Avenging Devil Part 1: Satan’s Devils MC - San Diego Chapter #3

by Mellett, Manda

  “I got a note,” I spit at him. “It told me to ask you about your old lady.”

  “A fuckin’ note? When? That night?” When I nod, he rakes his hands over his head. “Christ, Saffie.” His eyes pierce me. “So why didn’t you talk to me? Fuck, I thought we had something between us, and you go and believe that?” His face goes blank. “You just believed it,” he repeats with resignation. Then his expression starts to change as his already dark colouring deepens, and his eyes fill with rage. His hands clench, his body vibrates.

  Though I should be scared, I sense I’ve got nothing to fear from him. In fact, I roll back my head, defiantly staring up at him, daring him to contradict what I’ve been told.

  “The note was pushed under my door. It was a warning to me. Who’d go out of their way to do that if it wasn’t true?”

  As fast as it came, he shakes off his anger, his face radiating sadness instead. “Fuck. No wonder you didn’t want to talk to me.” He shakes his head. “I’m so far from having an old lady, it’s a joke. As for who, one person occurs to me. And if it’s her, she’s fuckin’ dead. Saffie, I fucked a woman once, months back, and that was a fuckin’ mistake when I was drunk. Since then, she won’t leave me alone. Even the club girls have taken to chasing her off. Salem escorted her out of the club a couple of nights back. She’s nothing to me and never has been. If it was her, she was only trying to stir up trouble between us.”

  Unreasonably jealous she’s had a part of him I have not, forgetting for a moment I don’t want it, I say cattily, “So you fucked her, didn’t find her to your taste, and dropped her just like that?” I should have known. It’s the way bikers act.

  His voice rises. “I barely remember fuckin’ her. I was drunk. If anything, it was she who took advantage. Good or bad, I have no recollection.” He huffs. “What would you say if a woman was drunk, and a man forced himself onto her? What would you call it then?” He pauses, then shakes his head. “I didn’t even know whether I used a condom or not, so got tested as soon as I sobered up. And that, Saffie, was the last time I fucked anyone. If I had an ol’ lady, my damn hand wouldn’t be so overworked.”

  I’m half full of hope, half disgust at myself, knowing I’m lapping up his explanation. The words he’s saying make me want to believe him, when maybe I shouldn’t. Turning around I face him, my hands fluttering in the air. “Who can I believe, Niran?”

  His dark eyes, full of anguish, settle on me. “Not an anonymous note writer for a start. If you don’t trust me, Saffie, then you were right to leave. I thought I’d shown you enough that you’d never doubt me. You never came and asked me for the truth.” He wipes his forehead and looks at me sadly. “You really thought I had an old lady in the wings I was cheating on? How could you believe that of me?”

  He’s been moving, either his fingers across his hair, or using his hands to gesticulate at me. Suddenly he stills. “Fuck. How could it have been Susie? Even if she dared return to the club, she wouldn’t have known where you were staying that night. It has to be Cyn. My own fuckin’ sister.”

  His sister? “Why would she lie, Niran?”

  He visibly slumps. “Remember I hadn’t shut the door that night? I didn’t want you to feel trapped. I thought I heard someone outside, but dismissed it. After I left you, she appeared. She could have been eavesdropping. If she had, she’d have heard me offering to turn in my patch and leave the club.”

  “And that matters to her?” It kind of makes sense, but I’m not convinced. Okay, I hadn’t taken to Cyn when I’d met her briefly, and knew she’d taken an instant dislike to me.

  Niran rubs his nose as though trying to think of the answer. “She’s as possessive as fuck about me. And I suspect, she gets a lot from me being in the club. If I left, she wouldn’t be welcome there. And I sure as fuck wouldn’t have her coming with us.”

  “But she must have known she’d hurt you.”

  “I honestly don’t think she gives a fuck.” He steps closer to me. “Saffie, I swear, whatever she said, it’s for her own reasons.”

  We’ve been arguing, I’ve thrown accusations, and he’s refuted each and every one. Never once have I felt at risk, as I might have done with another man. I also feel certain that were I to tell him that having heard everything, I still want him to leave, he would. Instead of judging him on what I’ve been told, I judge him on evidence instead. He’s never hurt me, and I don’t think he ever would.

