GUNNER: Southside Skulls Motorcycle Club (Southside Skulls MC Romance Book 3)

by Jessie Cooke

  Eddie smiled. Tamara thought it made him look even more evil. “Well, I haven’t had the opportunity to have much fun yet.”

  “Me neither,” she said, “but now I at least know I have something to look forward to.”

  He chuckled and sat down next to her on the bed. She was still tied down securely so she couldn’t even flinch away as her skin began to crawl. He ran a long finger down the side of her face and she felt bile rise in the back of her throat. “I have to say, I was surprised at how pretty you are. Your mother must have been one hell of a looker.” Tamara didn’t respond to that. Even if she’d wanted to, it was taking every ounce of self-control in her body not to spit on him or try to bite the finger that was touching her. He continued to run his finger down the side of her neck and across her collarbone. “You know, I’ve spent years trying to co-exist with that motorcycle club. They did their business and I did mine, and I left them alone. I was a big enough man to share my territory with them as long as they minded their own business and stayed out of mine.” Tamara knew why he’d left them alone and it had nothing to do with his being “a big man,” and everything to do with knowing that starting a war with the Head Hunters would not only mean the end of his business, but maybe his life. She wasn’t sure what he thought he was doing now. He had to know that her father and the rest of the club would rain down vengeance on him until he and all his associates were burning in hell. His finger made its way down the front of her blouse and now he was running it up and down between her breasts. She sucked in a shaky breath and he smiled wider. A surge of venomous anger flooded her veins. The fucker wanted to see some sign that she was afraid, and that did it for him. He probably had a hard-on, she thought. He let his finger run across the swell of one of her breasts slowly, and then the other. “Nice tits,” he said. “Your daddy could have made a fortune off you.”

  Tamara finally couldn’t take it any longer. “If he was a sick pig like you, maybe.”

  That only made him smile broader. “Let me tell you something that your daddy should have taught you. Women are good for one thing, and the earlier in life they realize that, the happier they will be.” He brought his hand out of her blouse and she almost breathed a sigh of relief, but then he took the front of it into one of his hands and ripped it wide open, sending the buttons scattering to the four corners of the bedroom. He looked down at her in just her bra and licked his lips. He grabbed one of her lace-covered breasts in his hand and that was when she tipped over the edge. She spat at him, hitting him dead in the face.

  Eddie didn’t flinch. Tamara didn’t doubt that she wasn’t the first person who’d ever spat in his face. He did let go of her breast as he reached into his pocket for a handkerchief. He used it to wipe away the spit. The only change in his facial expression when he looked at her again was a dark angry fire in his eyes as he said, “You’ll regret that.”

  “Not as much as you’re going to regret touching me. My father is going to hunt you down like a wild animal and chop you up into pieces. You can’t hide forever.”

  “Oh, I won’t need to. You see, I have friends in high places, and the scumbag bikers that my men don’t kill in the inevitable shoot-out will be quickly arrested for their role in your death.”

  Tamara snorted. “Nobody will believe that my father or brother had anything to do with killing me.”

  “Maybe not, but you should be more careful about who you let into your home. You’ve had that fighter staying in your house, a kid that was raised by a prostitute and lived most of his life on the streets. Now it seems he has some connection to a club out of Massachusetts, a club with a pretty nasty history. Tsk, tsk—you really should screen people just a little better before you let them into your life, or your pussy. It would be terrible if he raped you and then strangled you in your own bed.”

  “You’re an idiot…” she started to protest, and that was when he pulled out a condom, still in its wrapper, and a Ziploc baggie with another condom inside. It looked used, and she didn’t doubt that it came from the trash in her bathroom. It had Gunner’s DNA in it and so did her bed…The fucker is evil, and smart. He had this planned.

  “Tony!” he yelled out, startling her. The big pervert with the split lip walked in the door. Eddie tossed him the unopened condom and said, “I have some business to take care of. I’ll be back in an hour. Make sure none of your DNA gets on her, and when you’re finished have Gus help you get the body back to her house and into her bed.” He held up the Ziploc bag. “I’ll give him this on my way out and make sure he knows what to do with it.” He stood up and looked down at Tamara. Her heart was hammering in her chest and she was sweating. He smiled and said, “Have fun.”

