Ash: Devil's Crucifix MC (25 page)

I’ve looked death in the face several times in my life. The first time was when I was young. My own daddy tried to kill me. He already had one son. He certainly didn’t need another mouth to feed. It was my grandmother who saved me by taking my beating. She brought me out to her orchard and protected me until I was big enough to fight my own battles.

The second time would be watching my brother and sister-in-law die. Death came to me by my own gun. I could have done it with all that guilt weighing me down, promising me that nothing would be better than something.  

And then, there was taking Spark’s life. Unlike my brother’s death, I didn’t feel the same torn apart emotions. I didn’t even second-guess it. I had made peace with death as if he were an old friend that visited me from time to time. Taking Spark’s life was just a necessary payment to the piper. There would be others, even if they weren’t directly by my hand.

But today is my turn. Death is coming for me in the form of a molotov cocktail thrown at the wood sides of the cabin house Dani and I had retreated to. At first, I think he is throwing it directly at me, but he eyes the space above the door where the roof hangs over slightly. As I cry out his name into the darkness, I hear the pop followed by the flames bursting into life.

Black smoke pours into the doorway as the orange and red rivers of fire pour themselves down the frame of the home. Outside, I hear Spark laughing to himself as he walks around the side of the house, picks up another bottle and lights it. It hits the other side of the home where the bedroom is. I scream Dani’s name, but she doesn’t run out.

Panicked, I run back into the bedroom still yelling her name over and over again, trying to make myself heard over the roar of the fire. I can barely see through the smoke, but I do see the open window. That damn girl already escaped. I can’t even begin to guess what the hell she was thinking as I take a deep breath and run through the flaming opening of the house towards the direction of Spark.

“Well aren’t you an idiot! You fucking think you can stop me now?” Spark laughs as he points another molotov cocktail directly at her. She is lying on the ground, as if she had fallen over seconds ago. Her hands are above her face, pleading with him to not throw the explosive.

“Please, I…”

“Shut up, bitch! This is just great. While Ash Cooper dies in that house, I get to make sure he dies knowing you didn’t make it either. How fucking fantastic!” He steps closer to her, and I know I have to react.

I reach for the gun in my back pocket when I realize just how near he is to her. If I shoot, there is no way it will clear so it doesn’t hit her. If I tackle him, both Spark and I go down in flames.

Something in me stiffens. Dani can’t go out like this. She’s brave, smart, sexy, funny. She deserves the life she always wants whether it is with me or without me. I can’t let her get killed out here alone. She needs to know she’s worth dying for. I throw the gun down on the ground and take a deep breath in. It’ll probably be my last of fresh air. My jacket comes off next, a token to her to find after this is done.

And then I run. I run at full speed straight towards him. I run past the house as it burns amber red, the heat becoming too unbearable to even stand next to. I run until I hear the bang. My eyes are closed as I land into his thin, weak body. It doesn’t even struggle to stand or hold my weight. My head hits the ground hard as my entire body rattles fiercely. It smacks against something hard and sharp.

I hear Dani shout at me, her voice bloodcurdling. But there isn’t an explosion or flames washing over my body. There isn’t even white lights or the devil pointing his finger at me. There are voices -- not just Dani. They call out my name, as well, each more panicked than the last. I force my eyes open, and all I see is night sky, black smoke, and stars. I choke back as I roll over. Black dirty boots surround me as I spot Spark’s hand lying limp on the ground, a pool of blood starting to form just above.

A face appears. It’s Dani. She stares at me, mouthing something desperately, but I can’t seem to hear her. She motions to someone before taking my arm and draping it around her shoulder. She squats down slightly and then slowly begins to pull. I feel my entire body move as I realize she’s pulling me. I could have guessed she was this strong, but seeing it with my own eyes is something else. This is the real Dani -- Dani the firefighter.

I drift out of consciousness just in time to see three motorcycles pull away from the house’s small driveway. They are running quickly away from the red and white lights driving from the opposite direction.

***

“Dani! Come on! You’re going to be late! The guys are waiting!” I sit on the edge of the brand new couch as I lace up my boots. It’s half past five. We were supposed to be out of the house fifteen minutes ago.

