by KJ Dahlen
“Why would I do that?” she asked. “They had already declared his death an accident, no one to blame. They would never investigate the fire as arson and they sure as hell wouldn’t accuse Luke of murder, no matter what he left behind.”
“He left something behind?” Deke glared.
Sage just stared at him but didn’t say a word.
“Tell us what you know.” Mountain growled. He, like the others knew she was holding back and he wanted to know why.
Sage sighed as she explained, “Luke and his friends had been harassing Danny for a couple of years before then. They knew he helped me out and let’s just say they didn’t like it. Luke wanted to run me out of town but I was being a stubborn shit and wouldn’t leave. Danny put up cameras when someone started messing with his goats. The fight that took place that night and the fire was caught on tape.”
“I’m surprised they didn’t destroy the tape,” Sam stated.
“They didn’t know it was there,” Sage admitted. “No one did. Otherwise, they would have destroyed it.”
“Do you still have it?” Mountain asked.
“Yes, I still have it. I got it when I was last out there at his place”
“Good.” Deke grinned.
Sam looked at his son and had to ask, even though he knew the answer. “What do you have on your mind, boy?”
“I’m thinking our mayor is due for a shakeup. I think our city council needs to be reelected. It might even be time to replace the powers that be in this town.”
“That might get dangerous really quick,” Sage warned. “Nichols isn’t going to go away quietly and neither are his friends. They’ve lived the good life for too long. They all like those under the table cash payments they’ve been living on for the last decade or so.”
Deke nodded. “I agree with you there. I’ve seen this city falling further and further in the stink of corruption and like everyone else, I just let it slide, but I’m not going to do that anymore. No one should have to live the life you’ve had. Life isn’t fair at times, we all know that and bad things happen to good people, but this is something we can change this and those changes will make this town a better place to live.”
“You know that isn’t going to go over very well, don’t you?” Sage asked. “They’re going to make your lives a living hell.”
“They can try.” Mountain smiled. “But we have our ways too, little girl. All we have to do is get everything set up before we act.”
Sage turned to glance at Judge. “What does he mean, get everything set up?”
Deke answered this, “We need to find out how Nichols has the city council set up, where the money is going and to whom. I have a man who can hack into computers but it would help if we knew where to go to get the information we need to bring him down. That’s going to take the time.”
Sage licked her dry lips. She had the info they needed but did she dare give it to them? Could she trust them to follow through with the plan? Could she do it? Betray her mother and get back at Luke and his father?
She glanced up at Judge and found he was looking back at her with a knowledge in his eyes. “Can I trust them?” she whispered to Judge.
“Do you trust me?” he asked.
“Yes,” she told him. “I trust you.”
“Then you can trust them,” he said simply. “They are my brothers, each and every one of them. We’re an extended family.”
She stood on her tiptoes and brushed her lips against his, then she turned to face Deke and the others. “I can help you with that.” She saw her black bag on the table beside the door and she walked over to it. Picking it up, she opened the bag, took several items out, walked over to Deke and held out her hand.
Deke took the items and looked at them. One was a flash drive, another was a tape of camera feed and the last was a notebook. The notebook was small but it had papers and stuff tucked inside the cover.
Then she hesitated and went back to the bag and took out one more item. It was a sealed envelope. Handing that over she told him, “My mother never told me the name of the man that fathered me. But she knew who he was, she just never told me his name. She told me once that I was supposed to be her meal ticket out of this town. He may have paid her to keep her mouth shut about my existence, I don’t know nor do I care but the money was never enough for her. She hated me all my life and now I don’t care who knows it.”
“But you had your suspicions who your father was didn’t you?” Sam stated.
Sage nodded. “There was only one reason Luke kept coming back, why he hated me so much. I never asked but he made his feelings well known to me.”
Another large biker in the room whistled as the implications became clear. “He’s your brother? And he did this to you? Your own brother?”
Sage turned her head and glared at the man.
