Steel: Bracken Ridge Rebels MC (Book 1)

by Mackenzy Fox

  He paces back and forth. “Who are you?” he splutters. “Why are you here?”

  “I was a friend, took her in when she had nowhere else to go,” I retort, “was being the operative word, until the bitch double-crossed me because that’s what she does, right? You know only too well what she’s capable of; uses you, gets what she wants, then spits you out the minute she’s done with you. Well, she picked the wrong guy this time.”

  He sneers like he agrees. “She does that, she’ll suck the life right out of you, stupid whore got fucked over because she never listens, started telling me what I can and can’t do, where have I been? Who’ve I been seeing? She doesn’t know her place, so I shut her up good the last time, pity the pigs got there before I could teach her to shut her pie hole for good.”

  God, and I thought I was a misogynistic asshole. I imagine me tearing out his vocal chords so I don’t have to hear his voice ever again. I want to hurt him permanently.

  “Hear ya on that,” I manage to spit.

  “What do you want?” He narrows his eyes suspiciously as he kicks Cassidy’s chair and she flinches; my gut tightens even more.

  “To make Sienna suffer, I double-crossed her; said I’d get her cousin back unharmed when she came askin’ me for help, but what I really wanna do is make her watch,” I smile slyly as he smirks, oh yeah, he likes that idea, stupid fuck.

  Cassidy’s eyes go round like saucers. Ewan smiles like he actually believes it. This is going much better than I thought.

  “We have a common denominator here,” I go on since I’ve got his attention, “and I have a clubhouse full of brothers who like to take turns if you get my drift, you get Sienna, I get this new little whore and nobody has to know anything. It’ll be our little secret, we’re done with that thieving little bitch anyway, she’s too much trouble.”

  “I want my money,” he stammers. Shit, what money? “She owes me for what she did to me, I lost my job, my house, my car, respect… I lost everything!”

  I think of a story for a split second.

  “She has money from the sale of her dead fuck-wit father’s house where she’s been shacked up the last few months; suppose she never told you about that, did she?” I say like we’re old chums. “I can get the cash out of her, she ain’t got much choice, there’s at least a hundred grand in it, could be quite lucrative for you, scratch like that don’t grow on trees.”

  His eyes light up like Christmas. I really want to cut him. I’m glad I sharpened my knife before we left; I want to see him bleed.

  Cassidy shakes in the chair as I physically restrain myself from rushing at him and choking him to death, at least he has relaxed the gun.

  “But in order for that to happen, we make an exchange,” I go on. “I want her,” I point at Cassidy menacingly; I need him to think I intend to hurt her as this is what this sicko gets off on. The thought of him with my beautiful, sweet, innocent Sienna curdles my blood cold. How did she even get with this guy? I mean, I know I’m no oil painting, but seriously.

  “How do I know this isn’t a trap?” he splutters, he moves from one side of the room to the other. “How do I know you won’t double-cross me the minute I give her up?” He’s getting more agitated by the second, going from calm to erratic in the blink of any eye, he even turns his back on me.

  “You don’t,” I say flatly, “the fact that I’m here alone says it all though, I take her back and my brothers are happy—fresh meat. She’s sweet as pie, they’ll forget all about Sienna and what she’s done, they’re off my back, it’s a win-win.”

  It feels like poison coming out of my mouth but he’s starting to trust me, I can tell by the idiotic look on his face that he’s considering it. We’re not comrades, stupid fucker.

  “I want her now,” he yells out, wiping his elbow sleeve across his forehead in a panic, switching tact. “You go get her and we’ll make the exchange.”

  I shake my head as I step closer, my hands still up, it’s a daring move getting closer but I try to make out I’m just trying to be a nice guy by surrendering and appearing like I just want to be buddies. “I have no assurance that you won’t shoot me and keep the girls for yourself; think about it, for me, it ain’t a smart move.”

  “How do I know there are no others out there?” He nods behind me, if only he knew there’s a sniper rifle pointed at his head right now. I really don’t want Bones to shoot him because he deserves to suffer like what poor Cassidy has as well as reap the repercussions for the trauma he’s put Sienna through.

