“Here you are,” I said. “You want to know a secret of mine?”
“Hmm,” he said.
I opened my mouth, but just before I could get the words out, he cut me off suddenly.
“Actually, don’t tell me anything major yet,” he said. “I mean, if it has something to do with you, I’m ears. But if it has to do with us… I have something to do tomorrow morning that I have to be focused for. Can you save it until after?”
If it’s something that’ll get you to come back to me, sure.
“Sure, but you have to let me do something instead.”
“What’s that?”
I kissed him.
I didn’t care who saw. My parents. The other club members. His brother. Let them all see.
He was just so cute and so sweet and so… back to the happy Landon.
“I told you!” my mother said to the side.
“Mom!”
But my parents pretended that they hadn’t heard me and went back to speaking amongst themselves. I playfully rolled my eyes and turned my attention back to Landon.
“I’ll tell you later then,” I said.
“Just you wait, too,” he said. “Here’s my promise. You wait to tell me whatever it is you want to tell me, and I will take you somewhere after this is all said and done. I don’t care if it’s weird to say I want to take you out of state or out of the country. I need a goddamn vacation when this is all said and done.”
“Deal,” I said, still grinning like a doofus. “Just don’t take me to Las Cruces.”
“Why?” he said, still smiling, but I could see gears starting to turn in his head.
“My parents said they were going to send Owen and his gang back there. Apparently that’s where they came from or something?”
Landon’s eyes went wide with delight. He bent forward, suddenly kissed me, and shook my shoulders excitedly.
“You, my dear, might have just given us the information we need to win the day tomorrow,” he said. “But I’ve got to get going. Stay here!”
Like a kid who had just learned a secret he needed to tell the whole school, Landon scurried away, gathering all of his clubmates around. I just folded my arms and smiled.
There was no way that I had just given Landon the information needed to win anything. But it sure was nice to feel like he and I had won each other back.
5
Landon
“Apparently, the asshole is most likely to be in Las Cruces.”
I had almost the entire club around me. Petey and one prospect were staying behind with Brock and the O’Haras for security purposes, but otherwise, I was determined to strike with the full power of the Savage Kings. This was one anarchy that I was determined to end once and for all.
“They couldn’t keep their mouths shut when they took the couple hostage, and we’re going to use that to our advantage. We’re going to gather our entire club and strike at Las Cruces. We are going to make a perimeter around the whole city and find Owen and whatever cronies he has. If anyone surrenders to us in the battle, we take them in, but we strip them of their weapons and their cuts. Understood?”
Everyone nodded. I felt ready.
“Good,” I said. “The Anarchists have been a thorn in our side for far too long. I thought killing Vulture would end it, but it seems the corpse of our rival has one last gasp in him. So I say, let’s end it here then. Let’s officially cut the breath off for good. Let’s win one for Brock!”
The crowd of Kings roared ahead of me. Adrenaline and determination surged through my body.
And I knew right then, standing before an audience captive to what I had to say, that I would have made my father proud if he were here. And I knew, even better, that I wouldn’t have resented him if he had.
I barely slept that night. I didn’t even need an alarm clock for me to wake up at five in the morning. I was so determined and so ready for the hour to come that it felt like a painful waiting game for everything to come to.
But boy, when five finally hit, I all but leaped to the ceiling from the bed. I hurried to get my clothes on, drank two glasses of water, and poured myself some cereal. I really wasn’t hungry and was worried too much food would cause problems, but I figured some nourishment might be good depending on how long the battle lasted.
Otherwise, everything was just a mad sprint to get to the moment of truth. I opened my door to the still dark-morning; not a sound filled the air other than crickets and the thud-thud-thud of someone jogging at this awful hour. Why someone would jog at this hour…
I was going to think with the town having gone through what it had, but it occurred to me that that was exactly why that person was jogging this early in the morning. They figured it would be safe. Hopefully, Owen and the rest of the Anarchists felt the same way.
I hopped on my bike, only feeling slightly self-conscious about the loud noise it generated this early in the morning. It was bound to wake up a few people, but it was also bound to keep a hell of a lot of people safe in the long run. I think if they knew that, they, too, would take that trade.
As I got to the clubhouse, a small part of me feared that the rest of the club wouldn’t make it in time for our strike. True, I knew the stakes would get a few up, but would it get everyone up? Would the more notorious sleepers make it in time?
As it turned out, I didn’t have anything to fear. When I reached the clubhouse, everyone—and I mean everyone, sans Petey, Brock, and the prospect at the hospital—was there. It was kind of majestic and almost intimidating in a way, really, to see a couple dozen bikers standing there, the sky only just now turning a lighter shade of blue, ready to do battle.
And I knew that if I felt a little nervous, Owen and the rest of the Anarchists were fucked.
“Thought we’d get here before ya, show ya how we felt,” Parker said as he held out his hand. “Just promise me we can get some goddamn sleep after this. I ain’t stayin’ up any longer than we have to.”
