by Jayne Blue
Was she okay? Had they hurt her? I didn’t see any signs that she was hurt.
I watched as they dragged her into the building. There were no windows, no way to see inside. And who the hell knew what would happen to her when they had her in there.
Reid Bishop was as evil as I thought, and now he had Darby.
I was packing—we all were, for this job—and I drew my piece. I didn’t test the door and pussyfoot to get in. My best chance was the element of surprise.
They had no idea there was a tale on them. It would be Filch, her uncle, and that piece of shit who was with the first three girls. Fuck it. I’d shoot ‘em all if I had to.
I busted in the door. The crash of metal on metal would get their attention.
“Leave them the fuck alone.” And I watched Darby yank free of Filch and run toward his partner.
Filch drew on me, and I shot him. He went down.
“Darby!” I called after her. She had grabbed the hand of one of the girls, and they were both dragging down the guy with the camera, Shaw.
“Cut it out, you stupid bitches.”
“Darby!” I raced to her and yanked Shaw back by the shoulder. I punched him hard on the jaw as Darby and the other woman fell to the side.
“Are you okay?” I put my hand out for Darby. She reached up and took it.
I pulled her close.
“Very sweet reunion.” I turned, and Reid Bishop had his gun on the two other girls. They both stood, holding hands, and at the mercy of Bishop’s bullet.
“Don’t hurt them, Uncle Reid,” Darby said, and I held her closer. I didn’t know what she was capable of. Clearly, she’d tried to free the girls instead of running for safety when I burst in. I couldn’t have a repeat.
“Come over here now, Darby, both of you girls, and no one gets hurt.” I felt her pull away from me.
“And you’ll let Steel go?” Darby said and squeezed my hand.
“DO not go over there, he’s planning to kill you, one way or another.”
“I’m not going to be the reason he hurts anyone,” Darby said, and she yanked her hand free. She grabbed the hand of the girl she’d freed from Shaw. She walked toward her uncle, and I had no play, no idea what to do to stop her.
“Good girl. One gun isn’t quite enough is it?” I watched, helpless, as Darby got closer to Reid Bishop. I ran through the scenarios in my head. I had to let them go and hope we could catch their tail. But I knew there was no way Reid could keep Darby alive in any scenario.
“No, Reid, one isn’t enough, but three, that’ll do.” It was Sawyer, and he’d done my move! He’d busted right into the place, with no complicated plan. Sawyer, Ridge, and Ryder were there now, in the door.
I thanked God they had kept listening.
“Sawyer, you can fuck right off. I’m going to shoot Steel’s favorite now before you get to me. As payback for the hell she’s caused me.”
Reid’s eyes were trained on Sawyer. I slowly closed in, but the distance between me and that gun was too far. He could easily shoot Darby and kill her right in front of me. I had no doubt he would do it.
Sawyer kept talking with him.
“I see really only one way this can go. My guys are surrounding this place right now. You’re not getting out unless I let you.”
“Fuck off, Sawyer, and fuck your little bike club. This one just shot a cop for Christ’s sake.”
“A dirty as shit cop, Reid, my IA source is pretty clear on that.”
“Uncle Reid, let’s go, you and me. Sawyer’s right, there’s no way they’ll let all of us out of here. Plus, I’m your insurance that they don’t shoot.”
“What the fuck Reid, making deals to throw us to the wolves?” Shaw was struggling to get up now. I wished I’d have shot him too.
“Yeah, I guess literally.”
“You heard my niece. We’re out of here, you keep the rest. And I keep her as a nice little shield.”
“Fine, fine, we’re not going to move. You leave now, with her. We keep your henchmen, and that dirty cop, and these girls. Pretty good trade.”
“What the fuck?” I couldn’t help it. I didn’t like where this was going. It was a shitty deal. I didn’t care if Darby wanted to sacrifice herself. I wasn’t going to let her.
