Lost in the Dark

by Ann Jensen

  “We push them, Hawk and it will be war,” Max warned but didn’t seem overly concerned.

  “They want war, we’ll do the people of Denver a favor and make it quick. I don’t like fucking with street punks, too much like kicking puppies. But these dogs have been shitting on our lawn. We let it ride and the bigger gangs will think it’s open season. Dragon, I know you got your hands full, but have Dozer send you over the financials on the rest of our businesses. Make sure we haven’t let any other things sneak up on us.”

  Tek, the Club’s Secretary and the only outlaw biker Dragon knew who was also a billionaire, spoke up, “Send me all the socials I’ll have my people see if they can spot any other patterns.” Tek was the owner and CEO of the largest security and technology company in Colorado. He never hesitated to help out especially when kids were involved.

  Hawk banged his gavel. “All right with that handled, everyone should be on high alert. This thing will probably cause blow-back in the next few weeks. If it gets too hot, I want everything in place for a full lockdown.” All heads nodded in agreement. The nice part of most of the Brothers being ex or current military was not a single man ever balked when shit hit the fan. “On a better subject, Max has something to put forward.”

  Max nodded, giving a real smile. “I want to put forward Puck for patching in. He’s been prospecting for only nine months, and while we usually wait a year, his dedication when protecting Pixie and more recently, his quick thinking that saved Dragon’s woman and child make for special circumstances. His loyalty is beyond question.”

  “Anyone have anything to say against him?” Hawk asked the room.

  “Nine months is a pussy amount of time. And who the fuck is going to clean my bike as good as he does?” Highdive, the Enforcer and Sergeant at arms, threw out as a joke that had most of the room chuckling.

  When Hawk called the vote, as it had to be, Puck was unanimously voted in. Highdive opened the door and all the Brothers put on their best game faces.

  “Get that fucker in here!” Hawk bellowed; Dragon was sure everyone in the Clubhouse heard the command.

  Highdive and Max ran out and quickly returned dragging a startled Puck between them. They brought him up to the line painted on the ground that marked where only Brothers were allowed to step. Hawk and all the officers now stood in a line five feet on the other side of that divide their arms crossed.

  “What the hell?” Puck was flustered but he stood up, body clenched as if expecting a fight.

  “You fucking loyal to the Dark Sons?” Hawk barked.

  “Yeah. What’s this—”

  “You willing to live or die for your Brothers?” Sharp broke in with his question.

  “Yes.” Puck looked around.

  “You ride with us, party with us, and keep Dark Sons’ business tight?” Max asked.

  “Always.” Puck relaxed a slight bit.

  “What’s our creed?” Highdive asked.

  “Brothers first. Brothers Forever.” Puck stood straighter.

  “I make you my Brother. I make you my family. You willing to do everything it takes to protect that family?” Dozer said in a tone that would make a drill sergeant proud.

  “Yes Sir.” Dragon couldn’t help but chuckle at the Sir that was probably a reflex in every man here.

  Tek stepped forward holding up the bottom rocker patch that would mark Puck’s transition from Prospect to Brother. “You step over that line, take this patch there is no way out but feet first. Decide.”

  There was no hesitation in Puck’s step as Dragon watched him stride forward and take the patch from Tek’s hands. As was tradition, all the men rushed him at that point and they lifted him off the ground, carrying him out into the Clubhouse and dumping him on the couch in the middle of the floor. The sweetbutts and female hangers-on who had been waiting for the meeting to break up all swarmed the new Brother wanting to show their support.

  Dragon tried to enjoy it: the booze, the women, the celebration for the man who had Prospected with him, but none of it was appealing with his own woman still in the hospital. He took a pull from his beer and pushed away yet another woman who tried to slide up next to him.

  “So, she’s the one.” Tek slid in next to him and signaled Flak for a beer.

  “Yup.” Dragon raised an eyebrow. “You going to give me shit?”

