I clicked the safety off on the gun trained on Asp. “Tsk, tsk, Copper. You should always think before you shoot. We also have backup plans in place. If anything happens to either one of us, she dies.”
Aim’s eyes cut to Asp as best they could given his current predicament. “What did you do?” he hissed.
“I did what needed to be done. If I hadn’t, do you really think we’d have walked out of here today with our guns like nothing fucking happened? No, we sure as shit wouldn’t have. It’s war, man. Quit being such a pussy.”
Aim squeezed his eyes shut and grimaced. I made eye contact with Judge and jerked my chin. Then, I did the same with Batta, only jerking my chin in the opposite direction. We were going to separate the two fuckers. I doubted we would get anything from Asp, but I had a feeling we could get something out of Aim. Regardless, neither one of them was going anywhere until my Old Lady was standing in front of me, and maybe not even then.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Coal
We watched from afar as the Disciples pulled out of their forecourt—all of the Disciples. Seriously, they were morons. They probably assumed all of the Blackwings would be lurking around the bar in case the meeting got out of control. Little did they know, Copper had members from Croftridge lending a helping hand.
We waited for twenty minutes to make sure no one was coming back before we got to work. Using bolt cutters, we removed the lock and chain from the front gates. Spazz hacked their cameras and covered our activity with a loop of prerecorded video, just like they had done to Copper. Again, morons.
When Tiny turned the door knob and pushed the front door open, it was almost impossible to contain my laughter. “Stupid fuckers,” he whispered. “Spazz, you, Edge, and Savior get started. Coal and I will watch your backs and make sure the clubhouse is clear.”
Tiny pointed at me and nodded toward a hall. With my gun held firmly in front of me, I started moving down the hallway. It was lined with doors on each side and one door at the end. I was guessing it was the bedrooms of the patched members.
The first door I came to was wide open and confirmed my assumption. It was a bedroom, a thankfully empty bedroom. The door opposite it was closed. I pressed my ear against the cheap wood and listened for any sound. When I didn’t hear anything, I carefully turned the doorknob and eased it open to find another empty bedroom.
I made my way down the hall, clearing one room at a time. When I was down to the last few rooms, I noticed names on the doors. Holy shit! How dumb could they be? Not only were the officers’ bedrooms labeled, they were all together at the end of one hall. Anyone could take out all the officers in one go if they struck in the right spot, which is probably what they were trying to do when they bombed Copper’s clubhouse.
I turned to clear the Road Captain’s room when a noise had me freezing in place. I held my breath and slowly turned my body toward the direction of the sound. Staying as still as my frantically beating heart would allow me, I listened closely. After seconds that felt like hours, I heard it again, and it was coming from the President’s room.
Creeping closer to the closed door, I silently waited. It sounded like the rustling of clothing and a faint squeak. It was probably just a rat judging by the condition of the place. The Disciples were disgusting fuckers. Just as I was about to turn back to the Road Captain’s room, I heard another noise that had goosebumps breaking out over my skin.
I heard a moan, or maybe it was a sob. It didn’t matter; it was decidedly human. Fuck! I kept my gun trained on the door and walked backwards down the hallway. When I made it to the common room, I whisper-yelled, “Tiny!”
He appeared seconds later from another hallway. I motioned with my gun, “There’s someone in Aim’s room.”
“You sure?” he whispered.
“No doubt, brother.”
“Let’s go check it out. We know it’s not Aim or Asp. Probably a club whore left over from last night.”
We quietly, but quickly, made our way back to Aim’s room. Tiny motioned for me to try the door. This time, the door was locked and, judging by the look on Tiny’s face, that wasn’t a good thing.
I reached into my pocket and pulled out my lock picking set. I wasn’t as good as Edge, and none of us were as good as Reese, but I could handle a basic bedroom door lock. I would never admit it, but it took me a little longer than usual because my hands were shaking. I wasn’t scared, per se, but not knowing what was on the other side of the door had me on high alert. I had no interest in being shot again.
