Retribution: A Motorcycle Club Romance (7 page)

Laura gasped, “Oh, and then that guy
just came up swinging out of nowhere like he was Van Damme and made Tony look
like a total bitch!”

“It was like that with this guy today.
Just quiet, and then suddenly,
pow,
” said Eva. “He broke one of their
arms and chased them off.”

“That’s incredible!” said Laura.
“What the hell kind of storybook did you walk into?”

Eva laughed, “I knew you were going
to say that.”

“Seriously, though, are you okay? Did
anyone get hurt? I assume you called the cops.”

Eva froze, biting her lip. “We’re
okay. But cops, well… things are apparently a little more complicated than
that. This guy, Will… I don’t know who he is, but he says those assholes are
going to come back, and he wants to stay and take care of them. He says he’s
seen it before. The cops won’t help until it’s too late.”

Laura was silent on the other end for
a good few seconds. “Wait, so let me get this straight. You’ve got like… some
dude just hanging out in your bar on an epic quest for vengeance?”

“I guess that’s one way to put it,”
said Eva.

“Charlie’s with you, right? You’re
not in danger?”

“No, no,” said Eva, though she
wondered why. Will was obviously a dangerous man—why was she so sure he wouldn’t
hurt her? “I mean, Will’s a total asshole, but he protected us. He doesn’t want
anything.”

“
Will?
” said Laura, dragging
the name out. “First name basis already?” She paused for a second. “Oh shit, is
he hot? Is that what’s happening?”

Eva felt her face flush. “I literally
hate you.”

“Girl, oh my God, are you going to
fuck some mysterious stranger who is beating up criminals in your bar? Wait,
isn’t that basically the plot of Batman?” Laura gasped. “Are you going to fuck
Batman
?”

This time, Eva laughed loud,
remembering that Will ironically called himself that earlier. “Christ, Laura, I
just met the man today!”

Laura let out a big sigh. “Girl, I
don’t know what to do with you. You’re more adventure than I can handle.”

Eva laughed. “Apparently.”

“Seriously though, I’m all for you
getting a roll in the hay—God knows you need it—but just be careful, okay?
Maybe the guy who’s kicking the shit out of people isn’t the best target for
that.”

“Oh, don’t worry,” said Eva. “I would
have to get over how terribly unattractive his attitude is to even consider
that.”

“The eternal struggle of all womankind,”
said Laura, and they shared a hearty laugh.

Eva chatted with Laura for another
half hour, catching up on her life as a publicist for a small record label in
the city, and Laura’s own man-centered shenanigans. Eva promised to call her
later and keep her updated on the situation, after once again assuring her that
she was and would remain safe. The conversation had Eva feeling lighter and
more centered than she had before.

As she stood up from the bed to
stretch a little, her eyes caught some movement in the wood near the bar through
the window in her room. Across the meadow, Charlie and Will were stalking
around the perimeter, inspecting, stooping, pointing.
Making some sort of
battle plan, no doubt
, she thought.

Will moved through the trees like a
graceful predator as she watched, hidden from his view. What was it that kept
whispering in her head, telling her he was more than he seemed. He left no room
for doubt during their earlier conversation about his own feelings toward her.

But then she remembered the look on
his face when he knelt before her and picked up her book with gentle, concerned
hands. The loving way he straightened all the crooked pages back to their
proper spots. The soft way he had asked if she was okay.

Eva sighed as the sun lit up his
rust-colored hair even as he moved between the trees. If only it would
illuminate more of the man underneath.

~
EIGHT ~

Will chewed on the ugly words he had spit at Eva for
the next few hours as he investigated the grounds around the bar. Charlie was
giving him a tour of their borders and buildings. He was surprised to see that
the bar’s owner, Owen, actually lived in a modest rambler only fifty yards or
so from the bar itself, tucked up in the tree line. That made things easier—he
didn’t have to worry about watching some second location where Eva and Charlie
might be threatened, and he didn’t have to try and talk them into camping at
the bar until this all blew over.

He didn’t understand why he felt
guilty about the way he talked to Eva. When was the last time he ever felt
guilty about anything, especially something involving a woman? He wasn’t a
total piece of shit—he intentionally sought out women like him, who lived rough
lives on the edge and weren’t looking for more than momentary physical comfort.
He made his intentions clear from the beginning. He didn’t lead them on or
abuse them or fuck with their emotions like many other so-called men in the
world did regularly. Will always found it bitterly funny that these same men
would look down on him for being an outlaw and not participating in some
bullshit “respectable” corporate world, just to turn around and treat their
wives worse than he would ever consider treating a woman. He
wanted
to
fuck Eva, sure. But he didn’t fuck women
like
Eva.

