BREAKING THE RULES: Forsaken 99 MC

by Evelyn Glass

  “Are you all right?”

  They were still in the car; they’d left a lot later than I had and they were driving slower, Mitchell sticking to the speed limit.

  “I’m okay. I’m going to see you again, right?” Her voice was riddled with fear.

  “I’m going to fix this, baby, and then it’ll just be me and you, forever.”

  “Promise me you’ll come back to me.”

  Those words broke my heart. I knew what she was thinking about. About Elijah and my parents. I knew how scared she was. I wasn’t going to admit I was scared, too. “I’ll come back to you. I promise. And then we’ll run away and make a life together.

  “I love you.”

  The words were filled with emotion, but not the kind I’d wanted. I didn’t want her to say I love you and make it sound like goodbye. “I’m coming back, Selena.” I needed her to know how serious this was.

  When I hung up, I walked to the closet in the office at the club and unlocked it. We hadn’t opened it in years, but desperate times called for desperate measures. The back of the closet was lined with guns, all sorts of semi-automatics, a terrorist’s wet dream. There were grenades, dynamite, handguns and packets of bullets. I looked at the ammo for a while, and then started strapping up.

  I’d promised Selena I would be safe and I didn’t want to lie to her, but this was bigger than me. This was about more than just my life, and if it came down to Saul’s life or mine, it would be mine. I wanted him to live. I couldn’t carry on without him. I didn’t want to.

  But that wasn’t all I was going to do. This wasn’t a suicide mission. I made a call to some contacts who knew what they were doing, asking them to get a hold of certain people. After that I phoned my personal banker. She was up all hours of the night for me sometimes, but I paid her for it. If May wanted a war, she was going to get one.

  Chapter 24

  Selena

  The drive was awkward. The car was small and the darkness made it seem cozy but we were strangers and the space was too tight. We were two people trapped in a version of intimacy that didn’t suit us, but there was nothing that could be done. I had to get home and Logan trusted Mitchell with my life, which meant, logically, I trusted him, too.

  “Are you allowed to tell me what this is all about?” I asked. My voice was thin in the darkness between us and Mitchell hesitated before he answered.

  “I wasn’t told not to tell you.”

  It wasn’t much of an answer but I went with it. “I’m really worried. I can’t just sit here and not go mad, my thoughts are driving me crazy.”

  He nodded, his face only a profile against the passing scenery.

  “You and Logan are close, aren’t you?” When Mitchell didn’t tell me anything, the way I needed him to, I cleared my throat. “Here’s the deal. I will tell you the big news about me and Logan if you tell me what’s going on. Does that seem fair?”

  He glanced at me. “There’s big news to tell about you and Logan? Logan doesn’t do big news with women.”

  I shrugged. “You don’t have to believe me.” I was hoping he would take the bait, let curiosity get the better of him. I needed him to want this information so I could have mine.

  He sighed. “You drive a hard bargain.” I shrugged in response. “I can see what Logan sees in you.” He thought for a moment longer. “May took Saul.”

  I froze. “Saul, the guy he sees as his brother?”

  Mitchell nodded. “So you know about that.”

  “I do. He told me how serious Saul is to him, that he’s like a brother to him, that he took Elijah’s place.”

  The mood in the car dipped, becoming morbid. Elijah’s death was personal to a lot more people than just Logan.

  “Elijah was a good guy. He knew how to keep Logan on the straight and narrow even though Logan was spinning out of control. When he died, everyone thought we would lose Logan, too. I had been part of the Thorns when Elijah was alive but when he died I left for a while. I needed to clear my head, revise what I was doing with my life. When Logan turned the whole gang around I joined them again, ready to start fresh. Logan has been in inspiration, getting over all the loss in his life. It’s thanks to Saul that he made it at all.”

  I swallowed, an unexpected lump in my throat. “What will May do to Saul?”

  Mitchell took a deep breath. “She threatened that if Logan doesn’t surrender the Fallen Thorns to her, along with all the assets, she’s going to kill him. She wants Logan to leave town.”

  “But the Thorns belong to Logan. He inherited it.”

  Mitchell chuckled without emotion. “You haven’t met May and her wrath. She won’t rest until she owns the Thorns. Sometimes I think that was the only reason she dated Logan in the first place. There’s only one person that woman cares about, and that’s herself. She tricked everyone into thinking she had a heart but that’s a big fat lie. All she has is a lifetime of greed.”

  I shook my head. I knew what it was like to date someone who didn’t fit into your life. Of course, none of my boyfriends had been crazy, but crazy people, maniacs, could happen to anyone. “What is Logan going to do?”

  It was Mitchell’s turn to shrugged and he gripped the steering wheel just a little tighter. “I don’t know. He hadn’t decided yet when he’d left but I know how his head works. He will know what he’s going to do by now and if know our boy at all, it’s not going to be pretty. May is arrogant but you don’t fuck with Logan and she forgot that.”

