by Debra Kayn
Too bad the road therapy failed to solve the problem he had with Dinah.
"Anything I should know?" Peer took the empty tray from Heather and waited until she left the bar area. "You look serious, man."
"Roads are clear. No sign of trouble." He turned around on the stool and watched Dinah talk with the customers leaving.
The bar closed in ten minutes. Drinks were cut off. Customers paid their tab. Soon, he'd be back in bed with Dinah.
He'd made it a week without having sex. Someone should give him a fucking medal.
It wasn't easy sleeping next to Dinah when he had the memories of having sex with her. He'd sought her out because he recognized a need within her that also dwelled inside of him.
The excuse of having an itch to scratch helped him walk away from her the first time. The second time, it was pure lust. He'd wanted her again.
That urge never went away despite the shitstorm she brought down on Slag.
Dinah smiled at the two men she was talking with and helped the servers clean up the tables. His cock pulsed, spreading pleasure through him. Going by the glances, the solemn mood shift, she constantly remained aware of him in the room.
She walked around the counter and stopped in front of him. "Stop it."
"Problem?" He raised his glass and took another drink of beer.
"Quit staring at me." She stacked the used trays and put them on the kitchen window to be washed by the two women who were employed by Slag to clean before the bar opened again. "Everyone knows what you're doing."
"No one knows."
"You're lying." She lowered her voice. "I even had a customer ask me if I belonged to you because of the way you're hovering around me."
"Isn't that what you want?" He took in the flush at the base of her neck. "Someone to help you escape? Play the helpless woman to the customers, hoping they'd help you?"
Her gaze narrowed. "Go to hell."
He downed the rest of the beer and handed her the empty mug. "Been there. Didn't stay long and came to America. They weren't too wild about bikers if I remember right."
She frowned, shaking her head. He enjoyed her confusion. While Hell was a village in Norway, he took pleasure in getting under her skin.
There was nothing like a frustrated woman, all hot and bothered.
"Ja." Peer stepped over and took the glass from Dinah's hand. "Hell is too quiet. Not enough action."
Dinah exhaled harshly, sneered at both of them, and walked out of the bar into the hallway. Brage tapped the counter with his hand, calling it a night.
She couldn't run far. Roar was in the alley waiting for Lizzy and Coco, and the prospects were at the gates.
"You look like you need a few more drinks, brother." Peer wiped down the counter. "Are you going to stay up and join us in the clubhouse or hit the sack?"
He needed to drink himself into bed, but because Dinah would get herself in more trouble trying to escape while he was knocked out drunk, he wouldn't be joining the others. "I need to babysit."
Peer chuckled. "Enjoy your night."
"I wish I was." He stood from the stool and turned back to Peer. "Anything from your baby momma?"
Peer shook his head and ended with a shrug. That's all he was going to get out of him. Since Kelli came back to him pregnant, poor Peer couldn't tell which way was up. Kelli had left again without telling anyone where she was going. No man should have to go through that.
He walked down the hallway, checked the breakroom for Dinah, and continued out of the building. In the alley, he looked around for her and found her with Monica and Heather.
Rune slapped Brage's arm. "Want to ride?"
"Can't." He lifted his chin in Dinah's direction for his excuse not to hit the street. "Where's Elling?"
"Inside."
He walked toward the clubhouse, leaving Dinah to talk with the ladies. Even if she tried to convince them to open the gate for her, the prospects wouldn't allow her out.
What he needed to do would be better done without her around. Going by the text he'd received an hour ago from Roar, Elling had made headway in the background check on Dinah.
Finding Roar, Elling, Marcus, and Joel waiting for him, he headed inside and walked to the back of the room, going down the hallway to the meeting room. Once inside the room, he sent a text to Glenn asking him to watch Dinah for him.
Once he got an affirmative reply, he sat at the table with the others. "News?"
"More than I expected to find." Elling slid a file across the table. "Do you want to read it yourself or hear it?"
