by Nicole Snow
“No...I killed him before he could. He was trying to.” She cleared her throat. Her voice was weak and slightly hoarse. “Broke his face with a big rock. I tried to call you, but I couldn't get in touch...I pulled him here, out of sight.”
“Baby, next time you take out the trash, don't leave a trail.” I pointed to the blood.
She took one look behind her and wilted. Saffron threw herself at me, bawling and wrapping her arms tight around my chest. Any other time, I would've been on cloud fucking nine to have her sweet body pressed against mine.
Shit, I couldn't hold back the embrace, and pulled her in close. Too bad there was no fucking way it was gonna last. We had to move.
I ran one hand through her hair. Meant it to be soothing, but damn if it didn't make me think sexy. There was something about this girl, innocence overflowing, a sultry charm I didn't find with Marianne or any club whore I'd ever been with it.
Shit, bro. Get a fucking hold of yourself. The words sounded like Maverick in my brain. My older brother was always cool in these situations, even if he was a thousand times more susceptible to pussy than me.
I gave her one more squeeze, and then let go, taking a good look at her. Yeah, she was a gorgeous mountain girl, all right. Better not to stare too long, just like the sun, or else I'd go blind. I'd forget about the mangled fucker on the ground and think about her sleek long legs curled around my waist.
Just now, she was way in over her pretty head too. The sunrise wasn't stopping for us, and it threatened to burn away the rest of her life if anybody saw this grisly scene. Prison would take her away from me and everybody else. The very idea pissed me off, wiping away the last of my hangover as I sprang into action.
“We've got to get this fucker out of here. Now.” I looked at the corpse again, and then at her. “Go to your car, Saffron. Stay there until I tell you otherwise.”
“How're you going to take care of this? I don't understand. He's so big.” Her lip quivered a little, but she'd cleared her head enough to listen.
“Not your fucking problem, baby. This asshole was a Grizzlies man, and that makes him our club's problem now. You worry about getting down to the car and keeping your act together. I'll worry about making sure this piece of shit doesn't reach up from the grave and fuck us all over. You see anybody who isn't wearing a Devils' patch, you start her up and drive. Just drive. Get away from this fucking place.”
I stared at her intently until she obeyed. Her footsteps in the brush stopped on flatter ground just as I heard a roar a few feet away.
Stinger pulled up with Reb and Moose in the back. I was damned glad he brought support to make this job easier.
My boys passed Saffron, exchanged a few words, and then came running up to me. I was ready.
“Jesus Christ! The girl wasn't shittin' us.” Stinger's eyes went wide when he saw the body. “What's this fucker doing here? Thought we had an agreement?”
“We did. Far as I know, our little truce with the Grizzlies isn't void yet. I'm gonna guess this is a one off fuckup unless we see otherwise.”
“Sure hope so, Prez,” Moose said, shaking his head so hard the full beard rolling down his chest flapped like a throw rug. “Can't believe they'd be dumb enough to sniff around for a re-match so soon.”
“Grizzlies are assholes. They're not stupid. If they're up to something, we'll figure it out.” I snapped my fingers. “Come on. Let's get him loaded up for disposal and clean up the rest of this mess. Stinger, you got that solution in the truck?”
He nodded. We always kept a little of that crap for mopping up organic matter in our saddlebags or in our trunks. Concealed the shit in antifreeze bottles so nosy cops would be none the wiser. A few splashes cleaned blood and bits of flesh like it never existed.
I didn't have to ask again. Reb and Moose had the body wrapped up in a shroud and Stinger was on the bloody trail with an efficiency that would've made a General jealous.
Only one thing left to deal with now...
Fuck. I almost forgot.
With things under control, I made my way to Saffron's car.
“Saffron?” I tapped on the window.
Took her several tries struggling with the ancient mechanism to roll it down. “What?”
“You said he was in this car?”
“Huh? Yeah. He's the one who drove us out here –“
“You need to get out now.” I didn't wait.
