I pause at the door and straighten. “Can’t see that happening, and if it did? Nothing to stop me coming back. You’re not trapping me babe. Think about it, okay?”
At her ‘yes’, I open the door, then close it. Max tugs at his leash, but I stand still for a moment. What else can I say to persuade her I’m sincere? It hadn’t helped she’d seen the way I treated Sally, but the two women are poles apart. I tried, but I never had one tenth of the emotion for the other woman that I already feel for Stevie, and I’m convinced it will only keep growing.
Another tug from the leash. Yeah, Max, I’m coming.
Each day that damn dog seems to move easier. Wish humans healed as fast as animals seem to. Mind you, when we’re told to take it easy, we’re frightened to push ourselves. A dog just does what it can and doesn’t hold back even if its human owners think it’s too much. He’s steady going down the stairs though I watch him like a hawk.
It’s not the first time I’ve had to clean up dog poo, so I’ve already got used to carrying a spare bag in my cut. Lizard though barks with laughter. He’s sitting outside having a smoke when I bend down, scooping up the mess and tying the bag.
“Least Bitch buries her shit,” he calls out.
I walk to the trash can and place the bag inside. Max, knowing he’s off duty for now, seems interested in the new smells around him. While he sniffs around, I wander over to Lizard.
“You seem in deep with the woman.”
I look at him sharply, seems he sees more than others do. I could tell him he’s wrong, but how can I when he’s so right. Deciding to be honest, I tell him, “She’s one hell of a woman, Liz. She gets me in here,” I thump my fist over my heart, “man. The thought of losing her now I’ve found her? Can’t bear to fuckin’ think of that.”
“Would you leave with her?”
Might as well start laying some ground work. “I might.”
He shakes his head. “Most won’t understand. But sometimes… I get it, you know? We’ve got the whores here of course, but the thought of having that one woman...” Breaking off, he huffs a laugh. “Then I ‘spect I’d get bored pretty fast. Need some variety.”
I’d been faithful to Sally even when she wasn’t giving me what I wanted. But Stevie? Might only have had her once, already know she will be all I need to keep me satisfied for the rest of my life.
Max, either growing bored or anxious to be back with his mistress, comes over and sits by my feet. His tongue lolls out of the side of his mouth. Standing, I slap Liz on the back. “There’ll be a woman for you, one day. She’ll come along when you least expect it.”
Chapter Thirty
On my way back through the clubhouse I see Skull with his arm around Melissa. He’s tall and skinny, which gave rise to his handle of Runt which had been changed when he patched in. Her head reaches just to his shoulder. He’s got both arms around her and is resting his chin on the top of her head. Sparing a thought for another pair at the start of their relationship, I hope it works out. They look like a couple made for each other, the affection is shining out from them both. As long as Melissa can handle the life of an old lady in the MC, I reckon they’re a pair with a good chance of success.
Me with Stevie? It’s not my life I’m asking her to accept, though I wish that it were. It’s me considering being the one making the changes.
“Beef? Got a moment?”
“Sure, Prez. Give me five? Just let me take Max back upstairs.”
“Beef! Hold up. Stevie mentioned she needed this. Pal went and got it. Hope it’s right.”
I swing around and then start beaming at what Jay’s holding out. A telescopic white stick, just like the kind Stevie had to abandon when we escaped her burning house.
“She’ll be so grateful, Jay. Thank you.”
She shrugs. Always noticed that about Jay. She’d help out with any of the kids, seeing what needed doing and doing it, but awkward when it comes to accepting thanks.
I take the stick, and Max, back upstairs. Stevie’s sitting on the bed, her head in her hands. Max runs straight across to her and places his head in her lap. Idly she strokes him.
“Jay got you this.” I place the stick in her hands.
She smiles broadly and extends it. “It’s perfect. I feel so much better having this now.”
“Demon wants a word with me. You going to be okay on your own?”
