Logan: New Crusaders MC (21 page)

When Clay emerged from the office, she’d prepared herself for what she had to do.  She still had the gun in her purse.  If she needed to use it in order to ditch her escort, she would.

“All ready to go, sweetheart?” Clay asked.  “Rocco, here, is going to follow you into town.”

“I want to stop at my apartment, too,” Nicole said.  “If that’s alright.”

“It’s on the way back to my place, so that’s fine,” Clay told her.  “Rocco’s going to escort you back to my apartment when you’re done picking up your things.  Feel free to make yourself at home, and I’ll meet you there soon.”

Nicole looked into his eyes, and it hit her that Clay was completely out of touch with reality.  This wasn’t kidnapping or emotional blackmail to him.  He genuinely thought they were about to start a relationship.  If her resolve hadn’t been strong enough before, it was now.

She had to get out of there.

“I’ll see you soon, then,” she said.

Clay leaned down for a kiss, and Nicole’s skin crawled.  She wanted to vomit when his lips touched hers, but fortunately he didn’t push it too far.  It was over quickly, and then she was outside getting into her truck.  Rocco was on his bike right behind her.

She drove to Logan’s apartment first.  Rocco went up with her, stood behind her as she stared helplessly at the door.

“I don’t have a key,” she admitted.

Rocco grunted and pushed her aside.  He threw himself at the door and broke it down.

“Thanks,” Nicole muttered, stepping over the threshold.

The apartment was exactly as she remembered it.  Logan’s clothes were strewn over the bedroom.  Her suitcase was still on the floor, lying open.  She hadn’t bothered to unpack yet.  She’d thought she would have plenty of time to get around to it.  Now, as she shut the case and breathed in Logan’s scent, she realized she had no time left at all.  Logan was gone, and there was a hole in her chest, a gaping wound that would never heal.

“I’m ready,” she said quietly.

Rocco took her back down to the parking lot.  She thought about the gun in her purse, but it wasn’t time yet.  She had a different plan.  If Rocco had to lead her to Clay’s apartment, then that would mean driving behind him.  She could turn and drive off, hit the highway.  By the time Rocco could react, follow her, or call for help, she’d be long gone.

They got to her apartment.  This time she had a key.

“Will you wait outside?” she asked Rocco.

“Gotta check to make sure there aren’t other ways for you to get out,” he rumbled.

“Okay, go on in.”

It wasn’t a big apartment.  He found the fire escape immediately, but Nicole hadn’t been planning on using it.

“I’ll wait by the door,” he said.  “I hear that window opening, I’ll be on you before you can get your leg outside.”

“I get it,” Nicole said.  “I’m not going anywhere.”

Rocco retreated to the other end of the apartment, and she disappeared into her bedroom.  First she found a pad of paper and a pen in her nightstand.  She scribbled out a quick note that she hoped would absolve her father of any guilt.

To whoever is reading this, please tell my father I’m sorry.  I couldn’t live with myself if I stayed.  This isn’t the life I wanted.  Tell him I hope he stays healthy.  Maybe one day I’ll come back and visit, after everything blows over.  Or I’ll try to call him.  But don’t let him get his hopes up.  After today, Nicole Hamilton is in the wind.  She’s dead.  Logan would understand my decision.  He would never ask me to stay.  I know that.

A little dramatic maybe, but she hoped it would get the job done.  She folded the paper and put it in her back pocket, then moved to her bed.  As quietly as she could, she shifted her mattress aside.  When she didn’t see anything, she reached underneath it and felt around.  Her fingers found several thin, papery objects.  She pulled out four envelopes, all stuffed with money.  Nicole took a moment to flip through the bills, estimating that Chuck had left her with about five thousand dollars.  How long had he been stashing this money away, right under her nose?  Tears sprung to her eyes again.  She quickly stuffed the envelopes inside her suitcase, wrapping them up in one of her shirts.

“You done?” Rocco called.

“Just going to grab my toiletries,” Nicole replied.  “In the bathroom.  There are no windows in there.”

“I know.  Make it quick.”

