BLEED FOR HER

by Hilliard, RB

  The fact that Steele even had to say it bit deep. “Understood.”

  For everyone else’s ears, Steele said, “She should be coming over that hill any minute now. Try not to scare her.”

  That’s exactly what Buck wanted them to do. He wanted them to scare the shit out of her. Maybe then she wouldn’t pull a stupid stunt like this again.

  “Fuck, did you see her arsenal? Bitches like that don’t get scared,” Loco joked.

  “Arsenal? What arsenal? I’m missing all the fun,” Taz grouched. Taz hadn’t been around The Cave much because his ol’ lady, Lucy, was pregnant and confined to bedrest. Taz was having to take over with their two older kids. He loved to bitch about it, but the guy was full of shit. They had two boys and were finally getting their girl.

  “There’s a way to stop that from happening, ya know?” Loco teased.

  “Fuck th—” Taz started to reply. When he suddenly stopped talking and nodded at the hill, everyone went on alert. Reyn.

  Buck had already spotted her coming over the crest. She was wearing those hideous leggings and what looked like one of his t-shirts. He let out a string of curses when he noticed her limping. Grinding his molars together, he attempted to get a grip on his anger. Smart girl had made a backpack out of her duffel but was too stupid to wear shoes. She was also yammering away on that damn phone.

  Cutting his eyes to Steele, he said, “Told you the burner was a bad idea.” Then focusing back on Reyn, he said, “Look menacing, boys,” before stepping out from the trees and into her field of vision.

  Buck knew Reyn spotted him when she suddenly stopped talking. Her blonde hair glistening in the sun, she stood frozen to the spot. If eyes had the ability to open so wide that they popped out of a person’s head, then hers should have been rolling around on the ground. Like a scared little rabbit, she slowly lowered the phone and took a step back.

  “Don’t do it,” he heard Steele say.

  “Don’t even think about it!” Buck warned, right as she dropped the phone and took off sprinting in the opposite direction.

  “Fan out!” Steele ordered. Buck went up the middle while Ax and Taz took the left and Steele and Loco the right. Taz, being the fast motherfucker that he was, got to her first. He also got a jab to the face. Baby girl wasn’t playing around. Well, neither was he. While Taz fell back to nurse his bloody nose, Ax moved in and got a snap kick to the nuts. A loud moan shot from his mouth as he grabbed his junk and dropped like a sack of potatoes. Loco had to stop and bend over, he was laughing so hard. This left Buck and Steele.

  Fed up with the bullshit, Buck took the direct approach and charged her. His eyes locked on her face and he could see her emotions play out, one by one. He expected her defiance. What he didn’t expect was her fear. This made his gut twist. She was afraid of him—the man who loved her more than words could say—so much that it made her flinch back so hard she twisted her foot and landed on her ass. Hurt blazed through him.

  Towering over her, he quietly spoke, “Is that what you think? That I, or any of my brothers, would lay a hand on you out of anger. That we would intentionally hurt you? Is that what you think?” Closing his eyes, he whispered, “Fuck. I thought you knew me.”

  Her whispered “Buck—” ate straight into his soul.

  Pain seared through him. Pain and fury. “You’re so up your own ass that you can’t see what’s standing right in front of you. You don’t know me, and you know what? I don’t give a fuck if you ever do. You want out so bad that you’re willing to compromise yourself? That’s on you, but the hell if I’m letting you take us down with you. Now, you have a choice. Either you get up and walk back, or I carry you. Once the threat is eliminated, you’ll be free to go. And Reyn, I want you to fucking go.” Hurt slashed across her face, but Buck didn’t care. He was done.

  “Buck, man, go easy on her,” Ax murmured.

  “You want easy? You carry her the fuck back. Just let me know where you put her so I can stay the hell away.”

  No one said a word on the walk back. When they reached the yard, he turned to Steele, and said, “Give me fifteen before we meet.”

  “Buck, can I at least try to explain?” Reyn asked.

  Ignoring her, he called out, “Tiny, come over here!”

  Tiny trotted over. “Yeah, Buck?”

  “I want Doc to look at her ankle, then I want her locked in my room with you on the door. To Doc and then my room. Nowhere else, understand?”

  “You got it, Buck.”

  “Buck, please,” Reyn begged.

