by K. J. Dahlen
I stared at Bruno in disbelief but he didn’t look at me at that point. The name ‘Viper’ on the streets was associated with one thing….drug trafficking. For the low life gangsters that were dumb enough to work under him and the cops and judges that were stupid enough to try to bring him down, there were often fatal consequences. Something told me that whatever we were going to be doing could be incredibly hazardous and likely damaging for my club.
I stood up. “Bruno, I’m aware of our situation but you can’t be serious about working with a low life like the Viper.”
Nobody else said a word. I hoped my brothers would back me on this and try to talk Bruno out of it. Everybody in our world knew the street name of Viper. I opened my mouth to speak, and then closed it again, thinking on what Bruno had just said. There were no words to describe how I felt that I could say without disrespecting him in the context of the club meeting.
It was also well known that Viper had long standing alliances with the Mexican Mafia. The Mexicans had always wanted to smuggle cocaine and marijuana through California but Bruno had never let that happen. Bruno had lost his fucking mind, if he thought I was about to let the Viper invade our peaceful city with a drug cartel…he had another thing coming.
“I’ve got us a great deal!” Bruno insisted.
Dino raised an eyebrow at me and I tried to reason with Bruno again, “C’mon, Bruno. Talk about a conflict of interest, the Viper has always wanted to run his operations through our town and you’re giving him an open pass to set that up.” I had a sinking feeling that we could be starting world war three here with Viper very soon.
Met with silence and my complete distain for the idea, Bruno explained, “Will you fucking relax Jaxson! This is the perfect deal for us right now boys. And that’s a fact. All you’ve got to do is supply the safe transport of…goods…through Coronado and to a few individual suppliers around the area and we get the Two-hundred-thousand back that we lost in that whiskey shipment and the man who shot me the night of the vote will be killed. Think of it this way, we do this job and we get back at the Bloods’ with zero kickback because the Viper will take the rap for the shooting of Jumper. She has no links with us prior to this job and will have no links to it after.”
“She?” I laughed aloud.
Nine pairs of eyes glanced over at me as my brothers noticed Bruno’s mistake too.
The handle of the office door turned and I could hear a soft but sharp clink of heels travel the length of the hall toward us.
“Gentleman, I’d like to introduce you to our new business partner,” Bruno announced as he gestured over to the doorway.
To our surprise, through the doorway appeared a thin-wiry looking lady.
“Fuck!” a few of the guys muttered. The whole room hummed for a few seconds.
At first I thought, Bruno couldn’t be serious about this. What kind of joke was he trying to play? This woman had to be somebody Bruno was seeing or something, not a top criminal. But there was sincerity in his eyes that told me he meant business.
Did he honestly expect me to buy that this lady was the Viper? I turned my head to my left as Dino and I exchanged a look. The pair of us had to swallow our laughter. She was a front woman – obviously. All the top criminals had them. When there’s the risk of a deal going sour, why risk you own life when you can have somebody else do it for you.
Still, if she was a close associate of Viper, then I wanted nothing to do with her. What was Bruno thinking? As I watched the faces of my club brothers, something told me they genuinely believed that this woman was Viper.
From what I heard, the Viper was cold, ruthless and wouldn’t care about cutting your throat if you even looked at him wrong. There was no way in hell this woman was the Viper. She didn’t look as if she could fight her way out of a wet paper bag.
There was no way we were going to work with her, or the people she represented. I stared wide eyed at Bruno after shooting a quick glance at her up and down. Her body was a kind of clothes rail; her wardrobe was at least a size maybe even two too big, so she had no real shape. You couldn’t tell if she even had breasts let alone hips or an ass. The clothes wore her. Unlike Bruno, who by contrast wore his signature head to toe black, the woman was dressed in a tent-like, oversized red dress with a grey blazer jacket over the top which swallowed her tiny body. Her legs were stick thin and even the shoes she wore were sloppy on her feet. Her face was thin and almost colorless except for her lips. They were painted red to match her nails, and her eyes were outlined with black eye makeup from what I could tell. We couldn’t really see too much of her eyes or indeed that much of her face. She also had very pale skin which I was sure reflected the ice maiden she was.