  There’s something comforting about him being with me in my apartment. The noises don’t seem so threatening with him around. I feel the most at ease than I have since I returned.

  He could be with me forever if I just reached out.

  I let the tension ease from me, my shoulders dipping as they relax, and my breath comes more evenly. “I think I believed the note as it was easy. I wanted an excuse to think you weren’t the man I made you out to be. You scared me when you said you’d claimed me. And then when you said you’d leave the club… You’ve offered so much when I’ve nothing to give you. We’ve not even had sex.”

  He looks at me sharply. “Sex? Hell, darlin’. Sure, that’s part of a relationship, but not the be-all and end-all of it. You, you’re different, like nothing I’ve known before. From the moment we met, there was something inside you that called to me. If you ask me what, I couldn’t explain.” He smooths his hands over his face, drawing down the skin below his eyes. “I wanted to be there for you, not sexually, but as a friend. I respect you, that’s the difference. I wanted to get to know the real you, to be there for you while you couldn’t be strong for yourself, to see you become the confident, strong woman I know you are under all the burdens you carry. In the meantime, you needed something from me, something that was my gift to give, my protection. It wasn’t a hardship thinking about making you my old lady, even if we hadn’t taken the next step yet, nor knowing when or if that was ever going to be possible.”

  His words are hypnotising, poetic, and on the face of it, reasonable. I point out what’s wrong. “But you didn’t ask me. I don’t know you, and you really don’t know me. You know a…” I pause to choke back a sob, “a now-not-pregnant woman who’s got a ton of shit to sort out. I don’t even know myself, Niran. I know I’ve changed since I left Duke, and I know I’ll need to change again if I’m to survive.”

  He chuckles softly. “I know all about needing to change, darlin’.” Tapping his leg, he continues, “I know all about regrets. Maybe I haven’t lost something as precious as you have, but I do understand how difficult it is to reverse everything you thought you had straight. Yeah, circumstances led to the idea of us skipping a few steps and heading straight for the old lady part, but I didn’t walk into it blindly.”

  I can’t lead him on. “Nothing’s changed. I’m still leaving.”

  “I know.” He drops his head into his hands. “Offer still stands, I’ll come with you.”

  “No, Niran, you can’t. You’d come to resent me. Your club’s your family, and I could never replace that.”

  The look he gives me, followed by his defeated sigh, tells me I’m right and he knows it.

  Suddenly I want to address the other side of the coin. “What, what would you do if I stayed?” Part of me wonders if I’m mad. Whether I should have jumped at the chance of being his old lady with both feet. I’d be protected, and safe. But I’d be associated with a club of bikers and I couldn’t get away from that. I’d be property.

  “If you stayed? Well, fuck, I’d call you my old lady, but we wouldn’t rush into anything. First, we’d eliminate the threat, get Duke off your back. Then, I’d date you. Take time to get to know you, then, if things went right and when you were in the right headspace, I’d show you how good we could be together in bed.”

  My stomach twists at his words, but not unpleasantly, and though getting rid of Duke should take foremost place, it’s the rest he offers that almost draws me in. He’d take things slowly, woo me. Somehow, I doubt he wouldn’t have to try too hard.

  But how
far would he go? “And what if,” I gulp, trying to address the topic without tears, “I was still carrying another man’s baby? What if I’d kept it, what if he’d been healthy?”

  His eyes crease. “You’re you, Saffie. And I’m man enough to take on another man’s kid. Blood isn’t what makes a dad.”

  He’s saying all the right words. “Do you want kids?”

  He meets my eyes, and without hesitation, says, “If the woman I’m with wants them, I’ll move heaven and earth to fulfil her dreams.”

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Saffie

  Oh my God. What am I doing turning this perfect man down?

  Curling my fingers into my palms, I convince myself to think of my options. I can’t stay while he’s a member of his club, and he can’t leave, not without it changing the person he is.

  What if I stay, give it time, see if a relationship could evolve between us? But with Duke closing in, without the club, it won’t just be me that’s unprotected, it would also be him.

