Twisted Pieces (15 page)

“
I
’
m sorry for what you
’
ve lost
…”
Jordyn whispered.

“
It
’
s not just losing,
”
Mr. Strokner said. He hurried
to stand.
“
It
’
s so much more. It
’
s what was taken. I let Rachel
out of my sight too much. That was my fault. And she fell into the arms of
those devils. She was killed because of
them
. They may have avenged the
death of my daughter in their eyes, but I
’
ve
come to realize how they work.
”
Mr. Strokner
’
s eyes went
wide.
“
They have cruel
souls.
”
Mr. Strokner
punched the table just like he did during the meeting.
“
Well, I
’
ll
be the same! I can
’
t just
turn a blind eye to what they did and where they are going. I
’
ve seen too much and I
’
ve lost too much. And you,
beautiful Jordyn, you will be mine. You
’
ll
replace what I
’
ve lost. You
’
ll be everything to me. In every
way.
”

His eyes were locked onto Jordyn
’
s, but it was obvious that he
his mind was somewhere else plotting. It sent chills to her core. She needed an
exit plan.

Slowly, Jordyn stood from her chair.
She reached out and touched Mr. Strokner
’
s
tie.

“
Wouldn't
it be easier to just cash out and live peacefully somewhere away from the
world? So there
’
s no more
pain? No more worry? No more fear?
”

Mr. Strokner shot a hand out and
had Jordyn by the throat.
“
I
don
’
t fear anything or
anyone
…
I have the power.
Now get out of here. I have a personal matter to tend to.
”

Jordyn almost ran to the door. She
looked over her shoulder to be sure that he wasn't following her, and she saw
him slip the listing back on top of a stack of other papers. What else could he
possibly have in that folder?

With disgust from his touch, and in
fear of whatever else he had up his sleeve, Jordyn knew the only place she
would feel safe was the clubhouse... in Jace's arms. against the MC.

fifteen.

Jace had been stupid drunk by two
in the afternoon the past two days. He did not like waking up to an empty bed
and still being able to smell Jordyn's scent on his sheets. A long time ago
Jace had taught himself to ignore any feelings of caring about someone else,
because it would always end badly. But in the blink of an eye, Jordyn had found
a way to reopen those emotions.

Along with jealousy.

Intense jealousy.

The club needed Jordyn to stay
close to Strokner for a little while longer to keep him happy and at bay. The
talk now was about the drugs and the two bodies Chief Jerry had found near the
edge of Frelen. The focus was obviously on that situation and not the fact that
someone Jace cared about could quite possibly be in bed with Strokner right
now.

That
’
s
what made him drink.

This morning Jace woke to an empty
bed. He reached across and grabbed the pillow that had become Jordyn
’
s pillow. He pulled it tight to
his bare chest and buried his face into it. Like every morning, he pictured it
was Jordyn
’
s beautiful
chest. There were easily a dozen women somewhere the clubhouse, all of which
who would do anything Jace demanded. And if none were worth his while, Jace
knew Blaine could make a single phone call and have more women ready.

But Jace didn't want just any
woman. He wanted Jordyn.

Fucking Jordyn.

He got out of bed, showered,
dressed and left his room. When he got to the bar one of the prospects spotted
him and immediately poured him a shot. Jace grabbed the shot and lifted it to
his lips. The smell of the whiskey burned his nose.

He took a deep breath and put the
drink back down. Today, he changed it up. Instead of wasting away another day,
he ate a real breakfast, drank coffee, and then set out to find Miller. That
proved to be a waste because Miller had nothing for him. Everything was too
much in limbo for his liking.

Early afternoon, Jace found himself
in a heated game of darts with Blaine. He was kicking Blaine
’
s ass. When Miller appeared from
nowhere and called a meeting, Jace threw his last dart, hitting the bullseye.

“
Fuck,
”
Blaine said.
“
No wonder Jordyn can
’
t get enough of your cock
…
you always hit the bullseye.
”

Jace grumbled, ignoring the comment,
and went into the meeting room.

The table was half full and Miller
didn
’
t even bother to sit,
so Jace, Blaine, Gaige, Griffin, and Nate awkwardly stood at their seats also.

