Reckless Fear (The Black Vipers #1) (4 page)

Sweat ran off me in streams as I sprinted. My chest ached and lungs burned as I pushed my muscles to their limit. Looking behind me over and over. Something was back there but I couldn’t see it. What was I running from? Running to?

My entire body swayed back and forth. It was comforting in a way, almost hypnotic. I hummed a low note, wondering what I had taken to feel so content. This was not a Tequila high and I hadn’t touched pills in years. This feeling was different than anything I’d ever felt and it was good.

“Hey, Ben, look at me Ben.” I was instantly pissed at the asshole trying to wake me. He rubbed my chest hard, digging his knuckles into my breast bone. He must have a death wish. “Ben, can you hear me?”

Ben? Where in the name of dirty Hell was I? Who was stupid enough to call me Ben? I struggled to move, needing to put my hands around this assholes neck.

Ben died a long time ago.

A bright spotlight shone into my left eye causing pain to shoot through my head like a dagger. I growled, trying to swing my hand at the light but my arm stayed limp at my side. I paused. My arm didn’t move…I tried again…nothing.

“Ben? Can you hear me?”

“I told you, stop calling him Ben you stupid asshole. He won’t answer even if he hears you.” I calmed a bit hearing Stash’s voice.

There was a pause.

“Security!”

Sounds of a scuffle circled around me.

“You better fucking save his life, asshole. I will be back, do you hear me?”

The room was suddenly bombarded with a flurry of medical noises. Rushing voices shouting orders, beeping machines…and then the pain, the fucking pain.

I growled and arched my back as my body swirled with a burning sensation. I rolled my head to the side, unable to move my body. The pain, the darkness threatening to take me under.

“Give him more Morphine,” someone yelled as hands clamped down on me. “Call the O.R., tell them we’re coming, I don’t give a shit if they are ready or not.”

****

Adrenalin flooded my body when I finally got my eyelids to flutter. My heart beat wildly as I felt the numbness beginning to wear off and feeling returned to my hands. I’d been trying so damn hard to get my eyes open but my entire body was so heavy and felt rigid.

The noises from the beeping machines began to emerge from the background with their monotonous rhythm.

Someone touched the top of my hand, the sensation sending a river of electricity through my whole body. I raised a finger, hoping whoever was there would see it. A light touch moved over my hand, sliding into mine.

“She’s safe Braxton. I’ve known her for five years. She’s a great nurse.”

VP growled, “I don't like it Nancy. We don’t have time for Dane to check her out.”

“I know, but trust me. I’ve been loyal to this club. Risked not only my career but my life multiple times for you guys. I’m not going to change now.”

There was a shuffling of chairs as heavy footsteps entered the room.

“Hey, Nance. What’s the word tonight?” It was just like Pops to walk into the room and get right to business. I squeezed the fingers that still held mine.

“He’s stable. No signs of infection, vitals are good. He’s tough as nails, although still no signs of waking up, I really think he’s out of the woods.”

There was silence in the room, the fingers released mine.

“Who’s this?”

“Pops, this is Julie. Julie, Pops Cole.”

A soft voice whispered, “Hello,” sending chills through my whole body.

“I was just explaining to Braxton, Julie is going to take the night shift so I can get some sleep. She can be trusted, I wouldn’t have brought her in if I had any questions.”

“Of course, Nancy. I know you wouldn’t. You’ve been a huge asset to this club. We trust you. If you say she’s good…that’s all I need.”

My toes slid against the inside of the blankets. Stash’s excited voice filled the room, “Hey, I think he just moved his feet.”

Bells began to ring in the room as I struggled to open my eyes, blinking them over and over. My chest rose and fell quickly, shooting pains into my side with each breath.

“Tight, be calm,” her voice soothing and kind. I turned toward it, wanting to see who could bring peace in a situation like this.