  Best I should keep to my plan and leave. Alone. Damn Duke. It’s him that’s forcing my hand. It’s he who’s making me give up maybe the best thing to ever happen to me in my life.

  Maybe I could enjoy Niran’s presence for the days or maybe just hours until Token gets me my new papers and it’s time to go.

  “Is there news of Duke?” I bite my lip.

  “Nah. Not yet. Token’s still trying to find out how much he knows. But so far there’s nothing to say the Wolves are on the move.”

  “How would you know?”

  “Token’s got his fingers on the pulse, checking all the electronic methods which Duke could use to find you. And we’re utilising old-fashioned methods as well. It isn’t foolproof, but we’ve got our Vegas Chapter and friendly clubs ready to alert us if there are signs they’re heading this way. It’s a five-hour ride or so, someone should pick them up en route and in enough time to give us some warning.”

  Five hours. Not much notice to run for my life.

  His mouth twists. “I’m not going to lie to you. If you were at the club as my old lady, the brothers would be standing guard and ready to defend you and the compound. As you’re not, and if you don’t want me with you, you’ve got to accept that you’re on your own. Should we get word Duke’s in the wind, then you’ll need to move on. Utah will send us instructions, we’ll set you on your way, then you’ll be met, just like with the Freedom Trail.”

  I shudder and look around me. I want to retract all previous statements. I want Niran to come with me. Though even as the thought enters my head, I know it would be wrong to use him that way. Steeling myself, I take a breath, and reply, simply, “Okay.”

  He grimaces. “I’ll fuckin’ hate saying goodbye.”

  So will I.

  As we reach an uneasy impasse, Niran gets to his feet and goes into the kitchen. “Christ, woman, what d’you eat? You’ve nothing here.”

  There didn’t seem much point in stocking the cupboards, not when I’m going to be leaving, so I don’t answer him.

  “Can I borrow your phone?” he asks as he reappears.

  “Sure. Yours dead again?”

  He gives a twisted grin. “Fuckin’ battery just dies when I don’t expect it.” He takes mine and dials a number. “Kid?... Yeah… Can you pick up a couple of pizzas, bring them to Saffie’s… Yeah, that’ll do. Thank you.”

  “There was no need for that.” My eyes widen. “I could have gone out and gotten something, or we could have ordered in.”

  “Saffie,” he says, tiredly, staring at his phone once again as if it’s offended him by being dead. “You’ve packed shit. If you’re leaving, you’ve got to decide what to take with you. As I said, you might not get much notice. As much as you can fit in the car is all you’ll be able to take. Kid can help you get shit ready, carry it down the stairs. I need to go back to the clubhouse and get my charger and speak to Token to get an update. Kid will be here while I’m gone.”

  I stiffen. “I don’t need babysitting.”

  “He’s not a fuckin’ babysitter. He’s your resource for you to direct.”

  A prospect doing my bidding? Never heard of that before. “I’m fine doing it alone,” I insist.

  He sends me a look that speaks volumes, that I’ve done such a good job of it already. “I’m sure you are, but humour me, okay?”

  In my heart, I know I don’t want to move on. But he’s right. I could get the signal any moment. One thing him turning up has done is focus my mind about Duke and jerk me out of my state of lethargy. It might not be Niran, but in time I could have a future with someone, even another baby perhaps. Duke’s stolen so much from me. I don’t want him to take my future too.

  Noticing my sad expression, Niran closes the gap between us, resting his hand gently on my cheek. “The boys know where I am if something urgent comes up, but I’d like to get a feeling for what’s going on.”

  “With the Crazy Wolves?”

  He doesn’t use words to confirm, but the compassionate look in his eyes makes me shiver. I need to get gone, away from San Diego.

  As if he can read my mind, his hand moves, raising my chin slightly, so I’m forced to look into his eyes. “I wish there was some way I could persuade you to stay.”

  “Duke knows I’m in San Diego. He’s already closing in.”

  “The offer still stands. You could still be my ol’ lady.”

