Shotgun (San Francisco Steel, #2)

by KJ Dahlen

  Shotgun growled and pulled out of her. As he moved away from her, he slapped her butt. “Enough woman. You have made me crazy.” He groaned. Grabbing the washcloth, he watched as she ducked her head under the spray of water coming from the showerhead.

  Chapter Five

  Shotgun studied her as he washed his hard body. For being such a small woman, she packed a hell of a punch. Her long hair fell like a dark curtain and it covered her back all the way to the top of her well rounded ass. He watched as she turned and her front was on display.

  Her breasts were full and round, her waist was indented, and her hips swelled enticingly. The thatch of dark curls outlined her core and hid from the world her warm wet pussy. But he remembered well what pleasure was available from within her depths.

  Shotgun was more than surprised when his cock began to fill again for the third time in the last twenty minutes. When she moved away from the spray of water, he stepped into it. He just stood there a moment allowing the rushing water to wash away the soap. He hung his head and watched as the soapy bubbles washed down the drain. He needed to get a hold of himself. This all happened so fast. After all, he never had a sexual thought in his head when he’d laid down next to her earlier. Yeah, he was a man, but really, after what had been happening with the club being attacked and his lack of sleep, he never thought he would just up and fuck her like he just did.

  He stepped out of the shower leaving her to finish up and grabbed a towel. He began drying off and then he felt her. She touched his back and Shotgun closed his eyes. Her touch excited him but it also clouded his mind.

  He grabbed another towel and handed it to her with a nod. Then he moved back to the bedroom to get dressed. This instant attraction and loss of control bothered him. He’d never gone wild like that with any other woman. He could take them and leave them, and he never felt this kind elation or need...all at the same time.

  River watched him leave to bathroom and wondered if she had done something wrong. She dried off, got dressed in clean clothes from her backpack, and went to find him. She was also hungry now and needed something to eat.

  When she entered the dining room, everyone stared at her. The tension in the room was high as she walked over to a table and sat down. That was when she noticed the child in the room. She was sitting in the corner watching everything that was happening.

  When another woman entered from what she thought was the kitchen and made her way to River’s table, she set down a plate of warm food in front of her.

  River looked up at her and stared.

  “I’m Audrey, the cook here. I thought you might be hungry,” Audrey whispered.

  “I am. Thank you,” River mumbled.

  Audrey sat down and watched her eat. She looked around and noted the expression on everyone’s faces. Then she saw Amber’s nasty look. She spotted Bess sitting in the corner and waved her over. Bess came to her and smiled shyly at the other woman. Audrey wrapped her arm around the little girl and explained to River, “This is Bess. She’s Shotgun’s daughter and we just found out she’s deaf but she can read lips very well.”

  River smiled at the little girl and held out her hand. When Bess reached out to shake her hand River grinned and said, “Very happy to meet you sweetheart.”

  Bess’s smile got bigger as she snuggled into Audrey’s shoulder. River looked over at the other woman and asked, “Did I say something wrong?”

  Audrey shook her head. “Not at all. She’s used to people ignoring her. She’s only been here a few months and as she doesn’t speak, everyone has overlooking her.”

  River nodded. “I know what that feels like. It’s scary and not a very good feeling.”

  “How would you know what that feels like?” Audrey asked, not unkindly.

  “We moved a lot when I was a kid. I was the new kid in about twenty-five school in five years. Kids aren’t very nice to new kids. It got so bad, I finally quit going to school and got my degree online.”

  “Oh my, that would be tough wouldn’t it?” Audrey shook her head.

  “It was.” She stopped as she remembered something. “Oh, my lord...” She gasped. When she spotted Shotgun, she got to her feet, looking over at Audrey and Bess she said, “I’ll be right back.” Rushing down the hall, she went to find her backpack. She forgot she had something they could use to find her brother.

  When she returned, she went over to where Shotgun sat with Slammer, Grinder and a few of his other brothers she reached out to touch his shoulder.

  Shotgun turned and frowned at her.

  She backed up a step at the look on his face.

  “What do you need?” he asked her impatiently.

  She flushed then turned to Slammer. She had seen the rejection on his face and in his eyes just now, though she couldn’t understand it. She knew rejection very well. She lived with it all her life growing up. She now refused to look at him again, as held the flash drive out to Slammer. “I don’t know what on this but Virgil left it behind when he found us about three years ago. He was getting ready to burn us out but a neighbor saw him and called the police. He heard the sirens and he took off before he could light the bottle he was getting ready. He forgot to grab his little bag of tricks. The police didn’t see it or they would have taken it. I found it the next day, under a tree in our yard.”

  Slammer frowned and took the flash drive from her. “That was rather careless of him wasn’t it?”

  “Wherever we went, my father put cameras outside our houses. He didn’t want anyone sneaking up on us because he knew Virgil was waiting for the right moment to come after us.” She paused then added, “The cameras showed us it was Virgil standing in the front yard but he knew we couldn’t just go out the backdoor and escape. He tried and found the back door blocked. He knew then our only hope was the police. Lucky for us at the time, a neighbor saw what was going on and called the cops.”