  He could tell she was close to tears, and as much as it gutted him, he just couldn’t muster up the energy to deal with her right then.

  “Maybe you should hear her out,” Taz suggested.

  Maybe he should, but he wasn’t. At least not until he cooled down. Maybe not ever. “Fifteen,” he said to Steele, before he turned and walked away.

  Chapter Fifteen

  REYN SHOULDN’T HAVE run. She shouldn’t have panicked. She shouldn’t have struck those men. She shouldn’t have doubted Buck. She thought she was doing the right thing. She couldn’t have been more wrong.

  As Tiny escorted her across the lawn, he asked, “You okay? That ankle looks like it hurts.” It did hurt, but not nearly as much as her heart. The entire walk back, Buck’s words played in her head. “You’re so up your own ass that you can’t see what’s standing right in front of you. You don’t know me, and you know what? I don’t give a fuck if you ever do. You want out so bad that you’re willing to compromise yourself? That’s on you, but the hell if I’m letting you take us down with you.” He meant it. She could see it in his eyes. He was done with her. They all were. She heard her name and glanced up right as Tiny was opening the kitchen door for her. Thanking him, she stepped inside and stopped short when she saw the four women, all in various degrees of food prep, staring back at her.

  “This is Reyn,” Tiny announced. “She’s with Buck.”

  The closest woman to Reyn immediately zeroed in on her feet. “What happened?” The question made Reyn’s face flush with embarrassment.

  “I don’t know. Buck said to take her to Doc,” Tiny replied.

  “Doc’s not here,” the woman told him.

  As they continued to converse, Reyn took in the scene. She just thought that Shelly, Hannah, and Tara looked like biker babes. They couldn’t hold a candle to these four. The one talking to Tiny was clearly in charge. Her long, black hair was pulled back into a tightly braided bun. Reyn could tell she was older because of the gray peeking out at her temples. She also had a badass looking widow’s peak. Unlike Shelly, Hannah, and Tara, her makeup wasn’t overstated. Reyn had always felt that girls who caked on their makeup were trying to hide something. In Tara’s case she hoped it was a face full of acne. It wasn’t just the makeup that separated this woman from the other three, though, but also her designer jeans, stylish blouse, and overall classiness. She looked fashionable, yet comfortable, as if she belonged here. Buck had mentioned there being a stark difference between club girls and ol’ ladies. Reyn now understood. These four were definitely ol’ ladies.

  “But Buck said—”

  “Buck thought Doc was here and he’s not,” she argued, then waving him away, said, “We’ll take it from here.”

  Tiny physically squirmed. “But—”

  “Tiny! Get your ass out here!” a voice shouted from somewhere in the house. Poor Tiny looked perplexed. As much as Reyn wanted to rescue him, she couldn’t. She was already in enough trouble as it was.

  “Go. We’ve got her. Come back when you’re done,” the second of the four told him. Reyn felt a pang when she noticed the woman was wearing an Austin City Limits t-shirt. She, too looked classy in her understated, yet stylish clothing. She had a headful of long, reddish-brown curls, but what stood out was the smattering of freckles across her nose and cheeks. Reyn always wanted freckles. Woman number three had white-blonde hair cut into a chin-length bob and bright green eyes. Her dark floral maxi
-skirt and denim top accentuated her tall, willowy frame. The last of the four had curly, black hair piled on top of her head in a messy bun. She, too, was tall, and from the looks of it, also very pregnant. Like Reyn, she was wearing leggings. Unlike Reyn’s, hers were cute and stylish. Her hot pink t-shirt read: “Biker Baby On Board.”

  Tiny turned to Reyn. The poor guy looked as if he was afraid to let her out of his sight. “I’ll be right back,” he said.

  “I’ll be fine,” she told him, even though she wasn’t sure that was true.

  Gray hair smiled at her. “Let’s get that foot looked at. By the way, I’m Glenda. Doc’s my man.” Glenda proceeded to introduce her to the other women. Freckles was Sledge’s ol’ lady, Aimee. Blonde bob was Loco’s ol’ lady, Mary, and biker baby was Taz’s ol’ lady, Lucy.

  Aimee gave her an encouraging smile. “You’re in good hands, hon. Glenda’s a nurse. She’s also got a much better bedside manner than Doc.” Reyn tried to smile, but she just didn’t have it in her. She had to make things right with Buck and the club, she just didn’t know how.