  20

  Before they left the bar, Dax took Gunner aside and handed him a leather case. Gunner unzipped it and saw that inside was a small handgun and two magazines. “You know how to use that?” Dax asked him. Gunner and Billy had done a lot of target shooting over the years, with guns they never should have had access to. He’d gotten pretty good at hitting his targets, although he had never shot anything with a pulse. But the way he was feeling right then, he didn’t doubt that he could.

  “Yeah, I know how to use it,” he said.

  “This plan we just made…I’m not sure I believe Randall will stick to it. Once we’re at the house I’m guessing all bets are off and these guys are going in gangster style. I’m not judging him. If it was my family I’d do the same thing, but watch yourself, okay?”

  “Yeah…I will.” Gunner didn’t want to admit it, but he was more interested in going in “gangster” style than he was the plans they’d made to cut the electricity and sneak in the back door. Chaos and terror were the only things Eddie Munster understood. He would see them sneaking in as weak, and if he hadn’t killed Tamara already, he would after that for sure.

  By the time they headed for the house it was late. Their bikes were the only vehicles on the streets, and Gunner was sure the sounds of their loud engines and mufflers would cause someone in one of the sleepy little middle-class homes to call the police. When they were about two blocks from the house Randall pulled over to the curb and the rest of them followed. They parked their bikes and once they stepped off underneath the streetlights, the men slipped on black sweatshirts and hats and got their weapons ready. Gunner slipped a black bandanna over his hair and Dax tossed him a black sweatshirt and gloves that he put on. When everyone was ready to go, Gunner realized that Cody had already gone on ahead. As they walked toward the house Dax told him:

  “Cody’s already overridden the alarm system through the computer. When we get there, he’ll cut the electricity. I’m taking the back door, you’ll follow me.” Gunner nodded.

  “How does Cody know how to do all of this?”

  Dax made a face. “He’s a smart kid, but unfortunately most of his education was courtesy of the state of Massachusetts.”

  “Prison?”

  “Yep.”

  “I got some of my own education there,” Gunner said.

  Dax sighed. “You okay, kid?”

  “I’ll be okay when we have Tamara back safe,” he said as they approached the house.

  The house sat at the end of a cul-de-sac. It was a single-story house, and from the plans they’d studied, they knew it had six bedrooms and three bathrooms. There was a two-car garage attached to the house and the front yard was well-manicured. Along the front of the house there were colorful rose bushes surrounding a ceramic fountain with delicately carved angels along the outside of it. It looked like a place where a nice middle-class family might live. It was the kind of place Gunner had always been envious of, growing up. He shook his head now as he looked at it, thinking It just goes to show, you can’t judge things or people by their exterior.

  They stood in the dark alongside the house waiting for Cody’s signal. It came in the form of the entire house going dark and silent. After several seconds, the front door opened and a big man, dressed in an expensive-looking suit, stepped o
ut. He looked around as if trying to determine if the rest of the neighborhood was blacked out as well. Gunner hadn’t seen Tommy approach the door, but as soon as the big guy turned to go back into the house Tommy appeared behind him, pressed a gun into his temple, and pulled the trigger. It had a silencer on the end of it and the only sounds were a puff of air, a grunt, and the sound of the big man’s body hitting the ground. Dax tapped Gunner on the shoulder to follow him. When they got to the back door, Dax shot the lock with his own silenced gun. The lock was a little noisier than the big man’s skull, but as they stepped inside with guns drawn, no one came out to meet them.

  Gunner followed Dax, and sweat trickled down the back of his neck. He concentrated on controlling his breathing. It sounded really loud in his head. They made their way across an expansive living room, decorated for luxury. Tommy, Randall and a few of the Head Hunters were coming in the front door. Gunner heard a sound behind them and swung around with his gun ready. It was Cody coming in the back door. Cody didn’t say anything but he looked at Gunner and the gun in his hand and raised an eyebrow. Gunner was sure he’d have plenty to say later. Cody was never at a loss for words, especially venomous words spat out in Gunner’s direction.

