Devil May Care (Four Horsemen MC Book 4)

by Rayne, Cynthia

  All of the FBI assholes involved with the Horsemen case had gotten promotions and fat raises. Captain had tracked their fucking careers thanks to the Freedom of Information Act. He wanted to know how the bastards profited from the club’s misery.

  And they all did.

  “Thought you didn’t want to talk to me. So, why don’t you shut the fuck up?” The agent drawled, gesturing to Jane who was still on the phone. She glared at Captain and he was suddenly glad looks couldn’t kill.

  “Aw, we’re havin’ a friendly chat.”

  “I know you bastards shut down the Raptor’s operation. I fucking know it.”

  “Good for you. Can you prove it?”

  “Not yet.”

  “It better be soon, or the government’s gonna shut down this little witch hunt of yours down. It’s gotta be costing big bucks.” Captain gave him a toothy grin. “Sorry, but I think you’ll have to get your promotion another way.”

  “This case has a stink to it.” He sniffed the air for effect. “It smells like a cover up.” Look, you think you’re vigilantes, you might even believe you’re helping these people, but you aren’t the solution. The law has to handle these problems.”

  Captain couldn’t give a flying fuck about the laws. “Yeah? And what happens when the law screws the pooch and doesn’t do its job? People get fucked over.”

  “Every system is flawed. But you’re criminals playing at being heroes. And you should stop before somebody gets hurt,” Warner said, standing nose to nose with him, staring Captain down.

  He knew he couldn’t reason with the agent.

  Some people believed in Jesus, others believed in justice. This man was a zealot. He only knew black and white, right and wrong, with no gray areas between. Captain believed the club was in an ethical gray space. Sometimes, they did the wrong things for the right reasons. But they always helped people.

  The FBI finally let Steele and Coyote up. They both walked over to him. When the agent finally left Daisy’s side, she pulled her phone out, presumably to call Cowboy.

  “Let’s bring it in, boys!” the agent said and he stalked off, barking orders at his crew.

  “They won’t get through my security system,” Coyote said, all smug and shit. “I made it myself and it’s fucking unbreakable.” Captain believed him. After all, he’d been recruited by several government agencies after he’d hacked some top-secret shit.

  “Our guys are damn good,” Warner bragged.

  “I’m better,” Coyote said, smug as fuck.

  The agent glanced at Captain. “You better hope the kid’s right. If he isn’t? You’re looking at obstruction charge, and that’s for starters. Because you wouldn’t cooperate, I’m going to throw everything I can at all of you.”

  “And pray somethin’ sticks, huh?” Captain drawled. “Oh yeah, you sound like a real good guy.”

  “Fuck you,” the agent said, as he walked off to his SUV.

  Jane finally finished her phone call and marched over to the group. “I hope your system is as good as you say.” She glanced at Captain. “If there was evidence on the computer, you should have told me straight away.”

  Captain opened his mouth to speak, but her scowl silenced him. “Shush. I’m talking right now. I can’t do my job if I don’t know your dirty little secrets. And why the hell were you talking to Agent Warner?”

  Both Coyote and Steele got wide eyes as if to say….holy shit. Captain let it pass. Truth be told, he liked sassy women. But, if one the brothers had pulled that shit, he’d get put down hard.

  “Sorry for rufflin’ your feathers. I truly am. But you are on a need to know basis and at the moment, you didn’t need to know,” he told her.

  “I honestly don’t give a rat’s tookus what you and the club are up to. I’m nobody’s judge, but I don’t like getting kicked around by the feds.” Jane turned to Coyote. “And you? Keeping incriminating evidence on your computer? How stupid are you?”

  The kid gaped at her, mouth opening and closing like a fish for a minute, before he finally spit some words out. “I’m not stupid! If anything, I’m the smart one in the club. I told you… system!”

  She rolled her eyes. “Always assume there’s a trail.”

  “This isn’t some misplaced hacker pride. I got mad skills. The fucking NSA wanted me!”

