WOLF: An Evil Dead MC Story (The Evil Dead MC Series Book 4) (8 page)

Oh, God. He was headed for his room, and here she sat.

Crap.

She glanced around, looking for a place to hide, and her eyes fell on the closet. She dashed inside, closing the louvered doors. As she attempted to slow her breathing and make no sound, she realized she could see a tiny bit through the slats. A moment later, the hall door flew open, practically bouncing against the wall and rattling the frosted glass upper half. In strode two sets of boots, and she heard Cole’s voice.

“Swear to Christ, Wolf. I’m done with this shit.”

“Sorry.”

“Sorry? That all you’ve got to say?”

“Cole, what the hell do you want me to say?”

“I want you to fucking grow a pair and handle this. I told you to cut her loose. But you didn’t, did you?”

“Cole—”

“What?”

“It’s not that easy.”

“Yeah. I know. So I’m gonna make it real easy for you.”

“What are you talking about?”

“You know how she feels about you, and yet you keep rubbing her nose in shit like this. Apparently, Misty’s a major trigger for her in a way other girls you’ve been with have never been. Not sure why the hell she’s any different.”

“Okay, I won’t bring Misty around anymore.”

“It’s gone too far for that, Brother.”

“What do you mean?”

“I saw this coming. And shit I didn’t want to see it go this far. But one of you has to go.”

“What?”

“And we all know it’s not gonna be you.”

“What the fuck are you saying?”

“Mack’s done. He’s gonna hate like hell to let her go, but he’s gonna find someone else to run the bar.”

“No. I can’t be the reason for that.”

“Mack loves Crystal. Hell, we all do. She runs that bar like a pro. Place has never been cleaner. But we can find another bar manager.”

“Cole, don’t do this. Please.”

“It ain’t up to me. You want to try to talk Mack out of it, good luck, Brother. I just spent ten minutes trying, and I can’t get him to budge.”

Crystal heard the door open and slam shut as Wolf stormed out.

Then she heard Cole mutter, “Christ.”

The door opened and closed again, this time quietly, and she heard Cole’s boots retreating down the hall.

Crystal slid down the wall of the closet and let the tears flow. Well, she’d be damned if they’d have to ask her to leave. If she wasn’t wanted here anymore, she was done. Her car was parked out back. She just needed to get her purse and walk out the back.

But then they’d all know. Hell, she’d be damned if she’d slink out of here like a coward with her tail between her legs. Fuck that.

Standing, she wiped her face and stepped out of the closet. Then she exited out of Cole’s room, quietly closing the door behind her and headed down the hall. She took several deep breaths and let anger stiffen her spine. She just had to get through tonight.

****

Wolf sat in the club’s meeting room at the long conference table. Mack sat at the head, lighting a cigar. He puffed on it, and then shook out the match. Pulling the cigar from his mouth he glared at Wolf through the smoke.

Wolf had just finished laying out his case, hoping to talk Mack out of this shit. But, one thing he knew about Mack. Mack was gonna do what Mack was gonna do. Hell, hadn’t Cole tried to tell him that not five minutes ago?

But Wolf had one thing going for him, Mack loved Crystal. And when it came down to it, he really didn’t want to run her off. But he’d do it, if push came to shove. Wolf had no delusions about that. When it came to hard choices, Mack never had any problem making them.

“So prove it.”

Wolf didn’t miss the irony of the fact that those words had been said to him twice tonight.

“You promise you can stay away from her, then prove it.” Mack paused to point the hand that held the cigar at him. “Don’t go running over there tonight like I know you want to.”

When Wolf glared at him, Mack continued.

“Yeah, I know you. You think I don’t?”

Wolf ground his teeth and let his eyes drop to the table. If he had to grovel to his President to make sure Crystal stayed, he’d fucking do it.

“You do,” he confessed.

“Damn right, I do.” Mack shifted in his seat, relaxing a bit. “You stay away from her, and maybe I’ll let her stay.”

Wolf nodded. “Done.”

Mack nodded toward the door. “Get the fuck out of here. I’m gonna have a chat with Crystal.”

Wolf’s eyes slid closed for a moment. Shit. Then they opened, and he stood up and walked out.

