Savage Saviors: The Complete Boxset (Savage Saviors MC)

by J. C. Allen

  “Even more so than the past couple of days?”

  “Oh, buddy,” Roost said, giving a brief laugh. “He a’ lost his goddamn mind cuz of yer antics. When he hears of the hotel, ya may have just killed him with stress.”

  I gave a flash of a smile, as much as I would give for the circumstances of the moment.

  “And, I’ll tell ya somethin’ one better,” he said. “Ya don’t hafta waste time goin’ to the old corner. I had a few eyes on there, keep an eye out on the… girls.”

  I appreciated that he refrained from saying whore.

  “Ain’t no one there now but Falcons. If Crystal’s alive, she ain’t there.”

  That made me feel a million times better. I loved Eve, but I wasn’t going on a suicide mission to save someone whose name I didn’t even know before the last couple of hours.

  “In any case, though, no matter what, Rock’s off on the loose end,” Roost said. “Now’s our time to strike.”

  “After we put our safety measures into place,” I said, first grabbing a pistol and then moving to the chopper, signaling for Roost to do the same.

  I hated that we’d ever gotten involved with guns in the first place, but now I was kind of glad we at least had that first shipment—it made access to ammo and firearms a hell of a lot easier than having to retreat to our individual homes for multiple weapons.

  “Oh, before I ferget,” Roost said. “We last saw Rock at the place where we saw the hookers leavin’ from.”

  “How did he look?” I growled, fearing he would have looked smug and satisfied if he’d just killed Eve.

  “Pissed as all hell.”

  Good. That’s all I needed to hear.

  “Then let’s make him more pissed off,” I said. “And then let’s send him to hell.”

  With that, I ignited my bike.

  “I’ll be back here in an hour,” I said. “I gotta go get Crystal. Do what you have to do, but don’t start hunting Rock without me.”

  “Ya got it!”

  I kicked the engine, revving it as hard as I could, and sped off into the night, with no traffic, police, or sense of pace to slow me down.

  Mason’s Crystal Store.

  I knew where that was—it was about a fifteen minute walk from the spot where I had first seen Eve, one that just bordered Black Falcon territory but was not quite consumed by it. I figured if Crystal was still alive, she’d be safe there, but not for the entire night—the Falcons would eventually make their way over and her face was not unknown.

  Still, it had the advantage of being in a relatively public area, it wasn’t just some one-off store in a small neighborhood. Anyone who wanted to kill her would have to take her into hiding—well, that was assuming they wanted subtlety, which I couldn’t say was a given.

  The shop came into view as I took a hard right bend—just in time to see a man accosting a woman.

  Crystal.

  First, I did a quick glance of the area. There was only one man as far as I could see—I didn’t see any other vehicles nearby, not even in the adjacent lots. It looked very likely a street sweeper of sorts for the Black Falcons had come across her.

  That, or some asshole just decided a woman by herself was easy pickings.

  Either way, this wasn’t going to end well for one of them, and I didn’t mean Crystal.

  I pulled up right in front of them, barely six feet away, and slammed the brakes, creating a loud screeching sound. I got close enough to see that if this was a Black Falcon, he wasn’t wearing their normal colors.

  “You got a fuckin’ problem, man?!?” I said as loudly as I could.

  “Who the fuck are—”

  I pulled out my gun. I barely reminded myself not to pull the trigger, thinking about how brutally I’d gotten carried away with the Black Falcon asshole back at the hotel. I may wind up killing this guy, but if he’s not a Falcon, give him a chance to make one smart choice tonight.

  “Doesn’t matter who I am,” I said. “But it will matter what you do. Run, now!”

  To the man’s credit, he seemed to pick up on the not-so-subtle hint, because he dropped everything in his hands, including a knife, and sprinted away as fast as he could, into the darkness. I cut the chopper and walked over to Crystal.

  “Sweet fuckin Jesus,” Crystal said. “You gonna kill me? Huh? Run off the man so Rock can have credit for killin’ me? Asshole.”

  She thinks I’m Black Falcon.

  I would have laughed if not for the overall gravity of the evening.