Tiny counted to three with his fingers. On three, I pushed the door open and dropped to one knee. Tiny stepped forward with his hand cannon leading the way. “Fuck!” he roared and ran to the bed. “Shit! Are you okay? We’ll get you out of here. Oh, fucking hell,” Tiny continued to ramble.
I stepped up beside him to see what was going on. There was a woman chained to the bed by her wrists. She had a gag in her mouth and was only wearing her bra and panties. After scanning her for any possible weapons or injuries, my eyes landed on her face and everything stopped.
She looked like my mother, my biological mother. Her hair was covering part of her face, and the eye I could see was swollen and bruised, but there was no mistaking the resemblance. Hell, she looked like me and Ember. If it weren’t for her flat stomach, I might have initially thought it was Mom or Ember.
With a shaking finger, I pointed to the woman and asked, “Who is she?”
Tiny was at the head of the bed working on the chains securing her to the headboard. I hadn’t noticed Spazz or the other men enter the room, so I startled when Spazz spoke from behind me. “She’s Copper’s Old Lady. You boys head to the front and keep watch while we get her free. As soon as those chains are off, we’re getting her the hell out of here. We’ll call Copper once we have her somewhere safe.”
I stood frozen, unable to take my eyes off the woman’s face. “Why does she look like my mother?” I demanded. “Why does she look like me and Ember?”
“Because she’s your mother’s sister! No time for explanations. Now, go do as you were told,” Tiny barked in a tone that brooked no argument.
I started to leave the room as I was told, but stopped to pull off my cut and then my t-shirt. I tossed it to Spazz and nodded toward the woman, “For her.”
With that, I left and went to the common room with the other guys. My mother’s sister? My mom didn’t have any siblings. At least, that’s what she told us. Why wouldn’t she tell us about her sister? Especially with her being Copper’s Old Lady. Nothing made any sense.
“Let’s go, brothers,” Tiny shouted as he came barreling toward us with the woman cradled in his arms.
“Give me the keys,” I said to Edge. He handed over the keys to the cage without so much as a sideways glance. I ran ahead to the cage hidden up the road, climbed inside, and circled back to pick them up. They piled in and I sped off to the bikes.
Tiny waited until everyone was out of the cage except for the woman and me. He cleared his throat, “Coal, this is your aunt, Layla. Layla, this is your nephew, Coal. He’s Annabelle’s oldest son and Ember’s twin. You okay riding with him back to the clubhouse?”
She nodded and softly said, “Yes. I’m fine as long as you’re taking me to Copper.”
Tiny nodded and focused on me, “Keep your phone handy. I have no doubt Prez will be calling as soon as I tell him.”
With that, he closed the door, and we were on our way back to Devil Springs. And I had a shitload of questions to be answered when we got there.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Copper
“Look, man, I know I owe you a few favors and all, but I can’t have bloodshed in my bar,” Henry said nervously. I swung my furious eyes to his. “I, I, uh, there’s a storage shed out back you could use.”
I nodded. “We’ll start with Aim. Batta, you’re with me. Judge, keep Asp locked down. The rest of you wait here and keep your eyes open in case their boys show up.”
B
atta and I moved Aim to the storage shed and prepared for a difficult interrogation. I was surprised, and slightly disappointed, when he cooperated with us and answered our questions. One look at the expression on Batta’s face let me know he was equally disappointed.
I decided to start with the most important question, “Where’s my Old Lady?”
“I swear I don’t know. I know you have no reason to believe me, but I honestly have no idea what kind of shit Asp is trying to pull right now.”
“Are you saying you didn’t know he was going after my Old Lady?”
“That’s exactly what I’m saying. Asp has developed a bad habit of making his own decisions, acting on them, and informing me after the fact. Up until now, it hasn’t caused the club any trouble.”
“Trouble isn’t the only thing your club will need to worry about if anything happens to my woman,” I spat. “Where would he have taken her?”
Aim exhaled, “Probably the clubhouse.”
“And you expect us to believe she’s at your clubhouse and you knew nothing about it?” Batta asked incredulously.
