Steel: Bracken Ridge Rebels MC (Book 1)

by Mackenzy Fox

  “It’s Lil,” I say, striding past him and making for the clubhouse doors. “Find Bones and anyone else sober, somethings going down at the Crow.”

  I race out to the parking lot trying her phone once more and it now goes straight to message and doesn’t even ring. Jesus Christ.

  Lily where the fuck are you?

  I’m all the way across town but that won’t matter, my bike is a hellcat when she wants to be with straight pipes and a throttle like no other. I grasp the handle-bars with ferocity. If someone is about to hurt my sister, they better be ready to die. There are very few people I would be willing to go to prison for and Lily is one of them.

  Help, I think my drinks been spiked…. Those were her words in the text, now she’s not answering her phone. My baby sister’s in trouble and I may be about to commit blue murder.

  7

  Sienna

  I notice the girl from the other day at the clubhouse talking to a guy at the bar.

  Liliana; I think that’s her name.

  She seems like she can’t handle her booze well, even though I’ve only served her two drinks. The guy with her gives me an eye roll as he escorts her from the bar a short time later. She also leaves her phone next to her empty glass, so I grab it and walk up to Leroy.

  “Be back in a second,” I yell over the music. “A girl I know just left her phone.”

  He gives me a chin lift as I make my way out of the bar area and push my way through the crowd. Oddly, they don’t make their way to the front to leave but to the back, where there’s only the restrooms and the emergency exit.

  I keep working my way through the busy hustle of people, avoiding grabby hands as bodies sway and dance to the music. Being Friday night, the party is in full swing and the band is rocking hard, it’s a crazy crowd tonight, as wild as they come.

  By the time I get through, they’ve gone out of the back exit, so I push the metal bar on the door when I reach it.

  “Hey!” I call, but they are already behind the dumpster. “You forgot your phone!”

  The guy turns to look at me, he’s a little startled. The exit door shuts behind me with a loud bang, drowning out the noise from inside. He’s parked behind the dumpster. My hackles instantly rise on the back of my neck. There’s something off with this situation. He gives me a huge grin and waves his hand.

  “Oh, thanks,” he says, coming towards me, then rolls his eyes as if to say, ‘silly me’.

  “She seems pretty wasted on two drinks,” I reply, looking over at the back door of his car where Liliana has just been loaded into.

  “She’s a lightweight,” he smirks. “She’s got a drinking problem, had a few before she got here, I’m always hauling her ass home.”

  He seems like a blue-collar kind of guy, smartly dressed, freshly shaven, and good looking. But I can’t put my finger on why my gut is telling me something different… it’s telling me to get the hell out of there.

  “I’m new in town, she’s Sarah, right?” I blurt out.

  He glances at me. “Yeah, that’s right. She knows not to drink tequila, I guess some people just can’t handle their liquor.” He smiles, hoping he’s convincing me.

  Sarah? Goddamn it. He doesn’t even know her, and now I’m damned sure he’s just spiked her drink. Oh, holy fucking crap, I’m out here alone.

  I hold onto the phone. “Well, that’s true; I see it all in here.” I nod back to the exit door and make my way closer to try to escape and get help.

  “Hey, where you going?” He moves toward me and tries to snake an arm around my waist, I recoil at his touch.

  “Don’t touch me,” I say, whirling around. My heart is beating so fast in my chest, I’m sure he can hear it.

  “Oh, come on, my girlfriend is out of it and you’re mighty fine yourself, you sure you just wanna give me the phone or something else? There’s no reason why we can’t have a little bit of fun out here, nobody’s watching, you look like a girl who knows how to have fun.”

  I literally want to vomit. I also took a self-defense class after Ewan, my ex-boyfriend. You want to hit a guy where it hurts them the most, so I turn in his arms and smile sweetly as if I’m enjoying his revolting touch, he lets his grip loosen slightly, smiling back at me… oh, he likes compliant girls, does he? I think he only likes unconscious ones though, ones who can’t fight back, what a pig. In my peripheral, I see Liliana’s body half hanging out of the car, he’s attempted to drag her onto the back seat but her legs are still hanging out, touching the pavement. My stomach twists at this sick son of a bitch.