“I’m here! Jeez. You’d think I’d be the one who was nervous about being late to her own graduation ceremony.” Dani stands in the doorway wearing a black suit with gold buttons. Her tight pencil skirt hugs at the roundness of her ass. Even wearing her dress blues, she manages to look freaking amazing.

“Did you turn the sprinklers on?” she asks, looking out over the orchard -- our orchard. “You know what Greggory mentioned about watering on days like this.”

“It’s on, it’s on. All you need to worry is becoming a firefighter today.” This has been a day both of us have been eagerly waiting on. After the incident, Dani’s Captain allowed her to pass the physical exam. After all, she had managed to carry me herself around the back of the house and to the front without any help. Well, she had help, but they didn’t want to get fingerprints on me.

Duane, along with Marco and Vin, had shown up just in time. Like I had suspected, Duane had known it was my plan all along to draw Spark to some place obvious. His old home from when he was a club member was the perfect place to stir him up. When I didn’t show at the Piedmont, he had no choice but to go looking for me here. And as planned, Duane and the boys were waiting for him, guns in hand.

To this day, I’m still not sure who fired the winning shot that hit just before the flame could light up the bottle. But whoever it was, I owed them my life, along with Dani’s. And for Dani’s part, she continued to play her part. Her official story to the police was that she had shot Spark with the gun belonging to her boyfriend. She still had no idea who he was or why he was targeting us, but she suspected it was a jealous stalker. No one could argue with her, especially with looks like hers.

Months passed, and Dani took her written exam. Of course, she passed with flying colors. And then we were left with a choice. Dani could go after her dreams and become the firefighter she had always wanted to be, or I could stay in the club. We couldn’t continue to be together with two drastically different worlds. One of us had to make the sacrifice. 

And there was no way in hell I was letting it be Dani.

I’ve been accused by more than one person of not being the sharpest tool in the shed, but I sure as shit know the difference between something short-lived and something better. This is better.
I
am better, and that’s because of Dani. If keeping her meant giving up everything I knew, well, so be it. She is worth it.

That pretty much made my decision for me. I called a meeting of the club’s top brass and told them I’d made my decision. I put forward Aaron as the best person to take over for me. After all, he’s got the chops for it, and he’s not the kind of guy who’ll lead the club to ruin. He gets it.

We didn’t promise to keep in touch afterwards. That’s not what you do. When you’re out, you’re
out
. And maybe that was okay.

“Mornin’ sunshine,” Ash coos at me from the bed next to me. He casually drapes a leg out from under the covers suggestively.

I laugh. “What’re you tryin’ to pull?” I ask.

Ash smiles. “Just like lookin’ at you, is all,” he replies. “And gets me to thinkin’, we should, y’know, get to thinkin’.”

“What now?”

“Let’s fuck.”

That sounds right. I lean over and allow myself to be enveloped in his embrace. He moves his mouth from my lips to my neck, sucking like a vampire -- then moves to my shoulders and down my arms. He flips my arms over and kisses me up the opposite way, through my armpit and collarbone and finally, naturally, ending on my breast. My nipples, already alert as soldiers, cry out for him as he teased my areola.

“Mmm, baby,” I say faintly, “You know we gotta get up now, right?” Ash either doesn’t hear me or doesn’t care, and he swaps from my right tit to my left. “C’mon, baby, it’s time to turn the soil. Gotta do it before the sun comes up.”

He pauses with his mouth, although not with his hands, causing me to throw my head back in ecstasy. “Do you have any idea what you’re talking about?” he asks before immediately returning to my breast.

“N-no…” I shudder. “I don’t know the first thing about apple trees.”

I close my eyes as he pulls off the sheets between us and slams me down on the bed. In the six months since he’d left the club, he’s really been trying to make a change of things. At first, I admit, yeah, I freaked out a little bit. I mean, what if all I’d ever wanted was the bad boy (or the prospect of a bad boy), rather than having Ash himself?
 

Now, laying on this bed, my man --
my
man! -- between my thighs, licking teasingly between my labia, I know I’d had nothing to worry about. Ash is doing his best to atone for everything. And he is doing a damned good job at it.

