Logan: New Crusaders MC (7 page)

Logan got the bolt cutters ready and waited.

About two minutes later, he heard the first string of firecrackers go off, and immediately began cutting the fence.  He managed to get a hole cut into it that was big enough to fit through.  He got on the other side of the fence with a little bit of squeezing, and waited.  The guards were talking to each other.  Two more had joined the others, coming out of the warehouse to figure out what the noise was.  Then Logan heard it – a couple of whoops and hollers that had to be Danny and Sam.  The guards heard it, too.  They moved further away from the warehouse, towards the gate.  Logan ducked behind the building and felt along the wall for a door.  The moon cast enough light for him to see a little, but it was slow going in that ski mask.

He found the door just as the second set of firecrackers went off.  He tried the handle.  It was locked, but the firecrackers were still going off and the guards’ shouts were sounding from farther away.  He rammed his shoulder into the door, breaking the lock.  It swung inward, and Logan was inside.

The first thing that hit him was the smell.  He nearly gagged, but managed to hold it back.  He couldn’t risk making a sound, in case one of the other guards had stayed behind.  He was in a small room.  Usually would have been used for added storage space, he figured.  A large supply closet, maybe.  There were some empty shelves against once wall. 

For now, it was being used as Chuck’s cell.

Logan got lucky.  There were no guards in the room with Chuck.

But that was where his luck ran out.

Chuck wasn’t conscious.  The Iconoclasts had given him a bucket to shit into, but from the look and smell of Chuck, Logan guessed he hadn’t always made it there.

“Chuck,” Logan whispered, shaking the man by the shoulder.

He groaned loudly, and Logan quickly shushed him.  He paused, listening for movement or voices, but heard nothing.  They were running out of time, though.  He got an arm under Chuck, and the older man roused a little more.

“Who’re you?” he muttered.

“Friend of your daughter,” Logan said.  “We gotta move.”

He took a step forward, and heard the clink of a chain.  Turning around, he saw that there was a chain locked around Chuck’s ankle.  The other end was wrapped around a support beam.

“Shit.”

Logan set Chuck down carefully and got the bolt cutters.  He had to wait for the third set of firecrackers to go off, just in case someone was standing close enough to hear Logan cut the chain.  He held his breath as he waited, and then he heard it.  As soon as the noises started, he got the cutters around a link, as close to Chuck’s ankle as possible, and pushed down.  The metal parted with a snap, and Chuck was free.  Logan got his arm under Chuck again and half carried him out the door.

“Keep your head down,” he whispered.

Chuck grunted something that might have been a word.  He was seconds away from losing consciousness again.  Logan dragged him toward the hole in the fence and pushed him into it.  For a sickening moment, he worried Chuck wouldn’t fit, but even in this light he could tell Chuck had lost a lot of weight.  The older man managed to pull himself through, and then Logan dove after him.  He made more noise than he would have liked, but he didn’t have time to do it quietly; the guards would be back any second.  He pulled Chuck away from the warehouse, managed to get him to an old gas station a block over that had been mostly reclaimed by nature.  Then he stopped to listen.

All seemed quiet.

“We gotta get back to the van,” Logan whispered.  “It’s not far.”

Chuck managed a nod, and Logan got him moving.  While they walked, Logan prayed that the guards had found the used joints and drawn the conclusion that they’d been pranked by stoners.  The last thing he needed was for them to get suspicious and check Chuck’s room.

“Hey.”

Logan nearly went for his gun before he remembered he didn’t have one, but it was only Sam.

“Hey,” Logan said, taking a deep breath.  “Where’s the kid?”

“Dude, that prospect’s got balls.  One of those ‘Clasts nearly made me, but he distracted them and ran off.  Kid’s fast.  Was out of there before that fucking ‘Clast could turn around.  He’s meeting us at the bikes.”

“He’s doing alright,” Logan commented.

“Yeah.  He might just go the distance.”

“We’ll see.”

With Sam’s help, they managed to get Chuck back to the van.  Danny was waiting for them there, with the engine running and the lights off.

