Secret Mayhem (13 page)

Ava opened her eyes and forced
herself to turn around. She stared up at Shay, feeling protected. Truly
protected.

“
What
about the rest?
”
Shay
asked.

“
The
rest led me right here. To you, Shay.
”

“
That
’
s a good place to be right now.
”
Shay touched Ava
’
s cheek.
“
It
’
s
bad right now, really bad. But if it wasn't, we wouldn't have summoned the Lost
Men here, and you would have never shown up."

Ava flickered a smile. Shay grabbed
her by the waist and turned her toward the tile. He kissed her, and Ava knew
then it was going to be a
long, hot
shower.

thirteen.

As soon as Miller got back, he
pulled Shay from the bar into the meeting room. He left the door mostly open.
The clubhouse roared with life and laughter. The Lost Men were loud, but they
were not relaxed. Every other word seemed to be about sex, booze, or killing
someone.

“
Getting
restless out there,
”
Shay
said to Miller.

Miller waved a hand.
“
Fuck them. They
’
re here for bodies, nothing
more. I have them out on a run right now.
”

“
What
kind of run?
”
Shay asked.

“
I
Sent Jace and Landon to head up six of them to just cruise around. Check for
anything unusual. Like a car ready to explode...
”

Shay nodded.
“
Yeah. That seems to be the
trend.
”

“
Heard
you ran after that car,
”
Miller said.

“
Yeah,
”
Shay said.
“
I had to stop it. No more
innocent people need to get hurt. Besides, I needed to make sure your
protection run went smoothly.

Miller put a hand to Shay
’
s shoulder.
“
I appreciate that, Shay. But now
that Jakey is safe and that is out of our way, we need to finish this. I want
to know why. I don
’
t just
want revenge. I want to know it all. Nobody has tried to sneak into our home
like this before. It
’
s like
whoever it is has no real desire to take the MC down.
”
Miller turned around and faced the Back Down Devil
banner on the wall.
“
It's
like they want to just take out one of us
…
don't you agree, Shay?
”

“
We
will get through this. We have the bodies. We have the force,
”
Shay said. He felt himself
making fists.

“
Where
’
s the enemy then?
”
Miller asked.
“
This guy is building fear in our
club, and that's the one and only thing that can bring an entire MC to the
ground. This guy is smart and he knows what he wants."

“
I
don
’
t fear anything,
”
Shay said.
“
We need to hit the streets.
Hard. All day. All night. We need to go right into Eight Under territory and
make our point known. Maybe we can have Griffin set up some of his own
explosives.
”

“
There
were two guys,
”
Miller
said.
“
Strokner said so.
One we took out. The other one - the one with the gold tooth and the scar - we
don
’
t even know where or
when he
’
s operating.
”

Miller hung his head for a second.

Guilt was crippling Shay, but he
fought it off.

A few seconds later, there was a
knock at the door.

Gaige came into the room with Nate.
Behind Nate came Strokner.

Of all damn people.

Wearing a nice suit, he looked
tired and out of place. His eyes were deep, the bags under his eyes heavy. He
didn
’
t look like a sane
businessman.

“
What
the hell is this?
”
Miller
bellowed.

“
Strokner
wanted to talk to us,
”
Gaige said.

“
Let
him talk,
”
Nate said.

Miller shot a look at Nate.
“
Who the fuck are you? What
’
s your patch say?
”

“
Patches,
”
Strokner said and laughed.
“
I have something to talk about.
I don
’
t care about patches.
”

“
In
this room?
”
Shay asked.
“
You know what this
…”

Strokner unbuttoned his suit jacket
and opened it. Shay didn
’
t
want to believe his eyes when he saw what was around his waist.

“
Are
you fucking kidding me?
”
Miller asked.

“
I
had no choice,
”
Strokner
said.
“
If you don
’
t let me talk, I press a button
and we all disappear. I can see my daughter then. And Back Down Devil will be
no more.
”

Miller came forward.
“
Listen to me, Strokner. You kill
me, the MC lives on. You blow up our meeting room, we
’
ll rebuild it. Tell me what you need. We don
’
t have time for anymore
bullshit.
”

“
He
’
s watching all of you,
”
Strokner said.
“
Calmly watching. Seeking some
kind of cold revenge. It
’
s
terrifying to look at him. He touches that scar on his neck all the time. It
means something. And he thinks I
’
m
in the MC. I have his name. But you
’
ll
never get to him, Miller. You
’
ll
never be able to.
”

“
What
does he want?
”
Miller
asked.

Shay caught himself stepping back.
His brother had more power than ever it seemed. He always loved to scare. It
was more thrilling to him than killing. Killing was just a necessary part of
his life.

“
He
won
’
t tell me. I
’
ve tried but he doesn
’
t trust many people. Way to make
enemies with a crazy asshole.
”

“
Hey,
”
Gaige said.
“
What this club does means dick
to you. We
’
re helping you
and you
’
re helping us.
”

“
Oh,
that piece of land I want, right?
”
Strokner asked and laughed.
“
Where
so many secrets are hidden
…”

Shay pulled his gun and pointed it.
One pull and he could blow Strokner
’
s
brains out.

