Deserter

by Myers, Shannon

  The trouble was, my competitive side had come out and now I didn’t want to walk away with anything less than everything.

  The dealer laid down a five for Thirteen and a three for Army Ranger. I stared down in shock at the queen as it was placed in front of me, my mask slipping ever so slightly.

  Thirteen hit and was dealt a four, bringing his total to nine. I looked up at him from under my lashes, only to find his eyes had never left mine.

  Instead of shying away, I kept my eyes on his as I signaled to hit. Hawk had taught me early on to approach the game as the men did; never letting them intimidate me.

  An ace joined my queen and the corner of my mouth turned up in a grin.

  Blackjack.

  The dealer showed a two and Thirteen doubled down, just as I’d expected he would. Army Ranger did the same on his eleven, but I stayed. She turned over her second card—an ace.

  “Soft thirteen,” the dealer stated before turning over another. “And a five makes it a soft eighteen.”

  A sense of calm washed over me when Army Ranger’s third card ended up being a two, only bringing him up to thirteen. He shook his head and stared down at the green felt with a glare.

  Please. Please. Please.

  I leaned back in my chair and watched Thirteen’s cards; my breath caught in my throat.

  “A seven,” she stated flatly. “Too many.”

  My mouth slackened and Army Ranger clapped me on the shoulder. “Nice haul, sweetheart.”

  Oh my god… I’d just won it all.

  The rigid posture I’d held all night fled and I slumped forward. Hawk rushed forward and crushed me up against his chest. “Holy shit, you just won two hundred and fifty thousand dollars.”

  I brought my hand up and smacked his arm, hissing, “This was the high stakes game, wasn’t it? Why’d you lie to me?”

  He grinned down at me and picked up my tray of chips. “Because I know you. You would’ve psyched yourself out and never made it past the front door. It doesn’t matter now, does it? C’mon, let’s go collect your winnings.”

  Thirteen stepped in front of us as we turned, and Hawk’s fingers tightened against my waist. “Congratulations, uh—oh that’s right. I never got your name.”

  He extended his hand and I took it with a tight smile. I didn’t miss the way his eyes dropped to the left hand at my side before skimming the rest of my body. I never wore my wedding band when I gambled. I also never used my last name.

  “It’s Celia.”

  “Celia,” he repeated, my name sliding off his tongue like silk.

  “A unique name for a unique woman. There aren’t many who can keep up with the men like you did tonight. I’d be interested in sitting at another table with you—maybe over drinks?”

  I released his hand and took a step back. “I don’t think so. Have a nice night.”

  “Perhaps another time then.”

  Hawk led me around him, but Thirteen’s eyes stayed on me as we cashed out and walked to my car. “We stay too long in a place like this and they’ll get their money back. One way or another.”

  I let him drive us back to the house while I stared out the window, imagining how much better our lives were going to be.

  The money wasn’t going under my bed this time. Even if I had to deposit in in several different banks, I was going to ensure that no one touched our future.

  “I can’t believe you did it,” Hawk said quietly, as we pulled into the driveway.

  I turned back to him with a grin. “Thanks to you. You saved us, Hawk.”

  “I just loaned you the money. The rest was all you, kid.”

  “Oh, that reminds me,” I exclaimed, digging through the large bag at my feet. “Here is the amount you gave me… plus, a little extra.”

  He reluctantly took it from my hands. “Celia…”

  “No take backs,” I giggled as I climbed out and ran inside.

  My father was asleep in Jamie’s recliner with the television still on.

  “Daddy.” I patted his shoulder and he jerked awake mid-snore.

  “Celia?” he asked, rubbing his eyes. “How’d it go?”

  “I did it. I got enough to take care of us for a long time.”

  With a heavy sigh, he reached for my hand. “Sweetheart, the type of men involved in those things—”

  “I know,” I finished for him. “They’re not good men. This was it though. No more games.”

  He stood up and pulled me into a rough hug. “I just worry with you and the girls all alone.”