I reached right in through the window, opened the door, and grabbed her. She squealed and jerked against me in protest.
“Blaze, what the hell's going on? This is my car!”
“And it's a goddamned liability right now. I need your keys. I'll have one of my guys drive it back to the clubhouse so we can scrub any traces of your friend.”
“He didn't leave anything inside. I swear!” She struggled against me again, but I just held on tighter. “Please. I just want to go home.”
“Home'll be there for you later. Baby, you don't understand.” I drew in a big breath, frustrated and more than a little turned on after her little palms slapped my chest. “Your world, the civilian one, has room for mistakes. Mine doesn't. Guess which world you're in now? You want your life back, then we have to make sure nobody knows this ever happened.”
Her face wrinkled up. I saw disgust, confusion. I pulled her hand, cutting right through it.
She knew I was right.
On the way to my bike, I heard Moose slam the trunk closed. The Grizzlies' body was inside. I threw him the keys.
“Get this hunk of junk to the clubhouse and look it over. I'm gonna get her out of here.” I helped Saffron onto my Harley, trying not to let my fingers stray around her legs a second longer than necessary. “You ever ridden bitch before?”
“Excuse me?” Her jaw dropped, and I laughed.
“Means riding on the back of a bike. Nothing personal.” That seemed to soothe her over. I covered her head with the spare helmet and then threw on my own. “Hang on tight, baby. Keep your hands locked on me and I'll have you back on solid ground in no time. We'll go slow so you get used to it.”
Soon as my ride rumbled awake, everything felt better. Today was bound to be a bitch.
I needed to fill the club in about what happened out here and make some tough decisions, but this part?
I enjoyed it. Didn't matter that my head still throbbed with last night's hangover. Didn't fucking matter that Saffron just lived through murder, and it wouldn't be easy for her to live it down.
All that mattered was the wind passing through our hair and having her hands snug around my abs. Instincts raged in my system, the primal impulse made everything better.
I wondered if this was how my brother felt when that broken young thing he rescued rode with him. Then I listened to my own voice of reason piping up, telling me to forget about whatever crazy fantasies were wrapped around my cock.
You can't fuck her, and you sure as hell don't want to date her. Girl's been through enough shit.
Best to send her away in one piece. Get her out of this world, and make sure she goes running to safety, never looking back.
I nodded gently to myself as we rounded the mountains, riding into Missoula, down the streets that led to our brand new clubhouse.
That little weenie in my head was right – or was it in my heart? Regardless, the fucker overruled my cock. I had to do the right thing, no matter how much I'd regret it.
I couldn't have a fling. Not now, no matter how easy it would've been to sweet talk her into my arms. Especially when I could stick my dick in half a dozen whores without any complications. I had to get her safe and then send her packing.
With the Grizzlies on the prowl, the last thing I needed was to lose my shit over a woman. One Sturm brother had already done it, and I was damned if I'd follow in Maverick's footsteps without a fight.
Yeah, maybe she temporarily stumbled into our world, but she wasn't welcome here. She didn't belong. I was surprised the girl had ever shaken her knockout body for
Pink Unlimited's short existence.
She wasn't cut out for any of this shit. It wasn't too late for her to do better.
It was a relief just to get home and flick the switch to close the gate. Soon as we parked, I brought my arms down, moving her hands off me. She held on, reluctant to let go, which only made this part harder.
I hopped off the bike and turned around. Saffron wore the same sad look on her face, a little bit of shell shock mixed with disbelief. I'd seen it before on guys who'd been through some close calls.
On girls, it was always an ugly fucking thing, and I instantly would've brought her the fucking moon to wipe it away.
“Let's go inside, baby. I'll have Miner fix you up real good with a few drinks. Anything you want to take the edge off.”
She followed glumly. I was happy to see our club's oldest brother at his station. Miner didn't party as hard as the rest of us, but when he did, it was amazing to see him show up in the mornings like clockwork.
