by Wilder, L.
“Understood,” Hawk replied.
With that, we all gathered our weapons and dispersed to our assigned locations. I could feel the tension crackling around us as I led Viper and Hawk towards the west end of the building. Country and Rafe stayed a few steps behind, covering as I searched for the entry door that Menace had told us about. With the misty haze, it was difficult to see, but as we got closer, I finally spotted our way in. I looked back at my brothers, checking to make sure they were ready for what laid ahead. Like me, they had a thirst for revenge and were eager to get inside.
After Viper gave me the nod, I kicked the door down and stormed inside. I aimed my shotgun ahead, preparing to take my first shot as Viper and Hawk came up behind me. With Country and Rafe covering them from behind, we continued forward, and it wasn’t long before we found the Punishers congregating in the main foyer. Three large thugs were sitting behind a long table, and from the looks of it, they were the ones in charge. There were stacks of cash and dope piled in front of them, and they were dishing out orders as they held their handguns in the air, using the weapons to threaten their cohorts and maintain some level of control of the mayhem. It was a sad state to see. It turned out Alfonzo was right about them. There was no respect, no code among them.
Worried for his safety, I glanced back at Viper and said, “You sure it wouldn’t be better for you to hang back. Hawk and I—”
“Fuck no,” Viper growled. “I’ve been looking forward to getting a piece of these motherfuckers. Now, let’s do this.”
I nodded, then stepped forward. When I was certain that Hawk and Viper were set on go, I aimed my shotgun at the man I believed to be the Widow Maker, pulled the trigger, and killed him.
As soon as the Punishers realized what was about to go down, they each pulled out their weapons and dropped for cover, but it was too late. We’d already gained the upper hand. In a matter of seconds, a full-on battle had ensued. Bullets started whipping past me, plowing into the concrete walls, but I was too cranked up on adrenaline to care. Like a man possessed, I continued to charge into the crowd, firing off round after round as I took out anyone who stood in my way, and with each body that dropped dead to the ground, I gained a sense of satisfaction. As far as I was concerned, they had it coming. These assholes were stupid enough to think they could come into our territory and take us down, and now they were paying for that mistake with their lives.
The battle had just begun, and the causalities were mounting up. Those that were still in the game were in full panic mode, shooting wildly as they tried to stop us in our tracks. In hopes of gaining some cover, Hawk motioned for us to follow him behind a tall row of wood pallets. Once we were in position, Viper quickly looked me over, checking to make sure I was okay, then asked, “You good?”
I nodded. “Let’s finish this thing.”
After reloading my 590M shotgun with a second twenty-five-round magazine, I felt another kick of adrenaline pumping through me like an intoxicating drug. As I prepared to take my next shot, I glanced around the room and was pleased to see there were only a few Punishers remaining. We continued to push forward, dodging the bullets that whipped through the air. When they realized their end was imminent, several of the Punishers left their positions and tried in vain to stop our advance. When a bullet struck the wall above Viper’s head, my instincts kicked in, forcing me out of the protective shield of the wood pallets.
I’d only take a few steps when gunfire erupted around me, and I knew then time wasn’t on my side. As soon as I spotted the shooter, I aimed in his direction, and with a single shot, his lifeless body fell backwards onto the concrete floor.
I was standing in the wide open, surrounded in chaos, when I noticed Cletus lying on the ground with blood pooling around his body. I rushed over and pulled him out of harm’s way, but I was too late. He’d been shot in the chest, and he was struggling to breathe. I pulled him into my arms, and in a matter of seconds, my leather jacket was drenched in his blood. Cletus was still clinging to his gun in desperation, unwilling to stop fighting, and I knew then the guy would’ve made a hell of a brother. Unfortunately, he wouldn’t get that chance. With his gun still clutched in his hand, he let out his last breath.
“Fuck,” I shouted as I eased him to the ground.
The deafening sounds of gunfire continued to erupt around me, but my focus was still on my fallen brother. When a bullet pierced my flesh, a stabbing pain shot through my arm. I swallowed the burning sensation, letting my mind shut down the thoughts of how much it hurt as I lifted my gun once again. I stalked towards the shooter and fired off a single round that immediately brought him to his knees. Once I was sure he was dead, I made my way back to Viper and Hawk. As I looked around at the Punishers’ casualties, a wave of satisfaction washed over me when I realized that Cletus wasn’t alone in his death.
Country and Rafe swept in from the back, and in a matter of seconds, they’d finished off the last of the remaining Punishers. A proud smile crossed Country’s face as he announced, “And that’s how it’s done, brothers.”
“Do a sweep,” Viper ordered. “Make sure we got them all.”
Without wasting any time, Hawk and I led our brothers through the entire building making sure we’d done the job we set out to do. Once we’d done a headcount, confident we’d gotten every last Punisher, I went over to Viper and said, “We’re good.”
“Well done, boys. I’ll let Billy know we’re ready for him.”
Rafe looked around the room at all the bodies and shook his head. “Dude’s gonna have one hell of a night with this shit.”
“We lost Cletus.” I motioned my hand over to his body on the floor. “We’ll need to get him back to the clubhouse.”
