Twisted Steel: An MC Anthology: Second Edition

by Elizabeth Knox

  “Getting air?” He walks over to me, staring me down every step of the way before he walks by me and opens the door. He scans the area before he closes the door and looks back at me. “Are you out of your mind? What would you have done if one of those cultist bastards managed to get inside here?”

  “What? Why would they? I mean there is no . . .” I had no answer, no real one anyway.

  “You seem awfully calm for someone who is scared of a cult.”

  “Are you saying that you don’t believe me?” I take a step in his direction and lift my chin so that I can keep my eyes on his.

  “No, I believe you. I’m thinking maybe you want to go back. I’m thinking maybe you opened the door to see if they were there coming for you. Is that what you want? To go back?” His gruff voice cuts me.

  “I know they are looking for me. It’s only a matter of time.” It’s then I realize that he is right. There is no fear in my voice.

  “Sounds like you are okay with that.”

  “Okay with it? No. I’m indifferent.”

  “What the fuck is that supposed to mean?” He takes a step toward me, the anger radiating off his body.

  “Wyatt, you can try to hide me for as long as you want. I know the truth is that as long as that man is alive, he will come for me. I refuse to go back. I won’t do it. So when he comes for me again, I know I will die. If that means he is going to do it or I will do it I’m not sure but I know that I will die before I step foot in the compound again.” I try to ease his mind but this just seems to piss him off even more.

  “What the fuck?! So you’re telling me all this shit is for nothing. You’ve already given up?”

  “I haven’t given up. I’m still fighting, I just know what the outcome will be. I know what I will and will not tolerate under any circumstances.”

  He grabs my shoulders, harder than I would have expected. “I’m not letting anyone take you anywhere. Do you understand me, but I can’t go through with this if I know that the second he shows his head again it’s only a matter of minutes before you off yourself. I need you to fight harder. I need you to have some fucking faith in me for fuck’s sake. You don’t think I would burn the whole fucking forest down to find you? You don’t think I would kill every single one of those cultists to get you back? Why is killing yourself your only fucking option?”

  “I don’t want you to feel like if something happened to me it would be your fault. It’s not your fault, Wyatt.” I’m trying to keep my emotions in check but I see that he means it from the way that he is looking at me. He will kill everyone to find me but does he know that it means he will likely get himself killed in the process. Doesn’t he know that it’s not just one fucking man that he is going to be fighting but a whole damn community? “I can’t have your blood on my hands, Wyatt. I believe you will do everything in your power but this is just too big. There are too many of them and not enough of you. Think about your family. Think about your community, this little town will be torn to shreds if Emerson decides that he is going to expand and take all the young girls here. I’m not fucking worth all this trouble.”

  “Get the fuck out of here with that shit. You are worth it! You’re worth more than that. Just trust me. Please.” He lifts me up so that my feet are no longer touching the ground.

  I wrap them around his waist and kiss him tenderly. I don’t want him to hurt. “Okay. I trust you,” I whisper against his lips as my tongue tangles with his. He walks us back to the room and lays me down on the bed. Now that we’ve started making love it seems as though we can’t get enough of each other. A wonderful distraction for what I know is to come.

  “What am I supposed to do with all this stuff? I only needed a few things.” Wyatt and Spark stand behind me with bags and bags of clothing.

  They took me over to the small shopping area in town to pick up some clothing. None of the boys even assumed that I’m not going to be with them for the long haul so they decided amongst themselves that I needed some clothes. What I thought was going to be a few pairs of jeans and some underwear turned into a whole wardrobe. Every store that we passed they insisted that I buy something and when one of them tried to pay the other would push him away so he could pay for the items.

  “Come on, that store over there looks like it has nice dresses and stuff. Don’t you ladies like dresses and stuff?” Spark asks and starts to tug me in that direction.

  “What do I need dresses and stuff for? Where do you think I’m going to need dresses and stuff? I have everything that I need, Spark.” I try and pull back but Wyatt grabs my arm and helps his brother tug me toward the store.