  “What else was in his to go bag?” Grinder asked.

  “There were two other bottles of gas and several rags, a couple of lighters and a gun, it was small gun, but up close it would still kill you. My dad went through the bag. He got rid of the bottles and the gun then he gave me the flash drive. I wanted nothing to do with it but I kept it just in case.”

  Slammer handed the flash drive to Texas and nodded. “I’ll let you know if we find anything that could help us on it.”

  Texas got to his feet and went down the hall to his office.

  River then turned and went back to her table without looking at Shotgun...she refused to give him the time of day now. After all, he chose to act like an ass just now.

  Slammer watched them both then shook his head.

  When River got back to her table, she sat back down and began to eat. She ignored the table where the men were sitting instead she concentrated on Audrey and Bess. When she finished her meal, she got up and went to the kitchen. Seeing a sink full of dishes, she ran the water and added the soap. She began washing them. The simple act of washing dishes soothed her and it helped to clear her mind.

  Audrey and Bess joined her and Audrey rushed to tell her, “You don’t have to do that.”

  River smiled. “I know but I need to do something. I can’t just sit around. That makes me remember stuff I don’t want to. I haven’t even had time to think too hard about what happened to my parents yet, that would hurt too much, and I’m not ready to face that pain just yet.”

  “What happened?” Audrey asked. “I didn’t hear the whole story earlier.”

  “Virgil found us again and this time, he had managed to set fire to the house we lived in. He thought he got all of us but I left a week ago to find this place. I wasn’t home when he burned them out.”

  “Oh, my god...” Audrey whispered. “Why were you still living with your parents? I don’t mean to be nosey but aren’t you old enough to be out on your own?”

  River nodded. “They kept me with them to guard me against the danger Virgil would do to all of us if he caught me out there on my own.
They told me part of the story but not all of it. I only found out the whole of it a week ago.” She hung her head. “I had to come here, to see where Cooper was laid to rest. Cooper and Virgil were as different as day and night. Cooper I never had to fear and he always protected me, but with Virgil? I never knew from one minute to the next if he was going to turn on me or not. When I was young, I avoided him as much as I could. It still took me a long time after he left to be rid of the fear I lived with every day.”

  “What are you going to do now?” Audrey asked.

  “I don’t know,” River admitted. “I can’t even think about a future yet. Not with this hanging over me. I’m so afraid he’s going to find me here. I do need to decide what to do though.” She also knew she couldn’t hang around here after what just happened. The man had sex with her then pushed her away like she was a disease. She had too much pride to even approach him again. She didn’t need any more sorrow in her life.

  Audrey patted her arm. “Don’t you worry, these guys will protect you. They won’t let your brother get to you.”

  River shook her head. “They can’t stop him from coming. I will have to find a way to survive this myself.”

  Chapter Six

  Slammer looked over at Shotgun and finally asked, “What’s going on brother? You just shut her down completely. Why?”

  Shotgun shrugged slowly. “I’m not sure.”

  “What happened between this morning and just now?” Slammer shook his head. “I know she was upset this morning but when you carried her off, I thought you were talking and settling things. Then you come back and you cringe when she touches you?”

  “Yeah,” Shotgun admitted and rubbed his jaw with the back of his hand.

  “You tapped that and are regretting it?” Slammer guessed correctly the first time.

  Shotgun nodded. “Something like that.”

  “Bring me her stuff, we’ll just put her in another room,” Slammer told him. “I’ll explain things to her and you don’t have to see her again, but until we know more about that’s going on with Anaconda, I’m not turning her out. She’s got nowhere else to go.”

  Shotgun nodded. “I know that.” He shrugged. “It’s not so much regretting what we did as much as not understanding the feelings she stirs in me.”

  “I don’t give a shit what it is, you’re hurting her. It’s bullshit. Don’t string a girl like that along. You’re better than that.” Slammer got to his feet and looked down at his brother. “Figure it out while we still have time. And remember time is running out, my friend.”

  Shotgun just sat there, thinking about what he was going to do. How long he sat there he couldn’t tell you, but suddenly the whole club was shaken by the sound of an explosion outside. Women screamed and footsteps sounded closer from all sides of the clubhouse.

  Everyone gathered at the boarded windows to see what was going on outside.

  Slammer came running out of the back and Shotgun pushed his chair back and ran for the windows. Someone had pushed a car against the gates and lit it up. It must had been the gas tank exploding that caused them the notice the fire.

  There was nothing they could do to stop it. They all knew this Anaconda freak was waiting for them to leave the safety of the clubhouse and when they did he would pick them off one by one. All they could do was wait.

  Then they all heard a voice call out from the darkness. “Come out and play, you miserable bastards. Stop hiding behind your walls, they won’t save you in the end you know.”

  “Go to hell Anaconda!” Slammer yelled back. “Or should I call you Virgil.”

  His response was a maniacal laughter and a spray of bullets racking the outside of the front door.

  The women screamed as bullets tore through the wood covered windows.

  A half an hour later, the men were sitting there waiting for Virgil’s next move.

  It was where Texas found them all when he came looking for them hours after he’d receive the flash drive. He sat down with them and looked at Slammer.