  Before he can man-handle me for another disgusting moment longer, I bring my leg up fast and knee him in the balls hard, then I quickly turn and lunge for the door, getting a good grip on the handle and yank it open. I can hear him groaning behind me. The weird thing is, I don’t make it inside because I run right into a large, concrete brick wall of a chest and I’m swiftly pushed back out the door.

  I glance up and almost cry with relief. I never thought I’d be as happy to see the son of a bitch in front of me as I am right now. Steel looks down at me, enraged, and then grabs my shoulders and hauls me behind him.

  “What the fuck’s happening?” he demands, looking from me to the guy on the ground holding his junk. “Tell me fast.”

  “He took this girl from the bar and she left her phone, I’m pretty sure he slipped something in her drink, he said her name was Sarah, now he’s trying to man-handle me, so I kicked him in the balls.” It all comes out so fast that I don’t even know if he caught it all. I point to his car on the other side of the dumpster.

  Before I even know what’s happening, I turn around and he king hits the guy so hard, he flies backward and hits his head on the pavement as he lands awkwardly. I wince and jump back. He rushes over to the car and I watch as he lifts Liliana’s lifeless body up, checks her pulse, then steadies her back onto the seat gently. The guy, who’s now flat on the ground moaning in pain, has blood gushing out of his nose, he won’t be getting up for a while. Steel turns back to face me. I hear the unmistakable rumble of motorbikes in the distance. The cavalry is on its way, why am I not surprised?

  Steel’s dark eyes look more menacing than usual as he walks back over and kicks the guy in the ribs. He kicks again, then holds him up by the lapels of his shirt and punches him in the face again and again and again. He only stops when I call his name, but it’s more of a shriek.

  He glances up, dumps the guy’s body down, he could be dead for all I know, and moves toward me quickly.

  “Did he hurt you?” he barks at me, pointing in my face.

  I shake my head because I can’t speak but I flinch at his ferocity.

  “Jesus, woman, I’m not going to hurt you,” he states, looking over his shoulder toward the car. “That girl he took from the bar… Lily, she’s my sister, she sent me this weird text…”

  But before he can finish his sentence, I hear the sirens. Someone must have seen the kafuffle and called the cops because the patrol car is turning off the main street and making its way up the alleyway toward us, the blue and red lights flashing wildly.

  I close my eyes and steel myself to stand up straight.

  “You’re Lily’s brother?” I say slowly, I don’t know why I’m shocked, maybe because she is so tiny and fragile and he’s like a monster.

  He doesn’t answer.

  I watch on as he does the unthinkable. The cops get out and immediately start yelling at us, Steel’s face is an unreadable mask of coldness, and his eyes—that striking green-grey that hold mine—are fierce as he backs away slowly from me, then drops to his knees, one by one, nice and slowly with his hands behind his head.

  What the hell is he doing?

  Before he gets all the way down, he slides something towards me and says, “Put this in your jeans, they won’t search you.”

  I realize, as it skitters towards me, that it’s a large knife wrapped in a pouch. I grab it quickly and do as he says, shoving it into the back of my jeans a
s I pull my shirt out to cover it.

  When I glance up, he’s facing me, waiting to be handcuffed as his dangerous and beautiful eyes never leave mine.

  “You need to explain to them exactly what happened,” he says calmly, too calmly, like he’s been here before.

  “Okay.” I nod. The only thing I can do is tell the truth here anyway.

  I look from him to the cop car at about the same time as two officers run our way, telling him to freeze and put his hands up, which he’s already doing anyway.

  “Miss…” the lady officer yells, looking from me to Steel, then to the guy on the ground trying to work out what’s going on. Her gun is held out. “Are you hurt?”

  “No,” I say shakily, “but he didn’t do anything.” I point at the guy rolling around on the ground noisily, “It’s that asshole there, he drugged Lily at the bar, she’s over in the back of that car…”

  The male officer comes behind Steel and, unnecessarily, he pushes his knees wider with his boot, roughly frisking him, then cuffs him swiftly at the wrists so his arms are pulled all the way back behind him.