Nicole took a moment to splash some water on her face.  Then she went about grabbing whatever she could.  Shampoo.  Conditioner.  Razor.  She picked up her deodorant and was suddenly hit by the smell.  It overwhelmed her.  Out of nowhere, she felt her stomach turning inside out, and she had to bend over the sink as the contents of her stomach came up.

“Jesus,” Rocco said from the doorway of her bedroom.

“Sorry,” Nicole said, spitting a few times.  “Guess I’m just nervous.”

She rinsed her mouth out, then threw the rest of her things in the suitcase.  She left the deodorant behind.  Clearly that scent wasn’t agreeing with her.  The last thing she grabbed was the box of tampons under her sink.  She stared at them for a moment, an idea forming in her head.

“Let’s go,” Rocco urged, getting impatient.

Nicole shook her head and tossed the box into her suitcase.  She closed it up, waited until Rocco’s back was turned, and tossed the note onto the bed.  Then she followed him down to the truck.

“Where is Clay’s place?” she asked.

“Off of Alameda,” Rocco said.

“Okay, I’ve got an idea where we’re going.  I’ll follow you.”

She tossed the suitcase into the passenger seat of the truck and climbed in after it.  Rocco started up his bike and pulled out of the apartment complex.  Nicole followed behind him.  She wanted to leave right away, but they were too far from the highway.  Fortunately, Alameda was a main street.  As they approached the intersection, she kept an eye on Rocco’s bike, waiting to see which way he’d turn.  When he swung a left, she slammed her foot on the gas and turned right.  The old truck rumbled uncomfortably at being asked for so much speed, but soon it gave her what she needed.  She tore down Alameda, then pulled off onto the highway.

Only after safely reaching the highway did Nicole check her rearview mirror.  Rocco wasn’t following.  Either she’d lost him on Alameda, or he had stopped pursuing her once she’d gotten far enough out of town. 

Nicole took a deep breath, grabbed her cellphone, and tossed it out the window.  One thing she’d said in her note was true – Nicole Hamilton was dead.

It was time to start a new life.

The days passed slowly and painfully.  Without a window, Logan couldn’t tell if it was morning or night.  At some point, someone had removed his kutte.  He felt naked and exposed.  He hadn’t left the room once since he’d been put inside, not even to use the bathroom.  The Devil Kings had left him a bucket in the corner. 

Occasionally someone came in to give him a drink of water.  They fed him sometimes, just enough to keep him alive.  He had to use pieces of his shirt as makeshift bandages for his worst wounds.

Mostly he slept. 

He was too weak to do much else.

He dreamed of Nicole, seeing her face again.  He waited for his wounds to heal, so he could start working out again.  Until Ruiz came to kill him, Logan was going to operate under the assumption that he was going to live.  If he wanted to live, he had to stay in shape.  He refused to break in that bleak little room.

An unknown amount of time later, Ruiz himself came in to pay Logan a visit.  Judging by the state of his healing wounds, Logan guessed he had been a prisoner for a little over a week.

“Smile for the camera, Logan,” Ruiz said, holding up a smartphone.  “Your buddies want proof of life.”

“My buddies?” Logan croaked.

“Yeah, your old club members.  They’re being very helpful right now, showing us all the best spots in town.  Hooking us up with the drug and gun pipeline in Castillo.  They work even harder when I bring them proof you’re alive.”

“What are you going to do when their usefulness runs out?” Logan asked.

“I think you know the answer to that question.”

Logan slumped against the floor. 
Get out of there, guys
, he thought.
Go to ground.  Leave Castillo.

“Aww, don’t worry,” Ruiz said, handing Logan a bottle of water.  “You gave it your best shot, but we’ve been preparing for this for years.  You know who helped us the most?  You might now him.  Clay Reynolds?  Guy wanted barely anything in return for helping us.  Just that old diner and every
one
in it.  That guy went crazy for your old lady’s pussy.  Probably going to town on her right now.”

Logan lunged, but he was too weak.  Ruiz brought him down easily, sending him back against the wall.  He crumpled to the floor, panting.