“Good job, kid,” Logan said when he saw him.  “Sam said you had his back.”

“It was nothing,” Danny said.

“Help us get him in the van,” Logan told him.

They maneuvered Chuck until he was lying across the bench seat in the back.

“Is he okay?” Danny asked.

“Probably not,” Logan replied honestly.  “I’m gonna get him somewhere safe.  What day is it today?  Which of the docs is on call?”

“Reno,” Sam said.  “He’s good at keeping quiet.”

“Perfect.  Call him, tell him to meet me at Grainy’s.  You and Danny take the bikes back to the clubhouse.”  He tossed Sam the keys to his bike.

“Sure thing, boss.”

Logan didn’t know what to say to that.  He wasn’t sure he was ready for anyone to call him “boss,” even jokingly.  Sam just smiled at him and got on Logan’s bike.  Logan watched as the two of them rode away, keeping their lights off.  Then he got into the van and made his way to Grainy’s, one of the club’s legit businesses.  It was a hole-in-the-wall bar, but it had a pretty spacious hidden room in the back that they used as a safe house.

Logan glanced at Chuck’s still form in the rearview mirror.  The safe house was all well and good, but from the looks of things, he wasn’t sure Chuck was going to make it there alive.

Logan pulled the van up behind Grainy’s and unlocked the back entrance, which was painted to look like the surrounding wall.  You had to look for the door before you could really see it.  He had a hard time getting Chuck out of the van by himself, but the older man woke up during the process and made an effort to move a little on his own.

“That’s it,” Logan encouraged, relieved to see Chuck awake again.  “Easy does it.  Right through here.  I got a comfy couch with your name on it.”

The two of them got inside, and Logan rested Chuck on the sofa.  Then he went back out to move the van around front so no passersby would notice it in the alley and wonder why it was there.

When Logan got back inside the room, Reno was there.  He was an older man, a little on the thin side, and very tall.  He was kneeling by Chuck, dabbing some antiseptic on a wound.

Logan caught his breath.  In the light, he could tell that Chuck was in worse shape than he’d thought.  It was clear that someone had worked him over good.  Half his face was a mess of scars and bruises, and a couple of his fingers looked broken.

“Is he going to be okay?” Logan asked.

“Eventually,” Reno replied.  “It’s a good thing I brought the big supply bag.  I had a feeling I’d be needing it.  This is going to take some time, though.”

“Can I leave you here with him?  I gotta go find his daughter, let her know he’s okay.”

“Nicole?” Chuck grunted.  “She okay?  Is my little girl safe?”

“She’s safe,” Logan said, resting his hand gently on Chuck’s shoulder.  “I’m keeping an eye on her.”

“Thank God.”

“Don’t thank him just yet,” Logan whispered. 

He nodded at Reno, gesturing to the other end of the room.  The old doctor got up and joined him out of Chuck’s earshot.

“There’s a lot of people who want this guy dead,” Logan confided.  “And we want him alive, because he might have information that could help the club.  So no one comes in or out of here besides me, okay?  Don’t take any calls while you’re here.  You okay to spend the night with him?”

Reno nodded.  “I know the drill, Logan.  This ain’t my first rodeo.  Go see to the daughter.  Your man’s in good hands.”

“I know he is.  Thanks, doc.”

Logan clapped the old man on the shoulder and then left the bar.

Nicole hadn’t gone back to the diner all day.  She’d called one of the other waitresses – Marie – to take over her shift.  She couldn’t face Clay, was terrified of what he’d do to her.  There was a bruise on her cheek from where he’d backhanded her.  If she did work up the courage to go back to work, she’d have to go on days when Clay wasn’t scheduled, and she’d have to get some cover-up for the bruise.

A light knock on her door made her jump.  It was late, and she was worried for a moment that maybe it was Clay.  He did know where she lived, after all.  Shaking a little, she wandered over to the door and looked through the peephole.  Her whole body relaxed when she saw Logan on the other side.  Without time to put makeup on, she pulled her hair down in the hopes that it would fall over the bruise, hiding it.  Then she pulled open the door.

