Gambler

by KJ Dahlen

“Dusty’s up their too.” Paige raced her for the stairs. When they reached to top of the stairs, they both could see the smoke whishing down from the burning roof. Both women rushed toward the nursery and Cricket threw the door open.

  Dusty was sitting in front of the cribs. His eyes were huge and she read the fear in them easily.

  All three babies were crying and Cricket reached for Molly Grace first. Scooping her up, she went over to CJ and grabbed him up too. Paige went over to Danny and scooped him up, then they all turned toward the door.

  When they left the room, the smoke in the hall had grown thicker.

  Dusty ran for the top of the steps and yelled down to his grandmother standing at the base of the steps.

  Cricket had her arms full as she rushed toward the steps. She could feel Paige right behind her and together they went down the steps. Molly took one of the babies from her and guided them to the front door. Smoke was filling up the downstairs now and they could all hear the crackle of the wood burning all around them.

  Rushing outside, they got as far away from the house as they could. Coughing and wheezing, Cricket looked back at her first and only home. Flames were eating through her house, completely destroying her hopes and dreams of a happy ever after.

  Shouts and running feet had the women turning to see Raine, Gambler, Black Jack and the others rushing toward them.

  Raine came to Cricket and pulled her into his embrace. “Are you ok?” he asked worriedly.

  “We all got out,” Cricket told him roughly. She was still coughing from breathing in the smoke.

  Raine looked around and turned to her to ask, “Where’s Max?”

  Cricket felt tears leaking down her face. “Sinner shot him with an arrow. Then he shot flaming arrows at the roof of the house. We grabbed the babies and got the hell out.”

  Raine turned to see the rest of the MC rushing their way.

  Deke reached them first. “We called the fire department.” Turning to look at the house he looked at Raine, “What the hell happened?”

  Raine shrugged. “Cricket said someone shot her dog with an arrow then fired the house with flaming arrows.”

  “Flaming arrows?” Deke growled. “Are you fucking kidding me?”

  They turned to watch as the roof collapsed and everyone moved back. They could hear the sirens of the fire truck turning into the compound.

  Molly and Black Jack, Gambler and Paige, Hound, Judge and Raine and Cricket turned to carry the babies to the clubhouse. They took a couple of steps away from where they had all gathered when Molly screamed and fell to her knees. She still held her namesake, Molly Grace in her arms and Raine raced toward her to grab his daughter.

  Black Jack knelt beside her. “What’s wrong?” He looked at her leg and saw the arrow through the back of her calf. “What the everloving fuck?”

  He snapped his eyes back to Deke and growled, “Why is there an arrow in my woman’s leg?”

  Deke looked worried and told everyone standing there, “We found out this morning that Sinner is proficient with a cross bow.”

  “Where the hell is he?” Black Jack wanted to know.

  “He could be anywhere. Like the coward he is, he’s hiding in the woods somewhere,” Deke informed them. “Look we can argue this later. We need to get the women and babies to safety.”

  Hound and Judge went on either side of their mother and lifted her between them, they took off for the clubhouse. Black Jack followed closely. Gambler had Paige, still holding Danny, and Dusty tucked close to him as they made their way too.

  Raine tucked Cricket along with CJ and Molly Grace against him and they ran back to the clubhouse. As the got a few steps away, another arrow hit the ground just to the left of where Raine’s foot was. Raine glanced down and then rushed her a little faster.

  The fire truck pulled into the yard and Hound was there to point them to the fire. An ambulance followed and Hound flagged it down. The EMT’s rushed into the club and for the next hour chaos ruled the compound.

  Molly’s wound was dressed but when they tried to take her to the hospital, she refused to leave. After the EMT’s checked everyone else out and found no other treatable injuries, they left to hang out with the firefighters who were battling the house fire.

  The fire fighters managed to keep the fire from spreading to the other houses nearby but Raine’s house burned to the ground.

  It wasn’t until after the fire truck left the compound that Deke and the others returned to the clubhouse.