  I led him to the door. “We’re good. I promise. Thank you again for keeping them on such short notice.”

  “Hopefully, they’re finally asleep. There was a lot of up and down with needing another story or a glass of water. They keep you on your toes, don’t they?”

  “That they do,” I answered with a laugh.

  “Anytime you need me, just call, okay?”

  “I will, Daddy. Love you.” I pressed a kiss to his cheek and watched him walk out to his car before turning off the porch light and kicking off my heels.

  I straightened the American Girl magazines and Thor comics scattered across the couch and placed them on the side table before heading into the kitchen.

  My father may have been great with my girls, but he was terrible at cleaning up after them. The sink was piled high with empty ice cream bowls, dinner plates that still contained quite a bit of dinner, and the one hundred drinking glasses that Dakota seemed to work through in a day.

  I grabbed my apron from the pantry and threw it over my head with a sigh. I thought about Jamie as I began scrubbing the dishes by hand. It didn’t matter how much he had going on with the club, he’d always cleaned up the kitchen after meals.

  Early on, I’d argued with him, insisting that I was capable of handling it, only to be met with a smack on the rear and a command to go put my feet up.

  He’d crank up the radio and work until it was spotless. Eventually, I came to realize that it was as much for him as it was for me. He’d needed that time alone; to work through whatever it was he was dealing with.

  I paused with a soap covered bowl in my hand and strained my ears before shaking my head. “Dakota Mae,” I muttered to myself with a smirk before drying my hands on a dish towel and removing my apron. Ten bucks said she was trying to summon the mighty power of Thor when she should’ve been sleeping.

  “Girls,” I hid a smile as I opened their bedroom door. The sounds of their soft, rhythmic breathing filled the air and a chill ran down my spine.

  I turned the lock and pulled their door closed with a click before walking back toward our bedroom. Hawk wasn’t on the front porch and I found myself praying that it was because he was investigating the sound.

  It was probably a raccoon or a stray dog, but I’d grab the gun, just in case. I crept across our dark bedroom, freezing as a lighter ignited from the chair in the corner.

  I jerked back with a strangled cry before laughing shakily. “Jamie, you can’t keep coming in like this! I almost had a heart attack!”

  “Hello, Celia.”

  It wasn’t Jamie.

  It was Thirteen.

  I stumbled back a step before looking toward the dresser where I kept my gun. I kept my voice calm as I asked, “How did you get in?”

  He casually flicked the lighter again, illuminating his face as he lit up a cigar. “You don’t mind if I smoke inside, do you?”

  “I do. You need to get out.” I just needed to distract him long enough to get my gun.

  “That’s no way to treat a guest, is it?” He tsked.

  I dove for the dresser and he began laughing as I scrambled to find my weapon. The sound of my own heartbeat thrashed in my ears, drowning him out.

  “Looking for this?” he asked lazily, holding up the gun for my inspection before releasing a plume of smoke.

  My chin quivered and I took a jerky step backward, quickly followed by another. He made no move to get up from the chair. If anything,
he seemed amused by my actions.

  The bathroom tile was cold against my bare feet, but I kept moving until I slammed into another body. I rounded on my would-be attacker, only to find Hawk.

  I immediately threw my arms around his shoulders, sobbing, “Oh my god, Hawk. He followed us home. He found us!”

  “It’s gonna be okay, Celia.” I relaxed as his gun came up and let him lead me back into the bedroom.

  Jamie would’ve had a bullet in the man’s head before ever hitting the carpet, but Hawk held back, eyeing the intruder as if sizing him up.

  “Shoot him,” I hissed.

  “Nah,” he stated with a grin before turning the gun on me. “I’d rather do you. Get on your knees.”

  My brain, which had been focused on card strategy up until a few hours ago, was now running wild with escape plans. Even if I made it out, there was no way I’d be able to get to the girls before they did.

  His hand came up and locked around the back of my neck and he growled, “On. Your. Knees. Before I put a bullet in your head. You want your girls seeing you like that?”

  My chin quivered as I slowly lowered myself to the carpet. “Why?”

