“Toss your gun too.” I shake my head before I speak.
“I’m not armed. Funny enough, I didn’t think I would need it today.”
“Right and I’m supposed to believe that, huh? Gecko, get over there and search her.”
Gecko doesn’t move for a second before walking over to me. I step away from King so he can frisk me and offer him a small smile letting him know it’s okay. His face looks pained as he runs his hands over my body and declares me clean.
“Lift her shirt and show me. I don’t trust any of you fuckers.”
Geckos large rough hands slide under my T-shirt, raising it to just under my bra. He lets Stacey run her eyes over me and turns me so she can see the back too.
“Fine. Gecko, get over here.” He slides his hands down to my waist, hugging me lightly before letting go.
“I’m sorry,” he whispers before turning back to Stacey, leaving me wondering what the hell he could be sorry for. Two seconds later he charges her and I realize his intent too late. He’s going to sacrifice himself for us. She fires a shot that goes wide before Gecko manages to punch her full force in the head. She goes down like a ton of bricks. I take a step forward to help but King stops me.
“Give him a second,” King tells me as we watch Gecko take his gun from an unconscious Stacey. I look around, surprised everyone hasn’t come flying out to investigate the gunshot. King must know what I’m thinking because he answers my unasked question.
“Church is held in a soundproof room. It wouldn’t be wise to have the information discussed in there getting out.”
“Makes sense, you know, unless the fire alarm goes off or, I don’t know, someone gets attacked with a fucking gun,” I snip at him. He smiles at me but frowns when he looks back to Gecko. I turn to look, expecting Stacey to have magically woken like they do in the movies but find something far more unbelievable instead. I find Gecko with a gun in his hand, pointing it straight at me.
“This isn't what I wanted, Luna. I like you, I really do, but I’m up to my neck in this. With you and King dead at the hands of Joker’s favorite whore, it’ll shift the focus enough for me to get everything sorted out. I just need more time.” Seems that’s everyone’s line today.
Betrayal burns through me and yet I know it’s a fraction of what my men will feel. Because despite what he says, they’ll figure it out.
“Don’t do this, Gecko,” King tells him.
“I have no choice, old man.” I see the exact moment he decides to pull the trigger but so does King. When the gun fires twice in quick succession, I brace myself for the impact. I don’t realize King has stepped in front of me until it’s too late. I suck in a sharp breath when King’s body jerks back into mine as he takes the bullets meant for me. My brain goes on autopilot as I pull my gun from the back of King’s jeans, lift it, and fire over his shoulder at Gecko, hitting him over and over in his chest, firing until I’m out of bullets. King turns slowly, wobbling and fighting for balance. I grab his shoulders, shocked he managed to remain standing. Maybe the bullets just caught his shoulder. As soon as he faces me, I know the only thing keeping him up is sheer will. He slides his hands down over my belly, over his grandchild, and crumples to the ground.
“No, no. Stay with me, King.” I try to stem the flow of blood but with a bullet wound to his chest and his stomach, there is just too much. At this point, there is more of it outside his body than inside.
“Help us. Somebody, please help,” I scream as I push my hands against his chest even as the blood continues to flow through my fingers.
I lean down over him and grip his head with both hands, my tears dripping onto his face and running into his beard.
“Why?”
He chokes out, “Redemption.”
“Please hold on a little longer, let them say goodbye,” I beg, knowing he can’t.
“Tell them I love them and take care of my grandkid.” He coughs and a stream of blood spills from his mouth and runs down the side of his cheek.
“Thank you.” I press my forehead against his as the last of his breath rattles in his chest.
“Thank you for raising amazing sons and for protecting my baby. They will never know a day without you because I swear to you here and now I will shout about the hero their grandfather was until they are sick of hearing it.”
A slight chuckle escapes with a hiss before silence rings out. I tuck my face into his neck, not giving a single fuck about the fact I’m covered from head to toe in blood, and I cry.
Chapter Seventeen
“What the fuck?”
I lift my head, expecting to see a sea of leather, surprised I didn’t hear them enter.