I felt a sharp sting in my hand. The sensation crawled up my arm and began to float again. The fingers continued to lightly rub the top of my hand. I relaxed as a pleasant warmth filled my body. I tried to open my eyes, hoping to find the source of my calm, but I slipped into my drug induced sleep too soon.

****

The room was full of outlaw bikers. Some were in the chairs, some stretched out on the floor. Stash had his hat pulled down over his eyes, head back on the wall feet crossed and stretched out in front of him. The curtains were partially pulled but I could see the faint glow of dawn.

My mind was foggy. I was obviously in the hospital but had no idea how long I’d been here.

As my eyes began to clear, I searched the dark room and found Braxton leaning in the far corner. Dark circles under his eyes told me I’d been here longer than a few hours. His lips pulled up into a full smile as he crossed the room toward me. I noticed the fresh dressing on his neck.

“’Bout time you woke up. We got shit to do.”

I rolled my head toward him, lifting my hand. He grabbed a hold of it tightly.

”So good to see you awake, brother. So damn good.”

I took a deep breath, wanting to ask him what exactly had happened. Why was I here and who was I going to have to kill as payback for my VP having a wound on his neck?

My dry throat constricted and I started to cough.

Stash, taken off guard by the sudden noise, straightened his legs, nearly sliding right out of the chair. “What? What the Hell? Is he awake? Are you awake?” He rambled on, trying to compose himself and get to his feet.

“Settle down, Stash. You’ll wake the whole floor.” Braxton whispered, handing me a cup with ice water. “Just a small sip. Nancy said if you woke up to give you some, but if you drink too fast it’ll all come right back up.”

Stash pushed up next to Braxton, “Look out, he doesn't need a nurse unless it’s that little hottie he had last night…in a nursing costume. Not those fucking scrubs but you know, the little white costume with the garter.”

I hissed as I pushed myself up in the bed. “Careful, dude.” Justin said from the edge of the bed.

“Dane?”

“He’s out in the van, he’s got this place hooked up. He’s checking to make sure no one’s going to surprise us.”

The last of my brothers woke up, surrounding my bed with their quiet comfort.

“Get my shit,” I said to Justin as I tried to move my feet over the edge of the bed, “we need to get back to The Pit and figure out who was stupid enough to set up that ambush."

His eyes shot to Braxton and then back to me. “Tight, I don’t think you’re ready to go anywhere yet.”

“Why not?”

There was an awkward silence. Suddenly everyone looked stiff and nervous and no one was looking at me. Braxton stood with his hands shoved in his front pockets, looking at the ground.

“Justin,” I yelled, “Get. My. Shit.”

Justin let out a long growl, “You can’t get out of the bed.”

“Why not?”

He lifted a shaky finger and pointed toward the side of the bed. My eyes followed the path and that’s when I saw it.

A bag.

A bag with a tube attached.

A bag filled with piss attached to a tube that ran up under my sheets.

My head instantly snapped to Braxton. “A piss bag? You let them put a piss tube in my dick?"

He pulled his shoulders up to his ears, “They didn't ask! You went into surgery fine and came out with that fucker. What was I supposed to do?”

“I don’t know, tell them to take it out!”

“They said you needed it.”

“Listen to me very carefully, VP. I don’t ever need anything IN my dick! I don’t know what kind of freaky shit you’re into but my dick is most definitely OUT only! Speaking of out, everyone get out of this fucking room.”

Everyone started toward the door.

“Not you, Stash,” I yelled as he tried to blend in with the crowd that was leaving.

Braxton held his hands out in front of him, “You need to calm down.”

“Let’s see how calm you are when you have a garden hose coming out of your cock.” I fell back into the bed, running my hands over my face.

“I think you’re being a bit generous, it’s more the size of a spaghetti noodle,” Stash said looking down at the tube.

I clinched my teeth together, “I’m going to kill you with my bare hands. I swear to God, when I get out of this bed.”

“Knock it off, Stash,” Braxton said, stepping closer to the bed. He’s not supposed to be getting riled up.”