“You fucking sleep with a different girl every damn day, let this one go,” Sawyer said to me. It was a lie. But one that told me he had something in mind. I stepped back, and Bishop laughed.
“See that, Darby. You’re a shitty judge of character all the way around.”
“Let’s go. I don’t want to be near any of this anymore,” Darby said, and it was as though she was transferring her trust back to her uncle. She wasn’t struggling to get away. She was easily in his control once again.
“Put down your weapon, tell your goon to do the same, and that we’re coming out.” Sawyer did, we all did, and then he got on the phone to be sure everyone outside was standing down. There was a clear path for Bishop now, straight to the door.
Bishop seemed satisfied enough to keep moving. He kept Darby under his arm, at his side. There was no way to get a shot without the risk of hitting her.
They made their way to the door. He pushed her through, slightly ahead of him, and that’s when she moved. I wouldn’t have believed it if I hadn’t seen it.
Darby lunged forward and out through the door. She’d broken free! She slammed the thing on Reid as he tried to regain control. A gun went off, toward Darby, and then I reached down to mine and fired. I didn’t want him trying again.
My bullet hit the mark, and I’d bet Ryder’s, Ridge’s, and Sawyer’s did too.
Reid Bishop dropped to the ground. I ran forward, over him, through the door. Darby was there, still, stunned. She looked up at me and ran into my arms.
She was okay. Reid had missed with his crazy shot.
“Steel, I am so sorry.” I squeezed her hard into my arms.
“You’re safe. That’s all that matters.”
I heard Sawyer from behind me.
“Bishop’s dead.”
I looked at Darby, I didn’t know how any of this would impact her.
“Good,” she said, and I enfolded her in another hug. She was alive and safe and in my arms. I would have time to worry about how she got here later.
We decided to bunk at the club. After the cops, the reports, the statement, and the rest, it was nearly three in the morning and being in the belly of the club was the only place we could rest.
Darby was shell shocked. She was running on adrenaline, and a crash had to be coming.
“Take my old rooms over the club,” Sawyer said, and there was no argument.
There was, however, one more bit of nasty business.
“I’m going to be handling something. You shower, relax, whatever.”
“What?”
“I can’t tell you. Club shit.”
“Let me come. I can help or just wait, but I’m still wired after all this.”
Her hair was wild around her face, and a stray blonde wave had fallen onto her brow. I brushed it away.
“This is club business. And you’ve been through enough. It’s dangerous.”
“My uncle is dead; his ring of traffickers is busted up. I’m fine. I can’t be shuttered away from you or life or—”
“Shh…” I pulled her in. I lifted her face to mine, and we kissed. She tasted so sweet, so pure, and it made me want to take her, make love to her, right there.
But I wasn’t lying about the nasty business ahead.
“If I stay put, stay hidden, I’ll never be free.”
“What? Can you just do what I ask one fucking time?” I lost my temper with her. I had asked her to stay put, and she did the exact opposite every damn time.
“What?”
“I’m sorry, you’re just frustrating the shit out of me. You’re so fucking stupid.”
She blinked like I had slapped across the face. I instantly regretted my choice of words. I hated that I lost
my temper.
“I didn’t mean that. I mean that you want to go into danger. No matter what I tell you, you do it anyway.”
“I got it,” she said, and I felt like shit.
“I never want to hurt you, or anyone else to.”
“You can’t stop that, Steel, no one can.”
“I’ll be back soon, I promise.”
“Be careful. I love you.”
“I love you too.” I was so glad she said it. It meant I hadn’t totally fucked this up. I’d take care of my club shit, and then we’d be up here, together.
And we’d sort it out.
Twenty-One
Darby
* * *
I did love Steel. But I had to leave, right then.
I was a twenty-two-year-old woman who’d been treated like a child since the moment my parents were killed.
There was a lot to come, I knew that. I knew I had a lot of things to process, decisions to make. But on one thing I was completely clear. I couldn’t trade one tower for another.
I had cash in my pocket, and I knew who to call.