  Gunner’s heart was pounding in his chest as he turned back to follow Dax, but at the sound of a woman’s scream it sped up and threatened to jump through his rib cage. The screams were loud at first and then suddenly muffled, as if someone had stuffed a rag in her mouth. Tommy and Randall moved first, without hesitation. They kicked open the bedroom door and Gunner tried to race forward. He was stopped by Dax’s hand on his arm. “Motherfucker!” they heard Tommy yell.

  “That fucking bastard!” Randall yelled as well. The rest of the men moved forward then. Gunner was more than slightly annoyed by the way Dax blocked his body with his own, as if he were protecting a child. He saw soon enough, however, that there was nothing to protect him from. Randall and Tommy were the only ones in the bedroom, and in the center of the huge California King bed sat a laptop and a phone. The phone must be the one they were tracing, and the laptop was where the screams had been coming from. Tommy was staring at it and Randall was bent over looking like he might be sick there on the floor. Gunner stepped around Dax and saw the image frozen on the screen. It was a picture of Tamara, tied down to a bed with the front of her blouse ripped wide open. Her eyes were as wide as saucers and she was looking up at a huge man standing next to the bed. All that was visible was his body. He wasn’t wearing a shirt, and his hands rested on the buckle of his belt as if he was ready to remove his pants. Cody stepped forward and with a gloved hand he rewound the video. Eddie’s face couldn’t be seen but Gunner knew his voice. He was holding a condom in one hand and a plastic baggie in the other. He listened in horror as Eddie told her that he was going to set Gunner up for her rape and murder, and then they watched the big man come in and Eddie toss him the condom and tell him not to leave any DNA on her. When Eddie told the man to have Gus help him take the body back to her house, Randall let out a strangled, almost primal sound. Tommy ran out of the room, no doubt to head to Tamara’s. That same scene played on a loop, over and over with the screams as a soundtrack. The time-stamp at the bottom right corner of the video loop said, “10:20 p.m.” That was almost an hour ago. Gunner had to lower his gun to his side as he felt his hands beginning to shake. He thought he might throw up. An hour was plenty of time to do anything they wanted to her. Randall headed out after Tommy but stopped to glare at Gunner for a second before he did. The rest of Randall’s crew followed him. Dax was still staring at the laptop. When he looked up he said:

  “He’s too smart. He wouldn’t leave this kind of evidence.”

  “Maybe he didn’t think any of us would go to the cops,” Cody said.

  “I’m sure,” Dax said, “but I think this video was just to fan the flames already burning between his crew and the Head Hunters. He’s fucking with them. This is just another taunt, and he was probably hoping that big ape at the door would have taken out a few of us before we got this far. It’s a game to him.”

  “Everything is a game to Eddie,” Gunner said. “Most of the time, a deadly game.”

  “He’s crazy,” Cody said. “Did you see Randall? He’s not going to rest until this guy is dead.”

  “Randall and his whole crew are about to declare war on Eddie Martini and anyone he’s associated with in this city. There’s no way a guy like Eddie hasn’t planned for this. Look where we’re at. This house belongs to a city council member. Eddie knew we would check that out too and no doubt he left ‘Gus’ behind as a sacrifice. He doesn’t want to just take down the Head Hunters, he’s going to ruin them, one at a time. Eddie Martini wants something from Randall Covey that will amp up the fear that everyone in this city has for him.”

  “What’s that?” Cody asked.

  “Submission.”

  “That’ll never happen,” Cody said. “Randall and his whole crew will be dead before they submit.”

  “I agree,” Dax said.

  “So, what do we do?” Gunner asked. He suddenly felt defeated. The only woman in his life he’d ever thought he could have real feelings for could already be dead, and it was his fault.

  “We take some time out and get to know Eddie as well as he already knows Randall and his crew. This wasn’t impulsive on Eddie’s part. He’s been planning on taking them down for a while. It looks like we just provided him the opportunity. I need you to remember every detail you’ve ever known about Eddie, and have your friends do the same.”