“You’re gonna beg me to kill you,” Ruiz said.  “Maybe not today, maybe not next week, but one day soon it’s going to happen.  Your girl’s in your enemy’s bed.  Your MC is going to be destroyed.  Wiseman, your biggest ally, is missing.  My boys plugged him in the gut, so my best guess is he crawled out to the desert to die.  And we have you here.  You’re our prisoner until you ask me to kill you.  I’ll do it quick, too.  One to the back of the head.  Take away all your pain.”

“Get out,” Logan said.

“Sure thing, man.  I’ll be around when you change your mind.”

He left, closing the door behind him.

Left alone, Logan cried.  He cried for his brothers in the MC, for Chuck, and for Nicole. 

Nicole
.

It couldn’t be true.  Even if Clay wanted her, she would never agree to sleep with him.  Images forced their way into Logan’s brain.  Clay holding her down, a gun at her temple.  Raping her.  Breaking her.

“No,” he said out loud.  “No, she got out.  I know she got out.”

He couldn’t believe that Clay could ever do anything that would keep her with him.  Sure, he could threaten Chuck, but Chuck was smart.  He wouldn’t let his daughter get kidnapped and raped, no matter what it took to save her.  He would have found a way to get her out of that.

Logan had to believe that.

He had to.

Ruiz came in about once a week, by Logan’s estimation.

His wounds had healed, but he was dropping weight like crazy.  He was too weak to lift his head some days.  Ruiz always had one question for him.

“You want me to do it today?”

No matter how weak and tired he was, Logan never gave him the answer he wanted.  He might not have much of a life left to live, but he’d be damned if he was going to give Ruiz the satisfaction of killing him.

The worst days were when the Devil Kings who were in charge of guarding his cell came in to have some fun.  They used him as a human punching back, splitting open his face, punching him so hard in the stomach that he spat up acidic bile.  Much as he hated to admit it, Logan sometimes wished they’d kill him.  Either accidentally or on purpose.  At least then he’d be able to escape from that Hell, and it wouldn’t be on Ruiz’s terms.

But they never did.

They left him alone to heal and recover so they could do it all over again two weeks later.

Logan was sleeping off one such attack when he heard a sound like breaking wood.  He hadn’t been fed in days, and he’d just taken a beating, so he could barely open his eyes.  All he saw as he peered up from the floor was a shadowy figure standing over him.  Then he was being lifted, moved.  He got the vague impression that he was inside a car.  A van?  Were the Devil Kings moving him again?  Maybe Ruiz had gotten tired of waiting for Logan to ask for death.  Maybe they were taking him somewhere outside the city to finish the job.

This was a small victory in Logan’s mind.  His will had outlasted theirs.

Smiling a little to himself, he closed his eyes and allowed sleep to take over again.

Logan came awake with a scream lodged in his throat.  Gasping and panting, he looked around, trying to figure out what was going on. 

From the looks of things, he was lying in a motel room.  An IV stand stood next to him, the tube attached to his arm.  He looked down, saw that his shirt and jeans had been removed.  His wounds had been properly cleaned and bandaged.

“You’re awake!”

Logan turned his head enough to see two familiar men walking into the room.  He could barely believe his own eyes.  A part of him thought maybe he was still in Ruiz’s clutches, so close to dying that his mind had conjured up a happy hallucination.

“Danny?  Reno?”

“You’re a hard man to find, Logan Kirkwood,” Danny said, clapping him on the shoulder.  “Fortunately, I was a Devil King once.  I still know my way around their turf.”

“How… how long was I in there?” Logan asked.

Danny’s expression fell.  “Near as I can tell… three months.  I’m sorry, Logan.  I would’ve come for you sooner, but I was laid up.  Even when I got out of the hospital, I had to do a lot of physical therapy and shit.  Had to keep my head down, too.  Keep the Kings from noticing me.”

“You saved me,” Logan breathed.  “How could you apologize for that?”

“If it hadn’t been for me, you wouldn’t have been in this position.”

“It isn’t all on you, kid.  Not by a long shot.  How’d you get me out?”

“Reno kept an eye on me in the hospital.  Once I got out, he helped me with the PT.  We got to talking.  Once the battle was won, the Devil Kings were spread out.  Too much territory and not enough guards.  So I did some recon, figured out where they were holding you.  Then Reno and I sent a couple pretty young things their way.  Told them to say they were a gift from the president.”

