HIS BRANDED BRIDE: Steel Devils MC

by Sophia Gray

  “You’re taking me with you? But I thought you said that I didn’t need to know who this guy was?” I questioned him.

  “You don’t. You won’t get his name, but he’s going to probably want to see the person he’s helping. There’s no real harm in that, I guess,” he said with a shrug. “Come on.”

  “Why don’t we take my car?” I asked on the way out of the clubhouse. “Do we have to take your motorcycle?”

  “Do you know where we’re going?” he shot back over his shoulder.

  “Okay, fine. Thought I’d offer,” I told him, catching up with him.

  “I mean, if you don’t want to ride the bike, you don’t have to,” Cole said, handing me a helmet. “I can go alone, but he’ll still want to see you.”

  I wondered why it mattered, but I felt like I was better off not knowing, just like he’d said before. There were probably a lot of things I didn’t need to know about in his life. I put on the helmet and left it at that.

  I slid onto the bike and put my arms around his waist. It felt like it had been so long since I’d been on the back of his motorcycle, but it had only been a few days since the first ride he’d given me. I remembered how that first ride had felt a little scary, but exhilarating at the same time. The butterflies in my stomach were going crazy in anticipation of feeling those two emotions again.

  The bike roared to life underneath me. I gripped him tighter, feeling his hard abs under my arms. He pulled away from the building and slowed down at the entrance to the parking lot for a brief moment before gunning it. I squeezed myself against him to hold on, terrified I was going to fall off if I didn’t hold on tight enough.

  We road into downtown and cruised around for a while before he pulled down an alley next to a parking deck. He parked the bike against a low concrete wall and pulled off his helmet. I didn’t see anyone stopping to meet us or anywhere to go to meet someone. I hesitated before taking my helmet off and getting off the bike.

  “Come on. It’s right around the corner,” he said. He held out his arm for me to walk with him.

  I stayed just behind him as we walked up the alley a few feet to a space between the buildings. It didn’t offer enough room for cars to get down, just enough for people to walk through, enough for doors to open between the two buildings. It was one of the strangest things I’d seen, but I knew downtown held all kinds of secrets from the uninitiated.

  “Hold on right there,” he said, holding his hand out to keep me from standing right in front of the door. He knocked out a code – two knocks, a pause, two more, a pause, and three to finish. I assumed that identified him for the people on the other side.

  I heard something slide across the door. I imagined it was someone sliding open a slot in the door like they always did in the movies, so they could see who was standing there and verify it was actually Cole or another member of the MC. I couldn’t see from where I was standing.

  A moment later, I heard all the locks slide through as the door was unbolted. Cole waved me back over to him as the door opened. I stepped to the side in time to see the door open out toward the alley. It was dark inside, but a large bald man was standing in the doorway.

  He glanced at us, but he took a moment to look me up and down. He didn’t know me, and he was obviously sizing me up. His intimidating size and the hard expression on his face made me hope he wasn’t the person we were there to see.

  “He’s in the back,” he told us, stepping aside to let us in.

  Cole put a hand on the small of my back and pushed me ahead of him through the door. I looked around the room as we entered. A few people were sitting around at a small table playing cards. There were other rooms, leading back to a closed door, which I figured was where we were going. The door slammed shut behind us, and I jumped.

  Cole chuckled. “It’s okay. We’re going all the way back,” he told me, guiding me with the hand on my back.

  “Okay, why does he need to see me?” I finally asked, whispering. “Wouldn’t it be easier for me to keep an eye on the bike or hang out at the clubhouse while you handle this?”

  “You want the truth?” he asked, and I knew right then that I really didn’t, but I persisted anyway. Maybe I was feeling low on repulsion and nightmare fuel, but I had to know.

  “Yes, I want to know the truth,” I insisted.

  “He’s more likely to help if I bring him someone nice to look at it.”

  Okay, that wasn’t so bad by itself. But when the thin wooden door in the back opened, and we walked into the room to stand in front of the man we were going to meet, it got gross. His greasy hair was slicked back. He wore a dress shirt that was at least one size too small, possibly more by the way the buttons were hanging on for dear life. He held an unlit cigar in one of his fat hands, and he summoned me to step closer by wiggling his fat fingers.

  “Saw, it’s good to see you, buddy,” he said in a voice as thick as molasses and sweet as honey.

  “Well, you know I wouldn’t bother you if I didn’t need some help,” he told the man.

  “What is it you need, sugar?” the fat man asked me, looking me up and down with a perverse hunger in his eyes. Guys looked at me lustfully more often than I cared to notice, but there was something disgusting in his eyes that made me cringe. I tried not to visibly recoil when his tongue snaked out and licked his lips.

  I wondered what I’d done to Cole to deserve being subjected to this guy. Whatever it was, I was going to apologize for it as soon as we left this guy’s hideout.

  “We’re trying to find her ex-husband, Troy Romero.”