Judge motioned his head at him. “This is Iceman.”
“Well, Iceman, he is no brother of mine. The only family I knew died six years ago from a drug overdose. A drug overdose I found out that she didn’t administer herself, I might add.”
“So the boy in question might have at least two murders to his name.” Sam looked angry.
Sage shrugged. “Both have no evidence to point the finger at him. Nothing that would stand up in court, you can be assured of that.”
Iceman grinned. “Then we’ll just have to find some, won’t we?” He glanced over at Deke. “Your man Zipper can look at that but I have a man in the Sinners that can find the secrets people want to keep hidden too. Do you mind if I call in some help?”
Deke smiled. “Feel free to call in whoever you want, brother. The more the dammed merrier we all are. That should keep the natives busy while we dig into the background and uncover all the secrets this town may have.”
“If that’s the case, I can call in a few favors and get more bodies here too,” Sam stated. “And I’m sure Calico can too.”
Deke nodded. “Calico might even know the right people to take over after we present the info we find.”
“I’m sure Pappy’s Trudy can dig faster and deeper than we can. That way, we won’t even have to get our hands dirty,” Sam suggested.
Deke grinned. “That might even throw them off their game a bit, if an outsider starts asking questions.” He looked down at the items in his hands. “I’ll get Zipper to check this out while Trudy finds out the secret ways Nichols runs this town.”
“I’ll make some calls to Boston.” Iceman smiled. “The more men we can get here the more chaos they’ll bring and the less time Nichols will have to even get wind of what we’re doing.”
“I can make a call to Maine and get some more bodies on their way from there too,” Sam agreed. “I can all Pappy too. He might know someone on the straight and narrow to come in and clean up the mess Nichols is going to leave in his wake.”
Sage simply stared at them all. Astounded at what resources they seemed to have. They were all MC but they sure had more power than a regular club would. Hope bloomed in her for the first time in her whole life. Yet, that fear still prodded her. They could get hurt. God, please don’t let anyone get hurt or killed. Please?
~*~
An hour later, the house was empty of everyone but the Moore family. The group of imposing and large bikers had left. Yet here were still many large men present, Sage noted. Judge, Raine, Hound, Gambler and Black Jack sat at the kitchen table while Molly was puttering in the kitchen.
Sage sat on Judge’s lap only because he wouldn’t let her out of his sight.
“So this Luke character thinks you could be his sister I take it?” Black Jack stated as Molly put a cup of coffee in front of him.
Sage shrugged. “I don’t know and I don’t care what he thinks. I never knew who my father was and my mother isn’t around to confirm or deny it, so it really doesn’t matter now does it?”
“Then why does he hunt you down and hurt you all the time?” Gambler asked.
“Because it matters to him,” Sage admitted. “Even tho
ugh his father didn’t abide by his marriage vows and slept around, Luke blames me for even existing. I am the evidence of his father’s sins and he doesn’t like it. He couldn’t touch my mother while she was alive but now that she’s dead, he feels he can harass me, hurt me and make my life a hell I can’t escape from.”
“Why?” Black Jack asked. “Didn’t the protection your mother had spill over to you?”
Sage shrugged. “It might have if she’d given a damn but she never did.”
Molly shook her head. “I can’t imagine any mother not caring about her own child.”
Sage looked away. “The only thing my mother cared about was her next fix, whether it was drugs, or booze or a man. She barely knew or cared that I was there at all. She was never mother of the year material.”
Judge heard the hurt and the pain in her voice and he wanted to make it all better for her. There was no way he could but he wanted to. He couldn’t change her past but he could protect her in the future.
“So you think he’ll come back for you?” Gambler asked.
“He will until he gets what he wants from me,” she concluded.
“And what might that be?” Raine wanted to know.
She turned to look at him. “He wants me to be nothing more than a faint memory, nothing more than a hiccup of his nightmare. He wants things to go back to when he was an only child and things that disturbed him to be swept under the rug as always.”