  I scoff like that’s ridiculous. “Do you honestly think my club would be in on this? They’ve no idea I’m even here, I have to save face on this, I’ve risked a lot by even being here.”

  I hope he doesn’t ask me why I haven’t thought about taking the so-called money myself instead of just handing it all to him, but he’s too wasted to think that intelligently, thank God.

  He smirks like the devil. “She fucks with your mind,” he says, tapping his head again with the gun. “This is what she does, she screws you so far into the ground that you can’t get back up again, she destroyed me and everyone I’ve ever known, turned against me too.”

  That’s what happens when you beat up women, asshole.

  I nod sagely. “I know, she has to pay and she will, let this bitch go and I’ll go get Sienna.”

  I need that fucking gun.

  He paces again, running his other hand through his hair. “I don’t know, I don’t know…” he mutters over and over.

  “Come on, man, I want to get out of here,” I say, I’ve moved a couple more steps towards him and if he shoots me now, I’ll have to be quick to get a shot out of my own, yeah, I’m packed. I really need no shots to be fired because I intend to make whatever is about to happen look like an accident—bullets are harder to hide than blades.

  “Go get her!” he screams.

  I hold my hands up again. “Alright, alright,” I say, “but at least untie her, that way I know you intend on letting her go. Do that and I’ll go and get what you want and Sienna is yours.”

  He thinks for a second, then, to my surprise, he complies, muttering under his breath.

  Cassidy whimpers as I look at her, I close my eyes and breathe deeply. I just need him distracted for a few seconds.

  “You won’t try anything?” he says which just goes to show how delusional he actually is.

  I sigh impatiently. “Why would I? We’re in this together, bro, you can keep the gun, it’s only fair you untie her for reassurance. Sienna is bound and gagged in my car, she’s all yours.”

  That piece of information should please him, his eyes go wide and he smiles.

  Cassidy starts to whimper again. Please, for the love of God, hold it together.

  He thinks about it then nods. “Fine, but stay back.”

  He moves toward Cassidy and bends down, his eyes totally off me now and goes to untie the back of her hands, he’s obviously tied the knots good because he can’t undo them with one hand, I watch as he goes to rest the gun down on the floor, then changes his mind and shoves it in the front of his pants. He now has no hands on the gun and is untying her wrists. I take no time at all to rush at him. It’s so fast, he shrieks as I come toward him, and in a few short steps, I lunge on him with all my weight. I pound his face with my fists and then go for the ribs like he’s my personal punching bag. I hit him so hard, I hear bones crack.

  “You think you can treat fucking women like this?” I scream in his face. He’s bleeding profusely from his nose and I’m sure I just broke his jaw. “You’re a piece of shit, I’m gonna enjoy gutting you, but maybe I’ll let Sienna do it instead.” His eyes go wide as I push him back so he doesn’t get his blood on me, he stumbles backward and loses balance. I watch as he falls hard back on the concrete floor. I hear the crack as he goes down. Shit.

  Suddenly, I hear noise behind me as Brock and Colt crash through the door, guns blazing as I stand over him and kick his leg with my boot. He ain’t moving and h
e’s bleeding like a pig.

  I grab the gun from his pants, flick the safety on, and shove it down the back of my jeans, then I check his pulse. He ain’t breathing. I can’t help but feel disappointed that I only got a couple of hits in, he deserved to suffer.

  I turn as I see Brock and Colt standing around me, followed by Dalton and Lee. Bones comes running in a moment later and Colt keeps untying Cassidy’s wrists from behind the chair. He rips her gag off as I move in front of her and crouch down.

  “Cassidy, I’m Steel, I’m a friend of Sienna’s. I’m here to help you, honey, none of what I said to him is true.” I hold my hands up as Colt finally releases her bounded wrists and she sits staring at me, dumbfounded. Her wrists are badly bruised and almost purple, she doesn’t even go to rub them. I glance up at Colt as he looks at me worriedly.

  “You hurt?” I check her over quickly but she doesn’t move or answer me. “Sienna’s here, she’s safe outside, everything’s gonna be alright now, okay, sweetie?”

  She doesn’t respond, she just stares at me blankly.

  “What’s wrong with her?” Colt mutters quietly.