  Glenda was kind enough to help her into the infirmary. After nodding for her to get up on the table, she asked, “Do you want to talk about it?” Reyn shook her head. When Glenda got a better look at Reyn’s feet, she morphed from cool lady to angry momma bear. “Girl, what were you thinking running around out there with no shoes on? You’re lucky a snake didn’t get you! Aimee! I need a bucket of warm soapy water in here!” she shouted. Tears pricked the backs of Reyn’s eyes. This was not how she’d envisioned meeting the ol’ ladies.

  A few minutes later Aimee appeared with the water. She took one look at Reyn’s feet and gasped, “What happened?” The two women stared expectantly at her. Reyn felt exposed, not to mention put on the spot. She swallowed nervously, knowing if she told them, they would hate her.

  As if reading her thoughts, Glenda said, “We’re not here to judge, darlin. We just want to help if we can.”

  “I thought I was protecting them,” she whispered, and then burst into tears. “I-I didn’t mean to h-hurt anyone.” Lucy and Mary slid into the room and Glenda told Mary to lock the door behind her.

  Everyone got settled, and Aimee, who’d hopped up on the table beside Reyn, asked, “Protecting who?”

  Lucy held up her hand. “Wait. Before you start, I need chips. Anyone want anything?”

  “Diet coke,” Mary called out.

  Reyn waited for Lucy to return before explaining how she’d come to find her boyfriend dead in her great room. How she’d run from the shooters, accidentally slipped and fallen down a ravine, and been rescued by Buck and the club. She then went on to explain how she and Buck were shot at by the same men who’d killed her boyfriend, and how she’d realized that she was endangering the club. She told them about her plan to leave, minus Tara’s involvement, of course, and what happened when they found her. When she finished, no one said a word.

  A long, edgy silence passed before Glenda finally spoke. “Wow, that’s quite a story.”

  Lucy’s snorted. “Look at you! You have to be what, all of five-feet tall? And you took out Taz and Ax? Please tell me someone recorded it on their phone!” Mary broke into giggles and Glenda smiled. Reyn let out a relieved breath.

  Aimee pulled her in for a side hug. “Cheer up, brave girl, Buck will cool off and all will be well. I remember the time I told Sledge I was going to dinner with friends and ended up at a male strip bar on West Boulevard.” Smiling, as if it was a fond memory, she added, “He was so mad that he locked me in his room for two days.” Lowering her voice to a conspiratorial whisper, she said, “Angry makeup sex is the best.”

  While Glenda doctored Reyn’s feet and wrapped her sprained ankle, the women entertained her with crazy stories, and they had some doozies. By the time Tiny came to get her, she was feeling better, maybe even a little hopeful. Now, all she needed was to talk to Buck.

  _______________

  After two shots of Cuervo, Buck headed down the hallway to Steele’s office. Twice, now, he’d had to stop himself from checking in on Reyn. He knew he’d fucked up. He seemed to be doing that a lot lately. He hated not knowing where he stood with her. One minute she was kissing him and thanking him for protecting her and the next she was sneaking away. When she ran from him this afternoon, something inside him snapped. He reacted by lashing out at her and saying things he didn’t mean, things he wished he could take back.

  Buck ran into Ax in the hallway and they walked the rest of the way to Steele’s office, where they found Loco giving Jake and Ink a recap of this afternoon’s events.

  Eyes fixed on Buck, Jake said, “That bitch’d come at me, I would have taken her down.”

  Normally Buck would let it slide, but after the day he’d had, he was in no mood. “And she would have whooped your ass,” he shot back.

  Jake stood. “Oh yeah?” With his chest out and his neck moving back and forth, he looked like a rooster. A cocksucker was more like it.

  “Enough,” Steele snapped. Scowling at Buck, Jake slumped back into the chair. As usual, he was all talk. Steele waited for Buck and Ax to find a seat before asking, “What do we have?”

  “It turns out Militant’s VP, Junior, has a brother. He’s recently been released from prison and word has it he’s been asking about us,” Ink said.

  Steele’s brow shot up. “He was inside when the hit was made?”

  “Yeah, apparently he was in for aggravated battery and got sprung five or so months ago for good behavior.”