  He glanced at me, looking apologetic in the passing car lights after he swore. I didn’t mind. This was part of Logan’s world, part of who he was. I embraced it.

  I took a deep breath and looked out the window. What if he didn’t come back? But I couldn’t think like that.

  “Now it’s your turn,” Mitchell said.

  “A deal is a deal.” I smiled. “Logan and I are engaged.”

  Mitchell looked at me, his eyes narrowed. “Are you fucking…uh...messing with me?”

  I laughed. “No I’m not messing with you. He asked me earlier tonight.”

  Mitchell was quiet for a while. “You must really have something special,” he finally said. “Logan doesn’t just get attached to anyone, not with how many people have been ripped away from him.”

  That made sense, and with Mitchell putting it like that I was starting to realize just how special this was.

  “Do you think it will last? Do you think he’s genuine about it?”

  Mitchell nodded. “Logan doesn’t just jump into something. When he decides on something as permanent as marriage he’s going into it with his eyes wide open. He’s been burned and he’s loved and lost and he won’t just do it unless he really thinks it’s worth it.”

  The words were comforting.

  “He must have thought about it for some time to know that’s what he wants.”

  Some time? We hadn’t even been together that long. Still, it was good to know Logan had made that choice and that I was something special to him. It was good to hear someone else say it and not just hear it from him. Now, if only we could get through this mess alive and well, it would be smooth sailing.

  The drive was a lot longer than it had been when we’d gone to the cabin and I fell asleep. When we pulled into my road, Mitchell woke up me and it was morning. We parked in front of the apartment and it felt like a lifetime had passed since I’d last been here. Mitchell got my bag out the back and carried it for me all the way to my door. When I unlocked he insisted he go in first.

  I stood out in the hallway, heart pounding, wondering what could possibly go wrong. I imagined all sorts of scenarios where bad guys ran out of the place with guns and masks and I stood away from the door just in case. Mitchell appeared a moment later, telling me the coast was clear.

  I felt stupid. My writer’s mind had gone on a rampage again. When we were inside I made us both coffee and put Mitchell’s on the coffee table before heading for the room with mine to unpack. I felt uncomfortable with a stranger
in my space but I understood that Logan wanted me safe and I would deal with it for him. Mitchell was sweet and caring and taking care of me for Logan. It meant a lot.

  I unpacked my bag, drank my coffee alone, and got in the shower. I still had the lake and our sex on me and my hair was a mess having dried funny. When I got out I felt fresh and clean. I walked to the front room where Mitchell was watching television – didn’t this guy need any sleep? – and told him he was welcome to some food in the fridge. He said he’d ordered some pizza. Pizza for breakfast? I guess if you haven’t slept, breakfast didn’t mean a thing.

  I walked back to the room and found my cellphone and called Joanne.

  “I’m back,” she said.

  “How was it?”

  I rolled on to the bed. “Oh, my God. He’s amazing. He’s everything you can imagine in the perfect guy except he’s dangerous, too, in a good way. To other people.”

  Joanne laughed. “I haven’t heard you this happy in a long time.”

  “I haven’t been this happy in a long time. Logan makes me feel like anything is possible, you know?” He made me feel like everything was different, even my current situation. I didn’t say that part, though. I was scared it would sound too cheesy.

  “When are you joining us again?” Joanne asked. “The girls miss you.”

  “I’ll be at the next meeting.” I imagined Mitchell sitting in and grinned. “Besides, I have something really big to tell you. To tell all of you.”

  “What is it?”

  Someone banged on my front door and I froze.

  “I have to go,” I said softly. Unless Mitchell had buzzed someone up, something was wrong.

  “Okay, but call me. I want details. You can’t leave me hanging.”

  I ended off the conversation and walked to the lounge. Mitchell was at the door, his hands balled into fists. He looked alert and ready for a fight. He didn’t seem nervous at all. I had more than enough for the two of us.

  “Did you let the pizza man up?” I whispered. He looked at me and shook his head. I was terrified.

  “Don’t open it.”

  The words had barely left my mouth when the door broke open. Whoever was on the other side had kicked it. The burglar chain ripped out of the wall – fat lot of use that was – and someone with a black mask walked into the apartment. Mitchell attacked. I screamed.

  Chapter 25

  Logan

  I was strapped up and ready to go. I paced up and down the club, all alone now, waiting for something to come through. I knew she had to contact me somehow. She would know by now that I was back in town. I was angry. Rage coursed through my veins, keeping me running even though I hadn’t slept at all. I was edgy, wired, itching for a fight. I needed to get going now. All this adrenaline was going to kill me if I didn’t do something with it.

  When nothing came through I headed toward my apartment. I couldn’t sit in one place and do nothing. I needed more weapons, something that would see me through this. The men were all at the Restaurant, waiting for orders. I didn’t want more of them in danger.