  As soon as they did Black Jack was up in his face demanding answers, “What exactly happened out there?”

  Deke was covered in soot and tired. He’d been up half the night investigating Sinner’s background and he didn’t need this right now. “I guess this was his way of letting us know he’s watching us. This was his wakeup call to us to let us know he’s out there and willing to hurt somebody to mess us up.”

  Black Jack crossed his huge arms across his chest and glared at his President. “And just what are you going to do about answering his wakeup call?”

  Every single member of the MC waited to see what Deke’s answer would be. They were ready to hunt this mother fucker down and take him out.

  “We’re gonna be smart about this and not just rush into what could be a trap,” Deke began. Holding up his hand as Black Jack and several of the others were gearing up to argue with him, Deke waited until they settled down. “I know you’re pissed. I’m pissed too. This should never have happened but it did. Raine lost his house because we weren’t prepared for what this fucker would do. Now we know, now we can plan our response. Now we can use whatever we have available to hunt this bastard down and take him out.”

  “His first arrow went through Max.” Paige voiced up.

  Black Jack snapped his head around to stare at Paige. “Max was shot? Why didn’t you say anything before? Where is he?”

  “He’s dead,” Cricket told them quietly. “Sinner’s arrow hit him with such force he flew about five feet then slammed into the back steps. He tried to get to us but he didn’t make it.” Raine held her in the circle of his arms and her words were muffled but everyone heard them.

  Dusty came over to them and wrapped his little arms around her waist. He was sobbing into her waist and Cricket held him close to her.

  “Oh baby, I’m so sorry,” Black Jack told her. “I know how much Max meant to you.”

  Cricket shook her head. “Raine, my babies and Dusty mean so much more. As long as they are safe and ok then that’s all that matters.”

  “That’s bullshit and you and I both know it.” Black Jack scoffed. “Max was a big part of your past, he was something you wanted most of your life.”

  Cricket nodded. “Yes, he was and I’ll never forget him, ever, but we all got out of the fire and he died to protect us and that’s something I’ll never forget.” She looked at Molly. “I’m so sorry you got hurt.”

  Molly shook her head. “I’ll be fine child. It’s you I’m worried about. This man isn’t going to quit until someone stops him cold.” She looked over at the lineup of men standing there. “You let the men handle this Sinner bastard. I know my Jack and my boys, they won’t let him live to do this to someone else. You and Paige mean something to my boys and they won’t stand for any threats against their women.”

  “Neither will this club,” Bones stated. “But we need a plan. We can’t rush off and try to find him. He’s smart enough and motived enough to pick us off one by one.”

  “And he’d be dumb enough to try it.” Hound growled.

  “So we have to be smarter than he is,” Deke stated. “I want a roving guard around the perimeter and I want eyes hidden from view to try and spot him. Nobody goes anywhere alone always in pairs. We have to be careful so he doesn’t spot us before we can spot him. And we also have to be alert for his next attack.” He looked over at Cricket and Raine. “I think you guys should stay here in the clubhouse. You’ll be well protected here. I really doubt Sinner is fool enou
gh to come here looking for you. He wouldn’t dare.”

  Sam scoffed. “Never say never boy, that fool is fucking stupid enough to try anything.”

  “First thing first though, we have to get the babies some things like diapers, formula and such,” Paige commented. “We just grabbed them and ran.”

  Deke nodded. “Write up a list and we’ll send a brother for it.” Then he glared at Paige and Cricket. “Until this is over and done with, you two do not leave this compound. No walks and no going outside... PERIOD. I’m not even sure the brothers should leave until this is over. He could be watching everyone and know who you belong too and who you would give yourselves up for.” He turned and looked at Dusty. “That includes you young man, no more sneaking off until this is over, do you understand that?”

  Dusty nodded slowly as he dried the tears on his face with the back of his hand. He left streaks of soot all over his face.

  Deke looked around the room. “Ok brothers, let’s get a schedule set up and figure out where we want to get the lookouts set up.”