Some of her tension disappears as my absence will give a reprieve on us continuing the difficult conversation we were having. “I’ll be fine. Just leave me to get acquainted with my new surroundings. With this,” she holds up the stick, “I’m confident enough to go down and find the others.”
I’m not letting her off the hook entirely. Going across to her I lean over and cup my hand around the back of her head. Without warning I place the fingers of my other hand under her chin and raise her face up, then my lips come down. Taken unawares she opens her mouth, not wasting the opportunity I sweep my tongue inside.
Christ, her taste. She’s so perfect. How could I have ever thought I could walk away? I was a damn fool.
Her arms come up, but not to push me away. She holds me lightly to steady herself, then with a moan, she gives in, starting to kiss me back, her tongue mating with mine. It’s as though our mouths are using the words we can’t say out loud. Me telling her I never want to leave her side, her perhaps, even now, summoning up ways of telling me a final goodbye.
Eventually, knowing I’m keeping the prez waiting, I reluctantly pull back.
“Beef?” she begins, questioningly.
“Just giving you something to think about,” I reply. “See you later, okay?”
Leaving her looking stunned, I shut the door firmly enough so she knows I’ve gone, and go back down to see what Demon wants me for now. On the way down the stairs I adjust myself in my jeans, her taste having had the predictable effect. That part of my body I’ve decided to bring into play later in a further attempt to show her how well the two of us work. Yeah, I might have a few ideas in my head which means I’m still dealing with a rock-hard dick as I enter the office of my president.
If Demon notices at least he’s gentleman enough to ignore it.
“I’ve heard back from Drummer,” he starts, getting to the point immediately. “Things have been going on behind the scenes.”
“And?” I prompt. My ass hitting the seat fast, leaning forward and giving all my attention to the man in front of me.
“The issues are that no one wants the feds to drag an MC into court, nor have it disbanded under a RICO indictment.”
My head starts to move back and forth, but before I can get a word out, he continues, “If the Warped Jokers had stuck to their normal trade, handled it under the radar, then they’d have had more support. But they got greedy, acted like fuckin’ criminals.”
I think for a moment the ‘normal trade’ of drug, gun running, and trafficking women could also be considered a crime, but let that slip for now. Plenty of MCs earn their money that way, Satan’s Devils have got clear of it.
“Drummer spoke to Chaz as he said, who had talks with Stinger, the prez covering the LA Wretched Soulz area. Think they had a conference call with RIP in Colorado. Well, RIP was the one who’s been in touch. Wretched Soulz will stand back and let this one play out. They don’t want or need to be associated with any injury coming to a federal witness.”
Good on Drummer. He would have explained the risk of possible blowback were it to be shown the Soulz had played an active part. Not that Demon isn’t a good prez, but he, like me, is too close to the situation. Drummer, reviewing it from afar, had come up with a suggestion.
“So all we need to do is protect her from the Warped Jokers.” And from whatever bastard is too close to her trail.
“Not so fast, Beef.” I’d expected Demon to be pleased, but he looks anything but. “The dominant had a request in exchange for them to step back.”
“Which is?”
“Except under circumstances w
here an MC sets up without permission or where there’s a dispute over territory or direct involvement in another club’s business, MCs don’t turn on their own. The Wretched Soulz don’t want to be anywhere close to the intimidation of a witness, but neither do they want to be seen as supporting the feds over the MCs whose charters they’ve agreed to.”
My brow creases as I try to work through what he’s just said. There’s a cold feeling in my gut, and I hope I’m reading things wrong. I put one interpretation on it that’s not as bad as the next. “They’re stepping back and leaving us to fight it out with what remains of the Warped Jokers?” A club with its officers and half its members in jail. No leadership, just foot soldiers. No problem to take them on though I’d have preferred to avoid more bloodshed.
“Nah.” Now Demon’s eyes rise and look directly into mine. “They’ve asked that we do nothing to help her. That she’s left as the US Marshals problem. Sorry, Beef. Can’t risk this chapter. Can’t risk this club. This is what the dominant wants. They’re neither giving support to the Jokers, or to us.”