  Jane raised a brow. “Oh really?” She nodded. “Impressive. Let’s hope it’s enough to save your collective asses.” Then, she stalked over to her stylish little two door coupe without even saying see ya later.

  Captain shook his head. “Well, bye, now. We’ll be in touch.” He glanced at Coyote and Steele, both of them had eyes glued to her swaying ass.

  Oh shit. They had thing for the hot little lawyer. Yeah, that’d turn out well.

  Steele elbowed Coyote. “I saw her first.”

  “She obviously wants me,” Yo said, standing a bit straighter. “I impressed her.”

  “Why settle for a nerd when she can have all this?” Steele gestured to his admittedly ripped body. “You can’t shut this down. And do the ladies like it?” He bobbed his head. “Oh, yes, they do.”

  Captain shook his head. “Whatever. I’m going home. Let me know if you need me. Oh, and just to be clear? I do mean need and not want.”

  Now that the crisis had passed, his thoughts returned to Eddie. What he wanted to do, was crawl back into bed beside her, and forget about all this fuckery for a couple of hours. When he’d thrown on clothes and rushed out the door this morning, she’d already been up and cooking enough food for an army, said she planned to invite her boys over for breakfast.

  Something had been off about her this morning, come to think of it. Her smile never quite reached her eyes. He’d been too preoccupied to do anything about this morning, but he planned to get to the bottom of it when he got back to her place.

  Coyote and Steele dashed back inside and Daisy was still on the phone… no doubt tellin’ Cowboy everything. So Captain straddled his bike and placed the helmet on his head. Agent Warner drifted over again, leaving the throng of agents, who swiftly shoved shit into vehicles.

  “You know, I figured it out,” Warner said.

  Fuck it all. Leave me alone, prick. “Okay, I’ll play. Figured what out?”

  “Everyone knows Viper turned rat, but I bet most of your biker buddies assume he gave up the club in the first place, but it wasn’t true. He denied it again and again, and his story stayed consistent over the years.”

  Captain shrugged real casual-like, as if he didn’t give a fuck what the agent said, but a lead ball had settled in his stomach. “Oh yeah?” No one in the club had ever gotten the chance to question Viper, he’d entered witness protection and hadn’t been seen since. Though, the brothers had searched for him for years.

  “Yeah,” the agent whispered, leaning closer to him. “And I think it’s you. “Maybe you wanted Eddie to yourself. Maybe you wanted to belong to a better club. One that didn’t run drugs and guns. Or maybe you just wanted them to get what they deserved, wanted to clean house, so you could start over.”

  “That’s a wild imagination you got there, agent.”

  “You’re the only one in the club who benefited from the RICO case. You moved up in the ranks overnight. You didn’t face any charges.”

  “Goat wasn’t charged either.”

  “Goat was already serving time,” the agent snapped.

  “I wasn’t charged because I didn’t know shit. I’d barely joined the club and didn’t have a clue what they were up to.”

  The agent chuckled. “Yeah, I read about that. The grand jury decided not to indict you at the time.”

  “See?” Captain said. “They thought I was innocent.”

  “No, they didn’t have enough evidence for a trial, but it’s not the same thing as being innocent.”

  “You say potato, I say not guilty,” Captain said, baring his teeth.

  “Why don’t you cut the shit and level with me?”

  Captain shook his h
ead. “Because I don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about.”

  “Oh yeah?” he said. “Those brothers you're so loyal to, the ones you love so much. If they found out you’d ratted, they’d turn on you, wouldn’t they? And I’m betting the penalty for disloyalty is mighty high.”

  He clenched his jaw and didn’t say a goddamn word.

  “I wonder what your brothers would do, if they knew you’d called the feds. Sure would be a shame if someone let it slip.”

  He wanted to deny it, but he couldn’t. So, he settled for glowering at the agent.

  “You have yourself a real good day.” The agent backed away from him, a self-righteous smirk on his face.

  Moments later, Captain took off on his bike, his mind racing. He gunned the engine, hit the open road, but it was useless. He’d been running from his past for decades and it had finally caught up to him.