Braxton grabbed the remote from my bed, “I should call the nurse and tell her you’re up and need…” he shuddered as he motioned toward my dick, “help.”

“Tell them to send the hottie,” Stash piped up.

“Oh, no. No hot nurses, no ugly nurses either. How does this damn thing come out? I don’t need any help, I’ll just take it out myself.”

“No. Stop,” Stash said, holding his hands up in front of him like a damn crossing guard. “Do not do that. I don’t know how that all works dude, but I would think that’s a horrible idea.”

I glared at both of them, “Anything better?”

“Yes, let the nurses take it out. That’s what I vote,” he said.

The door cracked open and both guys looked quickly in that direction.

Nancy walked in, writing something on her clip board. Braxton rushed to her, practically lifting her by the elbows and carrying her to the side of the bed.

“He wants it out,” he said nervously, pointing toward my dick. “Now.”

Someone else had come in behind her but at this point I didn’t care who the hell was in here.

“Take it out Nance, seriously. I can’t have something in there. It’s unnatural,” I pleaded.

“I can’t just take it out, Tight. We need to make sure everything is working right and…”

I reached under the blanket and took a hold of the rubbery part of the tube.

“Oh shit, he’s going to pull it out, Nancy.” Stash yelled, pacing and pulling at his hair. “Don’t do it, man.”

Braxton was yelling at Nancy to call the doctor, Stash was having some sort of episode and Nancy was trying to calm everyone down. This was my chance.

I gave that bitch a good tug.

It was clearly the worst fucking idea I’d ever had.

“Oh, Fuck!” I fell against my pillows and yelled out as the pain throbbed.

I’d broken my damn dick.

Nancy was in my face, asking me if I was alright but the pain was excruciating and my vision flooded with little white dots. I heard Braxton laughing somewhere in the background, “You stupid ass.”

Stash was leaned over, hands on his knees breathing deep like he was going to pass out…that would make two of us because I was going to pass out for sure.

“Look at me Tight,” Nancy’s voice was calm and steady, “just breathe. Breathe.”

“Jesus, is he giving birth over there?” Stash squeaked out.

The extra person in the room appeared at the bed side next to Nancy. Her long hair was pulled back into a pony tail that hung over one shoulder. She had gloves on and a syringe in her hand. Moving the sheet back just enough, she attached a syringe to something on the tube. I heard her say, “One, two, three” There was a stinging when the catheter slid out and then it was over. She grabbed the piss bag and took it and the tube into the bathroom.

Braxton and Stash watched her as she marched into the bathroom, shaking her head and grumbling under her breath, “Damn Bikers.”

“Yeah, man. It was him. He’s got one hell of a price on your head. That prick and his VP have got to go.” Braxton leaned back onto the chair he’d pulled next to my bed. Visiting hours were almost over and after the catheter fiasco a few days ago, he’d sent everyone back to The Pit.

The club pays Nancy a nice salary to work in this shitty little town two hours from us for that exact reason. To have a place to go unnoticed. A roomful of bikers drew a lot of attention and we were trying to be discreet.

She made good money being a nurse but with what the club supplemented her, she lived a pretty nice life.

It also assures us a place to take our wounded. It wasn't a fool proof plan, but Nancy was able to get doctors to sign orders and look the other way when need be.

I didn't know how she did it and didn't care. I’m sure someone knew all the dirty details and I was fine not having the privilege.

This small town had become our second home. The club even had a “safe house” here. An apartment in a security building where brothers who needed to disappear, could go and hide out until whatever trouble they’d conjured up passed over. It’d been used for everything from avoiding the cops to hiding from a jaded old lady.

I’d rather be running from the police. From what I’d seen, there was a higher survival rate.

Personally, I’d never been to the safe house. Since the moment I’d been patched in, I’d never felt the need to hide from anyone. If someone had a problem with me, they knew where to find me. But we all knew the location and the key codes to get in. Wasn’t much of a safe house if you had to call someone for directions.

