ANARCHY (Iron Kings MC, #4)

by Franca Storm

I tensed in the uncomfortable worn chair I was sitting on in front of Spartan’s desk as his words echoed hauntingly through his office. Eyeing Wraith, I saw he’d had the same reaction, preparing for whatever it was that was about to come our way.

  “Through a couple of our contacts, we got confirmation that Haywire’s made more than just a stupid-ass deal with the Fury this time.” A grave look took him over. “They’ve offered him membership in exchange for a death blow to their enemy, Lone Outlaws.”

  “How the hell do they think they’re gonna do that?” I asked, surprised by their strategy. “We just beefed up Outlaws security. Business is going to be booming thanks to their alliance with us. Somebody goes to war against them, they go against us, and vice-versa.”

  Spartan looked disgusted by whatever it was he was about to tell us. He even took a beat before revealing, “Taking out the Outlaws club princess.”

  My whole body went stock-still for a few moments.

  An ice-cold sensation flooded me, like freezer burn seeping deep into my flesh.

  The terror-filled paralysis faded quickly, giving way to a fiery surge of rage.

  It was wild and unrelenting and fucking intense.

  For one thing, I wasn’t used to feeling actual fear, let alone terror. Terror for her, the logical thinker in me immediately calculating every scenario and viewing one where they achieved what they wanted and hurt her like that, taking her from me. Then, to flip on a dime to pure, driven rage… it was a lot. And it was incredibly difficult to keep off my face. I was clutching the sides of the chair in a death grip as it was.

  In my peripheral vision, through the rage threatening to engulf me, I saw Wraith give me a warning look, willing me to keep it together.

  “There’s no way that’s happening,” he said, as much to me, I was sure, as to Spartan.

  “Same thing I told Python when I broke the news to him. He ain’t taking it well, though. To be expected. I know how that is better than anybody.”

  “The problem is, Python isn’t exactly know for being levelheaded like you. He allows emotion to govern his actions and supersede his good sense. He’s got a long history of it,” Wraith pointed out.

  “Yeah, he fucking does,” Spartan said, shaking his head. “He wants her sent back there and put under lockdown at the clubhouse under heavy, fortified security.”

  “What?” I barked, before I could reel it in.

  Fortunately, Spartan took my outburst as a comment on Python’s bad decision-making, not the intensely personal outburst it really was.

  “I know,” he said. “He’s already fucking told her as far as I know. I got off the phone with him a half hour ago and he said that was his next move. Ordering her home.”

  “She’s safer here,” I pointed out. “This small town is controlled by us extremely well. The Lone Outlaws clubhouse is located in a city with so many unruly elements. Even with our security upgrades and everything, with a threat like this from an insider like Haywire, there’s still more risk involved.”

  “I hear you,” Spartan agreed. “But she ain’t my daughter. She ain’t one of ours. It’s his call and nobody else’s.”

  “What about her and what she wants?” I asked.

  Spartan shrugged. “She don’t get a vote. Safety measures to protect the club princess override all else.” He eyed Wraith. “And you thought it’d been bad for Ash. Way worse with the Outlaws.”

  “Jesus,” Wraith muttered.

  Spartan leaned back in his leather chair with a heavy sigh. “Anyhow, that’s why I called you both in here. Finn, I want you heading down to my contact who’s had eyes on Haywire. See if you can track him while the lead’s still hot. Anarchy, you’ve been running point on Hayley’s protection all this time, so I want you to be the one to transport her back to the Lone Outlaws clubhouse.”

  I ground my teeth and kept clenching and unclenching my fists, trying hard to get a grip. I’d almost slipped up once. I couldn’t show Spartan that I gave a crap about sending Hayley back home.

  But, I did. I cared a fuck of a lot.

  With her finally being on our territory, we’d been able to spend a lot more time together, because I knew Ridgefield so well, meaning I was able to manage the secrecy of our being together much more easily.