Black Jack snorted. “Well, we ain’t gonna let that happen, you know that right?”
“You may not be able to stop it,” she warned them. “You could be bringing down a lot of heat on your lives and business’s that doesn’t need to be. Nichols can cut you off from your supplies, hold up your jobs and cause people to pull out just by making a few calls. His cohorts will help even if they don’t want the trouble he’ll stir up. They may not like doing it but they will do it, just to keep him happy.”
Black Jack just chuckled. “You don’t know us very well if you think that will bother us. We eat men like him for breakfast little girl.”
“He might just give you a fatal dose of indigestion,” Sage grumbled still feeling that all this might be too risky despite the many people they seemed to get involved. It was dangerous as all hell. She was too used to hiding and surviving while these men were starting a war.
“What else do you know that might help us?” Raine asked. “If the club is going to take out the city council, we need to know everything.”
Sage hesitated then shook her head. She didn’t know for sure and she wasn’t going to speculate or pass on street gossip.
“Spill it, little girl. We need to know everything,” Black Jack ordered as he narrowed his eyes.
She sighed. “Word on the street is that Luke and his friends are running drugs through this town. He wasn’t my mom’s dealer but he was there the night she died. The coroner told me there was enough drugs in my mom’s system to kill three people and that she probably didn’t take them willingly. He found evidence that she was held down while the fatal dose was given to her. He told me there were signs of a struggle but whoever held her, held her tight enough to get the drugs into her system. The bruises on her arms were clear enough to confirm who held her. There were enough swirls and whorls on her arms to get a match. It was Luke. Fingerprints on the syringe were Harry’s but of course, no one did anything about it. She was just another junkie that overdosed. No one cared.”
“Do you know where they deal from?” Gambler asked.
She nodded. “They run a distribution point from and old warehouse down by the river. They have seven drivers that travel with the drugs to other cities.”
“How do you know this?” Gambler asked as he looked at his brothers then back to her.
“If you listen to the people, you’ll find out a lot of gossip but there’s always just enough truth to be heard, if you listen,” Sage insisted. “Living in the shadows you learn what you can believe and what you can’t.”
“How long has he been dealing?” Raine asked.
“Luke likes living large and his dad gives him more money than I can earn in a year but to Luke it was never enough. He started dealing in high school and never quit. Now he makes a living doing it and one thing about Luke, he likes living large. He knows no one can or will touch him.”
“Did Nelson Nichols ever give your mother money for your upkeep?” Black Jack wanted to know.
Sage shrugged. “If he did I never saw it. If he didn’t well... like I said I never saw it. Mom wasn’t the sort who liked to share anything, with anybody, least of all me. She might share her body with anyone that asked, but money? Not bloody likely.” She looked around the table and saw their faces and the sympathy in their eyes and she blanked out her expression. “Don’t feel sorry for me. I survived and grew stronger. I don’t want your pity. I may not have had much growing up but I had enough. I learned to take care of myself and that’s gotten me through the hard times. I’m good to go.”
She got off Judge’s lap, went to his bedroom and closed the door gently behind her.
Black Jack exhaled and looked over at his oldest son. “You’d better be serious about that girl boy. She doesn’t need any more heartbreak.”
“I wasn’t planning on giving her anymore Dad,” Judge told him as he stared at the closed door of his bedroom.
Chapter Five
Sage laid down on the bed and let the tears fall. As usual, she only cried like this when she was alone. She only let the loneliness show then or the rage she’d been born with. No one saw her like this ever and no one ever would.
A short time later, the door opened and Sage closed her eyes quickly. She could hear his footsteps as he neared the bed but she didn’t open her eyes to watch him coming toward her. She felt him kneel on the bed behind her and then draw her into his arms. Her eyes flew open and Judge could see the wetness of her tears on her eye lashes.
