Trusting Nicole

by Muriel Garcia

  “Will do.” I chuckle, shaking my head as he shudders.

  “Nightmares for months.”

  “Big baby.” I laugh as I climb into my car.

  We both drive to the compound and whilst I’m still fucking pissed that Nicole and I were interrupted, it’s a relief that things are progressing. We might finally get some peace very soon. It’s about fucking time, we all deserve a break after the couple of years we’ve had.

  As we drive, I get a bad feeling. This seems too easy. Why go to such great lengths of constantly leading us on false trails if in the end they just lead us back to the compound for a me- It’s a fucking trap.

  I grab my phone and call Ant.

  “What’s up, Sanders? Almost here?”

  “Get everybody out of the compound. It’s a fucking trap!” I yell into the phone.

  “What are you talking about?” he asks, confused by what I’m saying.

  “Why would they ask for a meeting after giving us the run around?”

  “Fuck! Everybody get the fuck out of here it’s a trap.” I hear Ant yell in the clubhouse. I flash my lights at Gabe and he slows down. I catch up to him.

  “It’s a trap!” I yell at him as we hear a loud explosion coming from the direction of the compound.

  “Fuck!” he yells and we both speed over there. I try to call Ant back, but there’s no answer. Shit, they better be alive.

  When we get there, it’s a fucking war zone. The place has been torn apart and is on fire. It looks like everybody got out of the compound safely and that only a couple of men from each of the three clubs were there for the meeting. A few are injured, but none of them seem to be badly hurt.

  I jump out of my car and see Gabe already rushing to help the others. I’ve barely closed my car door when I feel a sharp pain on the back of my head and fall to the ground. The last thing I see is Ant yelling in my direction before everything goes black.

  CHAPTER 19

  Nicole

  I smile proudly at my work. Bennett wanted a change from his longish hair so I shaved off the sides and back and trimmed the top. It looks quite neat, especially with his thick beard. He looks like a Viking.

  “It looks amazing!” I grin wide and hand him a mirror.

  “You did good, Nic.” He grins and looks at his new hair from every possible angle.

  “I know!” I chuckle. “It was desperately needed.”

  “So true. How have you been? I heard you’ve been through some crazy shit.”

  “I’ve been good, just trying to make Jase understand that whether he’s with me or not, if someone wants to hurt me, they will and that he shouldn’t push me away to try and protect me but should be here doing it himself.” I shrug.

  “Stubborn ass like your brothers?” He chuckles.

  “You know it. So frustrating.” I frown. “What about you? How have you been?”

  “I’m getting there. I can finally ride again which is such a relief because I hated not being able to ride. She’s my baby, you know. I feel shit that I wasn’t able to protect you, Viv and Jenny. I was supposed to keep you safe and I ended up getting shot.” He sighs, frustrated with himself.

  “We’ve never blamed you for not being able to save us. They shot you, it’s not like you willingly stood back and decided not to help.”

  “I know but I can’t help feeling guilty. Had I been able to fight, things might have happened differently.”

  “Hey, enough with the self-loathing. It’s not doing anyone any good.”

  “Alright. Got anymore Red Velvet croissants?” He grins.

  “Gabe told me to stop feeding you cake.” I pout.

  “Well, he’s not around.” He shrugs, making me laugh.

  “Alright. One and that’s all. I’m not letting you eat my Red Velvety stash.” I grin and heat up two of those amazing pastries.

  “You’re a star.” He limps into the kitchen and sits at the table.

  “How in the hell do you manage to swagger even more with that limp. I swear you make it look cool.” I chuckle.

  “I’m too cool, that’s why.” He flashes me his megawatt smile and refills his coffee with the coffee pot that’s on the table.

  “Any special lady in your life?” I grin, wanting to play matchmaker.

  “No and don’t get any crazy ideas. I’m not looking to settle down or anything.” He chuckles and actually looks scared.

  “You suck!” I grin as I take the two croissants out of the oven and put them on a plate.