  If the agent told the brothers before he did, he wouldn’t have a chance to explain himself, defend himself. Not that it would do much good. He knew exactly what would happen to him. And it would be painless, two shots to the back of the head. Over in a second. Then one of the brothers would be crushing his skull in the desert. Probably Duke. He was the only one who’d have the stomach for what had to be done.

  His reprieve had come to an end and it was time to get his house in order. Captain was a dead man riding.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Captain lost track of the time.

  He went for a long ride to clear his head through the desert and back, let his thoughts drift. It had given him time to come up with a game plan. When he finally pulled up outside his apartment building, it was getting dark. He ran inside to grab a few things before he went to Eddie’s place.

  He needed to tell her before he came clean with the club. She deserved to hear the truth from his lips. After all, she was the one he’d harmed the most in this situation— her husband behind bars, her life turned upside down.

  Captain worked the combination on his safe. After the lock opened, he withdrew a blue velvet box containing his grandmother’s wedding rings. She’d insisted he have them, since she didn’t have any daughters to pass them on to, and she’d asked that he give the ring to his future wife, but he hadn’t gone through with it. Somehow, it never felt right to give it to his wife. In his mind, it had always belonged to Eddie. He’d given Lexie the option of having the rings saved for her, but she said she’d wanted a ring of her very own. One a man had picked out just for her.

  He opened the jewelry box to see the marquise art deco ring from the 1920s. The setting was platinum, with both black and white diamonds. Though, apparently the black ones were actually onyx. It suited Eddie – old fashioned but a little modern at the same time, absolutely unique. She wouldn’t want a traditional gold band and white diamond.

  And before his brothers took him out of this world, he’d make sure she had it. Even if it was one of the last things he did. After grabbing the jewelry box,, he headed for her place.

  When he arrived, he found her at the kitchen table with a glass of milk, wearing a white satin robe, fresh from the shower, judging by her wet hair and flushed cheeks. She had dark purple rings beneath both her eyes. She’d looked troubled and he didn’t know why. And now he was about to add to the problem.

  Eddie held out her arms to him. “Come here.”

  He should tell her right now, but he couldn’t resist the temptation of her embrace. He went on his knees in front of her, wrapped his arms around her waist and laid his head in her lap, holding on to the last few moments he had with her like this.

  Once he told her, she’d hate him. And with good fucking reason.

  She stroked his hair. “Is something wrong?”

  Damn. She could sense it. Eddie always could read him like a book.

  “Yeah, I gotta tell you somethin’,” Captain forced the words out.

  “Okay. But, can you tell me…after?” she asked, undoing the tie on her robe.

  He leaned back on his haunches and took a long, leisurely look at every single beautiful inch of her. He’d take the sight with him to the grave. “After?”

  “After you make love to me.” She kissed him and then muttered against his mouth, “I’m sorry, but I need to be close to you and I can’t wait.”

  “Now, it’s my turn to ask you.” He cupped her cheek. “Is something wrong?”

  She smiled, but her chin trembled. Then, she paraphrased their song. “No, honey, we’ve got a lot of livin’ to do…”

  “Before we die,” Captain said, finishing the line. Truer fucking words were never spoken. And God help him, he should ashamed of his own selfishness but wild horses or wilder Horsemen couldn’t drag him away from her, not tonight.

  He returned her kiss, grasping for her, desperate to be inside her one last time. Hoisting her up in his arms, he sat down in the chair and pulled her down on top of him so she straddled his lap.

  Then, he clawed at his belt buckle, releasing it, then the button fly on his jeans, freeing his cock. Greedily, he thrust two fingers into her and howled when he found her wet and ready for him. This was gonna be fast and hard.

  With a growl, he positioned her on his prick. God, she was slick and hot around him, grasping his cock in a tight embrace. He held her hips as she ground against him. She moved faster and faster, her eyes half-mast and drowsy with desire, teeth sinking into her lower lip. Faster and faster the moved until she gave a little cry that made his cock jump.

