I shrug. “I’ll take it to the table. Hopefully the brothers will vote him out of the club, so we can be together.”
She swings around fast. “Surely there’s no doubt they’ll do that?”
“Club rules are club rules. We don’t break them lightly.”
Her eyes widen. “So, we might never be allowed to be together?”
“One way or another, we will, and you can take that and bank it. If it means me leaving the club, then I’ll do it.”
She frowns. “I hope it doesn’t come to that.”
So do I.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Melissa
Having made my calls, including one to a very relieved Beth, and gotten time off work by playing the pregnancy sympathy card with my boss, I pack a small carry-on bag with stuff I’ll need in Vegas.
I tidy and clean my house, just to keep busy. I was startled by Pyro’s revelation that he’d leave the club to be with me, just that one statement in many ways showing what had been missing with Skull. Real commitment. A sign that he was going to be all in.
Of course, Skull had once mentioned doing the same thing, but I’d known at the time that would never have worked. Pyro, though, he’s more mature and while I’d had doubts about Skull being able to live in the citizen world, I don’t have the same fears about Pyro, believing I, and the baby, come first with him.
Having done everything I can, I sit on the couch, leaning my head back, thinking. Suddenly I feel a little flutter in my stomach. Wind? Hard to tell. But it could be my baby moving.
I sit still, hoping to feel the sensation again, proof that new life is growing within me.
I’m not surprised there’s nothing more. It could have been my imagination.
Pyro comes and collects me as promised. We have dinner at the club and a pleasant enough evening where the elephant in the room isn’t mentioned. Then, I again sleep in Pyro’s arms with the sheet separating us.
It’s an early start to get to the airport. Karl drives us to Pueblo Memorial, leaving us at the drop off point, so we don’t have to worry about parking.
“Have you spoken to your Mom and Dad about Skull turning up?” Pyro asks, as we line up for check-in.
“No.” I shake my head. “Didn’t seem to be any point in worrying them.”
“Don’t keep them out, Mel. You need people in your corner.”
I grimace. “I know, but there’s a balance between people trying to help, and you trying to stop them from overreacting. If Dad knew, he might be on the next plane to Vegas with a shotgun.” Half of me isn’t joking.
Pyro snorts. “Think he’d have to join the line.”
I find out something new about Pyro. He hates flying. On take-off he closes his eyes tightly, and holds my hand, only relaxing when the flight attendant starts serving. If it wasn’t for me, he’d be riding, or at least driving. Another reason to fall in love with him.
“Are we hiring a car?” I ask, once the plane’s levelled out and he seems more comfortable.
“No, Red will have someone picking us up.”
“Is the Vegas club different to the Colorado one?”
“Yes, and no. Devils are pretty similar. Their compound is an old warehouse, a few miles out of town. Nothing special.” He laughs. “Has Jayden told you about the Tucson club?”
“A few times,” I smile. “Has it really got a swimming pool?”
“Yes. It was an old vacation resort and looks like one.”
“Has Red got an old lady?”
He snorts. “No. Red, er, Red likes the ladies if you get my drift. Can’t imagine him ever settling down.”
I bump his arm. “I seem to remember you weren’t much of one for settling, either.”
“Nah, but it takes a very special woman to give up the single life, and I met you first. There’s only one of you, darlin’. Red’s out of luck.”
I smile at the implied compliment. Then continue my inquisition. “And he’s called Red, why?”
“I think you’ll find out when you see him.”
Pyro’s just as tense on landing, so our conversation falters. I sit, watching the ground come into sharper focus beneath, but rather than trying to pick out the sights of Vegas, I’m seeing Skull’s face in my head.
The man beside me is keeping me sane, though I don’t think he knows he’s doing it. If I didn’t have him, if he wasn’t so earnest in how he sees me and what he feels for me, if his declarations didn’t drip with sincerity, and had those words not come at exactly the right time, I’d feel completely destroyed. Worthless. Though those feelings are there, lurking, Pyro is helping to keep them at bay.