"Go ahead." He leaned back in the chair and crossed his arms.
He anticipated hearing about the usual things a single woman would acquire. A mediocre credit rating, last known address, maybe a divorce in her past. If Elling worked the channels Slag MC had set up for such a purpose as investigating their enemies, he could find a person's relatives, VIN numbers, and well-buried secrets.
They used the information to harass individuals and put punishment on those closest to their enemies. He hoped to find out about the man he found her hugging wearing Moroad colors.
"Luckily, Roar had Dinah's social security number because of her working at The Fire Ring." Elling leaned forward and braced his elbows on the table. "Except, I noticed a discrepancy which is what took me a few extra days to research. The information I got through the social security office doesn't match her birth certificate. But, before I get to that, we'll start with the basics."
Elling looked at Brage to go on, and when he received permission, he said, "She told you she was twenty-six years old and through Social Security, it says that she's twenty-four years old."
"It could be a typo and something she never thought was important to fix," said Roar.
Elling shrugged. "I thought of that. Plus, she could've lied about her age. Dinah wouldn't be the first woman to do that when hooking up with a man. Though they usually claim to be younger, not older."
"The next thing that stuck out to me is her birth certificate, it lists Brad Reed as her father and a woman named...get this, Jane Doe as her mother." Elling's gaze intensified. "Born in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, which is about forty-five minutes west of Federal."
"Okay," he muttered, following along.
Elling's gaze widened. "That's where things got interesting."
"How so?"
"Brad Reed is a member of Moroad Motorcycle Club, along with his younger brother, Tony." Elling inhaled deeply. "Brad is forty years old. Tony is thirty-nine years old. If we go off Dinah being twenty-six years old, that would've made her father fourteen when she was born. Even putting her at twenty-four years old, that would make Brad Reed a sixteen-year-old dad. What are the odds that a sixteen-year-old boy impregnated a girl named Jane Doe and he raised his baby while being a juvenile?"
Brage scratched his jaw through his beard. Hell, he'd had sex for the first time at fourteen years old. It was possible.
"All leads on Dinah ended there, so I followed the trail on Brad." Elling paused. "Brad was in a detention hall from age thirteen to seventeen for armed burglary. It seems he tried to hit up a gas station and the gun went off. Two months before his eighteenth birthday, he was placed back at home. Tony has a similar juvenile path and went to prison at eighteen years old for two years. When he got out, he joined Moroad like his older brother."
"Brad isn't her father." He stared at the table following the timeline. "What about this Jane Doe?"
"Dead end. Far as I can see, she doesn't exist. I believe somehow, Brad Reed was able to get someone within records to accept the phony name."
"Who is Dinah Reed?" he asked. "What aren't you saying?"
"Brage..." Elling shook his head. "Everything is pointing toward her birth certificate, and social security number is a fake. The only one who is going to know the real facts is Dinah."
"That's not what I wanted to hear," he muttered.
"We all wanted answers." Roar sat on the edge of the table. "One thing we do know is th
e names of the men she's involved with in Moroad. We make her pay and send her back as a message not to fuck with us."
"Hell..." He stood up.
He wasn't into hurting females. None of them were. In all the years, he couldn't remember one girl that'd been hurt as payback.
"You have a better idea?" asked Roar.
"I'll kill the Reed brothers." He looked around the room. "A direct hit."
"I'm not through." Elling shifted on the chair. "While all fingers point to Dinah as just a woman Moroad set up with a fake background to try and get inside Slag, earlier tonight I looked through the cell phone you took off her when you held her in the clubhouse. There are a few texts that came the last several days from someone named T. I'm assuming that's Tony. Going off your description of the man she met at the waterfront, he fits the bill. The man listed as father, Brad Reed is currently in state prison."
"What did the text say?" he asked.
"He calls her sis, for one." Elling looked up. "Lots of verbal threats of violence. The last one came in yesterday, telling her to get her ass out of there—I'm assuming that meant away from Slag."