“But protecting a federal witness isn’t the same as offing them…”
His eyes gentle. “We’re protecting someone who holds the key to the worst nightmare affecting an MC. RICO.”
“I’ll take her away.” She’s going nowhere with that motherfucker Lennox. I don’t trust him. Even if he didn’t directly betray her, he and his organisation failed to keep her safe.
“I thought you’d say that. Drummer did too. We both saw the way things were heading.” He pinches the bridge of his nose in that familiar gesture. “Fuck this is hard, Beef. You’ll need to turn in your patch. Ain’t enough that you’re nomad.”
The words are hard for me to say, but I voice them without hesitation. “I’ll do that.” I mean them. There was a reason I was turned back at Satan’s doorway; my time hadn’t been then. I’m convinced I was brought back to take care of Stevie.
“Her dog?” Demon asks.
“We’ll take him too. He’s recovering fast, Prez. Better than I expected. I’ll,” I choke over the next words, “I’ll leave my bike. Borrow a truck.” Then get rid of it and swap it at the earliest opportunity. “Can Cad sort us out new identities?”
“You trust the club more than the marshals.” It’s a statement, not a question, but I reply anyway.
“If Cad can’t, Mouse can.” I’m quickly thinking through everything that’s necessary. “Mouse has underground contacts—”
“Don’t underestimate Cad. Nor think if he has a problem, he doesn’t consult Mouse, or Hard Token in California, or Vegas’s Keys.”
I can respect a man who asks for assistance if something is beyond his capabilities. I raise my chin to show I’ll leave my future identity in Cad’s capable, if very pale, hands.
“Knew that was going to be your answer. Cad’s already working on it. Should have something airtight by the morning.”
At least they’re not kicking us out tonight. That gives me time to talk to Stevie, to convince her and reassure her. “Once the court case is over, I’ll want to come back.” With Stevie in tow as my old lady.
“Agreed. The Wretched Soulz should be fine when she’s no longer working with the feds. Unless there’s going to be retribution…”
I just meet his eyes and raise my chin. He knows I’m accepting it may be far longer than that.
For now, I’m just focusing on the shorter period. Two months. I can manage to ride, or drive as it seems more likely, alone for that. Heart went out for six months on his own. Mind you, he went looking for trouble and eventually found it. I’ll be trying to evade it.
I’m itching to get back and start talking to Stevie, but there’re things I need to find out first. “You get anything out of the Warped Jokers we brought back?”
“Mace and Thunder have been questioning them. Last I heard was they hadn’t said anything of importance yet, but Mace’s view is that they’re foot soldiers who don’t know anything.”
Could well be. But, “I’d like to ask them myself.”
“Yeah, let’s go down catch up with the latest. Might have discovered something while we’ve been chattering.”
Offering up a silent apology to Stevie that I’d dropped the bombshell on her about my feelings then abandoned her, I follow the prez down the stairs leading to a locked and extremely well soundproofed door. He unlocks it, we enter.
There’s a quiet sobbing coming from the centre of the room. A man is hanging by his wrists attached to hooks in the ceiling, the other is tied to a chair. The man strung up is bruised and bloodied, but it’s the seated man who’s making the noise.
Mace comes over. “They’re blood brothers,” he says, quietly. “That one would prefer to be hurt rather than see his sibling abused. Think he might break soon.” Then he turns back around. When two pairs of distressed eyes focus on him, he jerks his head toward me, raising his voice, “Well, lookie here, reinforcements.”
Thunder’s a big man, Mace not small either. But my build makes me both taller and wider and is why Drummer’s used me for muscle in the past. Just one look at me and men are intimidated and start calculating their odds, which are never good. I don’t just look the part, I can back it up. Not many men can best me in the ring.
I bash one fist into the palm of my other hand, a warming up gesture. It doesn’t go unmissed.
The man on the chair starts thrashing at his bonds. “He’s had enough. Use me. Please, not my baby brother, no more.”
The man hanging can’t take his eyes off me. They’re wild, whites showing. His mouth opens, but to his credit, he doesn’t beg as I step closer.