  After spending the last few days learning her body, he could tell she was close, so he placed his thumb against her clit, giving it just the right amount of friction. She wailed as she came, thighs quaking and Captain stilled, letting her slick walls flutter around him. He bit the inside of his cheek and held off his own orgasm until she stilled, pressing her face against his shoulder.

  He gave her a moment’s rest, and then pushed inside once more, arching up into her, urging her to ride him again. He needed to be a part of her, live with her, if only for tonight. And she matched his frantic pace, with an urgency he didn’t understand.

  This time, Eddie screamed his name as she came.

  When he finally spilled himself inside her, the pleasure was so intense he felt like he’d shattered into a million pieces.

  And he might never be able to put himself together once more.

  ***

  “What did you want to tell me earlier?” she asked.

  They were seated at the kitchen table, eating scrambled eggs straight from the frying pan. Eddie had said she was hungry, so he’d cooked for her. He promised himself he’d tell her the truth. He wouldn’t take the gutless way out, tell the club and then let them break it to her after he was dead. He deserved to live with her hatred, even if it was only a few hours.

  Fuck, he shouldn’t be doing this now, but he had to.. They’d just made love. She was half-dressed. Vulnerable. And he was about to turn her world upside down.

  Captain stared at her, tried to will the words to leave his mouth, but they wouldn’t come.

  She gave a low whistle as she surveyed his face. “What’s wrong, honey?”

  “It’s about Joker,” he said finally.

  “What about him?” Her brow furrowed as she scooped up some scrambled egg on her toast and took a bite.

  “This is about the past. Something you don’t know about him, about me.”

  “Okay,” she said slowly, the shadow of fear in her eyes. “What is it? You can tell me anything.”

  “I did something terrible,” he confessed. “I want you to know that I’ve told you all of this hundreds of times, dozens of different ways in my dreams. And I know it doesn’t count, but it’s something at least. This has weighed on my conscience for thirty years.”

  “Captain, you’re starting to scare me,” she said, placing her hand over his, and giving a squeeze. “Just tell me.”

  He withdrew the engagement ring from the pocket of his cut. As it turns out, it was for a wedding he’d never get to
have. “First things first, this is for you.” He thrust the box into Eddie’s limp hand.

  She opened it, then stared open-mouthed at the ring. “Captain, what on earth is this…?” Closing it quickly, she tried to hand it back, but he waved it away.

  “No, don’t protest, or tell me it’s too much. I want you to have the ring. It’s yours. I’ve been carryin’ it around for years, thinking about giving it to you. It belonged to my grandmother originally.”

  She shook her head. “If it’s a family heirloom, then Lex should have it.”

  “Lex doesn’t want it and I never gave it to my ex. This is your ring. It’s always been yours. You’re the one, Eddie, it’s always been you and I’m the fucking fool who didn’t pursue you sooner. I’ve wasted so much time.”

  “Captain—”

  He plucked the ring from the blue velvet and held it out to her. “Can I see it on your finger? Please? Even if you don’t intend to wear it.” He could feel tears starting’ to gather in his eyes. Fuck if he would cry now. Not in front of her. He rubbed them away.

  She opened her mouth to speak and then glanced at his expression, and evidently whatever she saw there, made her nod.

  He slid the ring on and damn if it wasn’t a perfect fit, no resizing needed. For the second time that night, he went down on his knees in front of her. “I love you, Eddie.” He kissed the back of her hand, then turned it over, kissing the palm. “I’d formally ask you to marry me. But I can’t.”

  “Captain, what the hell is going on?”

  “I brought all of it down on us,” he confessed.

  She frowned. “Honey, I don’t understand. You brought what down on us?”

  Fuck. She’d never call him honey again. “The RICO case.” God, he’d been holding the words in so long, he practically had to pry them out of his mouth.

  She scooted the chair back and stood up, backing away from him. Then, she wrapped her arms around herself, shaking her head. “No, Viper did. Everybody knows he ratted out the club.”

  “Yes, he was the state’s witness.” Captain stood up, approaching her slowly with outstretched hands. “But I set things in motion with an anonymous tip. I told them about the drug meet at the warehouse. I’m responsible.”