Snake Charmer (Diamondbacks Motorcycle Club Book 2) (5 page)

He hung up, temper flaring. He got up off the chair and walked in long strides to the front of the office, wrenching the door open.

“LUCAS!” he barked. “Get in here!”

The kid hurried over in an instant. “What is it?”

Alec ushered him in and closed the door behind them.

“We have a problem,” he said. “Lind is being an ass.”

“Surprise, surprise,” Lucas said. Then, he realized what he had just said and paled. “I mean…uh…”

“Relax, he deserves it,” Alec reassured. “He won’t come willingly, so I need you to grab a couple of guys and go fetch him and bring him here.”

Lucas swallowed visibly, but he didn’t complain. “Will do,” he said readily.

Alec nodded and opened the door again to let him out. He watched him go and deliver the news to the others, who groaned as one man. Alec couldn’t blame the men’s reluctance. Even in a stupor, Lind was still the Viper, and a pissed off snake was something no one ever looked forward to.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

“Is this really necessary?” Eve called out from the backseat of the car.

They had placed a blindfold on her eyes.

“Probably not,” one of the men escorting her said. “But better safe than sorry.”

Eve grunted in protest but didn’t say anything else. When they had showed up to her door, the first thing Eve wondered was how they had gotten past the doorman. The next thing she thought about was how the ease with which they had made it past the doorman demonstrated that she really was not safe in her house. Reluctantly, she had agreed to go with them.

Her heart pounded wildly in her chest. She knew Lind would be at the headquarters too, and she didn’t know what to expect after their phone call.

The car ride was over far too fast for her likings. For all that she had dreamed about seeing Lind again, she didn’t feel like she was ready. They took off her blindfold, and once her eyesight adjusted to the daylight once again, she saw that the Diamondbacks’ headquarters were in an old but well-kept warehouse on the outskirts of town. She cautiously followed her guides inside, and she was surprised at what she found.

She would have imagined a motorcycle gang’s headquarters to be somewhat squalid and dirty. Instead, the main room was cozy, furnished with old furniture. There was a pool table, quite a few couches and armchairs, and a large dining table with chairs in the most spacious area of the room, and a bar to the far end.

A few men were sitting on the bar stools, and they turned to look at her. Lind also was there. She would have recognized him amongst thousands of people, but he didn’t turn around. He kept his back to her and remained hunched over a pint of dark stout.

“I’ll let Alec know you’re here,” one of her escorts said, disappearing down a corridor.

Eve stood there, uncertain. It all felt unfamiliar and surreal to her, and the only familiar thing in the whole room—hell, in the whole world—refused to pay any attention to her.

A few moments later, she spotted the tall, lithe figure of Alec Moore walking up to her. He looked as intimidating as she remembered him, his gray eyes always alert and searching. They seemed to bear holes into her once he finally stood in front of her and watched her carefully.

“Ah, I see you’ve decided to join us in the end,” he said. He extended a hand and Eve shook it cautiously.

“Did I really have a choice?” she asked.

Alec shrugged. “You could’ve chosen to get yourself killed.”

He said it so matter-of-factly that Eve could not suppress a shudder. “What’s the plan now?” she asked, forcing herself to focus on something else that wasn’t Lind ignoring her.

“Now, we show you to your room. You’re free to go wherever you please within this building, but you shouldn’t leave it until we tell you it’s safe to do so.”

Eve nodded. “Understood.”

Alec seemed surprised at her cooperation, but he covered it up with a smile. “Good.”

Her room was small, but comfortable. The furniture was simple but as welcoming as that in the main room had been. These bikers were really a surprise to her, and she found herself wondering about stereotypes and snap judgments.

She got settled in quickly, having packed as light as she could. Soon, she was left with nothing else to do but fidget. Against her better judgment, she decided that she would look for Lind. If he didn’t want to face her, she would force him to. She wasn’t about to let him play any games with her. She tied her long hair up in a tight ponytail like she did whenever she was about to take on a difficult task, and then she left her room.

He wasn’t at the bar anymore, but he wasn’t hard to find; the other members of the MC were only too happy to give her directions to his room. Once outside his door, Eve almost lost her courage. But she couldn’t turn back now. She couldn’t bear the thought of spending God only knew how much time in that place playing hide and seek with him.

She took a deep breath and knocked.

“What?” he called out, his voice almost as rugged as it had been on the phone.

“It’s Eve.”

There was a moment of silence. “Go away.”

The hell I will,
Eve thought fiercely. She pushed the door open and walked in.

Lind was sitting on the bed, smoking a cigarette. He wore a pair of jeans and nothing else. Despite her best efforts, Eve’s eyes ran down his naked torso and drank it all in. He was even more handsome than she remembered. She wanted nothing more than to join him on that bed and kiss and touch him until he became hard.

Common decency and the cold fire in his eyes as he looked at her stopped her.

“I said, go away,” he growled.

Eve was shocked at his anger, but she held her ground. “You can’t ignore me forever.”

“Why the hell not?”

She licked her lips nervously. Now that she had recovered from the initial wave of emotions and physical sensations at seeing him again, she could take in his appearance with a more objective eye. There were red circles around his eyes. He was pale, and his lips were dry and cracked.

