Devil's Sins

by Naomi West

  I brush the tears from my eyes. “I’m so happy,” I whisper, my voice trembling. “I thought you might get angry. I thought you might storm out.”

  “Maybe I would.” He sighs. “But I’ve had a lot of time to think this past week. This just seals it. You’re not just Scarlett anymore. You’re the mother of my kid. You’re my old lady. You have my loyalty’n I expect yours. That’s no mean thing for an outlaw. Loyalty’s everything.”

  “You have mine,” I promise. “Kiss me, Cage.”

  He kisses me forcefully. He doesn’t even care that I’m crying. My tears slide down my face and get between our lips. He’s shaking as well, though he’s not crying. When he breaks off the kiss, he has that animal look again.

  “Does pregnancy make folks hornier?” he asks.

  “Well, maybe the woman!”

  “Nah, I reckon you’ve got that pregnancy glow. It’s getting to me.”

  “After a week?”

  “What, is there some law about the pregnancy glow I don’t know about?”

  I slap him on the chest. “Shall we go somewhere, or do you have to work tonight?”

  “I’ve gotta work some. But we can go to the clubhouse. If you’ll come back with me?”

  “Of course I will!” I cry. “Everything’s going to be okay, isn’t it? Tomorrow? You’re not going to get hurt?”

  “I might get hurt, but I don’t plan on dying.”

  I move my hands softly over his healing cuts. “Look what those monsters did to you,” I whisper.

  He grabs onto my hand, pushing it firmer against his skin. “You oughta see what I’ve done to them.”

  I swallow. “I’d rather not.”

  He grins savagely. “No, I reckon so. But let’s not talk on that shit. I’ll get my work done’n then we’ll get some celebrating in. I’ve got a few ideas.” He spanks my ass softly. “Come on, let’s get outta here—”

  Simple, dumb luck saves us.

  We’re standing on the opposite side of the room, the far side of the explosion. The wall with the calendar on it explodes suddenly. I don’t know that right away. It’s only when I realize that Cage is on top of me, that the room is filled with smoke and stone-dust. It’s the Bloody Talons.

  They’ve blown a hole in the police station!

  22

  Cage

  I wake up on top of Scarlett.

  That’s what it feels like, at least. There’s an explosion and then I’m lying on top of her, crushing her with my body. Smoke and debris cover my back. Go down my neck and into my shirt. I lean up, being careful not to place my weight on her belly.

  “Are you hurt?” I ask.

  “I … I …”

  “Scarlett.” I grab her hand. I don’t grab it so hard I break it, but I grab it hard enough that she can’t help but pay attention to it. It wakes her up some. “Are you hurt?”

  “No,” she answers shakily. “I don’t think so. I … I’m okay.”

  I check her over quickly, going from her head right down to her feet. Luckily, she’s not hurt. I must’ve jumped on her pretty damn quick. If I had any doubt that I’m gonna stand by this woman, it’s gone now. A man finds out who he really is in situations like these. And clearly, I want to keep Scarlett and the kid safe. The kid! My kid! And these bastards are trying to end her!

  “Don’t move,” I tell her.

  I check my gun as I move to a crouching position. It’s just a pistol with a single clip of ammo. I curse myself for not bringing more. But I didn’t expect these assholes to blow up a police station. Whatever Hatter is, he’s not a coward. An idiot, a monster, a sadistic fuck. But not a coward.

  I peer over the back of the couch. Men move through the smoke and the debris clouds. They’re wearing biker jackets. It’s the Talons. The Angels aren’t gonna do a thing like this. I get confirmation when they step into the room through the hole the bomb made. They’re wearing Bloody Talons leathers. And they’re holding heavy guns. I poke the barrel of my gun just over the edge of the couch.

  “Stay down,” I whisper, so quiet I’m not sure she hears me. But I can’t afford to look away. A moment means life or death in situations like these.

  “No one in here,” one fella mutters.

  It’s difficult to make out their features in the smoke. That’s a good thing, I reckon. It means it’ll be difficult for them to see me.

  “What is this, the breakroom? Maybe the pigs work too hard to take a break, eh?”