****

Crystal stood behind the bar, pulling a beer for Cajun who was teasing her about the whole show she’d put on, when her eyes were drawn to the conference room, and she saw Wolf walk out. He looked at her, and then turned away as if he was done with her. And she felt her heart breaking all over again.

Mack followed him out a moment later and approached the bar. He took a seat right in front of her, his eyes drilling into her.

“As entertaining as all that was, we’re not going to have any more little displays like that, are we?”

“No, sir.”

“Good.”

She felt her eyes getting glassy with tears.

“Why don’t you take the night off? In fact, take the rest of the week off. Get your head on straight. Okay, darlin’?”

Crystal swallowed and nodded. “Sure.”

Then she moved to the opposite end of the bar to grab her purse. Her eyes connected with Red Dog, who still sat at the end. Grabbing her purse up, she noticed him frown at her. She lifted her hand to him, waggled her fingers and gave him a wink. He relaxed back onto his bar stool, apparently convinced she was okay.

Then she moved through the crowd and headed out the door, desperate to get to her car before she broke down.

****

Mack looked over at Cole, who sat at the end of the bar. “Send Wolf somewhere for a few days.”

Cole nodded, taking a hit off his cigarette. When he blew the smoke out, he offered, “He can do that Temecula run we were talking about. Seventy miles from the Mexican border far enough for you?”

Mack nodded at Cole’s sarcastic attempt at a joke and looked meaningfully at his VP. “This is the last time I’m dealing with this shit.”

“Understood.” Cole tamped out his cigarette and moved off his barstool to find Wolf again.

CHAPTER FOUR

Wolf rolled up at the meeting place where he was to meet two of his brothers from the club’s Chapter in Temecula, California. The place looked inconspicuous enough for a drop. Not much traffic, out in the middle of nowhere. A lone roadhouse with two bikes parked out front.

But still, he had a bad feeling, the hairs on the back of his neck standing up. A feeling that Wolf had learned a long time ago not to ignore. He glanced up and down the road. A lone tractor-trailer lumbered past, kicking up a trail of dust in its wake. As the sound of its motor faded into the distance, Wolf dropped his kick stand and shut his bike off.

He strode inside. It took a moment for his eyes to adjust to the dim bar. When they did, he took the place in. A long bar at the back wall, a busty blonde bartender leaning against it, smoking a cigarette and flipping through a magazine. She looked up when he entered. His head swiveled. There was a pool table on either side of the door. His eyes located his brothers at the table on the right. Not another soul in the place.

He moved toward them. They greeted him with smiles and back slaps. Digger, a stocky bald man with a Fu-Manchu mustache. Weed, an old hippie with a long grey braid down his back and a gold tooth.

They were there to meet the club’s Mexican drug connection. A meet that had taken days to arrange.

He wasn’t there long before a car pulled up outside. They watched through the window, past the neon beer signs as four Mexicans got out.

As they entered, Weed moved to the bar. He distracted the bartender, while the men made the exchange. It all happened very quickly. A pound of black tar Heroin wrapped in a folded newspaper landed on the green felt. Digger quickly tested it for purity. At his nod, an envelope of money slid out of Wolf’s vest. The newspaper wrapped around the bundle and disappeared into Digger’s inside shirt placket. Wolf handed over the envelope and watched as the man thumbed through the stack before nodding and tucking it into his jacket.

A moment later, the men disappeared as quickly as they’d come.

Wolf and Digger moved to the bar, stopping where Weed stood flirting with the blonde.

“You ready?” Digger asked.

Weed turned to look at him. “I just got this beer. Give me a minute.”

Digger turned back to Wolf, rolling his eyes. “Guess we’re gonna hang out here
for a minute
.”

Wolf chuckled. “Guess I’ll head on back.”

“Already? You in a hurry?”

Wolf shrugged, not really interested in hanging around now that the deal was done. Especially when he still had that tingling sensation warning him.
Of what
, he didn’t know, but something was off.

“Must be some hot pussy back in San Jose waitin’ on him,” Weed snickered.

If he only knew the truth, Wolf thought.

“All right, Brother,” Digger pulled him in for a hug, slapping his back. “Good seeing you.”

Wolf walked out, pausing by his bike, his eyes searching up and down the road as he strapped on his helmet. Nothing. Throwing his leg over the bike, he fired it up.

****

The man stood in the shadows of the building watching the lone bike pull away. He waited until it disappeared over the rise. Then his eyes fell to the other two parked bikes, and he grinned.

