Mayhem Madness: Reckless Bastards MC Series Books 1-7

by KB Winters

  I could only hear the sound of three sets of booted feet stomp away. Buzz cut, Snivelly Rat and some silent asshole, growing farther and farther away as everything around me went black.

  ***

  I don’t know how many minutes passed after I lost consciousness. No one had rushed to my aid or even ambled to my aid so when I came to and remembered the attack, I slowly sat up and caught my breath.

  Fucking Vegas.

  Standing was more of a challenge, and breathing was pure torture. I leaned against the trunk of the nearest car and scanned the parking lot to make sure they were gone. I limped to my car with a swollen eye and an arm I could tell was broken, then managed to slide behind the wheel and get the engine started. My seatbelt wasn’t going to happen with this pain. If those dickwads hadn’t killed me, I figured my number wasn’t up today.

  It was the dumbest thing I’d ever done, even dumber than sleeping with Savior and coming back to Vegas all rolled into one, but I drove myself to the hospital. It took longer than it should, given my limited vision and the setting sun, to say nothing of the excruciating pain throbbing throughout my body.

  But I made it.

  Mostly.

  I left my car parked at an angle in the ambulance bay and staggered inside the hospital before passing out in the arms of a brown-eyed male nurse.

  I faded in and out of consciousness but knew it took several people to get me into a room and check me out.

  One of them kept asking questions.

  “Does she have any I.D.? Anyone we should call?”

  The voice belonged to an older woman.

  A man answered. “There are hardly any numbers in her phone. Work. Landlord. Teddy. The rest are just numbers, no names.”

  “Just call the one with an actual name,” another female voice snapped. Probably the doctor, frustrated as she moved fast, blasting orders, poking my wounds. Annoyed.

  Eventually the drugs they gave me kicked in and I couldn’t hear them not-so-silently judge me anymore.

  Chapter 16

  Savior

  I felt like a fucking creeper, at worst, a stalker for sitting outside Mandy’s place waiting for her to come home. But it was past seven and she worked a long day that started at five in the morning. I wasn’t worried and it wasn’t like I had the right to call her up and ask here where in the hell she was. So I leaned against my bike in the guest parking spot beside hers and waited.

  And waited. When the clock drew closer to eight I began to worry and decided I would swing by Knead just to be sure. Before I got settled on my bike, the phone rang.

  “Yeah?” I barked, pissed it wasn’t Mandy.

  “Savior, man, where are you?” Golden Boy’s voice sounded weird and instantly I was on edge.

  “I’m at Mandy’s waiting for her to get home. What’s up?”

  “Stay where you are. I’m coming to pick you up. Now,” he said and ended the call before I could ask any more questions, damn him.

  Luckily, I didn’t have to wait long before he pulled up in Teddy’s Mercedes. When I spotted Teddy in the passenger seat I finally understood what people meant when they said their blood ran cold.

  It’d never made much fucking sense before, blood was never cold. It was warm, warmer than you would imagine and when shit got real, it got even hotter. I’d been to war, killed for my government and my club, and never had I been as scared as watching my brother and his pregnant fiancée get out of the car and waddle my way. “What the hell is going on?”

  Teddy stepped forward, one hand on my shoulder and the other on her belly. “I just got a call from the hospital. They didn’t say much other than Mandy was hurt very badly and mine was the only number in her phone. That’s all we know but I thought you’d want to know.”

  I nodded but my mind was blank and racing too fast to do anything else but bark, “Let’s go!”

  I grabbed Teddy’s arm and helped her back into the car before jumping in the backseat while I thought of what “hurt very badly” meant with the shit going on with her friend and those fuckers from the parking lot.

  I was ready to kill the motherfuckers.

  At the hospital, there was more fucking waiting and no answers. It was nearly ten by the time someone with a stethoscope around his neck came out to update us on Mandy’s condition. His gaze focused on Teddy, who’d been vocal in wanting, no demanding progress.