  “Did you find anything interesting?” Slammer asked.

  Texas nodded. “Interesting, disturbing and something that is going to terrify River.”

  “What did you find?” Shotgun asked with concern.

  “He’d known where his family was at the whole time,” Texas told them.

  “What does that mean?” Slammer demanded.

  “He’d found them on at least seven occasions over the last fifteen years.” Texas laid out a bunch of photographs for everyone to see.

  Shotgun picked them up and looked through them. He could see River in different stages of her life. What disturbed him the most was the fact she didn’t seem to realize her brother was anywhere around her.

  “What else did you find?” Slammer asked.

  “I found out how he’s financed his MC,” Texas told them grimly. “He’s a fucking bank robber. He’s hit ten banks in five different states and netted over 1.5 million dollars in the last ten years.” He passed the printouts from his PC to Slammer to look over. “He might have also betrayed the MC under Banger’s rule to the Triad.”

  “Oh, I doubt that.” Slammer shook his head. “The Triad was coming after us long before they did. Banger did his best to bring that about all on his own.”

  “Maybe he did but the bastard also left a hit list,” Texas assured him. “A hit list with ten names on it and three have been crossed off.”

  “Fucking hell,” Slammer swore as he held out his hand for the list.

  Texas handed it to him and waited until Slammer had a chance to look at the list. The three names crossed off were Banger, Odie and Copperhead. Slammer found his name on the list, as did Shotgun and Grinder. Then he had listed his own parents and River. The last name on the list they didn’t know, Gerald Falls.

  Slammer passed the list along to Shotgun and the others.

  Shotgun looked at the list and the only name on it that caused him any kind of dread was River’s. She didn’t deserve this. Not by her brothers, own hand.

  “If this is his list, do you think he killed Banger and Odie?” Slammer asked. “We know he killed Copperhead and his parents. He missed River but he’s got your name and mine on the list as well. And who the hell is Gerald Falls?”

  “I have no idea who Falls is.” Shotgun shrugged. “And I don’t fucking care. He isn’t going to finish his fucking list because we’re going to get him before he can get us.”

  “River!” Slammer shouted her name.

  A moment later, she came running from the kitchen. “What is it?”

  He looked down at the chair next to his. “Come over her and sit down. We need to talk.”

  River came over to the table reluctantly and sat down beside Slammer. “What’s going on?” she asked him quietly, never looking to the man sitting on the other side of him.

  “We found some evidence on the flash drive you found three years ago. I think you should see it.” He handed her the first set of photographs Texas showed them.

  When she looked down at the pictures, she paled and as she looked through them, she began to tremble. “Oh my god...” she whispered. “No, no....” She looked up at Slammer. “He’s known our every move all this time?” She dropped the photos and covered her mouth with her hand. “He found us at least seven times in twelve years. We were never safe.”

  “He also had a hit list of ten names,” Slammer informed her. “We know all the names on it but one. Do you know who Gerald Falls is?”

  If anything, she suddenly looked even paler as all the blood drained from her face. Then she slumped in her chair and tumbled to the floor. Slammer swore and caught her before she hit it.

  Shotgun pushed him out of the way and gathered her limp figure in his own arms. He sat back down and held her all the while telling her to wake up.

  Slammer frowned at his brother’s action but at the moment he was more worried about her than Shotgun’s feelings. Slammer leaned forward and tapped her cheeks lightly calling out her
name. “River, wake up. We need to know what you know and we can’t do that if you’re sleeping. Come on honey wake up.”

  Shotgun growled at the endearments Slammer was using but there was nothing he could do about it now. She stirred in his arms and Shotgun looked at her as she came awake again.

  When River opened her eyes, she frowned when she realized who was holding her and then she looked around.

  Slammer was waiting there and she reached for him instead of staying where she was.

  Slammer looked at Shotgun before he took her into his arms and sat her on the other side of him.

  Shotgun’s fingers curled into fists as he watched her sit in another chair on the other side of Slammer. He couldn’t really protest as it was his own actions that had caused this shift.

  “Do you know who Gerald Falls is?” Slammer asked again.

  She nodded then swallowed hard then she opened her mouth to answer his questions but no sound came out. She tried again and this time she got the words out, “Back when he was in high school, he got his girlfriend Melanie Falls pregnant. He wouldn’t marry her so my dad threw him out of his house. He said that wasn’t how he was raised and if wasn’t going to do the right thing, he could just leave. That’s when he left our family. Gerald Falls is his own son. He’s about sixteen years old by now.”

  Slammer sat back in his chair. “His own kid? He would kill his own kid?”

  River nodded as tears rolled down her face. “Now you see what I said earlier. Virgil is a monster and the world would be a better place without him in it.”

  “What about the boy?” Grinder asked.

  “After he tossed Virgil out, my dad kept track of him and his mom. He paid her every month the support she was due. We couldn’t see him all that often but we kept track of him. Despite growing up without a father, he’s a good boy, probably a better kid than if he’d been raised by his dad.”

  Slammer stared at her. “And now his own father wants him dead, why?”