by Jayne Blue
I rose and slid my bag over my shoulder. “And you consider me one of your people?”
He gave me a crooked smile. “Well, Beth, yes, I do. So does the rest of Crystal Falls. The trouble with men like Deacon Wade, there’s always collateral damage.”
Beckett dropped his smile and his words cut straight through me. He had done his research. I never once told him Deacon’s name. I didn’t have to. Damn this small town.
“Noted,” I said, my heart racing. “I’ll watch my back.” It was in me to tell Beckett about what happened last night. The thing was, he already knew something was up. Once again, I felt the need to protect Deacon. I just didn’t know how best to do it. For now, I went with my gut. The fewer people involved in Deacon’s business, the better.
I knew Beckett wasn’t satisfied, but I couldn’t help that for now. He let it drop and I walked to my car. My heart jumped as my phone rang in my bag. I pulled it out. Deacon. I felt that same little ache I always got when thinking about him.
“Hey,” I answered. There was silence on the other end for a moment.
“Hey, you,” he finally said.
I wanted to tell him it was good to hear his voice. It was. I wanted to fall apart and unload on him with everything that had happened. Still, something held me back. Maybe it was the stupidest thing I could have done under the circumstances, but I decided to trust my gut.
“I just wanted to make sure you were doing okay,” he said. “I didn’t like how we left things.”
I squeezed the phone to my ear. “I wish you were here,” I said, breathless. I meant to keep it cool, but everything that was in my heart just rushed out.
“I wish I was there too. Beth, that’s what I need to talk to you about.”
A lump formed in my throat. Oh, I knew this side of him all too well. It was the thing that drove me the most crazy about Danny when we were younger. He would open his heart, then turn to ice. Before, it was guilt and obligation. This time, he thought he was protecting me.
“I’m listening,” I said.
“Baby. I ... I can’t see you for a while. Things are …”
His voice trailed off. Deacon’s words echoed those of Beckett’s. Something was already happening. “Don’t say it,” I finished for him. “I don’t think I want to know.”
“Look. I just need to know everything is okay with you. I can handle all the rest of it if I know that.”
“Don’t put this on me,” I said, hating the hard edge my voice took. “I’m fine, Danny. I’ve been fine for ten years, remember?” God. We both knew that wasn’t true.
“I wanted to come there and tell you all of this in person,” he said. “It’s just not a good idea today. There are some things going down and it might get messy. You know I can’t go into detail. Especially not over the phone, but …”
“Danny,” I said, my voice cracking. My world spun. This had all happened before. He was saying the exact things Sean used to tell me. Things were messed up. He had it under control. He’d need me to just sit tight and wait for him. But this wasn’t Sean, this was Danny. And here I was again.
“It’s okay,” I said, finding a cool tone. “I know how to take care of myself.”
“I still wish you’d take a vacation. Just go be somewhere where nobody knows you for a little while.”
“Can you promise me something?” I asked. “Can you promise me you’ll be careful?”
The sigh on the other end of the phone cut through me. Oh God. This was just like it had been with Sean before everything turned to shit. Why couldn’t I keep from falling for men who were no good for me?
“Yeah,” he said. It was as good as I was going to get. “Beth ... you might not hear from me for a little while. And you might hear about some things you won’t like.”
“You voted to go to war,” I whispered. Danny got silent again. “Danny? I’ll go. Okay? If you come with me, I’ll go. Whatever’s about to happen, you don’t have to be there. You took care of me. You took care of your family. If this is about Sean, he’s not worth it. Not anymore. If he were here ... I swear I think he’d tell you to forget about what happened to him. He knew, you know? He always knew he’d end up just how he did.”
“Beth, I’ve got to go.”
“No, you don’t!” I screamed into the phone and hated myself for that too. Old patterns. History repeating itself. If I closed my eyes, I could picture Danny lying dead in some alley instead of Sean. They were nothing alike. Sean had real evil in him. Danny didn’t. And yet, he looked for the darkness just the same.
