Blood & Rust (Lock & Key #4)

by Cat Porter

  “And you came with him to make sure today is all about daddy and his little girl?”

  He slanted his head. “That’s right.”

  “You gonna go have some cake and juice, too?”

  Is Tania going to sit on his lap and feed him?

  He scoffed. “I’ve got other shit to do while he visits. Let’s discuss this meeting. They’ve been wanting to meet you for a while now.”

  Finger told me all about this Flames member from Idaho and how he wanted him to work with the Jacks on a new route headed west.

  Nina drove through the gates and parked. She got out of her RAV4 and waved a plastic bag in the air that I assumed had my clothes in it. I gestured toward the clubhouse, and she nodded at me, heading inside. Within a few minutes, Nina came back out.

  “Sorry to interrupt,” she murmured.

  “No problem,” I said.

  “I left the clothes in your room on the bed.”

  “Thanks.”

  “Sure. I’m off to the party.”

  “I’ll walk you to your car.” I threw an arm around her shoulders as we crossed the yard. “What did you end up getting Becca?”

  “A princess Barbie doll.”

  “Isn’t she a little young for Barbie?”

  She made a face, as if I had asked why the sun rose this morning. “No. It’s a simple Barbie without any fancy accessories. The kid could choke, you know.”

  “Right. Good thinking.”

  I gave her a quick kiss. “You come right back here after.”

  “Here at the club?”

  “Yeah, I want you here while I’m out of town. I’ll only be a couple of hours.”

  She made a face. “Fine.”

  With Catch in the vicinity and me out of town, I wasn’t going to take chances that he’d try to see her.

  We reached her RAV4 by the front gate, and she got in, slamming the door shut.

  “Later.”

  “Yep,” she said.

  I strode back toward Finger.

  “She settled her ass down?” he asked.

  “She’s fine.”

  A slight grin upturned the edges of his mouth, and he let out a grunt as he shoved on his leather gloves. “I’m off.”

  I glanced over at Nina’s car. Her head was bent over the steering wheel. She scowled and got out of the vehicle. Jump pulled in driving his SUV, and he braked. She smiled huge at him, her body relaxing into curves. Jump gestured toward her car.

  “Looks like your woman’s got car trouble. You gonna fly to her rescue?” asked Finger.

  Jump got down from his vehicle and got into the RAV4, settling in the driver’s seat.

  “Jump seems to be handling it.”

  “Yeah.”

  Finger and I tagged fists, giving each other a nod. He swung his leg over his vintage chopper, adjusting himself in his saddle. “Call me, let me know how the meet goes.”

  “Will do.” My eyes went back to Nina and Jump.

  Suddenly, Jump’s face stiffened from behind the windshield. He propelled himself from the car on an ominous howl, his long braid flying, shoving Nina back as he went. Her designer handbag went flying.

  “What the—”

  Boom.

  The ground shuddered under my feet. Nina’s car shook like a fake movie prop, a shell. Orange fireballs rolled and unfurled in the air.

  My lungs choked. “Holy fuck!”

  Finger was at my side, and we sprang behind a row of bikes, our hands flying over our heads. Charred debris soared in the air and rained down on us, crashing to the ground.

  I shot up. “Nina!”

  Women screamed, men shouted, alarms blared. Thick black billows of smoke blocked any trace of Nina or Jump. Boner was on his cell phone in the doorway of the office.

  I hurtled toward the car, toward Nina, Finger at my heels.

  Nina lay facedown at the other end of the car, her one arm twisted awkwardly, blood splattered along the side of her face.

  I wrapped my hand around her neck, pushing her tangled hair out of the way.

  Her pulse thudded under my touch.

  Thank fuck.

  Weak, but it was there.

  Shit, the baby.

  “Ambulance is on its way!” Boner’s yell cut through the air.

  Finger crouched over Jump who was sprawled on the ground in a heap.

  “How’s Jump?” I shouted out at Finger, coughing, my eyes burning in the dense smutty smoke.

  Finger raised his head. His one gloved hand was planted on Jump’s chest, the other pinching Jump’s nose.

  He was taking him out.

