by Bella Rose
Joe shoved Leah down onto one of the couches. Something moved on the cushion. Leah shrieked and leapt back to her feet. Joe shoved her back down. This time he didn’t pretend to be careful, and she felt her shoulder groan in protest. A tiny mouse poked its nose out of the cushion, sniffed around, and then retreated into its cozy home. The rest of the gang started laughing, big rude guffaws that had them holding their bellies with mirth. They’d all taken seats, lounging as though this was an everyday event for them.
“This is unsanitary,” Leah said before she could stop herself.
Joe snorted. “Sorry it’s not up to your standards, princess.”
“My standards?” She gaped at him. “My standards say that you don’t take someone against their will. Let me go. I’ll walk. I don’t care. I just want to go home.”
Joe was staring at her so oddly. It made her uncomfortable. Then the cop they had referred to as Ronnie Jenkins pushed his way through the squeaky metal door and into the building.
“You said it was urgent,” Ronnie told Joe. “What’s going on?”
Then Joe made a grand gesture in Leah’s direction. “Ta-dah!”
“Shit!” Ronnie groaned and put his face in his hands. “Man, I told you not to do that! It’s a bad idea. What in the hell do you think you’re going to gain from it anyway?”
“She’s going to sign over the land, and you’re a law enforcement officer, so you’re going to witness it,” Joe announced with satisfaction. What was visible of his face behind the thick gray beard appeared to be grinning like a lunatic. “It’ll be all official like and nobody will be able to say shit. The Demon Lovers will move our base of operations and we’ll hold two counties. We’ll be the biggest gang in the Midwest.”
Leah couldn’t help it. She started laughing. Joe didn’t like that much and neither did his cronies. They got to their feet and started crowding in around her. Their menacing presence was a problem, but she wasn’t afraid. She knew one thing for certain. Her crew was coming for her. They might not be her biggest fans, but they were her family, and they’d never leave her behind. Especially not when she was being held by their biggest rivals.
Ronnie made a frustrated noise. “Joe, that’s what I’ve been trying to tell you. Don’t you ever check your phone messages?”
“What?” Joe started patting down his pockets. “I don’t rightly know where my phone is.”
“He’s a technophobe,” Leah offered. “You should have seen when Mama asked him to hook up the new DVD player for me when I was a kid. You’d have thought she asked him to swim the Channel.”
“You be quiet,” Joe snapped. Then he turned back to Ronnie. “What were you bothering me for anyway?”
“To tell you that Leah Rawlins became Leah Prentiss a few days ago.”
Joe swung around to face Leah. “So what? I knew that.” Then he looked at Ronnie. “It’s not like she did it for love. She hates him. Maybe this is a chance to get back at the asshole for forcing her to marry him against her will.”
“As I recall,” Ronnie mused. “The two of them were pretty good friends as kids.”
“Do I know you?” Leah asked curiously.
“Not really,” Ronnie said drily. “My dad was a Demon Lover. We went to high school together, but you were a year behind me.”
“So can you get me out of here?” Leah pressed. “You’re a cop, right?”
He shrugged. “I work for the county sheriff’s office, yes. But in this county, Joe Turnbull is boss.”
“Great.” Leah shook her head, feeling annoyed. “Then I guess I’ll just wait for the Hellfire Crew to come down here and kick your asses.”
***
“We have to go in there and get her out.” Thorn was already scrambling out from behind the cover of a large log as if he was preparing to run down into the valley and take on the Demon Lovers by himself. “We can’t leave her there with those animals. There is no telling what they’ll do to her!”
“I agree we need to get her out.” Griffin reached out and snagged the boy’s arm, yanking him back down out of sight. “We need to play this smart. All right?”
“Not all right!” Thorn argued. “Leah is down there alone. What if they—well, what if they do something really bad?”
