Threat: A Blood Riders MC Novel (Book 1)

by Tia Lewis

  He reached down for me. I put my hands up instinctively to defend myself, but he grabbed them and held them over my head with one hand, pinning them down on the floor while forcing his legs between mine. With his free hand, he pushed my top up and pulled my breasts out of my bra, squeezing them and moaning appreciatively. He reached down between my legs and pushed my skirt up over my hips. "Let's see if this pussy is as nice as your tits."

  “No,” I pleaded. “Please.”

  He forced my thighs wide apart, and I felt his massive erection digging into my stomach. He pulled my black thong aside, and I felt the thick head of his cock press against my crotch.

  “Mmm,” he moaned. “Nice and warm.”

  “Please, please don’t do this.”

  “Oh, I will.” He smiled. “You're my lady now.”

  “No,” I cried, defeated.

  “Oh, and I thought you should know. After I get done fucking you, I’m going to pin your murder on the Blood Riders and the dead kid. The gun pulls it all together. See, you and Drake were messing around. Everybody knows it. Only Richie didn’t like it—again, I have a witness at the deli who can testify that you met Richie there the first time. And when Drake found out that Richie came here and tried to make a pass at you…” He gestured toward Richie’s lifeless body. “Then he killed him and you for betraying him. Awful, right?”

  He scratched the side of his head with the gun’s muzzle. “I still don’t know if Drake kills himself, though. That’s the part I can’t decide. I mean, if he didn’t, the police would arrest him, and that would be that. But if he does, the Club is finished.”

  “Big Jack is still at the head of the Club,” I murmured as I tried to wiggle my body underneath from him.

  “For now. Until his cancer kills him.”

  “Cancer?” I gasped.

  Hawk smiled. “Oh, you didn’t know that, either? This is a big day for you. Yeah, the big man’s been going to an oncologist. It doesn’t look good. I heard it’s his colon, but I haven’t been able to confirm.”

  “Get off me,” I demanded.

  “Can’t you see we’re having a lovely conversation? You should be thanking me for sparing you before I really have my way.”

  “Fuck you.”

  “I mean, of course, all this can end right now with a bullet in your head.” He raised his eyebrow. “The choice is yours.”

  I managed to wiggle enough to where I didn’t feel his disgusting cock against my crotch. Thank God he didn’t actually insert it inside me. He was so full of himself explaining what he has done that he barely even noticed. Now, I just had to deal with his repulsive body on top of me as I listened to him ramble on. If I could just squirm from under his massive frame, then I can dart for the knife, slice his throat and end this for once for all.

  I cleared my throat. “I’m listening.”

  “Good girl.” He petted my hair.

  “So, how do you know all this?”

  “Well.” He paused. “Ever since the Blood Riders took away the Cobra business back in the nineties when Jack came into power, I’ve wanted to end them. I’ve wanted to see him pay for what he did to my club. We were the ones on top back then. I was just a kid. I wasn’t the head of the Club as I am now. But I saw what it did to the guys who had been there from the beginning.”

  “Oh.” I winced. I closed my eyes with disgust as I inhaled his hot repulsive breath which made me almost vomit.

  “They had nothing, all thanks to Jack and his greed. I’ve been waiting to do this for a long time. I’ve made that Club my life. I watched them, listened to them, and followed them around. I know everything there is to know.”

  “Except when to shut the fuck up.” Hawk jumped off of me at the sound of Drake’s voice behind him. Neither of us had heard him come in—he must have really tried to stay silent, plus the sound of Hawk’s voice had drowned out the noise.

  Hawk reached down and grabbed me by the arm, yanking me to him. “So you’re finally here,” he snarled, heading towards Richie’s body. “How nice. Just in time to see what I was going to do to her.”

  “You won’t do anything to her,” Drake said. His voice calm. “Let her go because now you have me.”

  “Oh. You didn’t hear any of my plans, did you? No, you must have missed that part. See, she goes. That’s non-negotiable. She dies, just like this little shit did.” He nudged Richie’s body with his biker boot, sneering. “He was so easy to trick, it was too easy. He’s a little slow, right?”