  “Ms. Sutton has a fractured ulna and radius, bruised ribs along with a nasty black eye. Those are the big injuries, but she has quite a few scrapes and bruises all over. The good news is that she’ll recover.”

  “And the bad news?” Teddy took a step closer, her gaze focused and intense.

  “We don’t know what happened to her,” the doctor said. “She drove herself in that condition, leaving her car in the ambulance area. The nurse has her keys,” he told them and Golden Boy left to move it.

  “Can we see her, doctor?” Teddy looked so damn worried I thought she might end up going into labor early.

  “I’m sorry miss but she is heavily sedated and probably won’t be awake for hours. We’re going to keep her for at least one night to monitor for concussion. We think she lost consciousness when she sustained her injuries but we’re not sure. That could mean head trauma. If she was knocked out, she doesn’t know for how long and we haven’t been able to keep her awake long enough to get any more details.”

  With a polite smile, the doctor walked away.

  I couldn’t let that ride, though. I needed more. Not only was I worried as shit but would Ammo kick my ass from here to hell for leaving her without making sure she was okay.

  “Hey, Doc!” I caught up with him in the hall and he flashed a worried grin.

  “How can I help you, Mister . . .?”

  “Call me Vick, please.” Sometimes I forgot how we looked to normal people. “Doc, I’m a family friend of Mandy’s but the problem is she’s lost all her family. I served with her brother and he didn’t make it back after his last tour.”

  I ran completely out of steam and my shoulders fell, thinking about how I’d let Ammo down. Let Mandy down.

  “Say no more, Vick. I was a combat medic and I get it. Follow me.”

  With a grateful smile, I followed him down a long corridor to a small, antiseptic room with too many machines for Mandy’s little body. I ached for her and the pain she must be feeling based on the strain on her face. “Thanks, Doc. I promise to stay out of the way, I just want to be here when she wakes up.”

  When the doctor left, I texted Teddy and Golden Boy to let them know I was with Mandy, got settled in a damned uncomfortable hard plastic chair. And waited.

  And waited.

  And fucking waited.

  Finally, around two in the morning those pretty green eyes popped open and I could breathe again.

  Chapter 17

  Mandy

  “Do you really have to do this now? She’s been awake for five fucking minutes!” I could hear Savior’s angry voice and I doubted he was talking to the doctors or nurses like that.

  “Sir, your girlfriend was the victim of a crime, don’t you want us to find the perpetrators. If there are even perpetrators,” a taunting voice said that I assumed belonged to one of Vegas’ finest.

  Insert eye roll if you want.

  I appreciated Savior fighting for me, but it was unnecessary. I woke up some time in the middle of the night, not that the rest was all that peaceful with the nurses waking me up every hour to ask me ridiculous questions: What day is it? Who’s the president? Two questions guaranteed to piss me off. Somehow I came out of that fracas with no brain damage, just a few bruises, cuts and fractures that would keep me out of work for who knew how long. Maybe I’d find out if the doctor ever made his way to this side of the hospital.

  “I’m awake,” I called out to stop the damn pissing contest outside my door.

  The door opened and Savior popped his head in, blue eyes looking stark against his pale skin and dark hair. “How are you feel
ing?”

  “Not as good as I would be if two gorillas weren’t yelling outside my door.” And if I hadn’t gotten my ass stomped by a bunch of pissed off bikers. “Come on in and bring your friend.”

  His lips twitched but Savior refused the smile and stepped inside, not bothering to hold the door for the two men I pegged as detectives based on their suits. One wore an ill-fitting brown suit like a cop from the seventies and the other, well he looked like a mob lawyer.

  “They want to ask you some questions,” he said reluctantly and sat in the chair where I found him when I woke up.

  “Alone,” mob lawyer said with a frown.

  “He wasn’t involved so I’d rather he stay.” I didn’t like cops and I didn’t trust them, but I knew they were only doing their jobs right now. Still, I needed backup and Savior was it. He grabbed my hand and gave it a squeeze to let me know he was there.