  Crysta’s hazel eyes studied me. To make a point, I holstered the gun back on my hip and raised my hands. Her expression didn’t change, but I suppose it not getting worse as a positive.

  As she evaluated me and my intentions, I took note of her own appearance. Her cropped black hair was longer in the front and shortened out as it went back, giving her an exotic, almost Egyptian look. This, I figured, was supported by her tanned skin and curvier physique, which I realized quite quickly was almost all muscle.

  “You deaf? The fuck are you?”

  “I’m Derek,” I said, my voice straight but not particularly stern. Last thing I needed was for her to run off and me have to tell Eve I’d failed because my tone was too sharp.

  She paused, seeming surprised to actually get an answer, and then narrowed her eyes as if she might suddenly recognize me.

  “Derek,” she repeated. “As in Derek-Derek? As in Eve’s…Oh god! OH GOD! Don’t tell me Eve’s… No. NO! I knew I shouldn’t have let her go off with that—”

  “She’s fine,” I said, although even the idea of Eve suffering was still enough to make my blood boil. At least Crystal supported her and didn’t want to whip or knife her. “Eve’s okay. She’s back at my place. Safe. I promise. Had an ordeal, but she escaped and she’s all right. She asked me to come and get you.”

  Crystal’s body relaxed, seeming to collapse like a deflating balloon as all the tension seeped out of her at once.

  “Oh thank the lord,” she said. “I don’t know what I’d do if something happened to that girl. I ain’t ever seen someone so sweet and so undeserving of this life.”

  “Well, she thinks the same of you, too. That’s why I’m here.”

  Crystal looked up at that, confused. It seemed my earlier words had not registered—I wasn’t mad about it, given the surreal state Crystal had probably found herself in. Information went in one ear and out the other, I was sure of it.

  “Why… you’re here?” she said.

  “I’m here to take you back to my place, too.”

  Crystal blinked at that and took a step back. It reminded me of the extreme paranoia Eve demonstrated on our first trip to Waffle House. These poor girls don’t just lose their sense of dignity. They lose their sense of what’s normal and what’s real.

  “This some sort of three-way shit you’re tryin’ to—”

  “No.”

  The sincerity with which I said the word was enough to cut her off in mid-sentence and seemed to awaken her to the reality of what was happening. I was here to save her. Eve had, in fact, sent me.

  This was real. She didn’t have to work for the Black Falcons anymore.

  “You… you mean I don’t have to… You’re not gonna buy… I don’t…”

  “I’d actually prefer it if you didn’t,” I said.“I don’t know if Eve told you or not, but we’re sort of a thing. Call me crazy, but—”

  She laughed at that and nodded.

  “Yeah, actually. She’s been filling me in on a lot of the details. It’s sort of like a fairytale come to life if you ask me. I don’t think you’re crazy. I think Eve is lucky as hell.”

  “Yeah. I feel the same way,” I said. “Come on. Let’s get back. I don’t want to leave Eve waiting much longer. Nor do I want to test our luck by having someone who’s actually with the Black Falcons trying to rob you.”

  “I was gonna whup his ass anyways.”

  I just snorted. Jokes could wait, even if what Crystal had just said
made me want to chuckle.

  “You have no idea how relieved I am to know Eve’s okay,” she said. “I was in the middle of suckin’ off a John in the alley when I heard Rock coming—he was screaming his ass off on his phone; enough to let me hear him from all the way across the street. He was goin’ on-and-on ‘bout how he was gonna kill us; how Eve’s ‘little stunt’—whatever the fuck that meant—was the last straw and how he wasn’t gonna stop killin’ ‘til nobody was left to even remember there ever was a Eve Kellerman. I hear all that—hear him comin’ my way—and I think, ‘Crystal, girl, if you don’t get your tight ass outta here NOW you’re not gonna have an ass to run off with.’ So that’s what I did. No, sir, when Rock says he’s gonna get killin’, you don’t stick around to see if he means you.”

  “Smart,” I grumbled.

  I thought of telling her my plans for the evening, but that was not to be. This was on a need-to-know basis.

