by Brook Wilder
Hub shot him an uncomfortable look.
“The old abandoned Jasper farmstead.”
“Shit.”
“I know.”
Christian bit back another curse. The farm was overgrown, with little cover and about a million places that Enrique could be hiding extra men. And it was also smack dab in his territory.
“Let’s just get this over with,” Christian said, starting his engine once more.
One by one, the bikers peeled back onto the road that would lead them to the abandoned farm.
By the time they all got there, Christian was sure his clothes were soaked through with sweat, and in his mind he just kept seeing Melody’s last, big-eyed glance as she watched him drive away.
Don’t worry, baby. I’ll come back to you, Christian promised her silently. There was no way in hell he was letting some asshole like Enrique keep him away from her. Not when he’d had so little time with her. Hell, a lifetime wouldn’t be enough.
They hadn’t talked about it since finding out about the pregnancy, but at that moment Christian made another promise to himself. He wanted Melody in his life. Not just until they could get out of this life and start over fresh, but for years to come if she would have him. He swore that he would make sure he deserved her love. He would do everything and anything he had to, to keep her and their child by his side. Right where they belonged. Together.
Christian and the Devil’s Martyrs pulled onto the overgrown gravel drive that led to the farm, and his stomach sank when he caught sight of Enrique and his men, already lined up and waiting for them in the middle of the field.
There was a bag sitting at Enrique’s feet. That must be the money. Then Christian’s gaze caught the condescending sneer on the drug dealer’s face, and that bad feeling in his gut intensified. He had a feeling that this wasn’t going to go as smoothly as they’d hoped.
But it was too late to back out now. They were already there. All they had to do was get the money and get the hell out of there before things went south. And then he and Melody would have all the time in the world to figure things out together.
Christian held tight to that thought as he and the others stopped their bikes a few yards away, still well within reach in case they had to make a quick get away, and walked towards the waiting men.
As they had agreed upon earlier, Hub took the lead, walking a little further ahead of the rest of them. As vice president of the crew, he held more authority than any of them, and they were hoping that Enrique would mistake it for a sign of respect. But the swarthy skinned man never took his eyes off of Christian.
It was easy to see the rage burning in Enrique’s nearly black eyes, and Christian shuddered as an anger of his own took hold. This was the man who had hurt Melody. One day, he was going to make him pay for it. But it wouldn’t be today.
He glanced around. All of Enrique’s men were packing heat and armed to the teeth. Christian could feel the tension in the air. Like the whole field was soaked in gasoline. All it would take was one match to send them all up in flames.
“We’re here, Enrique. Just like you asked. We’ve played nice. Time to hand over the money you owe us, and your debt will be cleared,” Hub said in that gruff voice of his.
But when Enrique spoke, it wasn’t directed at the vice president of the Devil’s. He was still staring bullets at Christian.
“So, how’s Melody?”
“None of your god-damned business.”
Christian ground out the words, ignoring his father’s look of warning.
“Look, Enrique. We did what you wanted us to. Just toss me the money, and we’ll all go on our separate ways.”
Enrique was silent for so long that Christian wondered if he’d heard Hub’s words, but finally he bent down, grabbed the bag, and walked towards the old man. Christian nearly sighed in relief, thinking that it was almost over, and they were almost free.
He should have known better.
Enrique stopped just a few feet away from Hub, his eyes cutting towards Christian like a knife.
“She’s my woman. I own her. Of course, it’s my business.”
“You don’t own her. She’s not a fucking dog. She’s a human being, and you’re not worthy to touch a hair on her head.”
Christian knew it was a mistake, but he couldn’t stop the words from bursting out of him.
Enrique just sneered.
“Oh, believe me. I’ve touched a hell of a lot more than that.”
Enrique’s men snickered behind him and Christian saw red.
Christian charged forward, forgetting all the warnings, forgetting all about the plan, but Hub reached out and stopped him, shoving him hard back behind him.
“Not now, Christian. Just ignore him. He’s trying to bait you.”
“Well, it’s fucking working.”
It took a hell of a lot to do it, but Christian finally reined in his own temper, forcing himself to take a step back, but Enrique’s next words held him still with shock.
“She’s mine, and the baby she carries is mine. My blood. She’ll come crawling back. The bitch always does.”
He held out the bag to Hub, who grabbed it as soon as he could.
“The baby isn’t yours, Enrique,” Christian said with relish. Again, he knew it was a mistake, but it didn’t stop him this time either. “The baby is mine.”