He moved around to the back of the building, entering through the backdoor. Moving quietly through the hallway that contained doors for the men’s and women’s restrooms, he paused at the corner, peering around the edge, until he could see the two MC members sitting at the bar.

His fingers tensed on the two Glocks in his hands. Then, smiling, he moved around the corner. The dumb motherfuckers never saw him coming.

Bam. Bam. They were down on the floor, a pool of blood already forming around their head wounds.

The bartender screamed, backing up. He stalked around the bar, backing her up against the wall on the far end. She had nowhere to go. He saw the look of horror as she took in his face, a face he saw reflected in the mirror behind the bar. He smiled, only half of his face lifting. The other half frozen in a paralyzed droop.

His eyes dropped to her tits. They swelled over the top of her slutty tank. He wished he had time to waste. She’d be fun to play with. But he couldn’t risk it. Not with two dead bodies already bleeding all over the linoleum.

He grinned. “Sorry, sweetheart.”

Then he raised one gun and shot her point blank in the forehead. Her body flew back against the wall, and she dropped, a large blood stain trailing down the cheap wood paneling as she slid to the floor.

He moved around the bar and searched the bodies, coming up with the newsprint wrapped prize.

“Bingo.”

He stared down at the two bikers on the floor. He’d love to take their Evil Dead cuts from their dead bodies. What a prize
that
would be. Almost better than the drugs. But if he tried, he’d end up covered in blood. And that wouldn’t do, now would it? His eyes fell on the silver Evil Dead rings they each wore, and he smiled. Well, now, those would have to do. They would be a sweet consolation prize, and he could easily slip them off without getting too messy. He knelt and pulled them off. Then he stood and unloaded the rest of his clip into their bodies, chuckling as they jerked and twitched with each shot.

When he was empty, he strolled out the back, whistling all the while.

****

Wolf pulled up to the clubhouse, dropped his kickstand and shut off his bike. It had been a long week. He knew he’d been sent on this damn run just to get him out of town and away from Crystal. And he’d kept his word to Mack. While he’d been gone, he hadn’t called her, and he hadn’t texted her. But now, hell he had to admit he couldn’t wait to at least lay eyes on her.  Even if it was just to see her behind the bar in the clubhouse, pulling a beer for him.

He headed inside, but didn’t get ten feet before Red Dog walked up and shocked the shit out of him by punching him right in the face. Wolf fell back against one of the pool tables. Wiping his bleeding mouth with the back of his hand, he snarled, “What the
fuck
, man?”

Red Dog stood over him, two-hundred and fifty pounds of pissed-off biker. “She’s gone. Because of
you!
” Dog jabbed a fist in Wolf’s chest. “It wasn’t enough you treated her like shit, but you had to drive her away, too?”

“What the hell are you talking about?” Wolf asked getting to his feet. “And get the fuck out of my face, motherfucker.” He shoved Red Dog back. Not an easy task when the man was a six-foot-four wall of muscle.

“Don’t play fucking dumb with me, asshole. Crystal! That’s what I’m talking about. Like you don’t fucking know.”

“Crystal? What do you mean she left? How the hell do you know that?” His eyes moved frantically around the room, searching, positive Dog must be fucking with him.

“She ain’t here is she? She’s gone. Because of
you!
So, tell me, Wolf, is this the part where you’re gonna stand there and pretend you don’t care, don’t
give a shit
?”

Wolf shoved past him and headed toward Mack’s office. He didn’t bother knocking. The door banged against the wall as he burst through.

Mack was behind his desk, on his phone. He glared up at Wolf, and then bit off into his phone, “Let me get back to you.”

Wolf stood in front of the desk, his fists clenching and unclenching at his sides. He’d never felt so close to tearing apart his own President.

Mack tossed his cell on the desk and lunged to his feet, roaring, “Who the fuck do you think you are coming in here like that?”

Wolf roared back just as forcefully, “You ran her off? After you gave me your fucking word if I left her alone, you’d let it ride, you’d let her
stay
.”

“Sit the fuck down!” Mack ordered. Then he walked over to the door and slammed it shut.

Wolf collapsed into a chair, not because he wanted to, but because if he stayed standing, he knew he’d be tempted to take a swing at Mack.