I wasn’t going to make a big scene of it. But I was going, and I didn’t want Steel to see me. If he begged me to stay, I would.
Maybe someday, maybe in a different life, we could be together. But not now.
I was damaged goods, and only I could fix me. I walked down the two flights of stairs behind the club. I would have gone out the front door, but something was happening in the Wolf Den. I heard Steel, Sawyer, Ryder, and Ridge.
There was shouting. This was Steel’s club business. I froze; I didn’t want to interrupt. I just wanted some distance between Steel and me.
“You mother fucking traitor,” I heard Steel say. His intensity scared me sometimes, and it also attracted me, I knew that. He was strong, a total alpha male, and who knew that would be exactly what I wanted? I squeezed my eyes shut and tried not to think about what I loved about him.
“I had no choice, I, I…” It was Bucky. For whatever reason, the club was descending on the friendly chatterbox who had brought us pizza my first night there. Before the explosion.
“No choice? You supply drugs to Reid Bishop? To make a buck? You’re the fucking scum of the earth!”
“I did a little investigation after Steel’s trailer exploded. It wasn’t an accident and you were the only one in here other than Steel and Darby. You were the one who fucked with Steel’s trailer. You nearly got Darby killed!” This time Ryder had piped up. Holy shit, Bucky was the one who blew up the trailer? He’d been working with Uncle Reid? I was frozen in place.
“What do you have to say about that, you piece of shit?” Steel again. I was sure he was going to kill Bucky. Did I want to hear that? Would that mean I would be a witness?
Then Sawyer stepped in. His voice had the authority, and the calm, every time.
“You betrayed the club by selling drugs to Reid Bishop, you snitched on us and tipped him off to our stakeout, and you tried to kill a brother and his old lady. For that? Well, you’re going to jail, not hell, quite yet.”
“What?”
“Take him to the detectives, Ridge. No stops along the way.”
“I know too much, you don’t want me talking to the cops.” Bucky was trying to make a deal.
“Actually, you don’t know dick about the Great Wolves, and the cops are all set to charge you with drug trafficking. Looks like one of Reid’s henchmen was happy to provide evidence,” Sawyer said.
“Please, guys, I’ll get killed in the joint. I can’t.” Bucky was pleading for mercy, and I had heard enough. I was relieved Steel didn’t kill him. But I also wondered if it might have happened if Sawyer hadn’t stepped in.
It was perfect timing. The club was focused on a rat in their midst. I slipped through the kitchen and made my way into the night.
My favorite Uber was there, waiting at the end of the GWMC compound.
“Hey there, Pat.”
“Where to?”
“I’m picking up my car, and then we’ll probably part ways for a while.”
“Well, I knew it couldn’t last. You’re quite the adventurer, it’s been fun.”
We drove into the night, and I didn’t look back.
My future was ahead, and the tangle of fear, violence, and deceit. Sadly, it was all wrapped up with Steel now. So I couldn’t be.
He’d shown me I could break free. And I had to do it again, now, before it was too late.
I sold my uncle’s house. Because my uncle didn’t have a will, I inherited it, and the money that I was supposed to get when my parents died finally came to me.
I donated a huge chunk of it to agencies helping victims of sex trafficking.
And another chunk went to buy some important real estate.
I did all of it alone.
But I also inherited something else: my parent’s dream to open an independent book store. I used some of the money I had inherited from my parents to buy a building in Uptown Grand City. I hadn’t forgotten how cool it seemed, how many people were walking around, shopping, living in the apartments, and turning a neighborhood that had been down on its luck into something cool.
As I did, I found a community, people willing and wanting to help. It turned out Jessie Hoolihan, the fighter I’d met in the chaos of my life with Steel, was married to a florist. She owned a business downtown too and the space next to her was vacant. It needed work. But it suited me perfectly. There was even a little apartment space above it.
It wasn’t cheap, but I wanted to put the money I’d inherited from my parents into something that would feel like they were with me. A bookstore was a perfect dream that I could make come true.