  Twisting out of his grip, I snap back, “And I’ve already told you, I don’t want to be anyone’s old lady, property, wife or possession again.”

  “It wouldn’t be like that,” he replies sternly. “I wouldn’t ask anything you’re not prepared to give. We’re friends, aren’t we? Who knows what could develop?”

  “I’m going, Niran. Alone.” The spark in my eyes challenges him, but my mind is made up.

  His mouth opens, but at that moment, there’s a knock on the door and Kid’s voice shouts through it, “Food delivery.”

  With a shake of his head, Niran approaches the door and opens it. When Kid enters, he goes to close it again. He’s got it almost latched when it’s kicked in, so violently, Niran’s knocked off balance, and falls to the floor as his prosthetic leg slips out from under him.

  I watch as it happens in slow motion. Kid stands, mouth open, boxes dropping from his hands as Duke storms in, followed closely by Slit, Croak and Grit. As if they’d choreographed every movement, Slit drops to the floor beside Niran, holding a gun to his head and Croak rushes forward and puts his arm around the scrawny prospect’s neck.

  Duke gives a sharp nod. Croak raises his other hand and twists. There’s an audible crack, and Kid’s only got time to widen his eyes before he falls to the ground. Sightless eyes meet mine, and I know that he’s dead.

  The ensuing silence seems loud. I’m the first to react, turning and vomiting nothing but bile over the couch. Not again. Not another prospect losing his life.

  “Whoops.” Croak grins unapologetically as he eyes the body at his feet. “Don’t know my own fuckin’ strength, do I?”

  Duke gives a hearty laugh as if it’s the best joke he’s ever heard.

  “Bastard!” Niran roars.

  Quick as a flash, Slit pistol whips Niran, making him fall back to the ground, then sinks his weight over him, pinning him down, his gun inches away from Niran’s ear. “Don’t fuckin’ move. I doubt a shot would worry the residents in this fuckin’ dump.”

  “No one else here,” Grit states, emerging from my bedroom.

  Duke gives an assessing look around, seeming satisfied he’s in control of the situation. He holsters his weapon and approaches me. His hand rises, and his fingers take a painful grip of my chin forcing me to my feet.

  As I stand, I stare at Niran horrified. When his eyes meet mine, I read apology in them. For a second, I want to rant at him, telling him the Satan’s Devils’ assurances had, in the end, been worth nothing. Then the thought comes to me that this is what he wanted all along, for Duke to catch up with me.


  I don’t know what to believe. But the way Slit’s guarding Niran doesn’t suggest he counts him as a friend. I try to find comfort that whatever part he played, Niran will be dead soon anyway.

  Then simultaneously, I want to scream at them to let him go free, unable to believe he had any role in this.

  Duke has yet to speak to me. When he rectifies that omission, he does so first with his fists, not his mouth. I stumble, fall, my cheek burning, my ear ringing, and my stomach throbbing in agony.

  “You killed my fuckin’ kid!” he yells. “My kid, Sapphire.”

  The accusation surprises me. I had no idea he’d known I was pregnant. But his claim gives me the backbone I hadn’t expected to exist. “You did that,” I retort with a scream. “What you and your brothers did to me meant he couldn’t survive. I had no choice, Duke.”

  “What I did to you?” He backhands me again, sending me to my knees. “If you wanted my baby, why did you take the pill for years and hide it from me? Why, when I planted my seed in you, you ran away and made sure it was killed? What did I do to you, Sapphire? You tell me.”

  I should heed the warning in his eyes, but the events of yesterday make me want to fight back, if only verbally. “I didn’t beat myself, Duke. I didn’t feed myself drugs.”

  “You took them fuckin’ willingly,” he snarls.

  I brace for the next blow, but it doesn’t help. This one makes me see stars. Falling prone, I can’t move, just gasp for breath. For good measure, he kicks me viciously in the thigh.

  Then he appears to lose interest. “Who the fuck are you?” he asks Niran. “Why are you with my ol’ lady? You fuckin’ her? Oh fuck it, I don’t even care.” He nods at Slit who cocks his gun. “Just kill the fuckin’ nigger. I don’t want him breathing the same air.”