  A third man laughs viciously from behind them. “Yeah, right.”

  I take a breath, steady myself. I can’t miss, not once. I’ve got eight rounds in the clip. Which means I can take eight lives if my shot is good. But if I start shooting like some green amateur, we’re done for. Me, Scarlett, and the baby. All dead, just when I realize how badly I want her.

  I wait until the third man walks through the hole. They spread out, meaning to search the room. I gauge the distance. The man closest to me squints through the dust, letting out a roar. “There! There!”

  I take his head off with a single shot, but the other bastards are skilled killers. They drop to the floor and unload their rifles. I’m forced to leap on top of Scarlett again. The bullets tear through the couch and smash into the wall right behind where I was just kneeling. I poke my gun under the couch, ignoring Scarlett’s screams. Two shots take out their feet. Another two, and they’re dead. No, one is twitching, trying to aim his gun. I shoot him again. He keeps twitching. Gritting my teeth, I unload my last bullet into him.

  Some men take a damn long time to die, I’ve learned.

  “Come on. Right now. No hesitation. You hear me, Scarlett? You hear me?”

  “Y-yes,” she whispers.

  There’s nothing that shocks a civilian like explosives. It’s even hard for an outlaw to deal with.

  “Can you hear me?”

  “Y-yes. But it’s …”

  “You’re in shock,” I tell her. “Just do what I say, all right? Just like the warehouse. You’re not dying today. And neither’s our kid.”

  “Okay, okay.”

  “Follow me. Stick close. Be a goddamn turtle’s shell.”

  I lead her to the door. I want to go’n pick up one of their rifles, but more men are spilling into the room. I bundle her out just as they start shooting. I only hear the alarm as I run down the hallway, cops running everywhere. The sheriff comes running over, shotgun in hand. “The Angels?” he demands.

  “The Talons, sheriff. The damn Talons. I need to get this girl outta here. I’ll bring the cavalry back with me. Or I’ll call them once she’s safe. But I’m not leaving her here.”

  “Try the back!” he snaps.

  A bomb goes off in another part of the station, and then another. Everything is panic, police officers charging around with guns. Henry’s roaring at them all, trying to get order. I take Scarlett to the back, but there are men out there. There are men near the side entrance, too. I end up dragging her right back through to the cells. About ten police officers crouch down holding rifles, Henry in front of them all. The cells are the safest place to be since it’s the most interior room. But it also means we’re trapped.

  “Decided to stick around?” Henry grunts.

  “Rifle, shotgun, whatever you’ve got. Get me one.”

  “Fucking aye.” Henry nods at Jameson, a young fella who looks even younger on account of his braces. “You heard the man.”

  “What about these?” I gesture to the cops. Half of them look greener’n a meadow. The others are brave, but still visibly scared. “They any good in a fight?”

  He looks them over. “They’ll fight, Cage. Don’t worry about that.”

  I turn to Scarlett. “Go into the cell. You see there.” I point to the benches. “Climb under, put your hands over your ears, close your eyes, and stare at the floor. Do it now.”

  “I want to stay with you,” she whispers.

  “Scarlett!” I growl. “Do it now!”

  She clasps my hands. Her tea
rs have dried now. But I can tell she’s still on the verge of panic. She has that shelled-out look civilians get when they’re under attack. It’s strange. She didn’t have it back at the warehouse. I reckon it’s because she knew what to expect. Even hell is easier if a person sees it coming.

  “Please don’t die,” she whispers.

  I kiss her fiercely, not caring that the cops can see. Then I hug her for one long moment. Probably too long. Finally, I wave a hand at the bench. “Go.”

  I watch to make sure she does what I say. She does, kneeling down and hunching over to protect her belly. She closes her eyes and puts her face to the floor. She’s still shaking, though, trembling all over like she might explode. It hurts me to see her that way. I wanna go over there and try’n talk some sense into her. But I can’t worry about that right now.

  “Any bulletproofs?” I ask Henry as I take out my cell phone.

  “Yeah, but not in here.”

  “Dammit.”

  “Yeah.”

