MALICE (A HOUNDS OF HELL MOTORCYCLE CLUB ROMANCE)

by Nikki Wild

  I watched the two other bikers get into Delfino’s car. “What about Jackal?”

  Leo and Crush exchanged a look. “You just leave that to us.”

  I was more than happy to do so.

  The other two bikers made quick work of Delfino’s and Jackal’s bodies. I didn’t ask where, or how, because I didn’t want to know. I’d had my fill of deep, dark secrets to keep.

  Of course, now it was a little different. These were Leo’s secrets, and mine. I would have borne that burden, if it had come down to it. But Leo was willing to bear it for both of us.

  The Hounds of Hell spent the next few days making quite a scene. They parked all along the sides of the street and in Delfino’s driveway during the day, hanging around in the backyard and enjoying a few cookouts while Leo and I waited for the other shoe to drop. I’d been the one to make the meals at first, but apparently, Leo explained to Crush somewhere along the way what I’d been through, and after that, the boys refused to let me lift a finger where food was concerned. It was sweet, really—and not at all what I’d expected from the club Leo had told me so many terrifying things about.

  “He’s exaggerating,” Crush had said when I’d mentioned it. He took a pull from his beer. “Just ‘cause he shit his pants gettin’ shot at last time we met.”

  Beside me, Leo had scowled. “That’s not what happened. Although I do seem to remember getting shot at. By you.”

  Crush smirked. “Lucky I missed. I’m usually a crack shot.”

  “Which reminds me—you said everything was cool back at the police station. That you knew all along Jackal was to blame.”

  “Correct.”

  Leo sat back and stared. “So then why the hell did you shoot at me?!”

  The tilt of Crush’s lips parted, turning into a grin. “I wasn’t aiming at you.”

  Leo snorted. “Some crack shot.”

  The neighbors stayed away, for the most part. When the boys weren’t here, they were out in town, making sure the cops in their holding cells were all fed. The townspeople were, of course, perplexed. And scared. Without Sheriff Rigby or “Father” Delfino to lead them, they had only the mayor. And there wasn’t much he could do without a police force backing him.

  Nothing, except to call Don Carliogne and then lean on redial.

  He showed up two days later.

  Leo and I were on the front porch, sitting on the wicker sofa, when it happened. I was tending to his bruises with ice packs, and changing the dressings on some of his wounds.

  “You did this for Delfino sometimes, didn’t you?” he asked.

  I nodded faintly. “A little. Only sometimes, though. And only with the First Aid kit from the bathroom. He never let me do any real work on him. He always went to the hospital for that.” I taped down some gauze. “Or did it himself.”

  “You’d make a damn fine nurse,” Leo murmured, watching my hands, his abs stiffening when my fingers traced along them. “You know that?”

  I didn’t have time to answer.

  “Crush!” came a shout from one of the bikers closest to the road. “We got a car coming!”

  I felt like I was having ice-water poured on my insides, my eyes slowly traveling toward the sleek, black shape of a town car making its way down the street toward us. I grabbed Leo’s hand, watching as the car pulled up right outside the house, engine rumbling. It reminded me sickeningly of Delfino’s.

  One of the back doors opened into an almost pitch-black interior, the kind of darkness I’d only experienced during my night terrors, and in fact, I half-expected some terrible monster to crawl out of that backseat, all teeth and claws. What actually emerged, though… I’m still not sure if it was any better.

  His suit was pressed, clean, tailored so that it complemented every bit of his rather intimidating frame. He was by no means as tall as Crush, but the way he carried himself made him seem almost colossal in importance, if not in physical height. His hair was slicked back like he’d just come out of the shower only moments before, and his eyes—unlike Delfino’s, they glittered ominously, a fire behind them. A warning flare. This was the man that Delfino had been so terrified of.

  “One of you is Mr. Richards, I presume,” the don said as he approached the walk, hands clasped in front of him. Oddly, he seemed rather unsurprised by the biker gang loitering in what could be described as his town.