Braxton blew out a ragged breath. “We figured the asshole would be hell-bent on killing you if he ever took over the club, but never thought he’d risk the truce. They’ve gotta be hurting financially too.”

A long drawn out silence passed between the two of us before he leaned up, resting his elbows on his knees and looking at the ground.

“Pops declared it.”

“Aw, shit,” I said, rubbing my head. “Hate that fucking truce but it doesn’t mean I want Viper blood spilt on my account.”

“That’s not on you, dude. Pops is pissed, said if anyone was stupid enough to put a hit out on his Sergeant at Arms, they deserved war. The brothers want their revenge.”

I exhaled, letting the realty of the situation settle into me.

“Lots of people are going to die, VP.”

He shifted back into his chair, resolve in his eyes as he nodded his head.

Three months ago, the President of the Dark Riders who had taken over after Pops had killed Big Frank, ended up dead in his bed. But that wasn’t the worst of it. His old lady, VP and Road Captain lay next to him. All naked, all in compromising positions and all with necks slit so severely, blood sprays covered the damn ceiling.

Everyone knew Maverick McBride, the new Pres, and his sleazy VP Rip, had killed them.  I really didn't give a shit who died or how. The inner workings of another club was none of my business and honestly a dead Rider was a dead Rider.

But Maverick, he was a different kind of biker. Now that he had taken over, it meant big problems for us.

Bikers were all cruel in some way, had to be to survive the lifestyle. Justice was looked at as something we could bend and mold to our situation. We all lived by our own form of the law but tried to keep a code of ethics. No women, no kids.

Maverick didn’t care, he killed for fun.

He liked the sport of it, the hunt…the chase and the final trophy. Stories of how he treated his club girls made my blood boil. I don’t give a shit what the situation, no woman should ever be tortured for pure entertainment.

When the club had taken me in and word spread The Vipers had a new prospect, people started talking like they always do. It didn’t take long for the story of me killing the poor bastard in the warehouse started to circulate. The problem was, the guy I stabbed in the chest over and over until he took his very last breath…Maverick’s dad.

It was the start of my love hate relationship with him.

He loved to hate me and I loved that he hated me. I ate that shit up. Every time we had any interaction, I made sure he knew I planned to take him out the same way I did his dad. It made him bat shit crazy with blood lust for me.

Braxton’s phone rang. Digging it out of his back pocket, a big smile pulled at his mouth.

“What’s so funny?” I asked.

He handed me the phone. Stash’s dip shit face took up the entire screen with a Facetime request.

“I thought he went to visit Grandma Lilly,” I asked.

“He did.”

I pushed accept and the screen lit up with the precious face of the woman we all called Grandma Lil. As one of the first Old Ladies in the club, she was tough as nails and never missed an opportunity to remind us of it. She joked if anything ever happened to Pops, she would pack her shit, leave the nursing home and run the Vipers herself. She had my vote.

Her blue hair was done up in some sort of poof I thought looked like a cotton ball but would never tell her that. Not if I wanted to leave the room with my manhood intact.

She held the phone in her hand but looked to the side.

“What kind of fuckery is this,” she asked to Stash, I assumed.

His voice came through, “Gram, please. Don’t say that word.”

She was actually his grandmother by blood. Stash had been raised in the club and was third generation Viper.

“I’ve been saying fuck since before you were born. You’re not married to a man like your grandfather without fuck being a mainstay in your vocabulary.”

I busted out laughing. As far as I was concerned, this woman was the best thing ever created and I loved the shit out of her. She heard my laugh and finally gave me her attention.

“Tight, my love. How the hell are you, boy? Stash tells me you went and got yourself ambushed and shot. That’s a special kind of stupid, isn’t it?”

Stash’s voice came through again, sounding defeated, “Shit, Grandma.” He grabbed at the phone tilting it toward him.

