At Last (Brimstone Lords MC 2)

by Sarah Zolton Arthur

  “What was that?” she asks between dropping kisses against the skin of my collar.

  “That was my response to you telling me you love me.”

  “Oh… Well in that case, I love you Duke.”

  “Give me a minute to regroup, then I’ll be happy to oblige you, woman.” I give my arm around her a little squeeze. She giggles. “But just so we’re clear, remember I said it first.”

  “You did not,” she protests, lifting her head to glare at me.

  “Sure did. After Jesse’s memorial. You said you hated me. I told you, you might hate me but I fell for you.”

  Doc lays her head back against my shoulder. “You said it first,” she mumbles her amended statement.

  No matter I want to spend the rest of the day naked in bed with my woman, that’s the fantasy. Reality strikes at the sound of a small knock against our bedroom door and a, “Duke, I’m hungwy.”

  “Be out in a minute, Peaches.” I call out loud enough for her to hear me. She can’t get in, I was smart enough to lock the door, but still, there’s always that lingering fear that she could.

  I roll out ’a bed, walking over to the closet to pull a pair of sweats. Caitlin watches me the whole time. Then after I’m clothed, I walk back over to kiss her. “Get dressed. I’ll make those cheese-stuffed burgers I promised. I’ll even make the steak fries you love so much.”

  After twenty-five minutes of prep work, Doc, Peaches and even Teeny sit at the table devouring burgers. Plate in hand, I’m just about to join them when there’s another fucking knock. This one, from the outside door to the utility room.

  The pounding on the door pisses me off more today than it probably would any other day, but fuck, can’t a man be left alone with his family for just one day?

  Just got done making love to my woman after a couple months dry. We need the day to decompress.

  Need it.

  Some nut sack kidnapped a girl who looks like my Peaches. Don’t know how much more Caitlin has in her before she breaks. And not one man would blame her if she did. Becoming a part of my club put her and our girl in danger.

  That don’t mean I’ll stand by and wait for it to happen. Part of her keeping sane comes with decompressing, spending the day doing normal shit.

  And yeah, I was smart enough to lock the door when I got home. Though now, I got to walk over to answer it, setting my plate and beer down on the island and move annoyed, swinging the door open at the same time grumbling, “What?”

  It’s Sneak and Boss. Boss speaks first. “Blood got a lead on that fuckwad who took the girl.”

  “Seriously?” I ask, amazed at the man’s skills, and happy he’s on our side. It was just after I got Doc’s call I sent him on the trail. He’s been out hunting Houdini’s location since I saw the DFW photos, but a missing child takes precedence. Will always take precedence.

  Between Blood, whose name’s short for Bloodhound because he can sniff out any trail, and Sneak, who can slip in and out ’a just about anywhere without being noticed, ain’t nothing and no one can’t be tracked down with enough time.

  “He’s there now. Rundown trailer off Rabbit Hole road.” Sneak offers up.

  “Right, be out in a sec,” I answer, leaving the door open but turning to make my way back to Doc.

  “Everything okay?” she asks. Burger halfway down from her mouth, she’d just taken a bite. There’s a drip of cheese sauce I’d rather lick off her chin than have to tell her I got to run.

  Her eyes, round, concerned, wait for me to answer. Fuck it, I swipe the cheese from her chin with my thumb then suck it off. Her cheeks pink. I love how a woman her age can still get pinked cheeks from such an innocent act. Though between me and her, we both know it was far from innocent.

  Knowing how much she wants me to lean on her, too, I decide on honesty without too much honesty. “The boys got a lead. Need to head out.” Even though I raise my eyebrow at her, waiting on the inevitable questions, she proves once again why she’s perfect president of an MC old lady material, and nods. She just nods. That’s trust. She trusts me to keep her safe and get the job done.

  Cupping the back of her neck, I lean in as I pull her forward. “Lips,” I whisper. When our lips fuse, even for that briefest moment, all her emotions, all she feels for me shines bright through that kiss. Goddamn if it don’t mean the world.