He was too old and beat up for serious club business. I never put him on any runs that went outside Missoula either. He'd been through all that shit in his younger years, and now he was there for moral support, a brother forever.
Also served up the best damned drinks I'd ever had. He was gonna be fucking irreplaceable when he stepped down later this summer like he planned.
“Hey, bro. We got ourselves a guest this morning. Get her something to take the edge off.”
The old man stroked his gray stubble and cocked his head. “Must've been a hell of a night for this kind of breakfast.”
“I'm not thirsty...” Saffron slumped on her stool, propping her pretty face up in her hands.
“Don't matter. You need to clear your head. My orders.” I looked at him again. “Miner, figure something out. Have the prospects keep an eye on this place too. You got church in a half hour along with the rest of us.”
I expected that was how long it would take to wrangle everybody up. Also plenty of time for Reb and Stinger to throw the body in one of the dumping grounds we'd set up in the Montana wild.
I'd return to Saffron later to get the truth. In the meantime, I went into the big waiting room and waited, staring at the giant Prairie Devils MC flag draped on the wall.
Needed some time to think.
Moose was right to be concerned about the colors on that dead bastard. We'd spilled plenty of blood and wrecked our old clubhouse to make the bears respect us. Took out our fucking bikes too, which was why all the brothers who'd been in Python had new ones.
Something didn't add up. Fang, their national President, was a backstabbing bastard, but he had his hands full with the cartels further south. We also paid the fuckers a pretty toll to haul our goods up through Seattle to Canada, where the Grizzles weren't welcome. They'd attracted too much attention up there and pissed off every MC north of the border, unlike us. We had good friends in the Canadian Snakes.
If the Grizzlies wanted to fuck us, they'd be fucking themselves and taking one hell of a risk on opening a two front war.
My men came shuffling in ten minutes later, one by one.
Stinger, Tank, Miner. Reb, Moose, and Roller. Our prospects weren't patched in yet, and sadly for them we had way more serious fucking business on our plates than deciding on their bottom rockers.
“Job's done,” Moose said. “We buried that fucker deep in the caves. He'll be ash before anybody ever finds him.”
I nodded. Several eyes went wide, especially Miner's.
“You wanna tell us what's going on here, Prez?” he asked.
“Here's the facts – one of our former girls from the Python skin shop got picked up this morning next to a dead guy wearing a Grizzlies patch. She killed him herself. Little girl did a fine job with a big rock to the head.”
“Smells like trouble,” Stinger said. “What the fuck was she doing with him in the first place? Grizzlies aren't supposed to be coming through here at all after we beat their asses.”
“I'm about to find that out. Had to give the girl some room to breathe first. It's just one asshole. If there were others she was worried about, she would've told me.”
Or she wouldn't have made it here in the first place, I thought grimly.
“You sure she's right for that?” Miner asked. “Soon as I served her some rum and Coke, she started sucking it like a fish. Girl's a goddamned nervous wreck.”
“She just killed a man after he tried to fucking rape her, brother,” I snapped, adding the last word as an afterthought. “Not the first time she's seen some shit. Saffron got punched in the face by one of the fucks from the old bear charter we ruined. But she's not used to this.”
I tapped the small round patch beneath my PRESIDENT tag. SATAN'S SYTHE, it read, a special patch given to every brother after they'd killed for the club.
“Well, she better get used to it fast.” Stinger rested his fists on the table, muscles tightening. “If there's really a war coming, she's gonna be right in the middle. You can't tell me she wasn't around any other Grizzlies. They'll know she was the last one hanging around their man.”
“I already told you, we'll find out. You're right, she'll need protection if I smell even one more bastard with their patch lurking around her. I'll find out. No fucking around.”
I meant it. Last thing I needed was any of my brothers doubting my officer patch. I'd pull it all out of Saffron, even if it upset her. Didn't have any damned choice.
The stakes were too high. Not just for her, but for the whole club.
“Should we bring Dakota in on this?” Reb asked. He plucked a small tin from his pocket and pinched some tobacco into his mouth.
