Bounty

by Aubrey St. Clair

  “Is an asshole,” Snake finishes for me, that impish grin back on his weathered face. “And he ain’t the voice of the whole damn MC, you know. You got loyalists, through and through. Not everyone’s so damn stupid they can’t see what you’ve done for ‘em. And once I figured out something big was goin’ on behind your back, I convinced them that now was the time that we do something for you.”

  “You… you know about Edward Stonewall?” I say, each syllable feeling thick and foreign on my tongue. I glance at Evelyn again. “About what he did to us, I mean. About the company—my company—and the deal?”

  “I do now. Eddie here filled me in on the whole story. After a bit of convincing, anyway. I had a few of the guys up here a few minutes ago, helping with that. We didn’t need everyone downstairs taking care of security, after all.”

  “Wait, I don’t get it.” I’ve only had one drink, so I’m sure it’s not the booze confusing me. This doesn’t add up. “If you didn’t know about everything before Stonewall here confessed, how’d you get here in the first place?” I narrow my eyes. “I thought you aligned yourself with Ripper.”

  Snake shakes his head. “No, I let Ripper assume I was aligned with him. Never once did I pledge any kind of loyalty to that piece of shit. I just knew he had something going on behind the scenes, and you know what they say about catchin’ flies. Honey works better than vinegar.”

  “Apparently, so does bullshit.”

  Snake grins again. “Exactly. I tried to call you right after Ripper spilled the beans on his plan, but I couldn’t reach you. Then when you came to the club that night, when he wanted you to announce stepping down, I tried to tell you again, but you guys took off before I could like you were going to put out a fire. After that you pretty much disappeared for a few days, so I decided to try and figure out what the fuck was going on for myself. It didn’t take long to get Ripper to admit to where he got the pics. Apparently, E-dawg here contacted Ripper after seeing him with you at the bar, right after you hit him. Guess one rat can sniff out another, since he seemed to sense Ripper wasn’t one of your biggest fans.”

  That doesn’t surprise me. It’s rare that I don’t catch Ripper scowling at me openly. He’s never hid his disdain for me or my leadership. Edward could have easily picked up on that, especially if he was desperate to settle the score.

  “So, yeah,” Snake continued, “guess the two of them realized they had some similar goals and decided to work together. Only this one here...” He slaps Edward hard on the shoulders now, which still barely causes the man to react. “...knew enough not to give Ripper the full story on you. If he did, there’s no way Ripper would have waited to try and bring you down, and apparently, that wasn’t part of Eddie’s plan—was it? Not unless you didn’t agree to his terms, anyway. Otherwise, he’d lose some of the leverage he had on you.”

  I just stare at my VP as the pieces start to fall into place, still stunned at this turn of events. Snake laughs at the face I’m pulling, but there is no malice in his chortle. I’ve had him pegged wrong this whole time.

  “Right, so anyway, when I realized Ripper didn’t have the full story, I decided to get it for myself. But first, I rounded up the troops for some backup. We’ve been watching this place for a couple days, trying to figure out the best time to make a move. Luckily, Eddie here let everyone go early a few hours ago, with only a few security guards left downstairs for us to worry about. Guess he was trying to empty the place for a romantic interlude with your ol’ lady here.”

  Evelyn makes a gagging noise at the thought of this, and Snake laughs again. The muscle in Edward’s jaw twitches, a tic I’ve never seen in him before. He must be furious.

  Snake adds, “As it turns out, I guess we made the right call. I mean, once me and the boys got the full story from moneybags over here, I knew you had your back against the wall, which I also knew meant you’d come out swingin’, and ain’t no way I was gonna let one of our own end up in jail—especially not our goddamn president.”

  I can feel Evelyn’s glare boring a hole through my brain. I cast her a sideways glance to see her scrutinizing me. I try to keep my face a slate, but I can tell she’s finally realized what I was planning. Thanks to Snake’s big goddamn mouth.

  But how the hell can I be mad at the guy who came all this way to have my back, and who just might have killed two birds with one stone for me?

  “I still don’t totally get it,” I admit, handing Snake my glass so he can pour me another drink. “What’s with the silent treatment from Edward, here? What did you all do to him?”

  Snake sobers somewhat. “You sure you wanna know?” His gaze flicks to Evelyn. “Might be best to spare you the details. Plausible deniability, and all that, yeah?”

  “At least tell us how it ended,” Evelyn pipes up. She’s just as stunned as I am, but there’s that fire in her eyes, a spark of curiosity that makes them almost glow. When she looks at Edward’s wan face, her lip curls in disgust. I can tell she’s aching for vengeance. “I want to know if we’re going to have to see this bastard again any time soon, and if so, what we’re up against.”