  We’d gotten a lot closer. We were building something, despite all the obstacles and improbabilities. Something amazing. I didn’t want anything screwing with that and taking that away from me, away from us, away from her. The idea of her going back home and being locked up away from me was like a kick in the junk. The same brutal, shocking pain that felt like it’d never abate.

  I forced myself to respond to Spartan. “What’s the timeframe?”

  “Python wants her back there in forty-eight hours.”

  “All right,” I conceded. “I’ll start making the necessary arrangements.”

  More like, find a way around it all, some sort of alternative.

  I couldn’t let her go.

  I wouldn’t.

  Hayley Calloway was mine.

  14

  ~Anarchy~

  WHAT THE FUCK?

  I shot Wrecker a look as I strode up to him. He was leaning against the wall beside the entrance to Riverview Eatery, smoking a cigarette.

  The place was closed right now to the general public, because Skylar Wright was running auditions for the burlesque club, testing out dancers as well as highly-skilled bartenders who had that whole Cocktail showmanship thing going for them.

  I’d called Wrecker to get Hayley’s location as he’d been her protection for most of the day while I’d been dealing with meetings with Prez, then Wraith, then organizing the details of her transport back to Lone Outlaws territory with Tricks. Wrecker had told me she was here. Apparently, she’d worn him down, asking to come here and he’d let her, knowing the place was fortified with security and she’d be under the supervision of Sky, so she wouldn’t get in any trouble.

  “What’s she doing in there?” I asked him as I reached him.

  “Sky called her about some business opportunity. She heard about her skilled work on overhauling the security for Lone Outlaws. Guess she thinks the girl can be an asset.”

  That had me pulling up short.

  Sky had a lot of holdings. If she offered Hayley a job, it could end up being anywhere. Miles away from here, maybe. What the fuck was happening today? All this bull coming out of the woodwork threatening to pull us apart like this?

  “You all right?” Wrecker asked, eyeing me with concern as he took another drag of his smoke.

  Fuck. I was losing it.

  All this shit with Hayley was too intense. I wasn’t used to feeling things like this. Hell, I wasn’t used to feeling much at all. It was a simpler life to lead. I just hadn’t realized how empty it had been until I’d experienced something more, experienced her. And now, I couldn’t imagine going back to that, going back to being without her.

  I scrubbed my hand over my jaw and gave Wrecker a nod. “Yeah. All good.”

  “All right, brother,” he said, pushing off the side of the building. He slapped my shoulder and chuckled as he walked by, “Have a good night with the princess.”

  I tensed.

  He glanced over his shoulder. There was a weird glint in his eye as he said, “You know, with bodyguard duty and all that?”

  Shit. Did he know?

  I was so caught off guard by the prospect, that he was peeling out of the parking lot by the time I got it together to ask strategically without revealing the truth, in case he didn’t actually know. Dammit.

  I’d leave it for now and keep an eye on the situation. If he did know he would’ve outed me by now if he’d wanted to. But I was confident that he wouldn’t. He knew better than a lot of the brothers what it was like to be wrapped up in a woman. He’d been going strong with a live-in girlfriend when he’d joined the club. The guy was a romantic at heart. It was obvious enough in the way he dealt with his one-nighters. He wanted the companionship more
than the fucking. But he stuck to casual hook-ups, because he’d been burned so bad in the past. He wouldn’t burn somebody else who’d found that kind of love.

  Love?

  Was that what this was?

  It had to be.

  It was more than sex, more than lust. Thinking about her going away, back to the Lone Outlaws had a painful ache burning deep in my gut. I couldn’t stand the idea of being without her.

  I wasn’t gonna give her up. I wouldn’t let her go.

  Hell, I was gonna tell her that right the hell now.

  I shoved open the door and stepped inside Riverview.

  The lights were dimmed low, the chairs and tables blanketed in darkness. A few blue-tinted pot lights illuminated the bar to my right. Sky was there with an iPad in hand, making notes on the performances of a couple of bartenders doing their thing.

  The heavy thump of my motorcycle boots on the old hardwood floor had Sky swinging her head toward me. She smiled when she saw me and held her hand up to the two bartenders to hold tight. Then she strutted over to me with that whole fierce CEO attitude she always had going on.

