BLEED FOR HER

by Hilliard, RB

  Unable to talk freely in front of Goose, he said, “Goose, why don’t you walk down to the Quick Mart and grab us some drinks.”

  Goose, who looked bored out of his mind, jumped to his feet. Everyone gave him their orders and he took off with a smile on his face, happy to be of service. Buck waited until Goose was out of earshot before mentioning Vicky. He then had to wait another five or so minutes for Ax to give a more detailed version.

  When Ax was done, Buck told them what he was thinking. “This feels personal to me.”

  “Personal how?” Sledge asked.

  “Why did Vicky go after Ax and me and no one else?”

  “Didn’t you say there was video of her going into Steele’s office?” Rider asked.

  “Yeah, but that was different. She didn’t look like she was sneaking around, but more like she was looking for Hannah or one of the girls. When she hit Ax’s room, his door was closed. She knew he wasn’t inside or else she would have knocked. She just walked right in like she owned the fucking place.”

  Sledge, who was leaning against one of the crates, asked, “Where was your gun?”

  “Hidden,” Ax replied. “There’s no way in hell that she could have found it unless she knew where to look.”

  Nodding, Buck said, “That’s what I’m thinking. The timestamp on the video had her in and out of Ax’s room in less than two minutes. Reyn’s picture was under all the shit in my top drawer. After the bitch picked my lock, she was in and out in less than a minute. That was just enough time for her to walk straight to my dresser, grab the picture, and walk out.”

  “What are you thinking, that she knew where to go?” Rider asked.

  “Fuck,” Ax growled.

  “If that’s the case, then she wasn’t working alone,” Sledge concluded. They were beginning to catch on. Who had access to their rooms? Hannah, Shelly, Treena, Tara. Tara was closest to Vicky. Were they working together? Was she also a mole? Had she been betraying them all along?

  “What about Dario?” Rider asked. “My older brother went to high school with the guy and said he was a total nut job. Guess who he used to be buds with? Jake.”

  Ax shook his head. “That doesn’t really mean anything. After all, Buck and I were friends with Carver. Things change. People sure as hell change.”

  Buck told them what he’d learned about Dario. “Jake, Ink, and Loco paid Dario a visit last night. They said he couldn’t even string two words together. All three agreed that there’s no way he’s driving this bus.”

  “Seriously? So what if he was strung out? It was just one night. The guy has major connections. He could have called in a favor,” Rider interjected. As much as Buck wished that were the case, his gut told him it wasn’t. Goose walked in with their drinks and they tabled the discussion for later.

  The job took Buck two hours longer to finish than planned. It was almost six by the time he was done, and he still needed to stop by Reyn’s place. Ax and Sledge were long gone by then, which meant that he would have to catch a ride back with Goose and Rider.

  Realizing that he hadn’t gotten a list from Reyn, Buck gave her a call. He could tell by her voice that something was wrong.

  “You okay?” he asked. Rider shot him a look and he shrugged.

  “No. You told me you wouldn’t say anything,” she answered.

  Having no idea what she was talking about, Buck said, “You’re going to have to be more specific.”

  “I trusted you and you had her kicked out! Now they hate me.” Ah, she’d found out about Tara.

  “Who hates you?” At Rider’s questioning look, he mouthed “Tara.”

  “Shelly and Hannah. They think I’m a snob.” He could tell she was close to tears.

  “Tara compromised the club, Babe. You know I couldn’t just let that lie.”

  “She didn’t compromise the club, I did! I told you I manipulated her into telling me. I’m the one who left. This was her club before it was mine, and now she’s gone because of me!” That she considered the club hers made him happy. That she was screaming at him, did not. Buck held the phone away from his ear and waited for her to stop shouting.

  When he finally got silence on the other end, he calmly explained, “Tara shouldn’t have known about that gate. That she did was bad enough, but that she then told you, knowing full well what you were going to do with that information, made her a liability to the club. Do you understand?”

  “Did you have to sleep with them all?” she quietly asked. Buck closed his eyes. What the hell did they say to her? As much as he wished he could soften that blow, he couldn’t. He needed Reyn to understand, as well as accept, the difference between then and now. He’d had all of those women before she was his—at a time when he thought she was never going to be his. He was simply living his life the best way he knew how.