Smug bastard. He liked to ask the hard questions. Just like I used to do when I was VP in the Nomads. Couldn't count the times I'd gotten under Maverick's skin. Now, I was on the receiving end, and it boiled my blood.
“Fuck no. Dickinson's still playing catch up after helping out our asses, plus mother charter the summer before. Cassandra doesn't need to know. Throttle's got his hands full just packing shipments for us to send on their merry way.”
The mother charter in Cassandra, North Dakota, had become a full time shipping operation since the truce with the Grizzlies. We were the last stop before the long run up to Vancouver.
Guns, drugs, anything on the black market that turned a profit for the MC flowed through us, and it was our duty to keep it safe.
My brother got into it with the Grizzles when we first set up here, and earned himself Throttle looking over his shoulder. I wasn't gonna let the same damned thing happen to me.
Besides, I could make my own decisions for this club. Didn't need our national President to play babysitter, even if it would've been safer to have some support.
“Tank! You set up patrols and get the new guns unpacked and ready to go. We're not gonna be caught with our fucking pants around our ankles if the Grizzlies decide we're responsible for their missing friend.”
“You got it, boss. I'll do my best. Rather play with guns than punch bags anyway.” He smiled, trying to make good after our clash this morning.
I wasn't in the mood. Whatever, he could grin all he wanted. Just as long as goliath did his damned job as Sergeant at Arms.
“Before we go, is there any other business? I was hoping to have a vote on our prospects' patches today. Obviously, that's out until we're sure those fucking bears aren't coming after our picnic basket.”
Men laughed. Miner grunted, a blank look on his face. For him, this was just more bullshit, a bad rerun of wars between MCs he'd been balls deep in his whole life.
Nobody spoke up. I stopped twirling the gavel between my fingers and slammed it down.
“Church is over. Get out there and get back to work. I'll find out what's up from her and call another meeting if things get tense.”
“She's a hot one, isn't she?” Stinger flashed his trademark grin. “I'd love to get on her protection detail. I could keep that safe all fucking night –“
“That's enoug
h, asshole,” I snapped. “Until you hear otherwise, the girl's a guest in this clubhouse. She's club business, and not the kind that gets your dick wet. Also means she's off limits.”
The last word ended in a growl. Stinger's goofy fucking grin melted and he sulked away. He shot me one last look that said, it was just a damned joke.
Joke or not, I wasn't fucking having it. Saffron was my problem more than anyone else's. Last thing she needed was a bunch of brothers trying to take down her panties. Including me.
I was the last out and slammed the door behind me. The clubhouse was mostly empty. Even Miner stepped away from the bar, probably to take a long piss or do whatever the hell old guys do.
I pulled out the stool and sat down next to her. Had half a mind to steal some Jack, but it was too damned early and I needed to stay sober for this conversation.
Saffron looked at me and let out a loud hiccup. For the life of me, it was so surreal and out of place I fucking laughed. Then I reached for her back and let my hand rest, gingerly rubbing the warm skin beneath her t-shirt, patting her softly.
“Damn, woman. How many did he give you?”
“Three. You were right. I'm feeling a lot better now. The whole thing seems like a bad dream with this stuff in my system.” She looked at me with those big bright eyes and managed a small smile.
My brain. My filthy, sweaty, evil fucking thoughts.
No, not just my head. The real culprit was a lot further down, and it pulsed something fierce when we locked eyes.
My head, my guts, screamed out for whiskey. But my cock only wanted one thing, and it wanted her a whole lot worse than the rest of me yearned for booze.
“Good. I'll cut straight to it. You mind telling me what the fuck led up to you bashing that fucker's head in with a giant rock?”
My fingers literally hurt when I forced them off her body. Without her warmth, I was ice cold. Frustrated. I wondered if a man could catch insanity, because she was driving me stark fucking mad. And it only got worse when she twisted on the stool, giving me a full view of her relaxed legs and the perky tits pushing against her shirt.
