THE HUSTLE: GODS OF CHAOS MC (BOOK FOURTEEN)

by Honey Palomino

“I want to believe,” she said, a smile tugging at the corner of her lips. “But it’s a bit like believing in aliens.”

  I laughed and brushed a kiss across her forehead.

  “I get it,” I said. “I do. Once I got here, it was a little hard to believe this place was real for me, too.”

  “So, what happened? Looks like you’ve definitely drank the kool-aid.”

  I laughed again.

  “Yeah, you’re right. What happened? A lot happened. I saw the way Grace and Ryder work together. The brotherhood of the Gods. The way everyone is accepted like family, and yet nobody’s connected by blood. But it’s stronger than that. When you love each other, respect each other, you don’t need blood. You just take care of each other. You begin to believe in the power and truth in strength in numbers.”

  “For a loner, that’s a hard pill to swallow.”

  “Yeah, I bet,” I agreed. “Time has a way of changing things. Maybe you just need a little more time. You did just get here.”

  “Lying here with you makes it easy to forget time exists,” she whispered, her words sliding right into my heart and taking up residence. I kissed her soft lips again, relishing in their lushness, their taste, their heat.

  “You’re so right about that,” I said. “In fact, I don’t even know what time —.”

  A knock at her front door surprised us both and we jumped out of each other’s arms comically, then looked at each other and laughed.

  “Maybe we’ve been here a little longer than we thought,” I remarked. “Slade’s probably ready to kill me.”

  The knock sounded again this time, louder, more urgent. We threw on our clothes quickly and walked out to the living room. I looked out the small window, and saw Riot standing there.

  As soon as I opened the door and saw his face, I knew something was very, very wrong.

  Chapter 34

  PEPPER

  “There’s someone coming up the drive asking questions,” Riot said, as soon as Storm opened the door.

  “What?” I asked, alarm shooting through my veins.

  “He was asking about you. Instead of sending off the wrong signal, we’re letting him in. We’ll say we don’t know you and send him on his way.”

  “Oh, my god,” I said, the blood draining from my face.

  “In the meantime, I want you to stay here. Storm will guard the door and I’ll send a few more guys over in just a second.”

  He looked at Storm, a look passing between them that chilled me to the bone. Storm’s face was set in a grimace and he reached into his cut that was hanging by the front door and grabbed his gun out.

  My stomach dropped.

  “I’ll let you know when it’s all clear,” Riot said. “Guard the door.”

  “Yes, boss,” Storm said, walking out behind him onto the porch. I watched Riot walk away, trying to calm my racing heart. Storm turned to me and everything in his demeanor had changed.

  His eyes were hard and focused. His body language was stiff and stoic. His lips were pressed into a thin, angry line and I wanted to shake him and make it all go away. I wanted someone to tell me this wasn’t happening.

  “Close the door,” he demanded. “Lock it. I’ll knock twice if I need in.”

  “Storm…” I said, my eyes searching his.

  They softened slightly as he tried to reassure me. “It’s all fine. You’re safe. I promise. We’ve got you, Pepper. Don’t worry.”

  Quickly, he brushed a kiss across my lips and closed the door. I slid the lock into place and tried to breathe through the panic that I was frantically trying to shove down.

  It was no use.

  Instinct kicked in.

  In the presence of danger, my body only knew one way to cope.

  Run.

  Chapter 35

  STORM

  I watched the scene at the clubhouse through the surveillance feed all of us Gods were able to use our phones to tap into. Riot had given us all the most advanced ways of staying in touch and getting the info we needed.

  I kept one hand on my gun and the other one holding my phone as I watched an unmarked sedan slowly creep up the driveway. It stopped just outside the clubhouse and it took a moment before the driver got out.

  But that’s all it took for him to be surrounded by some of the toughest, most bad-ass men you’ll ever meet.

  Wreck, Ziggy, Slade, Riot, Ryder, Blade, Wolfe, and Bullet all surrounded the man’s car like a den of hungry wolves. You could see the nervousness on the man’s face as he pulled himself out of the car.

  I turned the volume down on my phone so the sound wouldn’t travel out to them, and watched my brothers take care of the situation. They towered around the guy, closing the circle in tight as they spoke to him. Slade did most of the talking and I couldn’t help but chuckle.

  By the time Slade was done with him, he’d probably be pissing his pants.

  It was almost laughable. What was he thinking coming here alone? That we’d just give up Pepper to some chump?

  It didn’t take but just a few minutes for the guy to leave, just as I expected. I was looking forward to pulling Pepper into my arms and letting her know she was still safe, but I waited a few minutes until the guy drove away.

  I saw Slade and Riot walking back towards Pepper’s cabin, so I waited for them on the porch.

  “I saw everything,” I said, holding up my phone. They nodded and walked up onto the porch.

  “That prick, Artie, sent him,” Slade said.

  “I figured,” I replied. “What did you tell him?”

  “That he was barking up the wrong tree and not to come back,” Slade said, puffing his chest out. “Fuck, I wanted to punch his stupid face though.”

  “You want to punch everyone’s stupid face,” Riot said.