The rage that was burning in Enrique’s eyes exploded, and Christian swore he could almost feel the heat of it from where he was standing.
“Melody belongs to me,” Enrique screamed, spittle flying from his lips as he continued to rage. “And that baby belongs to me. Make no mistake about that. I always get what’s mine.”
Suddenly, Enrique reached behind him, pulling a deadly looking pistol from the back of his waist band, and several of his men pulled guns as well.
The Devil’s Martyrs crew was just as quick, grabbing their own weapons, and they stared down the barrels of each other’s guns.
“Give me the fucking money back. You’ll get payed when I see Melody,” Enrique shouted, waving his gun erratically.
Christian flinched back, trying hard to fight his instinct to duck behind the nearest obstacle. The only problem was that there was nothing there to hide behind.
It they started shooting, it would be a bloodbath.
Hub threw his hands in the air.
“Alright, maybe we can arrange something.”
“No ‘maybe’, old man!” Enrique jabbed the gun in Hub’s direction, and Christian flinched again. “I want Melody and my baby. Now!”
“On the count of three, I want you to run.”
The soft voice said from behind him, and Christian nearly lost it again. Fuck, this was brutal on his nerves. But he glanced over his shoulder to see Craig sidling closer towards him.
“What do you have planned?”
“Oh, you know me. I’ve always got a few things up my sleeve.”
Craig shot him a devilish grin that worried the hell out of Christian. But before he could demand what exactly his friend had planned, Craig was already counting.
“One, two… Oh shit. Run, Christian!”
He leapt off to the side just as Craig lit the Molotov cocktail he’d made out of an empty bottle and sent it hurtling towards Enrique and his men.
It burst into flames, distracting the others enough to let the Devil’s get to cover. Bullets fired from both sides as Christian ducked, trying to evade them.
Suddenly, Craig was flying towards him, carrying another makeshift explosive in one hand and the bag of cash in another. Christian watched as his friend chucked the flaming cocktail over his shoulder, and a few seconds later there was another loud bang as it went up, followed by the sound of confused yells.
The smoke made it nearly impossible to see, and Craig and Christian both stayed low, ducking under the smoke and gunfire.
“Here. Take this. Get the hell out of here,” Craig said, shoving the bag of money towards Christian.
He took
it in shock, slinging it over his shoulder.
“Okay, I’ll…”
He cut off abruptly as out of the corner of his eye he saw Hub go down. Christian rushed to his father’s side.
“Hub, where did you get hit.”
“It grazed my leg. I’ll be alright.”
Christian hated the pain in his father’s eyes.
“That looks like more than a graze.” Christian shot a worried look towards Craig. “I’m going to help him out here. I need you to do something for me.”
“Anything,” his friend said immediately, and Christian wanted to kiss him for it.
“I need you to go to my place and check on Melody. Make sure she’s okay. And tell her I’ll be there as soon as I can.”
“Are you sure? I can stay and help you.”
“I’m sure. Don’t worry, I’ll be right behind you.” Christian cocked his head. “Besides, it sounds like Enrique’s guys are already leaving. Maybe they’re not as dumb as they look.”
“Or maybe they’re even dumber,” Craig snorted, but then nodded, growing serious once more. “Don’t worry, Chris, I’ll make sure your lady is okay.”
Christian nodded, already helping Hub to his feet as Craig disappeared, rushing towards Melody. It all made him nervous, because that bad feeling in his gut was just getting worse with every passing moment.
Silently, he prayed Craig would hurry. And then he’d help Hub and go make sure Melody and their baby were okay for himself.
Chapter 5
Melody stood there for a long time after Christian had disappeared down the road. Finally, she gave herself a shake, all too aware of how exposed she was, standing out in the open like that.
With one last, hasty look around, she turned and headed inside the house. Melody was careful to lock the front door behind her.
And then she went through the house, systematically checking that every single window was shut and locked tight and that every door was barred. After she made a lap of the house she was back at the front door and double checked that too, just to be sure.
Melody pulled back the curtain that was covering the window and looked out on to the street in front of the house. She let out a sigh of disappointment.
What had she expected? That Christian would have realized what a bad idea the meeting was and turned around minutes after leaving?
She knew that she hadn’t known Christian long, but Melody knew him enough to know that he would never back down from what he considered was his responsibility.
Melody wrapped her arms around her middle. And that’s what she was now. His responsibility.
She grimaced, not entirely sure how that realization made her feel.
A part of her felt warmed all the way through, comforted by the thought that he held her happiness in such high esteem. But she didn’t want to be a burden to him. That was the last thing she wanted.