“You can sleep until Friday if this goes well,” I said, accepting his handshake. “Thanks, Parker.”
“Ya ain’t got nothin’ to worry ‘bout.”
I nodded and turned my attention to the rest of the club.
“You know what we need to do and I’ve said everything that needs to be said,” I said. “Let’s go to Las Cruces!”
I turned my bike around and began the slow roll out of the clubhouse as the other members turned their bikes on and joined me. As soon as I saw Parker flanking my right and the rest of the club behind me, I revved my engine to full speed, and we blazed the trail toward Las Cruces.
To kill Owen.
To end the threat of the Anarchists once and for all.
To bring peace to a town that had suffered through far too much.
But most of all, to ensure the safety of our loved ones and of each other.
The sun hadn’t yet peeked above the horizon by the time we reached the outskirts of Las Cruces, but a hint of golden light was shining through. It almost felt like we were about to introduce a new day to Romara and the surrounding towns—a day without violence, a day without criminals, and a day without the Anarchists. Small-time crime would always exist to some degree, but the area would be much more at ease knowing it didn’t have to worry about a bunch of thugs trying to stir up trouble out of some petty violence against us.
Having already discussed the plans for Las Cruces, we formed a perimeter around the town, closing in until we found the hideout for Owen. We all understood that it could be anything from a very public shelter to a very private home, and we all recognized the need for safety for the civilians. But other than that, we were prepared to do anything and everything.
I took the southernmost entrance into town, along with Parker, figuring that this was the most likely avenue of escape for Owen. We started by passing by a McDonald’s, a CVS Pharmacy, and a few other chains. We moved into a small neighborhood with some cars parked outside. We got to the edge—
“There!”
I heard Parker’s voice cutting through our motorcycle engines. I followed it and saw a house with about a half-dozen bikes. I waved him over and ordered him to reach out to the rest of the club members.
It took less than a minute later for about six other Savage Kings to arrive. That was more than enough time for me. We surrounded the building, opened the door, and crept in.
Immediately, we were met with gunfire. Parker ducked back, but not before taking out one of the Savage Kings.
“Guess we found the right place!” he said just before turning back in. “Gimme some cover fire!”
We did as requested, laying down fire into the house as Parker crawled in. A couple more Anarchists were heard bounding down the stairs. Parker killed one, and a prospect took out the other one.
We hurried up the stairs, determined to make short work of this. But just before we reached the bedroom, a gas seeped out of the room.
“Shit!” Parker yelled. “Mustard gas! Get downstairs!”
Perhaps most noticeable about the gas wasn’t that Owen—presumably—had released it, but that we could hear some of the Anarchists gagging and begging for help. He released it to help his own escape.
“He’s going to try and escape!” I yelled. “Parker!”
“Right with ya!”
We hurried outside. We could hear the distant sound of a bike driving away, but there was nothing that we could see.
“Shit…” Parker muttered.
But even if Owen had escaped, we had clearly hit a critical spot.
“Let’s clear out the building,” I said. “And who knows? One of our members could intercept him on the way out.”
Parker begrudgingly nodded. We moved back into the building and made a clean sweep, although we had to wait until one of the members with the specialty equipment showed up with a gas mask.
About eight Anarchists in total lay dead. Four more surrendered to us—three of them mere teenagers.
Unfortunately, the biggest question of all had a negative answer.
“Any sight of Owen?”
Everyone shook their head. For now, Owen had gotten away.
But in some sense, we’d still won the battle. All of the Anarchists around him had been killed or had surrendered. If there was anyone else in the area, they were just as isolated as Owen.
He had his life. But that was about it. He had gone from the head of the Anarchists to just a mere anarchist. He was a threat that we would deal with at the appropriate time.
But fortunately, thanks to the resource disparity, we had plenty of time.
6
Caroline
My parents actually passed out pretty early in Brock’s hospital room, falling asleep in the chairs. I wanted to go home so badly, but I also didn’t want to upset Landon after what he had done. I figured I at least owed it to him to stay in place for at least one night.
As for me, Brock was nice enough to give me his bed to sleep in. I tried to protest, saying that he was the hospital patient, but he said he could have walked out at any moment—he just wanted to stay put for the sake of appeasing Landon. For someone who was more of a peacemaker than anything else, Landon sure did seem to have a pretty strong control over both of us.
And yet, when I woke up in the morning and I saw Landon smiling at me, his arm extended, I didn’t mind one bit. If anything, I wanted to be that much closer to him.
“Do I need to have a fight with my brother?” he said, but he had such a grin on his face that I knew he wasn’t actually serious.
“Nah,” I said. “Trust me, if I did anything with him, it was knocking him upside the head so I could get some sleep.”
“You’d hit a man who has suffered a concussion just to sleep? That’s cold.”
We shared a laugh.
“Nah, come on. I’m going to take you on our first trip out of the city.”
“Our first, eh?” I said with a sleepy smile.