  “Shock,” I state with a long breath. I’ve seen it enough times to know. This isn’t good.

  “Shall I go get Sienna?” Brock asks as I stand up and run a hand through my hair.

  “No,” I bark. God, she doesn’t need to see this. “Lee and Dalton get back out front, secure the area, we’ve gotta clean this up pronto.”

  As they go to leave, a sudden movement at the doorway has me turning in that direction. To my astonishment, I see Gunner appear.

  “What the fuck are you doing?” I yell at him.

  He’s holding Sienna by the elbow, she seems out of breath. I give Gunner an expression that says he’s got two seconds to answer but he doesn’t get a chance.

  “Cassidy!” Sienna shrieks as she breaks free and runs toward us, I catch her mid-run and swing her into my arms against my body, effectively pulling her back. She begins to wail and fight against me.

  “I told you to stay in the car,” I say between gritted teeth. I already have one catatonic woman on my hands right now, I don’t need Sienna hysterical, that won’t help.

  She looks up at me as I glare at Gunner. “It’s not his fault, I pretended I had to pee.”

  I give Gunner a pointed look and he holds both hands up.

  Then she notices Ewan’s body slumped on the ground, blood is oozing out of his head.

  “Oh my God. Is he…”

  I look down at her and nod.

  Her eyes go wide.

  “She needs you,” I say, nodding to Cassidy. I let go of her and she darts onto her knees, and as she does, her cousin falls into her arms and shakes uncontrollably. I’m concerned there’s no sobbing or any sound at all but at least this is some kind of progress.

  Gunner hangs around nervously in the doorway. “We need to get out of here,” he says, looking toward the open door, “like yesterday.”

  “No shit, Sherlock, but now we’ve got a dead body on our hands.”

  “Could call it in,” says Bones, “we have proof she was being blackmailed, its self-defense, it’ll stick.”

  “Or we make it look like an accident,” Colt suggests. I like that idea better.

  “No need to involve 5-0, got a better idea,” I say.

  “Can’t trust the pigs,” says Gunner, moving towards me to get a better look.

  I point at Brock. “Get his car around the front, there’s a bridge about a mile up; a terribly tragic car accident will clear all of this up quite nicely and leave nobody implicated.”

  Sienna continues to cry as Cassidy sits there limply staring into space, she looks up at me.

  “You killed him?” she looks horrified.

  I press my lips together. “Luckily for him, it was quick. He fell after I slugged him and cracked his skull, trust me when I say what I wanted to do to him involved him being very much alive.”

  “He had a gun?” she stammers.

  “Yes, and he was gonna use it.”

  She gulps and looks back at her cousin. They look alike, except Cassidy has darker hair and she’s paler, maybe that’s because all the blood is drained from her face.

  “Shit, is she gonna be okay?” Colt waves a hand in front of Cassidy’s face, she doesn’t even blink, it’s definitely shock, I need to get her out of here.

  “She might need a doctor,” Sienna whimpers. She looks down at her ex’s body and buries her head into Cassidy’s shoulder. “Oh, God, what a mess.”

  “We need to get the fuck out of here,” I say to the boys, I kneel down next to Sienna.

  “We need to go, babe, I’m gonna take care of all of this but I need you to do this last little thing for me and get her out of here so we can clean this up, you got me?”

  Sienna looks at me with tear-stained eyes and my heart lurches, she’s been through so much.

  “Thank you,” she whispers. “Thank you, all of you, for being here, I don’t know what I would have done…” She begins to cry again.

  I run my hand down the side of her jaw and cup her face with both hands, then kiss her gently. “There’s time for all of that later, I need you safe and away from here and we have to get Cassidy out, can you do that for me, sweetheart?”

  She nods, completely trusting that I’ll fix this. Nobody will be implicated because I’ve hatched a plan and I’m gonna stick with it. Accidental death by car crash. Such a pity.

  Brock returns from through the doorway. “Ready.”

  I turn back to Sienna. “She’s not moving,” she cries, looking helpless as she gives her cousin a shake, “Cassidy, are you alright? Speak to me!”

  I go to move but Colt steps in front of me. “I’ve got this,” he bends down and takes Cassidy by the hands.