  “Nope. Barely know her but I know you. You’re a lucky bastard.” Tek accepted a bottle from the Prospect behind the bar and took a long swallow.

  “I’m sure there is a woman out there who would be happy to pin your ass down.”

  Tek gave a bark of laughter. “Oh plenty of women would love to pin down my bank account.”

  “None of the women here give a shit about that.”

  “I need a woman smart enough to keep my brain engaged, twisted enough to keep my dick interested, and strong enough to go toe to toe with both the Brotherhood and my boardroom. You find that unicorn you let me know.” Tek raised his bottle in a toast and Dragon matched it.

  Tari was the strongest woman he knew, but looking around the wild and unconventional Clubhouse, he knew he was going to have a long road to prove to her just how perfect this life was for all of them.

  Chapter 19

  Learning is a gift and Pain is your teacher.

  Tari thought she knew what hell was, but today she was learning a new definition of the word. The morning had started with a cranky nurse who found, to her chagrin, her patient spoke Russian and understood all the insults the woman had been muttering while she removed the hundreds of stitches from her body. The encounter ended up with the two of them hurling insults at each other. A second nurse had to be brought in to finish up.

  Then she had to sit through being treated like a rare oddity while a psychiatrist and a gaggle of students ran her through a series of tests that only confirmed what she already knew. The injury to her brain had led to memory loss and linguistic issues when she tried to speak English. But the physical therapist’s evaluation was what had her ready to pass out and give up.

  Tari had always thought of herself as being in peak physical condition. That had waned a little when she had Lali since she couldn’t run anymore, but she taught yoga or Pilates six times a week and worked out with what little she could at home. Now she found herself shaking like a leaf after just a few minutes of nothing more strenuous than walking. Her fine motor skills were such that she couldn’t even write legibly.

  The therapist was optimistic that with months of physical therapy she would probably fully recover but didn’t seem to understand the depth of loss she was feeling. How would she support herself and her daughter if she couldn’t work? She had no idea how she was going to pay for this hospital stay.

  She tried to be optimistic, the wounds to her stomach could have been so much worse. A plastic surgeon had said most of them wouldn’t scar. The scars on the back of her neck would fade with time and could be covered by her hair. She was alive.

  Her optimism faded as a headache sliced through her skull and brought her to tears as the nurse finally wheeled her back to her room in the late afternoon. A light skinned black man sat at the entrance to her room wearing what she had come to think of as the Dark Sons uniform: a black t-shirt and jeans with a faded vest covered in patches. The name on the leather was Hannibal which is the only thing that seemed legible to her. Something about him was familiar but the pounding in her head meant she didn’t think about it too long.

  The nurse got her settled in bed and gave her painkillers. Her mind was soon fuzzy and the fatigue of the day was catching up to her. The large man from outside had moved to the chair in the corner of the room.

  “Hannibal?”

  He stood up and Tari could now see his skin was covered in gorgeous tattoos. “You need something cher?”

  It was hard to focus around the drugs and weariness she felt but she did her best. “No visitors today.” She swallowed around the depression that was threatening to bring her to tears. “I need t
ime to think. Tomorrow. I will talk to Dragon tomorrow.”

  She wasn’t sure if all her words came out right but Hannibal nodded as if he understood. “I will let them know. Dragon was here all morning. I think he planned on bringing your daughter back.”

  Tari shook her head. She couldn’t face her little girl right now knowing she couldn’t be the mother she needed to be. What little stability the little girl had known was about to be thrown into chaos because she wasn’t strong enough.

  “All right, I’ll give him a call. You just sleep, okay?”

  Tari liked the soft cadence of his words. His voice held a slight accent from Louisiana somewhere outside New Orleans more country than city. She let his assurances relax her and she fell into dreams.

  She was early to yoga class for once and she was enjoying the time to relax in one of the currently unused spa rooms. Her life was so hectic that true moments of quiet were hard to find. She had just started to find her center when sounds came too clearly from the room next door.