”I did not tell her. I only told her you’d been shot. She came up with the rest on her own.”

Everyone knew it was taboo to talk club business, but she had a way of getting information out of anyone.

“Speak up, boy. Did you or did you not get shot?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“And was it or was it not stupid for you three to go into that situation?”

“Gram, you know I can’t talk about it.”

She shook her head, telling me how disappointed she was. But I smiled as big as my dry lips would allow as I noticed she had her Old Lady cut on.

“Love the cut, Gram.” I said.

She winked and smiled with lips she still colored red every day. She knew she wasn’t allowed to wear it. Pops put the end to it when Gen was killed. He didn't want anybody to be able to identify the women as one of ours.

His heart was in the right place but Gram Lil put up a fight worthy of any of the brothers.

She reminded him she’d went through the fires of Hell to be an Old Lady and informed him nothing gave her more pride than being married to Stash’s Gramps and being property of the Vipers. And then she told him to go fuck himself and he would have to pry it off her cold, dead back.

They’d made a compromise.

She could wear it in her room at the nursing home. The club also employed special people to take care of her and the Administrator and Director of Nursing had been on some pretty lavish vacations since Gram became a permanent resident. All financed by the club.

“Can you at least be more careful?” She asked with an unusual soften in her voice. My heart warmed as concern passed across her face. “The thought of something happening to one of you boys, well, it scares me to death.”

“I’m sorry, Gram. I promise I will be more careful, just for you.”

She threw her head back and laughed, “Fucking liar!”

Braxton and I busted up. I grabbed at my side, the laughing causing pain but I didn’t give a shit. Gram was a treasure and I wanted to absorb as much of her as I could.

“Ok, boys. I’ve had about enough of this.” She lifted a finger toward the screen and her voice turned stern. “Come and see me when you get out of that hospital.”

“Yes, Ma’am,” I said.

She ran her finger over the screen, like she was touching my face. “Goodbye, boy.”

“Bye, Gram.”

The screen went dead and I felt a little lonely. A personality like hers engulfed everyone in her midst. She came into your world, swirling like a tornado and when she left she took all the thunder with her, leaving only the aftermath of her beauty.

I yawned. Braxton took it as a sign and stood. “I’m going to head out. Do you need anything?”

I shook my head.

“Ok, Brother. I’ll be back sometime tomorrow,” he headed toward the door.

“Don’t worry about it,” I said.

He turned back, “Yeah?”

“Yeah. You need to stay there and figure out this mess with Maverick. Those guns are somewhere. When I get out of here, I’m going after them. And after Maverick, just for fun.”

He nodded his head, running his hand down his beard and then growled, “Plus, that fucking outdoor MC Rally for Peace is in two weeks. Justin and Dane have been working like mad men trying to get the plans in place.

“Oh, shit. Is it that time of year already?”

Once a year, all the clubs in a 300 mile radius come together in what the news outlets claim was a show of peace. It was the most ridiculously fucked up thing we did.

It started in the eighties when gang violence was the DA’s hard on and the hot topic in every election. For some reason all area politicians, most of whom were getting monthly envelopes from one club or another, decided they needed to back Senator Richardson’s claims to be making progress toward cleaning up the states. I’m sure it looked good.

We were going because Pops had said we were. Braxton thought it was a bad idea and voted against it every year, but until his cut read President…we went to the damn thing.

I laid my head back against my pillow, the pain meds starting to kick in.  During the day the meds kept the pain at bay, but at night the nurses kicked it up a notch to make sure I slept.

“I should be out in a couple days. I’ll let you know when you can pick me up.”

I barely registered the door closing.

The best part of the meds, they gave me a complete release of tension. I normally tried everything I could do to relax but it never worked. These pills were like gold and I suddenly felt a brotherhood with every street junkie out there.

“Yeah,” I sighed, talking to myself as the floating feeling started. “I totally get it.”