  “Aww you made me two, that’s brilliant!”

  “Woah buddy, one is for me!” I glare at him. “You touch it and I’ll shove a fork through your hand.”

  “What a good host you make.” He scoffs looking unimpressed as he takes a bite out of his croissant and manages to burn his tongue.

  “Serves you right.” I grin and take mine, cutting it in half so it cools faster.

  “Bitch.” He glares at me and ends up grinning like a fool.

  “Ah, you love me so it’s fine.” I shrug and take a tentative bite.

  “Of course, but only like a sister so don’t get your hopes up.” he says as seriously as he can.

  “You’re breaking my heart.” I say dramatically and we both burst out laughing.

  “I’m glad you found someone who loves you as much as Jase does.”

  “Me too.” I sigh happily. “I’m relieved Gabe and Aleck are okay with it.”

  “It’s surprising but Jase is a good man, despite having worked for the cops for so long.” He shudders.

  “I know what you mean. It was killing him though.”

  “I bet. Would have killed me too.”

  “At least now he’s free from it.” I take another bite of my croissant, thinking about how life is going to be now that he’s on the cops’ hit list. I don’t have much time to think about it though as my phone starts to ring. I pull it from my back pocket and hit answer. “Hello?”

  “Nicole.”

  “Yes? Who is this?”

  “Sergei.” Uh oh, this can’t be good.

  “What’s going on?” I ask, nervous already.

  “Something bad happened,” he says and I feel numb.

  “W-what happened?” I ask looking up at Bennett who looks as confused as I do.

  “Put it on speaker.” Bennett tells me. I do as he says and set the phone between us.

  “Who is with you?” Sergei asks.

  “I’m Bennett.”

  “Ah, one of the Last Hangman.”

  “How do you know?” he asks not pleased.

  “I know a lot of things.” His thick Russian accent makes all of this even more creepy and worrying.

  “What happened?” Bennett asks, I can’t bring myself to ask again.

  “The Disciples set up a trap. They asked the Last Hangman to be at their compound for a meeting, but it was so they could blow it up and take everyone out.”

  “What?” Bennett yells.

  “Calm down son, and let me finish.”

  “Hurry up then!” Bennett says impatiently.

  “No one was killed, a few hurt but nothing too terrible.”

  “That’s good. What else do you know?” Bennett obviously takes the lead of the conversation.

  “They did take someone.”

  “Jase,” I say quietly.

  “Da. I’m sorry Nicole. I had sent Nikolai there to warn them because Jason wasn’t answering his phone, but he was too late. He got there when they were taking Jason away. Nikolai tried to follow them but he lost the trail. We are trying to locate him now. I’ll keep you updated if we hear anything else. We’ll set up a plan to get him back, don’t worry.”

  “I hope you’re right. I can’t lose him.” I try to keep it together, but it’s getting hard. I knew I had feelings for Jase but I didn’t know they ran this deep.

  “Nicole, zolotse, everything will be okay. I promise.”

  “You two know each other?” Bennett whispers loudly.

  “Da. In a
way we do. I must go now. I’ll call you when I know more,” he says before hanging up.

  “How in the hell do you know someone from the Russian mafia?”

  “It’s a long story.” I sigh as I try to call Ant.

  “Sergei Varushkin is one of the most powerful and dangerous men around. How in the hell do you know him?”

  “Fuck.” I sigh when I hear my phone ring through to his voicemail. “I killed someone, one of his men saw me, took some pictures and blackmailed me into working for him so he wouldn’t show them to the world. They implicated Jase, I didn’t want him to get into trouble for saving my ass. I ended up escorting for him and no, before you ask, I did not fuck men for money.” I glare at him as he was already opening his mouth to ask that same question. I try to ring Gabe. “Why aren’t they answering?”

  “I’ll try.” He rubs my hand and dials a couple of numbers until he manages to reach Ray.

