Satan’s Devils MC -Colorado Box Set: Books 4-6

by Mellett, Manda

  “Anything. I’ll answer unless it’s something about the club I can’t tell you. Not because I don’t trust you…”

  “Plausible deniability,” I say back, remembering what Vi had explained.

  “Exactly. What do you want to know?”

  “Who are you, Pyro? I don’t even know how old you are, what you did before you joined the club.”

  “I’m thirty-seven. Hopefully not too old for you.”

  Huh. Is that a dig at me having had a boy toy before? “Well I’m not going for a younger man again.”

  “We’ve been talking about Skull, Mel. Not sure he’s as young as he says.” He sees the expression of disbelief on my face. “Yeah, well, to get where he has and do the job that he does, he must be older. Must have been part of his ploy, thought we’d not suspect a younger man of being what he was, an undercover cop.”

  Another lie he’d told me. When will it stop?

  “Anyway, getting back to me. I went into the Army straight from high school. Became a munitions expert. I used to blow shit up.”

  “That’s why you’re called Pyro?”

  “Yeah. I can start fires and I can put them out.” He winks.

  “Did you do any tours?”

  His arms tighten slightly around me, and his face grows tense. “Too many. I don’t usually talk about it. But if you want to know…”

  I place my fingers over his lips. “I don’t.”

  He breathes out and relaxes. “When I got out, I wasn’t sure what to do. Served with a guy who rode with a motorcycle club, and he’d shared some of the details with me about the camaraderie and the family. The idea stuck with me. When I got home, I was, I don’t know, lonely? I no longer had a team around me. I’d toyed with the idea of buying a motorcycle, had learned to ride one in the Army, but hadn’t seriously thought about joining a club. I went to the Harley store in Pueblo. There was a guy there wearing a Satan’s Devils’ cut, he was picking up something for his bike. He looked about my age. We got chatting, he was giving me advice about various models. His name was Demon, and he was the VP. He invited me along to one of their parties, and, well, the rest is history.”

  “Have you ever been married? Sired any kids?”

  “You’re looking for skeletons where none exist. My dad died when I was a kid, my mom moved out of state to be with family when I joined up, and we sort of drifted apart. She’s married again now, and I don’t get on with her husband. He doesn’t approve of MCs.”

  “Siblings?”

  “Nah. Oh, they were planned, but a drunk driver took my dad out when I was two, so it never happened. So, only a mom who I don’t see, no ex-wife or ex ol’ lady, and definitely no kids. Won’t lie, there’s been a few ladies over the years, but nothing serious, and no one to think they have a claim on me.”

  Suddenly I realise how patient he’s being. “Thank you.”

  “No worries, darlin’. I know why you pushed me away. I don’t blame you. Now, do you want me to get you something to eat?”

  I couldn’t force anything down. I’m feeling nauseous after this dreadful day. “I just want to sleep.”

  “Then, sleep darlin’. I’ll be here with you.”

  Chapter Thirty

  Pyro

  Mel had been in that shower for ages, long enough for a prospect to come find me when the sound of water kept running and didn’t turn off. I’d asked Twister to use his lock picking skills then he’d stood back, and I’d stepped inside.

  She looked broken.

  I can’t get clean.

  I’d had to swallow hard to suppress the fury I’d felt that she was the one left feeling dirty and violated, and not the man who’d walked away from her. She shouldn’t be feeling like that. She’s the innocent victim.

  It had been my first sight of her gorgeous body with those generous curves that were hidden under her clothes, but my cock didn’t even twitch. I just wanted to stop her tears, and, when I saw her shivering, lend my own body heat to her.

  Somehow I knew she wasn’t going to send me away, especially when we started talking. If she’d have asked me for proof of my service, I’d have given it to her. Got Red to vouch for the length of time I’d been with the Devils and dug up my birth certificate to prove my age. Fuck, after what Skull did to her, how does she know who to trust?

  People say actions speak louder than words, but Skull was such a good fucking actor, he’d had us all fooled. He’d lived and breathed his cover. If we couldn’t tell he was rotten, fuck knows, she couldn’t have known.

