RIDE (A Stone Kings Motorcycle Club Romance) (45 page)

I lay back against Levi’s chest and curled myself next to him. So much had changed in the past few days. I told myself that I would make sure to print out the form the man on the phone had told me to send to him, and fill it out this weekend so I could send it out right away on Monday. I sighed happily. It really felt like my new life was beginning, and that I was finally safe.

Little did I know what I was about to set in motion.

Lying there next to Levi, it almost felt wrong that I could feel so happy when something bad had just happened to the club. But Levi seemed to feel it, too. I had never seen him so relaxed, his hard body seemed completely free of tension as he held me in his arms. For a few minutes, the two of us just lay in bed, content. I wished like anything we could just stay there indefinitely. But I knew that we didn’t have much time before Levi would have to go and begin to deal with whatever had just happened.

Sighing, I raised my head to look at him. “Maybe you should tell me what’s going on downstairs.”

He nodded. “Yeah. So,” he murmured as he continued to my hair absently. “Basically, the club has a problem, and we think it’s another rival club called the Cannibals. This attack almost has to be them. So we’re gonna go into lockdown. That means that no one enters or leaves here but the brothers until we’ve made sure the problem has been dealt with and there’s no more danger to anyone connected with the club.”

I snuggled deeper into his chest. “You’ll be in danger, out there.” It wasn’t a question.

Putting a finger under my chin, he raised my face to his. “I’ve been in danger before. I’ll be fine. But I need to know you’re safe here.” He kissed me deeply.

“Okay.” I knew it was all I could do for him. I intended to make sure I wasn’t a distraction while he was out there doing whatever it was he needed to do.

We rose from the bed and got dressed silently. It was time to go help create some order out of the chaos. When we got downstairs, more people had arrived. A few clusters of women and children were gathered in the main room, and still others were carrying boxes of groceries and other supplies into the kitchen.

“Wow,” I marveled. “Are these the men’s families?”

“Yeah. All the men will bring their old ladies and children here, if they have them.” He looked at me and smiled grimly. “On the plus side, this way you get to meet everybody.”

Seton spotted us standing at the foot of the stairs, and she broke away from the group she was talking to and came toward us. “Hey,” she said, giving me a brief hug. She nodded back toward the shattered glass on the ground. “Crazy, eh?”

“Yeah,” Levi muttered. “Crazy. As in, the motherfuckers who did this are crazy to think they won’t pay.”

Seton smiled sadly at him. “Repo uploaded the surveillance videos to one of the laptops. Grey and the others are in the game room watching it with him now.”

Levi looked at me. “I’m gonna go check it out.” He leaned down and brushed my lips softly with his, then turned and headed down the long hallway next to the stairs.

Seton raised her eyebrows at me in surprise. “Well, now. What do we have here?”

A flush swept across my cheeks, and I cleared my throat. “Uh… nothing?” I squeaked.

She smirked. “Nothing, my ass. When did you and Mr. Tall, Dark, and Brooding get together?”

“I don’t know if we’re
together
,” I protested. But my stomach dropped at the sudden realization that maybe I was just a quick fling for Levi. I wasn’t sure why, but the thought had never occurred to me. Maybe it was because in our community, people didn’t have intimate relations with anyone until after they were married.
Maybe this is only something casual for him
. I tried to swallow around the giant lump that had just formed in my throat.

“Well, from the way he looked at you just now, I don’t think it’s much of a question,” she said with a twinkle in her eye.

I shifted my gaze to the east wall, where some of the men were putting up thick plastic over the broken windows. “I don’t know,” I confessed softly. “But I do know I like him. He’s… different than you’d think. Alone, he’s not so hard.”

Seton grinned. “I know what you mean. When I met Grey, he was as mean and gruff as they come. Turned out, though, he was more bark than bite, at least with me.” Her eyes followed mine to the broken windows. “I think whoever’s responsible for this is about to feel his bite, though.”

I hugged my arms around myself, suddenly feeling cold. “I don’t like to think about some of the things those men do.”

“That’s why they don’t tell us much. It’s part of protecting us. The club’s like a family, and that extends to the women and children. Once you’re part of it, any one of them will go to the ends of the earth to keep you safe.”

“How long are we going to be locked in here?” I asked her.

“Not long, I’d guess. Depends on how long it takes the men to figure out who’s behind this, but Grey said he has a pretty good idea. Once they know…” her voice trailed off, leaving me to imagine what the fate of those responsible would be.

After a few moments of silence, Seton handed me a broom. “Come on. Come help me clean up some of this glass. And I’ll introduce you to some of the other women.”