But he still felt guilty about what
he had said to her, and that guilt only made him angry. Eva had no idea what
she was getting into. She didn’t seem to understand how much danger she and
Charlie could be in.

That being said, Will was trying to
bury his growing lust for her that very clearly did not want to be ignored.
Lust was nothing new, and he usually had no problems serving it. But he served it
with the right type of women. A
different
type of woman. Not one who was
as soft and breakable as Eva. He didn’t need some moon-eyed out of town girl
falling in love with the roughneck bad boy. Not here. Not now.

Will realized Charlie had been
talking to him, and he hadn’t heard much of it. He tried to play it off
otherwise as Charlie pointed out the two cheap security cameras stationed on
corners of the roof on the bar. Then he turned and pointed into the woods.
“There’s also one on the house, running to the same closed circuit feed.”

Will nodded. “Helpful.”

“What kind of a response are you
expecting, exactly?” asked Charlie. He was probably close to Will’s age, maybe
a few years younger; attractive kid with arms and a chest that told of manual,
blue-collar labor. Something about his down-to-brass-tacks demeanor made him
seem older, reminding Will of the old school World War II veterans that used to
hang around visiting his grandfather. Charlie was an old soul with a lot of
emotion.

“That depends,” said Will. He ran a
hand through his hair as the wind tussled it, scanning the bar. “They’ll bring
back a lot more men if they think we are going to do the same. If they think we’re
still weak, well, then maybe only a few. It will be more than two, either way.”

“So you don’t know?” said Charlie. “I
thought you knew what you were doing with this stuff?”

“Look, this isn’t like baking a cake
where we follow a recipe. This is warfare. Do you have any idea the insane
amount of variables that come into play planning a tactical response?”

Charlie blinked. His Adam’s apple
bobbed as he swallowed. “No, I guess I don’t.”

“I have to guess what those fuckers
are going to do next, based on the information I
think
they might have
about us. What a general wouldn’t give for absolutes.” Will paced off a few
feet into the green underbrush to get a better look at the house just up the
incline. He imagined that’s where Eva had stormed off to.

“So, what do we do?” asked Charlie.

“Do you have any weapons?” said Will.

“I think there’s a shotgun inside,
and I know I’ve seen more than one axe around the property.”

Ghost would never forgive
me for battling with axes and not inviting him.
“Unless you and your sister have had some medieval weapons training, I think
we’ll just stick with firearms. I have a few.”

“You can’t really just shoot them,
can you? You’ll be arrested for sure, that’s murder.”

“Self-defense,” said Will as he
trudged around Charlie and wandered back into the bar. “And make no mistake,
that’s exactly what it will be. They’re not going to come back peacefully. So
don’t get your panties in a twist worrying about murder.”

“It’s still a sin,” said Charlie in a
lower voice.

Will let out a harsh laugh and poured
himself a glass of whiskey. He dug in his pockets and fished out a pack of
smokes. “Then call yourself a priest when we’re done, Murdock, because I can’t
fucking help you get right with God.” He blew out a puff of smoke. “But I just
might keep you alive long enough to make it to confession.”

Charlie came close to him, and looked
over his shoulder before he spoke. “I want you to leave my sister out of this,”
he said. “Whatever plans you have to defend this place, don’t write her into
them. It’s just me and you, understand?”

Will gave him a look as he exhaled
smoke. “Are you saying she’s
not
a secret assassin, then?”

“Listen, asshole, I’m serious,” said
Charlie, pointing a finger to Will’s chest. “Just stay away from her.”

“I would be pretty shitty at my job
if I tried to put bookworms in sundresses on my front lines,” said Will. “You
don’t need to worry about that.” Talking about Eva out loud only made an image
of her pop into Will’s head, beautiful and distracting. With it, his guilt
resurfaced.

“Good,” said Charlie. “My uncle
called earlier to check in and I didn’t know what all to tell him, so I just
got off the phone and said I’d call him back. I really want to tell him what’s
going on with his bar.”

“Don’t,” said Will. “We don’t know
who’s listening. And he could still be—“

“He is
not
involved with
this,” insisted Charlie with gritted teeth. “And you want me to just lie about
all this?”

“Don’t
lie
, just keep your
fucking mouth shut. Tell him things are fine. He can’t do anything to help us,
anyway.”

“Just like the cops, right?”

Will finished his whiskey and stood
in front of Charlie with his shoulder squared. “If you don’t trust me, Murdock,
that’s fine. I’ll go. But believe me when I tell you that you and that lovely sister
of yours will pay the price if I do.” He paused. “I’ve seen it before.”

