by K. J. Dahlen
I needed to hug my father at this point, or even just touch him again to prove to myself that he was real. But I’d needed him for the past decade and where had he been? I was also wary of letting him get close to me, in case he disappeared on me and mom all over again. I couldn’t – wouldn’t – live through that twice.
“It’s late Chloe, maybe you should get some rest here, and we can talk again in the morning?” he suggested.
I didn’t respond. Hearing all this had been hard, and I still wondered whether I should continue with the plan I’d come up with on the train ride here….bust mom out of this place and bring her back to Dino’s with me where I could keep an eye on her.
Mom stepped closer to Jesse and put a hand on his shoulder; he put his arm around her waist and she couldn’t help but smile.
My heart sank. It was clear they had cemented their relationship all too hastily. If this man thought he could just walk back into my life, he had another thing coming. He was the man who’d left me and mom broken for ten years.
I wasn’t about to upset myself or mom by arguing with the man anymore. Keeping my voice low and firm, I glared at my father, “When I told you I wanted you to get out of here, I meant every word.” I bit at my bottom lip, hard, suppressing my anger and holding back rivulets of tears that were about to flood from my eyes again. I continued to glare at him; we were a long way from he and I fixing our issues.
Through her tears, mom forced a smile and gave me a look that said, ‘I know you’re hurting, but our family is something worth fighting for.’
Chapter Nine
Dino
I awoke with a start. The apartment was quiet, too quiet. I glanced down the hall to the bedroom and found the door open a crack. Swinging my legs over the side of the couch, I noted the time and groaned out loud. I really hadn’t meant to sleep this long.
I hoisted my body to an upright position, went over to the windows, and looked down into the parking lot. It was three in the morning and I really didn’t expect to see Jax’s bike parked there but I had to look anyway. When I didn’t find the bike, I lumbered down the hall. Pushing open the door, I fully expected to find Chloe asleep, but when I looked, I gasped. She wasn’t there. The bed was made and there was no sign of the girl I was supposed to protect.
“Fuck!” I shouted as I ran my fingers through my hair. “Chloe,” I yelled, “Where the fuck are you?” My voice echoed in the quiet of the apartment. “Shit, fucking hell,” I swore… not so softly. “Jax is gonna murder me.” I stomped around looking for any note or sign of where Chloe would go.
The last thing I remembered was that she’d wanted to check on her mom. I’d told her I would do it then I crashed. Chloe had been getting a bad case of cabin fever. I’d known it and Jax knew it too, but with no sign of Jumper anywhere, we both knew it was too risky for Chloe to be on the streets.
Grabbing my keys and jacket, I stormed out of the apartment looking for blood, Chloe’s blood. If anything happened to her, I knew Jax would have my head and I liked my head right where it was, thank you very much. I’d belonged to the Black Devils now for seven years. When I joined as a prospect, Jax was already a member. I had to prospect longer than the usual year due to the fact that I’d been honest about my past. I told Bruno about the year I spent with the Red Dragons and the reason I left the other MC.
When I came south, I found the Devils and I stayed. Becoming Jax’s best friend was a decision I’d never regretted. Being a couple of years older than him never mattered to me. Jax had earned my respect and loyalty and I would never betray my brother.
I sped off into the night making for the address I knew Chloe’s mom was at.
Twenty minutes later, I pulled up to the street and had a look around. It was almost four a.m. and at the moment, everything was quiet. But there was something disturbing the air. Something that wasn’t quite right about this picture.
As I searched the darkness, I felt something dangerous nearby. Something that shouldn’t be there but was. I parked the bike in the alley and grabbed my extra weapon out of my saddlebags. Then keeping to the shadows, I made my way closer to the house I knew Sheila Mariano was living in.
There was no light on in the front of the house but as I moved around to the back, I saw a light on in the kitchen. Sheila and Chloe were sitting at the table and both women were crying. Looking around the room, I saw another person or actually a silhouette sitting there. He was just out of reach of Chloe but he was close enough to Sheila he could be holding her hostage somehow.