  “You want your bonus don’t you, baby? That’s right take it all.”

  Tari couldn’t resist walking towards the wall. Karen, one of the few other employees she liked here, who did facials and massages had told her there were peepholes between the rooms for ‘employee safety’. They had both known it was a crock of shit but laughed it off because if watching someone get a massage got their bosses off who were they to complain.

  What Tari saw when she looked through the hole had her stifling a giggle. Marco had a girl on her knees, his flabby ass thrusting enthusiastically. From her vantage point, she could see the bored, almost comical, expression on the girl’s face as his dick went in and out from her lips that weren’t even straining to surround what had to be the seriously unimpressive size of his dick.

  “That’s right, you take every inch of me. Fuck yeah!”

  Well, at least Marco was enjoying himself. Her slimy manager had tried on several occasions to see if Tari was interested in earning bonuses. She had been warned early what that meant and never fell for the line or the one to work after hours in personal sessions. She might love working as a yoga instructor, but she was not even remotely interested in the other services, and hoped she never got desperate enough to consider it.

  A hand ran strong fingers up her leg sending chills right up her spine.

  “What you looking at, Tari?” Dragon’s voice made her relax and she pushed back into his body. She loved feeling him pressing against her back and his hands roaming over the front of her in teasing, feather-light caresses.

  What was Dragon doing at her work? How did his touch seem to be everywhere at once? She shook off the confusing thoughts and just lost herself, enjoying the feeling of him all around her.

  “Nothing good.”

  “Do you like looking?”

  She blushed at the thought of Dragon learning one of her naughty fantasies. “If it’s worth watching.” Which the scene in the other room definitely wasn’t.

  “Look again.”

  Dragon’s hand was between her thighs, and her pants were gone giving him free access to her body. She leaned forward, looking through the hole, the scene behind it completely different. She felt Dragon’s fingers slowly slide into her as she saw instead Hannibal sitting watching a blonde woman slowly pleasure herself. The woman was more fake than real, her proportions rivaling the plastic dolls little girls dressed up. But unlike the woman from before, this one seemed to be really enjoying herself.

  Dragon’s hands started mimicking the woman’s, teasing Tari right to the edge and working her back down. The wall melted away and she found herself with an unobstructed view of the room which had now turned into a tattoo parlor. Hannibal’s eyes had filled with a dark heat as he watched the woman slide her fingers into her pussy.

  Tari felt fingers sliding into her own depths and knew an orgasm was just moments away. The woman moved and Tari could clearly see the man face down on the tattoo chair in front of Hannibal was Dragon. If Dragon was there who was holding her?

  She screamed, trying to struggle against the hands that held her, and she was lying flat on her back in a dirty alley. Her daughter’s screams echoed her own making her pulse race. A dark shape moved towards her daughter while her attacker’s face came into focus.

  Chapter 20

  Your dreams tell me what a wonderful, creative person you are. Your nightmares let me know who it is I have to kill.

  Dragon watched Tari sleep from a chair in the corner of her hospital room, worry sending acid up his throat. Why had she told Hannibal to tell him to stay away? He had thought they had left things in a good place. It had been frustrating not being able to see her all day but he’d understood the hospital was trying to make sure she was okay before releasing her.

  The conversations with the doctors had made everything seem so upbeat, but according to Hannibal, his girl had looked like she had just received a death sentence. Physically she was in much better shape than they could have hoped with almost full mobility. The tests had shown no further bleeding or damage to her brain. Only time would tell if the neurological issues were permanent but her doctor had no problem releasing her as long as she had someone at home to keep an eye on her.

  They had suggested she might want to go to a rehab hospital, but if she did outpatient physical therapy every day it wasn’t necessary. Tari would be much safer at the compound and Dragon would take her to each and every appointment for as long as was needed.

  Tari thrashed in her sleep and Dragon was immediately at her side brushing her hair out of her face. Her scream of terror sent ice through his veins; her arm shot out clocking him right on the temple and sent him stepping back a pace.