Over the next few hours, I swept, cleaned, cooked, and worried with the other women. Seton introduced me to Jules, who was Repo’s old lady, and a bunch of others who ranged in age from their early twenties to my mother’s age. When Seton told them I was with Levi, I got a few good-natured winks and more than a few indiscreet questions about his performance in bed, but I could tell it was all in fun. Even more, they seemed to instantly accept me as one of their own. That evening, as I looked around at the women getting their children ready for bed and the men standing guard by the door, I felt more like I was part of a family than I ever had. It was funny, even after spending my entire life in a community that was all about protecting itself from the outside world, I had to leave for the outside to find a place where I felt truly accepted for who I was, no questions asked.

T
he men
and I sat silently sprawled on the long leather couch in the game room as Repo brought up the footage from the surveillance cam on the big projection screen. Usually when I came in here, it was to blow off some steam by kicking someone else’s ass at Call of Duty or GTA. Instead, we were watching video of the men who had set off a fucking pipe bomb at our clubhouse. Those pieces of shit were about to find themselves starring in their own real-life version of a first-person shooter.

“That one, on the right,” Trig said. “I know him. His name’s Nacho, or Enchilada, or some shit.” He shook his head in disgust. “These stupid fuckers didn’t even have the sense to disguise themselves.”

The quality of the video was good, and showed three men well enough to be able to identify them by their features. Two of them I could clearly recognize as members of the Cannibals, and Moose said he recognized the third.

“Oh, this is good. This is very good,” Winger said with a sadistic grin. He was going to enjoy what came next. We all were.

“This is all I need to know.” Grey’s voice had gone cold and hard as steel. “These fuckers are gonna pay for this. And one of them is going to pay dearly for Hammer’s death. With his life.”

With this footage in our possession, it was clear to us all who had been behind all of the recent anonymous attacks on the Stone Kings. First, the ambush that had killed Grey’s best friend Hammer. Then, the drive-by at Maisie’s diner. And now, this. It was time to mete out some serious club justice. The only question now was how, and when.

“I want to know which one of those sons of bitches shot the bullet that killed Hammer,” Grey spat out. “That one’s mine.” The look of pure rage on his face would have made anyone on the receiving end’s blood run cold. There would be no question that Grey would avenge Hammer’s death. I almost felt sorry for the poor fucker who would end his days staring up at the face of someone who would show him absolutely no mercy.

“We know where the Cannibals’ clubhouse is, up in Cooperton.” I sat up and addressed them all. “I think we’re gonna need to pick these guys up. They’re gonna take a little ride with us. I bet they can be persuaded to give up the name of who killed him.”

“These guys are gonna feel some pain,” Moose agreed. But what about Skull?” Moose asked. “This all started after he took over as president of the Cannibals.”

I nodded. “We need to take care of him, as well.”

Grey had just opened his mouth to reply when Frankenstein appeared in the doorway.

“Hey, boss. Found this outside.”

He lumbered into the room and handed Grey a small piece of cloth, then flung his hulking frame down in an empty leather armchair. Grey’s eyes went even more black with fury as he turned the cloth over in his hand.

“Son of a bitch,” he bit out.

“What is it?” Trig asked.

Grey held it up for us to see. It was a patch with a few long, stray threads hanging from it, apparently ripped from an MC cut. Only one word was sewn on it:

Aztecs.

“
W
hat the fuck
?” Repo exploded. “What in the goddamn
fuck
? Lalo was lying to us!”

“Jesus Christ!” murmured Cal.

“The fucking
cartel
pipe bombed us? This is war!” yelled Moose.

The men began shouting over one another, swearing blood and vengeance no matter the cost. As I sat there listening to them, my brain turned this new information over in my head. Something wasn’t right.

“I don’t buy it,” I finally said, cutting into their argument.

“Don’t buy what?” Grey asked, turning to me.

“It’s too easy. What, are we supposed to believe that this patch just happened to rip off a cut while they were getting ready to throw the bomb?”

“Maybe they left it on purpose. Like a calling card.”

“That doesn’t make any sense.” I ran my hand through my hair. “Look. All the other attacks were anonymous. Now, not long after we talk to Lalo, suddenly this one can be easily traced back to the Aztecs? Nah. They’re fuckin’ with us. Trying to lead us in the direction they want us to go. They’re hoping we’re too angry and too out for blood to think straight.”

I looked at Grey. “I think Skull is trying to play us. He’s trying to get us to go after the Aztecs, to consider Lalo our enemy. He’s trying to get us to break the conditions of the truce by striking back at them.”