  “Rally your men, sheriff. We need soldiers. Make them see that, eh?”

  He walks away as I dial Jax. It rings for too damn long. I can hear the men in the building on the other side of the door. They’re trashing the place, firing off shots randomly. Some of them are laughing. I take the shotgun from Jameson and keep it trained on the door. He’s a good kid. He does the same, kneeling down and aiming his rifle. I nod shortly at him.

  Finally, Jax answers. “All good at the station?” he asks.

  “Don’t talk,” I snap. “Let me explain.”

  When I’m done, he’s the angriest I’ve ever heard him. Even angrier than he was when we found those girls. “Are you fuckin’ kidding me? Boulder, you hear that shit? I had you on speaker, Cage.”

  “Yeah, I heard!” Boulder roars from the background. “Tell the brothers! Get the men! We’re riding out!”

  “We’ll be there soon, Cage,” Jax says.

  I nod, hanging up. But ‘soon’ could mean anywhere between ten to thirty minutes. It depends on where the men are, if they need to gather them. They’ll need to go to the armory as well. Either that or just roll up with whatever they have on them. There’s a gun case in the clubhouse. Maybe that’ll do it. But with all these damn Talons swarming over the place, I’m not sure if they’ll get here in time.

  “I’ve got backup coming too,” Henry says, walking over to me. The officers have spread out now. They aim at the door with their guns. Henry and I move out of their line of fire. “From the next town over, though.”

  “Looks like we’re on the same team, sheriff.”

  “Yeah, and what do you suggest we do?”

  I think on it. Then I shake my head. “You got any explosives in here?”

  “No.”

  “And no bulletproofs. And these are the only guns, eh?”

  He nods.

  I swallow. For the first time I can remember, I feel the stab of fear. Maybe when I first started out, I felt this way. But an outlaw has to get used to the life damn quick unless he wants his to end. For years now, I haven’t let myself get scared on a job. I’m not scared for myself, though. I’m scared for Scarlett. For my kid. For my kid. Is this gonna be our fate? The day I find out I can actually care about someone more’n myself, everything ends.

  “Are you here, Cage?” Henry asks stiffly.

  “Yeah, yeah. I’m thinking.”

  “I don’t think we’ve got long.”

  “No.” I point to three of the officers. One is a lady with short, spiky, bleached-blonde hair. Another is a man with the look of a soldier about him. I ask Henry if he served. Henry tells me he did. The third is Brianna, her hair in braids, a fierce look on her face. “I want them either side of the door. Catch them off-guard when they first come running in. The others need to lie down, climb on the benches, whatever. They need to stand someplace a man wouldn’t think to look when he comes running through the—No, don’t have them near the door. Dammit.”

  “What is it?”

  “Listen.”

  We’re both silent for a while.

  “They’re setting up more explosives,” Henry guesses.

  I nod grimly. “We’re fuckin’ rats in here, sheriff. Fuckin’ rats.”

  “Then what, Cage?”

  “Don’t you have any damn ideas?” I snap.

  He looks at me plainly. “No,” he says. “We never planned for this.”

  “Yeah, well, maybe this’ll teach you that the Angels are better’n the other bastards out there. We could’ve stopped this a long damn time ago if we had you on our side.”

  “Don’t start lecturing me!” Henry roars. “I’ll fucking—”

  I pay him on the shoulder. “All right, sheriff. I get it. But now’s not the time. I take it back, eh? We can’t fight each other’n them at the same time.”

  He lowers his eyes, nods shortly. “My temper got away from me. Could we try talking to them?”

  I chew the inside of my lip, considering. “Might be worth a shot. I could trade myself. Yeah, they might take that. But they had me before’n they weren’t able to do shit. And why would they trade at all? They’ve got us right where they want us.”

  “Spread out!” Henry snaps, walking among the officers. “Away from the door. Some of you lie down! Get ready!”

  Sighing, I go and kneel next to Scarlett. When she makes to look at me, I push her face back down.

  “Don’t look,” I tell her. “Just pretend you’re dead.”

  She laughs oddly. “Let’s hope it’s only pretend.”