“Well, I certainly wouldn’t want you to think that we’re going to go to one place and then never travel together again! Come on now. I know you like riding my bike anyways.”
That, I did. That, I very much did.
I took his hand and followed him out, tip-toeing out of the room as if we were teenagers escaping the watchful eye of my parents. As soon as we were in the hallway and away from everyone else, we made a dash for the bike.
“Did you get taken care of what you needed to earlier?”
“Enough so!” he said with enough excitement that I figured he wasn’t tinged with regret. “But that’s not the focus now!”
We came to his bike and hopped on. Though the sun had barely risen and the world was still slowly waking up, there didn’t seem to be a single moment of fatigue from either of us. I couldn’t wait to see where Landon was taking me, and Landon didn’t seem to want to wait to take me. I briefly paused to put a notice on my website that I was closed for the day and then tapped Landon on the shoulder.
“Where are we going?” I shouted.
“The beach!”
“Haven’t we done that already?”
Finally, Landon paused just before turning the bike on.
“Not this particular beach.”
Santa Barbara.
It was one of the nicest beaches and one of the least populated ones in Southern California. It tended to cater to a more affluent crowd, but that didn’t mean we couldn’t enjoy a Monday morning here. In fact, given everything that we had gone through, it was all but impossible for us not to enjoy it.
“Looks beautiful,” I said when he found a spot to park.
“Not as beautiful as the view I have,” he said.
I all but melted into his arms when I realized that he was talking about me. We walked hand in hand to the beach, basking in the sunlight shining down upon the two of us.
“A lot more beautiful in the day, too,” I said. “And don’t you dare say—”
“Just like you?”
“Oh, Lord,” I said with a laugh. “You’re more beautiful now too, you know. Just in a different way.”
“You saying I’m physically unattractive?” he said with a smirk.
“You know I don’t mean that!”
And besides, it was just outright false. His face was handsome and his body was muscular and solid. How anyone could say anything other than that Landon King was objective attractive was beyond me.
“I just meant that you’re just happier now,” I said. “Not sure what changed, but I’m very happy that it did change.”
“Well, I have a certain lovely lady to thank,” he said, taking his hand from mine and throwing it over my shoulders. “Through our conversations, I came to realize that I was living a false duality of hating the club life and wanting to love the outside world. Once you helped tear that down…”
“I just pointed you in the right direction, if I can even say I did that,” I said. “You did the heavy lifting, Landon. We’re the only ones who can change ourselves.”
“Maybe so,” he said. “But loved ones can have a pretty sizable impact. You taught me the importance of that.”
I tried not to read into that that he was saying he loved me. We had more history than just the past week or so, but still.
What else could he have said, though?
“By the way,” he said. “What was it that you wanted to tell me yesterday? The thing I said not to tell me until my task was done?”
I looked up at his eyes. He already knew the answer. He just wanted to hear me say it.
“If you had to guess, what do you think it is?”
“Oh, I don’t know, knowing you, it’ll be a surprise.”
You’re just being dense on purpose, aren’t you. OK, fine, I’ll indulge you since you saved my parents.
“Well, it will not be a surprise, at least not from last night, but you should know that I’m not going to move to Arizona.”
I could all but feel Landon’s spirits swell by his side. Even though my head wasn’t rest
ing on his chest, it was as if I could hear and feel his heartbeat from a distance. His excitement was just that visible.
“I had a feeling,” he said. “But I didn’t want to jinx it or distract myself. What changed?”
“My parents. They were nice enough to explain to me how I needed to make my life here in Romara. To follow them wasn’t to love them, it was to be dependent on them. They were pretty adamant, actually.”
I chuckled.
“I’m still going to try and see them multiple times a year, but, well, I’ll be here.”
“Yeah, and I’m still going to be in the club, but I think we can make time.”
We’re already talking like a couple, aren’t we?
“So does this mean that we—”
“Are going to make this official?” Landon said. “Oh yes. Forgive my boldness, Caroline, but the only thing keeping us apart was a misunderstanding of my relationship to the club and you moving to Arizona, both which were my fault. Now that I’m not such a fool—”
“You’re still a fool,” I said playfully. “But you’re a sexy fool.”
My sexy fool, I thought as I pulled him in for a kiss.
For the rest of that glorious Monday, we played on the beach, ate In-N-Out burger, went back to the beach, got frisky when we had some privacy, got a hotel room—where we had to change separately so as to save the best for last—ate dinner at a steakhouse called Lucky’s, and then…
Finally, then, at the end of the night, we had some of the best sex I’ve ever had in my life.
Our neighbors in the hotel had to have hated us. We slammed all over the walls, bouncing around like pinballs in the most ricochet-heavy machine possible. He gave me orgasm after orgasm, and I had to stop a few times because he said he was getting too close for comfort. I kept thinking that at some point, we’d just get tired of sex, but that didn’t happen.
Bleeding Desire: An MC Romance Page 3