  “You need everything that you are supposed to have. I know I haven’t seen the inside of a woman’s closet in a long time but I know for sure there are some dresses in there. Stop being so damn difficult and get the dresses.” He rolls his eyes but the smile on his face lets me know that me buying these items is making him happy.

  “You all are so weird, this is way too expensive. I don’t know how I’m ever going to be able to pay any of this back.” I walk heavy-footed into the store and look at the sparse selection. There isn’t much here but I’m sure I’ll leave here with another bag full.

  “You’re not paying for any of this. No way.”

  “Why are you all spoiling me? I don’t deserve this.” I pick up a dress and show it to the boys.

  Wyatt takes it from me and shoves it in the basket that is to go up to the cashier. “You deserve this and more. It’s been a long time since we were able to dote on someone besides ourselves.”

  “Can you imagine when Bishop gets back. Oh god, you are going to be so spoiled.” Spark throws his head back in laughter.

  “Who is Bishop?”

  “Another member of our club. He is an active-duty agent now so he is on the job. I hope he will be back soon. We miss that holy fucker.” Wyatt looks to Spark. They must really be hurting.

  “Holy fucker?”

  Spark comes over and puts an arm over my shoulders while we walk through the last remaining aisles. “Yeah, he was supposed to be an ordained minister before he found the FBI. Instead of continuing with his studies he decided to become an agent but he is still very high on faith.”

  “That is interesting.” I wouldn’t say that I would ever be comfortable with someone who was high on faith again. I’ve had enough religion to last a lifetime.

  “Yeah, when we have to go through tough shit, he is usually the only one of us who is at ease. He knows that his faith will get him through.

  “You done?” Wyatt asks and reorganizes the millions of bags he is already carrying in his hands.

  “Are you both going to let me be done or are you going to force me into another store to buy more clothing that I’m sure I will never be able to wear?” I cross my arms over my chest.

  “Yeah, yeah, yeah. We’re done. You know most girls would be happy to spend my money.”

  “I guess you’re lucky, I’m not like most girls.” I wink at Wyatt.

  “Should I leave so you can kiss now?” Spark laughs as he looks between the both of us. “Wyatt, I can give you some pointers. It’s all in the tongue.” He pokes his tongue out in a nasty way.

  “Eww.” I cringe away. “I think your brother is all set. No tutorials needed.”

  Wyatt groans and leans down to kiss the side of my neck.

  “Oh, wait. This is happening.” Spark stops laughing. Wyatt kissing me isn’t something that I think he was prepared to see.

  “Yeah, what the fuck did you think was happening?” Wyatt spit out toward his brother.

  “Well, I thought we were helping her out and that you know maybe I had a shot. Guess that shit just went up in flames.” Spark rubs the back of his neck uncomfortably.

  “Huh? A shot at what?” I ask, completely dumbfounded by what exactly is going on.

  “You. But I see my brother already marked his territory. No worries, I’ll have just as much fun tormenting the shit out of him.” Spark throws his ha
nd back over my shoulder and I hear Wyatt grumble about him being a touchy bastard behind my back.

  I can’t help but laugh as we make our way to the line to check out.

  Finally, we make our way away from all the shops and toward the car so that we can go home.

  “I may never want to shop again,” I grumble.

  “Thank fuck for that,” Wyatt says as he readjusts the bags in his hands.

  “Oh shut the hell up this was your idea!”

  “You didn’t try very hard to stop shopping,” he replies.

  I gasp loudly and stare at him. “Are you kidding me! I told you that I was done like a hundred times! The both of you were the ones that kept pulling me into different stores to get more stuff,” I yell at him.

  “That’s because you needed more stuff! You’re going to be here for a long time. What the hell are you going to do with only one pair of jeans and a few pairs of underwear?” Wyatt roars right back at me.