My mind begins getting fuzzy as Ash finds my clit and begins tonguing at it incessantly. As my orgasm begins rising, I get a sudden glimpse of the future. It involves me, and Ash, still at the orchard, but with wedding pictures on the walls. And pictures of the honeymoon. And then -- just maybe --

I come before I can finish the vision. But I have a pretty good idea where it was going. It wasn’t a premonition or an orgasm-induced hallucination. Rather, it was the fire itself. I’ve found it, and, unlike so many others, I’ve found a way to keep it.

And there is no way I am letting this fire go out.

THE END

Chapter 1

Neil “Hard-Jack” Jackson, patch holder of the Devil Knights MC, walked around his new ride with fascination in his cobalt gray eyes. It was beyond sweet. A trike, with a V8 427ci engine, front mounted. Extended 63mm front forks gave the bike a chopper hot-rod style. The Hughes-Performance Powerglide transmission gave it hot-rod takeoff and performance. The paint was a deep-dark near-black gray with orange-red flame work — not too much, but enough to catch the eye. And the sound through the special 4-to-1 collector pipes was pure idling thunder.

Put simply, she was a high-class sexy beast.

"What do you think Neil?" Bobby, the top designer asked.

"I think it's just what I asked for, and I love the back seat arrangement. Just exactly what I was looking for."

"Think you'll have two women back there often?" Bobby joked.

"My little sisters," Neil told him. "They're why I wanted this ride. Jill is sixteen and Sandy is fourteen. Dad just passed away and I'm trying to be more involved with them."

"Wow, that's cool Neil. Seriously. And this way all three of you can take a ride together," Bobby said, looking the bike over again.

"Yeah, that's the plan," Neil smiled. "Now all I have to do is get the idea past Amanda, their mother."

Bobby looked up at the 6'4" muscular man, "Half-sisters then?"

"Yeah. My mom passed away when I was young. Took dad a long time to try it again, but I always thought he did good hooking up with Amanda. So, I've never thought of the girls as half-anything."

"Well, we've never tried to make a rear seat like this, but it came out nice. With the sides curled up like that, shouldn't have a problem at all with them being safe back there. I know it’s comfortable for one passenger as well, because I was back there several times for test rides," Bobby told him. "But if the girls ever tell you different, bring it back and we'll go at it again, no charge. Now that you've told me what it's for, I want it to work for you. Alright?"

"Thanks, that's good of you," Neil said, and shook Bobby's hand. "So, everything set? You got the check, and everything is signed?"

"All yours," Bobby agreed. "Been a real pleasure building this one for you."

Neil got into the driver's seat and gave the engine a little gas. "Damn that sounds good," he said to himself. Then he put the bike into gear and pulled it out of the shop driveway and onto the road.

Having never rode a trike before, it took a bit to get use to turning. He remained in the industrial park area for more than thirty minutes getting use to turns, shifting the automatic transmission, and braking. On top of everything else, this was the most powerful beast he had ever sat on. Everything was high-performance, even the brakes. Reverse was an interesting feature as well.

Feeling like he had a handle on his new ride, he took it out to the main street and then got down on the freeway with it, and opened her up.

The rush was amazing. The trike climbed up to 110mph without hesitation, and much quicker than Neil expected. It was a good thing the Miami mid-day traffic was light. He brought her back down to a cruising 75mph, smiling and on the verge of laughing.

It cost a good third of his inheritance from his dad, but it was worth every cent, and the girls were going to love it — if he could get Amanda's seal of approval. He had until Saturday to get use to the bike enough so its power was under control and could give her a smooth safe ride.

Reaching between his legs he pressed one of two side-by-side horizontal panels and it popped open. He closed that and tried the other with the same result. These were gun holders, one of the special features he asked to be installed. The hand brake lever was also a custom request Dave suggested.

Dave rode trikes all of his life. Fifty-four years old, he could put a trike into a bootlegger turn and do a reverse power-slide turn in his sleep. Neil was paying for six hours of his time tomorrow and Wednesday to get him on the right track.