Logan managed a smile.  “That must have been some good pussy, they didn’t notice you breaking me out.”

“Only the best for the Devil Kings,” Danny said with a wry smile.

“I owe you guys more than I can say,” Logan said.

“Just concentrate on getting better,” Reno said gruffly.  “I want the Devil Kings out of my town.”

“That’s going to happen,” Logan promised. 

He took a breath.  It was time to ask the question that had been weighing on him.  He was sure that Reno and Danny were waiting for it.  In fact, it was pretty telling that they hadn’t brought her up themselves.  After a moment, he managed to get out her name, turning it into a question.  Reno’s and Danny’s expressions were carefully neutral.

“We heard from Chuck that she got out of town,” Danny said.  “We know she got out safe, but that’s it.  Chuck wouldn’t tell us anything else.”

“Then why do I get the feeling there’s something you’re not telling me?” Logan asked, trying and failing to sit up.

Danny licked his lips.  “Chuck… he thinks you’re dead, Logan.  He seems sure of it, says he got it from a reliable source.”

Logan frowned.  “One of the Iconoclasts?”

“Maybe,” Danny said.

“Wait… if Chuck thinks I’m dead, then…”

“Yeah,” Danny confirmed.  “That’s how he got Nicole to leave.  Told her you were dead, and she got the hell outta dodge.  I’m sorry, Logan.”

Logan tried again to sit up.  “I’m going to find her.”

“Whoa, chief,” Reno said, his voice calm as always.  He pressed Logan back into the bed.  “Your woman’s safe.  We know that much.  There’s no doubt in my mind you’re going to get her back, but let’s not rush this.  You’re no good to her or anyone half dead.  Give me and Danny a couple days to fix you up.”

“How bad is it?” Logan asked.

“Well, Danny’s seen worse,” Reno said, casting a grin at the kid.  “But you’re probably going to win the silver medal.  Severely malnourished and dehydrated.  Bruises on scars on bruises.  You took a beating, huh?”

“One or two,” Logan admitted.

“Why didn’t they kill you?” Danny asked.  “I mean… I’m glad they didn’t.  Really glad, but…”

“They needed me for the first few days,” Logan explained.  “After that… Ruiz wanted me to beg for death.  He wanted to break me.  Sick fuck.”

“One thing at a time,” Reno said.  “You’re already improving, which is a good sign.  Danny and I tried our best to clean you up earlier, but I bet you could still do with a few minutes sitting in a tub.  It’ll smart like no tomorrow, but it’ll do you good.  After that, we’re gonna try to start you on solid foods.  Get your weight back up.”

“Okay,” Logan said, steeling his resolve.

“Okay?” Reno repeated, searching Logan’s face.  “It still looks like you’re gearing up for war, kid.  Are you going to stay with us for a couple days?  Or are you going to jump out the window the moment our backs are turned?”

“No… no, I’ll stay,” Logan told him.  “You’re right.  I couldn’t win a fight against a kitten right now.  We’ll do it your way.”  He looked at Danny.  “You’re sure Nicole got out?”

“Yeah, sure as I can be.  Chuck was certain that she had supplies and money, and none of us have heard from her.  Far as I can tell, she disappeared.”

That would have to do for now.  Logan was going to make everything right, but first he had to heal.

The next few days went by slowly and painfully.  Logan graduated from soup to granola bars, and then moved on to roasted chicken.  They were far enough out of town that Danny and Reno could make supply runs without running the risk of being recognized.

With Reno’s help, Logan started moving around on his own.  He hated seeing himself in the mirror.  He barely recognized his reflection.  His skin was gray and tight around his bones.  There were dark circles under his eyes.  Every day he faced that reflection and pictured what it would look like when he was back to his old self.

The physical therapy was tough, but it got easier.  He was putting on weight like crazy, and soon he was doing real exercise.  Reno had him stretch extensively after every workout.  At first those stretches were agony, but within a week Logan was starting to feel normal again.

He wasn’t perfect, but he also wasn’t willing to wait anymore.