  “Yeah,” Leo said, his brow furrowed as the well-dressed man stopped just a few feet from the three of us. “That’s me.”

  “I’ve been hearing a lot about you,” Carliogne said, his eyes roving over Leo in an appraising sense before he turned his gaze on me, lips twitching in a show of a smile, though one that couldn’t be mistaken as genuine. “And this must be Lucy. You’re even more beautiful than Delfino described you.”

  I said nothing, staring in poorly hidden horror at the fact that I was standing in front of the man that had been planning my death over the phone mere days ago. How could he just walk in here as though none of that had ever happened? As though this was just some business meeting that had been on his itinerary all along?

  “I presume this would be the leader of your little group?” he asked, nodding to Crush. “It’s actually you I’d like to speak to.”

  “Who the fuck are you?” Crush asked, jutting his chin in Carliogne’s direction. In response to his posturing, a few of the other bikers cracked their necks and knuckles.

  “My name is Don Francisco Carligone,” he said, a smirk crossing his lips. “And you, it would seem, are the president of the Hounds of Hell.”

  Don Carliogne glanced around the yard, his gaze lingering on the empty space where Delfino’s car had once sat, noting its absence with a cool narrowing of his eyes.

  “I don’t suppose I could speak with my friend Delfino?” the don asked, his eyebrows raised as he glanced between me, Leo, and Crush.

  “Sure,” Leo said as he pulled me closer by the waist. “But you’re going to need a shovel.”

  “I see,” said Carliogne, taking the news in stride just as he had everything else. He paused a moment, now raking his gaze over the quiet little suburb that had been my prison for so many years. “That’s probably for the best.”

  “You’re not angry?” Leo asked, an eyebrow cocked. “We just told you that we killed one of your guys.”

  “That’s right,” Don Carliogne said. “One of my best, in fact. Once upon a time. Given his recent, spectacular failures, however, I would have ended up doing it myself. Sooner, I think, rather than later.” He slipped his hands into the pockets of his expensive trousers, affording Leo a glance over his shoulder. “You know what else I think? I think that this—what you’ve done here—is much simpler. This failed experiment…” Here, he gestured to the whole of the town. “…can finally be put to rest. To tell you the truth, I’ve been waiting for this little ant farm of Delfino’s to crumble for years, and I have you all to thank for it.”

  “So, what—you’re just letting us ride out of here?” Crush asked, his eyes narrowed skeptically. “No strings attached/’

  “Of course not,” Carliogne said, and for a moment, I felt like I the bottom had dropped out of my stomach. “Don’t be stupid. But I’m not going to kill you, either. There are too many of you, and I can’t very well afford the kind of heat that would follow a massacre. No. I think that there are… more profitable ways we can conclude this business.”

  Now Leo raised his chin, and snorted in indignant surprise. “You want to make a deal.”

  “An alliance, I think, would be a much better term for it,” the don corrected. “But essentially, yes. Quid pro quo, if you will. I scratch your back…”

  “We get it,” Crush grunted, glancing toward the house for a moment before turning back toward Carliogne. “Let’s talk inside. These two need a minute, I think. Especially the girl. She’s been through a lot.”

  It was then that Don Carliogne turned his attention on me, this time without so much fondness in his gaze. I wished Crush had
n’t said anything. He’d meant well, but the way the don stared me down… he knew. And I knew he knew. And I hated how impressed he looked upon receiving this information. My bones threatened to squirm right out of my skin.

  “Very well,” he assented. But his eyes didn’t leave mine.

  Leo and I watched as Crush and the don walked into Delfino’s house together, and I couldn’t help feeling like I’d dodged a bullet. Carliogne had wanted me dead only a little while ago, and now I was being let go, pending some friendly negotiations? I wasn’t sure what scared me more: his intent to kill me, or the fact that it could be put aside so easily. Ignored in favor of more practical matters.