  Not about to discuss this in front of Goose and Rider, he said, “I’m sorry that happened. I’ll be happy to talk to you about this later, but not now. We’re almost to your house, what do you need me to get?” She told him what she needed and they agreed to talk about it later. Buck disconnected the call and sighed. Damn, this relationship shit was exhausting.

  “Someone’s whipped,” Rider joked, as Goose pulled into Reyn’s driveway.

  “Fuck off,” Buck muttered, as he opened the door and stepped from the truck.

  “I’m coming with you. I need to take a piss,” Rider called after him.

  “You good here?” Buck asked Goose. Goose replied by cranking up the volume on the radio.

  They reached the front door, and Buck pulled Reyn’s house key from his pocket.

  “It’s open,” Rider said. Buck’s eyes jerked to the door. From a distance he couldn’t see it, but up close he could tell that it was slightly ajar. Fucking Carver. The police were the last ones here.

  “Bet you money Carver didn’t have anyone clean up after they took the body away,” Buck muttered.

  “Fuck, I seriously gotta piss,” Rider said, and pushed open the door.

  Buck heard the pop right before he felt something warm hit his face. He barely had time to process that a gun had gone off when Rider suddenly dropped to the ground. Shocked stupid, Buck just stood there. Rider wasn’t moving. His body lay straddling the doorway—half in and half out. From the porch Buck could see the blood. It was fucking everywhere: on the floor, on the door, on him. He didn’t have to see Rider’s head to know that it was a kill shot.

  Another bullet whizzed by barely missing his head and embedded into one of the front pillars. Before they could get off another shot, Buck was off the porch and into the bushes. Someone just shot Rider. Someone just killed my brother Buck silently fumed. Crouching low, he slid his gun from the back of his jeans and flicked off the safety. Someone shot my brother. From where he was crouched, he could see Goose sitting in the truck. The music must have been too loud for him to have heard the shots. Completely oblivious, the dumb ass was a sitting duck. Fuck! Buck screamed in his head. He needed to get backup. On the off chance that Rider was still alive, he didn’t want to leave him behind. The outdoor floodlights illuminated the front drive. Buck couldn’t see any movement, which meant that whoever it was, was still inside the house. Reaching into the front pocket of his jeans, he pulled out his phone, scrolled to Steele’s number, and pressed the talk button. He cursed when the call went straight to voicemail. Fuck it. He thought. Goose wasn’t the only sitting duck out here. With his gun in hand, Buck slid his phone back inside his pocket and stood from his crouch. He made it no more than five steps when he heard Goose’s window shatter. Buck watched him slump to the side.

  Rage seared through him as he stepped into the driveway, and shouted, “Come out here, you motherfucker! You want to take me down? Here I am! Come and fucking get me!”

  A shot came from inside the house. Buck dove to the side and heard it hit the back of the truck. When a second shot grazed his back-right side, he clued in to the fact that there was more than one shooter. The second bullet ha
d come from the driveway side of the house. Using the truck as cover, he circled around to the front. His side burned like hell and he could feel the warmth of his blood beneath his jeans as it trickled down his leg. He knew that Rider was probably dead, but still held out hope for Goose. Ducking low, he could now see the side of the house where he thought the shooter was hiding. Not even a minute passed before he saw movement.

  “Gotcha, you motherfucker,” he whispered. Having grown up in a motorcycle club, Buck practically learned to shoot before he could walk. Deep breath in, he stepped out from behind the truck. Surprise flickered in the douchebag’s eyes when he saw Buck standing there. Fuck you, Buck thought, and pulled the trigger. The guy dropped, and his gun skittered down the driveway. One down, one to go.

  He was moving toward the house when he heard a car door slam. No! he thought as he took off running. He reached the top of the driveway as the Ford Raptor from the other day flew past him.

