Savage Saviors: The Complete Boxset (Savage Saviors MC)

by J. C. Allen

  I was scared.

  I felt like a little girl experiencing her first thunderstorm. Yeah, I could be mean and brutal at times—the knife stab said it all—but that didn’t mean I couldn’t have moments of weakness.

  Tonight, I didn’t want to be alone. I couldn’t stand it at this point. I whimpered, squeezing gently and shook my head, pleading with him not to leave. I knew there was perhaps no place safer in the entire city than this apartment, especially since I no longer had a cell phone, but…

  It was at its safest if its owner was here.

  “Please,” I begged. “Don’t leave me.”

  He glanced back at me and then looked down, taking a deep breath as he did. I could appreciate that for him, it all revolved around what was best for me, what would make me safest, but I had to hope he would agree with me. Derek was the furthest thing from Rock, but they were still men, and I knew how men acted when vengeance and anger overtook them—not even women could stop them.

  “Alright,” he said, seeming to exert every ounce of willpower to force the word out. “I won’t. For now.”

  I smiled gently and squeezed his arm. He gently pried my arm from his and I watched as he turned to head to the kitchen. I opened my mouth to protest.

  Had he decided to do it anyway? I didn’t know what to do. I had never been in a situation like this before.

  But, fortunately, he came right back.

  “Don’t worry,” he said, holding a soaking wet cloth. “I’m just going to clean you up, okay?”

  I nodded, my shoulders relaxing as he made his way back to me. He pulled my top completely off and helped to lie me on my stomach. I felt so vulnerable, and yet so safe.

  I had never felt this protected, this cared for before. I closed my eyes, wishing for all the bad stuff to go away. To allow myself to be free. To be free with this man who cared so much about me. I had never had something like this before and I was desperate to not lose it. I couldn’t let anything stand in my way this time.

  But then closed because just a single drop of water hurt almost as badly as the whips from the back.

  “Sorry, I guess I should have said that this might hurt a bit,” he said.

  Desperate to relieve him of the concern in his voice, I forced a laugh—and I truly had to force it in this case. Fortunately, Derek either didn’t pick up on it or at least picked up on the reason behind the forced laugh.

  “I’ll be okay. Thank you.”

  “That’s my girl,” he cooed.

  He began to clean my wounds… and the sharp pain on my back brought it back.

  “God… damn!” I yelled, biting my mouth into the couch cushion.

  This was beyond painful, but it was the healthy kind of pain—the pain I needed to endure to get better. It was as if God had given me one last trial before I could emerge on the other side.

  Of course, I wasn’t that delusional. This was far from the final test. I was the female Job for how much I had endured, and if my father had taught me anything in Bible study, it was that Job’s suffering didn’t quite let up at any point.

  But at least I had momentary relief through Derek.

  He leaned forward, kissing my shoulder.

  “You know, I’ve had some men come through whom I’ve had to clean up,” he said. “And they are far worse than you.”

  “Really?”

  I had a feeling he was full of shit, but even if he was, I appreciated the gesture.

  “Oh, man, Savage Saviors are some pussies in comparison,” he said with a laugh. “I know you’re in pain, but you are handling this well. I don’t have to tease you for bawling like some of my boys did.”

  “Only because I got it out when this all went down,” I said, but I said it with a smile, the better to assuage any rising anger that Derek had.

  “What the hell went down anyways?” Derek asked. “The fact that you’re here is great, but it seems like the asshole got some licks on you.”

  “Yeah…” I said. “But you should see him.”

  “Oh?”

  Oh, yes. Oh, it felt great, actually, to realize that I could pull out the classic “you should see the other guy” line that guys liked to use in reference to a bar fight. I may have gotten whipped, but at least my wounds were only skin deep.

  “I stabbed the guy.”

  “You… what?”

  Derek was so taken aback he had stopped running the rag down my back. It was just as well, my skin needed to breathe some, but that wasn’t why he had stopped.