I bought the building. And my first step was to have a bathroom and kitchen renovated in the upstairs space. That made it possible to live and work in my building and build my dream.
It was a lot of work. And it would take time, but I had time.
I treated myself gently but pushed myself consistently. I hired contractors, designers, and did what I loved more than all of it put together: I ordered books that would line the shelves. There’d be the rare treasures I loved to find, plus the latest best sellers. I would have coffee, sweets, and I would build a community here.
I thought about Steel. I missed him. I thought maybe I shouldn’t have left him. But had I tried to explain; I just knew he would smother me with good intentions. He saw me as something to protect. Not as a woman who could do battle with demons, and win.
Yet I still thought of us together, what his hands felt like on my skin. I imagined his face, his voice, and I knew no other man would be able to live up to him. So I would have no other man.
I went about building a life, and as the months went by, I got stronger and surer of myself. And Bishop’s Bookstore became more of a bookstore and less of an eyesore with each passing day.
Until there was one thing left, a thing I’d been putting off.
“You need a sign,” Ashling Hoolihan, my neighbor, now friend, and fellow business owner remarked, assessing the exterior of my bookstore.
“I know a guy.”
Jessie Hoolihan caused a little bit of a stir when he walked down the street. I had no idea he was a celebrity in the MMA world, but he was. He had also promised to sign copies of his new motivational book at my store, as soon as it was opened. It was going to be our first big event. It was a huge favor, and it filled me with delight to know that I was making friends. That I could make friends.
“You know a guy?”
“Yeah, in fact, there he is. I think he did the work gratis. If he charges too much, send him my way and I’ll kick his ass.” I turned to see a pickup truck, with a huge metal sign half covered by a tarp, pull up next to the shop.
My heart leaped. Steel was in the passenger seat, and Ryder was driving.
“What?” It was like the first time I’d seen Steel. I was powerfully attracted. I wanted to run to him, touch him. But I had left him. The odds were that he hated
me at this point. And why was I even thinking this way? I had moved on.
He had never tried to get me back. He hadn’t followed me or stalked me. In an entire year, I’d heard nothing from him. It was the way I’d wanted it, and yet it wasn’t. My heart still ached to be with him. Seeing him let me know that I hadn’t gotten over him, not in the least.
“Ryder!” He parked and got out, and I was on the receiving end of one of the bear hugs I’d come to appreciate in my brief time with the Great Wolves M.C.
“Darby, you look so good!” Ryder said, and he was one to talk. Each member of the Great Wolves was sexy, rugged, and more macho than the next. Ryder had a playful quality though that made him easier to be with than most. Whereas Ridge and Steel, well, they were pretty much scary as heck.
“Back at you,” I said and felt nervous as hell when Steel got out and came over. There was no hug.
“Hey,” Steel said, and I felt a blush and a smile break out at the same time.
“You’re the guy?” I looked at Jessie and Jessie was laughing while Ashling hit him on the shoulder.
“I am a guy,” Steel said, not in on the joke.
“My girl is a designer and, well, Steel heard you needed a sign.”
“Where’d he hear that?”
“Oh, look at the time. We better get a move on. Ryder, come with, I have a gym business question to ask.” Jessie was a real comedian.
“Uh, yeah, got it. I hope you like it. If not, my girl, Jules, she’ll go back to the drawing board. She wants you to love it. Plus Steel can weld whatever Jules throws at him.”
“Hey, let’s go!” Jessie called out to Ryder.
“Yeah, okay, back in a bit,” Ryder said to Steel, who’d hung back. But I felt him looking at me. I felt it like he was touching me.
“So, you welded this?”
“It’s metal. Jules draws it out, I make it,” Steel said.
“But, why? I mean. What do I owe you?”
“Please, nothing. I just wanted to help. To give you something to show how sorry I am.”
“Sorry?”
“For trying to keep you in a cage, for losing my temper with you.”