“I’ll call you in a few days when I can,” he said. “Just ... if you won’t take off for a little while, be careful, okay? Don’t go meeting any clients by yourself. Take a few days off and stay home at least. Will you do that for me?”
I should tell him about the Hawk who came to my house. I knew I should. And yet, if I had, I also knew it would make things worse. Danny couldn’t help himself from coming to my rescue. I would not be the thing that put him in greater danger. I knew with every instinct in me that’s exactly what his enemies were hoping for. I’d be damned if I’d play straight into their hands.
I heard a commotion on the other end of the phone. “I’ll talk to you soon, Beth,” he said. My throat ran dry. I never even got a chance to say goodbye before Danny hung up the phone. Squeezing my eyes shut, I pressed the phone to my heart.
“Please, God,” I prayed. “Keep him safe. Whatever’s coming, don’t punish him now.”
As I turned the key in the ignition, I saw Beckett Finch watching me from across the street. Of course, he couldn’t hear what I’d been saying or know who was on the other end of my call. Still, the hard look in his eyes told me he knew enough.
* * *
“Well, he’s settled. That’s going to have to be enough for now,” Darlene said. She was rummaging in the file room. After my call with Danny, I came to the office and tried to busy myself catching up on some legal research. It was fruitless really. We’d gone full stop on all active cases. Anything on the back burner would stay that way. Anything needing immediate attention had been reassigned to other lawyers. I knew they’d likely never come back. Ed had enough cash flow from his big settlement to float us for a little while, but with no new business likely to come in, things would get dire in a few months.
“Good,” I said. I went to the doorway. Darlene slammed one of the big metal file cabinets shut and turned to me, dusting off her skirt.
“He’s sorry,” she said. “He wanted to make sure I told you that.” She waddled over to the worktable we kept in here and grabbed the TV remote. This was where Darlene usually escaped to watch her soap operas when Ed drove her the most nuts. It was past eight o’clock in the evening. I should have left for home hours ago, but I didn’t want Darlene to stay here alone. Sure, part of me held a little fear about going back to my house. Though I was sure I’d called my intruder’s motives correctly, I was still scared.
She flipped through the channels, settling on the local news. “You should head on home, honey,” she said. “Take a few days. We’ve taken care of everything pressing.”
“Same goes for you,” I said. “In fact, why don’t you let me take you to dinner? I could use the company and we could both use a change of scenery.”
Darlene’s eyes brightened. “You know, that’s not a half bad idea. Why should either of us sit here wallowing about Eddie or ... well ... any other man?” She shot me a conspiratorial wink then lifted the remote to turn off the TV. Something made her stop. Her mouth dropped. Instead, she turned up the volume.
“Honey,” she said. “Isn’t that …”
My heart stopped cold. The news reporter stood outside a bar. The crawl across the bottom of the screen gutted me.
“That’s Woody’s,” Darlene said. “In Port Azrael. Isn’t that a biker hangout?”
I couldn’t stop reading the crawl. Gang violence erupts in Port Azrael. Two dead.
The windows of Woody’s bar were shot out
and yellow crime scene tape crisscrossed in front of the door. As the reporter gave sketchy details, two men came out carrying a body bag. The ground seemed to give way beneath my feet.
Chapter 16
Deacon
Cold steel. That’s what my blood felt like as I held another man’s throat between my hands. I couldn’t think straight. I couldn’t see straight. All I could hear were the gunshots fired into the pool room at Woody’s Bar.
They’d struck first. Bear had been afraid of that. Shep, Maddox, Chase, and I had gone to Woody’s to warn him about the trouble brewing. We did it for all the businesses under our protection. Now it was too damn late. Woody had a bullet lodged in his shoulder. Two of his patrons were dead. Chase got grazed on the cheek. One millimeter to the left, they would have blown his damn head off.
Maddox, Shep, and I had taken off after the shooter. We’d cornered him just off Route 10. It was a Hawk, all right. Low level enough he didn’t wear a patch. But his chest was covered with their ink. For now, I just called him Puke.
