“Wench staying on as a mechanic? She’s a fuckin’ good one.”
“Doubt if I’d be able to stop her, Blade.” I bark a laugh at the thought. “And her name’s Sam. Wrench if you must.”
“Fuck, Prez, she’s got you wrapped around her little finger already.”
I glare at Slick until he can no longer meet my gaze. He’s probably right, but I’m not letting him get away with that.
I get back to the original proposal. “Beef, tell the girls if they want to swell the ranks of our sweet butts we’ll consider it. If they’ve got nowhere else to go and want to hang around for a bit, then we’ll give them a try. You know what you gotta do, Mouse?”
Mouse’s eyes flick toward the fed, and then he jerks his chin toward me. He knows I’m asking him to do a full and illegal investigation into their backgrounds. Whores get to know too many of our secrets, and we need to be able to trust them. If they betray us, the result isn’t pretty. The body of Chrissy, rotting up in the woods, can testify to that.
“Right.” My gaze settles on the agent. “Now, down to business. What are we up against?”
There’s a slight look of disappointment on his face, as though he was hoping we’d let slip any tasty morsels. He clears his throat and looks down at his phone. “Your boys got us some good info from their work on the prisoners, Drummer, and I’ve had our team look into what they gave us. This was an organised ring, we got three of the five men at the top, one escaped, as you know, and one was killed when you took out the transport. There are normally five teams. Each goes out with four men. We got this lot in custody. We can assume that leaves another sixteen bodies they can call on.”
That’s not bad odds; we’d be about matched in numbers.
“What about the senator?”
He stares at me steadily. “Not your business, Drummer. You can leave that with us.”
I thought that would be the case, but I’ll be interested in watching how that plays out. Fucking politicians can get away with anything, and I wouldn’t be surprised to learn, sometime in the future, that he’d retired due to ill-health. But how it’s resolved is fed business and won’t affect the club. That’s what’s important.
I frown. “You’ve dropped us in it, Haughton. I know you want to use us to round up the rest of the ring. Is there anything else we should consider?” I’m still convinced he’s playing his cards close to his chest.
Once more he looks away as I catch his eye. “Of course, there are some rich pricks who they buy for. It’s possible they’ll be able to call on more support. And again, there’s the cartel.”
“They wouldn’t come north of the border, would they?” Peg’s tapping his fingers against his mouth. “Would it be worth it?”
“Got some nice stock, er, sorry, Drummer, women that they’ve lost. A lot of money’s been spent getting them this far, and the cartel’s left with having arranged an auction that’s now without any goods, er, women.”
Okay, so now that we know what we’re talking about, we have to prepare for an army. “Agent Haughton? You’re arranging the FBI support?”
He shifts uncomfortably. “I’m returning to the office after this meeting. We’ll see what we can do.” His vague non-commitment can be easily translated. He’s got most of the ringleaders and the name of the man at the top. It’s not his concern if the foot soldiers come to pick us off. When he stares straight at me for his next statement, I know that’s the truth. “I’ll check if the transportation is on its way for the women.”
My suspicions are fast coming home to roost, and just like that, it all falls into place. Suddenly my desire to get the women off the compound does an abrupt one hundred and eighty degree turn. I need as many bargaining chips as I can get. “Been reconsidering that, Agent. If what’s left of the slavery ring, and possibly even the cartel, are determined to take them back, it’s safest not to move the women. We can best protect them here.” I lean back in my chair, balancing on two legs for a moment. “Take them off site, and you could be followed. We can lock the compound up tighter than a gnat’s ass.”
“I’ve arranged—”
Now I sit forward, my chair slamming back down to the ground. Pointing my finger toward him, I snarl, “I don’t give a fuck what you’ve arranged. If you’re not staying to help, you can unarrange it. The women stay here. Under our protection. Until this is ended. You leave? You go alone.”
The agent’s eyes flit toward Devil. “That wasn’t what we agreed.”
Devil shrugs. “Drummer’s got a point. Take them out, and you could be ambushed. Best way is to provide support to the Satan’s Devils and help them beat whatever’s coming their way.”
