Thrash (21 page)

“Her brother is a member of Fire and Steel,” I went on.

Recognition flashed in his eyes. He didn’t want to believe it, though. “So they sent you? A bunch of women? Lying whores.”

Emma smacked his head against the hood of the car hard enough to daze him.

Layla sidled up to him and smiled. She had worn a baggy shirt to hide her baby bump. There was no reason to advertise that he could hurt her unborn child.

She swung the bat idly, then leaned forward to run her hand through his hair. The rage in her eyes was incredible. I was scared of her.

“When you meet the guys, you’ll die.”

He might not want to believe it, but she wasn’t scared of him at all. She was telling the truth. And in the face of her certainty, what he wanted didn’t mean shit.

“We all belong to Fire and Steel,” I spoke so very softly and steadily. He couldn’t look away. ”We protect our own, Gary.”

Lightly swinging the bat, Layla laid down the law. “Desiree here is one of ours. You don’t touch her. You don’t speak to her. You don’t even look at her. If you do, we’ll know. We’ll send the boys to teach you what you were too stupid to learn the easy way.”

I nodded, laying my hand on the car, using every awful gesture I had ever seen my mother use over the years. “Do you understand, Gary?” It didn’t matter to me if he understood or not. But I didn’t want anyone to hurt Desiree.

Emma was short and angular, but she was solidly built and strong enough to keep this guy against the hood of the car – so long as he didn’t throw his full weight. That was why Layla had the bat. To discourage him from trying.

So far it had worked. It didn’t shut his mouth, though, and he had one. “She doesn’t look Irish.” He looked her over as though she was something dirty. Like she’d lied to him about something he’d never bothered to ask about.

Did this bastard ever take accountability for anything? No wonder he was worthless.

Fire and Steel was an Irish MC. Everyone knew that. Whatever people didn’t realize was that the Irish were as versatile as they were strong. The world was a lot more complex than anyone talked about.

Gary didn’t seem like he could think outside the box anyhow. He assumed because Desiree was black she didn’t belong to the club. That was it. Her skin color.

Since she hadn’t behaved like a “sassy black woman” at him, he had assumed she was something he could own.

No one owned Desiree, though, and she knew it. “My mother is Irish,” Desiree said, her voice strange. She had been watching it all. Something about watching all this was slowly waking her up.

Anger was lighting up in her eyes. “My father earned his place in Fire and Steel before he ever met her, though.” She walked up to him. Took the bat from Layla and said, “You’re going to leave me alone, Gary. You are not going to speak to me again. You are not going to say anything about this. If you do –” She laid the bat against the back of his shoulders, right where a blow would crack vertebrae. “Fire and Steel will deal with you.”

Gary stared at us, wide-eyed and dumbfounded. He said, “Yeah, yeah, I got it.”

When Emma let him go, he stumbled. Then he ran off, racing through the parking lot away from the hospital. I assumed he was fleeing towards his car.

“Do you think he will leave you alone now?” I asked Desiree, the eerie light in my eyes only slightly faded.

She didn’t meet my eyes. She seemed to be a little dazed. A funny little smile was quirking her lips. “I don’t know,” she said. ”"But I’m glad we did it this way, before we got Thrash and the guys involved.”

“If he doesn’t listen, we’ll send the guys after him,” Layla told her. “No matter what, he’ll have earned whatever they do to him.”

None of us said what we were thinking, that if he didn’t believe us, Desiree was really going to get hurt.

We all knew it, though.

I couldn’t speak for Desiree, but there was something healing about looking at least one prick in the face and make him stop. Make him listen. Make him stop.

And he had.

We’d done it. I felt stronger.

Just being with these women made me feel stronger.

26

I sat at the gas station and waited for my truck. I was edgy, waiting to spot the specialty paint job. I didn’t care about the truck though.

Part of me was nervous. It was like sharp pains shooting through my torso.

She had said she was coming. What in the hell was I worried about?

I wasn’t sure, but something was different. I was afraid to see her here, like this, without my cut and my club behind me. I felt like a fraud.

I needed her to remind me who I was, where I belonged.

What if she didn’t come? It was a lot to ask of her, to put herself in harm’s way. I had nothing to offer her, besides a small apartment and association to an MC she hadn’t asked to be a part of. She didn’t hate us, but she was her own person. She didn’t need us.