  The detectives stood at the foot of the bed wearing twin scowls meant to intimidate. “Can you tell us what happened, Ms. Sutton?”

  I nodded and let out a sigh, wincing as the pain lit up my ribcage.

  “Shit that hurts!” I yelled without thinking. I guessed my ribs didn’t get the memo that they weren’t broken because those fuckers hurt. “I was leaving work when three guys approached me in the parking lot of Knead, it’s the restaurant where I work. They had on jackets that said Roadkill MC, if that helps.” I paused because talking and breathing? Not so easy to do with bruised ribs, it turned out.

  Seventies detective looked at me with a look of disbelief. “What business do you have with them?”

  I barked out a laugh that was worth the fucking pain. “I have no business with them, but someone I knew when I lived here as a kid promised them I would do something I don’t do anymore.” I flashed a look at the detectives and then at Savior. There was no point trying to hide it anymore. It would come out anyway. “A woman I knew back when I was a kid, she helped me get a fake ID when my brother’s tour in Afghanistan was extended. I needed to pay bills, get food and stuff.”

  “Where were your parents,” mob lawyer asked.

  “Dead, for years at this point. Anyway, I saw this video online about counting cards and it seemed easy enough. I trained myself to do it and I only took enough to pay the bills and have some cushion, but Krissy wanted more.”

  Mob lawyer interrupted me, giving me a chance to slow down and ease the pain. “Who’s Krissy?”

  I hadn’t made it clear? “The so-called friend who got me the ID. She wanted a cut in exchange for the favor.”

  His eyebrows rose in understanding as if I’d finally explained nuclear fission to him. So I continued.

  “After a while it became too much, too risky. I got my acceptance letter for culinary school, hopped on a bus and never looked back.” I sighed deeply a few times, to breathe through the pain. “Until I returned six months ago to bury my brother and then three months later when I took the job at Knead.”

  Both of them nodded as they jotted down notes. “And the beat down?”

  “Encouragement to sign up for the blackjack tournament at the Wynn.” My head dropped back on the pillow and I focused on keeping my breathing even for a few long moments. That shit hurt and bad, but if I answered their questions now, I wouldn’t have to see them again.

  “They just came up to you one day and asked you to count cards for them and then showed up a few weeks later to do this to you?” Mob lawyer pointed at me, or specifically, my injuries, suspicion lacing his words.

  “No, they came by a few times to convince or intimidate me, whatever you want to call it.”

  “And you didn’t think to call the police?”

  “For what? So you can accuse me of some shit I had no part in? Right.”

  “Except you did,” he countered.

  “As a minor and you can’t prove it. But if you want to try, go ahead. Just don’t contact me, contact my lawyer.”

  Seventies Detective cleared his throat and glared at the younger man. “That’s not necessary, Ms. Sutton. You’re the victim.”

  “Really? Because I think someone failed to tell your partner.” I turned my head away. “I don’t know the guys’ names. What I know is that Krissy owes them money, a few hundred grand. Now I’m done talking.”

  “We have more questions.”

  I stared at Mob Lawyer until he shrugged, gave up and walked away.

  “Most victims want our help, Ms. Sutton.”

  I rolled my eyes at the line cops always dragged out when they wanted more information than they had. “Intimidating victims isn’t the best way to get us to open up, and somehow I knew that counting cards at sixteen would be all you heard.”

  He seemed sympathetic, but I was pretty sure they taught that look at the police academy. “Are we planning to handle this ourselves,” he asked, brown eyes directed squarely at Savior, who’d been surprisingly quiet, if tense as hell beside me.

  “Not if we don’t have to.” They stared at each other, some kind of macho mental pissing contest before Seventies Detective walked away.

  This was my life now. Two men standing on either side of me, talking about me like I wasn’t there. Wounded in a hospital bed because of some chick I used to know and this was the perfect excuse for Landry to fire me.

  Facing charges for the old card counting schemes didn’t worry me. I didn’t need a get-out-of-jail card—I needed a get-out-of-town card.