  “Yeah, man, that’s true,” he said, his hands clenched into fists at his side. “There’s a hell of a lot of stupid faces that needed punching, man.”

  “Thanks for letting us know to lay low,” I said.

  “How is she?” Riot asked.

  Slade scoffed and I ignored him.

  “I think she’s doing okay,” I said. “She seemed a bit scared when you showed up, though.”

  “That’s to be expected,” Riot said. “Let’s go talk to her.”

  I moved out of the way for him to enter the cabin and Slade and I walked in behind him. He stopped, looking around.

  “Hey, Pepper, it’s all cool now,” Slade called out.

  Greeted by silence, confusion set in. I walked past them and walked back to the bedroom, stopping in the doorway when I saw the open window, the white lace curtain blowing in the breeze.

  Scrawled on the dresser mirror in red lipstick, the word ‘sorry’ told me all I needed to know.

  Pepper was long gone.

  Chapter 36

  ARTIE

  I slammed the phone down on my desk.

  Charlie was fucking worthless, just like everyone else in my fucking life. Tulsa had been worthless. My business partners were inept. Every fucking actress and actor I’d hired had been complete and utter shit.

  All they wanted was my money.

  Nobody cared about getting the job done. Nobody seemed to realize that you did whatever the fuck it took to get the job done, no matter what.

  Charlie had the fucking nerve to call and tell me he had failed to find this bitch Pepper. And, for fuck’s sake, he sounded like a frail little girl — jabbering on and on about a bunch of bikers in the woods that he didn’t want to have to see again. He said he was pretty sure they knew Pepper, but they didn’t give him any information.

  And then? The motherfucker just left.

  He didn’t even poke around and try to find another way in.

  Useless sack of shit, that’s what he was. I fired him, of course.

  If you needed something done right, you had to do it yourself. Hell, I’d learned that lesson with Tulsa. Years ago, I’d hired another man to take care of Tulsa and he’d failed, too.

/>   It felt good to kill her myself.

  And that’s exactly what I planned to do with this bitch once I got my diamonds back. My buyer had been blowing up my phone and I’d given him excuse after excuse. He’d already given me half the money up front and if I didn’t produce the diamonds now, I was going to be the one that would be sleeping with the fishes.

  There’s no way I’m going to let that bitch slip away.

  Chapter 37

  STORM

  We combed the woods, but there was no sign of her. She’d slipped away but the fact that we were in the middle of fucking nowhere was not lost on me. She couldn’t have gotten far. Not much time had passed before we realized she was gone.

  It dawned on me that she must have fled as soon as she closed the door and it just broke my fucking heart.

  She had absolutely no faith in me, that much was clear. I cursed myself for not talking to her more, explaining to her how we worked or just how far we would have gone to protect her.

  I should have done more.

  “Let’s turn back,” Slade said. “She’s gone, brother.”

  We were the last two of our group, all the others had turned back an hour ago.

  “Fucking bullshit,” I muttered, rage and worry mixing up in me like some fucked up cocktail I didn’t want.

  “Dude, it’s not your fault,” Slade said.

  “That’s fucking bullshit, too,” I growled, as we stomped back down the trail towards the clubhouse. I blamed myself, and nobody else.

  “No, it’s not,” Slade insisted. “You think a chick like that is going to trust someone else to take care of her? Fuck dude. It doesn’t work like that. No matter how good that cock is,” he laughed.

  “I fucking fell for her, man,” I admitted. “I thought she was into me, too. I thought she might trust me. At least, eventually.”

  “Maybe she will,” he shrugged. “But that shit takes time, bro.”

  “Well, I trusted her,” I said. “And I seriously believed she would just lock the door and wait for me.”

  “Dude, this has nothing to do with you,” he insisted. “Pepper was never going to be the kind of woman to just give up without a fight. She’s fucking tough. She lived on the streets, practically raised herself. Fuck, I wouldn’t be surprised if she ran off to fucking face that prick on her own.”

  My head snapped over, looking at him. He was right. He was so fucking right.

  I reached down and felt my pockets, knowing I’d find them empty. I’d had the keys to the stashed bikes in the front of my Levi’s.

  They were gone.

  “You’re fucking right, Slade,” I said, realization dawning on me. If I hurried, I might be able to catch her. “And I’m not about to let her face him alone.”

  I took off running, leaving him alone in the forest, his laughter echoing behind me.

  “Yeah, man, go get her, brother…

  Chapter 38

  PEPPER

  Twenty-four Hours Later

  The car purred under my fingertips. Idling under the street light outside Artie Paige’s estate, I sat in the darkness in a borrowed Mercedes, my heart pumping steadily in my chest.

  I’d had many hours to get my thoughts together.

  I was calm as a fucking cucumber right now.

  After fleeing the clubhouse, it took me a little while, but I managed to stay hidden along the road and was able to make it back to the trail that Storm had taken me to. I’d swiped the keys while we were undressing in the tunnel, knowing even then that access to transportation would be a valuable thing.

  I hated that I’d stolen the keys from him. That I’d left him without saying goodbye. I’d hesitated a moment before climbing out the window, wanting to leave him a note to explain, but I didn’t have a pen. I grabbed a tube of lipstick from my bag and smeared a quick apology, knowing nothing would ever really be enough to avoid the disappointment I knew he would feel.