  “You okay, baby?” Drake asked me. “He didn’t touch you did he?”

  “No.” I sniffled, shaking my head.

  “My new old lady and I were about to have a good ol’ time. Isn’t that right?” He winked at me. “It’s unfortunate the party had to end because I can tell she has a real tight—”

  “Shut your fucking mouth!” Drake roared. “What do you think you’re going to accomplish?”

  Drake wouldn’t look at me. He would only look at Hawk, and the gun in his hand. I wondered where Drake’s weapon was. He didn’t come without one, did he? There was no way he could fight Hawk off without anything.

  “Well, I’m gonna get what I’ve been waiting for. I’m gonna make your club pay for what it did to my club, and I’m going to shut you down. It’s a shame you won’t be around for it.” He pulled me closer to him, speaking right into my ear. I grimaced at his nearness, at the feeling of his breath on my skin. “I decided. He’s gonna die, too. I think it’s romantic. Like Romeo and Juliet.” I let out a stifled sob. I couldn’t believe it was coming down to this. If I had only left the Blood Riders alone …

  This is not your fault. It sounded like my father, which I knew was impossible, but it was the only comfort I had. If I had to imagine that his words were coming through my head, so be it. It’s not your fault. You didn’t do this. It’s him. He’s the bad guy, not you. What difference did it make when I was about to die and Drake right along with me? It didn’t exactly make me feel better.

  Hawk yanked on my arm again, until I was on my knees, not ten feet from where Drake stood. Drake’s fists were clenched like he wanted to hurt Hawk but was afraid of hurting me in the process. I looked up at him through the tears in my eyes. I was fearful to speak.

  “Before I kill her, I want her to tell you something.”

  “What?” Drake hissed. “What’s the point of this, huh?”

  “You’ll see.” Hawk pressed the gun to my temple. I whimpered. “I want you to tell him the truth. Tell him who you are.”

  “Fuck you,” I spat.

  “Tell him. Before you die, tell him the truth. Do it!” I could feel the cold metal from the gun pressing against my head. If I was going to die, I might as well be honest—even if he would hate me for it, which I knew he would. Because I’d lied. Everything was a lie.

  “My name—”

  “Tell him!” Hawk yelled.

  “My name is Nicole Bluth!” I whimpered.

  “Tell him everything.”

  “My father was Detective Robert Bluth. I went to your club because I thought I could find information about who killed him. I already knew who you were because he used to tell me about you.”

  “You hear this, Drake?” Hawk chuckled.

  “I’m so sorry,” I confessed. “I’m so sorry I lied to you.”

  Drake’s face didn’t fall, the way I had expected it to. Instead, he looked at me and said, “I know.”

  I gasped. “What?”

  “I knew it before I came here.” He looked up at Hawk. “What, did you expect me to fall apart after she confessed?”

  Hawk let out a single, sharp laugh. “You knew? And you still came?”

  “Yeah. I still came for her.”

  “You’re so stupid!” Hawk shook his head in disbelief. “I guess you really do love her.”

  Drake nodded, just once. “You’re right. I do love her.” Fresh tears flowed freely down my face. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing, or that I could feel joy in the mi
ddle of my agony. He loved me.

  Hawk’s hand tightened around my sore arm. “Then I guess it’ll hurt even worse when you see what I’m gonna do to her. Say goodbye.” I squeezed my eyes shut, waiting for the bang that would end my life.

  “I’m so sorry, Drake,” I whispered.

  Then I heard it. A gunshot along with the crash of broken glass. Only my life didn’t end.

  When I opened my eyes, I saw Hawk standing there with his mouth hanging open and a pool of blood forming over his chest. Drake stood there, gun in hand. I didn’t know where it had come from—his waistband, I guessed. It didn’t matter. He’d saved me.

  I couldn’t move, shock freezing me in place. “Let’s get the fuck out of here,” Drake said, pulling me to his side before Hawk hit the floor. He didn’t move. Suddenly, Drake went back to Hawk’s lifeless body and fired three more gunshots to his head.