  Chapter 18

  Savior

  “Shit Mandy, I’m sorry.”

  What else could I say after hearing everything, all laid out like a hand of cards for the cops? If I had a heart, it would’ve broken for her. For the shit she’d gone through when I promised to look out for her, for all the losses she suffered and for the pain written all over her face. She was stronger than even she knew, protecting herself the best she knew how even when it got her hurt.

  “Not your fault,” she said, trying for flippant, but it came out tired. Frustrated.

  “Maybe, maybe not.” I couldn’t have her let me off that easy. “But it is in a way because I should have been there for you when you were a kid. If I had been, you wouldn’t have needed to do what you did to survive.”

  She rolled her eyes, ready to make light of the situation. “It was counting fucking cards, dude, not selling my ass.”

  I huffed out a laugh. “Things might have been easier if you had. You think the casino owners would’ve cared that you were a teenager?” They wouldn’t have and thinking about what they would have done to her if she’d been caught, made me want to fucking puke. “I really am sorry.”

  “For fuck’s sake Savior, I was never your responsibility. Whatever promise you made to Ammo, forget it. He’s not here to kick your ass or haunt you, or whatever has you so worried.”

  “According to you, but I made a promise to your brother and I fucked that up.”

  She shot me a grin, full of sarcasm. “As long as it’s all about you.”

  “Of course.” I spread my arms wide with a confident grin, inviting her to look me over until she did. Thoroughly and with heat in her eyes. “Watch it, Pixie. You’re too hurt to be looking at me like that.”

  “Never too hurt to look, babe.” She grinned and her gaze slid up and down my body one final time. “Look, Savior, I know you feel guilty about whatever you feel guilty about but you don’t need to stick around here. I’m fine but they’re worried about a concussion, so I’ll probably be here another night or two.”

  “You’re kicking me out?” I spent the past twelve hours sleeping in a hard ass chair at her side and she didn’t even want me here.

  “No.” She tried to readjust her position and let loose a string of swear words that would make a Ranger blush. “I’m saying that if you’re here out of obligation or guilt, I’m not interested.”

  “I’m here because hearing you’d been hurt took about a decade off my life. I thought for sure I was about to hear that . . .”

  I couldn’t even finish the
thought, it was too hard. To fucking hard to think about.

  “I’m fine, Savior. Just a few scrapes and bruises.”

  “And a fractured ulna and radius. Sorry to tell you, Pixie, but you don’t look fine.”

  She fluffed her tangled short hair with her good hand and stuck out her lips in that way chicks loved to do when they took selfies. “You mean I’m not giving Teddy a run for her money?”

  “You know you’re beautiful, Mandy. But you’ve got one eye almost swollen shut and the best part of you is covered in a cast and bandages. Kind of dims the beauty.” She was stunning and had no damn idea. It was a shame she didn’t have people in her life constantly telling her how amazing she was.

  “Yeah well, you try taking who knows how many boot kicks to the body and let’s see how pretty you look.”

  “Shit, Mandy. I’m going to kill those fuckers.”

  “Get in line. I get the first hit, maybe the first ten.” Her expression sobered. “What can I do?”

  I stood and dropped a kiss to her hair. “Get some rest. I’m going to let the guys know what’s going on and see what else we can find out.”

  She nodded but she had already checked out, her gaze focused on a fixed point on the wall, glazed over.

  “Mandy?”

  She blinked and looked up at me. “Yeah?”

  “It’s not obligation or responsibility or even guilt. Ammo will always be one of us, which means so will you.”

  I found Teddy and Jana in the waiting room with three large bags filled with crap. “Hey ladies, she’s awake, grouchy and in need of female company.”

  “Perfect.” Jana tried to stand and I went to help her. “Thanks, this baby is screwing up my center of gravity.”

  “Should either of you be here with all these germs?”

  Teddy scowled at me and poked me in the center of the chest. “We’ll be fine, Savior. You go do whatever you need to get those dark shadows out of your eyes. Mandy might not know it yet, but she needs you.”