  His feelings for me were obvious. The way he looked at me. The way he smiled at me. The way he touched me…

  And I can’t deny that spending hours wrapped up with him naked had created some cracks in my armor. Those tender feelings were slowly winding their way out of the darkest corners of my heart, despite my best efforts.

  But my blood is made up of loneliness and independence and self-perseverance. If I bleed that all out, then what’s left?

  Now that I’ve met Storm, a part of me doesn’t want to go on without him.

  And if I admit that I need someone — for the first time in my life — who does that make me? What’s left of me, if that’s what I become?

  Those questions haunted me on my journey back to Los Angeles. I’d snagged that bike and took off, hitting the 101 and headed back down to face my demons.

  I stopped off to spend the night in a cliffside motel, listening to the waves crashing outside my window as I spent hours searching for news and information about Artie.

  I needed a plan. And my work was a great distraction from the guilt I felt for bailing on Storm and the Gods. I knew it wasn’t just him I was letting down. I couldn’t even think about Lucky.

  But right now, I needed to do what was best for me.

  The next morning, I woke up and got back on the bike, letting the power of the engine vibrating through my body inspire me to get in touch with my own power.

  I could handle this.

  Courage soared through my veins as I crossed the state line, the clouds opening up to the bright California sunshine and making me feel like I was coming home.

  That feeling stayed with me all day as I made my way down the length of the entire Sunshine state. By the time I made it to the outer borders of the city, the sun that had guided my way all day and fed my confidence was beginning to rest over the rusty pink edge of the horizon of the Pacific.

  First, I drove to my apartment. After staking the place out to make sure it wasn’t being watched, I broke into my apartment through the window in the back. After taking a shower and getting dressed again, I walked over to Bea’s and listened at her doorway.

  A huge smile spread across my face as I heard her singing to herself.

  “I am woman, hear me roar! In numbers too big to ignore, and I know too much to go back and preteeeeeend…” Her crackling soprano was clear and high as she sang her favorite song, one I’d heard her sing many times before.

  “Cause I’ve heard it all before, and I’ve been down there on the floor, no one’s ever gonna keep me down againnnnn….”

  God, I loved that woman. The smell of meatloaf drifted under the door and a huge wave of relief washed over me now that I knew she was okay.

  I didn’t want to put her at risk by talking to her. I didn’t want her to have to lie for me again. I had no idea what was going to happen after tonight and the last thing she needed was me causing more problems for her.

  I snuck back out of my apartment and drove around for the rest of the night, until I found a quiet house in the Hills with this sleek black Mercedes parked in the driveway. I snagged it, leaving the Gods bike a few blocks away.

  Now here I was, sitting in the car outside of Artie’s house, and talking myself back through my plan one more time.

  I considered calling Storm or Lucky first. Just to let them know I was okay. Or to let them know what my plans were, just in case something went wrong.

  Artie had already killed Tulsa. Anything could go wrong.

  Anything could happen.

  But I didn’t call. Just like I didn’t check in with Bea.

  I wasn’t their responsibility. No, I was the only person responsible for me. Me and me alone. It’s the way it always has been and the way it always would be. In fact, it was the best thing for me, I’d decided after contemplating if I had room for Storm, or anyone else, in my life.

  I’d ended up with a very firm ‘no’.

  Alone, I was safe.

  Alone, I couldn’t get hurt.

  This was the way it was meant to be.

  I pulled th
e rearview mirror down to check my lipstick in the mirror. I’d dressed to the nines for the occasion — donning a sleek little black dress that left nothing to the imagination, with bright red pumps to match my lipstick. I’d put on a long, curly dark wig, and packed a pair of thick black sunglasses, even though the sun went down long ago.

  I laughed as I put them on now, realizing I hadn’t worn sunglasses once the entire time I was at the clubhouse. With the trees and the clouds, they weren’t necessary. If it weren’t for the leaves changing color, you’d never know it was a different season here in Los Angeles.

  A pang of yearning hit my heart for the peacefulness I’d felt in Oregon, but I ignored it. I had no time to be soft now.

  Those memories I’d made would serve me well later, but right now, I was here to get my life back. I shoved them back down as deeply as I could.

  I was putting my lipstick back in my purse when the passenger’s side door of the Mercedes opened, flooding the car with light.

  A hooded figure slid into the seat next to me and my heart skipped a beat as she pulled the hood down and slowly turned my way, a set of familiar green eyes staring back at me.

  “We need to talk.”

  Chapter 39

  ARTIE

  My head pounded from the whiskey I’d consumed last night. I’d fallen asleep in my clothes, just as I did most nights, a bottle on the bedside table next to me.

  Usually, I was woken up by either the god-awful sun blaring in through the huge east-facing windows Tulsa had insisted on when we’d built this place, or the overwhelming urge to pee.

  Today, though, it was the silence.

  I blinked awake, my hand flying to my aching head. I looked around in confusion as I realized the sun hadn’t even come up yet. My bedroom was still dark and the television wasn’t on, and I was sure I’d left it on — I always did.