“
Shay!
”
Miller bellowed.
“
Don't!
”
Miller kept his gaze on Strokner.
“
Give me the name. Then get the
fuck out of here. You don
’
t
come into his clubhouse with weapons or explosives.
”

“
It
’
s the only way I could get to
you all,
”
Strokner said.
“
I see you
’
ve brought some friends into town. You could have
an army and you still won
’
t
be able to find your enemy.
”

Shay's mind went back to the night
he saw his brother talking to Eight Under. He had had a chance to take a shot
and didn
’
t.

Fuck.

“
Give
me the name,
”
Miller said.
“
Then take that goddamn bomb off
yourself and I
’
ll have some
of my guys make sure you get where you
’
re
going. Safely. As always.
”

Strokner laughed.
“
I don
’
t need your protection. I don
’
t need anything. I can stare
into the eyes of the man that killed my daughter. I have Gaige to thank for
that."

“
You
look like hell,
”
Gaige
said.
“
Go sleep.
”

Strokner laughed again. Then he
looked at Shay.
“
And what
’
s your story? You were the one
he wanted first. If you had been in that car
…
none of this would be happening
…”

Shay stepped forward. Nate put a
hand out.
“
Don
’
t, Shay.
”

“
Give
me the goddamn name,
”
Miller said.

Strokner looked at Miller and spoke
the name Shay didn
’
t expect
to hear from anyone else's mouth.

“
Caius,
”
Strokner said.
“
That
’
s who you
’
ve
got to deal with.
”

Strokner turned and walked away.
Nate went with Strokner to escort him out of the clubhouse.

Shay could see Miller's mind
spinning. He waited for the barrage of questions to come, but they didn
’
t. There wasn
’
t enough time. The second
Strokner left, Jace, Landon, and the six members of the
Lost Men came
back. Landon had a bloody face along with two of the Lost Men
.

“
Christ,
”
Miller said.
“
What the hell happened there?
”

A second later, Griffin came into
the room and shut the door. He looked at Shay and pointed to the gun in his
hand.
“
What are you doing
with that?
”

“
I
was going to make Strokner shut up,
”
Shay said.

“
Hey,
”
Gaige said.
“
We still need him. He gave us a
name. Caius. That
’
s the guy
who is trying to hurt us.
”

“
Well,
there
’
s another problem,
”
Griffin said.
“
Your rides with the Lost Men are
getting old. They picked a fight for fun with two guys and it turned ugly and bloody.
They
’
re getting angry and
it
’
s going to get worse.
”

“
Then
we use them,
”
Miller said.
“
I wanted them here to build a
presence. We have that.
”

“
You
need to keep it,
”
Griffin
said.

“
What
do they want?
”
Gaige asked.

“
What
we all want. Pussy, booze, fighting.
”

“
Then
make the call for a fight,
”
Miller said.
“
Say we have
some new guys in town that are looking to get bloody. I
’
m sure we can satisfy their needs for the moment,
right? We have a name, Griffin. We can
’
t
hold back. We can
’
t slow
down.
”

Griffin sighed.
“
Goddamn. When does this
arrangement with the Lost Men end?
”

“
I
want a meeting with Eight Under,
”
Miller said.
“
I want to
face them and tell them the truth of their little arrangement. They won
’
t listen, I know that. But it
’
s a small offering to explain
how serious this is. Our war with the Eight Under can continue, but it doesn
’
t need any outside influence.
”

“
Until
then?
”
Griffin asked.

“
Until
then, we keep our guests happy. A fight will do that. Hell, maybe that
’
s what we all need.
”

“
I
’
ll make some calls,
”
Griffin said.
“
Be ready to go when it
’
s time.
”

“
We
’
ll be fine,
”
Miller said.

Griffin left the meeting room and
left the door wide open. Shay looked out to the busy clubhouse. Jace held a
once white towel on his face to stop the blood. The rest of the guys were
scattered along the bar.

Ava was on the other side of the
room sitting with Emily, Avery, and Kaity. She looked like she fit right in,
and that bothered Shay. He hadn't had time to process her story yet and he
didn't want her getting settled before he had the chance to decide what he
wanted from her.

She
’
s married.

The last thing the club needed was
another guy coming after them. It couldn
’
t
happen anymore. Not with the mess waiting outside.

“
You
okay, brother?
”
Gaige asked
as he elbowed Shay.

“
Don
’
t know,
”
Shay said.
“
This
is all weighing hard on me. I want it done.
”

“
It
will be. What about her?
”
Gaige nodded to Ava.
“
What
’
s her story?
”

“
Not
what it seems,
”
Shay said.
“
We just have to protect her from
those guys. They will hurt her if we don't."

“
I
can imagine,
”
Gaige said.
“
Keep her safe here then. You
know they won
’
t take her.
They won
’
t give a fuck. We
’
ll run them out of here once we
’
re done.
”

“
I
hope these fights work.
”

“
Not
our problem, Shay. It works or it doesn
’
t.
Trust what Miller is doing, too. Let him meet with Eight Under and get a feel
for things. Then we make our attack. You know how he operates.
”