  I ignited my bike, had Crystal hop on, and we roared back to my place. To her credit, Crystal didn’t ever flinch, scream, or tighten her grip too much—it was tight as it needed to be, but she didn’t cling to me like she thought she might lose her life. It was quite obvious that this was not her first rodeo on the bike—making Eve’s ride with me all the more stark.

  When we got to my place, Crystal decided to warn me.

  “If Eve’s anything less than perfect, I’mma beat your ass so hard you’ll wish you never had an ass, hear me?”

  “I’m aware,” I said. “Some punk from the Falcons did a number on her, but she’s fine.”

  “What—”

  The doors opened, and Eve, perhaps having heard us, met us and embraced Crystal hard. I moved past the two girls to let them have a moment and give myself one. See, Pops, I thought. I can protect at least someone.

  I heard Crystal and Eve both expressing disbelief at the other still being alive, followed by Crystal’s gasping at Eve’s scars. I heard some comment about Crystal going to find him and beating his ass, and I almost interrupted to say there was no ass left to beat. But I thought better of it—Eve didn’t need to know yet how ruthlessly animal-like I’d acted.

  “So, Derek,” Crystal said from afar as the two of them walked in. “What’s your biz with Rock anyway? You got some ties to the Black Falcons or something? I mean, I’m grateful you saved my ass, but Christ! What’s going on here, exactly?”

  “He’s the leader of the Saviors,” Eve said before I could speak.

  That’s my girl. Sticking up for me.

  “WHAT! You didn’t tell me that!” Crystal shook her head. “Girl… I dunno if I woulda given you the thumbs-up to follow through with this if I’d known that! You wanna get your ass dragged in—well, too late now.”

  “Yeah, my friend wasn’t too keen on the idea, either,” I said as I offered whiskey to the girls, who both declined it. “You’ll be meeting him soon enough I’m sure. You two can dish about how stupid the two of us are.”

  “Stupid-nothin’,” Crystal said, shaking her head. “Your cute biker-boy ass got us out of that nightmare. If Eve wasn’t already on your dick, I’d probably offer you a freebie just as ‘thanks.’”

  I saw Eve shoot her a look at that. I also shot her a look—did she really think after what I’d said about Eve I’d take her up on that? Especially considering the two of them were friends?

  “What?” Crystal protested, “I said I’d do it if you weren’t already! That’s your man, I know!”

  “I appreciate the sentiment, Crystal,” I said, trying to be nice more than anything. “But you don’t have to go giving anyone ‘freebies,’ ‘cause you don’t have to be a prostitute anymore.”

  “Oh…” Crystal said, considering this. “Well, then I guess you should all start calling me ‘Tara’ then.”

  I nodded and sighed, although I was mildly amused by the look on Eve’s face—had she only now just discovered Crystal, or Tara’s, real name?

  “And, yes, I am the leader of the Savage Saviors, but that’s not the only reason I’m after Rock.”

  Eve’s facial expression was no longer amusing, but there was nothing amusing about what I was about to say. She needed to know everything I was about to say so she could fully decide if she wanted to be with me.

  She also needed to know this in case I died tonight. I didn’t want to go to the grave with any secrets for her to magically uncover.

  “He… he killed my wife,” I said. “The Black Falcons was just beginning to come into true power, wanted to take out any threat from the Saviors that might impede that rise, and my brother and I had long stood in their way. Frankly, we were a pretty sizable threat. We’d executed a strike on Rock’s earlier drug warehouses, just trying to keep that shit off the streets, and… well, he took it personally. First, he killed my brother. Then… Ordered a hit on my home; targeted my family. I wasn’t there, so my wife was a simple strike. She was…”

  I paused to clear my throat. This detail felt like it might be too far, but I reminded myself that I could spare no secrets. To do so, even in death, would to void the trust Eve had built in me.

  And if I was going to die, I didn’t want Eve to permanently believe that even “good guys” had secrets that would have affected her.

  “She was pregnant with our child at the time.”

  “Oh, Derek…” Eve whimpered.

  “Fuck…” Crystal—Tara—gasped.

  I looked back into the mirror and saw the look of shock and sadness written on their faces. It was a strange feeling to talk about this and have to be the strong one, but then again, what wasn’t strange about tonight?