“Tell Bear we’re going to need a clean-up crew,” I said. Shep’s bullet caught the puke in the arm. It went through and through. I dragged him out of his car. Maddox took care of the probie riding with him. He had him pinned to the ground, his boot on the guy’s ear.
The puke’s breath stank. I was pretty sure he’d shit himself. “It’s your lucky day, asshole,” I said as I heard the sirens pick up in the distance. Of course, one of the bartenders had called in the shots. Bloodlust coursed through my veins. I could do it. Damn every oath I’d ever taken. And every confession I’d ever made. This puke came out to spill blood tonight. Dark Saints blood. It was just our luck he was a lousy shot. But with the cops about to pull up any second, I couldn’t take vengeance the way I wanted.
“Deacon, come on,” Maddox said. “We’ve gotta bail. Let the PAPD have this one. There were at least a dozen other witnesses at the bar.”
“You tell your boss,” I said, putting my face in the puke’s. “This won’t stand. You’re going to go away for a long time, kid. The Saints can get to you anywhere.”
The puke was scared, but his face spread into a desperate grin. “And you tell Bear, we can get to you anywhere too. Like your girlfriend. She’s got a set of sweet tits on her, Deacon. She’s feisty too.”
I saw red. I jerked him up by the jacket. He coughed and sputtered in my face. “What the fuck are you talking about?”
“Beth? That’s her name, right? Hot little piece of ass. Crystal Falls ain’t far enough away.”
I don’t even remember drawing back a fist. I just remember the sickening wet sound as I made contact with the asshole’s jaw. Pain exploded across my knuckles. I felt a tiny bone in my hand snap. Blood spurted out of his face and he slumped to the ground.
“Gotta bail, Deacon.” Shep grabbed me and pulled me off the guy. Beth. He was talking about Beth. He knew where she lived.
I stumbled backward then finally got my feet under me as the sirens drew closer. “Come on,” Shep said. “Back to the clubhouse until we get further orders from Bear. There’s nothing else we can do here.”
“No,” I said. “You go. I’ve got something to take care of.”
Maddox was at Shep’s shoulder. The two of them glared at me. “What the hell are you talking about?” Maddox said. “You need to take care of club business. No one goes off alone. Bear’s orders.”
“Special circumstances,” I said. Maybe I should have told them everything. But at that moment, Beth was the only thing that mattered. The Hawk had said her name. He knew she was in Crystal Falls. Nothing on this earth, not even direct orders from Bear, could have kept me from going to her.
I left Maddox and Shep in the dust. I half expected them to follow me, but they didn’t. No matter what else was happening, Bear would want a status report on the shooters. I could call him later, once I knew Beth was safe.
Chapter 17
Deacon
That ride from Port Az to Crystal Falls was the longest of my life. It was well past midnight when I tore up Beth’s driveway. Maybe it would have been smarter to make less of an entrance. It didn’t matter. Nothing mattered until I saw her with my own eyes.
I pounded on her front door. Her motion lights came on and every dog in her neighborhood started to bark. Good. Let them. Let the world know she had a member of the Dark Saints at her doorstep that night. God help any man who tried to come between us.
Beth came to the door. It was two o’clock in the morning, but she was fully dressed in jeans and a t-shirt. Her eyes were red from crying. Without a word, she stepped back and let me in. She crumpled in my arms as I came to her.
“You’re okay?” she whimpered. I said the exact same thing to her at the exact same time.
“Baby?” I showered her face with kisses, feeling up and down her arms. She was safe. She was whole. Adrenaline coursed through me. In my mind’s eye, I saw Beth like I saw Sean the last time. Instead of his bloodless face laying on a coroner’s slab, I saw hers. No. I would never let it happen. They’d have to kill me first.
“It was all over the news.” She sniffled. “I called you a dozen times. Why didn’t you answer? Oh God. I thought …”
“Shh. Baby, I’m okay. It’s okay.”
She shook her head. “It’s not. Don’t lie to me. It’s started. They shot up Woody’s. Were you there? Danny, your face. Your hand. There’s blood.”