  I’m a bit worried she hasn’t eaten tonight, but the day’s taken it out of her. She’s pregnant and has been through the emotional wringer. If she can rest, get her brain to switch off, that will do her the most good.

  My stomach growls, reminding me I’ve not eaten either. When it growls again so loudly I’m worried it will disturb her, I gently ease myself away from her sleeping form. She rolls over and settles again. It’s safe to leave her. I won’t be far.

  I go downstairs. “Prospect?” Meat immediately comes over.

  “Go stand outside Mel’s door. If she wakes…”

  “I’ll come get you.”

  I nod.

  “Pyro? How’s Mel?”

  “Calmer, and asleep,” I tell Sparky.

  “All this can’t be good for her or the baby. You taking her back to Pueblo?”

  “Yeah. I wanted to have a word with Demon. See what he wants us to do.” I glance around the room.

  “Prez and Beef have already gone back.” Sparky realises I hadn’t known. As I raise my eyebrows he continues, “Yeah, this will have shaken the club hard. He thought he needed to be there.”

  Of course. I can just imagine all the questions flying around in Pueblo, not least the concern the feds might come knocking at the door. I rake my hands through my hair.

  “Have you been able to speak to her, about doing this legal?”

  “Not yet. But I think Red’s right. This can be her revenge. She needs it, Sparky. Right now, she’s spiralling out of control. But,” I warn him, “I’m putting the idea of killing Skull on hold, not putting it off indefinitely.” My eyes flare.

  “I hear you, Ro, I hear you.”

  “Now I need a beer and some food.”

  When he nods, I make my way past him and go into the kitchen. Rosa’s cleaning up. When she offers to get me something to eat, I tell her gently I’m more than capable of cooking myself some bacon and eggs. While I do just that, she busies herself making a sandwich then wrapping it in Saran Wrap for Mel, she tells me, in case she wakes and is hungry later.

  “You know, she wants her parents,” Rosa confides, when I thank her for staying with Mel earlier.

  I didn’t, but I nod. It’s not hard to understand why. “I’ll take her to see them when we get back to Pueblo.”

  Rosa sighs as she puts the last of the things she’s been working with away. “Well I’m off to bed.”

  I notice she looks tired herself. “It’s been a long day.”

  She gives a feminine snort. “Getting my two horrors, Tristan and Tom off their X-Box and into bed wasn’t fun tonight. Teenage boys, who’d have them?”

  Me, I hope. Well, one at least in a few years’ time. Maybe it’s best not to be warned in advance. Though I do lean over and joke with her, “It’ll be you worrying about them bringing girls home next.”

  “Don’t tell me that.” She laughs as she leaves me alone.

  I reckon she’ll be fine. She might not have a man, but she’s got a club full of members who’ll keep her boys on the straight and narrow, or not, as the case may be.

  Mel’s still asleep when I get back to the room. Having dismissed Meat who was still standing guard outside her door, I undress as quietly as I can, making sure my boots don’t thump on the floor. Leaving on my jeans, I lie down on the bed beside her.

  As I close my eyes, all I can see is that motherfucker telling her to get a DNA test, his malicious words and dismissal of her winding me up. I
don’t think I’ve heard anything so spiteful in my life. Finally, fuck knows when, my mind eventually switches off, and I fall asleep.

  It’s still dark when I awake to find her moving beside me.

  “You okay?”

  “I need to pee,” she explains.

  “Put the light on. I’m awake now.”

  She leans over and switches on the lamp on the table next to her side casting a dim illumination across the room. She swings her legs off the bed, then walks across the room and disappears into the hallway.

  The clubhouse is deathly quiet, all I can hear is the hum of the air conditioning. It’s that time of the night between the late-nighters having at last taken to their beds, and the early risers not yet stirring.

  My door opens again. One look at Mel’s face, and I know there’s something wrong. Immediately I’m out of bed and moving toward her.

  “Darlin’?”

  “I’m bleeding.”

  Oh fuck. No.

  “Much?” I try to keep panic out of my voice.

