first, Drea had to watch, to know what he did and why he did it.
He waited behind the closed door. He refused to let himself be distracted, because even though Danny hadn’t had formal training, the guy was strong and tricky, and the belladonna was wearing off.
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