She pulled me into the kitchen. Grabbing a cloth, she ran it under cold water and pressed it to my bloodied hand. I couldn’t feel pain. I could barely breathe.
“What happened?” she asked. I went to her kitchen table and sat down. She sank into a chair beside me and smoothed the hair away from my eyes.
“I can’t talk about it,” I said. “You don’t need the details anyway. I just had to ... Beth. He said …”
“They came here,” she said, her voice dropping. “I should have told you but I didn’t want you to fly off the handle. I didn’t want you to take their bait.”
My blood heated. She looked so scared, so small. I’d seen that look on her face before. Sean used to put it there. That Hawk’s whispered words turned my heart to stone. I should have killed him when I had the chance.
“You have to tell me exactly what happened,” I said. I didn’t want to scare her, but knew she was already terrified.
She ran a hand over her face. “Two nights ago,” she said. “A guy broke into the house. He was here when I came home. He didn’t do anything to me. He was just here to rattle me. He wore a Hawks cut, Danny. His name was Milo. He wanted to make sure I saw it. That’s why I didn’t tell you. It’s what he wanted.”
Something broke inside of me. It felt like a waterfall. I’d kept a wall around my heart where Beth was concerned. I didn’t want to hurt her. I didn’t want to have to face my own guilt for the choices I made and the things I put her through. But as I took in the sight of her, pale, beautiful, whole, the wall crumbled.
“Did he hurt you?” My words didn’t sound like my own. It was as if I existed outside myself, floating in some corner, watching. Then Beth touched my cheek and tethered me back to my own body.
“No,” she said, her eyes glistening with tears she held back. “No, Danny. He didn’t hurt me. I told you. I don’t think that’s why he came. He wanted to make sure I knew he was a Hawk and that I told you about it. So whatever happens, whatever you do. I’m begging you, don’t play into it.”
She came to me. It was as if she could brush away every shield I’d built to protect us both with just the soft touch of her hand against my cheek.
They had been here. My enemy had put his hands on her. I knew in my heart it would break me for good if anything ever happened to this woman.
My raw need took over. I was stupid to think I could be strong or stoic where she was concerned. Beth’s skin flushed with her own desire. She was just as scared as I was. Her thirst just as strong.
“Beth,” I whispered.
“Sh
h. Don’t. Don’t say anything. Don’t tell me the fifty reasons why this is a bad idea. I already know them all. Right now, I don’t care.”
I pulled her to me. We sank to the kitchen floor together in a jumble of limbs. I couldn’t get her jeans down fast enough. Or mine. In the back of my mind, I wondered if I’d ever manage to get this woman to a proper bed before lust drove me mad. For now, the answer was no. I would take her on the damn kitchen tile. To hell with it all.
I was hard as steel for her. Beth wriggled out of her jeans and I tore at her thin cotton panties. I slid my hands beneath her t-shirt and found her pert nipple pebbled for me.
I needed this woman. I was starved for her. There were a million reasons why I should have just got up and walked away. But I was selfish where Beth was concerned and at that moment, no power on earth could have taken me from her.
“Deacon,” she whispered. I loved my name on her lips. I was Deacon. I was Danny too, but I wanted to claim her again as I was. She arched her back and spread her legs for me.
“God,” I gasped. She found me, closing her fingers around my rigid cock. She was slick and hot as I drove myself home. I planted my hands on either side of her head and hovered over her. I wanted to stay like this forever. Her slippery walls enveloped me. It was home.
Beth touched my face. Her cheeks flushed with her rising desire. She was everything. She was mine. God might damn me for being selfish. It would be worth it. God help us both.
I moved in her, loving the way she twitched around me. She was tight and warm and I knew what heaven felt like. Beth curved herself around me, hooking her ankles behind me. I slid my hands up her thighs, spreading her even wider. Then I picked up a faster rhythm. Beth gasped with pleasure. She quivered with every move I made. Tiny beads of sweat formed on her upper lip. I dug my fingers into the floor to keep traction.