  And after I pull back, immediately move to kiss my Peaches. A pat on Teeny’s head later and I leave to meet my brothers at the bikes. But we don’t leave on the bikes, taking a windowless, white, nondescript van that we keep parked with a tarp covering it until there’s a use for it. Registered to a geezer a couple counties over who happens to have died a decade ago. Ain’t no one tracing it back to us. Our one remaining carryover from the old life.

  She might be ancient, but runs quiet. And quiet is exactly what we need.

  Before we get too far out, I call Hero to go look after my girls but he’s at the parts store a couple towns over. It’ll take a few for him to get to them. “Hurry,” I tell him.

  They’re in the house at the compound. A prospect on the gate. My girls will be fine until he gets there, and I have to focus on what’s going down now.

  Half hour later, we roll up to the wooded lot off Rabbit Hole road. The pocked dirt drive has more holes than dirt, so we choose to hide the van in a thick of trees and walk the rest of the way, about two hundred yards back, up to the trailer.

  Blood steps briefly from behind a shallow gathering of bushes and Black Walnuts for us to locate him, then steps back right away. We silently make our way over to him.

  “He’s in there,” Blood says.

  “Any sign of the kid?”

  He shakes his head. “No. None. That’s got me worried.”

  “Okay, boys. Surround the bastard. Count of three, we go in hot. He ain’t getting away again,” I order.

  Head nods from my brothers. Two of us on the front door, and two on the back. I shout, “Three.” and we plow through the doors, guns raised. The bastard has a band tied around his arm and a syringe dangling from the bend of his elbow. Reflexes not near fast enough, he scrambles for his gun, but we overtake him quick and easy.

  Face pressed to the dirty, moldy carpet. Or what’s left of the dirty, moldy carpet, I shove the barrel of my gun against the back of his head. “Where’s the girl?”

  The bastard is so fucked up on whatever shit he injected into his veins, he giggles, not even like a little girl. It’s too high-pitched and maniacal. A giggle of pure evil.

  Boss punches the side of the blitzed bastard’s head. “Where’s the fuckin’ girl?” he shouts. But Houdini’s too out of it to answer. And I’m too frustrated to control my temper any longer. I flip him around to hold him by the neck of his dingy, ripped T-shirt so he can look me in the eyes before I put a bullet in his brain.

  “Fuck.” I grumble to the same sentiment from my brothers. It ain’t Houdini. Never seen this guy before in my life.

  “How’d you mess this up so bad?” I turn on Blood.

  “Didn’t. This is the same guy who ran Caity off the road. He’s the one took that little girl. The trail was good.” He defends himself.

  “Prez,” Boss starts. Placing his hand on my shoulder. “He obviously hired this one to take the girl. Probably paid him with whatever he shot up his arm. A druggie like him, even with pictures, wouldn’t have known he got the wrong girl.”

  He sent somebody in for him. Knew we been keeping an eye out for Houdini. That rat-bastard sent someone else to run Doc and Peaches off the road. The only thing I can guess is that the guy had eyes on Caitlin, but not our girl. Reason for the break in. Since getting her that day didn’t work.

  But where the hell is that other little girl, the one he thought was Jade?

  The pit of my stomach drops, becomes nauseous as the rest ’a my gut clenches tight. I got a bad feeling.

  Jesus, I got a bad feeling.

  Then the situation goes from bad to worse when the junkie begins
to seize in my arms, foaming at the mouth and everything. His eyes roll back in his head and he stops breathing. No telling what kind ’a Hepatitis or HIV this guy could have from sharing needles or whatever. Keeping him alive or trying to keep him alive ain’t worth risking any ’a our lives from trying to revive him. Not that you could catch that shit from mouth to mouth, but no. Not happening.

  Right in front of our eyes, the guy dies clean away.

  Dead.

  I let the body drop. “Check the place, see if there’s any signs that kid’s been here.”

  The brothers fan out, but in the end, come back with a load ’a nothing. Not one fucking trace.

  He never brought her here. So then where the hell is she?

  We leave him face down on the floor. It’s more consideration than he deserves. Anyone comes across him this far out, they’d see the syringes and needle. They’d assume the truth, that the guy overdosed.