“Fuck,” Axel’s voice was filled with anguish. “Hate to see us lose a good kid like that.”
“He would’ve made a hell of a brother,” Country added.
“He gave his life for us. In my eyes, he’s already a brother and will be buried as such.”
I wasn’t surprised by Viper’s response. Prospect or not, losing one of our own was always hard, and after what he’d done, Cletus deserved the recognition. As much as we all wanted to take a moment to mourn his loss, we didn’t have that luxury. Even with Billy taking care of the cleanup, we still had a lot of shit to do. As Hawk headed over to the table filled with cash and coke, he asked, “What are we planning to do with all this shit?”
“Not sure what y’all are thinking, but I say we give the cash to the kids who’ve been running this shit.” I could only imagine how crazy I sounded as I told them, “This is their only way of survival, and until they find other means of making money for their families, they’re gonna need the help.”
“You really think that’s a good idea?”
“I do, but it’s your call, Prez. I’m good with whatever you decide.”
Viper thought for a moment, then said, “We’ll do our best to get the money to the kids, but first, we need to load up this shit.”
“You got it.”
Viper glanced around at all the mayhem. “Gonna need to do what we can to help Billy with this mess.”
With that, we all got busy doing whatever we could to make Billy’s job somewhat easier. Thankfully, it wasn’t long before he pulled up in his oversized white van. The room fell silent when he appeared in the doorway wearing his typical slacks and neatly pressed button-down shirt. His hair was combed perfectly to the side, and his face was freshly shaved. We all watched in silence as he dropped his duffle bag to the floor and opened it, pulling out his HazMat suit. As he started to put it on, he announced, “You boys certainly know how to make a mess of things.”
“That’s why we have you.”
“I’m going to need you boys to clear out so I can do my job.”
Viper walked over to him and asked, “Need us to do anything?”
“No.” Billy shook his head. “My boys and I have it covered.”
“Appreciate it, brother.”
&nbs
p; “Just doing my job. Now, y’all get back to doing what you do, while I do the same.”
Viper didn’t argue. Once we had Cletus’s body, as well as the money and the blow, secured in the SUVs, we were on our way back to the clubhouse. We hadn’t gotten far when Ransom looked over to me and asked, “How’s the arm?”
Until that moment, I’d all but forgotten about being shot. I glanced down at the blood soaking through my sleeve. “It’s fine. I’ll have Doc check it out when we get back.”
“Good deal.” He glanced back over his shoulder, looking at our fallen brother’s body. “Sure hate we lost Cletus.”
“Me too. More than you know.”
After that, we rode in complete silence back to the clubhouse. By the time we’d taken Cletus’s body down to the infirmary and had Doc check my arm, I was wiped. I just wanted to take a hot shower and crawl into bed with Remington. With that in mind, I headed down to my room but wasn’t pleased to find it empty. In fact, there was no sign of Widow or Remington anywhere. Worried that something might be wrong, I charged out of the room and down the hall. I was about to pound on Widow’s door when Country walked past me and said, “If you’re looking for Widow, he’s down at the bar with your girl.”
“What the fuck?”
“I don’t know what to tell ya.” Country smiled as he poked the bear, “Looks like they were having a pretty good time.”
I clenched my fists at my side and let out a growling breath, trying my dead-level best to calm my fury before turning and heading towards the bar. When I walked in, I found Remington and Widow sitting at the bar with Rafe and Hawk, and from where I stood, it looked like they were in a heated discussion. When Widow saw me approaching, he smiled and said, “Hey brother. You gotta hear this. Your girl here has a hell of a plan for how we can get Mathews.”
“Tell me you haven’t been discussing club business with her.”
“Nah, man. It wasn’t like that. This is all on her.” Knowing what a big deal it would’ve been if he had, Widow continued, “I swear it. I’ve just been sitting here listening to her idea, and I gotta tell ya, it sounds like it could work.”
“I don’t have time for this shit,” I grumbled.
“Come on, brother.” Hawk gave me a thoughtful pat on the shoulder. “It might be worth hearing her out.”
“Fine. Just make it quick.”
Widow looked over to Remington and asked her, “You want to tell him, or should I?”
Remington’s expression was completely blank as she sat there with her drink in her hand. I was expecting her to respond to Widow when she said, “You’re bleeding.”
“Yeah. It’s just a scratch.”
“That looks like more than a scratch, Noah. There’s blood all over your clothes.”
“I’m fine, Remington.” Not wanting to make a big deal out of it, I grumbled, “You gonna tell me the idea or what?”
“Fine.” She took a long sip of her drink, finishing it off before saying, “I’ve been thinking about a way to explain where I’ve been all this time and how it can be used to get to that bad detective...The one who was there the night Thomas Long and I were attacked.”
“Detective Mathews?”
“Yeah.” She leaned forward with an edge of excitement in her voice. “I was thinking we could make it look like he kidnapped me that night. We could figure out where he lives, and—”
“No.”
“But I’m not done—”
“No, not gonna happen,” I cut her off. “No way in hell I’m going to put you in danger like that, Remington.”