  Finger leveled his hard gaze at me, a slight lift to his chin.

  Holy fuck.

  “Butler!” Boner came up behind me. “How is she?”

  “She’s out, but she’s alive.”

  I turned back to Jump, but Finger was gone. Gone, like a silent phantom who’d made ominous gestures and then disappeared into the black smoke surrounding us.

  Kicker pounded on Jump’s chest, giving him CPR. Dawes and Dready worked fire extinguishers, discharging foam over the smoldering vehicle.

  The sirens wailed louder and louder, matching the harshness of my pulse pounding in my ears. I struggled to ease my breaths that came fast and hard. My hand flattened over Nina’s back. Blonde strands of hair were matted in blood, oozing red. The shoulders of her pink shirt were soaked. I blinked back the sweat clouding my eyes

  “Jump’s gone. He’s gone!” hollered Kicker. Yells. Shouts.

  My heart twisted in my chest.

  One man dead.

  One outlaw president making a shadowy play. Was Finger taking his revenge for ancient crimes, or was this in favor of future maneuvers?

  Our president dead.

  My old lady down.

  Again.

  I’d promised Nina she’d be safe with me. I’d promised her, and she’d believed me. She’d believed I was the one who could help her.

  “This will work,” she’d said back in Ohio.

  Caitlyn trembled in my arms on the side of the road in the Black Hills once more. “Don’t let me go. I’m so cold, baby, so cold. It hurts…make it stop…Hold me…don’t let me go…”

  My vision blurred. That burning pain tore through my chest.

  Alicia screamed from somewhere behind me. “Jump! Jump!”

  Another family destroyed.

  My jaw clenched against the bile rising in my throat. A heavy, dark swell hovered over me, ready to plunge inside my gullet and wrench every organ up from me, spewing my blood, my poisonous blood.

  I knew this darkness; its smell dank, its touch familiar. How could I forget it?

  It was damnation.

  “YOUR GIRLFRIEND IS A VERY LUCKY WOMAN, Mr. Matthiessen.”

  Ah, Butler has a last name.

  It was a ridiculous thought as I stood here, in the surgical waiting room at Rapid City Regional, with Finger, listening to Nina’s doctor tell us how she was doing.

  Grace and I had both rushed over to the hospital with Mary Lynn where we found the Jacks along with Finger waiting. Jill and Suzi stayed with the kids and my mom at the house, and they kept the birthday party going.

  I still couldn’t wrap my head around Jump being dead, but thank God Nina would be okay.

  I glanced over at Butler. He was pale, his blue eyes washed with gray under the fluorescent lights. He hadn’t spoken a word the entire three hours we’d been waiting with him.

  “Ms. Scott sustained internal injuries, but we did manage to stem the bleeding. Her arm was dislocated, and her hip was seriously bruised. She also has a concussion. There were metal fragments, but we went over her and removed them. And the baby is doing fine.”

  We all froze.

  I froze.

  My brain froze.

  “Baby?” screeched Mary Lynn.

  Nina and Butler’s baby.

  My heart bolted straight out of my chest and thwapped me in the face.

  Finger let out a
heavy breath, his lips twisting. I leaned against him, and his hand wrapped around my arm, steadying me.

  “Thank you, Doctor,” Butler said, his voice low. He returned to his seat, his head in his hands.

  He was in shock, probably feeling like he was losing everything all over again—first, his wife, and now, Nina and their baby. This was why he hadn’t kicked Nina to the curb. He was trying to be the bigger man, trying to do the right thing. I choked down the horse pill stuck in my dry throat; it left bruises and a bitter residue behind. I willed my feet to move.

  “Hey.” I placed a hand on Butler’s shoulder. “The doctor seemed confident, right? She’s going to be fine. You’ll see.”

  His weary, dazed eyes slid to mine. “Shouldn’t have happened in the first place.” His voice was flat. He swallowed. “They planted it in her car, Tania.”

  I wanted to bombard him with questions, but it certainly wasn’t the time. Anyway, I doubted he’d share details with me. For Pete’s sake, do I really want to know?

  “Did you call Nina’s family in Ohio?”

  He only furrowed his brow and gnawed on his lower lip, his head shaking.

