Logan: New Crusaders MC (12 page)

“No, I don’t want to go back,” Nicole said quickly, panicking.

Cork gave her a wry look, then pulled onto the highway.

“Clubhouse location changes,” he said.  “They’ll be on the outskirts of town, though.  Where they can keep an eye on things from a safe distance.”

“Oh.”

Her cheeks reddened and she fell silent, allowing Cork to take the lead on where they went.  They drove for about fifteen minutes in silence, then Cork took an exit and slowed the van as he drove around the back roads.

“I know that bar,” Nicole said.  “Cork, stop here.”

He parked, and unbuckled his seatbelt.  Nicole reached out to put a hand on his arm.

“How many Iconoclasts would recognize you, even without your kutte?” she asked.

He didn’t respond, because he was Cork, but his look said it all.

“Let me do this,” Cork.  “If I’m not out in ten minutes, you can come after me.  But most of these guys know me.  I’ve served them all in the diner, and a lot of them stood up for me when other people tried to start something.  Okay?”

Cork sighed and nodded.  “Ten minutes.”

She placed a kiss on his cheek.  “Thanks, honey.”

Nicole hopped out of the van and yanked her top down until she had a fair bit of cleavage showing.  As she approached the bar, she put a stumble into her step, swaying just a little bit.  She flounced inside, made her way to the bar.  The bartender was Ship, one of the Iconoclasts.  He recognized her immediately as she leaned over to talk to him.

“Nicole Hamilton.  What brings you to this side of town?”

Nicole smiled coyly at him.  “Drinking heavily,” she admitted.  “It’s my day off, and you guys have all the best bars.”

“Won’t argue with that.  What can I get you?”

“Just a beer.  Whatever you think is good, honey.”

“You got it.”

Nicole waited while he pulled the beer, then gestured for him to come closer.  She took a sip of beer and then leaned further toward him.

“I have a secret,” she whispered.

“You do, huh?”

“Yes,” Nicole said.  “I know who took my father away from your warehouse.  I know who did it, and I’m gonna go tell Wiseman.”

Ship’s playful expression had faded.  “That so?”

“Yes.  I need to make sure he likes me,” Nicole said, drinking down more beer.  “I was thinking about, uh… making a lot of the Iconoclasts like me.” 

She sealed the deal with a wink, and Ship relaxed some.

“My shift’s up in an hour.”

“Meet you at the clubhouse?” she offered, smiling her most seductive smile.

“Maybe,” he said.  “You know how to get there?”

“Yeah,” Nicole said, trying to sound drunkenly confident.  “It’s just off of… uh… you know that street… It’s right up here…”

Ship shook his head at her, still smiling.  He grabbed a cocktail napkin and scribbled an address down on it.

“You’re not about to get behind the wheel of a car, are you?” he asked.

“Nah, I don’t remember where I parked.  I’m gonna walk,” Nicole said.

“Here.”  Ship offered her the address.  “For your sake, I hope Wiseman’s in a good mood.”

“So do I,” Nicole agreed, completely sincere.

She downed as much beer as she could in one breath, paid and tipped Ship, and left.

She kept acting drunk until she got to the van.  As soon as she was in the passenger seat, she gave Cork the address, and he raised his eyebrows at her.  This was as close to impressed as he got.

“Let’s go get Logan,” Nicole said.

“You got it, sister.”

A full sentence.  He must have been
really
impressed.

The clubhouse was only about five minutes away.  Cork parked a block back, so no one would notice the van right away.  He escorted Nicole to the front door of the clubhouse.  Though he’d been the one telling her to calm down earlier, he now looked like he was prepared for a fight.  Still, when Nicole asked him to walk behind her, he did so, much to her surprise.

Nicole walked inside like she owned the place, immediately scanning the vicinity for signs of Logan.  Three guys playing pool, one guy making out with his old lady on the couch, and a few more guys drinking at the bar.  Wiseman was among them.  As soon as they entered, all activity stopped.  Nicole had successfully caught their attention.

“Nicole Hamilton?” Wiseman asked, as if he couldn’t believe she was really there.

“I’m here for Logan,” Nicole said, deciding it would be best not to beat around the bush.

“Oh?” Wiseman sounded amused.  He slowly got to his feet and walked over to her.  “What makes you so sure we have him?”

“Because I knew he was coming here.  He wanted to give you information.  We haven’t heard from him since this morning.”

“Logan coming here was an insult,” Wiseman said.  “He should have known better.”

“He was trying to make things right,” Nicole insisted.  “I know what he did.  He broke Chuck out of your warehouse.  Well, he did that for me.  You want to kill someone over that?  Kill me.”

Murmurs broke out among the Iconoclasts, but no one made a move toward her.  This MC might have been constantly on the wrong side of the law, but Nicole knew they didn’t favor violence toward women.

“Just let him go, Wiseman,” Nicole continued.  “You need him right now.  The Iconoclasts and the New Crusaders need each other.  He had information.  He wanted to share it with you.”

“Information we already had,” Wiseman interjected.

Nicole shrugged.  “He didn’t know that.  He heard shit was going down and his first thought was to warn you.”

