DARK FALL (A Back Down Devil MC Romance Novel) (8 page)

nine.

“
You
jerked it while I was with a woman?
”
Erik asked.

“
You
weren
’
t with a woman,
”
Blaine said as he held his
stomach.
“
You were down on
her, man. You know how much I love that, right? The sight of that woman
…
fuck man, she looks so
delicious. Was it?
”

Erik curled his lip.
“
What the fuck is wrong with you?
”

“
Just
answer me, man. What did it taste like?
”

Erik put a hand out and stopped
Blaine.
“
It tasted like
pussy.
”

He pushed and walked. Blaine
lingered back a few seconds.

“
But
what did it taste like?
”
Blaine yelled.
“
There
’
s different kinds of pussy, man.
”

The entire bar now looked at Erik
as he walked by. He felt like smacking Blaine again. This time he could knock
him right in the fucking mouth and take him out. But there was something bigger
to take care of here.

At the door to the meeting room,
Erik reached out and grabbed Blaine. He pulled Blaine to where they were almost
touching nose to nose.

“
Not
a word,
”
Erik said.
“
Got it?
”

“
Mark
my fucking word,
”
Blaine
said.

“
Everything
good here?
”
a voice asked.

Nate was like a giant, thick with
muscles, chains dangling everywhere, a pissed off look permanently attached to
his face.

“
Just
great,
”
Blaine said.

Erik opened the door and once he,
Blaine, and Nate took their seats, the table was full. Smoke hung in the air as
Gaige inhaled on a fresh cigarette. There were beer bottles all around and
Miller stood behind his chair gripping the back of it.

“
Are
we ready?
”
Miller asked.

The entire table got quiet and
nodded at Miller.

“
First
things first,
”
Miller said.
“
Last night we had a
meeting with Strokner. Didn
’
t
get a whole lot from the man, but enough to know that shit is deep. On the way
out of there, there was some business to be dealt.
”

Eyes were upon Erik. Erik looked at
Griffin.
“
Got something to
say?
”

“
Nope,
”
Griffin said.
“
Heard you were protecting our
President.
”

“
Not
just that,
”
Miller said.
“
He saved a little kid. Heard from
Chief today that the  kid
’
s
father was wanted for attempted murder in three states and had intended on
taking the kid to his apartment and then going back to kill the kid
’
s mother. You saved that boy,
Erik. Be proud.
”

Gaige clapped and whistled. The
table followed suit. It pissed Erik off. He wasn
’
t
some comic book vigilante asshole. All he had wanted to do was fight someone
and he had done just that.

“
That
’
s enough,
”
Erik finally said.

“
Strokner
made it clear that this is serious,
”
Gaige said.
“
Shay, you have
to think long and hard about your past, man.
”

“
Yeah,
I get that.
”

“
Someone
is coming for you. Old fling? Old business dealing? Something hiding in your
closet, bro?
”

Shay looked around the table.
“
When you live my life, all you
have are enemies waiting.
”

“
I
think that goes for all of us,
”
Nate said.

“
Guess
my enemies have more balls,
”
Shay said.

The table chuckled. Then everyone
looked at Erik, remembering the outcome of the bombing.

“
I
don
’
t think it
’
s fucking funny,
”
Erik said.
“
You need to think, Shay. You
need to really figure this out. Take a night off of pussy and find out who did
this.
”

“
You
think it
’
s that easy?
”
Shay asked.
“
You know what I did for a living
to survive?
”

“
I
don
’
t give a fuck. How does
that sound?
”

Shay stood and pointed at Erik.
“
You took that bomb, brother, and
I
’
m sorry for that. But I
didn
’
t put the fucking
thing in the car.
”

“
Sit
down!
”
Miller yelled.
“
Christ. Erik and Blaine went to
dig a little today. What did you guys find?
”

Blaine looked at Erik and winked.

Erik found some pussy
…

“
Those
two guys at that garage are fucking morons,
”
Blaine said.

“
I
don
’
t care about that,
”
Miller said.
“
I want information.
”

“
They
saw a man at the auction,
”
Erik said.
“
Black car,
black suit. Talking. That
’
s
when it was done. They knew Shay was getting that car. They planted the bomb
there and it was set to go off with the intention of Shay driving the vehicle.
”

“
A
black car, black suit,
”
Miller said.
“
Maybe it was
Strokner.
”

“
Doubt
it,
”
Gaige said.
“
Strokner had nothing to do with
us until
…”

“
Until,
”
Miller said.
“
He blames us for the death of
his daughter.
”

“
Holy
shit,
”
Griffin whispered.

“
I
’
ll kill him,
”
Blaine said.

“
I
’
ll fucking kill him,
”
Shay said.
“
I had nothing to do with his
girl being shot.
”

“
It
wasn
’
t Strokner,
”
Erik said as he pounded a fist
to the table.
“
They told us
something else."