  Snake smiles and hands me my second drink. “Oh, I doubt that very much, darlin’. I don’t think you’ll have to worry about seeing old Eddie here ever again. Y’see, he’s changed his mind about those plans of his. He’s moved on to bigger and better things—or at least, he’s on a path that’ll keep him clear of anything you two might wanna embark on, now or in the future.” He winks. “To say anything more would be telling more than you two might wanna know, but rest assured, nothing about what we did here tonight was illegal. Not yet, anyway.” Here, Snake casts a glance at Edward, who acknowledges him with a flick of his beady eyes. “And we won’t, as long as Eddie keeps up his end of the bargain, which means he stays far the fuck away from both our little MC, and Bash’s company.”

  Snake chuckles as I shift uncomfortably. “Yes, Bash, we all know what you’re up to now. Goddamn, an MC president and a CEO? When do you sleep, boy? Especially with a woman the likes of Eve.” He shoots an appreciative nod her way.

  “Look, Snake,” I begin, but he cuts me off before I can get any further.

  “You think too much, you know that, Bash?” he says. “And you worry too damn much, too. I get why you’ve been so secretive. It all makes sense now—or at least, it does to me. You thought we weren’t going to accept you, the real you, on account of how you pursued a legit lifestyle in your off hours—but you still wanted to help us out. That’s the reason for all these new businesses and shit. Trying to keep us out of trouble, while still letting us feel like free men who get to crack skulls and get into mischief every once in a while. I totally get it. But you know what? Cat’s out of the bag now, and nobody else gives one flying fuck, either—at least, not the ones who matter. Well, ‘cept me and the boys are kind of wonderin’ if this means we can get new bikes, but otherwise…”

  I sit back in my chair, taking it all in. Never, in any of my projected scenarios, did this one cross my mind as a possibility, let alone a likely one. Snake, who I’d assumed was a traitor, and what sounded like most of the MC, from the tale he told, had had my back when I’d needed them most. The family I’d thought I lost had swooped in to save the day, not only for me, but for Evelyn too. That was crazy enough, but then on top of that, they’d accepted me—both parts of me—like it had never mattered at all.

  The room blurs a bit at the edges. This is all so surreal.

  “This is over?” I say, first to Snake, and then to Edward. “This is really, actually over? No more bullshit—no more games—you’re going to put a stop to the shit-storm you put in motion, just like that?”

  Edward fails to answer me for a long time. For a while, he can’t even meet my gaze. When he does, there’s nothing but hatred in those cold, seething eyes of his. He clears his throat and adjusts his tie, his Adam’s apple bobbing erratically.

  “Just like that,” he says, unfolding his hands. Beneath them is a small stack of
papers. “I was just in the process of signing the papers before you got here.”

  “Son of a bitch,” I mutter. “Finally.”

  Edward doesn’t reply. Snake is looking at him, hard, and though he doesn’t bother to acknowledge my VP, I can tell he feels his stare.

  Beside me, I hear Evelyn’s soft, lilting laugh, and when I look over, she’s practically radiant. All the tension she’d been holding inside her over the last few days is gone, and there’s a shine to her eyes I haven’t seen before. I think this is what she looks like when she’s really, truly free. And it’s so goddamn beautiful I can’t take my eyes off it.

  “I knew it,” she says. There’s such vibrancy in her tone I can almost see it. “I knew one day, I’d get to see you like this—defeated. Ruined. Well, maybe I didn’t know, exactly. But I hoped.” She shakes her head at him. All that anger in her has morphed into something softer. Something more like pity. “You bastard. You only have yourself to blame.”

  Yeah, I think, though I don’t say it out loud, I bet he’ll go home tonight and wipe those tears of his with hundred dollar bills.

  But there is some truth to Evelyn’s words. I can see it in Edward’s face. Cracks have formed in his armor and in that cold, calculating mask. Beneath it, there is a whisper of regret—probably not because of what he’s done to us, but because he hasn’t won. We’ve taken something precious from him today and struck a real blow. His winning streak is over, and I wonder, had Edward ever lost before? To anyone? Is this the first time in all his life he’s experienced what it means to fail?

  “Be a good boy, Eddie, finish signing those papers and then slide them to my friend Bash, here, and his lovely lady,” Snake says, making sure to emphasize the word his. Edward flinches visibly, but then does as he’s told. By the time this is all over, this guy might be downright suicidal.