“Why the fuck would he do that?” Trig challenged, but I could tell he was considering my words.

“I dunno,” I shrugged. “Maybe he’s after control of the cartel. If Skull can make it so Lalo looks to his men like he can’t control things, Lalo comes out looking like a weak leader to the other people in the cartel. If Skull can make a play to take him down, he could slip into the power vacuum, then set himself up as the ringleader. Shit,” I added. “Maybe he’s even hoping we’ll take Lalo out for him.”

“That’s fucked up,” Cal muttered.

“Maybe,” I admitted. “But we don’t know Skull at all, besides the one meet we had with him were we knew right away he was lying through his teeth. All we know is, at least two of the men who just bombed us are Cannibals, probably all three if Moose is right. And we know Lalo brought Skull to the meet with us, which means Skull seems to be worming his way in to a position of trust. It strikes me as a lot more likely that the Aztecs patch was planted without Lalo’s knowledge, than that there was an Aztec involved with the bombing but the camera just happened not to pick him up.”

“Yeah,” Grey nodded, considering. “Yeah. And another thing: this bomb wasn’t big enough to kill any of us, not unless one of us had been standing right near it when it went off. It was just enough to cause some damage, stir the hornet’s nest. What Levi is saying makes sense.”

“So, what are we gonna do?” Repo asked.

“We’re gonna grab these guys,” Grey replied, pointing a finger at the screen. “We take them in their territory, then bring them back here and interrogate them. One of them is gonna give up the guy who shot Hammer, or else he’s gonna die in his place. Then we take what we know to Lalo. Tell him he’s got a choice: either he takes care of Skull, or we will. His reaction should tell us a lot about whether the cartel is behind this.”

“Agreed,” Trig said.

“Yup,” Repo added.

I nodded.

We hashed out a few of the details for grabbing the men in the video. Seven of the men would go into Cannibals territory, taking a cage and a van between them, and a big enough cache of weapons to last them through any unforeseen circumstances. They’d bring the men back to our turf, to the barn of an abandoned farmstead we sometimes used.

We’d interrogate them until they talked. I wasn’t likely to be pretty. We would do whatever was necessary to get them to admit the Cannibals were responsible for all the recent attacks on our club, and tell us what the fuck Skull was up to. And we’d make it clear they needed to give up the name of the man responsible for killing Hammer. If they didn’t talk, Grey would choose one of them, and end him instead.

I was betting they would talk.

B
ack out in
the main room of the clubhouse, things were mostly cleaned up from the explosion, except for a thin layer of dust on the floor of the area closest to where the blast had occurred. The windows would have to be replaced as soon as it was feasible, and Grey told Winger to get in touch with one of the local outfits we occasionally did business with the next day.

The women had made sure that all the kids had gotten fed, and upstairs I could hear the sounds of young people running around and arguing with their moms about bedtime. The younger ones didn’t have any concept that they were here because of any danger; they were just caught up in the excitement of camping out at the clubhouse. To them, it was just a giant slumber party.

Trig came up behind me and cocked his head, grinning. “Buncha hellions up there, ain’t they?”

“No shit.”

“Some a’ those kids would give you more of a run for your money than a fuckin’ Cannibal,” he chuckled.

I listened to the rhythmic pounding of their feet as they ran around, shrieking and yelling to each other. Kids were never something that had really been on my radar. Most of the ones I encountered out and about in Lupine were scared shitless of me. These kids, growing up around the MC like they had, knew that tattoos and leather didn’t mean shit when it came to children. I mostly gave them a wide berth, but I had to admit a few of them were pretty cute. The big, tough badasses of the club who were their daddies or their “uncles” became putty in the hands of these kids. Like Repo said to me once, it didn’t matter how rough and tough you were; when a two year-old hands you a toy phone, you answer it.

I cast a glance across the room, where Cherish was helping Winger’s old lady Monica corral their two twin boys into some pajamas. I found myself wondering whether Cherish wanted kids someday. I remembered what she said about the final straw that made her decide to leave the WFZ Ranch: she didn’t want her daughters to grow up without any choices of their own. She would be a good mom, I was sure of it. She would teach her sons to be good, decent men, and teach her daughters to stand up for themselves. Something swelled in my chest as I imagined a bright, cherubic little girl, with auburn hair that streamed behind her as she ran, and Cherish’s penetrating brown eyes.

As though she could feel my eyes on her, Cherish looked up then, noticed me watching her, and flashed me a wide, radiant smile. Trigger caught the look she gave me, and nodded her direction. ’That Cherish sure is somethin,” he said casually.