  She nods. “Too much, Pyro.” Her voice is shaking. “Pyro…”

  “Get dressed, darlin’. I’ll wake someone and take you to the emergency room.” I’m already pulling on my boots as I’m speaking.

  I realise I have fuck all idea whose room the door that I’m banging on belongs to.

  “What the fuck?” Crash pulls it open.

  “It’s Mel. It’s the baby. She’s bleeding.”

  “Give me two minutes to throw some clothes on. I’ll meet you downstairs.”

  “Pyro?” Mel’s right behind me. “Pyro, I…”

  “We’ll get you checked out. It’s probably nothing.” I try to reassure her, while deep down inside I have the dreadful feeling that something is very wrong. Even I know bleeding is not a good sign in a pregnant woman.

  She clutches my hand as Crash drives. When we arrive the emergency room isn’t crowded, and they prioritise her, rushing her into a room to be examined. She still hangs onto me, her fingers tightly wrapped around mine, even though the nurse wants to throw me out.

  “It’s my baby,” I tell her with a growl.

  It’s eerily similar to that visit to the doctor’s office just a week ago, when Mel undergoes another ultrasound examination. But this time, there’s a significant difference. Last week we heard the reassuring, exciting sound, of a heart beating. This time, there’s nothing.

  The technician moves the probe, this way and that, but nothing changes.

  “Is the machine fuckin’ working?” I snarl.

  “Wait here.” She disappears.

  “Pyro, I’m scared. There’s something wrong, isn’t there?”

  There is, but I try and reassure her. “Something’s up with their fuckin’ machine,” I tell her, not believing it for a second.

  The technician’s back, with someone else with her. A man in a white coat. He too examines Mel. Her face is strained, and she looks so pale. I will myself to smile at her. “He’s probably sleeping,” I tell her. But even I know hearts don’t sleep. They keep beating.

  They do another ultrasound, this time with a probe that’s inserted into her vagina, but their faces don’t change. No smiles of relief, no words to tell her everything’s going to be fine.

  Finally, they clean the gel off her stomach, the doctor stands by looking so fucking serious.

  “Just tell me doctor,” she cries out, my gut twisting at the anguish in her voice.

  “I’m very sorry Ms Martins.”

  “No,” Mel gasps. “No. No. No.”

  “Mel,” I grasp her hand tighter, but I can’t find anything to say. I’m sorry is totally inadequate.

  “No!” She’s almost screaming now. “There’s a mistake. There has to be.”

  I pull my distraught woman to me, holding her tight in my arms. Looking up at the doctor over her shoulder I ask, already knowing there’s nothing he can say that I want to hear, “What do we do now?”

  “I’ll give your wife a sedative.”

  “No,” Mel wails. “It might hurt the baby.”

  But nothing can hurt him now.

  It can hurt her, though. When I’m old and grey I know I’ll never forget that night. Never forget when Mel at last comes to terms with the fact her baby has died inside her. What we hadn’t realised immediately, was the fact it had to come out, and how. She wasn’t even given the luxury of having time to come to get used to it.

  Because Mel was experiencing heavy bleeding, they decided they needed to do an immediate dilatation and curettage. Mel screamed when she realised they were going to take her baby from her. I talked to her, trying to calm her. They gave us space until she was numb with grief, accepting all hope was gone.

  Then they took her away.

  Fuck, there’s no more baby. No more expecting that in just over four months we’d visit the hospital looking forward to bringing a healthy baby home with us.

  I thought I knew how a broken heart felt from what Mel had already been through. I hadn’t had a clue. To see her wheeled away to deal with a baby that wouldn’t take a first breath was devastating.

  By then the waiting room was filled with Devils, strangely quiet and hushed, reverent in their silence.

  I go and update Red.

  “Skull’s a dead man walking,” Red growls, but quietly considering there are medical staff around.

  As far as I can tell, almost all the Vegas club are here. It's a sign Devils pile in to give support, even when there’s nothing anyone can say or do to make the situation better. Nods and chin lifts offered with scowls from all around confirm no one has any doubt that Mel losing the baby has been down to Skull suddenly reappearing in her life.