Mack retreated behind his desk, probably for the same reason. Wolf had seen him tear apart more than one brother. And he knew Mack was fully capable of laying him out with one punch if he thought twice about it.

“I see you’ve heard.”

Wolf stared him down. “Did you run her off or not?”

“No, I didn’t fucking run her off. I made you a goddamned deal, didn’t I? You keep
your
end of it?”

“Yes, I fucking kept it. You sent me out of town to make sure of that, didn’t you?”

Mack ran a hand over his face. “Did you ever think of the possibility that she left on her own?”

Wolf shook his head, emphatically. “No way. She wouldn’t do that. She loves this club. She’s happy here.”

“Is she? You sure about that?”

Wolf’s eyes narrowed.

Mack huffed out a sigh and leaned back in his chair, the leather creaking. “You put her in a bad spot, Wolf. You know women better than any of my guys, yet how are you so blind when it comes to Crystal? How are you the last to see it when it comes to her?”

Wolf dropped his eyes. Every fucking word was true, and it was shredding him to be confronted with it.

Mack continued his flaying words. “You drag a woman through the dirt long enough, she’s going to eventually wise up and realize your ass isn’t worth it, no matter how much she loves you.”

At that, Wolf’s eyes shot up. Love? Christ, did everybody see it? Was it that obvious? He thought they’d played it so cool all these years. Fuck, he was an idiot. “Did she talk to you? Did she tell you she was leaving?”

Mack shook his head.

Wolf was on his feet in an instant, hope soaring in him. “Then how do you know she left? Maybe—”

Mack cut him off. “Sit down.”

He obeyed reluctantly, fearing what he was about to hear.

Mack leaned forward, resting his arms on his desk and gave it to him straight. “I heard it from Cole. Crystal told Angel she was leaving. Stopped over there to say goodbye on her way out of town.”

Wolf felt his stomach drop. It couldn’t be true. She couldn’t have left town.
Left
him
. And without even saying goodbye? No way. He couldn’t accept that. He surged to his feet again.

“I’ve got to go.” He paused, looking at Mack, giving him at least that shred of respect, waiting for the old man’s nod of approval.

He got it and was out the door in a flash.

****

Mack stared at the door of his office, wondering if one of his best guys was going to be useless to him for a while. He’d known more than one brother to have his head messed up by a damn broad. Messed up so bad they couldn’t fucking concentrate on the job at hand. And that kind of distraction could get a man killed. It could also get a brother killed whose back he was supposed to be watching.

Shit.

He picked up his cell, his thumb moving over the screen, and put it to his ear. When his VP came on the line, he gave him a head’s up.

“Wolf’s on his way, and he’s not in a good place.”

“Right,” came Cole’s reply. “I’ll deal with it.”

Disconnecting, Mack tossed the phone on the desk. Women. They caused him more trouble than every other rival they had, put together.

Fucking hell.

****

Red Dog blocked Wolf’s way to the door, and Wolf could see the intent in his eyes. He wasn’t done with him.

“You want a piece of me, let’s go outside,” Wolf growled at him.

Dog’s eyes flared with warning. “We take this outside and one of us ain’t comin’ back.”

Wolf glanced over and saw Shane standing by the bar, watching. “What about you? You got something to say?” Wolf growled at him.

Shane tightened his hold on his beer bottle, but he just shook his head. “You made your own hell. I ain’t got to add to it.”

Wolf nodded understanding. Shane wasn’t going to do anything to screw up getting his patch. Not when he was so close. So Wolf made it easy for him. “You get your patch, you come find me.”

“Count on it.”

Wolf shoved past Red Dog, half expecting another blind punch, but Dog let him pass. Wolf walked out of the clubhouse, slamming the door and stopped in the parking lot, his eyes skating over the line of bikes sitting in the sun, but he didn’t really see any of them.

She was gone. Good and truly gone, and he felt like a part of him had just died. Just fucking died. He felt a tightness squeezing his chest, and it felt like he couldn’t breathe.

Fuck. What had he done?

Wolf tore up the gravel driveway of his VP’s house. The place was set out in the country, east of San Jose. He shut his bike off and went around to the back of the house. Cole met him on the deck, obviously having heard his bike roar up the drive. Wolf’s eyes slid past him to where Angel stood in the partially opened sliding glass door.