  “No, Chobo! Don’t hurt my baby please!”

  Dragon stepped back to the bed, pinning her arms down, and shaking her as gently as he could with her thrashing.

  “Wake up, Tari. It’s just a dream. Wake up for me.”

  A nurse and Grinder rushed in the room both trying to take in what was happening.

  “No, Chobo, please don’t.” Dragon gave her a firm shake and Tari’s eyes fluttered open. She looked around, her body slowly relaxing as she pulled out of the nightmare. “Dragon?”

  “Yeah, it’s me. Who’s Chobo?”

  Terror filled her eyes. “He’s going to hurt Lali.” She shook her head. “No siento. I don’t… it was only a rêve.” She closed her eyes, her breath slowing, but her body wasn’t relaxing so he knew she wasn’t falling back to sleep. “A dream?” She opened her eyes and her look begged him to tell her it wasn’t real.

  Dragon looked over to Grinder who just nodded and left the room. The nurse pushed between the two of them and started checking Tari’s vitals while almost cooing platitudes about nightmares being understandable and the ‘body’s way of coping with stress’.

  When the woman was finally satisfied that everything was okay, she left and Dragon sat at the edge of the bed and held Tari’s hand.

  “What do you remember?”

  “It started out as a memory from a few months ago. I had accidentally seen Marco getting a blowjob from one of the girls at Zen.” Dragon didn’t think she realized she was speaking Spanish but didn’t want to interrupt the story. Her face took on a look of horror. “Dark Sons run prostitutes?”

  Dragon almost got whiplash from how quickly her mind switched topics. “What does this have to do with your dream?”

  She blushed. “I’m not a whore.”

  “I never thought you were.”

  “You know I work for Dark Zen. I understand why some women choose to offer more personal services but I wanted you to know I just taught yoga.”

  Understanding hit him and it made him feel shame. Tari had been a single mom struggling to raise his daughter alone. She had two jobs, one of them in a diner one step away from offering ‘extras’ to the customers. How much easier would it have been for her to make better money on her back?

  “No, I never thought that. Whatever
was going on at Dark Zen we didn’t know about it. Dozer really thought it was just a girlie spa till last week.”

  The look on Tari’s face clearly stated she had a problem believing him. He couldn’t lie to her and say Dark Sons didn’t deal with prostitutes but he didn’t want to argue technicalities either.

  “I swear. Before last week we thought everything about that place was legal.”

  Tari seemed to accept that with a nod. “My dream got weird after that, you and Hannibal were there and some blow-up blonde.” Dragon held his breath ready to defend himself if she asked about the scene at the tattoo parlor. “Then I was in an alley and a man was attacking me and Lali.”

  “Chobo?”

  “I think so, but I don’t know anyone with that name.” Tari shrugged. “Then I woke up.”

  Dragon ran his thumb over her knuckles and prayed Grinder was finding out right now who this Chobo was. The name was unique enough that it gave him hope. The two of them sat in silence for a few minutes, the adrenaline slowly leaving their bodies. When the silence grew uncomfortable Dragon decided to ask what had been bothering him since he had shown up.

  “Why did you tell Hannibal I shouldn’t come?”

  Tari turned her face away and shook her head. The beautiful, black silk of her hair slid down, covering her face.

  “Mi reina talk to me.”

  “I am not a queen.” Her words were shaky and bitten off. When she continued in Spanish her voice was so choked with emotion, Dragon felt his heart breaking. “I am barely a woman. They will release me tomorrow and I don’t even know if I will still have a place to live. I can’t work and if I somehow find a way to do the physical therapy it will be weeks before I might, if I’m really lucky, be able to do a shift as a waitress. How can I keep Lali safe if I can’t even pick her up?”

  Dragon pulled Tari into his arms and felt her tears soaking into his shirt hoping he wasn’t hurting her but knowing she needed him close.