Charlie fell silent. His face
betrayed his internal struggle with himself, trying to read a situation that
was over his head. In the end he said nothing, only sighed. “All right, all right.
Just… this is a lot to swallow, man, you know?”

Will didn’t have any urge to
empathize with Charlie, so he didn’t. All he needed was for this city boy to
listen to his very simple instructions so he didn’t get his bar blown to
fucking bits with his family inside. “Just take it easy for today. Something
tells me they won’t be back right away. They’ll give time for any cops we
called to fart around the scene and do nothing about it before they hit again.
Keep the bar closed for the day. Tomorrow, you and I will open up. We’ll keep
your sister in the house, away from it.”

Charlie made an exasperated face and
put his hands on his waist. “She is not gonna like hearing that.”

“I’ll talk to her,” said Will before
he could stop himself.
Oh you will, huh? And with no ulterior motive, I’m
sure.
“I want to check out the house, anyway. Make sure it’s secure.”

“Good luck. I’m going to go close
down the till,” said Charlie. He split from Will and returned to the bar, and
Will turned the opposite way, heading up the hill through the small grassy
forest to the quiet rambler tucked against the foothills.

Will listened to the soft song of the
wind through the trees as he waited on the porch for Eva to answer his knock.
After a few moments, the door swung open. Her eyes were hard, her lips
scrunched up, everything about her dark and shadowed from the screen door
between them.

“Did you need something?” she asked.

“Can we talk?”

Eva shifted on her feet and looked
down the hallway. “I got bit the last time I tried to pet a mean dog,” she
said, meeting his eyes with a glare.

Will looked down at his boots and
licked his lips as a sliver of shame ran through him again. He clenched his
jaw. “I was out of line. I sometimes get like that after a fight, but I shouldn’t
have been such a dick. Can I come in now?”

Eva huffed for a few silent moments,
thinking, before she sighed and opened the screen door to him.

Will followed her into the living
room as his gaze took in the surroundings. The place looked very much like it
was owned by a man of Owen’s age. Even though he visited often, Will was not
close with the bartender, never in a particularly chatty mood whenever he found
himself at Swashbuckler’s. The man was nice and kept a clean, quiet
establishment. From the looks of his house, he lived a comfortable but modest
life running the bar, though his décor was stuck somewhere between the late 80s
and early 90s in all the worst ways. Among all the earth-tone furniture and
tacky kitsch accents, Eva in her delicate form looked like a rose bursting out
of decaying forest undergrowth.

Arms folded, she eyed him warily.
“So, what do you need to talk about?”

Will rubbed the leaves of some
plastic flowers in a vase between his fingers, and then brushed off the dust
from his fingertips. “Listen, we need you to stay up here for the time being,
until this is all over.”

“What do you mean?” she said.

“Every person in that bar is a
potential casualty when this shit goes down, and obviously we don’t want you
among them,” said Will. He tried not to hold his gaze so long on her face, but
he couldn’t help himself. “So it’s best if you just hole up here until it
passes.”

“Oh, is that what you and my brother
decided was best for me?” He could tell by the tone in her voice that he had struck
a deep nerve. “Just keep me locked up like some princess in a tower until you
heroes figure it out, is that it? No, thank you.”

Will scoffed. “I don’t remember
mentioning you had a choice.”

Eva’s jaw dropped, and so did her
arms. She walked up close to Will and stood in front of him, close enough that
he could smell some wickedly divine scent of lilac and jasmine floating over
her skin. The anger he saw in her eyes didn’t do a damn thing to change the
lust that was rolling through his veins. If anything, it made it worse.

“Your apology sure didn’t last long. Just
who the hell do you think you are, anyway?” she said, locking eyes with him.
“You saved us, thanks, and I’m fine with you doing it again, but you do not get
to come in here and tell me what to do.”

Will took a step closer to her,
narrowing the distance between them. Eva didn’t retreat. She let him stand mere
inches in front of him, close enough that he could feel her crossed arms
brushing against his chest. Eva began to breathe a little heavier.

“I think I get to tell you what to do
if it’s going to save your life,” said Will.

“I’m not a child,” she said in a
voice just above a whisper.

“No… you’re not,” he said, making it
clear he approved as he ran his eyes over her body while she glared at him. He
saw blood rush to her cheeks. She licked her lips impulsively, and some part of
him knew he had her right where he wanted her.

This is not your best
idea
.
This isn’t some stripper taking side
jobs, hungry for cock and cash. This woman looks like she stepped right out of
a 1950s public library. And that’s speaking nothing of her grumpy big brother…