He reached for his smokes and put a cigarette in his mouth without lighting it. The idea of someone hurting Dinah sickened him. No matter what she'd done to Slag, she was obviously doing it to protect herself or the guy named Tony.
Roar had no complaints about her work ethics. She proved an easy prisoner. Then, there was the side of her that he'd known intimately.
"I'm going after Tony Reed." He needed to get out of the room and work through what he'd learned. "Someone will have to watch over Dinah. Lock her in the room. I should be able to get to Federal in seven-eight hours, plus the time to find Reed, and be back—"
"You're not going into Moroad territory alone." Roar stood.
"I'm not going to let harm come down on the club or let anyone touch her." He walked to the door, needing to see Dinah with his own eyes and make sure she was okay. "You guys have until tomorrow morning to vote."
He strode down the hallway. At the entrance of the main room, loud popping filled the air. He took off running toward the door, joining the mass of Slag members rushing outside to see what had happened.
Outside, met with confusion, he shoved past the others, and yelled, "What the fuck is going on?"
The gate opened. That's when he noticed the loud rumble. There was an invasion.
"Stand up," he yelled, removing his pistol from the back of his belt.
Slag members surrounded him. He had no time to look for Dinah. Riders, wearing different colors, flooded in from the east side of the alley.
"Sons of bitches." Roar stepped up beside him. "Who was on the gate?"
"Dag Rasmussen, the newest prospect." He turned and shouted, "All weapons up."
As quickly as the bikers rode in, they turned their motorcycles off. The silence amplified in the alley. None of the Slag members moved, guarding the clubhouse. He only hoped the women had taken Dinah inside when the shots were fired.
One rider rolled his black motorcycle closer. "Akram?"
"You can see me, Aldridge. I should kill you and your men for breaching the line and coming on Slag property." Roar stayed in formation.
Brage beaded his sight into the middle of Moroad's president, Jeremy Aldridge's forehead. "Got him," he whispered to Roar.
"You have someone who belongs to Moroad." Aldridge's gaze never left Roar's. "We didn't kill your prospect as a show of wanting to do an exchange. He's sitting out on the curb. Tomorrow, he'll probably have a hell of a headache. We could've killed him and taken out half your club, but we're showing good faith in the exchange of getting one of our women back."
"Unless you want some bloodshed, you'll ride on out." Roar stepped forward. "We don't have any—"
"Dinah," yelled a Moroad member somewhere behind Aldridge. "Get out here."
Brage's finger tightened on the trigger. These men were not getting Dinah.
"Tony?" said Dinah.
Movement from the side of the alley, near the back door of the bar, caught Brage's attention. He took his gaze off Aldridge, and his heart pounded. Dinah, Monica, Heather, Coco, and Lizzy were caught in the alley when the shooting happened.
Roar must've noticed at the same time because both of them walked forward, hoping to draw the attention off the women.
"Put your guns down." Roar kept his knife in his hand at his side and stopped within fifteen feet of Aldridge.
Brage lowered his arm. He wasn't going to make a move for Dinah and bring extra eyes on her. He wanted everyone looking at him.
"I'll give you who you want." Roar motioned Dinah forward. "And, then you can ride out of here alive."
Slag never backed down. The words out of Roar's mouth were pretty for a reason, and Brage understood what needed to be done. No one stepped on them without paying the price.
Brage searched for the rider who'd called out to Dinah, anticipating the direction she was moving in and zeroed in on a man to the left of Aldridge, about ten feet back. He raised his pistol. One shot. That's all he needed.
Dinah stopped beside the biker. Brage exhaled slowly, steadying his hand.
His chest tightened. He couldn't hear the words exchanged between the two.
Dinah shook her head, stepping away. The man grabbed her hair, pulling her back to him. Her startled yelp burned Brage's ears. He pulled the trigger.
All hell broke loose.
