by Harley Wylde
I blinked at Bull. “Sixty? But…”
“But what?” he asked.
“You don’t look that old. Shouldn’t your hair be all silver like Torch’s if you’re sixty?”
Tex coughed to cover a laugh and I heard a few snickers around the table. Bull rolled his eyes toward the ceiling and muttered something that sounded like save her if Torch hears that shit. He walked out without another word and I was left looking around the table wondering what just happened.
“Did I say something wrong?” I asked.
“Nope. Unless you say that shit in front of Torch,” Savior said. “He’s a little touchy about how old he looks considering his wife is so young. Most of the time it doesn’t bother him, but he recently had a birthday, so he’s been a bit growly about his age.”
“Doesn’t help that Bull is older than him by a few years,” Grimm said. “The man ages too fucking well if you ask me. Hardly seems fair. By the time I’m sixty, I’ll probably be fat and bald.”
Tempest laughed. “Yeah, right. I think you work out more than anyone here. Even with all the shit you eat, you still have a fucking eight-pack. Fat and bald. I’ll believe it when I see it.”
“All right. We’ve been given our orders,” Tex said as he stood. “Get Pepper home. I’ll have one of the Prospects deliver her bike.”
I looked around as the men all got up. Not a single one looked in my direction. It pissed me off a little bit. Were women so far beneath them that we were just decorations? Didn’t they have anyone who could kick ass if the need arose? I knew I wasn’t the toughest chick around, but if someone tried to take me down, I’d fight like hell to break free. And I sure as shit didn’t like them talking over me, or about me like I was some little kid.
“It’s like I’m not even here,” I said.
“Oh, we know you’re here,” Bats said. “And you’d damn well better still be at the compound when Flicker gets home. I’m not about to have my balls cut off because you decided to be a hero. That man is completely crazy about you. Anything happens on our watch, and he’ll massacre every last one of us. Brothers or not.”
I thought that was a bit extreme and highly unlikely, but I kept my mouth shut and followed the men out of the room. My babysitters took me home, staring at the door as I shut and locked it. I went straight to the kitchen and balled up the note I’d left Flicker, tossing it into the trash. I sent Marcus a message that I was under house arrest, but help would be coming. It would have to do for now, and I hoped like hell I wasn’t lying to him. If the guys didn’t come through, and soon, then I’d have to find a way out of here. I wasn’t letting Louis die, not if I could do something about it.
From my place on the couch, I could see Bats pacing in front of the house. I sighed, hating the feelings of helplessness that swamped me. I’d always prided myself on being strong, taking charge of my life, and getting shit done. Sitting on my ass while everyone else was off trying to solve my problems felt all kinds of wrong. I needed to help Louis, and yet I couldn’t leave the compound. I’d tried to do the right thing, but it didn’t count for much if my friend lost his life. If I lived through this crap, I needed to sit down and have a conversation with Flicker. It was bullshit that I was confined to the house, like some weak little woman who couldn’t do shit. If he thought he was getting laid after this, he’d better think again. I was going on strike.
Chapter Eight
Flicker
I’d been away for two days. Two. And the compound seemed to be in utter chaos. I looked at Torch, Venom, and Tank before looking back at the massive line of bikes in front of the clubhouse, and what looked like a dozen men patrolling the damn fence with AR-15s. What the fuck had happened while we were gone, and why hadn’t we gotten a phone call about this shit? Part of me wanted to go straight to the house and check on Pepper, but if something had happened to her, I didn’t think the club would have kept silent about it.
Fox and Slider, from Hades Abyss, both came out of the clubhouse and headed toward us. I saw Cobra and Wolf from Devil’s Fury standing on the porch, along with a few members from Devil’s Boneyard. Another look at the other officers with me showed they were just as confused, and not quite holding onto their tempers. Torch looked about ready to fucking blow, and Venom’s jaw was clenched so fucking tight I worried his teeth might crack. Tank seemed cool, but his eyes told another story.
“What. The. Fuck?” Torch shouted.