I find out the reason for Red’s handle much sooner than I’d expected. It’s the Vegas prez himself who’s driven to the airport to collect us. He almost needs no introduction, his cut with the name and Prez patches were redundant in relation to his thick red hair and bushy beard which scream who he is. Though Pyro uses the words while making the introductions, I really didn’t need them.
He’s tall, about the same height as Pyro, well-built and his tee, struggling to contain his muscles, shows he’s ripped.
I nudge Pyro and he bends down so I can whisper into his ear, “If I’d seen him first, you might not have had a chance.”
His eyes widen, then he sees me grinning. His hands come to my sides and the bastard tickles me.
“Stop, stop!” I demand, unable to stop giggling.
“Christ. And I was led to expect a demure pregnant woman.” Red’s eyes sparkle though, and the way he relaxes leads me to suspect that he was worried he’d have a distraught female on his hands.
He might well have had, if I didn’t have Pyro to distract me.
Red’s eyebrows have risen at my whispered words and Pyro’s response. “Anything I should know, brother?”
Pyro looks at me. I mouth, don’t you dare tell him. He shrugs. “Mel was just saying…” I gasp. “…that she’s never been to Vegas.”
“Well, then, let me welcome you on behalf of the city.”
Pyro sits up front alongside the Vegas prez. I’m happy to sit in the back, and take in the new surroundings, only half-listening to the conversation between the two men. I can’t stop myself searching for the man we’ve come to find, half-hoping, half-dreading that we’ll see him. Of course, it isn’t that easy, and anyway, Vegas is vast.
“Judge, Wills and Sparky arrive okay?”
I eavesdrop on Pyro and Red’s conversation.
“Yeah, they got in last night. Didn’t say they had any problems.”
“Any sightings yet?”
My ears perk up. “Nah, had all my guys keeping their eyes open. They’ve got copies of those pictures you sent. So far, they haven’t come up with anything. Will help now your men are here as they actually know him.”
“I’ll go out myself once I’ve got Mel settled.”
“Hey, Pyro. I want to come along.”
I don’t miss the glance exchanged between the two men.
“Mel,” Pyro leans around the head rest, “I’ll probably go on a bike if Red’s got one to spare. Easiest way to get through the Vegas traffic.”
“I can get you a bike easy enough,” Red agrees.
“Well, can I have a car then? It makes sense for me to go looking.”
Again looks go between them, and Pyro just says, “We’ll see,” making me bristle and feel like I’m a child.
Though, I think as I sit back grumpily, they may have a point. I can’t ride on Pyro’s bike, and I’ve no idea where I’ll be going in this unfamiliar city. I’ll end up aimlessly driving around. Even if I do see Skull, finding a place to park a car isn’t as easy as pulling a bike off to the side. From the way the traffic’s already starting to build up around us, I’ll need my eyes on the road, not to be scanning the sidewalks on either side. Still, much as it makes sense for me to be the little woman at home waiting for news, I won’t be happy doing it.
“Mel?” Pyro calls my name to get my attenti
on. “We find him, we’ll bring him back to the compound. You’ll have the chance to speak to him face-to-face. You deserve his explanation.”
“Same as the club,” Red adds. “Fucker walked out, and he better have a fuckin’ good reason for that.”
Off in the distance, I can see buildings which I suspect are the hotels and casinos around the strip, but Red skirts around the centre, so I don’t see them up close. It makes me wish I was here under happier circumstances and could enjoy Vegas with Pyro beside me as my man.
The best I can hope for is that we find the needle in the haystack we’re searching for and that Skull has an explanation that we can accept and provides me with closure. Then, that he rescinds any claim to me even if the club allows him to stay as a member, so I can truly be with Pyro instead.
Eventually we draw up at the compound. It’s scruffy on the outside, and the inside looks tired, the couches, chairs and tables all having seen better days. Apart from the age of the furniture and the nicotine-stained walls, the clubroom itself isn’t too different from that in Pueblo. There’s a bar, pool tables and presumably because we’re in Vegas, a one-armed bandit with flashing lights.