  On the way back down the mountain, me and my brothers save Sneak, who’s driving, are on the phone putting out feelers to all our contacts around the county, reminding them to keep their eyes wide open. Though, since we didn’t find her at the trailer, chances ain’t good we’ll find the kid still breathing.

  We’re about twenty minutes outside the compound when my phone rings. Doc. She’s freaking out. So much I can hardly understand her.

  “Calm down, honey,” I tell her. Her fear puts me on edge. “Talk so I can understand.”

  “It was on the news. They found her, Duke.”

  “That’s great.”

  “No. You don’t get it. They found her dumped behind the garage of the daycare. He killed her.” Voice breaking on her, she sobs uncontrollably.

  “Almost home.”

  At the same time I disconnect, Boss gets an alert on his phone and turns to the group. “Fuckin’ A.”

  20.

  Caitlin

  I wanted to stick. For him. For us. But Houdini killed Laynie Briggs. He killed her. Jade and I need to get out of here. He won’t get my daughter. Her poor parents, sister and brothers. How can you ever be right again after something so heinous happens to your family?

  With Hero out doing whatever he does when not guarding us, I jump on Duke’s laptop and navigate to a travel-booking site. As I scroll, I see Nashville has a red eye to Ireland leaving tonight. I calculate it in my head. Three hours for us to get to Nashville. The allotted three hours to get through security… if we packed now, Jade and I could be at my family home by lunch tomorrow.

  But only if we pack now.

  My cell phone rings. Unknown number. Sydney, Australia. I cannot deal with him right now. For some reason I swipe to answer. “Aiden, I sold the locket. It’s gone. So leave us alone.” Then I hang up, not giving him the opportunity to turn his vitriol my way, and toss the stupid phone onto the coffee table.

  I should have let it go to voicemail the first time. He calls and hangs up four more times. Four times.

  Duke will be so angry with me. For talking to Aiden. For walking away. But he has to understand I’m not leaving him. I’m saving my daughter from ending up dead behind a garage. No. No. Quit second guessing yourself, Caitlin. I let out a breath and walk over to the island to grab my purse.

  Credit card in hand, I click to purchase two tickets to Ireland. Though, once my confirmation pops up, it hits me that our passports are at the rental house with all our other stuff. And I know I’m not supposed to leave without a guard, but he can’t know we’re leaving anyway. Because I know for a fact Hero would try to stop us.

  While Jade plays in her room, I walk into mine to grab our bags from the closet, pack quickly for myself, then head out to the laundry room to pack Jade’s clean clothes that I hadn’t put away yet. We won’t be gone forever. If she needs more than this, I’ll just have to buy it for her.

  After loading the bags into Duke’s truck, I go back in to get my daughter.

  “Teeny, sweetheart. Jade and I have to leave. So you need to head home, okay?”

  “Sure, Dr. Brennan.” Teeny stands, but bends forward to give Jade a hug. “See you tomorrow, Jade.” She won’t. But she doesn’t need to know that.

  “By Teeny.” Jade hugs her back. “Where we gowing, mama?”

  “Out,” I tell her. “Now get your shoes.”

  She does without asking.

  At the last minute, I grab my cell up and shove it into the pocket of my jean shorts before heading outside. Then after getting my daughter buckled in to her booster, I back out of the spot and turn around. There are always bikes and trucks coming and going, so the prospect guarding the gate doesn’t give Duke’s truck a second look. Now it comes down to waiting. Because he’s not going to let me out without a guard with me.

  But then… but then a busty young woman in an electric blue tube top drives up in a little convertible. It’s older, but cute. Red. Her over bleached hair looks windblown, but the way the prospect glares hungrily at her, he doesn’t seem to mind. No, he seems more concerned with something else as he looks behind him nervously, and then opens the gate to let the convertible in. With his head, he motions for her to drive a little ways in. She climbs in the backseat. He climbs on top of her.

  And that’s it. The damn horny prospect forgot to close the gate.

  I shift the truck into drive and slowly ease off of the Lord’s compound. We’re free. Pointing the nose toward town, Jade oblivious to everything watching her princesses on her tablet, we take road after road until pulling into the driveway in front of our rental. It’s been forever since we’ve been here.