Griffin stared at the scene below. The old milking facility was nestled in the bottom of a little valley, pasture all around it. No cover. He counted nearly thirty motorcycles parked out in front of the building. There was also a county sheriff’s car, which meant that Joe had called Ronnie Jenkins in for some reason. The poor guy was a second-generation Demon Lover who hadn’t wanted to be in a motorcycle gang. He’d become a cop, and the gang had been taking advantage of the man’s position ever since. Griffin almost felt sorry for Ronnie sometimes, but he wouldn’t have hesitated to punch the officer in the face if it came to that.
“There’s something odd going on down there,” Griffin told Thorn. “We need to get closer, but I need your promise that you’re not going to do something stupid. Got it?”
“Yeah.” Thorn sounded disappointed. “I just wanted to go busting in there and rescue her. You know?”
“I know, kid. But that would just give the Demon Lovers two more hostages for their little game.”
Thorn looked apprehensive. “What are they trying to do?”
“Let’s go find out.”
Griffin led the way. He stayed low, running through the open spaces and darting from a pile of trash to a copse of thick bushes. Finally, they reached a good spot just beneath a window. Griffin touched Thorn’s arm and gestured to a sentry lounging outside the door. The man looked half asleep. He was leaning against the building with his eyes half closed. Still, they needed to keep an eye on him in case he should suddenly decide to start doing his job.
The window was broken and there was glass on the ground around them. Griffin used his boots to push the glass into the soft loamy earth. Finally, he and Thorn were able to crouch there without too much trouble and listen in on what was going on inside.
“What do you mean she can’t just sign over the property?” Joe was shouting. “She’s here. I’ve got the transfer paperwork all filled out. It’s just a signature and it’s done! The land ain’t in Prentiss’s name anyway. It’s in hers!”
There was a huge sigh. Griffin raised himself just enough to see Ronnie looking as if he were ready to strangle Joe. “She’s married! In this state one member of a married couple can dispose of property held separately, but the other party can file a protest. The case will be tied up in probate forever unless the party signs a paper saying they approve the sale.”
“That’s fucking ridiculous!” Joe burst out. “Not fair!” Then he turned to Leah. “You stupid whore! You’re just as much of a pain as your mama! Look what you’ve done by going and getting married!”
“Oh yeah,” Leah spat back sarcastically. “I’m so damn sorry that I messed up your plans to steal from me!” She delivered those last words at a low roar, and Griffin could swear he heard the building’s foundations shake. “You kidnapped me! You’re holding me against my will, and now you’re angry with me because I have inconvenienced you by getting married? You are such. An. Ass!”
Griffin clenched his fists so tightly that his nails dug into his palms as he saw Joe draw back and slap Leah across the face. To her credit, she didn’t cry out. In fact, she glared up at him with such heat in her eyes that Griffin was shocked that he didn’t catch on fire.
“Griffin is going to come out here and he is going to kick your ass,” she informed Joe.
Joe got in her face once again. “I’d like to see the little fucker try. I’ve been kicking the shit out of upstarts like him for decades.”
“Yeah. I can tell,” she shot back. “You’re looking a little old Uncle Joe. In fact, you look like you need to retire. Tell me. Which of these lovely idiots is going to be your replacement? Surely the Demon Lovers don’t need some geriatric man who belongs in an assisted living facility calling all the sho
ts. Aren’t they tired of bingo nights and trips to the store for adult diapers?”
Beside him, Griffin saw Thorn’s eyes bulge as he tried to keep from laughing. It was funny, but it was also dangerous. Griffin knew that she was buying time, trying to impress them with her bravado, and psyching the old man out all at the same time, but she was also poking a bear who might feel the need to prove himself at her expense.
“You are such a bitch!” Joe snarled. He stabbed his fingers into Leah’s dark red hair and yanked it back. “Sometimes I wish you had been just another cum stain on my sheets.”
“Wait,” Thorn whispered. “His sheets? What the hell?”
Griffin swallowed back a lump that had lodged in his throat. He could see the second that Joe’s choice of words sank into Leah’s mind. She gave no outward reaction though Griffin knew she had to be reeling inside. He had never been more proud of her than at that moment.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Leah couldn’t think straight. She couldn’t think at all past the words that Joe had just let slip. Or had he? She couldn’t decide if he had deliberately fed her some full-of-shit line just to throw her off balance or if he was being serious.