  He ignored my question and looked back to the man in the chair. “She’s all yours, Cobra.”

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Celia: 2000

  Cobra continued puffing on his cigar, a small grin playing at his lips. It reminded me of the girls’ expressions when Wolverine brought them gifts.

  I pushed myself up with my hands only to have a gun shoved in my face. A gun in the hands of a man I’d trusted, not only with my life, but my daughters’ as well.

  “Why?” I asked again through stiff lips. “Why are you doing this?”

  There was a low thud against the side of the tub in the bathroom followed by a curse before the next man appeared in the doorway. It was the tattooed man with the lip ring from the game.

  “Hey, ma,” he grinned. “You’re awake.”

  My nostrils flared. “You’re here for the money? Take it.” When no one made any attempt to move, I reached up and grabbed the bag from the foot of the bed and tossed it in front of them, growling, “Take it!”

  “We’re not here for the money, sweetheart,” Cobra said from the chair. “We’re here for Grey. Where is he?”

  Jamie?

  “Grey’s dead—” Lip Ring’s fist connected with my nose and I fell against the side of the bed; the force sending pain radiating all the way down into my teeth.

  “He ain’t dead, Celia. Just tell them what they need to know,” Hawk pleaded, no longer sounding like the man who’d held a gun to my head.

  He was scared of them.

  Blood began to stream from both nostrils and down the back of my throat, gagging me. “I don’t know.”

  This time, I expected the hit and curled in on myself before Lip Ring’s boot connected with my thigh. Tears ran down my cheeks, but instead of shrinking back, I gripped the comforter and pulled myself up to spit blood at him.

  “Touch me again and see if I tell you anything.” I turned my glare to Cobra. “Is this how you run things? Letting your henchmen get their hands dirty while you do nothing?”

  Lip Ring snarled, “You’re gonna pay for that one, bitch.”

  Cobra’s tongue slipped free of his mouth and ran along his bottom lip as he studied me. He held up a finger and Lip Ring froze. “Now, Manny, you heard the woman. We’re strangers… why should she tell us anything? Am I right?”

  My nostrils flared, but I refused to answer.

  “Of course not,” he continued, clearly not needing my response. “You think this is about a blackjack game, but the game was just a piece of the puzzle, sweetheart. We’re taking the money. It’ll give us a comfortable head start; but first, we’re gonna send a message to your old man, yeah?”

  I shook my head, unable to stop myself from violently shaking. “N-no… h-he’s d-d-dead.”

  Manny chuckled. “Nah. Ese cabrón is still alive and kickin’.”

  “Celia, your old man ever tell you of the time he took out the Serpents?” Cobra asked. When I shook my head, he continued. “See, now that’s surprising to me. Grey loved to throw his muscle around back then, tellin’ everybody how his club was the best. You know the trouble with that?”

  When he calmly stood up and slipped the suit jacket from his shoulders, I scooted back on the carpet, and up against Manny. He tugged me to my feet and pressed the tip of his switchblade against my throat, forcing my back up against his chest.

  My breaths became short, erratic bursts of air and I locked eyes with Hawk, pleading with him to intervene.

  “You can drive out a nest of snakes, but if you don’t kill every last one of them, they come right back. Only this time, they’re mad as hell. Manny here, he was with Los Dictadores—Silent Phoenix slaughtered his brothers over a bitch and started a goddamn war.”

  Night Molly got hurt. Guy was a gangbanger and we went after him. They were hanging out at a strip club run by a rival and the minute we stepped foot inside, we broke the goddamn agreement.

  Had I known then what he’d meant?

  I wanted to vomit. To scream. To cry. Instead, I stayed silent, praying it was enough to keep them from hurting me or my girls.

  “And I’m here for me,” Hawk gritted out as he moved in front of me. “I ain’t been a prospect in years, but Grey put me on babysitter duty with you. Why?”

  “I don’t know,” I whispered. “Take the money. Just don’t hurt us, please.”