  “You… stabbed him? With what? You don’t carry a knife…”

  “Nope,” I said. “But yes. A knife. That’s what I used to stab him.”

  A silence filled the air as I tried to decide if Derek was proud of me, terrified that I’d gotten in a situation like that without him, or beyond furious for the same reason. There was probably a healthy mix of all three—but with the death of his club member, it was probably all evolving toward anger.

  “So… he brought a knife.”

  It was not a question.

  “Do you think he planned to use it on you?” Derek prodded further.

  That was a question. And it was a question that, as best as I could tell, he had asked to give himself an excuse to go to that motel and finish the job I’d started.

  Not tonight, Derek, please. Just…

  “He seemed to want to. Said that he didn’t plan to kill me… but… he definitely wielded it in my face at one point”

  I watched, as I said this, a fresh wave of anger came over him. He shook, his face turning red, and he turned away.

  “Fuck…”

  “Derek?”

  But before I could say anything else, he slammed his fist into the wall, breaking all the way through to where his elbow reached through.

  “Fuck!” he yelled as he yanked his arm back.

  He shook off the dust and debris, mumbled something incoherent, and sighed.

  “You sure you don’t want me to go kill the asshole? I can be back in five minutes. One—”

  “Derek, no, please,” I begged.

  I wanted revenge. But for just one night—truly one night—I didn’t want anything to happen in my world. I wanted to go to bed at 10 p.m., fall asleep without an alarm, and wake up without having to wonder how many cocks I’d have to suck to see another day.

  “Just be with me, OK?” I said.

  He seemed to contemplate the question a lot longer than I had anticipated. They said hell hath no fury like a woman, but I don’t think the speaker of those words had ever known a man who saw another man wrong his woman. The contemplation, the brooding, the eyes… if not for the fact that Derek had sworn to protect me, it would have scared me.

  But finally, he just gave a weak smile—but a smile all the same.

  “I guess this means that you’re finally ready to spend the night?”

  I blushed and nodded, smiling. Even for all the scars on my back, even for the permanent psyche damage I’d have to spend years getting past, even for all of the hell I’d gone through… I had escaped. No more Rock. No more Black Falcons. No more hookers. No more Crystal. No more…

  Then I remembered Crystal.

  More specifically, I remembered what Rock had told me at the fundraiser.

  “Should I feel that your loyalty or your earnings are not up to my satisfaction, I will have it arranged that your brother will be killed. Then I’ll see to it that your family is killed, your friends… and anyone that might have at any time meant a thing to you… I will create a mountain of death in your name, whore.”

  Say all of the evil and true things I could about Rock, he was, painfully, a man of his word.

  And I could do nothing about it.

  Only one person really could.

  And that one person had already done so much for me—far more than all of the people I had ever met combined in the last six months.

  “It’s just…”

  “What is it?” he asked, his eyes narrowing, as if hungry
for an excuse.

  “It’s awful of me to ask, but…”

  Derek shook his head as I struggled to find the words.

  Then, in what may have been the most touching gesture of the evening, he came over to me, sat on the floor so he’d be eye level with me, and held my hand.

  “No, Eve. Anything. You ask it and I’ll do it. And don’t hold back. I will. Do. Anything.”

  My heart warmed at just how worried he was for me. Anything.

  Some guys said that and it came across as a cliche or the socially polite thing to say, but they rarely meant it. No one truly would do anything… except, quite possibly, Derek.

  “It’s just… Rock said that if I ever disobeyed him he’d start killing people. My… my family, my friends… everyone. I… I don’t know how much of that is true—how much of it is possible for him—but… I know that he can at least get to Crystal and my brother. If he hasn’t already.”

  Derek frowned and then looked away, considering this. I watched him, almost seeing all the calculations passing through his mind, and it occurred to me that, like it or not, he was very, very good at what he did.