  “What are you doing? Drake! He’s dead! He’s dead!”

  “Fuck him!” He growled, firing one last shot. “I said fuck him! You hear me?”

  “Yes, yes! I hear you!”

  “Anybody that touches you gets a bullet to the head!”

  “Okay.” I whimpered.

  Drake paused.

  “Sorry … I didn’t want you to have to see that. “

  “It’s just so much blood everywhere.” I wiped my eyes.

  “I know, baby. It’s just something came over me—”

  “I understand …”

  “Are you okay?” Drake’s hands were on my face, in my hair, holding my head still while he kissed me. “Answer me. Are you okay?” He held me, then, asking me over and over if Hawk had hurt me.

  “Yes … I’m fine,” I continued to sob. “I’m just overwhelmed.”

  “I know.”

  “I’m so sorry I lied to you.”

  “It’s okay, baby. All of this is over now, okay?”

  “Okay,” I nodded.

  “Listen to me and listen to me good. Nothing. I mean nothing will ever happen to you again for as long as I live,” he replied, comforting me and kissing my tears. “I love you.”

  “I love you, too.”

  20

  Drake

  We worked with the NYPD instead of running away before they arrived. It was the one, and only time we would ever do it, but we had to explain what happened with Hawk, the gun, and Detective Bluth’s murder.

  Tommy Wilson, the detective who’d stopped me on the street the day before, was the first officer on the scene. When he saw the mess we’d made of the kitchen and the way Nicole cried, he thought I’d been the one who hurt her. But as soon as he saw it was Hawk dead on the floor, the gun still in his hand, he put it all together. He overlooked the excessive bullets in Hawk’s body, and I could only assume he let that pass since I rescued Nicole.

  Nicole didn’t say much, only answering the few questions Detective Wilson asked her. I could tell they knew each other pretty well, especially since he sounded like a pissed-off father when she told him about going to the house alone, even when she knew Hawk was there and probably planning to kill her. I knew how he felt—I was pretty pissed off at her myself.

  All the while, I wondered what to think about what she had done. I loved her, and she said she loved me, too. Could I believe her? The whole time we were together was based on lies. She wasn’t who she pretended to be. Was it that person I loved? Was she somebody else underneath the lies? It was a lot to take in at once, and I didn’t know where to start. I hated thinking that I had believed her so easily, even when I thought I was smart by questioning her when she first showed up at the Clubhouse.

  When the cops took Richie’s body away, Nicole broke into fresh sobs. I held her when she cried, and I knew that was sincere, at least. She felt guilty for Richie’s death, she said to the detective. It was all her fault he was dead because Hawk knew Richie liked her and used that against him.

  “It’s not your fault,” Tommy said, crouching in front of her. “It’s not. It’s Hawk’s fault. You were just there at the wrong time, and so was he. That’s it. You didn’t pull the trigger. He made a decision, just like … just like he decided to kill your dad. That was no more your fault than this is.”

  He was right. It was more my Club’s fault than anything else.

  I heard her tell the detectives that Hawk claimed we’d stolen his Club’s business years ago. Jack had been good enough to stay around—especially since he was the one in charge of the Club—and I asked him about it. He didn’t look proud of himself.

  “It was just business. You know? They were going through some rough times. Things were shifting around, they were weak. I thought it made me a good businessman to get in there and take what was waiting. It wasn’t even hard to make connections with their partners and take them for myself when they saw we were more reliable than the Cobras were at the time,” Jack explained.

  “And that’s why he hated us so much.”

  “Did I know he would wait twenty years to get revenge? No. Did I know he would want revenge at all?”

  “I know. I know. Don’t get yourself excited.” I sat Jack down. “It’s not your fault, either. None of this is our fault.” I did wish he had told me about it. Again, his secrets could have gotten us all killed. I wouldn’t have looked into the Cobras at all if he hadn’t finally told me about the gun connection.

  After hours and hours of questions, the cops told us we were free to go. That was a funny expression. Were we really free? I didn’t know if Nicole would even want to go back to the Clubhouse with me, or if I wanted her to. Yeah, I loved her, but I didn’t know if I could forgive her just like that.