  Gunner felt sick; he was the one that had provided Eddie the opportunity. This was all on him. The fight, Eddie, the Head Hunters…it was all him. If Tamara was dead, or if they’d gone through with raping her…it was all his fault.

  “Hey, are you okay?” A little over an hour later Gunner was sitting on the back porch of the house on Patty’s property that he shared with Billy. Dax had sent him back to talk to Billy and Patty while Dax and Cody stayed behind to “clean up” the house and get rid of the big guy Tommy had left in the entryway. Randall called before Gunner left to tell Dax there was no one at Tamara’s house. Dax tried to talk him down, but from the side of the conversation Gunner heard, Randall and his crew planned on burning San Antonio down until they found Tamara, Eddie, or both. The San Antonio PD was going to have one hell of a mess to clean up in the morning.

  Gunner nodded at Billy, who had just come outside with two beers. He handed one to Gunner and sat down in the lawn chair next to him. “She could be dead by now,” Gunner said as he twisted off the top of the beer.

  “She could be,” Billy said, “but she could just as well be alive. You told me that Dax thinks Eddie was just taunting Randall. Maybe he just wants him to believe she’s dead.”

  “Why would he keep her alive?”

  “Think about it, Gunner,” Billy said. “This is Eddie we’re talking about. What’s the one thing he has a thirst for more than blood?”

  “Money,” Gunner said without hesitation.

  “And we know what Eddie’s favorite way to make money is first-hand, don’t we?”

  Gunner was about to take another drink of his beer. He put it down instead and looked at Billy. “You mean…you think he’d keep her alive to prostitute her? Tamara wouldn’t go along with that. I don’t know her well, but I know she’s stubborn and she’s a fighter. Eddie likes them weak. He likes the ones that don’t fight back.”

  “Don’t you remember what he does with the fighters…how he educates them?” Gunner began to feel a pressure in his chest. All fucking day they’d looked for Tamara and it hadn’t dawned on him. “Do you remember when you first got out of youth authority, when you were seventeen? There was that lady detective that still came around for a while, trying to get you to help her set Eddie up. Well, that and you were fucking her.”

  “Yeah.” The lady’s name was Detective Grady…Sarah Grady. She was supposed to be supervising Gunner’s parole. She followed him around for two years
. If she’d been a man Gunner would have worked harder to shake her, but she was a woman. A middle-aged woman, but a hot one. She took Gunner out to dinner, at a restaurant the likes of which he’d never seen the inside of, for his eighteenth birthday and they’d spent the rest of the night fucking like rabbits in a hotel room. For the next year he met up with her once a week, and sometimes after they fucked, she talked. “Fuck. You don’t think…?”

  “I don’t know. It’s a possibility is all I’m saying.”

  Detective Grady…Sarah…was convinced that the women and kids who were disappearing were being trafficked for sex and Eddie was behind it. They all had one thing that set them apart from the girls and women who worked for Eddie in the city. They weren’t junkies or runaways. They’d been snatched off the street, some of them in broad daylight, and no one saw a thing or said a word. Sarah couldn’t find any traces of the girls but she insisted Eddie was transporting them out of the city and selling them for sex. She became almost fanatical about finding proof and one night while they were together, she got a text message and jumped out of bed mid-fuck. Gunner was a little more than annoyed, and while she was in the bathroom getting dressed, he looked at her phone. All it said was, “The ferry leaves at five a.m. Slip 49, Corpus Christie.” She left shortly after and Gunner never saw her again. At that moment, he realized that he hadn’t thought about her in years, and he hated himself for being a self-absorbed ass. He knew exactly where she was going that night, and he knew deep down that Eddie had killed her and that’s why she never came back. He’d let her go without saying a word because Eddie scared the shit out of him.

  “I think maybe it’s worth a shot to run it by Dax,” Billy went on to say.

  “Maybe…” Gunner said, absently. He was already looking at the clock and making plans. Calling Dax was probably a good idea but if he waited for him they’d never make it. Dax was still an hour away in San Antonio and they needed to be in Corpus Christie in less than two hours.