  We watch as he scoops her out of the chair and into his arms, all the while, she just hangs there limply and lets him take her; I guess it’s better than kicking and screaming, but still, this isn’t good.

  “It’s alright, darlin’, we’re going to take good care of you,” he whispers. “Nobody’s gonna hurt you anymore.”

  I frown, not knowing Colt had this side to him, but I waste no time in pulling Sienna up off the floor and lead her behind Colt to the door.

  “You go with Colt now to the car. Me, Brock, and Gunner won’t be far behind.”

  “No,” Sienna stammers. “I want to stay with you.”

  Now isn’t the time for her stubborn shit. I pull her close to me and whisper in her ear. “Be a good girl and do as I say; your cousin needs you and only you can help her right now, I need you to be strong while I take care of this. You wanna be a good ol’ lady?”

  I pull back and she stares up at me.

  “Yes,” she whispers surprising me. “I do, Steel.”

  My heart hammers at her words.

  “Then go with Colt and keep Cassidy warm while you wait for us, that’s not a request, now go.”

  “What if we need a doctor?” she stammers.

  “Then we’ll go and find one.” I hope she doesn’t, if we do need to see someone, she might blurt out what just happened and I can’t have that.

  She clutches onto my cut. “I love you, Steel,” she whispers. I wipe away her tears with my thumbs and kiss her on the forehead, I’m just glad this is over.

  Bones’ and Brock’s eyes meet mine over the top of her head; they aren’t used to seeing this side of me, including public displays of affection like the one in progress, so I need to get this moving along.

  “I’ll love you a whole lot more if we can get the hell out of here,” I say in her ear.

  I kiss her gently once and turn her by the shoulders to follow Bones and Colt out the door with Cassidy in his arms.

  The plan is, we’ll lay low once we’re beyond the outskirts of the city tonight and bunker down, we’ll get some rest and get back to Bracken Ridge tomorrow, but right now, me, Brock, and Gunner have an ‘accident’ to go and take care of.


  “I’ll get something out of the truck for the body,” Brock nods toward the corpse on the floor, there’s a pool of blood around his head.

  “You carry body bags, dude?” Gunner says, giving him a sideways glance.

  “If only,” Brock says, jogging out of the shed to go and get whatever he’s got.

  I turn to Gunner.

  “You had one job to do,” I point at him, “you can’t even keep one pint-sized girl in a locked truck for fuck’s sake.”

  He rolls his eyes. “She said she was gonna pee herself, I was thinkin’ about your leather seats, dude, sue me.”

  I shake my head. “You’re just lucky I had this under control when I did, otherwise, things could have gone down a whole lot differently if she’d barged in here a minute earlier.”

  “Don’t blame me, she’s got a temper and she’s sneaky, a bit too clever if you ask me, think you got your hands full with that one, champ.”

  “Don’t I know it, but that’s no excuse, thought you had a way with women?” I reply, annoyed, he needs to take this more seriously, that could have been so much worse.

  “Don’t you wanna know what we did the last half an hour?”

  “I just killed someone, now’s not the time to be cute.”

  “She’s a good woman,” he slaps me on the back, “think she’d make a good ol’ lady, don’t blame you for not wanting to let her go, she’s got spunk.”

  I turn to stare at him. “You do, huh? Can I stop threatening to hurt you now?”

  “Only if you bring it to the table,” he smirks, “you got my vote.”

  Oh, yeah, Sienna’s just gonna love that.

  I rub my chin, best not to think about that right now.

  We both look down at the body.

  “Why are some people so fucked up?” I wonder.

  He shakes his head. “Neglected as a kid, dropped on his head at birth, who knows? Fucker deserved all he got though.”

  “Yeah, and then some.”

  “Glad he can’t hurt anyone else,” Gunner agrees.

  “Pity I didn’t get to do what I really wanted, then he’d have known the meaning of pain and suffering,” I grunt. I don’t feel one inch of sympathy, assholes like him may get a couple of years in state pen and then get let out on good behavior, it would never end for Sienna, she’d always be living in fear. I only hope both the girls can get over this in time, especially poor Cassidy.