  “Hey, hey, hey. Guys. What’s going on here?” Spark stands between us.

  “Nothing.”

  “Yeah, nothing,” Wyatt says and takes a step toward the car.

  I thought back on what he had just said, that I was going to be here for a long time. He was talking about me confessing to him that I would be ready to kill myself if it came to it. He thinks if I have a lot of stuff it is going to change my mind.

  “Wyatt,” I call back to him. He is only trying to help in his own way. There is no amount of jeans or pretty dresses that I could have that would change my mind about what I know that I’m going to do if I’m caught again. I can ease his mind though. “Hey, Wyatt. Hold on.” I rush up to him and grab his arm. Turning him back toward me.

  “What?” He is brusque and immediately my feathers are ruffled. I take a deep breath to calm myself down.

  “I’m still fighting okay. I don’t need things to keep me here. I don’t need all this stuff.” I make sure I keep his gaze so that he realizes that I know what this is really about.

  He blows out a breath of air and lets the bags fall to the ground before he wraps his arms around me. “I want you to change your mind. I know that you told me that you trust me but I know that it doesn’t mean you’ve changed your mind.”

  I don’t want to lie to him and tell him that I have when I haven’t but I don’t want him to be stuck worrying about this either. Right now I’m free and ready to live life the way I should have the past few years. I’m ready to explore whatever is going on with Wyatt and me. I’m ready to get to know his family. I’m ready for it all. I’ll worry about killing myself when Emerson shows up on the doorstep.

  13

  Wyatt

  Dela is just telling me what I want to hear. Even as I stand here with her in my arms, I know that she is set on killing herself. I don’t know how to handle this shit. I don’t want her to do it but there is no way that I can say that I’m for sure going to be able to save her from that crazy bastard.

  “Come on. Let’s get back home,” I say, letting her go so that we can get to the car. Spark looks at me over her head, questions in his eyes. He clearly doesn’t understand what the hell is going on. One second we were all laughing then next we are jumping down each other’s throat.

  I shake my head and just keep on walking. I’ll have to explain it to him another time.

  We take a few steps through the packed parking lot. The car is a bit further away.

  “No,” Dela gasps out and stops in her tracks.

  “Dela?” When I turn in her direction, I can see that she is ghostly white. I’m watching the color drain from her skin by the millisecond.

  “What’s wrong?” Spark asks.

  “Delaney!” I storm over to where she is.

  “He’s here.” Her voice shakes and a tear pops from her eye.

  “What, where? How do you know?” I look around but I don’t see anything but a few people walking toward their cars no one looks like they are coming in our direction.

  “I don’t see anything.” Spark is already on guard looking around just as I was a moment ago.

  Dela purses her lips together and a breathy whistle comes out. A tune that I recognize but can’t place. Before she is finished my ears pick up on the same tune but it’s coming from someplace to the left. Someone else is whispering the same thing that she is.

  “What the fuck is that?” I grab her arm and pull her behind me.

  “He’s coming for me. He’s here already. I never get away when he is so close.” Her voice sounds as if she is narrating a book. She sounds like the outcome is already set in stone.

  “No, fuck that. Let’s move.” I grab her and we high tail it back to the car. There is no way for me to run around all these cars looking for whoever is out there but we could get out. We could make it back to the compound and figure out a different way to do this. “Spark drive,” I order, and we toss the bags in our hands in the back seat.

  I shove Dela into the car. “Get on the floor. I’m going to throw stuff on top of you.” She lies down on the floor of the large truck and I jump in the passenger seat next to Spark. The whistling has stopped from what I can hear but I don’t want to chance it. Spark pulls out of the parking lot and we take a few back roads to get out of the main area. There is a road that is barely used that takes us straight into Patis for those who don’t know about it, it’s very easy to get lost but Spark and I ride it all the time. We know where we are going.

  “Dela, you can get up now. I think we lost whoever was in the parking lot.” I reach around and pull Dela from where she is lying on the floor.