Instead of speaking, he drew her close and kissed her. Long, hard and deep, his mouth ravishing hers. Sage moaned as she opened her mouth and immediately, his tongue pushed inside. Their tongues dueled and they both forgot to breathe for a moment.
When they broke apart, Judge pulled her on top of him. Wrapping his arms around her, he held her as his hands roamed her back and cupped her ass. He lifted his hips and ground them against her core.
Sage felt a gush of wetness soaking her panties as she rubbed her hips into his groin. She moaned as he tilted her head to his and ravished her mouth again. Gripping her hair, he pulled her head back and she forgot her pain for a little while.
“I want you,” he whispered into her mouth.
“I want you too.” She whimpered as she nibbled on his lower lip. His beard tickled her chin as she claimed his lips again and again.
“If you don’t want me inside you right now, you have to stop,” he warned her.
Sage paused then looked at him. “I. Want. You...” she whispered. Swallowing hard she added, “But I’ve never done this before, I’m not sure how to do it.”
Judge froze then stared at her with confusion. “You’ve never done this before?” he repeated her statement. “At all?”
Sage dropped her eyes and blushed. “No I’ve never done this before ok? Is that a crime?”
He reached down and tilted her face back to his so she could see his smile and the tender look in his eyes. “No baby that’s not a crime. In fact, I find it incredible that no one has found you yet.” His hands slid under her panties and gripped her ass. “You have the most lushest ass I think I’ve ever had the pleasure of touching.” He gripped the robe she was wearing and pulled it open. Hissing, he groaned at the sight of her bruises. He’d forgotten she was hurt.
Sage rested her forehead on his and closed her eyes. “Please don’t stop.”
“But you’re hurt.”
“You can make me forget the pain,” she whispered. “Please make me forget.”
Judge pulled the robe off her shoulders and gazed at her bo
dy. Overlooking the bruised skin, he took note of the rise and fall of her chest as her excitement grew. Leaning forward, his lips brushed the crest of her breast and he grinned when he saw her shiver. Sticking out his tongue, he licked her hard nipple and when she groaned, he sucked the whole nipple into his mouth and rolled his tongue around it. Grinding his hardening cock against her damp panties, he felt the heat rise and he had the urge to rip his own clothes off and bury himself deep inside her.
Instead, he switched from one breast to the other and his hand found its way down her back, under her panties again. This time, his fingers sought her core and he was surprised at how wet she was already and he hadn’t even touched her yet.
Tearing her panties off, his fingers sought the prize and he sank two deep inside her. He groaned at how tight she was and she moaned at his intrusion but she didn’t stop him. Instead, she ground down on his fingers.
Judge couldn’t stop now if he wanted to and he really didn’t want to, he wanted inside her.
Sage’s hands went to his belt and she fumbled with the buckle for a moment before she ripped his zipper down and pushed her hand inside his boxers.
Judge hissed when her fingers touched his hard as hell cock. He groaned and thrust his hips up into her hand and she generously ran her hand down its length. It was so thick she couldn’t get her fingers around it and she pushed his pants and boxers down his hips.
Judge helped her by lifting his hips just enough to get his pants down far enough to free himself. “Fuck,” he growled. “You feel so good... I can’t wait to be inside you.”
Sage threw her head back and gasped. He was rubbing his cock along her core coating it in her juices and she couldn’t take it anymore. When he hit the right spot she pushed down, impaling herself onto him.
Judge froze as he felt himself slip inside her heat. He knew she wasn’t ready for him and he knew she was hurting. He was a bigger man and his equipment was bigger than most. She was so tight she had to have hurt herself. “Angel, are you all right?” He never thought she would take matters into her own hands, so to speak.
“Oh, god yes...” she moaned breathlessly. His intrusion did hurt some and a tear ran down her face but her body was ready for so much more. Wiggling her hips, Judge growled again. His hands held her hips still and he tried to give her time to adjust to him but Sage wanted him to move.