  “Here for Hayley, huh?”

  “Yeah. Where’s she at?” I asked, doing another scan of the place and still not seeing any sign of her.

  “She’ll be out in a minute or two,” she answered cryptically.

  What? Out of where?

  Sky gestured to the portable stage that had been set up inside Riverview specifically for the burlesque club auditions. Eyeing me curiously, she said, “Why haven’t you come by to watch the auditions? D said you’d be into it, hence me giving you that special, standing invitation.”

  Yeah, I didn’t have the road name, Anarchy, for nothing. Along with hating authority and power that fell in the hands of the undeserving and corrupt, I was also known for liking things that bucked societal norms and conventions. Just like with the whole MC life. And burlesque fit into that well. But I’d had other priorities lately.

  I shrugged, telling her, “Been busy.”

  Busy with Hayley.

  I heard the clack of heels behind me by the stage and Sky’s gaze darted there. She grinned. “Well, at least you’re going to see one performance.”

  A song started up, Bump n' Grind by R. Kelly, a sexy slow jam with a shot of dirty mixed in.

  I eyed the stage, which was still blanketed in darkness.

  And then a muted spotlight shone down on the silhouette of a woman sitting with her legs crossed, leaning back on a high-backed chair. A burst of light hit her body, a black satin robe covering it and a pair of fuck-me heels exposed at the bottom.

  She spread her legs suddenly to the beat, bearing a pair of silky thighs.

  And then she bolted up, kicked back her chair and shoved the robe off her shoulders.

  Even before she was then bathed in full light, and her vibrant blue hair and eyes came into view, I knew. Hell, I’d recognize that body anywhere.

  Fuck me.

  My mouth went dry at the sight of her curvy body. A glittering black corset pushed her tits up into a mouthwatering cleavage. A matching skirt was just shy of covering her bubble butt, a thong peeking through as she bent over.

  She was a fucking knockout.

  But it was more than that.

  Her performance, the way she moved to the raunchy beat.

  She was bringing some major attitude.

  No inhibitions. She knew what she had was ace and she was all for flaunting it.

  She was just so… free.

  Full of life.

  A goddamn rebel.

  That fire of hers was out in full force.

  And it was fucking beautiful.

  I couldn’t take my eyes off of her.

  Every move.

  Every expression.

  Every emotion that flickered across her face.

  I was mesmerized.

  When the music stopped and her routine came to an end, it was like being snapped out of some sort of hypnotic state.

  Cold hard reality set in.

  What the hell was she playing at? Why was she up there?

  Applause and wolf-whistling from Sky cut into my thoughts.

  It drew Hayley’s attention to us and I saw her eyes widen when she saw me, realizing I’d just witnessed her performance. She became all flustered and hurried off the stage into the back.

  “Damn,” I heard one of the bartenders comment.

  I looked to see him basically salivating over what he’d just seen. What he’d just seen of her.

  Anger burned within me. A powerful wave of possessiveness took hold of me. It had me grinding my teeth, my fists clenching. It was the second time in one goddamn day I’d had such an extreme, almost out-of-control reaction over her.

  What the fuck was she doing to me?

  ***

  “Whiskey. Straight up.”

  At the sound of Hayley’s voice, my hand tightened around the bottle of Jack I was sipping.

  It’d been a struggle to take my time with it, when all I wanted to do was to down the entire thing and numb all the intense feelings and all the bullshit that just seemed to keep coming at me. But not only was I riding, I was responsible for Hayley’s protection. I needed to be on the ball.

  I drew in a calming breath, put the bottle down, and turned around to face her.

  “The last thing you need is hard liquor right now. The next thing I know, you’ll be taking all your fucking clothes off for anybody who happens to look your way.”

  She steeled herself at my harsh words, shifting her weight and folding her arms across her chest, going on the defensive. “Wow,” she spoke. “That was nasty.”

  Yeah, it was. And I was pissed it’d come exploding out of me like that.