  Chapter Eleven

  Raine and Cricket settled into one of the bedrooms at the club. A couple of the brothers took the list and went to pick up some things for the babies and clothes for Cricket and Raine.

  Each of the babies had a temporary place to sleep in a large dresser drawer. It was probably best they were so little or they probably wouldn’t have fit. Cricket had showered and changed her clothes borrowing something from Paige. She sat at the window again watching the late afternoon shadows filling the backyard.

  Raine came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her. “What are you thinking about?” he whispered in her ear.

  “I don’t think you really want to know the answer to that question.”

  Raine held her a little tighter. “You know we can rebuild the house.”

  Cricket didn’t say anything but instead she tightened her hold on his arms.

  Raine turned her around and searched her eyes for a moment. Finally he asked, “What’s really wrong?”

  Cricket face planted in his chest. She was so tired of living with the deep seated fear of her childhood. She didn’t know if she could get him to understand that though. “I was just wondering how many times Cordy has fucked up my life. It wasn’t enough that she abused me all my life. It wasn’t enough she set me up to take the fall for her twice now, well this time makes three doesn’t it? I’m just wondering when her hold over me will finally be over. I’m hoping one day to be completely free of her influence. It might not happen until I’m old and grey but I’d like to think I might get there one day.”

  “You just need to let go, let go of the fear and disappointment.”

  “But how do you let go of something you’ve lived with your whole life? How do you let go of the fear when that’s all you’ve ever known?” she asked.

  Raine was silent for a moment then he said, “You let yourself dream of what you really want, you search your dreams of your secret happy ever after and you find something, even if it’s only one thing, that you never thought you’d ever have before and you do everything to get that one thing. And you don’t stop trying to get it, you never stop until you get it. Then you go to the next thing on your list and so on and so on.”

  Cricket looked at him and asked, “But I got my happy ever after with you, the babies and Dusty.”

  Raine shook his head. “That’s your future, what you have to look forward to. You need to find something that you wanted from your past.”

  Cricket shook her head. “I had that with Max and now he’s gone.”

  “We can always get another dog.”

  Cricket shook her head. “It wouldn’t be the same thing. Max was just one more thing Cordy took away from me.” She turned and walked over to the bed. “I’m tired. I think I’ll just go to bed and forget all the drama of today for at least a little while.”

  Raine walked over and kissed her on the forehead. “Ok sweetheart, I’ll be back in a while.”

  Cricket nodded and laid down closing her eyes.

  Raine watched as a single tear rolled down her cheek. Glancing over at his sleeping babies, he walked to the door and left them all in peace. Closing the door behind him, he walked to the main room. With each step he took, the rage inside him built up until he wanted to tear apart the entire club house.

  He saw his brother Gambler sitting alone at one of the tables. He had a bottle of Black Velvet and an empty glass in front of him.

  Raine grabbed another glass off the bar and joined his brother. “Where’s Paige and Dusty?”

  Gambler glanced over at his brother and frowned. “I guess we’re staying here until she feels it’s safe enough to return to our house.”

  “You can’t blame her for that.”

  Gambler growled. “No I can’t but the bastard who put that fear in her soul is gonna pay.”

  “Yeah he is, I owe him too now, remember that,” Raine snapped.

  Gambler took a sip of his whiskey and thought about it for a moment. “What do you suppose he was really after today?”

  “What do you mean?” Raine frowned.

  “I mean what did he really want today? Just to shake us up?” Gambler asked. “If that was all, he certainly did that.”

  “You think it’s more than that?”

  Gambler nodded. “Yeah, I’m beginning to think that. I mean think about it for a moment, when he shot ma, he could have killed her or anyone of us, but he didn’t now did he? He shot a helpless old woman holding a baby in her arms. He shot Max before he set the house on fire, almost like a warning. His arrow didn’t come close to Cricket or Paige now did it? No it did not.”