Her hair was a bright blonde, cut into a sharp bob that covered the sides of her face. Her hair didn’t quite match the rest of her and somehow looked fake. Wide sunglasses covered her eyes. I supposed she was protecting herself in case the job went sour. If we hadn’t seen her face, then how could we come after her?
No hint of a smile crossed her red lips since she’d come into the common room.
It all made me feel immediately hostile and wary at the same time. This deal was just off somehow and something inside me was shouting to walk the other way.
Judging by the contempt filled glance she gave me, it seemed the feeling was mutual. The woman was the perfect stereotypical intelligent ice queen. I didn’t like this from the moment I heard it and now that I met her, I was even surer I didn’t want this deal. There was just something I didn’t trust about this woman.
A few of my older club brothers smirked and raised eyebrows at each other excitedly as though they were looking at some sort of goddess.
I shook my head and had to wonder at their expressions. Even if they wanted the notoriety of working with the one known as the Viper, I wanted nothing to do with this. She reeked of lies and deceit.
It seemed she was also a woman of very few, and very cold, words, “Well, you look like a capable enough bunch,” she remarked, casting an eye over my brother’s faces and bodies before walking over to Bruno.
The way she stood at his side staring at us made me feel like she trusted Bruno, but felt the opposite way about the rest of us.
The woman had offered us no ‘hello.’ No introduction. Nothing. Bruno pulled up a chair for the person whom he had told us was ‘Viper’ while the stunned silence in the room went on for another half a minute. Was she simply a complete bitch? Did she think we didn’t count, as we were only foot soldiers?
I got to my feet and crossed the room toward her.
As I held my hand out to meet hers and introduce myself, she sat back in her chair, pulling away from me. Reluctantly, she reached out and barely made contact with my hand before letting go like she’d touched something gross.
I barely felt the tips of her fingers before she pulled away from me. “I’m Jaxson Coltrane. President of the Black Devils MC.”
With real derision, she wiped her hand on her dress. She didn’t even try to hide her disgust. She gave a quick nod without looking at me before turning her attention back to Bruno.
I gave Bruno a sideways look as she pulled away from me. For some reason, Bruno seemed to have warmed to her much more that I had. To me, it didn’t make any sense. Whoever this woman represented lived the life our club had fought for a decade to stay away from. A criminal was what Bruno was, but I’d thought he’d moved away from that for his late brother, Charlie.
What now? What was the damn point in this last minute meeting if the person we were being introduced to had no interest in talking to us?
To my surprise, she placed both hands on the arms of her chair and pressed her body up to a standing position. “Now, you’ll come back to my place. You and Bruno…” She gestured toward the door. The woman was abrupt and plainspoken when she addressed me.
Her accent was plain odd, I only noticed that up close, I couldn’t tell you for a million dollars where she was from.
Severa
l hushed laughs escaped my brother’s lips at what she had inadvertently implied, interrupting her flow.
As I turned back to them, Dino smirked childishly at me, and I rose my eyebrows at him before facing ‘Viper’ again.
“We can start the prep for the job now?” she said, in more of an imperative tone than a question.
Bruno locked his eyes on mine in a way that said, ‘You promised me, Jax. AND… I took a bullet for you ‒ you owe me your life.’
The three of us stalked out of the common room. I’d waited until she passed and followed behind her. I still didn’t trust this stranger one bit. I saw Dino and Max back away from the woman as she crossed the room, their eyes glued on her, as was most of the room. I wanted to yell at them for acting like such pussies right now. She was an underweight, middle aged, woman, not the Viper.
She turned briefly before walking through the open door Bruno held for her. “Well, I’m glad I’ve met you all,” she said, her voice still all business. Her tone had dismissed them already and was moving on to things more important.
I raised my eyebrow but said nothing.
It seemed more like this bitch was in charge of the operation than Bruno. And astoundingly, he seemed quite happy about it. It seemed blindingly obvious that these two had a thing for each other.