Haughton sneers, and his hand pounds down on the table. “You’re suggesting the FBI provide men to defend a motorcycle compound?” At last, some honesty from the agent. They’re not going to help us at all.
Another dismissive gesture from the scarred man. “Why the fuck not?”
As Haughton stares back at him and doesn’t say another word it all falls into place.
“I think your time with us is over, Agent Haughton. If we’re on our own, we’ll make our own plans.” Jerking my chin toward the door, I emphasise my desire for him to leave.
Peg gets to his feet, his huge frame intimidating. “I’ll show you the way out.” It’s not an offer.
The agent turns to Devil, who looks at me instead. “You stay,” I instruct. I want to know exactly what he’s been hiding.
As Peg escorts Agent Haughton from church, I look around the table. “Anyone got any objections to Devil being in on our planning?” We might not know the man, but we got to know his colleagues from Grade A at that bizarre wedding we’d attended.
“Grade A’s fine in my book.” My VP gives his opinion, nodding at the Englishman.
Devil’s been listening intently. One side of his mouth turns down; it now matches the other, and he holds up his hands in supplication. “Drummer, you have my apology. I might have had some inkling as things didn’t add up, but I didn’t know this is what he intended.”
“Can’t trust the fuckin’ feds.” I should have known that from the start. I shake my head, furious at my stupidity.
Seeing my anger, Shooter’s looking puzzled, his expression mirrored by Lady. I jerk my chin as permission Shooter can speak. “Prez, what’s going on?”
But it’s Devil who answers, “Feds want to get the women out of here, and then let the slave traders take out the club. I expect they want you to kill each other. Get rid of two birds with one stone—a human trafficking ring and an outlaw MC. Shit, I didn’t see this coming, I’m sorry, Drum.”
Wraith’s fingers are drumming on the table. “We’ve got this.” His eyes take in his brothers sitting around the table, and nods at me. “We don’t need the fuckin’ feds. I’ll call Red. He’ll send us some help.”
“And I’ll speak to Snake; he owes us a favour.” Getting members from the Las Vegas and San Diego chapters would help. “Anything Grade A can offer?” I incline my head toward Devil.
“Sorry, Drum, I, er, I’m working on my own at the moment, as an independent contractor to the feds. Well,” his mouth twists again, and I interpret it as a grin, “until I resigned about, oh, two minutes ago. Bloody bunch of pansies.” He grows serious again. “I’ll be putting a team together soon that I’ll be able to call on, but for now I’m on my own. But I’m here to help you.” He nods sharply to confirm he’s on board.
“Thanks, Devil.”
“Right. Ah, Peg. You’ve seen our guest safely off the premises?”
As Peg retakes his seat, he nods in my direction. “Indeed I have. Checked who was out there too. Marsh is at the gate. In light of what’s gonna go down, I want one of the fully patched members there at all times.” He’s right to get straight on to that. If trouble’s coming our way, we’ll need early warning. And a first line of defence.
“I’ll take first watch.”
“Your arm good enough, Slick?”
“Okay, we’ll work up a rotation.” I tap my fingers as I mentally go through what we need to do. “Guns. Get them back out of stock.”
Rock puts up his hand and nudges Beef. “We’ll get on that.” The allusion to our armoury causes a round of laughter. It’s a source of amusement that although the ATF agents might have said they weren’t searching, we’d hidden what we didn’t want them to stumble across. Extremely well. When the compound was a resort, it had three swimming pools, one of which has been filled in. The other just looks like it has. Underneath is our bunker, useful for all manner of things.
“What armament have you got?”
If he’s going to be fighting beside us, I’ve no problem with filling Devil in. We spend the next few minutes going over our weapon and ammunition status. We’re in a healthy position.
“Drum, I don’t want to be telling you your job, but are you considering an offensive as well as your defence?”
“What you suggesting, Devil?”
He puts his ideas forward, and I like them a lot. I like them so much, I actually smile.
“Right, fuckers! You all know what to do. Church fuckin’ over!”