  “Talk to me, Steel,” the officer says urgently.

  So, they know each other. He looks like a navy seal—short hair, not tall but thick and bulky and wears his uniform well. He glances at me then shoves at Steel again to make him talk. “What the hell’s going on?”

  “Lily needs an ambulance,” Steel replies, nodding over toward the dude’s car. “She’s been drugged.”

  The officer nods to the lady cop and she makes the call, then he looks towards me. “What’s your name?”

  “Sienna Morgan,” I stammer. “I work here, I followed her out because she left her phone on the bar and then he tried to attack me too.”

  Steel’s eyes go wide and he actually turns a shade of purple right before my eyes, he looks so angry he may combust, in fact, he begins to rise again but the cop shoves him back down with his boot. The female officer is checking on Lily now, she comes back into view a few moments later.

  “This true, Steel? Talk to me,” the male cop barks. Why isn’t Steel defending himself?

  “You know that’s Lily,” he gruffs angrily. “Check her phone if you must, Sienna has it. Better still, mine’s in my back pocket, she sent me a text about bein’ in trouble and I came to find her.”

  The cop does just that. Clearly, they know each other but have trust issues.

  “You gonna uncuff me?” Steel barks at him.

  Satisfied with what he reads, the officer reluctantly uncuffs him. Steel has done nothing wrong! I want to yell at him.

  The guy on the ground begins to roll over suddenly, I honestly don’t know how he can even be breathing, his face is covered in blood and swelling fast. Although he doesn’t stand or even get to his knees, he reaches toward me helplessly like I’m going to help him! He’s a mess and he’s a glutton for punishment. I give him another swift kick in the balls since he won’t be using them for a while, and the officer yells at us to freeze. I don’t know if it’s to him or me.

  “Sick son of a bitch!” I yell at him as he drops down again, clutching his crotch.

  I look up to find Steel’s hand on my elbow, he begins steering me backward away from the commotion. “I’m glad that boot isn’t aimed at me,” he says quietly, a smirk dashing across his lips.

  He moves me aside, his hand still at my elbow as the cops do their job and haul the guy to his feet, or rather, drag him toward the police car. A crowd has formed behind the vehicle as people strain their necks to see what’s going on, the sound of rumbling motorbikes has stopped. Two of the guys from the meeting—I can’t remember their names, but the one who has the Mohawk and the other large guy with long hair, Brock, I think—come skidding on foot into the alleyway as the female cop tells them to get back.

  “We don’t need any more trouble,” the male officer adds with authority.

  “Hand him over to us, Jenkins,” Steel says calmly, turning to face them head-on. “Then there won’t need to be any trouble.”

  He still holds me with one hand, it snakes firmly around my arm, I’m now facing his back so I can’t see, it’s as if he’s shielding me. Unfathomably, I clutch onto the back of his leather vest so I don’t fall, shock suddenly setting in.

  “Just step aside,” the officer called Jenkins replies, “don’t make this any harder than it already is, Steel, I’m warning you. This is now a police matter and we will deal with it.”

  More police cars arrive and I can tell from the looks on the other biker’s faces that they are bummed they’re too late. I can only imagine what they had in store for the guy if the cops hadn’t got here so quickly.

  He turns back to look down at me. “You okay?”

  I nod. He lets go of me once the dude is safely in the back of the patrol car and then races back over to the other car and picks up Liliana in his arms. An ambulance comes screaming down the other end of the alleyway a few moments later, and she swiftly gets loaded in the back on a stretcher, it’s awful seeing her limp, lifeless body like that. I feel so sick just watching it.

  “Steel?” Brock says, then some silent communication goes on between them.

  “I’m going with Lil to the hospital,” Steel replies, then points at me. “She’s coming with me; she may have been hurt, so she needs to get checked out too.”

  They nod as Jenkins comes back toward us after closing the doors of the patrol car, two other male officers come up behind him, backup has arrived.

  “We need you to come down and give us a statement,” Jenkins states, then nods to Steel.

  “After she gets seen by a doctor.” Steel has authority in his tone. When I try to object and say I haven’t been injured, he just gives me a look of disapproval, so I keep my mouth shut.