  Cobra’s mouth flattened into a straight line as he shook his head. “I hate to—I do. I noticed you at some of the early games. Your old man was dead, making you off-limits. When I began asking around, I realized that one of Grey’s own men was stealing from you. Right under your nose and you never saw it.”

  A heavy feeling settled in the pit of my stomach and my mouth fell open. “Hawk?”

  Hawk looked away with a clenched jaw. “I wasn’t getting my cut of the profits.”

  “When I found out, I planned to take him out before stepping in. Nothing gave me more satisfaction than imagining Grey rolling over in his grave at the thought of a Serpent watching over his family. I held a gun to his head and he suddenly couldn’t shut the fuck up,” Cobra continued with a wry grin. “But, you. You won’t break as easily, will you?”

  “You’ve sent your message. Now leave.”

  He curled his index and middle fingers down the front of my dress before pulling me toward him. “No, sweetheart. We’re just getting started.”

  I lifted my chin and narrowed my eyes, holding my ground even as my insides quaked. “You aren’t going to kill me.”

  His other hand came up to caress my cheek and he leaned closer until his lips were right at my ear before whispering, “No, but you’ll wish you were dead when we’re done with you.”

  Manny’s arms locked around mine, drawing them back toward my spine as Cobra’s hand fell away. It came back as a fist, slamming into my cheek and knocking my legs out from under me.

  They let me fall and I mashed my palms against the carpet fibers, fighting to get back up. The room spun slowly, like the carousel at the fairgrounds, and I fell back with a groan.

  The girls.

  I have to keep the girls safe.

  It was the last thought I had before the room went dark.

  Icy water soaked my face and filled my nostrils. I was back in the bathroom at Leather & Lace. Remington staggered toward me, his throat flayed wide open, giving the appearance of two smiling mouths.

  Mouths that wanted to devour me.

  When I blinked, I was sitting in the shower with cold water cascading down my dress. Cobra knelt beside me and when I looked up, he shook his head with a sigh. “You know, I really thought you’d be able to take a hit like a man, Celia.”

  My eyes fell shut and he stroked my cheek roughly. “No, no. Look at me. You have to stay conscious, okay?”

  I shook my head, the movement sending jolts
of pain down my spine.

  I was yanked to my feet and dragged away from the water. I forced my eyes open again and blinked until the room came into focus. My reflection met my gaze in the bathroom mirror with Cobra grinning over my shoulder.

  My cheek was swelling to the point that it was impairing the vision in my right eye and my nose was streaked with dried blood and black bruising.

  Manny and Hawk had disappeared. “Where… are… they?”

  His gaze softened. “Not with your girls, I swear it. Look at me.”

  I brought my eyes back up to meet his in the mirror.

  “You cooperate and they’ll stay safe.” He pushed my breasts against the counter and tore open the back of my dress with his hands. “You scream, and they’re next. Are we clear?”

  I began struggling against him when realization hit. “No. No.”

  His hand slipped under my throat and he pulled me up against his chest. The dress fell away, and his eyes roamed over my body appreciatively. “Fuck, Celia. Look at you.”

  My chin and lips began quivering as he unclasped my bra. “Please don’t,” I whimpered.

  “Your old man was too fuckin’ stupid to see that his most prized possession was right here.” His hand moved up to my lips. “Right fucking here.”

  I didn’t think. I just did the only thing I hadn’t tried yet. I fought back, sinking my teeth into the skin of his fingers until my mouth filled with the copper tang of blood.

  Cobra didn’t flinch or react at all how I’d imagined. With a grin, he simply whispered, “My turn.”

  What happens when they come for us, Jamie?

  He spun me around, tossing me up onto the counter as if I weighed nothing. The back of my head connected with a painful thud against the mirror and the edges of my vision blurred from the impact.

  Come for you? I ain’t letting anyone come for you.

  It was a lie.

  All of it.

  I’d been blinded by the facade of invincibility that seemed to surround Jamie, seduced with the idea that we could maintain it.

  Cobra’s teeth clamped down on my breast and I blacked out again with a scream.