“Look, Seeker, this is crazy.”
Hanging from arms which must be really aching, Seeker exchanges a look with his brother. “Cray—,” he starts, his voice scratchy.
I interrupt. “Only one way out for you, painful or easy. Up to you whether you want to go to your grave with your teeth intact or gone.”
Demon puts his hand on my shoulder. “Or we can make this even easier. Way I see it, you don’t have a club to betray anymore. The question is whether the feds will take all of you down, or just those already convicted. You tell us what we want to know, I could be persuaded to let you ride out of town.”
Another look exchanged between them. Then Cray’s attention turns to Demon whose proposal clearly seems more attractive than mine.
“You’ll really let us go?”
Demon shrugs. “Depends how much of the truth you tell us. Keep playing it dumb, I’ll let Beef here take his time.”
I might fight, but I don’t like it. I prefer it when they can fight back. I haven’t got the ability to distance myself in the same way as an enforcer does it. After Blade’s finished with a man back in Tucson he throws up, that’s no secret though we don’t talk about it. I wouldn’t mind betting Mace, who’s currently looking calm and collected and ready to go a few more rounds, is similar. But if it’s to help Stevie, I’ll swallow my repulsion down and use that anger inside me to use an unarmed and helpless man as a punchbag. When they stay silent, I take another step forward and draw back my fist.
“Stop! For the ever-lovin’ fuck of God, stop!”
“God’s not here,” I growl menacingly, though staying my hand. “You’re dealing with Satan.”
“We were just following orders,” Cray cries out. His betrayal causing tears to roll down his cheeks.
“Who gave you the orders?”
“Mad Bull.”
“Your president? He’s in the pen.”
“He got a message out.”
“Your orders were to…?”
“Find the blind bitch and take her out of the picture. He gave us the info about where she was. There’s an app on my phone, it traces the dog’s tracker.”
“Took his phone from him, Prez.” Thunder steps up and passes it over.
Demon looks at it, then moves over to Cray. His hands are tied behind him, Demon manages to awkwardly get his finger on the r
ight spot. He plays with a few keys, then nods. “Okay, I can open it myself now. I’ll get Cad to look at it.”
He shows me the screen. He’s found the fucking tracking app easily. Every step Stevie had taken with her dog, they were able to follow.
“Why didn’t you come immediately after she was reunited with the dog?” I question, harshly.
“At first we didn’t think the dog would recover. It spent so much fuckin’ time with that vet. Then thought she’d moved on without it. Didn’t bother to check, then one day we did. Then we went after the signal. Buck came up first and was watching the cabin from a distance as we still didn’t know she was with the dog. We saw you, saw your patch. Then saw the dog and the bitch. Knew we had to come prepared. Needed to get brothers up from LA.”
“So you came prepared to kill her?” Demon asks, his tone more reasonable than mine. Mind you, he’s not talking about the woman he’s coming closer and closer to claiming.
Both men nod, or Seeker does the best he can in his painful position.
“That was my woman you were going to kill,” I observe through gritted teeth. My comment makes Demon’s eyes flash to mine. I reply to his unspoken question with a slight raise of my chin. No doubt about it in my head. The intense rage I feel faced with these two men tells me my gut feeling’s right. She’s mine. I’m never going to let danger come close to her again or risk losing her.
“Man, we weren’t going to kill her.”
“You threw a fuckin’ bomb in her house.” I round on Cray incredulously.
“We were told to silence her. After she proved difficult to take out, we came up with a different plan.”
Seeker, not seeming to realise the danger he’s in, adds, “She’s a good-looking bitch. And being blind, she wouldn’t have minded who she was opening her thighs to.”
Before anyone can stop me, he has my fist in his stomach. As he tries to draw his legs up and gasps for breath, I turn on the man tied to the chair and he gets my fist to his jaw so hard I feel bone crack.
Satan's Devils MC Colorado Boxset 1 Books 1 - 3 Page 97