“Logan, come in,” she said.

He stepped over the threshold, and she closed the door behind him.  When she turned back to him, she tried to read his face.  Was her father okay?  He didn’t look like he had bad news, but his expression was a mask.  The type of guy Logan was… she was sure he was used to hiding his pain.

“My father,” she whispered.  “Is he…”

“We got him,” he told her.  “He’s in a safe house right now, getting patched up by one of our doctors.”

Nicole threw herself at him, wrapping her arms around him and squeezing for all she was worth.  She was bawling like a baby and she didn’t care.  Far from pushing her away, Logan returned the embrace, his strong arms circling her, making her feel warm and protected.

“How was he?” she asked his chest.  “Can I see him?”

“I know it’s gonna be hard, but you need to wait until tomorrow,” he whispered.  “He’s in rough shape, and he needs to rest.  Doc says he’s gonna be fine, but we should give him space for a few hours.”

Nicole pulled back to look up at him, her eyes still filled with tears.

“Thank you, Logan,” she breathed.  “You didn’t have to do this for me.  I can’t tell you how grateful I am.  There are no words.”

“Don’t forget, I did this mostly for selfish reasons.  Your father probably has information that can help my club.”

“I don’t care,” she said, shaking her head.  “You have a good heart.  I can tell.”

He was about to respond when he frowned at her.  He reached out to push her hair back and Nicole stiffened, understanding what he was looking at.  His thumb grazed her cheek, just under the bruise, so gently that it made Nicole shudder.

“Who did this to you?” he asked, his voice deathly quiet.

“It’s nothing,” Nicole said, pulling her hair forward again.

Logan’s warm hand moved down her arm, his finger’s tracing trails of fire over her skin, until they came to rest at her hand.  She looked back up at him as he took her hand in his.

“You’re shaking,” he whispered.  “It’s not nothing.”

Nicole shook her head.  “I’m scared of what you’ll do if I tell you.”

Logan cupped her face in his free hand, leaning down to search her eyes.

“You think I’d hurt you?”

“No!” Nicole exclaimed, surprised that he’d drawn that conclusion.  “No, of course not.  I’m afraid you’d hurt
him
.”

“Hurt who?”

“Clay,” Nicole said on a defeated sigh.  She felt his grip on her hand tighten.  “He’s been creeping on me for years, but yesterday he cornered me in the office.  He asked me about you, told me I was going to be his.  When I pushed him away, he hit me.”  Nicole sucked in a shaky breath.  “He pushed me against the wall, touched me, threatened me.”

Logan released her and spun towards the door.  She lunged forward and wrapped her arms around his waist, holding onto him for all she was worth.

“Please don’t!” she cried into his back.  “He’s not worth it, Logan.”

“He’s more than worth it,” he said, not turning around.  “No one touches you. 
No one
.”

Her breath caught at his words, the meaning behind them.

“Do you mean that?” she asked.

He didn’t respond right away.  She could feel his elevated heartbeat beneath her hands.  His breaths were coming out in angry bursts.  She waited, not daring to let go of him, until he finally turned back around to face her.  When she tried to step back, he took hold of her arms to keep her near him.

“I don’t know,” he said, in answer to her question.  “The past few days have been… confusing.  But when I hear about that piece of trash laying hands on you… all I want to do is tear him to pieces.”

“You’d feel the same if someone did that to any of your other girls,” she said, feeling resigned.

“My other girls?” he asked, raising his eyebrows.

“I work at a diner where three different MCs come to eat on a regular basis, Logan.  I probably know more about your conquests than you do.”

His chest shook beneath her as he chuckled.

“You’re cute when you’re jealous.”

Nicole stepped back and crossed her arms.

“I am
not
jealous.  I’m talking logic here, Logan.  What you feel, you would feel it if one of your exes told you a similar story.  It doesn’t mean anything.”