“I haven’t stayed there the last couple of nights. I didn’t go inside before we rode out this morning,” he said and looked to the floor. Shaking his head, he added, “I should’ve been keeping closer tabs on him. What the fuck else has he done that I don’t know about?”
“Anybody at your clubhouse who can see if my girl is there right now?”
He grimaced, clearly not wanting to answer, “Clubhouse is empty.”
I jerked my chin at Batta. He nodded and stepped out of the storage shed. Hopefully, my brothers were still in or near their clubhouse and could look for Layla. So help me, if they hurt her, they were going to feel the same pain. Tenfold.
I continued with my questions while I waited for Batta to return. “Why are you after my club?”
He cleared his throat and kept his eyes on the floor, “I’m not after your club. Like I said, Asp has been somewhat of a loose cannon. I found out about the attack on your clubhouse after the fact. He argued his point, and I understood where he was coming from, but I would’ve handled the situation differently. If it’s any consolation, he took an ass beating and was locked up for two weeks after I found out.”
“It’s really not. My brother, my blood brother, who is also my VP, almost died because of that shit.”
“Fuck!” he cursed.
“Explain the pictures to me,” I ordered.
His head shot up, “What pictures?”
I wasn’t sure what to make of his response. Was he asking me to clarify which set of pictures I was referring to? Or did he even know about the pictures? “I received an envelope containing pictures of six people and a note claiming the Blackwings were responsible for their deaths and promising retribution.”
His eyes widened and he cursed under his breath. “Who were the six people?”
I arched a brow. “Want to take a guess?”
“No, because it’s not going to help my case when I tell you I didn’t know about this either, especially when I get it right. Asp has been going on and on about retaliation for months.” He straightened in his chair and pinned me with his eyes, “If you boys don’t kill him, I swear I will if I make it out of here alive.”
I didn’t see that coming. “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Back to the names.”
“If Asp was behind it, and I’m sure he was, the pictures would have been of Scream, Belch, Gnaw, Octavius, Crysta, and Kevin.”
I nodded. “Care to tell me why he thinks the Blackwings are responsible for their deaths?”
“The Blackwings did kill Gnaw and Octavius, probably Crysta, too. As for the other three, that falls under club business, which I’m not discussing with you. I will say I don’t agree with his reasoning, and I’ve told him as much every time he brings it up.”
The door to the storage shed flew open revealing a wide-eyed Batta. “Prez, you need to step outside and take this call,” he said and thrust a phone toward me. “I’ll stay with Aim.”
I snatched the phone from his hand and stepped outside. “Copper Black.”
“Prez, we found Layla in the Disciples’ clubhouse. She’s in the cage with Coal, and we’re on our way back,” Tiny blurted.
I expected as much, but it still wasn’t easy to hear. “Is she okay? Did they hurt her? Where was she?”
“From what I could tell, she was a little banged up, but okay. She was alert and talking when I carried her out. I didn’t take the time to really look her over or ask her any questions. As soon as I got her hands free, we hauled ass out of there.”
“The fuck you mean about her hands?” I growled.
“Prez, we found her locked in Aim’s bedroom. Her wrists were chained to the headboard,” he said, his voice full of anger and concern.
I didn’t want to ask, but I had to know before I went back to face Aim. “Was she clothed?”
I heard Tiny swallow thickly. “She had on a bra and panties. Nothing else. Coal gave her his shirt to wear.
“Motherfucker!” I bellowed. I heaved in a few lungfuls of air in a vain attempt to get myself under control. “I gotta go, Tiny. I need to talk to her.”
“Quick side note, Coal found out who she is. He didn’t say as much, but the boy is pissed.”
“He can be pissed all he wants, but his shit will have to take a number and get in line. Get her back here safe, brother. See you soon.”
I ended the call and immediately dialed Coal. “Copper?” Layla’s sweet voice filled my ear.
“Locks, baby, are you okay?”
She sniffled and cleared her throat. “Yeah, I am now. They said they were taking me to you. Please don’t send me somewhere else.” The desperation in her plea broke my heart.