  “Is it finally over?” I whispered to Leo, looking up at him as he pulled me into another tight hug. “Can this all just end?”

  “Not yet,” he whispered, and the little comfort I had taken from his embrace began to fade. “The Hounds need me… and I’m tired of running away from the people in my life who matter.”

  “So you’re staying?” I asked. The fight went out of me. My shoulders slumped. “Here?”

  “I’m going where the Hounds need me,” he said at length. When he met my eyes, I saw something sparkle in them, though. Something less dangerous, more… wistful. It looked a lot like hope. “And I want you to come with.”

  I felt a lump rise in my throat, and I swallowed hard to try and clear the emotion that had gotten stuck there before it could find its way out into my words. Deep down I wanted to scream, to shake him for even suggesting that I stay in this place a second longer than I had to. I had dreams, I had a life I wanted to live, and none of that involved ever setting foot in Pleasant Lakes again so long as I lived.

  “I want to be with you, Leo,” I said, reaching up to touch his stubbled jaw, “but this place… I can’t stay here. Not for one more second. I want to go to school. I want to become a nurse. I can’t do that here. And you heard what Don Carliogne said.” I looked around at the sleepy suburb and shuddered. “This place is no good.

  “I understand why you have to stay with the Hounds of Hell, Leo, I do… but so long as it involves Pleasant Lakes, I can’t be there with you.” It killed me to say it, but I had to be truthful, now more than ever. I’d fought so hard for my freedom. Leo had, too. And I wasn’t about to let both our sacrifices be in vain. “I’m… I’m sorry…”

  “Then don’t stay here,” Leo said, running his fingers through my hair. “You don’t need to, and neither do I. The Hounds move all the time, and so long as I have you, I’ll ride as far and as long as I need to come home to you.”

  “Do you really mean that?” I asked him, wetting my lips. “Don’t say it if you don’t mean it, Leo. I can’t take it. Not after…”

  “I mean every word, Lulu,” Leo interrupted, leaning in to press his lips to mine in a slow, tender kiss.

  It wasn’t long before Crush and Carliogne came back out of the house, both of them looking more or less pleased with their agreement. I had no idea what had been decided in that house, and honestly I didn’t want to know. All I wanted to do was get the hell out of there as fast as possible.

  “You’ve got a ride, when you’re ready,” Crush said to Leo, tossing him a set of keys and then motioning to Jackal’s bike. “We’ll be waiting for you.”

  “Just need to get a few things in order here,” Leo replied, slipping the keys into his pocket. “Thanks, brother.”

  Crush clapped him on the shoulder. “Don’t mention it.” He turned to me. “I assume I’ll be seeing your old lady, when the time’s right?”

  Old lady. Oh, we were going to have to do something about that term.

  I smiled at Leo. “Anywhere he goes, you can bet I’ll be there too.”

  Crush leaned in. Said to Leo at a volume he thought I couldn’t hear: “You got yourself a good one there, Richards. Don’t fuck up.”

  Leo smirked and pushed him away. “Words to live by.”

  We watched the Hounds of Hell pack up what little they’d brought to Delfino’s house. Leo stood with his arm around me as they pulled away, their engines roaring like thunder. Like a storm was leaving Pleasant Lakes, after all these years. Chased off by a sea of Harleys and their glinting chrome.

  Or maybe it was something else that had cleared the skies. When I looked up at Leo, I was pretty sure I knew exactly what it was.

  “I love you,” I said. I thought my whisper might be lost to the din of bikes in retreat, or the town car slipping near-silently down the road the other way, but Leo heard me. I could see it in his eyes that he had.

  Leaning down, he pressed his forehead against mine. “I love you too, Lucy.” And he kissed me, and I kissed him back.

  Maybe it would be our last kiss in Pleasant Lakes. But I doubted it. We still had miles to go before we’d sleep. Days, if not weeks, to settle Delfino’s estate before we could find new territory to settle. I was hoping for someplace uncharted. A fresh start. A clean slate. I was hoping for med school, at last. And I was hoping for the life I’d always dreamed of with Leo.