“
What?
”
Miller asked.

“
The
guy in the black suit had a gold tooth and a scar on his neck.
”

“
Fuck,
”
Gaige whispered.
“
Not Strokner.
”

“
Shay?
”
Miller asked.

Shay shook his head. Erik watched
him, unconvinced.

“
So
we have nothing,
”
Blaine
said.

“
No,
”
Miller said.
“
We have places to go. Things to
do. Gaige, I need you to get another meeting with Strokner. Maybe this gold
tooth and scar will help him remember something.
”

“
Man,
we
’
re getting in deeper with
Strokner,
”
Griffin said.
“
I don
’
t like it.
”

“
Nobody
does,
”
Gaige said.
“
But we have to find Jonesy. We
have to find out who tried to take out Shay and almost killed Erik. I don
’
t care how we do it.
”

“
He
’
s like a squirrel, man,
”
Griffin said.
“
Keep feeding him and he
’
ll keep coming back.
”

“
At
that point,
”
Miller said,
“
we
’
ll
take care of the problem
…
we'll
stop feeding the squirrel.
”

Griffin shook his head.
“
Fair enough then.
”

“
What
do we do now?
”
Nate asked.

“
Tomorrow
we hit it again,
”
Miller
said.
“
For right now, we
’
re all together and safe. Keep
it that way. Stay in the clubhouse, have a drink or two, find a woman. This situation
is a lot worse than we originally thought. We know now that it isn't just a
bullshit beef with another club. This is a front for something much more
dangerous. That
’
s why we
need Strokner. That
’
s why
need everyone to focus and think. Shay, I
’
m
counting on you, brother. It
’
s
not going to stop. They have Jonesy. They deserve to die. Do we agree?
”

“
YES.
”

That was the single answer from
every man at the table.

“
We
’
ll get this,
”
Gaige said. He stood up and put
his cigarette out.
“
We will
get this worked out. Nobody is going to fuck with Back Down Devil and get away
with it.
”

“
What
about Eight Under?
”
Blaine
asked.
“
They tried to set
us up today.
”

The table fell silent again. Miller
turned and rubbed the back of his neck.
“
They
seem to be getting ballsy. Maybe we should treat them the same. Ride right into
their shit hole club and send a message.
”

“
We
’
ve done that,
”
Gaige said.

“
We
should wipe them right out,
”
Nate said.

“
I
second that,
”
Blaine said.

“
We
have to much happening,
”
Griffin said.
“
If we
stretch too thin
…”

“
I
know what will happen,
”
Miller said softly.
“
We
’
ll deal with that tomorrow too.
”

Erik wasn
’
t satisfied with the answers at the table. Everyone
started to shuffle their way from the room, exchanging the seriousness of life
for a night of debauchery. Erik wasn
’
t
having it at all.

He remained seated, only Gaige and
Miller left in the room.

“
Erik,
”
Gaige said.

“
I
can
’
t wait much longer,
”
Erik said.

“
For
what?
”
Miller asked.

“
The
urges, man. I want to hurt someone bad. I want to kill.
”

“
You
did that today,
”
Gaige
said.

“
I
want more. I want the world to feel my pain.
”

“
Christ,
”
Gaige said.

“
Gaige,
go get a drink,
”
Miller
said.

Gaige walked around the table and
slapped a hand to Erik
’
s
shoulder. He squeezed and said,
“
We
love you, Erik. If I could go back to that day, brother, I
’
d take the bomb. It should have
been me. I
’
m VP. I should
have my life in front of everyone else
’
s
in this club.
”

Erik nodded.

Gaige left the room.

“
I
don
’
t want you to pull back
on anything, Erik. But you can't be a loose canon. Your instincts last night
with that little kid paid off. You did what you had to do today. What about
tomorrow?
”

“
I
don
’
t know,
”
Erik said.
“
You seem to be putting
everything off until tomorrow."

Miller leaned against the table. He
crossed his arms.
“
My best
friend was killed execution style. We were tied up, three of us. We were too
tough to admit defeat and would rather die than be made out to be assholes. My
best friend tried a fucked up move and took a bullet between the eyes. We weren
’
t supposed to be shot. Just
scared. I watched his brains scatter out of the back of his head. Dead.
”

“
I
’
m sorry,
”
Erik said.

“
That
’
s his ashes in the middle of the
table here. A reminder. Honor to him. But it was the other guy we were with. He
couldn
’
t stand it. He
couldn't take what had happened. Sure, it fucking hurt me. I went crazy for a
little while myself. Drinking. Riding. Fucking. Killing. But the other guy
couldn
’
t stop. It only
stopped
…
when I stopped it.
”