“You’re lying,” she said hoarsely. She looked from Joe to the sheriff’s deputy. “You need to help me get out of here. You’re a cop. Do your fucking job. I’m not signing anything. The Demon Lovers are never going to get that land. Look what you guys have done to this place. You think I want my mama’s land to start looking like this shithole?”
“Girl, you’d best keep your trap shut,” Joe said irritably. He was pacing back and forth in front of her. He kept yanking on his beard and twisting hanks of it into what had to be little knots. He appeared to be close to losing it.
“No.” Leah spoke calmly. “I’m not going to keep my mouth shut. I want answers. You can’t just say something like that and then pretend that you didn’t. Unless you were just talking out your ass, in which case I guess you can say whatever the fuck you want.”
“I can’t believe you’re a teacher.” Joe was shaking his head. “I used to tell your Mama that you needed to be something special and important. Look at you. Sitting in that school all day teaching retards to read.”
“First of all,” she said stiffly. “They aren’t retards. Secondly, being a teacher is an important thing. I help teach the kids who are going to grow up and be in charge of the world you live in. That’s a big deal.” She narrowed her gaze at him. “You know, they’ll be the ones running your nursing home.”
That had been one of Deacon’s biggest sore spots—getting old. She could tell it was one of Joe’s too. Apparently, the guy was trying desperately to settle his crew someplace nicer before he had to kick off. A few puzzle pieces slipped into place, and Leah wondered if Joe was keeping a secret from his gang.
“Hey Joe,” she began in a casual tone of voice. “You’re awfully concerned about the future of your gang. Is there a reason?”
“They’re my responsibility,” Joe said it as though she were stupid. “Of course I’m concerned. You Hellfire Crew people take all the resources and don’t leave any for the rest of us. I’m just trying to make sure that we get what we’re owed.”
“That’s the thing,” Leah insisted. “Nobody owes you guys a damn thing.”
“Not true!” Joe shouted. He was stabbing the air with his finger, and Leah didn’t miss the looks of fascination that his gang was giving him. They were just as surprised by his behavior as she was. “Your mama owed me that land! She promised!”
***
“We have to be careful,” Griffin told his crew. “Leah is in there in the middle of it all. The gang is spread out around the building, but there’s only one sentry that we could see.
Griffin had to admit that cell phones had certainly changed the way they did things. Thorn had literally sent a text to Bill Nevins while crouched beneath the window of the Demon Lovers facility. Then Griffin and Thorn had retreated from their position to wait for their backup to arrive. The only question now was whether they should go in blazing or try to sneak in.
“I say we just ride up and storm the place,” Nevins grunted. “If they were going to kill her, they’d have done it already. Turnbull is an old man. He’s got reasons for what he’s doing, including keeping her alive. We just don’t quite know what they are yet.”
Griffin knew there was no time for this, yet what Nevins had just said seemed significant. “Do you know anything about that? It seems like when Turnbull was talking he was trying to make provisions. Is he sick or something?”
Nevins shrugged. “Getting old sucks ass, man. I don’t know what he has going on, but there’s good reason to suspect he’s got something.” He glanced at Rayna. “We all do.”
The older woman snorted. “My tits are hanging to the ground and my ass has gotten flat, but if I had something like cancer it would be a hell of a lot worse.”
Griffin set his jaw and gave a hard nod. “Let’s go in loud and fast. Might as well make them piss their pants. If we’re lucky, that place will just fall down around their ears and it’ll all be done.”
Nevins had a gleam in his eye when he nodded. Then they returned to their bikes and got ready to give the Demon Lovers hell.
Griffin didn’t even try to tell Thorn he needed to ride at the back of the pack. The kid was practically vibrating with tension. Apparently, this situation had forced him to see his sister a little differently. That certainly wasn’t a bad thing. Maybe it would give him a much-needed attitude change.