“You look like hell,” she said.

He gave a rude snort. “What do you know about hell?”

Eve frowned. “Would you mind telling me why you’re so angry at me?”

“Just get the fuck out of my room, please.”

Eve didn’t budge. She didn’t understand it. She didn’t understand
him
. Why was he so hostile? What happened to the Lind who looked at her like she mattered?

“I said, leave,” he repeated.

“I won’t leave,” Eve said. “I demand to know what’s going on with you.”

Lind reached out for the bottle of Jack Daniel’s standing on his nightstand. Eve hadn’t noticed it before. It was half empty. He took a long swig, all while regarding her with the coldest stare she had ever received.

“You don’t get to make demands, sweetheart,” he said.

Eve sighed. “Lind,” she tried, more gently. “Please, talk to me—”

“I SAID, GET OUT!”

It was a full-on roar. Eve jumped. She stared at him in shock, horrified. Just what the hell was happening to the men in her life? Unbidden, the tears came back, and this time she was unable to stop them from rolling down her cheeks. She bit back a sob and turned on her heels, slamming Lind’s door shut behind her.

Damn her if she was going to stick around, she thought furiously as she flew back to her room. She repacked as quickly as she had unpacked. Danger or no danger, she was not going to take anyone’s abuse ever again.

CHAPTER TWELVE

She didn’t go very far. The good thing about a motorcycle club’s headquarters was that it was filled with just that: motorcycles. The bad thing was that it was also filled with bikers who were far more efficient riders.

It was Alec who caught up with her. He emerged from a side alley and cut her off. She almost lost control of the bike she had stolen, but managed not to crash. They stood still for a few moments, staring at each other—Alec fierce and confident on his ride, and Eve a little bit shakier.

“That’s enough, sweetheart,” he said. “Get off the bike.”

Reluctantly, she did. What other choice did she have? She threw a few darting looks around, looking for escapes. Perhaps she could outrun him.

“Don’t even think about it,” he said, reading her intentions. “Now hop on.” He nodded to the back of his bike.

Eve dug her heels into the asphalt as if that move alone could anchor her to her spot. “I’m not going back there,” she said. “I’m going home.”

“Don’t be stupid,” Alec said. “Merchant will find you in a heartbeat.”

“I don’t care,” Eve insisted, even if she actually did care.

“Look,” Alec began after a moment. He was visibly choosing his words. Clearly, he was out of his element. “I realize things may be a bit tense—”

Eve laughed bitterly. “Now
there’s
an understatement.”

“
Nevertheless
,” Alec said through gritted teeth, “it beats some guy putting a bullet in your brain.”

“You don’t get it, do you?” Eve said. “He doesn’t want me there. I don’t want me there, either. I’ll take care of myself.”

Alec shook his head. “It’s your funeral.”

As if on cue, there was a single explosion of sound. Eve watched incredulous as Alec toppled over, his bike crashing to the ground. She knew what she was seeing, and yet her brain refused to register it for the longest time. Something finally snapped within her and she sprung to action. She left her bike and rushed over to Alec, kneeling down next to him. A red stain was blossoming on his right side, blood pooling on the ground. Eve fumbled for the bandana she had tied her hair with and pressed down on the wound.

He grunted and opened his eyes to stare at her. “Fuck,” he hissed through the pain.

“You’d best not talk,” she said, pressing down harder. “I’ll call 911.”

“You’ll do no such thing.”

Eve looked up. From an alley to Alec’s left, five figures emerged. Eve recognized them instantly; Gary’s men. She had seen them time and time again at the nightclub, back when she danced the nights away. It felt like a lifetime ago, and perhaps it was, in a way.

“You didn’t have to shoot him, Vincent,” she accused, glaring at the leader.

He was a bulky man, distant and ruthless. He shrugged. “I’m taking it as an added bonus.”

Eve’s eyes flashed in anger. “Let me call an ambulance, then I’ll go with you.”

Alec moaned in protest, but he couldn’t form any words. Eve could feel him getting weaker underneath her hands.

Vincent looked at her in surprise. “I didn’t think it would be this easy. I’ve got to say, I’m almost disappointed.”

“Then again, Gary wants her alive and unharmed,” one of the other men spoke up.

Vincent thought about it for a moment, and then he finally nodded. “OK then,” he said. “Call 911.”

Eve took out her phone and did just that. Before she could speak to the operator, however, Vincent kicked the phone out of her hand. She cried out in pain and surprise.

“Don’t worry, sweetie,” he said, grabbing her and hauling her to her feet. “They’ll trace the call.”

All of her instincts told her to struggle, but Eve didn’t dare to. She didn’t dare to breathe, let alone move. She was terrified that if she made the wrong movement, Vincent would finish the job and kill Alec on the spot. So, she let herself be dragged away. She kept her eyes trained on Alec all the way, and she didn’t like what she saw; his eyes were already dulled, his skin white.