  She isn’t crying or shaking. In fact, it’s almost like this is normal for her. “Okay.” She pushes a few bags to the floor and sits herself in the seat.

  “Hey, you have to trust me,” I tell her again. I need to get through to her.

  “I trust you, Wyatt. You’ll do everything that you can. I know it.” She gives me a sad smile but it doesn’t reach her eyes.

  I turn in my seat resigned to the fact that right now I’m not going to change her mind. “What in the shit was that back there? What was that song?”

  “Patience by Guns N’ Roses. Emerson loves that song, he whistles it all the time. Especially when he is disappointed or trying to calm himself down. It’s our warning that we are about to be punished. It’s how we know he is close,” she explains an almost wistful look on her face.

  “Shit! Shit, shit!” Spark calls out his eyes darting from the windshield to the rearview mirror.

  “What?” I turn in my seat.

  “We got fucking stragglers.” Spark puts his foot down and the truck roars louder as we move faster down the dirt road.

  “Mother fuck!” I reach into the glove compartment and pull out the gun that we have there. When I turn to look, sure enough there are two cars that are picking up speed behind us. “Dela, get down. Get back on the floor.”

  “For what?” she asks softly. She just leans back against the seat.

  “I don’t have time for this shit right now, get the fuck on the floor like I said!” I scream at her and reach into the back seat and grab her shirt, pushing her down toward the floor.

  *POP, POP, POP*

  “Oh shit! Are they fucking shooting at us?” Spark scrunches down slightly and swerves the car.

  Bullets fly by the car, a few of them making contact with the body of the truck.

  “Motherfuckers!” Spark swerves again.

  I roll down my window and position myself so that only my arm is out the window. I put my front against the seat so I can look out the back window at what is going on around us. I shoot a few rounds and both cars swerve, one of them riding into the side of the road before they make it back to the road.

  We may know this back road but that didn’t mean that it was safe to have a gunfight on. There are sudden drop-offs, the dirt isn’t completely solid in some places, and there are possibilities of rockslides. Not to mention the tightly packed trees in some areas. If we went off the r
oad there is a good chance that we would plummet straight down or get stuck in a position that they would be able to catch us.

  “Get Cody and Brendan here! Now!” I order as I shoot a few more rounds out the window before I duck back in and hide behind the seat. When I look down in the backseat, Dela is still on the floor. Her arms crossed over her chest and a look of complete annoyance on her face. I expected her to be scared or screaming instead she is lying there mad.

  “Boys, we need back up now,” Spark speaks through the hands-free.

  “Where are you?” I hear Cody ask but I hear his heavy feet running. There are more behind him. Brendan and Winnie no doubt coming along as well.

  “We are about four miles out from the compound. The back roads . . .” Another round of gunshots whizz by the car, one of them make contact with the back windshield and the glass explodes into the car.

  “Fuck! Move your ass!” I yell, the wind now whipping inside the car, tossing glass and clothes around.

  “Holy shit! Are those fucking gunshots?” Cody growls into the phone and I hear him starting up his bike. “Hold on, just fucking hold on. We are on the way!” He stops speaking but doesn’t hang up the phone. The rumble of the bikes is pouring through the speakers in the car.

  “Damn it, Wyatt, hold on!” Spark braces himself and when I look back up to the back again. I see one of the cars picking up a lot of speed. Too much. He’s going to ram us.

  “Dela!” I call for her just before the car behind us rams us hard. The back tires rise off the ground and the bed of the truck dents in.

  “Dela, get the fuck up!” I call for her again. If they hit the back again, she could be crushed on the floor there.

  She moves fast, the fear that I expected to see before finally blossoming on her face. She crawls over the middle console and into the front seat with me. I turn to sit right so she can sit on my lap. It’s not the safest position for us to be in but at least my body would be between her and the bullets.

  “Just give me to them. They don’t want you,” she speaks fast, stuttering all the way.