  I didn’t know where we might find all that. But I knew that as long as we were together, anyplace we ended up in would feel like home.

  The End, but don’t stop now! Keep turning pages because I’ve included several of my bestselling bad boy romance novels just for my most loyal readers! Get ready for a few surprises, and thank you so much for reading.

  -Nikki

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  Other Novels by Nikki Wild

  Bad Boy Sports

  Play Dirty (A Bad Boy Football Romance)

  Running Game (A Bad Boy Football Romance)

  Bad Boy Fighters:

  Knockout (A Bad Boy MMA Romance)

  Bad Boy Bikers:

  Saving Landon (A Bad Boy Biker Romance)

  Saved by the Bad Boy (A Devil’s Dragons Biker Romance)

  Pride and Pregnancy (A Devil’s Dragons Motorcycle Club Romance)

  Roughneck (A Bad Boy Motorcycle Club Romance)

  Rough Rider (Outlaw Kings Motorcycle Club)

  British Bad Boys:

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  Arrogant Brit (A Bad Boy British Sports Romance)

  Rock Hard (A Bad Boy British Rockstar Romance)

  Played (A Bad Boy British Romance)

  Bad Boy Rockstars:

  Illicit Behavior (A Bad Boy Rockstar Romance)

  Rock Hard (A Bad Boy British Rockstar Romance)

  Bad Boy Stepbrothers:

  Lust (A Bad Boy Stepbrother Romance)

  Richard (A Bad Boy Stepbrother Romance)

  Bad Boy Billionaires:

  Protect And Serve (A Bad Boy Billionaire Romance)

  Pretend Married (A Sexy Billionaire Romance)

  Taking Beauty (Taking Beauty Series Book 1)

  Claiming Beauty (Taking Beauty Series Book 2)

  Owning Beauty (Taking Beauty Series Book 3)

  Taking Beauty

  The Taking Beauty Series (Book 1)

  One

  “I won’t go,” I protested, firmly shaking my head. My black Frey boot tapped against the trendy cement floor of the restaurant.

  My mother and her boss sat across the table from me. Bear Dalton, Chairman and CEO of Dalton Enterprises, crossed his sculpted arms over his chest, his deep blue eyes peering at me, his expression serious and somber.

  You can’t intimidate me, I thought to myself, meeting his piercing ga
ze. He wasn’t my boss. He was my mother’s boss. I’d only met him once before and I didn’t know he was going to be here today.

  “Look, you can go without me,” I said, turning back to my mother as I tried to muster a smile. Mom had worked her ass off for this job. She was one of those women. You know the type. Relentlessly ambitious, never satisfied with breaking just one glass ceiling, she wanted to break through them all.

  She was on a mission to do just that. She’d been working for Bear’s firm for the last ten years, quickly working her way up the ladder, constantly vying for promotion after promotion.

  And here it was — her golden ticket.

  This job that Bear had offered her — Chief Financial Officer of Dalton Enterprises - was her latest obsession. I don’t use that word lightly. When Mom committed to something, she went all in. It went way past the point of commitment.

  Trust me, I should know.

  Our relationship has been the lone casualty of her undying devotion to her career. She missed so many school events that by the time I’d graduated from high school, most of my classmates were convinced I didn’t have parents at all.

  It might as well have been that way.

  My father left us high and dry years ago, his fantasy of greener pastures being fulfilled in the arms of a twenty-one year old intern in sunny Sausalito when I was just a baby.

  Growing up, it was just the two of us, but Mom was rarely there, so really, it was mostly just me. That’s why I couldn't believe she was being so insistent on me moving to New York with her. Let her go to New York on her own.

  What the hell did she need me for?

  “You know I won’t be able to focus with you so far away, Chloe,” she insisted, her perfectly coiffed blonde bob bouncing around her face. “You can’t do this to me!”