  Which meant that if he did as I asked, I probably could not have it both ways. I could not have him spend the night and also get Crystal and Chuck to safety.

  And why… why did I even care about Chuck, anyways? I may not have been friends with Crystal in any other walk of life, but she was a good person at least.

  Chuck?

  My brother?

  The one who had sold me to Rock?

  The one who everyone had warned me was a sociopath, to be avoided and cut off at all costs?

  And here I was, trying to bring him back into my life?

  “Okay…” he said, interrupting my spiraling thoughts before I could reach a more rational conclusion. “I can send out a few guys to keep an eye on your family. I’ll tell them to be discreet, not let themselves or their purposes be known. We don’t need anybody else getting worked up about all this; not if we don’t have to. It’s still early, and it sounds like you did quite a number on that guy, so I’m guessing Rock doesn’t even know that anything went down yet.”

  “Yeah,” I said, smiling. “I broke his phone.”

  “Damn, really?” he said, smiling.

  He leaned forward and kissed my forehead—I knew he would have gone for the lips, but I was just in too much pain to move to do so. What he did was the sweetest thing he could have done.

  “I told you, that’s my girl,” he said with a smirk. “Anyways, as for Crystal, I don’t know her beyond her being the other girl with you at that corner, and I certainly never thought of her as I thought of you, even just as a human. But, if you vouch for her, than I’d be more than happy to let her stay here. I’ve got a spare room, and, honestly, I’d feel better knowing you had somebody to stay here with you if I have to go out for any reason.”

  I blushed at that, smiling, and nodded my thanks. I waited for him to finish speaking.

  But that was the problem—he seemingly had finished speaking.

  It was not… it was not an accident that he had left off Chuck.

  “And?”

  “And what?” he said, playing dumb.

  I wasn’t mad; I understood what he meant. But this wasn’t the time for games.

  “My brother.”

  He shook his head, running his hand through his hair.

  “I can’t help him, Eve.”

  You can’t, or you don’t want to? I wouldn’t blame you in either case, but…

  “My guys don’t have any power in the jail system. It was never something we needed to be a part of. It’s beyond my control…”

  He frowned and sighed, shaking his head. I believed him, but I could also see he wasn’t done. I knew what he was about to say, and even though I disagreed with him, my logical mind found no fault in the words that followed.

  “But, honestly—and I hope you don’t hate me for saying so—I’m not sure I’d be willing to do anything for him even if I could. It’s his fault you’re in this mess in the first place, and as far as I’m concerned, he’s just as guilty as that asshole for what happened to you tonight. Eve, for all the good that you are and all the happiness you bring me, he does the exact opposite. I’ve never met him, but I’ve come face to face with the consequences of his actions. Now, he has to face them as well.”

  There was nothing I could say to that other than to beg, but even if Derek swore he’d do anything for me, I wasn’t going to push my luck that hard. I had my limits, and frankly, Chuck in prison was in a safer position than Crystal on the streets or my family—not that I had any other family here, but they didn’t have an entire cadre of guards and policemen nearby.

  “OK,” I said. “Just do what you can, please. My mom is in Reidsboro about two hours east of here—not far enough away. Crystal always said that if she had to escape, she’d head to Mason’s Crystal Store.”

  Derek snorted, as if trying to express humor at what he had just heard. To be fair, it was kind of humorous for Crystal to go to a jewelry store that bore her name, but then again, it was her estranged father’s shop, so it wasn’t totally random.

  Derek smiled and squeezed my hand once more.

  “Anything for you,” he said. “If Crystal is there, we’ll grab her. If not, we’ll work as safely and for as long as we can. I’ll have my boys grab her one way or another”

  And that, I thought, was exactly why I had come here, why I… why I loved Derek.

  Because he meant what he said.

  “Just please be careful, Derek,” I said. “I don’t want anyone else getting hurt.”

  “We’re always careful, but people are going to get hurt,” he said. “It just won’t be you.”

  I paused, smiled, and said.