I don’t recognize the face that spoke but I recognize the cut—he’s one of two Chaos Demons in the room. I lift my gun and fire, forgetting I emptied the clip into Gecko. The loud click telegraphs there are no bullets left in the chamber. They are on me before I can make my next move. Despite every instinct telling me to fight, I will not risk my baby, especially after King just sacrificed his life to save it. They hustle me out the door and toward two chrome and black bikes. The fairer one climbs on one while the dark-haired one lifts me onto the seat behind him. I look around for the prospects that man the gate, for the first time wondering why the fuck they didn’t come running at the sound of gunfire. Prospects don’t attend church and from what I can tell, the gates are never left unmanned. I find my answer lying on the ground in a pool of blood staring back at me with unseeing eyes.
I’ve never felt so helpless before, knowing there is a room full of people who would protect me with their last breath so close to me and yet they might as well be a million miles away. I wrap my arms tightly around the biker as he starts up the engine so I don’t fall off and bury my head against his back. He stiffens for a second before revving the engine and driving through the still open gates. I let the loud noise of it mask my sobs, not wanting to give them the satisfaction of seeing me cry. I won’t be another Melly and I won’t subject my child to the horrors Megan endured. I need to calm the fuck down and figure out a plan. My nugget is depending on me.
I don’t know how long we drive. I zoned out most of the way, stuck in a loop of watching Gecko turn a gun on us and King dying in my arms. When we pull up, I’m surprised to find it’s at a small stained-wood cabin with a wraparound porch, not at their compound. Shit, I have no idea if this is a good thing or a bad thing. The plus side is it will be easier to get away from two bikers as opposed to twenty. The downside is it’s doubtful the Kings of Carnage will have any clue where I am.
The bikes stop and the engines shut down but the silence that comes afterward is just as deafening. Hands on my hips lift me off the bike and set me to the ground. I look up and see the dark-haired guy looking down at me with an unreadable expression. He’s a good-looking guy, I’ll give him that. It’s a shame he’s a raving, fucking psycho.
The guy I was wrapped around climbs off the bike and stomps his way up the steps in his heavy boots before opening the door. The dark biker next to me puts his hand on the small of my back and pushes me forward. I swallow hard and place one foot in front of the other, taking in every detail, anything that might help me escape.
The inside has an open plan concept. The living room gives way to the dining room, which leads to the kitchen area. A large brick fireplace dominates the living room with a large flat-screen TV mounted on the wall above it. Two faded brown leather sofas face it and in front of them is a dark wood coffee table littered with beer bottles and pizza boxes.
“Sit,” the dark-haired one barks at me. I move to the sofa closer to me and perch on the end of it. He follows me and sits on the corner of the coffee table, his long legs brushing mine. I lean back a little but halt when the blond sits beside me, far closer than necessary, and starts twirling a strand of my hair.
The dark-haired one snips out, “Start talking.”
I look at him blankly. What the fuck is he expecting me to say?
�
�And here I thought club whores knew when to open their mouths,” the blond says at my continued silence.
“I’m not a whore and you haven’t told me what you want to know. Let’s see, my first puppy was a mixed breed. I swear he had a little bit of everything in him. Cutest puppy you ever did see, though—” I’m cut off when blondie yanks a handful of my hair. Not enough to hurt but enough for me to have to tip my head up, bearing my neck to the guy in front of me.
“Don’t piss me off, lady. I might not find any pleasure in hurting women but it doesn’t mean I won’t. Tell me why Zero and I just walked into a fucking bloodbath an hour after we were told to meet for peace talks,” the dark-haired guy asks, his patience running low. I watch him speak and realize with shock he’s telling the truth.
“Who called you?” I can’t see Orion being down for talks with a club that hurt his sister and ultimately led to his mother’s death.
“Gecko,” he tells me, surprisingly. I didn’t think he would reveal that. I close my eyes, my suspicion confirmed.
“Did you see the green-haired guy riddled with bullets bleeding out on the floor?” I ask him. He looks at the guy he called Zero and has a silent conversation before turning back to me and nodding.