Everyone halted in their steps, except Fox and Slider. They stopped a few feet away, holding eye contact with Torch. The Pres was starting to look a little flushed, and I wondered if we would be short a few members by end of the day. He looked ready to tear of some heads.
“Got a call yesterday,” Fox said. “Your women sure are a fuck ton of trouble.”
“Pepper?” I asked, my gut clenching.
Fox shrugged. “She tried to leave. Diego stopped her and your boys took over, confining her to your house. She’s not the most pleasant of women when she’s caged.”
Slider rubbed at claw marks on his neck.
“Pepper did that?” I asked, motioning to the four red slashes.
He nodded. “She didn’t like it when I hauled her ass back to the house. She gave your boys the slip and was trying to climb the fucking fence.”
“It has razor wire on top,” Tank said, looking dumbfounded.
“Didn’t seem to deter her,” Slider muttered. “Batshit crazy bitch.”
“That’s my woman you’re talking about,” I reminded him. “Who the hell are all the men here, and why are they patrolling the perimeter?”
“Well, your woman is one reason,” Fox said. “The other is to make sure no one comes after her. You don’t have a great track record of crazy people staying on the correct side of the fence. No offense.”
“He’s not wrong,” Venom muttered. “Told you we needed to beef up security around here. Get more Prospects and make sure we don’t have any weak points of entry. There’s too much for us to lose now.”
“We’ll definitely need more after we patch in Diego and King. It will happen soon. Hell, they’ve been with us a little over three years. They’ve paid their dues and proven themselves,” Torch said.
“Not too sure about Calder and Fenton,” I said. “At first, it was just Fenton fucking shit up, but Calder is about on my last damn nerve too. In three years, they’ve screwed up more than most and been given too many damn chances.”
Venom and Torch nodded.
“Only reason they’re still here,” Tank said, “is because we’re low on Prospects. We need fresh blood, and we need more than a few at a time. I like Cinder’s idea of only accepting ex-military with high security clearance, then having Wire dig through their lives to make sure they aren’t hiding shit.”
“I can do that,” Wire said. “Give me some names and whatever info you’ve got. I’ll tell you everything down to what they had for breakfast that morning.”
“As much as I hate to let Calder and Fenton hang on, giving them false hope, I don’t know about cutting them loose until after Pepper is safe,” Torch said. “I don’t think they’d turn traitor, but if they get pissed-off who knows what shit they’ll pull.”
“Agreed,” Venom said.
I looked around, noticing most of the men patrolling didn’t seem to be wearing a cut, which meant they weren’t part of a club. So where the fuck did they come from? And who had authorized all these people to be here inside the damn gates with my woman?
Fox noticed the direction of my gaze and smiled a little. “You can thank Rocky for the extra hands. He called in favors with his military pals. We had twenty show up. Can you believe that shit? They’ve been patrolling in shifts, and they’re apparently down for whatever the fuck you might need.”
“Noted,” I said.
As much as I didn’t like the strangers on our turf, I was glad that Rocky had called them in, and thankful to whoever had called in the other clubs. If Rocky trusted these men, then that was good en
ough for me. For now. If they wanted to stay, I liked the idea of Wire digging into their lives to make sure they weren’t rotten. We needed help if things had gone sideways with Pepper while I was gone. I hadn’t wanted to leave her, but it couldn’t be avoided. Casper VanHorne had called a meeting, something he’d claimed couldn’t wait. He’d asked for all officers and Wire to attend, as well as Spider from Hades Abyss and Grizzly from Devil’s Fury, which had left our compound vulnerable. I didn’t doubt my brothers could handle shit, and they apparently had, but it felt wrong for all of us to be gone at once.
My mind was still reeling over what VanHorne had asked of us. It wasn’t completely out of the question, but fucking hell. I was trying to extract Pepper from the Mafia, not join forces with another branch of the bastards. After Devil’s Boneyard had taken out Silva, another monster had taken his place, one of his henchmen. Mateo Gomez. The difference was that Gomez wanted insurance, a way to guarantee he didn’t run into complications for his business in the US. The fucker was clever, but not clever enough. No matter what deal was made, it wouldn’t stop any of us from putting a bullet between his eyes if we thought he needed it.