“I don’t think you’re being fair to me.  If one of my exes told me what you’d just said, I’d probably hurt the guy on principle.  They’d expect me to.  Now, here I am wanting to kill a guy because I want nothing more than to protect you, because of how I feel about you… and you’re telling me I’m thinking with my dick.”

“Well… aren’t you?”

He cracked a smile again.  Nicole’s heart thudded in her chest.  That smile was going to be her undoing.  Fortunately, the longer she kept him smiling, the better chance she had at keeping him
here
.  He couldn’t go after Clay.  Not now.

“Maybe,” he said.  “You are drop-dead gorgeous, and I think you remember what my dick thinks about you.”

Nicole felt herself getting hot all over.  Yes, she remembered well what had happened the last time they were in her apartment together.  Logan’s smile turned smug when he saw her expression.

“You are good for the ego, Nicole, I’ll tell you that.  But all this… this need to protect you.  I don’t know.  It doesn’t feel like my dick talking.”

Nicole kept her arms crossed, mainly because she was itching to throw herself at him again, hold onto him without ever letting go.  She was having trouble managing her emotions.  She was scared of Clay, grateful to Logan, worried for her dad.  It was all too much.  She wanted to hit the brakes on her life.  Just for a second.

Logan closed the distance between them, took her arms and coaxed them apart, wrapped them back around him.  It was like he’d read her mind, like he knew this was exactly what she’d wanted to do.  His hands rested on her lower back.

“You’re thinking too hard,” he murmured.

“I have a lot to think about.”

“Not right now.  You’ve got too much on your shoulders, way more than any one person should handle.  Let me help.  Let me take some of that burden.”

Nicole couldn’t help herself.  She pushed up onto her tiptoes and kissed him for all she was worth.  He returned the kiss in kind, his hands moving down to her rear, lifting her so he could have better access to her.  Nicole helped him by jumping a little.  He caught her underneath her thighs, holding her up without effort.  She let out a satisfied moan when his tongue slipped into her mouth.  He pulled back and nipped at her lower lip, then took a moment to catch his breath.  Nicole realized there were tears in her eyes.  Logan smiled sadly, leaned down to rub his rough jaw over the soft skin of her cheek in a long caress.  His beard tickled her skin, sending tingles all throughout her body.

“You keep looking at me with those pretty sad eyes, I’m gonna forget how much I want you and go take care of Clay.”

“You can’t,” Nicole said.  At his incredulous look, she amended her statement.  “You
can
take him in a fight.  I mean you
can’t
fight my battles for me, Logan.  Clay is my problem, and I’m going to take care of it, just as soon as I figure out what his game is.  The worm’s got something going on, and I want to know what it is.  You have to let me handle this.  Please.”

Logan sighed with disappointment.  “Damn it.  How can I say no to that?”

Nicole rested her head against his shoulder.  “Thank you for understanding.”

“I understand that you’ve got a fire in you that I respect, but I’m gonna need a distraction.  All I can think about is that bastard’s hands on you.”

Nicole unhooked her ankles and slid her legs slowly down his as she lowered herself to the floor.

“Let’s go out,” she whispered.

“What?”

She pulled back so she could look up at him.  “I’m gonna go crazy if I have to sit around in my tiny apartment.  Let’s go somewhere.  There’s gotta be somewhere fun that’s still open this late.”

A slow smile spread over Logan’s face.  “Yeah, I can think of a place.”

Logan couldn’t shake the memory of Nicole’s body pressed against his, her lips pulling urgently at his own.  He had refused to tell her where he was taking her for their date, so she’d given up and gone to her bedroom to get dressed.  He lowered himself onto her couch and waited, his hands balled into fists on his knees.  Every time he thought about that bruise on her cheek, his control was tested.  All he wanted to do was find Clay and tear him to pieces.  Better yet, he could drag the weasel back to the clubhouse, tell the boys what had happened.  The New Crusaders did not take kindly to violence against women.  If Clay survived the encounter – doubtful – he’d never look at a woman again.