Music is playing loudly. There are scantily clad women hanging around which doesn’t surprise me, and an older woman behind the bar which does. The men’s faces might be unfamiliar, but the cuts and general uniform of jeans and tees are the same as in the club I’ve just left. There at the bar are the three men who rode up yesterday.
I give a little wave of my hand when Judge turns and catches sight of us. Pyro wastes no time leading me over to them, nor in exchanging greetings after the obligatory back slaps and hugs.
“Anything?”
“Nah.” Sparky gets right down to business. He pulls a piece of paper toward him. Peering around Pyro I can see it’s a printout of a map of the city, part of which is circled in highlighter pen. “This is the area we’re concentrating on. There’s a grocery store as we hoped with the same logo that was on the bag Skull was carrying. There’s a residential area here.” He lays his finger on the map. “Trouble is, if he stocked up on the weekend, he might not be back for a few days, even if he does live somewhere close by.”
“You been inside?”
“Yeah. Showed his picture to the cashiers, but it’s a twenty-four-hour place with lots of staff on short-hour contracts. Manager chased us out when we asked who was working on Saturday afternoon.”
“Got Keys trying to hack into the security cameras in the area to see if he can find any trace of where the fucker might have been headed after he left the store.”
“Twister.” Pyro turns and exchanges a man hug with the owner of the new voice. Then to me, he explains, “Mel, this is the Vegas equivalent of Mace.”
Ah. The enforcer.
Twister gives me a nod, then continues to Pyro, “At least there was a time stamp on the photograph which gives him a place to start.”
“I’m Rosa.” The woman behind the bar comes over. She doesn’t look like a whore and must be in her late forties or early fifties. I wonder which biker she’s with, but don’t bother to ask her, it wouldn’t provide information as I’ve only met two of the local men so far.
She lifts the bar flap and comes out. “Red asked me to get you a room sorted. Want me to show you up?”
Overhearing, Pyro gives me a nod of encouragement. I don’t want to leave him, I’d rather stay here and listen to his conversation instead, but I suspect he knows I’m tired after the flight and even though I’m eager for information, at the moment I need to think of myself, as well as the precious cargo I’m carrying, and rest. That he does understand is clear when he mouths, I’ll fill you in later.
The flare in my eyes signals that he better. Then I reach down to lift one of the bags Pyro had brought in with him, mine, but a bellow shouted by Twister summons a prospect instead who quickly takes it from me, picking up Pyro’s as well.
“Thanks, Owl,” Rosa says to the prospect wearing thick-rimmed glasses as he drops the bags outside a door we’ve approached.
When she opens it, it’s clear we’ve ousted a resident, belongings have been scooped up and piled on the floor. But the bed looks freshly made and comfortable.
“Bathroom’s down the hall, I’m afraid.”
An inconvenience, but I’m in no position to complain. I’m just grateful to have somewhere to lay my head. I’d prefer to be here in the thick of the action, rather than try to keep track remotely from an anonymous hotel. “Thank you for putting us up. We’ll hopefully only be here a couple of days.” The sooner they find Skull, sooner we can get back home.
I feel strangely disorientated. Everything’s happened so fast it’s like the shock of losing Skull all over again.
Rosa’s regarding me, her eyes soften. “I hear you’re pregnant. How far along are you?”
“Eighteen, well, coming up on nineteen weeks.”
“Know what you’re having yet, or don’t you want to find out?”
Now I smile as I always do when I think of my baby. “I’m having a boy.”
The corners of her mouth curve. “That’s lovely. I’ve got twins myself, two boys. They’re fourteen now.” She grins wider. “You’ve got the best times ahead, they’re adorable when they’re babies. Teenagers? Huh, not so much.” But the fond look on her face belies the words. “Still, Red and his crew help keep them in line.”
“And you’re with—?” The question at this point seems polite.
“Oh, I don’t have a man now. My ol’ man was the president before Red, but lung cancer took him a few years back. They’ve let me stay on as a sort of mother to the club.”
