Overdosed: Fury's Storm MC

by Zoey Parker

  “What are you doing here?” One of them, the redhead I’d seen on Gabriel’s lap, spotted me right away. She didn’t look or sound happy to see me. The rest of the girls froze like frightened rabbits, looking at each other.

  I cleared my throat and tried to smile. It would be easier if they trusted me. “I was hoping one of you, maybe more than one, could tell me something about my sister.”

  They were all silent. The only sound in the room was the gentle humming of neon signs. I spoke again. “Please, girls. I know she was hanging out here for a while, maybe hooking up with one of the guys in the club. I just wanted to know if any of you knew who it was, or whether she was…you know…unhappy with him. Anything at all. Even if it hurts to hear. I mean, was she into drugs, maybe? Drinking too much? Did she hear something she shouldn’t have? Was somebody hurting her?”

  One of the girls, a little brunette I recognized as the girl dancing on stage the previous evening, opened her mouth. The redhead shot her a warning look before speaking again.

  “None of us knows anything. Okay?”

  I sighed. “That’s a little too much for me to believe. You mean she was never in here with you? She didn’t do the same things you’re doing right now? You girls never talked the way girls do? Come on.”

  They frowned. One girl bit her lip, looking unsure of herself.

  “Girls, I’m desperate. I’m afraid my sister is dead or dying somewhere. Please. Anything you tell me might help me. I just need to know something. Nobody else wants to talk, and I’m losing my mind.”

  Redhead held up a hand. “It’s a shame Sabrina is missing. She’s a nice girl. Everybody liked her.” The other girls nodded enthusiastically. “But none of us knows what happened.” She looked at me, her eyes getting wider. “Do you get what I’m saying? None of us knows.”

  Shit. They were scared. Who or what was threatening them? Maybe this was their way of life. They couldn’t speak up for fear of punishment. Had Sabrina broken that code? I knew her. She could be just as mouthy as me, just as stubborn, too. It would be just like her to mouth off to the wrong person.

  I almost couldn’t blame them. They’d probably been seduced into this life, just the way my sister had. They must have seen it as glamorous and exciting—why else would they be doing it? Then reality kicked in. They probably all had daddy issues, too. Feeling like they needed approval and protection. It was very sad. Still, at the moment, I couldn’t feel sorry for them. I could only be disgusted and angry with them.

  “Okay. I see I’m getting nowhere here. Thanks anyway, girls.” I turned, disappointed. The wind was out of my sails again. Why did it always seem so inevitable that someone would take pity on me until I got to the club? I would be driving over, sure they would hear my story and feel sorry for me. It couldn’t be any other way. Then I would get there and hit a brick wall all over again. These people couldn’t be for real.

  I stepped outside, where it was dark now. The place would be jumping in a little while. Should I stick around and see if there was anyone else who might talk to me? Probably not. If the girls wouldn’t, why would a member? There was more at stake for them. Plus, Gabriel might see me. I couldn’t risk having him see me and freak out.

  I barely had time to take a deep breath before a hand closed around my upper arm. My instinct was to scream, but a large and powerful hand clamped over my mouth before I could get the sound out. The fingers dug into my cheek. “Shut up! Don’t you dare try to scream!” A harsh whisper in my ear.

  I was dragged off to the side of the building. It was deep in shadow back there. I was shoved against the wall so hard my bones rattled.

  “What are you doing here?” The breath was hot in my ear. I couldn’t turn my head to see who this was. It wasn’t Gabriel—somehow I would have known him. He was graceful even with all his bulk. This man was clumsy, rough. His breath reeked of alcohol and cigarettes. I knew it had to be the guy I’d talked to before I went in. Nobody else had gone outside since then, and he never came in.

  “I’m sorry,” I gasped, nearly unable to breathe over the panic I felt. What was he going to do to me? I tried to turn my head, to see his face, but he pushed the side of my head against the wall, so my eyes were directed to the parking lot.

  “You need to stop coming around here. Get it? Otherwise, you’re gonna end up just like your sister.” Suddenly I felt the tiniest bit of pressure against my throat. I looked down and was just able to see the glint of steel. A knife. Sheer terror washed over me.

  “I’ll stop!” I panted, breath coming from me in wheezing gasps. “Please, just let me go.”

  “Why don’t I believe you?”

  I felt the tip of the knife press into my throat. I whimpered, squeezing my eyes shut.

  “Oh, please, please, let me go. I’ll leave right now. I’ll never come back, I swear.” I would say anything to get him to take that knife away and let me go.

  He snickered. I smelled the liquor on his breath. It oozed from his pores, making his sweat reek. I wanted to turn my head further away, but that hard little blade kept me from making any sudden movements. A tear slipped from my eye, ran down my face. I was on the verge of all-out hysteria. And he was like a kid with a bug, pinned down, watching it squirm before he pulled off the wings.

  “I wonder if I should kill you right now,” he whispered.