I wasn’t willing to take that chance. I grabbed the gun in the back of my waistband and pulled back the slide. Then I moved closer to the back door and tried the handle.
The door was locked and I growled soundlessly. I knew then I would have to kick the fucking door open. When I lifted my leg up to bash the door in, I felt the cold metal of a gun pushed into my neck.
“I wouldn’t do that fucker,” a growly voice whispered in my ear. “Hand over the gun very carefully, unless you want your brains scattered all over the back door.”
I closed my eyes, carefully held up my weapon and handed it over slowly. The gun at the back of my head moved forward and tapped the glass on the door lightly. A moment later, the door swung open and there in front of me stood a man that I knew better than to mess with. Dangerous and arms like steel bands. I thought no one could beat Bruno but this guy? This guy stood at least six and a half feet and his body was as big as Bruno’s but he looked more ominous and stronger than Bruno could ever be.
My dark eyes glared at him for a moment then went to behind him. “What the fuck is this?” I growled.
“Sorry Prez, he was a sneaky little bastard and got too close before we saw him.” the man at my back said.
“Dad, what is it?” Chloe asked softly as she came to stand behind the man.
“Dad?” My eyes widened as the shock hit me hard. Jesse Mariano? Dagger? He should’ve been a corpse, not a man standing in the doorway. “This is your dad?”
Chloe nodded slowly. She turned to the man and said, “Dad, this is Dino. He’s a friend. I would really rather you didn’t kill him.”
Dagger looked down at his daughter then turned to me. “This is the one Jaxson relied on to protect you from Jumper?” His voice didn’t lend much confidence in me.
“Yeah, but he was taking a nap when I snuck out remember?” Chloe defended me but even I didn’t put much stake in her words.
I knew I’d fucked up when she got out of my apartment. I knew it and now her dad knew it too.
“You’d better come inside before the neighbors start to wake up. I don’t want anyone to see you here.” Dagger growled.
“We found his bike,” his man told Dagger.
“Bring it up and put it in the garage. He’ll need it later.” Dagger moved out of the way to allow me inside the house.
I came in and for a moment was glad to see Chloe was ok. Then rage took over as I turned to her and growled, “Jax is gonna kill one of us and it ain’t gonna be me. This was a stupid stunt to pull and it could have gotten you killed!”
Chloe hung her head. “I know but I had to know if my mom was ok.”
Abruptly I was grabbed by the back of my neck and shoved against the wall.
Her dad leaned in closely and whispered in my ear, “You don’t get to talk to my baby girl that way. I know you’re pissed, I’m pissed as hell too, but I’m her father and you’re not. Do you understand me?”
I nodded. “Yes sir. I do understand you.”
Dagger released me and moved away going back over to the table where Sheila was sitting. Chloe joined them.
I moved closer and finally stood behind Chloe.
Dagger raised his head and glared at me. “Suppose you tell me what the everloving fuck is going on with your MC and the Bloods?”
I stiffened at the threat in his voice. I glared at the other man and didn’t say anything for a moment or so then stated, “The Bloods are after our new President. B
runo just stepped down and Jaxson Coltrane took over.”
“Coltrane huh?” Dagger snorted. “That kid has a lot to learn if he expects to live long enough to make his mark in this world.”
“Dad,” Chloe admonished him.
Dagger just scowled at her.
“Well, you should know that Chloe is his...” I felt the urge to let him know where Chloe was at, as far as Jax was concerned.
“I know.” Dagger nodded. “Not so sure I like the fact but I know she belongs to him. She has the whole time, she just didn’t know it yet, and I don’t think he did either.” The man held out his hand and introduced himself, “The name is Dagger.”