“
I
think it
’
s time we pay a
visit to Coast Road,
”
Miller said.
“
It
’
s been too quiet for me since
everything went to shit with the chief. I have a bad feeling all around.
”

“
What
have the guys seen out there?
”
Blaine asked.

“
The
prospects have seen dick,
”
Gaige said.

“
Literally?
”
Blaine asked.

“
Asshole,
”
Griffin said.

“
My
point is that I want you guys to take a ride down to the beach and do your
thing,
”
Miller said.
“
Rattle those motherfuckers and
make sure we know what they
’
re
doing.
”

“
But
we don
’
t know anything about
it,
”
Jace said.
“
How they
’
re moving shit. Where it
’
s coming from. Where it
’
s going.
”

“
I
don
’
t care,
”
Miller said.
“
I want them to know. Make them
sweat. They
’
ll eventually
fuck up and we
’
ll be right
there. This shit is making me cringe. I
’
m
not happy about Jace in prison. Pending murder charges. Drugs. It
’
s like we
’
ve lost control.
”

“
Damnit,
”
Nate said.
“
We haven
’
t lost control.
”

“
We
’
ve lost a step or two,
”
Gaige said.
“
Caius took a lot out of us.
”

“
That
’
s all done now,
”
Miller said.
“
Which means we focus. Get down
there and make something happen.
”

It was music to Jace
’
s ears. It was the perfect way
to burn off his built up tension... and jealousy. Not to mention maybe find a
way to ignore these fucking feelings for Jordyn.

When they all left the room, Gaige
put a smoke between his lips and offered one to Jace. Jace took it. When
Griffin opened the door to go outside, the sun almost blinded Jace. He hadn't
been outside during the day in a couple days. After his eyes adjusted, the five
of them got on their rides. Miller hung back, so Gaige was in charge on this
run. Jace rode next to him. Behind them was Blaine and Nate. The tail was
Griffin. They cut down the main strip and rode at furious speeds. At a red
light, Gaige checked the traffic and signaled to hang a dangerous left turn.
This was about business. There was a problem in Frelen and Back Down Devil was
going to solve it.

As they made the turn, Jace looked
to his right and could see the Strokner's office building. Jordyn was there...
probably being touched...

Jace gripped the handlebars harder.
And it made him throttle the engine and speed up. When he got ahead of Gaige,
he heard Gaige
’
s ride
thundering. Soon they were riding even faster. All Jace could see was red. He
wanted to fight. It didn
’
t
fucking matter if the guys were massive bodybuilders. They could all be taken
down. If not with fists, then with a fucking gun.

When they got close enough, they
pulled over and Jace pointed.

"There. That's where I saw the
deal go down.
”

“
Maybe
we should check there,
”
Blaine said.

“
Too
late,
”
Griffin said.
“
Look.
”

Darting out onto the road by the
docks was a group of motorcycles. Four wide, two rows, made it eight on five.

Jace was tempted to draw his gun
and start pulling the trigger. Who the fuck cared if he took out a handful of
these pricks?

Jordyn would care.

But for all Jace knew, Jordyn was
bent over Strokner
’
s desk, thrusting
back at him, all in the hopes of finding out information to help the MC.

“
Hold
our ground,
”
Gaige said.
“
No killing. Yet.
”

Back Down Devil stood and watched
the group of big bikers approach them. The motorcycles split as their leader came
to the front. Mutty was a big guy, but his skin was beat up by the sun and his
muscles had become flabby. These kinds of shows always pissed Jace off. In Back
Down Devil the President or VP or leader always rode first. They weren
’
t afraid of riding into danger.
Having their leader in the back was a joke. A sign of weakness.

Mutty stepped off his motorcycle
and rubbed his chin. He looked to his left and pointed to the beautiful water.
The waves looked gentle, their whitecaps rising and falling. The sun reflected
off the water. A perfect day really for anyone who wanted to take a swim, build
a sandcastle, or just unwind.

That
’
s
not how life worked in the MC though. There was no stopping to enjoy life,
because this was real. Protecting their town did not have a pause button.
Neither did enemies. It was always killed or be killed and that would never
change.

“
I
’
m trying to figure something
out,
”
Mutty said.

“
What
’
s that?
”
Gaige asked.