No, I just want him to love me.
The thought shattered through her, and Melody drew in a sharp breath. It shocked and scared her a little bit too, just how fast she had come to rely on him, to care for him; she was even more surprised at how much he cared for her in return.
Melody couldn’t help the jitter of worry and fear that filled her for Christian’s safety.
Restless with the emotions, Melody turned on her heel, turning away from the front window and the empty street.
She walked through the house once more, trying to keep herself distracted by taking care of the various animals that Christian had rescued and was resuscitating back to health.
After refilling their food and water, and cooing nonsense at some of them while scratching ears and rubbing bellies, Melody once more found herself at a loose end.
With nothing else to do to keep herself occupied, Melody made her way back to the living room, turned on the T.V., and let herself drop down onto the old couch.
She had barely sat down before a little white ball of fluff landed in the middle of her lap.
Melody bit back a smile despite the fear that weighted down her heart. All the other kittens had been found homes to go to, but Luna was a special case.
She’d been the runt of the litter, and Christian had been sure that she wasn’t going to survive after their mother had been killed by another animal, leaving them all alone.
No, they’d had Christian to take care of them. Just like me.
Melody let out a soft chuckle as she scratched the kitten behind the ears. Luna would always be tiny, but she had enough attitude and courage to make up for it. She’d fought hard to survive, and it showed in the kitten’s blue eyes, hungry for life.
The kitten butted her head against Melody’s hand to keep her scratching.
“What are we doing, kitten?” Melody whispered, shaking her head at herself. “I should know better. Any time my life starts to get better, something bad always happens.”
She glanced down at the white kitten, who kneaded contentedly, and the confession slipped out.
“I love him, Luna. What if something happens to him? What are we going to do?”
“Meow,” Luna responded, blinking her eyes sleepily at her.
Melody just shook her head again.
“What am I doing, talking to a cat about my problems.” Melody huffed out softly. “What I need is a friend.”
Melody shuddered as the thought brought back memories of Amanda’s betrayals.
“Meow,” Luna answered, licking Melody’s hand almost as if she understood and commiserated.
“You can’t really understand me, can you?” Melody asked uncertainly, still looking askance at the kitten before laughing at herself. “No, of course not. You just want your ears scratched, don’t you?”
Melody gave in and Luna responded with a happy purr. The tiny kitten curled up into a contented ball smack in the middle of her lap. Within a few minutes, Luna was snuggled contentedly, trustingly against her and Melody cuddled her even closer.
Melody was just starting to relax when a frantic knock at the front door startled her straight up to her feet.
She froze. Was it Christian? She glanced at the clock. He’d been gone nearly two hours, but surely he wouldn’t be back already, would he? Did it mean that the meeting had gone well? Or did it mean it had gone very, very bad?
A million scenarios played out in her head as the pounding coming from the front drew her forward.
She flicked the curtains back just enough so that she could see who was standing out there and gasped when she saw Christian’s friend, Craig. It wasn’t the sight of him that was such a shock, but the state of him.
Melody rushed to the door, throwing open the lock and pulling the door open enough so that he could stumble inside. Melody just stared at him for a moment, her jaw dropped and eyes wide.
He was covered in soot and smoke, and his hair was tousled and tangled. A dark bruise ran along one cheek, and his own eyes were narrowed in worry as he scanned the house.
“C-Craig?” Melody stuttered out, and then the rest of the words that had been stuck in her throat came tumbling out in a rush. “Oh my god! What happened? Where’s Christian? Is he alright? What the hell happened at the meeting?”
“Look, Christian is okay,” Craig said, hurrying to stop her before she could have a full-on panic attack. “Things went a little… sideways at the meeting, that’s all.”
“‘Sideways’? What does that mean, things went ‘sideways’?”
Melody threw the questions at him and just shrugged a little, but she could see the truth in his eyes. It had gone bad. Very, very bad.
“Craig, please, just tell me what happened?”
“Christian may have said some things to piss off Enrique, and his men may have fired a couple shots at us, but believe me, Christian is fine, okay? He wasn’t hurt.”
There was something else in his tone that had Melody questioning him again.
“He wasn’t hurt. Who was?”
“Hub. He might have gotten grazed by a bullet.”
“Hub was shot!” Melody spluttered. “Is he alright?”
“Jesus, just calm down. Christian is taking care of him. That’s why he asked me to come here and keep an eye on you.”
“I don’t need a babysitter. I need to know that my husband is safe!”