I nodded. “I figured as much.” I took Dagger’s hand and shook it. I could feel the strength and purpose in the other man’s handshake, I could also feel the threat. “So, if you don’t mind my asking, where the hell have you been the last ten years and why does Jax think you’re dead?” I asked bluntly.
Dagger narrowed his eyes at me but didn’t answer for a long moment. Then he seemed to make up his mind and he answered my question, “Jumper had been going off the deep end for some time back then even. Before I disappeared, I could see an unholy light in his eyes from time to time. But what he wanted was just always beyond his reach. It was like he was always chasing shadows and never quite reaching them. I knew what he wanted but I also knew he wasn’t ready for it, not yet. Not back then. He wanted the power behind the presidency. I saw it ten years ago and I’ve been watching him the whole time.”
“Watching him?” I questioned. “How have you been watching him?”
Dagger paused for a moment then nodded at Sheila and Chloe. “They know some of it but not all of it. After I got out of that fucking basement, I knew just how far Jumper would go to get my MC away from me. He came in shortly after Jax left the building. He saw me lying under the rubble and laughed at me. He told me it was a proper ending for a man like me. He made absolutely no attempt to help me out of there at all. He left me to die like a rat on a sinking ship. My men came in and got the moonshine we were transporting and they all just left me there to die. Guess I lucked out that Jumper thought the building would finish me off. I got out of there on my own. I was pretty banged up as you can imagine and rather than go back to challenge Jumper, I took off for the hills around the border. That’s where I met the Border Patrol MC. They nursed me back to health and let me recover. I was going to come and get my MC back but then I saw what the Patrol club was doing and I knew I’d stay with them until the coast was clear with Jumper. I was better off if everyone thought I was dead, at least for the time being. I never wanted it to go on this long.” He glanced over at his wife and daughter. “Not coming back for them just about killed me but I knew Jumper was watching them. If he had any idea I was still around, he would have slaughtered them both just for fun as if to leave me a message to stay away. I stayed away until I couldn’t stand it no more. When I heard Roy was here and what he was doing to them, I almost destroyed the man but we weren’t ready then. We’re almost ready now. We’ve got the purpose but not the bodies we need to stop the cartel from getting inside the border.”
I sat there staring at the other man. I didn’t know how much if anything I should tell him about what the Devils were going to do. To tell him anything was like betraying my MC and I would die before I did that. But not to tell him was another kind of betrayal. One I never thought I’d face again. Not after the last time. The last time almost killed me, this time I knew it would. “I think you should know something,” I began.
Dagger held up his hand for me to stop. “I don’t need to know your MC secrets or what they’re into at the moment. I know about the whiskey shipment and I know exactly who stole it and sold it.”
“We know who stole it and sold it too.” I shook my head. “But that’s not what I wanted to tell you. Our MC lost over 200k on that deal. Bruno wants to get it all back in one deal. He contacted the cartel and is going to do a deal with them.”
Dagger stood up so fast his chair clattered to the floor behind him. “The fuck?” he shouted. “That was the one thing I was positive he’d never do, never thought he’d make a deal with the fuckin Mexican cartel. Fuck, all these years he’s stayed away from them for the same reason we had. That was the one common goal the Bloods and the Devils shared. We didn’t want them to step foot into our country and spread their poison here. We have enough of our own to worry about. What was he thinking?”
“That’s just it.” I shook my head. “I don’t think he was thinking. A week ago, he shot his own kid because it was Antonio that stole the whiskey shipment from under his nose.”
Dagger scoffed. “Yeah, that sounds about right. Antonio always was a bastard. It was only fitting that Bruno took him out.”
“Yeah,” I agreed. “But what nobody else figured on was that Jumper and Antonio would work together to destroy the Devils. He was waiting in ambush for Jax and was gonna put a bullet in Jax’s head before the vote could take place. There was only one other candidate, Antonio.”
“Fuckin hell!” Dagger whispered as things were revealed.
Chloe and Sheila gasped.
“What went down after that?” Dagger asked.