  Jenkins reluctantly agrees. “Drop by the station immediately after she gets the all-clear.” He shifts his eyes back to Steel. “I hope Lily is okay.”

  The concern on his face is very kind; he seems like a good guy.

  Steel nods and reaches his hand toward me, beckoning me to him. As if I were a fragile deer, the mohawked biker gently steers me by my elbow and escorts me toward Steel. When I reach him, he takes me by the hand.

  “I’ll go and let the bouncers know what happened, Stef here?” he asks me.

  I shake my head. “She went to a funeral out of town.”

  “Okay, honey,” he replies and disappears through the exit door after Brock.

  Steel helps me into the back of the ambulance.

  “Are you sure you’re okay?” he asks as we sit opposite each other in between Lily’s stretcher.

  I nod. “Just shaken up, that shit was pretty heavy.”

  I glance down at his bloodied hands, but he does not seem fazed by it and shrugs off one of the paramedics who offers to take a look. I notice the other hand bears knuckle dusters and I shudder at the thought of the damage he’s done to that guy’s face; he’ll probably be drinking from a straw for the rest of his life. That piece of shit deserves it though.

  “Are your hands hurt?” I whisper.

  He runs the knuckle dusted one through his hair then glances over at me, taking his time to respond. “Not as much as his face,” he mutters as if just taking in the severity of the situation. “What the fuck just happened?”

  The paramedic has Lily stable and a blanket is wrapped around her. “It’s likely Rohypnol,” he says. “It’ll wear off in about six or eight hours.”

  “The date rape drug,” Steel confirms.

  The paramedic nods. “We need to give her fluids, monitor her, let it run its course.”

  I stare at her lifeless body and feel sick all over again. Relief, however, swiftly replaces that, the fact she’s okay is all that matters now. I’m so glad Steel arrived; I don’t want to think about what could have happened… what almost happened.

  We ride all the way downtown to the hospital in complete and utter silence.

  *

  I hate the smell of hospitals.
They are extremely depressing places but Steel refuses to let me go home, and frankly, I don’t actually know how to get back to the Stone Crow from here.

  We’re seated in the emergency room, waiting for word on Lily.

  Suddenly, from behind a curtain, an older woman comes rushing towards us in scrubs and then she does a very strange thing; she looks up at Steel, then he bends and gives her a hug followed by a kiss on the cheek.

  “Mom, this is Sienna,” he says as my eyes go wide. Their mom. She’s so tiny. “Sienna, this is my mom.”

  “Helen,” she replies, then instead of shaking hands, she pulls me into a tight embrace. “The ambulance officers told me what happened; I don’t even know where to begin or how to thank you.”

  I look up at Steel leaning against the wall, he makes no attempt to save me.

  “It all happened so fast,” I admit. “Can we see her?”

  She pulls back and smiles at me kindly, she has Steel’s eyes.

  “Yes, of course. Follow me.”

  She starts up the hallway and we follow behind. I feel his hand at my elbow again; it seems he likes doing that.

  “She needs to be checked out,” he says to his mom and I presume he means me.

  “Speak for yourself,” I retort, pointing at his bloodied hands.

  We follow her into a room and see Lily hooked up to a monitor, she has a clear bag of fluid on a drip attached to her arm. Helen sits on the end of the bed looking at her.

  “The cops get him?” she asks as Steel closes the door quietly behind us.

  He nods. “Yes, unfortunately.”

  “Well, it’s for the best,” she mutters, but her tone indicates she doesn’t mean that. She looks at me. “Were you hurt, Sienna?”

  I shake my head. “No, but I did knee him hard, I’ve got pretty hard kneecaps, though I may have a bruise tomorrow.”

  Her eyes go watery. “I can never thank you enough for your quick thinking, this is my baby.” She pulls out a tissue from her sleeve and wipes her eyes; I feel a lump in my throat.

  “I’m just so glad she’s going to be okay,” I say in a small voice, looking over at Steel. He likes to lean a lot, somehow, he makes it look cool. He moves over to the closed bathroom door and goes in, I hear the water running and he comes back a few moments later with clean hands.