I had no money, either. No future beyond Fire and Steel.

A week of catering to Bones had left me feeling like I was nothing.

If I were her I would’ve taken off at the first sign of any trouble and just kept going. She could’ve taken my truck. I would never go looking for her. I would just let her go. But I kept my eyes on the road, and I hoped. I waited.

The question didn’t leave my head, though. What if she didn’t show?

I’d worried for nothing.

She rounded the corner, that crazy halo of blonde hair shining by the glow of the dash-lights as she drove down towards me. She looked so happy in the driver’s seat of that truck, so comfortable.

I couldn’t believe it.

When she parked, I fought a lump in my throat, cleared it and stepped forward to snag the door. She was gorgeous.

I wanted to pull her out of the truck and kiss her until she was pulsing through me, cleaning out all the garbage of the past week.

Nora slid out of the truck, a tiny woman tiptoeing down from the seat. She smiled up at me as if nothing had kept us apart and all of the weight I had been carrying slid from my shoulders.

“So, where are we headed?” she asked. The words fell from her lips like cool water, light and perfect.

I crossed the space between us and pulled her in for a long, slow kiss. This was what I had been craving. My hands ached as they grasped her. My body was hard and tense, hungry for her. I reached up and buried my hand in her hair, drawing her head back to allow me easier access, and I swallowed her whole.

When I drew away, she had to hang on to me to keep from falling.

I grinned down at her. She bit her lip, speechless.

“You bring it?” I asked.

Nora nodded, running her fingers over my arm, pulling me back to the truck.

As soon as we were in the car, she slid a phone over to me. I handed her my phone.

The phone she had handed me was a burner. There was only one number programmed into it, Rage’s burner on the other end.

I shot off a quick text to let him know that I was okay and that I had gotten the phone. I also let him now that there was no good information yet.

I sent this: Mob?! Bones getting offer.

“Are you sure you are going to be able to keep that hidden?” Nora asked.

It was a big risk, keeping a cell phone around. I had found a spot in a wall where I could fit it. I knew I could put it there without anyone noticing. I also had a secret sleeve in my bike’s saddlebags, but I wasn’t keen on using it. If Bones really put the time in, he could find the sleeve.

“Yeah, I’m sure. It’s a risk, but I can handle it.” I gave her a serious look.

“And you want me to go in there?”

“I do. I want you to look at everything, observe it all. Anything you bring back to Fire and Steel is going to be very valuable.”

She nodded.

“Do not go to the club, not for a couple of days. You might be followed. At least at first. Layla cannot visit you. Emma can. Desiree can. Not Layla. Got it?” I asked.

“Why Emma?”

“For now, Bones doesn’t seem to recognize her.”

“For now?” She sat, so poised, but she sounded afraid.

“I’ll let you know to stay away from Emma if he picks up on her.”

“What about Emma? How would we warn her?”

I put my hand on the wheel and stared at her, surprised. She cared. She really cared what happened to the other women.

I grinned. “You like the club?”

Her smile lit her eyes. She was happy. Somehow, I was lucky enough to have a woman who was happy to be a part of my world.

“If Bones says anything, I’ll text Rage first. Let him know so they can look out for Emma. But Nora?”

“Hmm?”

“If Emma ever tells you that you can’t come back here, trust her. You’re going to hear a lot of shit around the men I’m with now. It’s going to get a little confusing, and I can’t explain it to you all the time. But know this: I trust the men and woman of Fire and Steel with my life. I’m willing to risk my life for them doing this. And if Emma tells you that you have to stay away, do it. It will mean I told Rage you’re in danger. That you were found out.”

“Oh…” She was a little pale, but she smiled. For a second I was confused, then I realized that anyone could be watching us. If she looked scared, they might guess what we were talking about. As it was, Bones’s men were used to women smiling like Nora was. It had nothing to do with happiness. It was a mask of necessity.

Nora looked at me, her eyes searching mine. “DeMarcus?”

“What?”

She chose her words carefully, almost one at a time. “What happens if they figure out I’m bringing information back to the club?”

I started up the engine, ready to drive us to the party. “Don’t worry. Rage and the guys will keep you safe until we can deal with Bones.”

She shook her head. “What I mean is, what will happen to you?”

My hand stopped on the gear. “I… Well, if I can, I’ll pretend I didn’t know you were taking the information.”