  “The timeframe works,” Jake noted.

  Nodding, Steele asked, “Does he have a name?”

  “Name’s Dario,” Loco answered.

  “Did you get an address?” Jake asked.

  Loco smiled. “Get this, he’s shacking up with Junior’s ol’ lady.”

  “Want me to check it out?” Jake asked. Brows rose in surprise. Jake was known for giving orders, but rarely did he join in on the action.

  “Take Ink and Loco with you. Also, see if you can get a picture to help ID Dario,” Steele replied, then switching his focus to Ax and Buck, he asked, “Any luck with finding the grandmother?”

  Always one to exaggerate, Ax said, “We found her, alright. Someone blew her head off.” This got everyone’s attention. Ax passed around the pictures and everyone agreed that they should check out Angst. If they could draw the connection between Vicky and Dario, they would have their guy.

  Buck wasn’t buying it. The guys who came after them didn’t feel like MC to him. “We still don’t know who Rye is,” he pointed out.

  Pushing back from his desk, Steele stood. “Hopefully we’ll know more when we talk to Dario.” Nodding to Buck and Ax, he added, “Both of you were up late last night. Grab some sleep now because I want you at Angst tonight.”

  They agreed to meet downstairs around eight. That would give them at least six hours of sleep.

  Not ready to face Reyn just yet, Buck opted for one of the spare rooms, only to find them all occupied. Damn lockdown. A serious game of Fortnite was going on in the upstairs den and loud music blared from the downstairs game room, so that knocked those rooms out. This left him with the basement and Grover’s ratty couch. He was thinking how he should just man up and deal with Reyn when Tara appeared.

  “There you are,” she purred. “I’ve been looking for you everywhere. I thought you might want some company.”

  Buck yawned. “What I want right now is sleep.”

  Brown eyes flashing with desire, she trailed her nails across the front of his cut and down his arm to his hand, where she laced her fingers through his. Giving a gentle tug, she said, “Come. I have just the place.” Buck considered it for all of two seconds. Tara was a great lay, she just wasn’t Reyn.

  He gave her hand a squeeze. “I appreciate it, but what I said last night still stands.” Releasing her hand, he walked away.

  Buck found Reyn in his chair with her foot propped up on the ottoman.

  “Buck—”


  He held his hand up and whatever she was about to say faded to silence. “I haven’t slept in over thirty-six hours. I wouldn’t be here right now but because of lockdown there’s nowhere else for me to go.”

  Bu—”

  He continued talking, “What you did today could have gotten you killed. It could have gotten us all killed. I’m angry, Reyn. Really fucking angry. Now, I would appreciate it if you let me sleep.” On that note, he stripped off his cut and tossed it onto the dresser.

  He had his shirt off and was working on his jeans, when he heard her say, “Please, let me explain.” He didn’t want to do this now.

  Jaw clenched, he shucked off his jeans before turning to face her. Big blue eyes, red and puffy from crying, stared back at him. She was crying because of something she caused.

  Anger bubbled to the surface and he couldn’t stop it from spilling out. “What the fuck is wrong with you?”

  “I was trying to stop you from getting hurt. They want me, not you. All of this is because of me.”

  “I hate to break it to you, sweetheart, but there’s a high probability none of this has anything to do with you.” Like a fish out of water, her mouth opened and closed. Buck continued, “I told you we were handling it. I told you to lie low. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to sleep.” Turning his back on her, he crawled into the bed and pulled a pillow over his head.

  Chapter Sixteen

  REYN REALIZED SHE’D messed up, but did he have to be such a giant ass about it? What was wrong with her? What was wrong with him? This was not how this was supposed to go down. He was supposed to have cooled off and then they were going to talk. She glared over at him. The more she thought about it, the angrier she got.

  Scooting off the chair, she hobbled over to the bed, and leaning over his sleeping form, she half-shouted, “What in the hell is wrong with you?” She heard a muffled sigh and the pillow lifted. Ab muscles rippled as Buck raised up in order to stuff the pillow behind his head. Face flushing, Reyn quickly looked away. Her attraction to him was getting out of control. Slowly, she brought her attention back to his face, her eyes narrowing on his smug expression. She may not know what to do with her lust for this man, but she sure as hell knew what to do with her anger.