They shoved her unceremoniously in the trunk of Vincent’s car. It was dark in there, and stuffy. She
had
to think of something else in order not to panic. They said Gary wanted her alive, so she could only hope they wouldn’t let her suffocate in there. Despite all that happened between them, Eve found herself thinking of Lind. She almost didn’t dare to picture his reaction if Alec were to die; she had the feeling it could be even uglier than the state Lind was in now.

She wondered if Lind would come for her, like he had in the past. As much as she hated to admit it, she wasn’t too hopeful. The Lind she had seen back at the Diamondbacks’ headquarters had nothing in common with the Lind she had fallen in love with. She wasn’t sure this Lind would come for anyone, especially her. 

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

There were very few sounds that Lind Addams hated more than the beeping of machines in a hospital. One of them, ironically, was the sound of gunshots. He kept imagining it over and over, as he sat by his best friend’s bedside. The fog of alcohol-induced stupor had lifted the minute he had walked into this room and seen Alec in this bed. The sight had filled him with an anger so strong that it had cleared up his mind for the first time in four months, three weeks, and five days.

It didn’t take a genius to figure out that Gary Merchant was responsible for this. Alec was hurt, and Eve was nowhere to be found; no one else could be behind it. Lind wanted nothing more than to upturn the whole city until he found Eve, but he knew he had an obligation to his friend first. He had managed to send Linda home after she took a twenty-four hour shift by her husband’s bedside, and now it was just Alec and Lind in the room. As much as he wanted to spring into action, Lind couldn’t bring himself to leave just yet.

“I’m sorry,” he said quietly to the still form on the bed. “I fucked it all up, and you paid the price. I’m so sorry.”

There was a soft knock at the door, and Lind looked up to find Lucas framed in the doorway. He nodded and the kid walked in.

“I just spoke to his doctor,” he said in a quiet voice. “He said he’s going to make a full recovery.”

Lind stared at him. “Really?” It seemed unlikely. Alec was looking so fragile and weak; Lind didn’t think it was possible to receive any good news.

But Lucas nodded. He carried the chair by the door over to where Lind was sitting and took a seat himself. “He said the first twenty-four hours were the most critical. He said that now that he has gotten through them, he expects his condition to improve very soon.”

Lind blew out a breath he didn’t know he had been holding. The relief was so strong that he felt dizzy with it. “Did you tell Linda?”

Lucas nodded again. “She’s on her way now.”

Silence settled over them. Lind only broke it when the weight of what he had swirling within his chest was too much to bear.

“This is my fault,” he said, his eyes trained on Alec. 

Lucas frowned. “How is it your fault?”

“If only I had been sober, it would never have come to this. Eve wouldn’t have left and Alec wouldn’t have had to go after her.”

Lucas hesitated. “I don’t think it was your fault.”

Lind whirled around to face him. “How can you say that?”

“Revenge is a powerful thing,” Lucas said, carefully choosing his words. “If Merchant wanted your girl bad enough, he would have found a way whether you were there to try to stop him or not.”

Lind was silent for a moment, mulling Lucas’ words over in his head. When the whole thing registered, he hurried to clarify, “She’s not my girl.”

Lucas grinned. “Isn’t she?”

Lind glared at him.

Lucas stood and clasped a hand around Lind’s shoulder. “Come on, big guy. We have things to do.”

Lind nodded and stood, too. “Where should we start looking, do you think?” he wondered aloud.

“That’ll come later.”

Lind looked at him in confusion.

“First,” Lucas said, grinning from ear to ear in anticipation, “we have to get you clean.”

Lind followed him outside. The prospect of cleaning himself up terrified him. He had never allowed himself to become addicted to anything before. No matter how many vices he had, he had never allowed them to control him. He wanted to be lucid, no matter what. But that was before. It was different now. He could already feel the pull.

Yet, he knew he had no choice. The thought of Eve being in Merchant’s hands filled him with rage and dread. He had the feeling he would use her for leverage, but that didn’t necessarily mean that he would leave her unharmed. He couldn’t bring himself to even begin to contemplate the possibilities of what he might be doing to her right now. Time was of the essence, but he also knew that getting clean wouldn’t happen overnight. He would do his best to speed up the process, but he wasn’t sure he could do it in time. 

As he rode his bike back to the headquarters, Lind let the air and the road contribute to clear his mind. Thoughts were chasing each other in his head—thoughts of Eve and of Alec and of remorse. How had he let things get so out of hand? How did this happen?

He tried to cling to the good news that Lucas had brought him, but it did nothing to ease the knots in his stomach. He had let down the people he loved the most, in the most spectacular, disastrous of ways. He tried to think back on the past four months, three weeks, and five days, and he found that it was all a blur. How many women had he had sex with? What kind of drugs had he taken, and how often? How many beers had he drunk? How many bottle of Jack?

How many fights had he had with Alec? How many helping hands had he knocked away?

How much of himself had he lost in his strive to not be?

The more he thought about it, the more Lind convinced himself that he was beyond salvation. There may be some part of his old self that could be salvaged somehow, but he just didn’t think it was worth it. He just didn’t think
he
was worth it.

One thing was certain, however. He may be beyond salvation, but he would make damn sure that Eve would be saved.