  “You’re Troy Romero’s ex?” the big guy asked. He laughed heartily, holding his belly. “What a small world it can be.”

  “Great, you know where he is?” Cole asked. He stepped up and put an arm around my waist, reassuring me that he had me. I was safe.

  “Not at the moment, but I can find him for you. Are you going to be at the clubhouse later this afternoon?”

  “We can be if we need to be.”

  “Alright, I’ll send my guys out to find him, and I’ll send a message to the clubhouse once we know.” When he had said this, he dropped the creepy, sweet tone and talked like it was all business.

  “Thanks,” I said, figuring he probably wanted my gratitude as a reward. I hoped he didn’t expect me to express it any other way. I watched the movies. I knew there were guys out there who expected it. Hell, Cole had told me that he expected it, but that was different. I had wanted to give it to him.

  “Anything for a girl as delicious as you,” the big guy said. He tilted his head toward the door, sending us back out.

  Once the thin wooden door closed behind us, Cole grabbed my hand and picked up his pace. There was an urgency in his walk.

  “What’s wrong?” I asked.

  “I’ll tell you when we get out,” he said, walking quickly for the door.

  The bald doorman opened the metal door in the wall and let us out of the building. We walked outside and kept on toward the bike, where Cole finally let go of my hand.

  “What was that about?” I asked.

  “I want to get you out of here before he decides he wants more than a thank you.”

  “If you’re worried about what he’ll want from me, why did you even bring me out here?”

  “You need to know that I’m doing everything I can to get your son.”

  “Okay, fine, I trust that you’re doing that, but at the same time, you may have just put me in danger by introducing me to that man. Could you have taken those guys if they’d decided to hold you down while he took whatever liberties he wanted with me?”

  “I’m sure I could’ve managed,” he said, pulling his gun from behind his back.

  “How many do you think you could have taken down before they overpowered you?” I held up my hand to keep him from answering. “You know what? I don’t care. Get me back to the clubhouse. I need a shower after that. I feel so disgusting right now.”

  I wondered if he meant wh
at he was saying – that he was trying to prove to me what he was willing to do to find and reunite me with Micah. I also wondered how in the hell he thought bringing me to see a creep like that was a good idea. I wanted to trust him, but he kept doing things that made it hard.

  Part of me, the part that always gave people the benefit of the doubt, said it was all part of learning how to trust him because there were going to be times when his trust was going to be put in men like that – when no one else was available.

  I put my helmet on and hopped on the bike behind him, hoping our next stop was the clubhouse like he’d told his sleazy friend back there.

  Chapter Twenty

  Cole

  It didn’t take long for someone to show up with a message from Sanchez, the man we’d gone to see. While Lilah was still in the shower, I got a text message from Axel.

  Someone’s here to see you. Better come down. Alone.

  On my way, I texted back. I got up from the bed, slid my boots on, and walked downstairs to meet the messenger who’d been sent to let us know what Sanchez had found out about Troy and Micah.

  “Saw?” the scrawny kid asked as I walked up. There was no better way to make sure no one punished his messengers than to make sure they weren’t worth the effort.

  “Yeah, that’s me,” I said. “What do you have for me?”

  “Troy Romero is squatting in a cabin about a mile from the one he owns. He’s got his son there with him.”

  I narrowed my eyes. “How do I know I can trust this information?”

  “They, um, th-they saw his car there,” he said, shaking suddenly.

  I glanced over his shoulder at Axel, sitting at the bar. He shrugged as if to say, “Might as well check it out.”

  “Tell Sanchez I said ‘thank you,’ and if he ever needs anything, he knows where to find me,” I told the kid. “Now get out of here.”

  While the kid rushed out of the clubhouse, I walked over to Axel at the bar. He held up his beer to me as I approached. He nodded.

  “Good job,” he said. “Now what?”

  “Now we need to get over there and get her kid,” I replied.

  “What about Troy? How are we going to handle him?” Axel asked thoughtfully, as if he was checking my thinking on the situation.

  “I can’t kill him. I can’t leave that kid without a dad. I know how that is. I don’t even remember our dad. I can’t do that to someone else, man.”

  Axel put a hand on my shoulder and squeezed. “You’re a good man, little brother. Tell you what, let’s get some guys together to go out there, and we’ll leave Troy to you. You do whatever you see fit. This is your show.” He tilted his beer back and chugged the rest of his bottle.

  “Alright, first, let’s get the guys together. Then, we need someone to take Lilah out there in a car behind the rest of us.”

  He opened his mouth to argue and suggest that it was a bad idea to take her along, but I stopped him.

  “I already told her I was going to bring her along, and she needs to be there to get her son anyway,” I explained to him.

  “Fair enough. You get her. I’ll get everyone else,” he said, getting up from the bar.

  I hurried upstairs to find Lilah getting out of the shower. She had a towel wrapped around her body and one around her beautiful hair. When I entered the room, she was standing next to the bed. I startled her, and she put up a hand to cover her already covered breasts.