  When I got to the apartment I changed my clothes. I got into black leather pants, a black t-shirt. Black leather jacket with studs. When I looked in the mirror I had a flashback to the time Elijah had died. I’d looked in the mirror then and I’d seen what I’m seeing now. I looked manic, but my madness had a purpose. May’s madness was like a loose cannon.

  I strapped all my weapons back onto my body. Guns, grenades, bullets. Dynamite. May asked for it, now all hell was going to break loose.

  It was exactly noon when she finally messaged me. It was unlike her to do things in the day but I got the idea she was getting desperate. Either that, or she was losing the plot completely. I wasn’t sure.

  The message was simple. Shipyard. Alone.

  Well, she was going to get me alone. At least, that was what she thought. It was never a good idea to underestimate the enemy. I wasn’t the messed up guy who didn’t know what he was doing or where he was headed anymore, the way I used to be while we were dating. I had purpose now, a goal, dreams. People in my life who were worth it. Selena.

  I got on my own bike and drove to the shipyard. The place was busy on a good day. I was willing to bet people had been paid for it to be deserted today. The sun was scorching hot, beating down on my neck, making me sweat in my leather clothes, but I needed to look intimidating and I needed the jacket to hide what I was packing.

  The sky was an impossible blue with no clouds in the sky and even the breeze felt hot and stifling. It was ironic that a day like today, when things could go so horrible wrong, the weather would be so damn beautiful. It had been that way with Elijah, too. People never seem to get shot on rainy days. The clouds only roll in afterward, when everything breaks and you feel like it’s going to be a storm for the rest of your life.

  I rolled my bike in between the containers and skeletons of ships, construction not yet finished. The whole place felt raw and uncomfortable. Tension built around me even before I reached them. The air was thick, the smell of oil and burnt metal riding on the wind. The idling of my bike made snapping sounds into the air, a muffled roar that reflected what I felt. They would hear me coming long before I heard them. Good. I hoped May feared me. I doubted she would be alone the way she needed me to be. She was going to go for the bit where I was outnumbered. I knew if I’d brought anyone, Saul would die.

  I turned a corner and they were all there. A circle of menace. They were all armed. Some of them had semi-automatics on them. I had thought about bringing one but I’d decided against it. It wasn’t so easy to conceal. There were handguns, too, and clubs and chains. It looked like the beginning of a very bad story. I wasn’t going to be scared off by them. I swallowed hard, forced away my fear.

  May was in the middle. She was surrounded by the heads of a lot of gangs. I recognized most of them and I was disappointed this was who they chose to team up with, but they didn’t know her the way I did. Saul was tied up in the middle with a gun to his temple. I glared at May who was holding the gun. The others had guns, too, but I wasn’t so worried about them. May didn’t have a lot of self-control. I worried she would do something ridiculous.

  I looked at Saul. He had his poker face on, his eyes like steel, his mouth pursed in a thin line. He was being strong. I looked at him and he looked at me and in that look I tried to push everything I felt for him, that he’d done for me and that I was grateful for. If he died today…I wasn’t going to think like that. I was going to make sure he didn’t die today. We were all walking out of this alive.

  “Hello, May.” I was being formal, calm.

  She narrowed her eyes at me. She knew me well enough to know I had something up my sleeve. She must have known I wouldn’t just run in here, opening fire straight away. “It took you long enough to get here.”

  I shrugged. “I didn’t know we were on a schedule. You message was very vague.”

  She sneered at me. “You think you’re so funny, don’t you? Well, we’ll see how far this goes. You can’t joke everything away. Sometimes you have to make sacrifices.”

  I nodded. I had made a hell of a sacrifice letting her into my life, even if I hadn’t known it then. She was a pain in my ass and she never went away. I’d sacrificed peace and quiet. “What do you want?”

  She laughed and it was an uncomfortable sound, one that could break if she changed in her mood or her mind. “Don’t tell me your precious gang members didn’t tell you?”

  They’d told me everything, obviously, but I wanted to hear her saying. I shrugged.

  May’s smile drained from her face. My eyes flicked from hers to her finger on the trigger. I needed her to keep in control, to stay calm. I looked at Saul. He still had the same expressionless mask on his face but there were beads of sweat just below his hairline, betraying him, letting me know he was scared.

  “This is simple, Logan. I want you to sign the Fallen Thorns – along with all their assets – over to me. Then I want y
ou to leave town and never come back. If you do that, everybody lives a long and happy life.”

  There was no way on this earth I was going to let my boys fall into the hands of this psychopath. They wouldn’t even be able to leave the gang if May owned it – she would try to hunt each and every one of them down, and I didn’t doubt her abilities to do that.

  “And if I don’t?”

  She laughed again. It was increasingly uncomfortable to hear. “It’s easy. If you don’t, I’ll kill him.” She jabbed the gun into Saul’s temple and he squeezed his eyes shut for a moment. This wasn’t over yet.

  “You can’t do that,” I said.

  “I can do whatever I want. If you think this is unfair, how about I kill the both of you if you don’t do what I ask. Let’s make this an offer you can’t possibly refuse.”