She waited for me to explain further, but I couldn’t. I could face down a bullet, but I couldn’t figure out how to explain to her that I might have to eat one.

“If they don’t believe you, they will try to kill you, won’t they?”

I nodded.

She put her hand on my jaw, leaning across the seat to kiss me. It was a light kiss, feathery and cool. Soothing. “Then I will make sure they don’t catch me,” she said as she drew away.

“Yeah…” I managed, my throat tight. I didn’t know what else to say, so I pulled us away from the curb and headed down the road.

After a few minutes, she asked me, “How am I supposed to work?”

What did she mean by that?

“You are working,” I answered. “What you are doing now is very important.”

“I meant the mural. How am I going to finish it if I’m not allowed to go back to the club?”

“Layla didn’t tell you that?”

“She hasn’t been getting much sleep.”

“Damn. Is she run ragged?”

Nora shook her head. “She took on a guy with a baseball bat –” She suddenly slapped her hand over her mouth, her eyes widening.

“What?” I laughed to hide my worry. “Why?”

I’d never seen Nora anxious before, but suddenly, she was fumbling for words. “He was causing trouble. We handled it.”

“We?” I exclaimed. “Who’s we?”

The delicate jaw set then, telling me to leave it alone. “A guy was being a pill. We dealt with it. No one got hurt.”

“What the hell? You could have been hurt! And Layla’s pregnant!”

The disgust in my voice bothered me. I wasn’t surprised when she bristled at it, but fuck, how did she think I’d react? I was juggling everything so carefully on my end to keep her safe, and meanwhile she was off trying to take down men with a pregnant woman and a baseball bat.

“He got the message. And we know to get you guys involved if he becomes a problem again.”

“Again? Who is this guy?”

She was silent a long moment, only speaking to keep me from blowing up. “A creeper at the hospital.” She admitted it grudgingly. “He was trying to bug your sister. We made sure he knew to stop. He got it. And if he changes his mind, Layla will make sure Rage and Wrath know about. Desiree is willing to pretend she doesn’t know what happened to him if he disappears.”

My head was spinning. My sister. My sister was being harassed and no one had told me. I shouldn’t be surprised by Desiree’s silence. She could be stubborn. But… But what?

I cursed under my breath, driving a bit too quickly. I expected Nora to tell me what had been happening, but we hadn’t been able to safely talk till now. She’d done what I’d asked her to do, but damn it, some overwrought part of me was pissed that she hadn’t broken the rules to tell me what was happening to my sister.

Only the panic in Nora’s voice cut through my anger. “Slow down, please, slow down,
Thrash, please, slow down
!”

I let off the gas, and used soft taps on the brakes to help calm myself – and slow the truck – down.

“Sorry,” I muttered. I ground my teeth until I finally knew what I wanted to say. “You said he got the point?”

“Yes,” Nora replied. “Desiree made sure he got it. We backed her up.”

I kept imagining them as though they were a glittery girl group, giggling about girl power and telling the “villain” to stop, as though that would do anything. The panic in my chest was basic and ugly, and when I stopped at a light, I looked at Nora. Really looked at her.

She was so calm, already at home in my truck. She was safe. She was here. I couldn’t guess how, but they had handled it.

“You’ll tell me if you need help?” I pressed.

“Yes.”

She was no glittery fool. In fact, seeing her like this was a breath of fresh air. She always dressed well. Classy and stylish, but not arrogant. Tonight, she looked comfortable and sexy in a loose tank and black leather jacket. I was pretty sure I’d seen that jacket before on Emma.

If Emma was dressing her for our dates, it was probably for the best. I had been worrying myself sick over whether Bones’s men were going to get ideas about my girl.

The jacket looked strange on Nora’s fragile frame, but the jeans fit her well, and somehow she looked like herself in it all.

To me, she was the hottest thing on legs, but the guys were used to staring at a lot more skin. I’d have to knock a few skulls together, but most of them wouldn’t think twice about Nora. At least, not tonight.

As we pulled into the lot, I leveled with her. “Do not talk to the other men. Other women are okay, but don’t tell them anything about yourself. Make shit up. Your life, what you do, make it all up.”

“Okay,” she answered, looking around puzzled. “Where is this party?”

We weren’t here for the party. We were here for my bike. “We have to get there on my bike. It’s a symbol. Understand?”