  Numbness set in as Buck limped back down the driveway. He knew that his brothers were both dead, but he had to see it with his own eyes. Goose was first. The bullet had hit the side of his head. The poor kid didn’t even have a chance. Rider’s body was still in the doorway. He hadn’t moved at all. On the off chance that there were three shooters, Buck lifted his gun. As he toed open the door, he aimed into the darkness. Nothing happened. He stepped over Rider’s body and hit the switch on the wall. Reyn’s entry hall burst into light. Blood and pieces of Rider’s head decorated the small space. Bile shot into Buck’s throat. His brother was definitely gone.

  Turning off the light, he stepped back outside and vomited off the side of the porch.

  With the weight of his brothers’ deaths sitting firmly on his shoulders, he withdrew his phone from his pocket and made the call.

  There was a reason that Arlan Steele was their president. He didn’t ask questions or lecture Buck about going into the damn house blind. He simply listened and gave orders: Get Rider the hell out of there before the police arrive and meet them at the rendezvous point.

  Somehow, Buck managed to shove the pain down far enough to follow Steele’s instructions. With Rider loaded in the back of the truck and Goose in the passenger’s seat, he pulled from Reyn’s driveway. Luckily, he heard the sirens before he saw them. This gave him just enough time to turn onto a side street and kill the engine before the first police car sped past.

  Three more passed by before Buck started the truck and drove to meet his brothers.

  Chapter Twenty

  REYN WAS DOWNSTAIRS helping Glenda and Aimee with dinner when the guys came through. Their expressionless faces made the hair on the back of her neck stand at attention. In their MC gear, these men screamed “Danger.” Even though Reyn knew they wouldn’t hurt her, she still fought back the urge to run.

  As Sledge passed by Aimee, he gave her a kiss. “Be careful,” she whispered against his lips. His eyes shifted to Reyn, and she blushed.

  Doc rolled through last. Glenda followed him into the medical room, and Reyn could hear them talking in low voices. A minute or so later he walked through the kitchen with his medical bag in hand and out the door. With a loud roar, the bikes fired up. The women watched from the kitchen window as the men peeled away from the house and rode out into the night.

  “What was that about?” Reyn asked once they were gone.

  “Who knows with that crew,” Aimee replied glibly.

  Mulling over Aimee’s response, Reyn continued chopping carrots. “How can you stand not knowing? I mean, I’ve been here all of five minutes and it’s already getting to me. Just this morning I learned they kicked Tara out . . . because of me. Where was my vote in all of this?” she asked.

  It was Glenda who spoke. “Girl, if you want a vote, you’ve come to the wrong place. I don’t get a vote. Aimee doesn’t get a vote. None of us get a vote. You want to know why? Because this isn’t our club. It belongs to our men.” She threw out a hand. “Our men who were members before we ever stepped foot into their lives. As Doc’s wife I vowed to love and honor him, to stand by his side, and to never betray his club. In return, he worships the ground I walk on, and gives me sex whenever I want it,” her eyes flicking to Aimee, she added, “and sometimes even when I don’t.”

  “Ain’t that the truth,” Aimee muttered, laughing.

  Glenda’s eyes came back to Reyn. “Doc also vowed to protect me with his life, and because of that, every last member of this club will protect me with their lives. That’s what they do. Club secrets aren’t between me and my ol’ man. They have nothing to do with us or our marriage. They’re between my husband and his brothers. I’m on a need to know basis, and that serves me just fine. As for Tara, I’ll let you in on a not-so-little secret. From the moment she walked through that door, she had her sights set on Buck. That girl made a fool out of herself over him more times than I can count. It took you one night to do what she’s spent two years trying to do.”

  “But I made her tell me,” Reyn argued.

  “You didn’t make her do shit,” Glenda spat. “Don’t you bear that cross because it’s not yours to bear. She learned something she shouldn’t have, and she used it, hoping it would hurt you. In return, it hurt the club. Let that be a lesson to you all.” Glenda’s phone rang, and the conversation was over. She’d given Reyn a lot to think about.

  They were almost finished with making dinner when Ax walked in and asked Reyn if she’d seen Buck. She was about to answer when they saw headlights coming up the drive. Hopefully, that was him. She couldn’t wait to get her things.

  Steele came through the door first. Then Ink, Loco, and Doc. Behind Doc came Buck. Reyn took one look at him, saw that he was covered in blood, and shot to her feet.

  Fear ripped through her, as she gasped, “Oh my God, what happened? Are you okay?”