“I won’t, Locks. They’re bringing you to me. Layla, baby, did they hurt you?”
“No, not like that. Just a few bumps and bruises,” she murmured.
Relief like I have never felt before washed over me. I wanted to speak, to say something comforting to her, but my throat was clogged with emotion. Only a strangled sound came out when I opened my mouth.
Layla gasped, “Copper, I’m okay. I promise. Once again, you saved me. My knight in guns and leather.”
“I don’t know what I would’ve done if—” I whispered.
She cut me off, “Don’t. We’re not going there. I can’t handle it, and neither can you.”
“Okay, baby.” I was about to end the call when I realized I had something to ask her. “Hey, Locks, do you know who took you?”
She sighed, “Not exactly. I know it was one of the Disciples of Death. I don’t know which one took me, but there was one guy who came into the room a few times, and he’s the one who blacked my eye.”
The growl I emitted was nothing short of feral. “Who. The. Fuck. Put. Their. Hands. On. You?”
“His cut said he was Asp, the VP.”
“Okay, okay,” I said and blew out a breath as I tried to rein in my temper. “You and Coal stay safe, and I will see you soon.”
“Oh, one more thing. I overheard something I think you should know about.”
“I’m listening.”
“When I was starting to wake up, that Asp guy was in the room talking to someone on the phone. I was still kind of out of it, but he said something about making them pay the way Gnaw made his brother and sister pay. Why would he be talking about my, um, you know, the man who impregnated my mother?”
“I don’t know, Locks. Let’s talk about it in person. You know, unsecured phone lines and all,” I lied. I needed to get off the phone with her and figure out what in the ever-loving fuck was going on.
“Okay, I’ll see you soon,” she said and ended the call.
I spun on my heel and stomped back to the storage shed heading straight to Aim. Getting right in his face, I asked, “Can you prove you weren’t at your clubhouse last night?”
He met my stare with fear-filled eyes, “Yes, I can. My daughter is sick. I’v
e been at the hospital with her for the last two days.”
I got the name of the hospital and called Spazz to have him tap into their surveillance cameras. Unfortunately, he was on his bike riding back from the Disciples’ clubhouse, and this couldn’t wait for him to get back. Well, it could, but I didn’t want to wait. Instead, I called Phoenix’s tech guy, Byte, and asked him to do it. It took him less than ten minutes to confirm Aim had been at the hospital for the last two days until he left for the meeting.
Back in the storage shed, I studied Aim. He seemed frustrated, not scared or angry as one would expect. I couldn’t put my finger on it, but something wasn’t adding up. And why would he put up with so much disrespect and disobedience from his Vice President? Aim had every right to strip Asp of his title and his patch for his recent activities.
Aim sighed in exasperation. “Sounds like you found your girl at my clubhouse. Is she okay?”
“Claims it’s just bumps and bruises. I won’t know for sure until I see her myself.”
“Asp is fucked in the head, but I can assure you, he wouldn’t force himself on her. That’s the one line he won’t cross.”
I scoffed, “Yeah, your word doesn’t mean shit to me.”
“Fair enough.”
For the next half hour, I silently stood in the storage shed with Aim, leaning against the wall and waiting. I hoped he would grow uncomfortable with the silence and my unwavering scrutiny and start volunteering information. Either he didn’t have anything to share, or he was using the same tactic I was because he didn’t utter a word.
The shed door eased open, and Tiny stuck his head around the corner. “Prez, can yo—oomph.”
Tiny stumbled to the side as a blur of blonde hair and bare legs barreled past him. I barely had time to brace before Layla launched herself into my arms. “Copper!” she cried and buried her face in my neck.
“Layla,” I breathed. With one arm under her ass and one around her shoulders, I held her to me as tightly as I could without hurting her. Aim sucking in a sharp breath faintly registered, but I was too consumed with Layla to acknowledge his presence in the room.
Copper (Blackwings MC - Devils Springs Book 1) Page 15