  I let out a little shriek. “No! Please, don’t. Please, I swear, I’ll never come back here again.”

  “And you’ll stop asking questions about shit that doesn’t concern you?” he demanded.

  “Yes! Yes, I’ll stop. I’ll stay out of your business.”

  “Because it is our business. Not yours. Got it?”

  “Of course! I get it! Please, please, let me go. You won’t see me again.” The knife pressed ever so slightly harder into my throat, making me whimper desperately. I was shaking all over, my eyes darting around the side of the building. Why didn’t anybody come out or pull up?

  Just then, somebody did. The screen door slammed. Nobody came around to the side of the building, but it was enough to make the knife disappear from my throat. I was free now, the man who was threatening me backing away when we heard the noise. There was just enough room for me to run past him, back to the car. I was out of the parking lot in the blink of an eye, the tires squealing on the road as I peeled away.

  I was nearly hyperventilating, the images in front of my eyes going in and out of color and focus. I pulled over a mile or two down the road, cutting the engine and lights before burying my head in my arms and shaking with sobs. Would he have killed me? Had I just come close to dying? Or was he only toying with me? I screamed, frustrated and terrified. I screamed the way I wanted to scream when that knife was making contact with me.

  It was a close enough call, regardless of whether he’d been trying to scare me or if he’d seriously intended to kill me, right there in the open beside the bar. I touched my fingertips to my throat, checking for blood. There was the tiniest hint of red there. He’d just barely broken the skin. This was a man who was skilled with a knife, for sure, because I’d felt as though it was only a hair’s breadth from slicing through me. For someone as drunk as he’d been—my nose wrinkled when I remembered how his breath had smelled—he was still in control of himself.

  Once I got myself under control, I turned the car on and drove home. The rush of adrenaline was starting to wear off, and I felt weak and exhausted. The terror hadn’t worn off, though. Just because every minute took me a little further from that awful bar, I didn’t feel any safer. I had the feeling I’d gone too far this time. Would they find me and shut me up permanently?

  Chapter 8

  Gabriel

  I was restless. I had been all day. Nothing held my attention. I picked up the remote for the tenth time and looked around for something to watch. There was nothing.

  I could have gone to the clubhouse or the bar. But I’d just gotten back from the clubhouse with a splitting headache and didn’t feel like
dealing with the noise at the bar.

  I wondered what Spike would say if he heard my thoughts. He was from the old school, a really tough son of a bitch. He would have been out right now if one of his legs was hanging half off, just to show his guys he was strong enough to handle it. I didn’t feel like playing that game tonight.

  What was it with me lately? All the drama around my taking over the presidency had gotten to me. I was always on edge, with a feeling like something bad was going to happen. I never used to be that way. I’d ride and fuck all day long, then get in a fight with some guy just because he looked at me funny. I never gave a shit. It was all a game for me back then.

  Now? It was all real. It wasn’t fun. Especially since I still felt shitty about the way it went down. It would be one thing if Spike retired and handed his role to me because he knew I could handle it. I used to dream about that day, and I knew it would come. Spike made sure everybody knew he was planning to put me in charge when the time came. Then he was killed, and all of a sudden it was up to me. I wasn’t ready. He hadn’t gotten the chance to tell me it wasn’t as easy to be the president as he always made it look.

  And he did make it look easy. He was a people person. I was always losing my temper, getting into fights over stupid things like a girl or a bike. He would see me getting into these situations and tell me I had to grow up before I could take his place. I thought I had more time before I needed to do that.

  When I first got word he was dead, after the shock wore off, all I felt was fear. This was it. I had to step up. Everybody was expecting me to take Spike’s seat. And I knew they were, from the minute I walked into that waiting area in the hospital and all the heads turned to face me. It went silent. That’s when I knew.

  I put Thorn in as my VP because he was the only person I trusted enough to do the job. He was always so good at getting me to calm down. He helped me see things from another angle. I thought of him as my conscience.

  And now there was trouble with him. I wished he would tell me what it was, so maybe I could help him. He had helped me a million times.

  I had to get to the bar so I could see if he was there. Maybe he would loosen up and talk to me, or maybe I could convince him to go somewhere more private where we could have it out. We sure couldn’t keep going on like this.

  When I got to the bar, everyone seemed happy to see me. I smiled, waved, shook some hands. I was offered a drink at least three times, but I waved them off. I only wanted to talk to Thorn right then.

  And there he was, sitting alone at the end of the bar. He looked like total shit, even worse than he had the day before. The circles under his eyes seemed to be darker, and he looked thinner than he’d looked in a long time.

  He was jumpy, too. I touched his shoulder, just a friendly sort of thing, and he almost fell off the stool.

  “Hey! I’m sorry!” I tried to laugh it off, like it was no big deal my best friend looked like he was falling apart in front of me.

  “Oh, it’s okay. My brain’s a million miles away.” He didn’t need to tell me that. He’d been miles away for weeks. I was starting to dread finding out what happened to Sabrina.