  Raine sat back and thought about what his brother was actually saying. “He’s just messing with us isn’t he?”

  Gambler nodded. “Yeah, I think he is. He’s stirring the pot causing discontent and driving everybody crazy with fear, but why? Does he want us chasing shadows? Running around all over the place looking for him, instead of watching over the girls? Does he think if he has us scrambling around, he’ll be able to just walk in here and take whatever he wants?”

  Raine sipped his drink and gave the matter some thought. “You’ve got a good point. Maybe that’s exactly what he thinks.”

  “Well brother, what are we gonna do about that?” Gambler asked.

  “If he thinks he can just walk in here and take what he wants, he’s in for a hell of surprise now isn’t he?” Raine smiled and his glee couldn’t be seen in his dark eyes.

  Only rage was seen in his eyes, a rage Gambler knew all too well because it was the same rage in his own.

  “How is Ma doing anyway?”

  Gambler shrugged. “She’s ok. You know Ma, she isn’t gonna let getting an arrow in her leg get her down.”

  “Yeah I know.” Raine nodded. “I also know our dad won’t just forget what Sinner did. He’ll be hunting the man and Black Jack isn’t a man I’d want hunting me. He’ll likely tear the man apart for what he did to Ma.”

  Gambler nodded. “Yeah, he’s not a man I’d want to be pissing off. Even at his age, he can’t still pack a punch.”

  “Hell, he don’t even have to punch you, Dad can take you apart with his judo shit. He’s been working that angle for years and he’s just as strong as he needs to be.”

  “That’s true enough. He may be older now but he still knows how to move and damn, if he still don’t know how to hurt a man,” Gambler agreed. “So how is Cricket taking the loss of her dream house?”

  “Not very good,” Raine admitted. “She’s taking the loss of Max even worse.”

  “I imagine she is.” Gambler nodded.

  “What is that supposed to mean?” Raine asked with a frown. “And what do you know about it?”

  Gambler shrugged. “A dog is something her and Dusty talked about a lot when he was with her before they came here. They always talked about things they dreamed about but never thought they could ever have. They were all each other had and s
he shared her dreams with him. He still remembers every word she ever said to him.” Gambler hesitated then went on, “You know she shares something with my son I don’t know that I ever will. On one hand, I’m jealous of the bond they have. I wonder if he’ll ever have that kind of bond with me. On the other hand, I can give that boy something she can’t. I give him security. Then I wonder if that’s ever going to be enough? I think no matter what, those two will be bound closer than normal because of what they shared.”

  Raine was quiet for a moment then stated, “She asked me how to let go of the overwhelming fear she has or had growing up. She said that Cordy is still fucking her over and she’s been in her grave for a couple of years now. I didn’t know what to tell her expect to search out her dreams and concentrate on one thing at a time and work toward getting that one thing and when she did get it, to think of something else she really wanted and start all over again.”

  Gambler nodded. “There’s only one thing wrong with that theory. I don’t think there’s anything she ever wanted except the dog. I don’t think Cordy ever gave her a chance to want more. She had Dusty and her dreams of a dog named Max and that was it. She gave me the bigger part of her dream when she gave me my son and now she’s lost her dog. She had her dream for a little while but now that dream is gone.”

  Raine nodded. “I know, I offered to get her another one but I don’t think she’ll agree to get one.”

  “Then the least we can do for her is give her peace of mind,” Gambler said.

  “Peace of mind for both of them.” Raine nodded. “Paige doesn’t have the nightmares that Cricket does but they both share the same nightmare and his name is Sinner.”

  “No his name is Matthew Reno.” Gambler glared at his brother. “And as of right now he’s a dead man walking. We’re gonna put him in the ground, once and for all. He’ll never hurt another woman, not in this lifetime.”

  “Amen brother, amen.” Raine raised his glass high and Gambler clinked his to it.

  Shortly after that, Black Jack joined his sons and glared at both of them.

  Raine broke the silence between them, “How is ma doing?”