“That’s just it. I won’t be in danger. We’ll go when he isn’t there, and then—”
“Are you drunk or just plain crazy?”
“Crazy?” A sour look crossed her face as she said, “This coming from a man who had a guy chained up like a dog in the office for God knows how long. Pfft. Only thing missing there was a dog collar and bowl of puppy chow, and you think my idea is crazy? Seriously?”
“She’s got ya there, brother.” Rafe snickered. “And honestly, it doesn’t sound like a bad idea.”
“See!” Remington replied excitedly. “He thinks it’s a good idea too.”
It was bad enough that my woman was sassing me, but the fact that my brothers were enjoying the show made it that much worse. Hell, it looked like they were all about to erupt into laughter, and I just wasn’t in the mood for that shit. I reached for Remington’s arm and gave her a gentle tug. “I think it’s time for us to call it a night.”
Remington
Noah didn’t say a word as he led me down the hall and back to his room. I knew I’d made him mad. It was written all over his face, but I was just trying to help. And honestly, I thought my idea was a good one. Sure, it could all blow up in my face, but if it meant getting my life back, it would be worth it. I just had to convince Noah I was strong enough to handle it. But before I brought it up again, I wanted to see about his arm. He’d tried to play it off, but I knew something bad had happened to him. Not only was there blood on his sleeve, but his jacket and t-shirt were also soaked in it. Hoping he might open up to me, I walked over to him and placed my hand on his chest.
“Are you okay?”
“I already told you, I’m fine.” He took off his leather jacket and laid it across the chair, and I gasped when I saw all the blood covering his shirt. Before I could ask, he quickly removed it and tossed it to the floor. As he started towards the bathroom, he said, “I’m going to take a shower.”
“You aren’t going to tell me what happened to you?”
“Nothing to tell.”
“You can’t be serious,” I argued. “You’re covered in blood, and it looks like someone put a hot poker to your arm.”
“It’s just a graze.”
“You mean a bullet graze?” I gasped. “You were shot?”
“I can’t get into this with you, Remington.”
Cutting me off, he continued towards the bathroom, and seconds later, I heard the shower turn on. I just stood there completely stunned, trying to piece together the few facts I had, and it didn’t take much to come to the realization that he’d been in some kind of altercation—one that led him to being shot. Horrified by the thought, I went into the bathroom to confront him. By the time I walked in, he was already undressed and in the shower. Unwilling to let it deter me, I eased the sliding door back and asked, “What happened to you, Noah?”
“I already told you”—he leaned into the water, letting it stream down his muscular shoulders—“that I can’t get into it with you.”
“Can you at least tell me if this had something to do with me and what happened the night I was attacked?”
“Let’s just say it’s been handled.”
Something about his tone suggested that I didn’t need or want to know what he meant by it having “been handled,” so I didn’t push for more. Instead, I slipped off my clothes and stepped into the shower. As I inched closer, I placed my hands on his back, letting my fingers drift along his spine and down his shoulders. When I reached the bandage on his bicep, I leaned forward and whispered, “Are you sure you’re okay?”
“Yeah, baby, I’m fine.” He turned to face me; the water trickling down his beautiful body as he pulled me closer and lowered his mouth to my neck. “I’m even better now.”
His hands slipped around my waist as he leaned over to me and pressed his lips firmly against mine. I wound my arms around his neck as his calloused fingertips roamed down the curve of my ass. There was something about his touch that made the rest of the world disappear. I quickly forgot about the exchange we’d had in the bar, the suspicious wound on his arm, and all the words that had been left unsaid. At that moment, it was just him and me. Nothing else mattered. A soft whimper escaped my lips as he deepened our connection. The kiss was hungry and full of desire as the water cascaded down our bodies.
I was lost in the moment when I felt myself being lifted, my back pressing against the cold, wet tile. Seeking
more, I released his mouth and tilted my head back, letting the water flow down my breasts. Noah trailed kisses along the curves of my neck to my collarbone, and ever so slowly, he moved his hand up and down my slick side. His fingers brushed against my breasts, working their way to my hips, and I groaned with pleasure as his hand found its way between my legs. His fingers slipped inside me, moving ever so gently as he whispered, “I want you to know, there’s nothing I wouldn’t do for you, Remington. Nothing.”
“I know,” I gasped.
“Good. ’Cause you’re mine, and I’ll do whatever it takes to protect you and keep you safe.”
I was so riddled with emotion I could barely respond with a whisper of his name. “Noah.”
He made love to me in that shower, taking his time to claim every inch of my body. When he was done, he dried us off, then lifted me into his arms and carried me to bed. As soon as we were under the covers, he slipped his arm around my waist and pulled my back against his chest. His body was still warm from the heated water, and I could smell the fresh scent of soap when he nestled in behind me. I kept waiting for him to say something, but all I got was silence and the subtle exhale of his breath at the back of my neck. He was so still and quiet, I might’ve thought he was sleeping, but I knew he wasn’t. I could feel the tension radiating off of him as he lay there next to me, staring at the back of my head. I remained perfectly still as I whispered, “You okay?”
“Um-hmm.”
“Got something on your mind?”
“Yeah, you could say that.”