  I’d been mulling it all over and trying to calm down for the last forty-five minutes. She’d been holed up in the back all that time, no doubt, hiding from me. Sky and those bartenders had left, calling it a day and leaving me to lock up once Hayley finally got up the courage to reemerge. And in all that time, I’d planned to take the calm, open approach and just hear her out.

  Epic fail.

  “Sorry,” I forced out. I dug my fingers into the bar top in a bid to hold myself back from exploding all over her from the series of bullshit revelations and situations that’d hit me in the matter of a few hours. She was sensitive and naïve. I couldn’t talk to her, or treat her the way I did my club brothers. Nah, blunt and straight up with no filter wouldn’t work with Hayley. And I didn’t want to go that route with her. She deserved to be treated like the princess that she truly was.

  “I wasn’t auditioning,” she told me. “I just… I guess, I needed a release.”

  “You were acting out because Python’s ordered you back home under hardcore lockdown.”

  “Acting out?” she hissed at me. “Despite popular opinion, I’m not a child. I did it because I wanted to feel free, to enjoy my last few hours of being a liberated woman, with the only person really breathing down my neck for once being my boyfriend, not my paranoid father and all his way-too-intense club members.”

  I held up my hands. “It was just a turn of phrase, lovely. I don’t see you that way.” I rolled my eyes. “Hell, I wouldn’t be fucking you if I did. Just… seeing you up there like that… it bothered me.”

  “Why?”

  Seriously? I slammed my fist down on the bar top. Why didn’t she get it? Was she not with me in this… thing… whatever it was with us?

  Hell, maybe, for her, she was just biding time. She’d been looking for a job in her field that didn’t stem from her old man ever since I’d brought her here. Now Sky might be making her an offer. I hadn’t asked where or what in the end, even though Sky had been right there beside me. Hayley pulling that shit up on stage had been more than just a little distracting.

  As I stomped toward her, she screamed at me, “Why are you so angry? What the hell is your problem? It’s my body! Mine! I can do what I want with it, wear what I want, dance all sexy if
I want to. You don’t own me! I have way too much of that in my life and I’ve fought against it for so long. I won’t do it with you too. I won’t!”

  Somehow, her blowing up the way I’d been close to doing, gave it an alternate outlet and deflated my own anger.

  By the time I reached her, it was virtually gone. I cupped her face in my hands, feeling her tense as I did. She was still mad at me. I couldn’t exactly blame her. I hadn’t handled any of it well. In fact, I’d made a major clusterfuck of things.

  I knew why now.

  It was all about fear, something I hadn’t felt in years, until I’d grown close to her.

  Fear of losing what we had together.

  “I don’t want you to go,” I confessed.

  That hard glare she’d been fixing me with morphed to bewilderment. “What?”

  Stroking her soft blue hair, I told her, “Seeing you up there… truth was, it was incredible. All that passion, confidence and fire I knew you had in you was out in full force. You were amazing. And I’m happy you’re pushing forward with your career. You’re coming into your own, building a life for yourself. I’m proud of you. I respect it. But where do we stand, Hayley?”

  Her eyes shone and a smile lit up her face. “That’s where all your anger was coming from,” she realized aloud. “You thought you were going to lose me.”

  I pulled back and shifted my weight uneasily.

  Being vulnerable and open really wasn’t my thing. Although, judging by her favorable reaction, I was damned good at it. Besides, I had to try. She was worth me feeling uncomfortable every now and then. She deserved the effort. Hell, if I just stayed in my comfort zone, I wouldn’t even have a woman like her in my life. Being closed-off and emotionally unavailable only worked for casual hook ups, not this thing that we were building, this… relationship.

  “Yeah,” I admitted. “The Lone Outlaws. Your work. It’s all pulling you away.” I looked her in the eye. “You have to take it, though. Sky doesn’t low-ball people. If she’s offered you a job, I have little doubt that it’s ace. You can’t pass it up. Not for me, not for anyone. You’ve worked too hard. This will be a true opportunity to prove yourself, just like you’ve wanted for so long.”