“
How
much more you could juice up before your cock and balls just disappear?
”
Blaine asked.
“
Then again, if you did that,
then your boys here could fuck you with their little
‘
roid cocks. Maybe that
’
s a win-win.
”

Mutty laughed. He looked to the guy
on the far end and gave a nod.

Jace had an uneasy feeling, but
before he could say a word, the guy pulled out a gun and shot. The thunder of
the weapon was followed by a grunt and a little scream from Blaine as he
twisted and fell to his hands to knees.

“
Jesus
fuck!
”
Griffin yelled.

Nate and Griffin grabbed Blaine and
pulled him back toward their motorcycles.

Gaige and Jace drew their guns,
both pointing them right at Mutty
’
s
head.

“
What?
”
Mutty asked.
“
Anyone else want to make a
comment about us?
”

“
Fuck
you,
”
Jace growled.

“
Yeah.
Keep talking. What the fuck do you want here?
”

“
We
know what you
’
re doing,
”
Gaige said.

Mutty reached out and called the
man off. He put his gun away. When Gaige did the same thing to Jace, Jace
squeezed his gun tight, not wanting to put his weapon away. He wanted to fire
it. He wanted to empty the clip into Mutty
’
s
body.

Jace tucked his weapon away.

A very small sense of calm existed.
Jace looked back and saw that Blaine was already back to his feet. He touched
his left shoulder and groaned.

“
Next
time, aim better,
”
Blaine
said.
“
Motherfucker.
”

“
Let
me take care of this,
”
the
guy said.

“
Do
it,
”
Mutty said.

“
Like
a man,
”
Blaine said as he
walked forward.

Before the guy could grab a gun,
Blaine threw his head at the man
’
s
face. It connected with a sickening thud. The man
’
s
face damn near exploded. He stumbled one way and Blaine the other. Blaine went
right down to his ass, looking like a fool. The big guy was barely standing.
Slowly, he fell to one knee. Blaine scrambled to get to his feet, gritting
through the pain in his shoulder. He ran at the guy one more time and lifted
his knee at the last second, sending him to the ground.

“
Stop
this,
”
Mutty said.

Nate grabbed Blaine and brought him
back to the crew.

“
You
’
re dealing drugs,
”
Jace said.

Mutty laughed.
“
From what I
’
ve heard
…
let
’
s
see
…
your crew has had some
cunt rat in the club. A member's brother almost took you all down. Oh, and you
have a nice murder charge pending.
”

“
Alleged,
”
Gaige said.

Jace looked at Gaige. He couldn
’
t remember the last time Gaige
stuck up for him. Whether Gaige was being a smart ass or just standing his
ground, it meant something to Jace.

“
There
’
s no evidence,
”
Jace said.
“
Not that I give a fuck. Took
care of business inside.
”

“
While
the outside falls apart,
”
Mutty said.

Jace stepped forward. Gaige grabbed
him, but Jace smacked him away.

“
Fuck
you,
”
Jace said.
“
I know what I saw. You might not
be dealing directly in Frelen, but we know.
”

“
You
don
’
t know shit,
”
Mutty said.
“
The tough guy act won
’
t get you any cred with us, man.
You know that. And if you think about just trampling into our territory again,
you
’
ll go for a swim with
the sharks out there. You might be able to make people disappear on that land
of yours, but we have a goddamn ocean. We win.
”

“
You
lost,
”
Gaige said.
“
Maybe we
’
ll take a ride down to those rocks and have a look
around.
”

“
Do
that,
”
Mutty warned,
“
and I won
’
t have one of my guys pop you in the shoulder. It
’
ll be between your fucking eyes.
Greasy fucks.
”

Jace gritted his teeth. Mutty kept
looking between Gaige and Jace. His eyes were dark as hell. His pupils massive.
Jace realized Mutty was high. But he wasn
’
t
stupid high. There was a strange confidence in Mutty and the Coast Road MC guys
that he had never seen before. They were getting their fake power from
somewhere, and it wouldn't end well for them. It was almost as dumb as Eight
Under trying to work with Shay
’
s
brother. When that finally blew up, Caius was dead, Back Down Devil was alive,
and Eight Under was decimated to the point where they were struggling to
rebuild even a small crew.