Following my brothers out, I detour to the back room where Roadrunner’s staying, finding Jill must have snuck back down to be with him. He’s sitting up drinking some kind of soup. From the expression on his face the sweet butt has probably made it herself, and exemplifies they’re not employed for their culinary skills. But he’s manfully spooning it down, a grimace for me, and a smile and a thank you for her. I wonder whether we’ll have another vacancy in the sweet butt rank soon, though it is unusual for one to become an old lady. But Road’s a new prospect; I’ll have Wraith take him aside. Perhaps give him shit for monopolising one of the whores. The thought amuses me, but I’ll be kind. I’ll wait until he’s healed.
“How you doing today, Road?”
“I’ve had worse coming off my bike.” Recalling he rides in trials on a pocket rocket, I reckon he’s used to some spills. “Fed up with lying here. But she won’t let me get up.”
“Just following Doc’s orders,” Jill rebukes him sternly.
“As long as he’s not slacking off.”
Road makes to get out of bed; I hold out my hand. “Nah, man, I’m messing with you. You take the time to heal. You’re no use if you pass out from loss of blood. When’s Doc coming back to check you?”
“Later today,” Jill answers for him.
I consider her carefully. “The boys will be wondering where you are.” I test out the waters.
When her face drops, I have my answer. Confirmed when Road says, “I’ll be fine, Jill, if you’ve got things to do.”
Or in other words, bikers to do. My lips curl at my inward joke. That’s interesting, seems like it might be a bit one-sided. Just another sweet butt trying to snag a brother. Not that he’s patched in, yet, of course. But maybe that’s why she’s latched onto him. Get him hooked before he’s aware of our ways. I wouldn’t be at all surprised.
Chapter Thirty-Three
Sam…
As I stretch, I groan. My ribs hurt and all my other muscles seem to be making themselves known and protesting in one way or another. Despite how gentle Drummer had been with me, he’s still left his mark on me. And perhaps more than one. As I move my legs, I can feel a stickiness between them, and our omission comes back to me.
We didn’t use a condom. Oh my, what if I’m pregnant? Could I be? Doing a quick calculation in my head, I couldn’t say one way or the other. But Drummer didn’t seem worried, and I am, apparently, officially his old lady. Wow.
Am I okay with committing to him? Staying here for the rest of my life? Working on bikes, living with bikers? Being able to get to know my father? Belonging? Hell yeah, I am. A grin spreads over my face. I’d lost the only parent I’d ever known but have found another. And while some of his ways seem strange, or scratch that, downright disgusting to me, there’s no doubt that having accepted I’m his daughter, he seems to care. I’ve found a family, something I didn’t think I’d ever have again, and Viper had found he’s sired a child when he didn’t think it was possible.
Sitting up, I see my pack lying in the corner of the room and going to it, pull out some fresh clothes, noticing I’m down to my last. I’ll have to buy some more soon, or at least do some washing. I hadn’t been able to bring much with me in my saddlebags, but if I’m settling down, I can treat myself to a new wardrobe and garments more appropriate for the Arizona climate. After a quick shower, which helps to loosen me up, I explore Drum’s house, finding a small laundry room behind the kitchen. I’m just filling the washing machine when I hear a voice calling.
“Hey, Sam, you here?”
“Yeah, out back,” I yell.
It’s Sandy. She comes in, stands and watches me, and must see how stiff I am as I move. “Shouldn’t you be resting?”
“Nah, moving around is helping to loosen me up.”
“You scared the shit out of Viper, disappearing like that.” She moves closer, her hand touches my arm. “And me.”
She’s nothing like my mother, not even close, apart from similar coloured eyes, no looks or mannerisms in common. And that perhaps helps. Officially, she’s my stepmother and could become another important person in my life. Now I have the chance to get to know her, too. I huff a laugh as I answer her, “I didn’t do it on purpose, Sandy.”
“You must have been so scared. You’re one brave woman, Sam.” She looks down at her hand, still touching my arm, and puts a little more pressure into her touch. “You’re good for Drum. He needs a woman with backbone beside him.”