The Hellfire Crew cued up. Their engines roared as they hit the throttle and barreled down into the valley. They swarmed the entrance to the building, and Griffin laughed as the sentry scuttled back into the building to report their presence. Griffin hadn’t been kidding when he’d said he wanted them to piss their pants, and he figured they’d just had their first victim.
They dismounted and walked up to the big garage door beside the smaller door where the sentry had disappeared. It was rusty, but the door still seemed to be on its tracks. Griffin motioned to Curtis and Hobbs. The three of them put a shoulder to the big overhead door and lifted it off the ground. The metal groaned like a tired old man. It was like cutting open a cross section of someone’s home. Sunlight streamed into the old building and illuminated sagging cots, ratty furniture, and a whole lot of open-mouthed surprise from the Demon Lovers inside.
Leah could not stop herself from smiling when the entire side of the building seemed to fly up, revealing the Hellfire Crew standing in the doorway looking like retribution about to happen. They were dressed in leather and chains. Some held baseball bats. Others palmed knives. There were twenty-five or more, Thorn and Griffin standing right in front.
“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” Joe whirled around and pointed at Griffin. “This is my place! This is our territory! You and your band of losers better get the hell out of here before we put you to bed for good.”
Griffin didn’t respond right away. Most of the crew exchanged silent glances before advancing a little farther into the building. The Demon Lovers looked a little uncertain and far from united. Some of the younger members had picked up weapons and were massing as though they might put up a fuss. Others just looked tired and ready to surrender.
“Joe,” Griffin began in a reasonable tone of voice. “What the fuck is going on? You want us to leave, fine. But I’m going to take my wife with me.”
“You don’t give two shits about her,” Joe snarled. “She’s my daughter. So I think I’ll just keep her here.”
Hearing it said plain as day made Leah’s gut clench in horror. Was that why Deacon Rawlins had been so hot and cold toward her? Because she wasn’t really his kid? That would have messed with any man’s head, but Deacon was especially proud. And the way he had loved Thorn without reservation had always hurt. Now Leah knew the reasons behind Deacon’s actions. Too bad it didn’t make her feel any better.
Then Bill Nevins scoffed and waved his
hand at Joe. “You’re such an old windbag. You know that? You and Deacon going ’round and ’round about who got Molly pregnant. It was like watching two coyotes snapping at each other. I think we were all relieved when Molly chose Deacon and left your ass on the curb.”
“That’s not how it happened!” Joe burst out. “She didn’t choose him! He stole her!”
“No.” Leah stood up. She pointed at Joe. “My mother told me that as bad as Deacon could be, she still loved him even years after she’d left him. Why do you think she never accepted you, Joe? If she had ever loved you, the land wouldn’t have mattered.”
“But you were mine,” Joe said roughly. “I knew that.”
“Maybe, maybe not.” Leah gave a deliberate shrug. “But it doesn’t really matter anymore.”
Griffin watched the old man’s face turn pink then dark red with rage. The other Demon Lovers all started to shift restlessly. Did Joe make a habit of losing control in front of them like this? None of the gang seemed surprised. Then Griffin noticed that, with the exception of Joe and one other man who seemed to be his lieutenant, there were no other old timers in the group.
The Hellfire Crew was comprised of all ages. Having the older members around was always a help. They knew stuff the young ones didn’t. Whether it was about fixing a bike or dealing with girl or boy trouble, they always had something to offer. Joe didn’t seem to agree with that. His gang was mostly young, and they looked as if they didn’t appreciate the mess their leader had gotten them into today.
Joe rubbed at his chest and shoulder. Then he gasped for breath, his eyes growing wide with pain or fear. Ronnie Jenkins cursed and sprinted toward Joe, catching him as he staggered and lowering him to the ground. “Shit! He’s having a heart attack. I told him those blocked arteries would kill him!” He ran toward his cruiser.
Joe’s gang all took a step back—they weren’t going to lift a finger to help. Griffin shot them a glare and shook his head. “You’re all a bunch of worthless shits!” Then he gestured to his crew. “Get them out of here. We’ll take care of Joe.”