  I laugh too, just as oddly.

  Everybody else glances at us like we’re crazy.

  23

  Scarlett

  I glance up at Cage between my fingers. He’s on one knee with a shotgun aimed at the door. But it all seems futile. The voices outside talk quietly about setting up the explosives. I can only make out some of the words, but that much is clear. I grab my belly with one hand, unable to believe that this is happening. I get what I want, all I want, and now it’s going to end in the most violent way possible.

  “Get ready everyone!” Cage calls. Even he sounds uncertain. That’s the scariest part. He never sounds uncertain. He talks to me out of the side of his mouth, but he doesn’t turn from the door. He doesn’t know that I’m looking at him. He’s putting on a brave voice, but his face says it all. “This is part of your job now, Scarlett. You wanna be a journalist. Well, here you go. You’ve got a story everybody’ll wanna hear. Don’t let fear take you. You won’t be able to write about this if you’re so scared you can’t remember any of it, eh? This is gonna be one hell of a story.”

  “Yeah,” I say firmly. Aching to believe him. “You’re right.”

  “I just … I need you to know something.” He hesitates.

  “I love you!” I reach out and grab onto his elbow. “I love you, Cage Morrow.”

  He does turn to me now. He doesn’t even seem angry that I’m not staring at the floor. “I love you,” he says, as though surprised. I can’t blame him. I’m surprised as well.

  “You better not die on me!” I snap.

  He grins, and then forcefully removes my hand. “What’d I say about looking at the floor?”

  “I don’t think we’re going to survive this,” I whisper. “Not if they blow that wall.” I remember the last explosion. My ears still hurt. My eyes sting with smoke and tiny pieces of stone and paint and plaster.

  “We’ve got backup coming. Don’t worry, all right? I’ll protect you.”

  “Be real with me, Cage. If they’ve got bombs, all they have to do is blow the door off and then chuck a bunch of grenades in here. Tell me I’m wrong.”

  He swallows. “I can’t tell you that.”

  “If you were in their position, would you be worried? Even if you knew they had backup coming?”

  He hesitates.

  “I didn’t think so!” I crawl out from under the bench.

  “What’re you doing?” he snarls. “Get down!”


  “Listen to me!” I demand. My voice is still shaking. My whole body is. But this is about more than me now, more than Cage even. It’s about all three of us. “Did you mean it when you said you’d protect me and the baby?”

  “Of course I meant it.”

  I take his bearded face in my hands. I feel sick for what I’m about to say. “Can you beat Arvin Hatter in a fair fight?” I ask.

  He narrows his eyes, trying to figure out my angle.

  “Honestly?” I add. “Without any pride or—or bluster or anything like that. Just honestly. If you were looking at two people and you were one and he was the other, who would you bet on?”

  “I’d bet on myself,” Cage says with certainty. “Wait!”

  I run quicker than he can catch me. I run right up to the door and scream, “Arvin Hatter, you coward! Are you out there?”

  Suddenly, the voices stop. There’s somebody on the other side of the door moving something metal around. The clinking sound pauses.

  “Boss, you hear that shit? Shall I carry on?”

  “I’m the girl you put in the refrigerator!” I snap. “I thought you were brave. Whatever else, I thought that. Was I wrong? You won’t even talk with a girl? Are you scared, Arvin?”

  The sheriff glances at Cage. Cage glances back at him, chewing his lip. All of them have their guns half lowered, pointed away from me. Cage doesn’t move to interfere with me, though he does walk over and put himself between me and the door. I talk over his shoulder.

  “Hello?” I call. “Anybody out there?”

  “What are you doing?” Cage whispers.

  “Buying time for now,” I whisper back. “Do you want me to stop?”

  He shakes his head slowly. “No, keep going. I trust you.”

  Finally, Arvin calls, “What the hell do you want, girl?”

  “I want to say hello. If you’re going to kill us, I think I deserve that much.”

  “Well, hello.” He coughs out a laugh. “Anything else? Goddamn, this bitch. This bitch right here … You’re lucky your man’s got some loyal friends, missy. I’d be covered in your guts right now if it weren’t the case.”