  “Get him into the med room,” Doc ordered. Buck didn’t say a word. She wasn’t even sure he saw her. Panic coated her throat as he limped past her.

  She made a move to go after him, and Loco stopped her with a stern, “Not now.”

  Stung by his tone, concerned that something was wrong with Buck, and pissed off that she was being shut out, she snapped, “I just want to see that he’s okay.” She made a move in Buck’s direction and Loco stepped in front of her. Why was he blocking her? Why couldn’t she see Buck?

  “Not Now,” he repeated in a scary growl.

  “You can see him later, honey,” Aimee told her.

  Confused, not to mention hurt, Reyn turned on her heel and ran. She didn’t stop until she was in Buck’s room with the door closed. As she sat on the foot of his bed staring at the door—wishing that it would open and everything would be okay—she began to think that maybe this world wasn’t for her after all.

  Two hours later, when Buck still hadn’t made an appearance, Reyn gave up waiting and decided to go to bed. She’d just crawled between the sheets and turned out the light when the bedroom door opened. Light from the hallway spilled across the bed and quickly disappeared as Buck closed the door behind him. She heard him shuffle across the room. The bathroom door opened and then closed. The shower came on, and she imagined him washing off all the blood. Her stomach ached with worry. Was it his blood or someone else’s?

  It seemed like hours before she heard the shower turn off. A few minutes later, the bathroom door opened, and the bed dipped beside her. The musky clean scent of his soap washed over her, and she breathed it in. Slowly, she turned to face him. He was on his back, his eyes open and trained on the ceiling. She must have opened her mouth ten times to ask if he was okay, but she couldn’t seem to get the words out. They lay there in silence.

  Finally, not able to stand it any longer, she whispered, “Just tell me you’re okay.” His head turned, and his eyes hit on her. Her heart nearly stopped beating when she saw his wet face. Shifting onto her forearm, she leaned in close. “What is it, Buck? Please talk to me.”

  Buck’s hand shot out, and he tagged the back of her neck. Pulling her i
nto his chest, he wrapped his arms around her, and in a heartbreakingly guttural tone, he said, “They’re dead.” Then he broke into sobs.

  Reyn didn’t ask who. She didn’t say anything. She simply held him tight. Eventually, his grip loosened. When his breathing became deep and steady, she knew he’d fallen asleep. Someone was dead. As she lay in his arms, listening to the beat of his heart, she had one resounding thought. Thank God it wasn’t Buck.

  Reyn woke the next morning to an empty bed. Couldn’t he have at least stayed a few minutes to talk to me? Sighing in frustration, she scooted out of bed and headed to the bathroom. Buck’s shower took up most of his bathroom. Rectangular in shape, it spanned the entire right side. With the black shower curtain, it reminded Reyn of a giant black box. Buck may have skimped on the curtain, but he absolutely nailed it with the shower head.

  After washing her face and brushing her teeth, she shrugged out of Buck’s t-shirt before stepping inside. As the warm water beat down on her, she thought about last night, wondering who was dead. Was it someone she knew? She was ticking off all the people it couldn’t be when the curtain suddenly opened. There stood Buck with not a stitch of clothing on. Her body ignited as his blue eyes scanned over her. She drank him in. Dark hair. Colorful tattoos. Chiseled body. Perfect man. Her gaze paused on his erection, and she wanted it. To touch it, taste it, feel it thrusting inside her over and over again. This man hadn’t claimed just her heart, he’d claimed her body, mind, and soul. Was it too soon to feel this way? Yes. Could she stop it if she tried? Maybe. Did she want to? No. As he stepped inside the shower, she saw the bandage on his side.

  “You’re hurt.”

  She reached to touch it and he said, “Don’t.” Lifting his fingers to her mouth, he brushed them over her lips. “Do you know how many times I’ve dreamed about these lips?” Butterflies took flight inside her belly as his thumb traced over her bottom lip and then her top. “I’ve dreamed about this mouth taking my cock.” His dark, seductive words made her pussy spasm. It also made her want to drop to her knees and beg him for it. Leaning in, he touched his lips to hers, then pulling back slightly, he whispered, “Make me forget.”