“Antonio had opened a window during his speech and left it open. Before Jax could hardly say a word, the cops showed up to arrest Antonio for the murder of our boat captain the night the shipment was high jacked. Jax was sitting right in front of it with his back turned. Bruno got up and went over to the window for a breath of air when Antonio gave the signal. He saw the shooter from a distance and threw himself to cover Jax. He took the bullet instead of Jax. The shooter took off. Antonio wrestled a gun away from one the cops and was going to shoot Jax himself but Bruno took him out. Bruno shot his own kid to protect Jax and the club.”
Dagger nodded slowly. “That sounds like something Bruno would do. We might have had bad blood between our clubs but Bruno was always a harsh man.”
“Well, you guys did kill his brother,” I pointed out.
Dagger glared at me then smiled with a cold glint in his eyes. “Yes, we did. I don’t suppose you know the real reason why Charlie DeLuca died that night.”
I shrugged. “Does anybody? All we know is that you set fire to his business and then you shot him in his own home. Bruno told us it was to take over his territory when he wouldn’t sell you a way through it for your drug route. “
Dagger snarled. “Now that sounds like the real Bruno DeLuca we all love to hate.” He got up and began to pace back and forth. “Let me give you a little lesson about the Bloods and Bones MC. We were a young club back then, we’d only been in business about ten years. Like most clubs, we were running drugs and guns. We wanted a more legit set up though. Our first President was a man named Taggart. Charlie DeLuca had a franchise on the cigarette business back then. Between him and Bruno, they had most of the town locked down with businesses and such. Bruno had connections with the mob and Charlie was in charge of everything else. Nobody else could get a foot inside unless they approved it. The Bloods wanted to buy a couple of business here in town, we wanted to branch out from Tijuana, but we could never get the approval from Charlie. After the fourth time that he stopped us cold, Taggart had enough. He burned down the cigarette warehouse to prove a point to Charlie that no one could stand in his way, but Charlie didn’t take that shit very well, he sent his men to the two bars we had in Tijuana and burned them to the ground on the same night. He didn’t even care that there were people inside when he did it.” Dagger glared as he remembered that night so long ago.
I felt stunned by this news but didn’t say a word.
Dagger looked enraged. “So yeah, I went to the fucker’s house and yeah, I put a bullet in his head. He not only put our club at risk that night but civilians who were in the bars as well and people died. He chained the doors from the outside so no one could get out before he set those fucking fires. Taggart, three other members and two civilians burned to death because Char
lie ordered two of our bars burned. I took over the club the next day.”
I absorbed the new information I’d just been told. I also heard the horrified gasps of Sheila and Chloe in the room.
Dagger picked up his chair and sat down at the table again. “So Antonio stole his daddy’s last shipment huh? That’s poetic justice if you ask me. You can’t trust any of the DeLuca men.”
“But it was Jumper who sold it.”
“Yeah, we’ve been watching him closely.”
“We?” I asked with a frown.
“The Border Patrol MC.” Dagger shrugged. “I told you that before.”
“Do you know anything about this woman they call Viper?” I asked after a moment.
“She’s a real hard ass bitch, I can tell you that much.” Dagger looked disgusted. “She lives on this side of the border in Tijuana but her front door looks over the Mexican border. She’s the go between for the cartel and everyone else here.”
“What else do you know about the bitch?” I asked.
“Her name is Tori De Grasso. In fact, her uncle rules the cartel.” Dagger stared at me. “You said you met this bitch tonight?”
I nodded.
“Shit, he’s really gonna do the deal.” Dagger shook his head. “Bruno is gonna break his own rule and make a deal with the cartel.”
“After a few minutes at the club she took Jax and Bruno home with her to seal the deal,” I added.
“So why are you telling me this?” Dagger wanted to know. “Jax and Bruno will take this as a betrayal of the club. You’re gonna be accused of snitching club business to an outsider.”