  I pointed to an empty table, away from most of the crowd. “Let’s sit over there.” I needed to find out what his problem was. He was starting to worry me.

  “What’s going on?” He was jittery, lighting one cigarette with the end of another when we sat.

  “You look like hell, dude.” We were usually blunt with each other.

  “Fuck off,” he said. “If I wanted to be insulted I wouldn’t have come to sit with you. What’s your problem?”

  “What’s your problem? Why won’t you come clean with me, man? You know I won’t judge you. You’re like a brother to me. Why not tell me what happened?” I watched him, paying attention to every move he made. He was a terrible liar. And I knew all his tells. Like right now, when he wouldn’t look me in the eye. That was a dead giveaway.

  “You won’t tell anybody else?”

  “No, I swear.”

  Thorn shifted like he was uncomfortable. He was looking at the table. “That last day, the last time I saw her…we had a fight. We’d been fighting a lot, now that I think about it. Always over stupid shit. She would get mad at me when I talked to another girl or whatever. I told her that’s what she could expect if she wanted to be with me. You know?”

  I nodded. Infidelity came with the territory for most of the club members. Even if sex wasn’t happening, there were always girls around who were looking for attention from a member. Not every woman could handle it, which was why a lot of women didn’t fit into our world.

  “Anyway, we were fighting, and she got pushy with me. Just shoving me, you know, nothing big. She was so small I almost didn’t feel it.”

  That made me think of the way I dragged her sister to the back room when she came in here. She was so little.

  “Okay. So what happened? She left?”

  He shook his head. “Well, she did leave. But before she did…I hit her.” He looked ashamed. I didn’t blame him. I wanted to hit him for it. Maybe he’d think twice next time.

  I noticed he’d stopped talking. “That’s it? That’s all that happened?”

  He nodded, but he still wouldn’t look me in the eye. I knew he was lying to me. Shit, even if he did look me in the eye I’d still think he was lying. That story was a ridiculous crock of bullshit. He hit her once, and it was enough for her to run away without talking to her sister again? I remembered the way Kat talked about their relationship, and it didn’t add up. They loved each other. Kat was like her mother. She wouldn’t have gone completely MIA over a slap, or even a punch.

  “You believe me, don’t you?” he asked.

  I didn’t know what to say. He was right on the edge. I was afraid one wrong move would push him over.

  “Yeah, man. I know you wouldn’t lie to me about something this important.” He looked miserable, like he was going to throw up. What wasn’t he telling me? Jesus, did he kill her? He wasn’t as built as I was—he’d always been on the thin side—but he was strong. And much bigger than that little girl he’d been hooking up with. One strong hit, in just the right spot, could have done it. Holy hell.

  What could I do? Going to the police was out. That was all they would need, a hint of club involvement. They’d be all over us. If anything, I had to protect Thorn and make sure nobody knew anything more than I did.

  What would happen if Thorn got arrested? Even if the rest of the club was left out of it, which would never happen, he’d lose his place as my VP. Then what? It would be chaos. Guys would be crawling over each other to get to my spot. I wouldn’t have Thorn to back me up anymore. Most of the older members were gone, dead a long time ago. The guys who were at the head of the club when Thorn and I first got started wouldn’t have been that way. They had honor, as stupid as it sounded. They wouldn’t stab each other in the back like that. It was a different time. They would have stood behind Thorn in private, even if they had to act like they didn’t know him so the police would leave them alone.

  These new guys? I looked around the room. I wouldn’t put it past them to try to take over. I was looking over my shoulder all the time. I was exhausted.

  “When did the two of us become the senior club members?” I asked Thorn.

  He smiled bitterly. “When everybody else got themselves killed off.”

  He was right. They were men in their prime. They should have been ruling the club for twenty more years. But bad blood a few years back took them out. It was an old feud, one I didn’t have anything to do with. Most of the senior members of the club had been murdered by two rivals joining up to take our club out. They hadn’t wiped us out completely. Everybody knew I was being groomed to take over eventually. When Spike died in an explosion and the seat was empty, what was left of the club pushed me into it. At the time, I didn’t mind. I had thought it was an honor. I wished I still felt that way.

  “Too much, too soon,” I said, thi
nking out loud. It wasn’t the first time I had that thought.

  “You can handle it. You were meant to handle it.” For a minute, all the trouble with Sabrina went away and it was just the two of us. Me and my best friend.

  “I wish I were as sure as you,” I said, keeping my voice quiet. Thorn was the only person in my life I’d tell a secret like this to. He knew how I felt about being in power. I didn’t want to give it up—the club was all I knew, and the only way for a president to step down was to retire completely. I couldn’t do that. I had to hold on.

  “You always think too much,” he said.

  Just then, my favorite redhead came bouncing over with a beer for both of us. She sat down on my lap, wrapping her arms around my neck.