Wiseman didn’t respond right away.  He considered her for a long moment.  Nicole took strength from the presence of Cork at her back.

“What is Logan Kirkwood to you?” Wiseman asked finally.

“He…” Nicole began, feeling uncertain.  She wasn’t sure she knew the answer to that question herself.

“Old lady,” Cork said from behind her.

“Is that true?” Wiseman asked, his eyebrows rising.

At least he wasn’t angry.  Nicole decided to go with the truth, since it had gotten her this far.  She nodded.

“It’s true,” she said.

Wiseman turned to his club.  “Do we agree that retaliation has been meted out appropriately for Mr. Kirkwood?”

A general murmur of agreement floated through the room, and it seemed to be enough to satisfy Wiseman.  He turned back to Nicole and Cork, offered them a nod.

“You can see him,” he said.  “But his release will cost you.”

Nicole’s heart leapt into her throat.  This was going better than expected.  She hadn’t even been sure Logan would be here at the clubhouse.  She and Cork followed Wiseman out of the main room, down a hall, and out the back door to a small garage that was situated behind the clubhouse.  Wiseman flicked a switch, and the garage door clanked open.

As quickly as Nicole’s heart had lifted, it plummeted.  Feeling sick and frightened, she rushed into the garage, with Cork right behind her.  Logan was barely conscious and badly beaten.  He was slumped against the back wall, his leg chained to a radiator.

“Logan,” Nicole breathed, dropping to her knees and taking his face into her hands.

“Nicole?”

He blinked open his one good eye and squinted, as if he were having trouble focusing on her face.

“Oh my God, baby,” she whimpered.  “What did they do to you?”

“Retaliation,” he grunted.  “It was fair.  Probably… probably deserved worse.”

“Don’t say that.  Don’t you say that.”

Nicole didn’t care if it hurt him, she leaned down and kissed his face.  Anywhere that didn’t look too badly injured.

“I’m alright,” he insisted, though he looked and sounded far from it.

Nicole got to her feet, not bothering to try to hide her tears, and turned to Wiseman.

“He needs a doctor,” she said.  “Please.  I don’t want him to die here, and you need him and the Crusaders.  It’s the only way you’ll be able to put the Devil Kings in their place.”

“This much is true, unfortunately,” Wiseman said, scratching his beard as he thought.  “On the other hand, he’s a great bargaining chip.  My club’s going to expect some financial reparations for joining forces with the Crusaders.  Especially if we’re gonna keep up this mutual protection pact.”

“I’ll stay,” Cork said.  “We’ll talk.”

“That is acceptable,” Wiseman replied.  “Take the kid.  Tell the Crusaders that the mutual protection is still in effect, and we expect them to keep up their end.  Cork and I will hammer out the details.”

“Thank you,” Nicole said, meaning it.

Wiseman was being surprisingly reasonable.  That spoke to how nervous he was.  He truly saw the Devil Kings as a viable threat.

Wiseman stepped forward and unlocked the chain around Logan’s leg.  Nicole tried to coax him to his feet, but he was too weak to stand.  She tried to support him, but she was five-foot-four, and Logan was over six feet.  She felt like a Chihuahua trying to hold up a Mastiff.

Cork came forward and placed a hand on Nicole’s shoulder, gently ushering her out of the way.  Then he knelt down and picked Logan up.  Nicole breathed a sigh of relief and followed Cork back to the van.  One of the Iconoclasts went with them to make sure Cork didn’t try to run out on the negotiations.

“You tell anyone that you carried me like this… you’re dead,” Logan rasped.

“We carry each other when we need it,” Cork replied, laying him down gently in the back of the van.  Cork’s hand lingered on Logan’s forehead, and he frowned.  “Fever.”

“I’ll get him home, Cork,” Nicole assured him.

He reached out and squeezed her shoulder.  There was real gratitude in his eyes, and Nicole realized he must have been worried sick about Logan.

“Be back later,” he said to her.

She nodded and got into the driver’s seat.

Logan groaned a couple times over the drive back to the clubhouse, mainly when the van hit a bump.  Nicole hated that she couldn’t drive more carefully, but Logan needed medical attention.  When she pulled up at the Crusader clubhouse, most of the guys were there.  She figured Cork had texted or called them.

“What happened?” Yancey asked.

Sam and the prospect were right behind him.  Nicole didn’t respond right away, because she was looking at the prospect.  Had he been by the diner recently?  She felt like she’d seen him around.  Judging by how pale he went when he saw her, he recognized her, too.  But there was no time to figure out why. 

As quickly and calmly as she could, Nicole told the other Crusaders what had happened to Logan.  She told them that Wiseman had cooperated, announcing that he’d gotten his retaliation for Chuck, and that Cork was negotiating some terms in Logan’s absence.  Most importantly, the mutual protection agreement was still in effect.

Once she was done speaking, the club exploded with activity.  Sam and Yancey got Logan out of the van and onto one of the cots in the backroom.  Someone called a doctor.  Sam, who had apparently been a medic in the army, began patching up some of Logan’s smaller wounds.  Nicole hovered on the periphery the whole time, her hands balled into fists.