“Viper would rather you follow on behind us,” Bruno informed me.
I hesitated to act or respond for a moment and Bruno gave me a tap on the shoulder that said, ‘this woman is not somebody to be fucked with. It’s her way or the highway.’ Out of respect for Bruno, I conceded – nodding at him. What could I have said? I turned on my heels and rubbed my hand over my jaw as I walked back toward my Harley.
I straddled my bike as the white SUV started to head off out of the parking lot, and hit the road. What the fuck just happened? I cranked the engine and headed out so I wouldn’t lose them. I raised my head to face the wind and it blew over my face. I was certain of one thing. I despised the thought of doing work with this woman. I didn’t like the thought of what shit she could bring to my club. At. All.
I trusted that Bruno wouldn’t put his club in danger with whatever he had planned. But even the best-laid plans don’t always work out. I wasn’t sure what would happen next but I was already looking over my shoulder for someone holding a knife, ready to plunge it into my back.
As I traced the directions and the SUV rode toward Viper’s place there was only one thing on my mind.
Survival.
Chapter Five
Chloe
“He’s gone! What do you mean Jax is gone?” I asked, in a panic. It angered me that Jax could single mindedly go along with something as ludicrous as this without a second thought to the consequences. Bruno asked Jax to jump and he would…right off a fucking cliff at Bruno’s word.
Dino sat himself down at the kitchen table as he pulled open a paper bag of takeout food. “Like I told you, he’s gone to the Viper’s place…wherever the fuck that is.” He took a large bite of a sloppy hamburger ‒ barely out of its paper wrapping.
I instantly felt very ill. “So what you’re telling me is…you let Jax put himself in danger and you didn’t even think to ask where he was going?”
Dino shrugged. “It didn’t happen that way. The Viper didn’t say much and I don’t think even Jax and Bruno know where they were going. Try to relax, ok?” His mouth was wide as he chewed and talked at the same time. “I take it you don’t want any of this?” he asked, offering the burger to me with a gesture of his hand.
I scrunched my nose and shook my head rapidly at the sticky burger before refocusing my thoughts. “Hold up. ‘The Viper.’ I haven’t heard of him…that’s not one of your brothers, is it?” I asked, sitting down at the table opposite him.
“Nah.” He rolled his eyes at the question. “Viper is a new business partner that Bruno wants us to work with. Jax and Bruno left the meeting with her to discuss it. I think.” Dino scoffed to himself, “Funny thing is, I’m pretty sure Bruno has a thing for her. I don’t know what it was but I just got an odd sense, you know?”
“Her? A woman. So not some violent criminal; but somebody friendlier. The kind of person who wouldn’t get you guys into trouble?” I asked, hopefully.
“Yeah, a woman. But, hell no. She was a complete bitch, you could tell. Ignored us, mostly. Even Jax. She was skinny, with blonde hair too bright for her face and freakish makeup. Dramatic. Not my kind of woman. No way. Not in this life,” Dino remarked as he pulled a box of French fries out of the bag and started shoving them down his throat too. “Have you eaten?”
“Yeah, I’ve eaten,” I responded, still considering his description of the woman. “What’s her background?”
Dino shrugged. “I’ve heard she’s involved in a drug cartel. Between you and me, Jax hated the woman the moment he met her…I could see it,” Dino added.
I sat forward in my chair and my voice rose. “What! A drug cartel? You and Jax are already at risk of getting locked up for Roy’s murder. Or did you two forget about that? The investigation is still ongoing, in case you weren’t aware.”
Dino shrugged again. “You’re right. But Jax won’t back out of this, Chloe. He promised Bruno he would see this though. This job will be too risky in my opinion. That’s my take on it. Jax told me to be straight with you, so there it is,” he said, completely relaxed, getting out of his seat, snatching a can of beer from the fridge and cracking it open. “On the up side, you and Jax might be able to rent a new place with the money we get to from this deal ‒ somewhere safe and secure. He is club president now, you realize that don’t you? Jax will get a cut.” Dino buried his hand into the inside pocket of his jacket and pulled out an envelope full of money that would choke a horse to death. “Told the boys I’d bring this back to Jax,” he said, pulling the cash out of the envelope and waving it at me with a giddy look of excitement. “We didn’t see this until after the Viper left but she’d left us a little upfront payment on the bar.”