  When was the damage done? When she’d first found out? I shake my head to rid myself of those thoughts. They don’t matter. They can’t bring back her—our—baby. How is she going to get through this?

  What can I do?

  “We’ll bury the baby in our plot,” Red suddenly says. “Know it’s not much, but both you and Mel might like to know he’s among brothers.”

  I hadn’t thought about what would happen to his tiny body. I know I don’t want him disposed like waste. He might not have taken breath, but to me he was already living, and much more so to Mel. To bury him properly… I think that would be something to help start the grieving process. I tell Red so and thank him sincerely.

  “Pyro…” Suddenly Red’s hand is pressing into my shoulder. “We’re here for you. For you both.”

  I raise my chin to him. Mel’s lost our baby and she’s my focus now. Red’s acknowledging that this is also a loss for me.

  Hushed conversations are interrupted as suddenly an older couple appear. They barge in, then come to an abrupt halt. The woman’s voice stopping in mid flow, “Where’s my daught—”

  Red steps forward. “Mr and Mrs Martins?”

  It’s Mel’s mom and dad. Red must have called them. While I’ve never met them before, I feel a wave of relief. I’d do anything for Mel, want to be there for her, but I’m lost as to how to make this right. Someone to share the burden is welcomed.

  I step forward. “I’m Pyro, Mel’s man.” From their reaction, she’s told them about me. I go on to explain what’s happened as briefly as I can. Her mom’s eyes fill with tears, though those of her dad’s harden.

  It’s him who goes to speak but is interrupted.

  “Family of Melissa Martins?”

  Fuck me, but a dozen bikers all stand. But it’s me and her mom and dad who step forward. “You can go and see her now. We’ll keep her in for observation for a few hours, then, she can go home.

  Mel’s groggy, but awake and looks completely lost, a shadow of her usual self. I stand back as her mom goes to her, holding her tight. Now there are tears again, this time from both women.

  The doctor comes in briefly to check on her, as he goes out, I mention the plans for burial, and he agrees to prepare the paperwork to release the remains of the foetus to me.

 
I’ve watched men die, lost brothers and have attended too many funerals before now, but I don’t think anything has ever affected me so badly. I’m firmly convinced, if Skull hadn’t reappeared, that baby would still be breathing. It’s only my need to stay strong for Mel that keeps me drawing in air.

  I nearly forget to ask but remember just before the doctor leaves. “Oh, Doc?” I ask, quickly. “Can you do a DNA test on him?”

  “Of course,” his eyes narrow. “But it’s a bit late to be worried about paternity. That woman there has enough to deal with.”

  He thinks I’m going to use it to prove she’s been unfaithful?

  “Not what you think, Doc. We know who the father is. Just want to have something to prove it.”

  His brow furrows as he tries to make sense of my request, but it seems it’s easier for him to just acquiesce. “I’ll make the arrangements.”

  I thank him, then walk back to Mel. She’s still clutching to her mother.

  “Can I have a word with you?” It’s her dad, and he looks grim. “I need to know why my daughter lost her baby. Is it because of her association with your club? Has anyone hurt her?”

  He’s in his late fifties, but right now, he looks like he’d personally take on whoever harmed his only child. I have no regrets as I hand him his target.

  “Skull. We found him. He’s an undercover cop,” I sum up quickly. “Mel’s relationship with him had all been a lie. He’s already married with a wife and kid.”

  His eyes go wide, and twin red spots appear on his cheeks as he indicates I should follow him out of the room. I don’t want to leave her, not for a moment, but there are things he, as a parent, should know.

  We make use of the two chairs in the corridor. He’s sharp, I soon discover as I go over what’s happened during the past few days.

  “My daughter’s in there, broken,” he starts when I’ve completed my sorry tale, his eyes watery with distress.

  I can only make a promise. “I don’t know how, but I swear I’m going to put her back together.”

  His lips thin as he realises I’ll be attempting the impossible. “How, Pyro? How?”

  I tell him. “I love her, sir. I lost the baby too, it was mine more than Skull’s. I…” I gulp, “I heard his heart beating, saw him on that screen. He was mine.”