  “Derek, I…”

  My voice strained. I took a sharp inhale.

  I…

  Almost said those three words.

  But I didn’t. Not yet. I feared terribly that in a moment as precarious as this, saying something that emotionally weighted would twist Derek and bother him. I didn’t see him as so callous as to throw me out on the street, but it definitely would have meant I’d just become a stowaway, not a romantic interest.

  “Yes, Eve?”

  “I’m grateful,” I said, which was true.

  It just wasn’t the truest statement.

  Still, he was spending time with me and I was spending the night with him.

  There would be time.

  27

  Derek

  I know I had promised Eve I would spend the night, and in some respects, that was true. I would spend it with her until she fell asleep.

  But as soon as she fell asleep, I couldn’t hold back any longer.

  Rock had escalated the war to the point that we had to strike back within 24 hours, but what he had done to Eve—didn’t matter that it was not him who did he, he certainly enabled it—meant that this war was no longer in the planning stages.

  I remembered how, on my wedding day, my father had told me words that seemed all too poignant in light of what happened later.

  “You must be willing to take up the gun once more. You must be willing to ride with your brothers. And you must be willing to deliver that preemptive strike to kill your foes before they kill your spirit.”

  I had failed to heed these words with Maggie. It had cost me my first wife and my first child. But life had given me a chance to make up for that horrible mistake.

  Does this mean I actually do love her? That she’s on par with Maggie now?

  Worry about that later.

  It was time to execute our plan. It was time to do whatever it took to kill Rock.

  It was time for everything to come to a head.

  … Once I rescued Crystal, but only because that was a request of Eve’s, and it was the same to me as rescuing Eve. I could have sent someone to do it, but for someone in such danger, and for such a personal request of Eve’s, I was taking this one u
p myself.

  Oh, and one other thing that I’d take care of along the way.

  Once I saw Eve’s breathing become consistent—the air conditioning in the apartment gentle and soft on account of the scars on her back, barely audible over Eve’s steady rise and fall—I slipped away and went to action. I snatched my jacket, shrugging into the worn, familiar leather in a single, practiced sweep, and yanked my cell phone from my pocket.

  It was time. And that started by gathering whatever troops I could, starting with Roost. Immediately.

  I tried to summon my inner-ninja or shadow or whatever it would take to get me through the condo and onto the elevator without waking Eve. She’d been through enough already, and I didn’t want to worry her—to say nothing of how it might seem like lying if I was leaving her like I was. But this was inescapable, and if nothing else, I had an obligation to my fallen brother, Brick, to execute this plan and Rock tonight.

  Once the elevator doors closed, I didn’t worry about Eve. She had no phone. She wasn’t going anywhere. I thought of telling the guard to keep an eye out for her in case she tried something stupid, but that felt like an unnecessary step—and in my current hunting, paranoid state, I didn’t put it past the guard to have been secretly bribed by the Black Falcons.

  I was walking toward my chopper purposefully but quickly, my boots screaming on the hollow emptiness of the garage. I felt like I was moving in auto-pilot, and I was almost glad for it. It made me feel like I didn’t have to be held responsible for what I was prepared to do.

  Though I’d been holding my phone almost the entire time—practically crushing it in my grip—I only just called Matty. I didn’t need Eve hearing me somehow as I got on the elevator. I didn’t need my plans crushed this early in the night.

  “Derek?” he groaned, answering after only one ring. “Motherfucker! Ya got any idea what time it is?”

  “Yeah,” I said. “You know that plan that we had installed for tomorrow night? That’s changing. It’s going down within the hour. Time to bust some Falcon skulls, Roost. Time for Rock to fucking die!”

  “Oh?” Roost’s voice was alert; while his tone was questioning, he didn’t sound the least bit surprised. I suppose if I had done any detachment in the last twelve hours, I would have figured out really quick that I wasn’t going to be sitting on the sidelines during tonight and tomorrow morning. “What happened?”