  “It was hard, yes, but it was some time ago, and… well, Eve, you’ve helped me more than you know.”

  Eve blushed at that and quickly looked down. I smiled warmly. But then my mind shifted back to business.

  “In any case, though, we need to focus on Rock right now,” I said. “Eve, we got people going to have eyes on your Mom. All that leaves is that asshole.”

  “And after you do,” Eve started, looking over at me, “will that mean the end of the Black Falcons? Will all of this be over?”

  I wish. I only wish.

  I knew what Eve was really asking. Would this all be over… so that we could be together without trouble? To love each other? Maybe even start a family?

  Unfortunately, there was a simple truth—the gang was called the Black Falcons, not Rock and his posse.

  “I wish it was that simple, but the truth is Rock isn’t their only leader. He’s one of their ranking members—certainly one of their biggest money-makers—but it won’t be enough to take them out. These gangs have all sorts of contingency plans in place, fake leaders, figureheads, shadow leaders… you name it, they got it. I have no doubt killing Rock will make our lives temporarily easier, but…”

  “Alright, well, we’ll do whatever we can to help,” Tara said. “I want in on anything that had to do with taking Rock and those Falcon-fucks down.”

  I assume that Tara had spoken as a way of disrupting the bad news. She didn’t want Eve, most likely, to fear that things would only go to hell even faster if Rock left the scene. What we were talking about wasn’t just the necessity of killing one man, but killing an entire culture. Rock was just—

  “Me too,” Eve offered with a smile. “I mean, I don’t know what I can do to help, but I can at least try.”

  Damn, Eve. I know you’re brave, but somehow, you keep one-upping yourself.

  “I knew I liked you,” I said. “However, in all seriousness, what you both can do at this point is stay alive and not give Rock or the rest of the Falcons the satisfaction of either recapturing you or killing you. You two being off their line of sight will probably be enough to make them sloppy, and that’s going to be beneficial for us in the long run.”

  I was about to tell them to stay here the night, but then I had a better idea.

  They would be much, much safer at the mechanic shop. My men would be there. Guns would be there. It wo
uld be the headquarters of our territory. This apartment was pretty safe, like a king’s throne room, but that was a military bunker that only the suicidal and stupid would have gone to.

  “I want you both to come with me,” I said. “We can ride in my car so we’re not carrying multiple people on my bike. ‘Sides, all respect, Crys… Tara, but only one person is riding my bike if I can help it.”

  “Hey, it’s cool,” Tara said. “Someone’s gotta have the mantle of biker’s girl. And frankly, I have had a hell of enough being someone’s girl. I wanna be my own girl! I—”

  She rambled on for a bit, leading Eve to nod at me to get on with my plans. I motioned for them to follow me down to my—by appearances—Honda, but one that had spoofed up bullet-protected steel on the inside. I pulled out of the lot, feeling weird that the wind did not brush against my face, and drove quickly to the shop.

  Thankfully, Tara did not have the ability to be quiet, meaning I didn’t have to fill the air with more tense and emotional talk. It was how I preferred it, really; at this point, I needed full emotional and mental focus on the potential dangers ahead and how I would respond to them.

  Both Tara and Eve stepped out of the car and I led them back to meet with Matty. Making it to the back office, I was greeted by Matty sitting at the desk, a few stacks of papers set out in front of him. As hoped, the serious, stoic soldier awaited me—it was that time.

  “Glad to see y’all made it here in one piece,” Matty said, standing and offering a bear paw hand for the two to shake. “I’m Matty, but everyone just calls me ‘Roost.’ And ya must be what all the fuss is about?”

  Eve blushed and shrugged. I realized that she probably thought Roost meant “fuss” in the negative sense—it might have been all she was used to, people being angry and criticizing her. The fuel just keeps growing.

  “I suppose so,” she said meekly. “Sorry…”

  “Don’t be, Miss,” Roost said. “It’s ‘cuz of ya that our boy there has stopped being such a fuckin’ stick-in-the-butt.”

  Then, offering one more appreciative nod her way, he leveled his gaze at me.

  “Glad to see ya came out of the night intact.”