I cock an eyebrow in question, to be greeted by a grin. “I’ve seen the way he looks at you, he’s besotted by you.” Then her face falls. “Though I have to warn you, he may not stick around for long. He’s not the type. You try and hang onto him, you hear me?”
I feel a moment of uncertainty. Until Drummer’s told Viper, I don’t think I ought to tell her exactly how far our relationship has progressed. “I hear you, Sandy. And I intend to do just that.”
“Oh, love.” Suddenly she’s pulling me into her arms. “Viper loves you, and you’re a part of him, so I love you too.” She breaks off, sounding a little uncertain. “I can’t take the place of your mom, but I hope, while you’re here, we’ll become good friends.”
Hugging her back, fighting to keep the tears from my eyes, I tell her, “We already are. Hey, I’m done here. Would you like a coffee?” As she nods, we go to the kitchen, and I start opening cupboards to find where everything’s kept. Soon we have steaming cups in our hands. She asks me about life with my mom, I ask her about life on the compound, the conversation flowing easily between us.
We’ve just finished our drinks and I’m rinsing out the cups when the front door bangs loudly and a male voice shouts out, “Hey, honey, I’m home… oh shit.” Drummer’s face falls when he comes into the kitchen and finds I’m not alone. There’s a red tinge under his tan.
Sandy doubles up laughing, and soon I join in.
We both get the death stare, and then he chuckles too. “Always wanted to try out that line,” he smirks. “Just didn’t expect it to be in front of fuckin’ company.”
“Oh, Prez. Your rep’s sure gone downhill now.” Sandy giggles at his forlorn expression. “Well, I think that’s my cue to go.” Coming over, she plants a kiss on my cheek and whispers into my ear, “Told you you’d be good for him.”
“Come here, woman.” Drum beckons me to him as the door closes behind Sandy. He enfolds me in his strong arms, making me feel protected and safe. With a finger under my chin, he raises my face, appraising me, and apparently satisfied with what he sees, lowers his mouth to mine. His hands run up and down my back, immediately his touch starts sending sparks shooting through me and he tightens his hold.
“Ouch.”
“Oh, fuck, Sam. I’m sorry.”
“Drum, don’t
worry. It’s just my ribs. I’m still a bit sore.”
“Fuck, I should’ve remembered.” He lets me go and takes a step back. Brushing his hands down his face, he gives a shake of his head. “Wouldn’t take much for me to strip you and take you back to fuckin’ bed, but I came up to get you. I need you down at the clubhouse, now.”
I wish there was time for another round, especially when I see him ruefully adjusting his cock in his jeans, but I know the club comes first. I tilt my head on one side. “Problems?”
He sighs. “Yeah, problems.” Taking my hand, he places a kiss on my palm. “Things are gonna get rough, darlin’, you need to know that.”
And here I was, thinking I’d found my happy place. I stand a bit straighter. “What do you need me to do, Drum?”
He moves so fast, his hands now in my hair, his fingers tightening almost to the point of being painful as he forces me to look up at him. “Fuck, Sam, what did I do to deserve you?” His eyes blaze into mine. “Here you are, hurt and injured, recovering from the most traumatic thing that can happen to a fuckin’ woman, and you want to know what I need you to do? Sam, I should fall to my fuckin’ knees and worship you.”
I can’t move or speak, the intensity of his words taking me by surprise, stealing the air from my lungs, as he continues, “I never believed I’d take an ol’ lady. Never thought that fuckin’ day would ever come. But that was before I met you. You’re so damn fuckin’ strong. You’re so fuckin’ perfect, everything I could ever wish for. You slay me, woman.”
Again, his mouth crashes down onto mine, the feeling of being controlled by his grasp of my head sends another rush of arousal through me. Then he lets go of my hair, his hand cupping my scalp lightly. He’s had a beer, the flavour mingling with the leftover taste of my coffee. I’m breathing in the scent of stale cigarette smoke and the perfume that’s all his, and as our tongues slide together, my legs feel weak as if I’m getting drunk on this man.
People waiting on us or not, soon we’re going to be stripping off each other’s clothes. But then his phone rings.
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