  “I’ll do it, if you want. Really.”

  “Her bag got thrown clear from the car.” He gestured at the Coach bag on the table next to him. “Phone should be in there.”

  I opened the handbag and found a rose-gold iPhone. “Whose name should I look for?”

  “Her sister. Name’s Deanna.’ rubbing a hand over his face. “I should do it, Tania.”

  “Let me make the call, get the first words out, and then you can get on the line and do the talking. How’s that?”

  Butler let out a breath. “There’s a passcode.” He held out his hand, and I gave him the phone. He tapped out the code and gave me back the phone.

  “Deanna. Okay.” I fiddled with Nina’s cell, tracing over her recent calls. I recognized a number, and the name attached was ‘Iron Man’. I clicked on it, turning away from Butler.

  Ah, shit.

  I tapped on their text messages.

  A selfie of Nina clutching her tits. Another of her legs wide open, her fingers getting down to business. Another with those fingers in her mouth, her lips puckered around them.

  My breath stalled as I skimmed the texts between Nina and my brother.

  Finger stared at me, slanting his head just a few degrees. I took in a tiny breath and went back to Nina’s phone.

  I tapped on the other text threads I found. More sex texts with porno selfies, but these were to Led, her Ohio Flames of Hell bodyguard, who’d accompanied her to South Dakota when she’d first arrived.

  Motherfudgemycake.

  Judging from the dates on the texts, Nina had kept him entertained and cozy on his long ride back to Ohio months ago. Shit, the girl was insatiable.

  I couldn’t stomach any more, so I went back to looking for Deanna’s name and number. Finding it, I tapped on her name, and it rang.

  “Hey, Neens!”

  “Hi, is this Deanna?”

  “Who’s this?” Deanna’s tone sharpened.

  “This is Tania. I’m a friend of Nina’s here in South Dakota. I’m sorry to tell you, but there’s been an accident, and Nina is in the hospital. We’re all here with her. Butler was just speaking with the doctor. I’ll hand him the phone.”

  I placed the phone in Butler’s cold hand. His eyes softened at me for just a moment as he brought Nina’s phone to his ear.

  He cleared his throat. “Hey, Deanna.”

  I went back to Finger.

  His brows jammed together. “What’s wrong?”

  “I just saw Catch and Nina’s hot little love texts all over her phone—in full high resolution color. The phone Butler is using right now. You think he’s going to like what he sees when he sees them? Because he will see them. They’re a little hard to miss.”

  “Your brother’s got it bad for her.”

  “Yeah, he told me, but newsflash, she’s also been sexting with that Flame who brought her to Meager. Led?”

  “Good for Goldilocks.”

  “Where does she find the time?”

  He leaned into me. “Keep your voice down.”

  “Oh please.”

  Finger’s stern face tilted toward mine, his lips at my ear. “Her relationship with Butler is as solid as the wind, Tania.”

  “What?” I asked, my scalp prickling.

  “Butler and Nina—it’s fake.”

  “No.”

  “Yes. Pure business between clubs.”

  “What is this?” I sputtered. “The fucking eighteenth century?”

  Finger’s body went rigid, his eyes flared. A large hand clamped around my upper arm, and he dragged me down the hallway.

  Oops.

  This might be the twenty-first century, but this was the Land of the Outlaw with its own set of rules, its own way of functioning.

  “We’d better stop here—not complicate things.”

  Butler’s tender voice from our night at the motel passed through me, and a chill razored down the back of my neck.

  Butler and Nina had never seemed like they were in honeymoon mode. They had never been very affectionate with each other or very demonstrative. So what though? Neither had Kyle and I.

  I had tried to put them out of my mind. What was the point of dwelling on it? They were an official couple in Bikerland, and my thoughts on the subject were meaningless and a waste of time.

  I took in a breath as Finger pulled me in close to him against the wall. “Keep your voice down.”

  “Did you hear what the doctor just said? Butler’s going to be a daddy.”

  “What makes you think that kid is Butler’s? Could be Catch’s.”

  My mouth fell open. “Oh, shit.”

  That hadn’t occurred to me.