“Well, that was Gecko. Before you arrived, he tried to kill me but King stepped in front of me.” My voice breaks off at the end, my emotions still too raw to mask them. Zero loosens his hold on my hair and turns me into him. I struggle, shoving at him to move back, but he just holds me tighter until my shoulders slump and the dam breaks. Fuck being strong. Gecko’s betrayal cuts me so deeply I’m surprised I’m not bleeding everywhere. I can’t even begin to imagine what Orion, Gage, and Halo will be feeling. Except they don’t know. The tears flow freely now as I realize they don’t know King died a hero. Fuck. I pull away and this time he lets me. I swipe the last of my tears away, my face feeling tight and puffy.
“I think Gecko set you up to take the fall. If you came for peace, I’m guessing you didn’t kill the prospect on the gate?”
Zero answers me with a head shake.
“We didn’t even see him. The gates were open and I remember telling Viper it was a dumbass move to leave the gate unmanned and open just because we were coming for a meeting.” He sighs, frustrated. “I should have realized we were walking into a trap.”
“Orion and Diesel are going to lose their fucking shit. Their father is dead and Orion’s old lady is gone. You need to make contact before they blow your clubhouse into tiny pieces.”
“You the VP’s old lady? Where the fuck is your cut?” They both look agitated now and even more pissed off than before.
“Today was supposed to be the patching in ceremony. I was getting my cut and they were getting theirs,” I say softly.
“Getting theirs, they already have—fuck!” Viper runs his fingers through his hair.
“What? What am I missing?” Zero asks, looking between us.
“We just kidnapped the new president's old lady.” He barks out a laugh and sits back.
“I knew I should have stayed in bed this morning,” he tells me, looking at me intently.
“I’m not just Orion’s. I’m Gage’s and Halo’s old lady too,” I tell them both.
“Of course, even fucking better,” Viper grumbles, glaring at me. “You know what’s going on, don’t you?” he asks me, never taking his eyes from mine.
I just stare at him. He is a sandwich short of a picnic if he thinks I’m giving up club business to him.
“Loyalty, I respect that.”
I almost laugh out loud at the irony. How the fuck an enemy club can recognize my loyalty when my own have questioned it over and over is beyond me.
“But loyalty only works if people are alive to remember it. Dead men don’t talk. Tell me what I need to know and I’ll see if I can dig us out from under this pile of shit.”
“I don’t know who you are and what I know about your club is not exactly endearing me to it. I can’t trust you.” I think of Gecko. “I don’t know who I can trust anymore.”
They’re both silent for a while before Zero speaks up. “I’m Zero. That’s Viper. We’re the new president and vice president of the Chaos Demons. We’ve been back stateside for less than a year, before that we were in the desert. We deployed just after we had patched in when we were eighteen and got out a year ago. Viper’s uncles, John and Rock, were the president and vice president when we left but when we came back, John was dead and Rock was in charge. He stepped down so we could step up. A lot changed in the thirteen years we were gone and the club we thought of as home isn’t the same place. We have plans to turn shit around but we can’t do it if everyone keeps us in the dark.”
I’m not sure what my options are here. I could be making a colossal mistake that could cost me everything based on nothing more than a gut feeling but something is telling me to go for it.
So I do. I tell them everything I know about King, Joker, John, and Melinda. I tell them about Megan but leave out everything personal and then, finally, I tell them about Weasel. I finish with what happened in the Kings of Carnage clubhouse before they arrived. They never interrupt me, letting me get it all out, perhaps worried that if I stopped I might never start again.
“Shit. What a clusterfuck,” Viper states the obvious before looking at me again and coming to a decision. He pulls out his phone and hands it to me.
“Dial the number then hand it back. I’m gonna set up a meet to get you home and hopefully stop a lot of my brothers losing their lives unnecessarily.”
I punch in Orion’s number, hoping he can keep a level head, and hand it back to Viper.
He places the phone to his ear and waits. I know the second he answers as Viper looks at me and mouths “Luna” in question. I nod my head.