Chapter 16
Slag members worked on supporting the gate after Moroad Motorcycle Club members were forced to leave amidst gunfire. Dinah pulled against Brage's hold on her arm.
The fear that'd swept through her when Moroad busted in remained with her. She hadn't expected Tony to come and bring his club with him. What about their private meeting?
Brage tightened his hand, refusing to let her walk away. "Someone give me an update on Dag."
"Finn is stitching up Dag's head. He's probably got a concussion. There's a little memory loss over what happened. Heather is staying with him and making sure he doesn't get worse." Viktor carried a new piece of metal siding toward the end of the alley.
"Keep working on the gate. I want a crew surrounding the block, and if the cops show up, we need a warning." Brage turned around, pulling Dinah with him. "Roar?"
"He's on the phone with Knute, letting the Seattle Chapter know what went down," said Joel.
"Brage, please. Let go of my arm." Dinah tried to pry his fingers off her. "You shot Tony."
"Unfortunately, he's going to live." Brage held on to Dinah's arm. "For now."
"C-can I use a phone and call him?" Her words came erratically through her tears.
"Are you kidding me?" Brage kept her in front of him. "You're fucking responsible for what happened tonight. There are three hundred members who want to get rid of you, and you're concerned about the fucker who—"
"He's my brother," she screamed, her desperation showing.
The second she heard the bang and Tony's grip on her hair gave way, she knew what had happened. Instinct had her backing away from her brother, and she'd knocked into a motorcycle. Someone, a Moroad member, kicked her down. All she could think to do was stay on the ground and cover her head, making herself as small as possible.
In the next second, Brage hauled her to her feet. She had no idea where Tony had gone or if he'd left under his own power or if one of the Moroad members hauled him away.
She looked around, searching for Tony's motorcycle being left behind but with all the bikes in the alley, she couldn't be sure if one of them belonged to her brother.
"Tony Reed is your brother?" Brage's gaze narrowed. "You're sure about that?"
Her time to keep her relationship with the Moroad members was over now that war had started between the two clubs. A war that seemed centered around her.
She pressed her teeth together to keep from chattering. For once, she wished the heat from the sauna surrounded her.
Tony had claimed he was the person
in trouble. Why would Moroad come after her?
She opened her mouth to try and explain again in hopes of gaining possession of her phone, any phone, but Brage shook his head, stopping her.
"As soon as the gate is fixed and we've gained an all-clear that the cops aren't going to bust in here asking about a shooting, you and I are going to talk. This time, you're going to tell me every damn thing you know," he said.
The time for her to confess came sooner than she'd expected. Two hours later, Brage put a cup of coffee in her hands as daylight broke outside. Roar and Elling stood off to the side of the room.
Sitting on the edge of the bed, she trembled in Brage's small bedroom with all the men watching her. Roar was no longer her boss. Elling was no longer an occasional customer in the bar. Brage was no longer a man she'd had sex with and knew intimately since being held captive.
Most of all, she could no longer rely on Tony to save her and Brad was in prison. She was alone, and it was never so clear that these men would rather get rid of her than let her leave under her own power.
"Let's start from the top. What's your name?" asked Brage.
Disappointed that he wouldn't believe anything coming out of her mouth, it no longer mattered if he knew who she was.
"Dinah Reed. Brad and Tony Reed are my older brothers," she said.
Brage shared a look with the others in the room and turned back to her. "How old are you?"
"Twenty-six."
He pulled the chair toward the bed. The wooden legs screeching against the floor. Goosebumps broke out along her arms, and she squeezed her hands between her thighs to keep him from seeing her shake.
"Why did your brothers send you to Slag?" Brage held up his hand. "Think about that, because we already know more than you've given us."
She swallowed. "Tony's in trouble with Moroad. I don't know why or what's going on. H-he told me his club would kill him if he didn't get information on Slag. He needed my help. They—Moroad, rented the house I'm staying in, and I agreed to help my brother."