  Oh my God. Oh my God. Oh my God.

  I glanced over at Butler still talking on the phone.

  My hand tugged on the edge of Finger’s jacket. “We can’t tell Catch about this baby until we’re sure. Nina’s family is going to be pissed about her getting hurt, aren’t they? You think they’ll come here and make trouble for the Jacks and for Butler? They’ll blame him? Come after him?”

  “Sounds right.”

  “Is there any way you can help him? Do you know who did this? Jump is dead. The president of a club has been murdered. All hell is going to break loose now, right?”

  Finger’s eyes narrowed. “You’re worried?”

  “Of course I’m worried. They’re my friends. This is my hometown we’re talking about.”

  “I meant, you’re worried about Butler?” Finger asked.

  I leveled my gaze at him. “Yes, I am. He’s a good guy.”

  The edges of Finger’s lips tipped up. “Good, bad—it’s all relative at the end of the day.”

  “It can’t be. Some things simply cannot be relative. For you, they probably are. But I don’t live that way.”

  He wrapped a hand around my neck, pulling me in closer. A steely whisper filled my ear. “Shit’s either real, or it isn’t.” His hand squeezed the back of my neck, and he planted a kiss on my forehead. “Relax. I’m going to see what I can do. You make sure the pics on Nina’s phone don’t get erased. ”

  His hand stroked the side of my jaw for a moment. “You go support your guy over there. He could use it.”

  “He’s not my guy.”

  “Baby, you haven’t been able to tear your eyes away from him. You went to him in his hour of need, then jumped up and down in the man’s defense like you just did? He’s your guy.”

  “SHE SAID SHE’D BE SAFE with you!” Nina’s sister, Deanna, yelled at me over the phone. “She trusted you! Oh my God! My old man is going to have your ass for this!”

  I shut down the phone and tossed it to the seat beside me and squeezed my eyes shut, burying my face in my hands.

  Images of Nina’s hair matted in blood, her body a lifeless rag doll, rolled through me.

  Just like Caitlyn
.

  Just like Stephan.

  And the pitch of Deanna’s hysteria.

  Just like my mother.

  “He’s in a coma!” my mother yelled.

  She never yelled. Dad was the one with the temper.

  I swallowed hard. “A coma?”

  “Yes! Do you know what that is, Markus?” Mom’s pale face was streaked with red blotches and wet with tears. “Do you understand how serious this is?”

  My eyes went to Dad. “He’ll wake up soon though, right?”

  “They don’t know if he’ll ever wake up again.” Dad’s voice broke, and he averted his gaze, taking in a deep breath. Defeat.

  “And even if he does, he’ll probably have severe brain damage for the rest of his life.” Mom’s voice seethed. “Over forty percent of his body is burned.” The rage in my mother’s eyes, the tension in her limbs, was unmistakable. “He’ll never be the same. His spine is broken, and his one leg is so mangled that it will probably have to be amputated. And why? Why? Because of you! You were arguing with him, weren’t you? And he lost control of the car. Is that it? Is it?”

  “Laura, calm down.” Dad pulled my mother into his arms.

  “No!” she screeched.

  I flinched at the sound.

  “You were making him go fast, weren’t you? You dared him to do it, didn’t you? Anything below eighty miles an hour is a crawl to you! It’s all your fault! Your fault!” She pulled on my father’s shirt, pointing at me with her other hand. “How can he be here, perfectly fine, when Stephan is lying in there in pieces? My boy is broken! Broken!”

  I sat in the wheelchair in the hallway of the ICU—my leg cast stretched out in front of me, my broken arm in a sling, my sprained neck and the long rows of stitches on my chest and back screaming in pain—as she shuddered, fresh tears streaming down her face.

  I’d need a shitload of those pain meds the nurses were always offering me to get through this. Yeah, I'd take them up on it now. Load me up, ladies.

  “All he did was try to help you. Again and again and again,” she continued. “But you don’t care. You don’t give a crap, do you? As long as you have your good time. What did Stephan ever do to you? Are you that jealous of him? Do you hate him? How could you do this? You’re brothers! How could you?” Her wails and moans filled the hospital waiting room.