  Climbing out, I reach in the backseat to extract Princess Jade and set her down on the pavement. When I open the front door to the house, I expect the place to smell of dumpster. But it smells clean and fresh, instead. Duke taking care of me. He had someone clean out the trash and food. Damn it, I’m going to miss him.

  We climb the stairs and walk to my pre-Duke bedroom. That’s where I have the passports. In a safe in the closet. Since I don’t know how long we’ll be gone, I collect our other important papers, shoving them in my purse. This whole time Jade keeps quiet, trusting me. Trusting that I know what I’m doing.

  There’s nothing to grab from her room. She and Duke had moved it all over to his house, so we move back downstairs, and I stumble back a step. Blocking Jade with my body.

  “H-how did you find us?”

  “I have my ways, Caitlin.” He says my name with such distain it almost makes me start to hate me. “Now let’s go. The truck. That fucking biker has eyes on the SUV. But we’ll still have to ditch for another vehicle as soon as possible.” He’s very handsome with his in-need-of-a-cut, light brown hair dusting around his ears and that full, trimmed beard. Too bad his soul is pure evil.

  “Mama,” Jade whimpers from behind me. “Who’s dat man?”

  “What?” He sort of snarl-laughs. “You haven’t talked about me?”

  “No.” I tell him defiantly. “I try to shield her from evil.”

  Before I can raise my hands to block the swing, his fist cracks against my jaw. His fist cracks against my jaw. I’m stunned. My mouth begins to pool with blood. I’ve never been hit in my life.

  He leans around me. “All in good time, sweetheart. All in good time. Now walk.”

  Jade begins to cry but every time I open my mouth to comfort her, blood dribbles down my chin. Instead, I hold my hand out to her. She takes it, and we begin to walk. I need to keep him calm enough to give me time to formulate a plan. If it weren’t for the gun he held in the hand opposite the one he punched me with, I’d grab Jade and make a run for it. But the manic look in his eyes screams that he’d have no problem killing me, my girl or any samaritan I get to help us.

  I lift my girl to put her back in her booster when he rips her from my arms. She cries harder. I cry harder.

  “You drive,” he orders me. Reluctantly, I climb behind the steering wheel. He climbs in the passenger side with my girl in his lap. The gun he keeps pointed at her temple. “Try a
nything stupid, and she dies. Got me?”

  Tremors shake my body from head to toe. My palms sweat profusely. I think I might vomit. Because of this, I don’t answer him fast enough and he strikes out, backhanding me along the cheek. Pain burns from jaw hinge to behind my eye socket.

  “I asked you a question, bitch. Got me?”

  Slowly, I nod and swallow down my tears and blood. “Got you,” comes out garbled, and I back out of the driveway.

  We take the back roads out of town, his attempt to keep a low profile. But it makes me nervous. He doesn’t want me taking the highway. No highway. Back roads. He’s taking me somewhere no one will find our bodies. Or my body. Because I still don’t know what he wants with my daughter. Why he’d come after her?

  Winding up the mountain, eventually he has me turn onto a dirt drive pocked with deep potholes. We bounce around the cab, my head hits the window. Jade he keeps a firm hold on, even though he jostles on the seat. We pass black walnut trees and thick brush. Finally we reach a decrepit singlewide. It’s been abandon for years. It has to have been, the place looks uninhabitable.

  “Park,” he orders. I pull up along the blunt end of the trailer and cut the engine. There’s a small window, so probably a bathroom. Not a useful bathroom because I doubt the place was hooked up to a septic tank, but a bathroom nonetheless. “Out,” he commands next. “Keys on the seat.”

  I do as directed. But while he is distracted by my daughter, I casually slip my hand into my front jeans pocket, remembering the phone. Fingerprint ID unlocks the screen and from memory, I hit the call app, hoping it’s Duke my cell connects with, as his was the last call I made, but am willing to take whomever. And then I get out, leaving the keys on the seat.

  Jade in his arms, he carries her with the gun still pointed to her temple, me out in front. There’s a wretched smell coming from the trailer. And I know that smell. Death. In this Kentucky heat, a body would begin to draw insects rather quickly.

  “Please, don’t bring her in,” I beg.

  “I will put a bullet in her brain if you don’t move.”