  “Ray. What the fuck happened? Are you guys alri-...I’m here with her. Jase’s boss told us he was taken…Right…Right…Okay, we’ll stay here and wait for your call.” He hangs up.

  “Ant is busy calling around for intel on their whereabouts and Gabe is making sure all the old ladies are okay and safe. Rounding them up all together.”

  I nod. “This is a fucking nightmare.”

  “It’s going to be okay. We can rebuild the compound. The important thing is that no one is hurt.” He tries to reassure me.

  “Jase was taken, Bennett. From what he’s told me, they are after him because he killed the Prez’s parents or something. Unless we find them in the next few hours, there’s no chance Jase is making it out of there alive!” I yell at him as I break down. I can’t stop the tears from running down my cheeks, the love of my life has gone missing and I have no way to get to him. I’m afraid of what might happen to him.

  “I promise you one thing, we will all make sure Jase gets out of there alive. He’s one of us.” He hugs me tightly.

  “He is?” I look up at him.

  “Yes. It was discussed a while back, he’d be a good asset for the club and a good member. He fits right in.” He smiles at me.

  “Well, that’s good I suppose.” I sigh as I dry my tears.

  “It is. We have to stay focused and hope for the best. There’s nothing we can do at the moment but wait patiently to hear from someone. But with three MC's and the Russians looking for him, Jase will make it out alive. I promise you, zolotse.” He chuckles, mocking Sergei. “What the fuck does that even mean?”

  “I have no clue and right now, I don’t care.” I sigh and make another pot of coffee while Bennett engrosses himself in one of my textbooks. Who knew he loved art?

  I’m startled when the doorbell rings. I’m not sure what to expect, considering how things have been lately. I take a deep breath and open the door to someone I don’t recognize.

  “Can I help you?”

  “Yes. Are you Nicole Lyle?”

  “Yes, that’s me.”

  “Good.” He smirks and in less time than it takes to say anything, he grabs me, covers my mouth and throws me in the back of a van that’s parked in front of the house. I don’t have time to scream or warn Bennett.

  As we start driving, I hear Bennett call my name and then everything suddenly goes black as they put something over my head and bind my hands. I try to struggle but the mystery man speaks from next to me.

  “It’s pointless to struggle, Princess.” He laughs creepily and I oddly hope I find Jase at the other end of this fucking ride. I don’t care about the rest as long as I see Jase one last time. I do as my captor says and stop struggling, I don’t have any other choice. It breaks my heart when I realize I’ll never see my brothers, my friends or my family again.

  CHAPTER 20

  Jason

  I groan as I wake up with a massive headache. I open my eyes and look around. I’m in what looks like a dark warehouse. I try to move but I look down to see that I’m tied to a chair, my wrists are bound tightly to the arms of the chair. The room is completely bare besides a table. I see a bunch of people standing against a wall, I don’t see a door anywhere so I’m guessing the front door is behind me. Could be useful if I can manage to come up with an escape plan.

  “Sleeping beauty is finally waking up,” a voice I know all too well says.

  “I’m going to fucking kill you, Slider.”

  “See, I don’t see it happening that way. I mean, I’m standing and you’re tied to a chair. How exactly do you think you’re going to kill me?” He asks as he pulls a chair in front of me and sits on it backwards, resting his arms against the back.

  “I’ll manage, don’t worry about the details.” I smirk, obviously trying to buy myself some time and mess with his head.

  “Oh, I’m not worried.” He chuckles.

  “What the fuck do you want?” I look at him.

  “See, I’m here for a couple of reasons. The first one being that you took my parents away from me when I was young, you tortured and you killed them. I know about your ways, Jason. Did you really think no one would ever come after you after what you’ve done? Did you really think you could torture and kill people without suffering the consequences? That’s quite bold of you. I know you are, well, were, protected by the Russians and the Last Hangman and look where it’s gotten you. We grabbed you right from under their noses. I wonder how they feel about that or maybe they just don’t care about you. One less person for them to worry about I guess.” he says, trying to provoke me.