I cut my eyes toward him. “Yeah?” I asked, my voice suddenly sharp. “Whaddya mean by that?”

His face broke into a shit-eating grin. “Oh, nothin’,” he said. “Just makin’ an observation.” He was silent a moment. “A man could do a lot worse than havin’ her in his bed.”

“I thought I told you Cherish was strictly off limits,” I warned.

He chuckled. “Yeah, but I thought that was because you were tryin’ to protect her, not that you wanted to get there first.” I opened my mouth to respond, but he cut me off. “Don’t tell me I’m wrong. I see the way you look at her. You’re a lucky fucker, if she’ll have you. Don’t mess it up, brother.”

“I am not having this conversation with you,” I retorted.

“Suit yourself. I never said a goddamn word.” He was silent for a moment, then took a long pull of his beer. “Hey, is it true you were raised in some fundie cult?”

“Fuck off, Trig,” I said, shoving him. He laughed and wandered away to go piss off someone else.

We were technically still in lockdown, but I needed some air to clear my head, so I went out back and told the brother guarding the door that I was gonna go make a sweep of the perimeter. As I walked out into the dark night, gazing at the stars, I thought more about Cherish. My feelings about her were a complete fucking mess. I had tried as hard as I could to stay away from her, but it was hopeless. There was just something about her that made me into a fucking moony teenager around her. She was so innocently sexy, like she had no idea that men stopped whatever they were doing and stared after her whenever she walked by. She was so completely inexperienced sexually, and yet the woman who was awakening in her under my touch was sensual, sexy, and wanton. The sounds of her cries of pleasure as I licked her to orgasm echoed in my head, making my dick harden instantly in my pants.

I shook out a smoke and lit it, and tried to focus on something else, but it was no use. I wanted her again, right now. I knew I wouldn’t be able to stay away from her, now that I knew what it was like to be inside her. I had fucked a lot of women in my time, but I had never seemed to be able to conjure up much interest in any of them once the initial mystery of what they were like in bed was solved. I had watched other brothers meet someone and fall in love, and each time I would shake my head inwardly, wondering how they could face the idea of spending the rest of their lives with one woman. Now here I was, looking at Cherish and trying to picture what our kid would look like if we had one.

Shit
.

It wasn’t fair to her, I told myself. She’d only just recently emerged from the artificial world of the WFZ Ranch. She barely knew what real life was even like yet. And I was the first man outside the ranch she had even had a conversation of more than a couple of sentences with. And even though she had been married, I knew I was the first man to ever make her come. I could tell I was by the shocked look on her face that first night when she rode my hand to orgasm. She had had no idea what was about to happen until I pushed her over the edge. My already-throbbing dick strained against my zipper. God
damn
. I wanted to do that again. I wanted to make her scream with pleasure, in every possible position, in every damn way I knew how. I could probably spend the rest of my life devoted to the sole mission of making Cherish Holmes come.

I wanted her bad, worse than I had ever wanted a woman in my life. Hell, maybe I was even a little in love with her. She was more than I could ever have hoped for in a woman. She was fucking gorgeous, smart, independent… Shit, I wasn’t just crazy about her, I
admired
her. She had left everything she’d ever known and struck out on her own, with hardly a cent to her name and only the name of some stranger who might just as well turn her away as help her. As tough as it had been for me to leave the Ranch, it would have been a hundred times harder for her. And whereas I had created a shell of armor with my tattoos to keep the past away, Cherish approached the world with a brave vulnerability I couldn’t help but respect.

Cherish was something special. Any man with a brain in his head could see that. But she had barely had time to get used to the idea that she was no longer Cherish Whitehead, but Cherish Holmes, a woman whose life had yet to be written. How could I even think of asking her to stay with me — to try to make a future with me — when she hadn’t even had a
present
yet?

I swore softly and stared blindly into the night. I should never have let myself give in to my desire to make Cherish’s body mine. And now it was too late to change what had happened, even if I wanted to. In a way, I wished I could go back in time, to stop this thing between us before it had started. But the thing was, even though it had probably been a mistake, I couldn’t make myself feel sorry about it. I knew I should end it right now, before it went any further. But I couldn’t do it. I was too fucking weak. I knew damn well that no matter what I told myself, no matter what promises I made to leave her alone, I wouldn’t be able to stay away from her. I knew, just as much as I knew anything, that tonight I would go upstairs to that apartment and make love to her again and again until both of us passed out. Then tomorrow, I’d wake up with her in my arms and do the same damn thing. For as long as she would have me.