“If you shut the fuck up for two seconds and let me speak I might be able to let you know—” He’s cut off again. I can hear yelling coming from the phone but I can’t make out the words.
“For fuck’s sake. Do you want your girl back or not?” He’s quiet for a second before answering.
“Well, if that’s how it's going to be then I guess we’ll just keep her for ourselves. She sure is a pretty little thing.” I frown at the idiot, wondering if he has a death wish. He pulls the phone from his ear and tosses it to me.
“Talk to that dickhead and tell him what went down. If I have to listen to him anymore, I might just put myself out of my misery.”
I place it against my ear and wince, pulling it away slightly when Orion’s thunderous voice vibrates down my ear.
“I swear to god if you cocksuckers hurt her, I will personally skin you alive and set you on fire.”
“Adonis,” I whisper, my throat clogged with emotion at hearing the underlying fear in his voice.
“Luna?” How he heard me, I don’t know, but his voice drops to a comforting level, wrapping around me and offering reassurance.
“I’m here and I’m okay. I just want to come home,” I tell him.
“I’m working on it, baby, I swear. I will gut them for what they’ve done. Gecko is—fuck, Luna, Gecko’s dead and so is my father.”
“I killed Gecko.” There is silence on the other end of the line and for a brief second, I wonder if this is it, whether I’ve finally crossed the line I’ve been so precariously straddling.
“He tried to shoot me but King protected me. I shot him until I ran out of bullets, then tried to stop King from bleeding but it was too late.”
Zero twirls my hair and I realize it’s his way of trying to comfort me, as opposed to freaking me out like I originally thought.
“How the fuck are the Chaos Demons tied to this?” he asks me.
“Gecko called them under the guise of peace talks.” Orion snorts at that.
“They walked into Carnage and, well… found carnage. I think they realized pretty quickly they had been set up, so they took me with them.”
“Have they hurt you, Luna? And don’t lie to me.” His voi
ce leaves no room for argument.
“No, they’ve been fine. They were just trying to figure out what was going on.”
“Hand the phone back over, okay? I’m bringing you home. Hold on just a little longer, okay? I love you.” I blink back tears and swallow. My hormones really must be all over the place as I’ve never really been much of a crier before but damn it if I haven’t cried a river today.
“I love you too.” I never thought the first time we would say it to each other would be in a situation like this but if this all goes horribly wrong, I’d rather he knew how I felt then always question it.
I hand the phone back to Viper and watch as he walks away from me. I can hear him talking but his voice is too quiet for me to pick up what he’s saying.
“Tell me about Megan,” Zero tells me as he studies the strand of hair in his hand.
“No,” I reply, wondering what his fascination is with it.
“She’s not Carnage. She’s a Chaos Demon,” he points out. He has no idea what he’s talking about.
“She’s free.” He stills for a moment, taking me in before his hand goes back to twirling my hair.
“Nobody in this life is ever really free. If she were, then none of the shit that went down at her shop would have happened.”
I make my voice hard and cold. “She’s the president's sister. She’ll be protected at all costs.”
Before he can speak again, Viper strolls back, a scowl firmly on his face.
“Considering I have their old lady, they sure went out of their way to piss me off. If I were a lesser man I would feel the need to take my anger out on you.” For some reason, I can tell this isn’t a threat but a warning for the future. Not everyone will treat me with as much caution as they have.
“Good thing you’re not a lesser man,” I tell him, making the corner of his mouth quirk up in a smile.
“We’re heading back to your clubhouse in two hours,” he says, trailing his eyes over my body with a frown marring his face.
“Let’s get you cleaned up a bit first, okay?” He turns to Zero and nods his head. Whatever signal that was, he understood it. He stands up and offers me his hand. I look at it warily. They have been cool with me so far but I would have to be an idiot to let my guard down now. Slowly I place my hand inside his and let him pull me from the room toward a hallway. He opens a dark wooden door on the left, revealing a bathroom, and nudges me inside. I expect him to leave. Instead, he turns the lock before turning on the shower.
The Queen of Carnage Page 20