  “Since you know so much about me, you know that no matter what you do, I’ll never talk. There’s nothing you can do or say that’ll make me give you what you want. I know you’re not just here for revenge. You want to know something that apparently only I know since you only took me.”

  “You’re smart. I’ll give you that. But I wasn’t finished. I’m here for sweet little Nicole too. She killed my brother. He loved her, gave her everything and she threw him away and then killed him to make sure things would be really over. Of course you, out of all people, had to go and protect her. So not only did you kill my parents, but you helped a murderer get away with killing the only family I had left. How do you think that makes me feel?”

  “Honestly? I don’t give a fuck how you feel about any of it.” I shrug and see his face waver. He’s not used to someone he’s holding captive talking back and not giving a fuck about the repercussions.

  “Don’t give me that attitude, Jason. You have no idea what I’m capable of.”

  “Oh, I know. What I want to know is why you are after the Last Hangman? Why blow up their compound. You hated the Kings so why go after the Hangman?”

  “How do you know I hated them?”

  “Your cop friend talked right before I shot him right in the head.” I smirk.

  “Motherfucker.” He growls, stands up and throws the chair against the wall.

  “What? You didn’t know he was dead? Was he precious to you?” I chuckle.

  “I’m going to enjoy every single second of watching you bleed to death.” He punches me hard in the jaw. I feel the sting and taste blood in my mouth. He’s losing control, good.

  “Don’t be so sure about that.” I smirk. “Again, why are you after the Last Hangman?”

  “Because they are scumbags.”

  I scoff. “Have you looked in a mirror recently?”

  “Don’t play that game with me. You won’t win.”

  “I’m not in it to win, I’m here for the thrill of it.” I shrug.

  “See, the Hangman were around when my parents lived here. They caused fucking chaos everywhere they went and made sure the good people of this city were terrified to live here. My parents were one of those families that were too scared because of your little friends, they were happy here until you lot came along. I knew I’d get my revenge one day; I’d make them pay for what they did to my parents. I knew one day I’d get my revenge, they might have all gotten out of their burning compound alive, but their confidence is s
haken. So my plan worked.” he says, rather proud of himself and I see a couple of the guys in the back shake their head at his stupidity.

  “Right, so let me get this straight. You think that blowing up their compound is going to stop them? They are unharmed and pissed off. What you did was paint a huge fucking target on your back. You have over a hundred bikers on the lookout for you and trust me, they won’t let you get a word in before blowing your fucking brains out. But it’s not just the MC's that you have on your ass, you have the Russian mafia after you as well. They trained me, made me the man I am today, you know what I did to your parents? Imagine fifty men trained to torture people like I was. If I were you, I’d hope the Hangman, Bastards or Angels find us first, but that’s just my personal preference.” I chuckle.

  “You have no idea what you’re talking about,” he yells.

  “I know exactly what I’m talking about. See, you’re going to torture me, hurt me, do whatever and I won’t talk. You’re going to get upset and sloppy. Your men over there, I’m still wondering how in the hell you managed to become the Prez by the way, they're going to laugh at you and lose what little respect they had for you. My friends, something you don’t have, are going to barge in and kill every single one of you, so if I were you,” I take a second to look at the guys in the back of the warehouse. “I’d run whilst you still can. They aren’t going to want to talk or wait for explanations. They are going to shoot on sight and they never miss. So no matter what you do to me, I can die in peace knowing you won’t make it out alive either.” I smirk at him, rattling his last drop of confidence.

  “Shut up!” he yells making me laugh.

  “This is actually a lot more fun than I thought.”

  “You are fucking insane! You’re going to regret every single word!” He spits but I can see that he’s starting to get nervous.

  “Bring it.” I smirk and feel another blow connect with my cheekbone. He can punch all he likes, I’m used to this type of treatment. I live for it. I inflict it on others. I’m trained to give it and take it. He has no idea what he’s gotten himself into.