  “Get dressed,” I told her.

  “You’ve got something?”

  “Yeah, and Axel’s getting guys together downstairs to go out there, so let’s get ready to go. We’re leaving as soon as you and I are ready.”

  She dropped her towel, revealing her gorgeous naked body to me. That pale skin did it every time. I felt myself growing hard just looking at her with those soft pink nipples, that fair skin just begging for my touch and my ink, and her hairless mound ready to be touched, licked, and fucked. I wanted to grab her right there, but I knew there’d be time for that later, once we got her kid.

  But we had to go right away before Troy realized we were onto him again.

  She threw on her clothes quickly, pulling her black cotton panties up her legs and covering herself with them. She pulled her tight jeans up, letting the fabric hug her ass and hips. She dried her hair again quickly with her towel and pulled on a bra and shirt.

  She was passing me on her way out the door and then down the stairs to the common room. We walked out to find Axel standing with ten other guys. Ham stepped up eating a piece of pizza he’d grabbed from the bar.

  “Alright,” I said to Lilah, “you’re going to be riding in the car with one of these guys.” I turned and held my hand out, waiting to find out who was supposed to be driving her.

  Ham raised his hand. “I’ll drive her out there.”

  “We’re taking my car,” she blurted out.

  He shrugged. “Fine by me, but I’m driving.”

  She hesitated, but I stepped in to help her accept his offer. “Lilah, this is my other brother, Ham. He’s the middle child,” I explained.

  She huffed. “Yeah, you can drive,” she finally conceded.

  “Okay, the rest of us are riding our bikes. That’s going to alarm him when he hears us coming, but there’s not a whole lot he’ll be able to do about it then,” I explained to her.

  “Won’t that put Micah in danger?” Lilah asked.

  “Nope. He’s trying to take Micah with him. He’s not using him as collateral for anything. The goal is to take him along. He’s not going to do anything stupid to risk getting him hurt,” I assured her. “Look, we’ll make sure that he doesn’t get hurt.”

  She nodded and turned to Ham. “Shall we?”

  He smirked. “I like your old lady, bro. She’s pretty cool.”

  Lilah blushed, and I shot him a cold look. I shook my head. She wasn’t my old lady.

  “Alright, we ready guys? Follow me,” I told them as we poured out of the building. We hopped on our bikes, and our engines roared to life. It was a beautiful sound, hearing that many motorcycles cranking up and revving their engines.

  It did something to us when we rode together. Suddenly, we weren’t individual bikers. We were Steel Devils, the MC itself. We became one unit that way. It was a great feeling to have my brothers at my back as we pulled out of the parking lot and onto the road.

  We needed to go about a mile further than Troy’s other cabin. We pulled onto the gravel drive and roared up through the woods to the dark cabin. Sure enough, his car was parked in front. As we pulled up to the little house, a shot rang out.

  What the hell is this idiot doing?

  I held up a hand to stop everyone. It was a warning shot. Troy had fired his shotgun into the air instead of firing it at any of us. We stopped in the driveway, and Ham pulled Lilah’s car around into the yard.

  Troy stood at the door to the cabin, his gun in front of him, pointing towards the sky. He watched as Lilah got out of the passenger side of her car. I heard Ham trying to convince her to stay in.

  “What now?” I asked Axel, pulling off my helmet, but he was already signaling to a few guys to circle around to the back of the house while Lilah had Troy distracted.

  He stepped down from the stoop in front of the door, creating distance between him and cabin. With each step, he gave us more room to work with.

  “What are you doing here? And what is all this?” Troy asked her, waving a hand at our motorcycles lined up in his driveway.

  “I want my son back,” Lilah shouted. “You have no right to take him away with you.”

  “He’s just staying with me until he gets well,” Troy lied.

  “Troy, I know about the passports and the plane tickets to Belize. I know about the woman you’re meeting down there. I know that you moved out of your suite.” She took a couple of steps towards him from the car.

  I waited and watched pensively. I wanted to run in and grab Micah, but I knew the guys who’d gone around back were do
ing that. All I could do was watch to make sure he didn’t do anything stupid.

  Then, a yell came from inside. It sounded like a kid – Micah. Troy looked at us, muttered something I couldn’t hear, and darted back inside.

  That was my cue. I ran in after him. This cabin was laid out the same as the one he owned. As soon as I came in the door, I saw our guys pulling Micah out through the back door. Troy was running after them. I ran up behind him and grabbed his shotgun, pulling it across him to hold him back.

  “Micah, they’re taking you to your mom,” I yelled to the kid. “She’s out front waiting for you. I promise. You’ll see.” He looked at me with his mother’s green eyes. He was scared, but the fact that I’d spoken to him seemed to reach him. He stopped struggling long enough for one of the guys to pick him up and throw him over his shoulder.