I knew he hadn’t just made a deal with our club. No, he’d gotten VanHorne to get an agreement with Hades Abyss, Devil’s Fury, and Reckless Kings as well. He wanted muscle stateside to back him up, and we were the lucky fuckers selected. I couldn’t deal with that shit right now, though. It hadn’t gone quite the way Gomez had wanted, but Torch had worked something out. I only hoped Saint would forgive him in this lifetime.
“Pepper’s at home on lockdown?” I asked to clarify where I’d find my woman.
“Unless she’s escaped again,” Slider said.
“Then I guess I’m going home,” I said.
“Church in an hour.” Torch looked around at our little group. “We need to be caught up to speed, and I want to know what’s been set in motion while I was gone. I know I put Bull in charge, but fucking hell. A phone call would have been nice.”
I couldn’t have agreed more. I turned my bike down the road that would lead me home. When I pulled into the carport, I noticed Pepper’s bike was there, and I couldn’t help but laugh when I saw they’d found a way to keep her off it. A rubber-coated chain had been strung through the front tire, then down the frame of the bike and through the rear tire, with at least two locks keeping it in place. Whoever had set it up, had made sure it wouldn’t scratch the frame or the chrome, which I knew Pepper would appreciate, even if she didn’t like having her wheels on lockdown just like her.
I was curious exactly what she’d done to the men while I was gone. It seemed a bit extreme to put her on house arrest and chain her bike. Had she really tried to climb the fence, razor wire and all? It seemed insane, but I knew Pepper could be determined when she put her mind to something. I didn’t know what had happened, but something had set her off, made her feel like she needed to run, and I’d damn sure find out what it was, then handle that shit. My woman wasn’t going anywhere, not unless I was with her.
Gears was standing at the front door, his tense expression relaxing when he gave me a nod. “Thank fuck you’re here. See if you can reason with her.”
My curiosity was growing as I entered the house. I heard the TV going in the living room and peered inside. Pepper was on the couch, a pillow wrapped in her arms and her feet on the coffee table. Her jaw was tight, her eyes rimmed in red, but it was the scratches and bruises on the parts of her body that weren’t covered that pissed me the fuck off.
“Who touched you?” I asked, my voice harsher than I’d intended.
She jerked and looked at me, her eyes going wide for a moment. I could see the pulse pounding in her throat from across the room.
“Pepper, who did that to you?” I asked again.
She glanced at her arms and exposed legs, just shrugging her shoulder.
“Oh, no, sweet girl. I need more than that from you. I want to know who laid their hands on you and left marks behind.”
“A few bruises are from Slider when he pulled me off the fence.”
I nodded, already knowing he’d done that. I just hadn’t realized he’d marked her in the process.
“The scratches are from the bushes about a mile down the fence line,” she said.
Did I want to know why she’d gotten scratched by those bushes? The look in her eyes told me that no, I most certainly didn’t. Probably another one of her escape attempts.
“The bruises on my wrists are from Saint, who has apologized profusely and said he feels like shit. He was trying to restrain me when I attacked King,” she said.
“Why did you attack King?” I asked, almost dreading the answer. Where was the sweetheart I’d left in my bed? Jesus. It was like my woman had been replaced with a fucking rabid honey badger.
“He called me a bitch, said I needed to keep my bony ass at home where it belonged, and let the men handle shit. Then he shoved me.”
“He shoved you?” I asked slowly, thinking there was probably more to it than that. I’d never seen King lay a hand on a woman, unless she was begging for it.
“I may have gotten up in his face and cussed him out,” she admitted.
“Fucking hell, Pepper. What’s going on? When I left, you seemed fine. Happy even. What changed?”