  Then I thought about the blood in the kitchen and everything that had happened in there. She couldn’t spend the night alone in that house.

  “Do you wanna come with me, or do you wanna stay here? I can stay here with you if you would rather be at home.”

  She shook her head. “I don’t know if I can spend the night here ever again. Not after what happened today.”

  “I understand.” I went outside and climbed on my bike, and she followed. I waited until her hands clasped around my waist before pulling away from the curb. It wasn’t a long ride back to the Clubhouse, but it felt longer. I didn’t know what to say to her once we got there—after the panic wore off, I didn’t know how to act around her anymore. She wasn’t Bree. Was she? I still didn’t know. I guessed the only way to know would be to find out, but could I trust her? It was all a mess in my head.

  I let her get in her hugs and tears with the girls when we first got back. They were waiting by the door when we pulled up and ran to her, throwing their arms around her in a big group. I wondered what they would think once they knew the truth. I hadn’t told anybody before I left. Would they be so happy to see her then?

  I wouldn’t be the one to break her secret. I held the door, instead, and the four of them walked inside together. Tamara poured drinks for everybody, including the rest of the Club as they came in.

  “I wish I could celebrate Hawk being dead, but I can’t celebrate when Richie’s gone, too,” Creed muttered. I knew how he felt—I wished I hadn’t been so hard on the kid. He didn’t deserve it, and he didn’t deserve to go the way he went.

  “Drake put that fucking bastard out of his misery. What was it? Four or five shots? To the V.P.!” We raised our glasses—well, almost all of us did. Nicole didn’t. She stared straight ahead, a little glassy-eyed. I wondered how long it would take for her to get over what happened. Probably a very long time. It wasn’t the sort of thing a person bounced right back from unless they were used to it. We were all used to doing what had to be done. She wasn’t.

  I looked around the room at my friends, my brothers, all of them sitting around with their drinks, relieved to be back in one piece. My heart swelled. They had risked everything for me, for Bree—Nicole. I had to get used to thinking of her that way. I met her eyes, and I saw that she was thinking something along the lines that I was. She stood up, movin
g to the front of the room.

  “Excuse me. I have something to say, and I think you all need to hear it.” She cleared her throat, then took a long drink of whiskey to give her a little more courage.

  “You don’t have to do this,” I whispered to her.

  “I have to, Drake.”

  I waited, wondering how the rest of them would react when they knew.

  “My name isn’t Bree … well, it is Bree, but not really. It’s actually Nicole Bluth. My father’s name was Robert Bluth. He was the detective who was always trying to build a case against you guys.”

  I heard a murmur build in the room, and I shushed everybody. The girls stared at her, wide-eyed. Some of the guys did, too.

  “Let me explain.” She gathered herself. “See, the detectives thought you all had something to do with my father’s murder. He was all I had in the world. I want you to understand that. My mom died before I could know her. I don’t have sisters or brothers. My only aunt lives in Pittsburgh. I don’t have any other family and not that many friends. It was just me and my Dad, my whole life. I was truly Daddy’s little girl. I took care of him. And now I don’t have anybody at all. So I wanted to know who killed him, you know? I had to find out. I had to find out for my sanity and to find some closure.” She started to cry, and I heard sniffles around me. So she was getting to the girls, at least.

  “So, I decided to go undercover, sort of. I pretended to be one of you, somebody who just wanted to be part of the Club. I hoped I could find something out. And I did discover a lot of things.” She crossed her arms over herself like she was cold, ducking her head until her dark hair hung down like a curtain on either side of her face. “I found out my father was wrong about you guys. I think he respected you, but he didn’t really know you. He didn’t understand you, and he didn’t have to since that wasn’t his job. But I know now that you’re good people with good hearts.” She looked up at Darcy, and Darcy smiled. “You’re the good guys in a world of bad guys, and that means a lot to me. I want to thank you for taking me in these past few days. I’m just sorry I lied to you all of you. I really am. You were all so good to me.”