“I’m sorry,” I say, uselessly, but my hand goes out and touches her arm. “I thought my man had died, so I know how you’re feeling.”
She nods. “I hear things from behind the bar. Hear you’ve found he’s alive. God, I’d do anything to have my man back.”
Just as I go to correct her, she adds, “But if he’d left like yours did, I reckon I’d want to finish the job myself.”
She sounds so fierce, it makes me laugh. “Just how I’m feeling,” I confirm.
“I’ll leave you now. You can come down when you want, or I’ll send your man up with some food. You’ll meet Tiff at some point, she’s the only other old lady in the club. She’s Fox’s, our treasurer.”
“I think I’ll stay here and unpack.” I eye the dresser warily, not wanting to open any drawers seeing the state of the rest of the room.
“I wouldn’t worry,” she chuckles, eyeing the pile on the floor. “Reckon they’ve already been emptied out for you.
When she leaves, I realise I feel drained. The flight and the stress of walking into a strange club seem to have taken it out of me. I’ve become used to being around bikers in Pueblo and am comfortable with them. But that’s because I’ve gotten to learn the men under the leather. Here they’re strangers, and while I hope they’ll show me the same respect, they are a different club and I don’t know them.
Though the two I have met, and Rosa, haven’t been disrespectful at all.
Summoning the last of my energy, I open the drawers, find two empty, and unpack both bags, then lie on the bed just to rest my eyes.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Pyro
I have a couple of beers, meet old friends and make new ones, then pop up to see how Mel is doing, not wanting her to think I’ve abandoned her. But when I open the door, I see her lying fast asleep on the bed.
Moving inside I notice two empty bags stood in the corner, showing she must have unpacked my stuff as well as hers. I stand for a moment, staring, realising I’ve never had anyone to do shit like that for me before. I smile.
Though I’ve tried to be quiet, some sound I made must have disturbed her.
“Ro?”
“Yeah, it’s me darlin’. Want to get some more rest?”
“I’m hungry.”
I offer to fetch her something, but she’s happy enough to go downst
airs. The reason why is apparent when she asks, “Has anyone got any more ideas? Have there been any sightings?”
“Nah, we’re in the early stages. The four of us from Pueblo are each going out with someone from this club tomorrow. Makes sense. They know the area and likely places, and we can recognise him the best.”
I hold her arm gently as we descend the stairs.
“I’ve been thinking. Won’t he hear bikes coming? Won’t he hide, suspecting you could have found him?”
Shadow overhears. “Thought about that, doll,” he yells over. “But there’s always plenty of bikes around Vegas, it won’t raise any suspicions.”
“Their road captain,” I say into her ear.
Coming closer, Shadow continues, informing her, “We’re also loaning not only Pyro a bike, but Judge, Wills and Sparky too. That way he won’t recognise the bikes he cleaned often enough as a prospect.”
“You better not let anything happen to mine,” Sparky growls as he comes over. His eyes examine Mel. “You okay? You look tired.”
“Just the journey,” she explains. “And I’m hungry.”
I’m not surprised she looks pale, not with the shit she’s working through. “Let’s take you to see Rosa. I bet she’ll have a plate she can warm for you.”
I find the woman I’m after and get Mel fed, then we rehash all the don’t knows that are flying around once again and settle on some concrete plans for the morning. Mel’s surprisingly quiet, but then, apart from the four of us, she doesn’t know anyone here. And the sweet butts are getting into some action, making Mel discreetly turn her head away.
When she complains her head’s hurting, I take her upstairs, wait for her outside the bathroom where she has taken her night clothes in with her to get changed, then help her into bed.
“You really okay?” I’m concerned about her.
“Yes, it’s just been a tiring day.” Her explanation accompanied by a small smile reassure me, but only a little.
I plan to have a word with Rosa, to get her to take Mel under her wing and make her rest while we’re out tomorrow. Today seems to have taken it out of her, and all the stress can’t be good in her condition. Would do her good just to switch off for a while.
Satan’s Devils MC -Colorado Box Set: Books 4-6 Page 21