I stared at Dino for a long moment. This was all becoming too frustrating for me. The Viper would kill them both...Bruno and Jax. “Am I the only sane person here? That woman could be setting Jax up. Has he not learned his lesson! How do you know Jumper hasn’t hired her to kill Jax?” I yelled, inadvertently slamming one hand on the desk.
Dino just sipped his beer.
Was he trying to piss me off? I gave a heavy sigh. “Fine, well if that’s the way it’s going to be then you listen to me, Dino. You have to promise me something. Promise me you’ll watch Jax, ok? Everything he plans. Everywhere he goes. Everything he does. I need to know I can at least try to help when shit hits the fan.”
Dino smirked as though to say… ‘there would be nothing you would be capable of doing about it if things went wrong, Chloe.’
“If Jax asked you to be honest with me about what’s going on then I need to know about it. Right? You don’t want to risk losing him either, do you?” I added.
Finally, Dino nodded. “Ok, I promise,” he said, taking a gulp of his beer.
I knew he would do anything to honor his word with Jax, as Jax would with Bruno. I gave him a smile before shooting right back into my interrogation, “What time will Jax be home?” I asked, abruptly.
“Not for hours. If I know Jax and Bruno, they will be planning out the whole operation as we speak,” he replied with a slow shake of his head in admiration. “You can trust Jax, Chloe. If we don’t put Jumper in the ground ASAP, you and Jax could be eating dinner one day, then the next minute that psychopath will appear and put a gun in your face. He’s a loose cannon Chloe, we need to finish him and part of this deal is the Viper has him killed.” Dino lifted his beer can to his lips and swallowed another large gulp. “It’s not like you could do anything about it anyway. How would it help you if you knew where Jax was? You can’t leave this place. Jumper is still on the loose. So, either way, you’re stuck here,” Dino said as though it were a forgone conclusion and shrugged again.
“Yo
u want to bet?” I vowed softly.
“What the hell do you mean by that?” For the first time, Dino’s voice rose too, and he sat back in his chair; as though surprised that I hated it here and needed to get out.
In seconds, the air between us was thick with tension. “I mean, I’m going to see my mother. Whether you like it or not,” I threatened, crossing my arms over my chest.
“Your mother? Since when were we talking about your mother?” he yelled back.
“I need to get out of this place and I just know mom isn’t safe. I spoke to her on the phone before you walked in the door and I’m telling you, somebody is in that safe house with her.”
“You’re losing it, Chloe. All you have to do is trust Jax and I. Sheila is safe and you’re safe. It’s my job to keep you that way. I’m pretty sure the moment you start showing your face outside of this apartment…” Dino made a gun shape with this thumb and two fingers and pointed it at his head in a warning.
“I’m telling you. I called to see how she was and I heard a voice in the background. A man’s voice. It was just for a moment but she looked like she was hiding something…or someone…too. Then, you come home and tell me Jax is joining a drug cartel! I didn’t know what to talk about first.” I paused for a beat and took a breath. “All I know is, I can’t stop Jax right now, but I can find out what is happening at my mom’s place before something real bad happens to her. I know somebody is there with her and if she’s not ok, I need to know about it so I can figure out how to fix it.”
“And you’re gonna get yourself killed in the process!” he yelled. “Even if you are correct, we don’t know who it is and until we do you cannot go and see her. We also don’t know where Jumper is.”
I sat back in my chair, not looking at him.
Dino calmed his voice. “You’re tired. Hell, I’m tired too. You’re stressed. You’re panicking. It must have been the television or the radio that you heard. Sheila knows to call Jax if there is a problem. And Jax would have called me. You just spoke to her on the phone. Your mother is fine, Chloe,” Dino stated, then finished off the last of his beer as he stood up and went to the fridge to get another.