“Louis is in trouble. He’s my best friend and because of me, he’s been taken. If I don’t show up and turn myself in, then Galetti will give the order to kill Louis. It’s why I need to leave, Daniel. I don’t want to go. I never wanted to leave you, or my dad, but I can’t let Louis die because of me.”
“Where’s Sarge?” I asked. “He should have been here watching over you, and talking some fucking sense into you.”
Her lips turned down and her brow furrowed. “He wasn’t with you?”
“No.” I reached for my phone and called Sarge. It went straight to voicemail. “When’s the last time you saw your dad?”
“The night before you left. His bike was gone when I went outside the next day. I just thought he was with you on club business.”
“Christ. So we need to rescue your friend, keep you out of Galetti’s hands, and find Sarge. He keeps disappearing and it’s starting to piss me off. I hope like hell he didn’t go after that man on his own.” I sent a text to Wire, asking him to use Sarge’s GPS on his phone to get a location. No need to alert Torch or Venom until we knew whether or not the man was actually MIA or just off having fun. Fuck of a time to do it, though.
Wire immediately messaged back. On it.
“Wire is going to find your dad,” I told her. “But for now, come here.”
She got off the couch and approached me, slowly. Almost as if she were afraid I would be angry or try to hurt her. I’d never given her cause to fear me -- except for that one time she’d mistook my words -- and as I studied the marks on her skin again, I realized my brothers had done this to her. Made her afraid. Yes, they’d been trying to restrain her so she wouldn’t run off and get killed, but they’d been too rough. Something I’d be discussing during Church in a bit.
When Pepper stopped in front of me, I wrapped her in my arms and pulled her tight against my chest. I’d missed the hell out of her while I’d been gone. I fisted her hair and breathed in her sweet scent. After a moment, she melted against me, her body relaxing and all the tension draining away.
“Please don’t leave me again,” she said.
“I’m not going anywhere. Not right now. There will be times I need to go out on club business, but I’m sticking by your side until all this mess is over. You’re safe, Pepper, and I’ll make sure Louis is safe too. Whatever Galetti wants, we’ll find a way to give it to him.”
“Money. He’ll want money,” she murmured. “Since I can’t give him the drugs, he’ll want their value plus interest. And that’s if he’s willing to take that. Who knows how long he was after Mom to give it to him, and it’s been over a week since I found her dead.”
“We’ll handle it, sweetheart.”
I tipped her chin up and noticed the dark smudges under her eyes. She hadn’t been sleeping, probably for fear her friend would die. I kissed her softly, then led her to the bedroom. We didn’t have time for me to strip her bare and kiss every inch of her, but that wouldn’t stop me from holding her for a bit. I removed my cut and my boots, then lay on the bed, tugging her down. I held her close and rubbed her back.
“I have to go to Church in a bit,” I told her. “I’m not leaving the compound, Pepper. You need me, you come to clubhouse. Someone will get me.”
“All right,” she said, her voice sounding small and defeated. I hated that. I wanted that fire I’d seen in her from the very beginning.
“Everything else was fine while I was gone, right? You aren’t feeling sick? No one hurt you intentionally? Or threatened you?” I asked.
“They were trying to keep me locked up in the house to wait for you. They didn’t mean to hurt me, Flicker. I know that. And I feel fine. Just tired.”
“Sleep, baby girl. I’ve got you.”
She nodded and yawned. It didn’t take long before she was snoring softly, and I pressed a kiss to her forehead. She’d exhausted herself, worrying over her friend, and likely stressing over my absence. Torch wouldn’t like it, but I wasn’t leaving the compound for the next few months unless either Pepper was with me, or I would be gone less than a day. She needed time to adjust to this way of life, to being cared about, and having people who wanted to keep her safe.
When it was time to leave, I kissed her cheek and eased out of bed, careful not to wake her. I put my boots and cut back on, then walked to the clubhouse. I could have taken my bike, but if she woke up and looked outside, I wanted her to see it in the carport, to know I hadn’t left the compound. I was the last to arrive, and I noticed none of the other clubs had joined us.