  When he’s done, I take the documents in my hands, and to Snake, I utter a soft, “Thank you.” My VP shrugs.

  “Don’t mention it,” he answers. “Except maybe in the context of those new bikes…”

  Evelyn smiles. She turns to me and says, “I told you, didn’t I?”

  I raise a brow at her. “Told me what? That Snake here was going to swoop in and save the day, and Edward was going to roll over like a mangy dog and hand us everything we wanted, just like that? Because if so, I’m pretty sure I would’ve remembered…”

  She grins. “No. But I did tell you that you might have misjudged what their reaction would be to hearing their president also deals in high-grade motorcycle parts.”

  I can’t help it. I smile. And though it doesn’t come naturally, I manage to reply, “Yes, baby. You were right.”

  I’m betting it’s not the last time I say those words.

  Epilogue

  Evelyn

  * * *

  “Miss Silver, what do you have to say about the reports coming in that Piston, Incorporated is actually run by the leader of an outlaw motorcycle gang?”

  I can’t help but smile at that question. It’s one I’ve heard, but never answered, well over a dozen times over the past few weeks, and every single time someone asks it, this little glow starts inside me all anew.

  I could tell them the long version of the story, but no one wants to hear that—all the details of Sebastian Redding’s dual lives before he was found out, and the single, even more shocking life he’s managed to lead after. But the press are vultures at heart, and they want the easy prey. They like their meat raw and bloody, and telling them the whole truth might’ve been offering them more than they could chew.

  The whole truth was that after Snake and the rest of Bash’s MC had told us what they’d done, Sebastian underwent a complete transformation. The twin personae he’d had to keep up for all these years suddenly merged into the single person he was always meant to be, and Sebastian was able to finally let his guard down. His dreams and goals weren’t mutually exclusive anymore, and he had the freedom to do what he pleased, when he pleased—the media frenzy not withstanding, of course.

  Once word got out that Hans was not the true CEO of Piston, and that the actual, formerly secret, CEO was also the president of a motorcycle club, all the networks went nuts. I’m pretty sure that at some point, I even overheard Ben Stein waxing poetic about the turn of events on CNN, but maybe that was just my imagination. Still, everyone seemed to be talking about it, and for a while, I thought this would turn out to be Sebastian’s worst nightmare.

  But Sebastian surprised me, and everyone else, by refusing to even acknowledge that anything had changed. Sure, he was relishing the opportunity he had to conduct his business out in the open now, but otherwise, he acted like it was just another Tuesday where he balanced his work at Piston with his work at the clubhouse, fulfilling both roles as if the cameras weren’t even rolling.

  For me, though, it was pure chaos. Maybe Sebastian had come into his own, finally, but I was still new to this whole thing, and in the first few days, I was sure I would get swept up in the endless tide of questions and demands that came roaring my way. If they couldn’t get to Bash, the media reasoned, maybe they could get to me. Sebastian and the club did a fine job of keeping me at arm’s length from the more intrusive elements, but I was still feeling the pressure of this new life I’d fallen into.

  I’ll never forget the look on Sebastian’s face that day I rushed into his office, slamming the door behind me and leaning against it, hoping to keep the rabble out. I was panting so hard I was sure I’d bust a button on my blouse, but he just looked up at me from his desk and said, “We’re in this together. All right?” Then his gaze drifted out toward the skyline, though this time, the view made him smile. “We’ll weather the storm.”

  “I love you,” I’d said, a breathy reply to the confession he’d made days ago during the would-be assault on Edward Stonewall’s office. I almost thought he wouldn’t reply, that adrenaline had made Sebastian Redding bold at the time, and that now his feelings had waned. But he stood up, came around beside me, and tucked me under his arm as he said:

  “I love you, too.”

  And then we just looked out over the horizon together, the city a tiny labyrinth stretching out below us, and I knew in that moment we were going to be all right. That we were, in all truth of the matter, surveying our kingdom. We’d defeated some of the biggest obstacles in our way; what was a few more added to the list?

  That sensation of comfort and safety followed me through the following days, where somehow, everything just seemed to fall into place.

  Sebastian’s MC went fully legit—or at least, as much as an MC could. Snake never did let on exactly what had happened to Ripper, or those who had sided with him—or if he’d told Sebastian, he’d certainly never told me. But with Ripper gone and all other dissenters quashed, the MC was able to move on into a golden age. Like we’d joked back in Edward’s office, everyone ended up with shiny new bikes, which helped silence anyone else who had questions about what the hell an MC was doing running actual businesses and devoting their weekends to charity work on the side. Piston, Inc. and the MC ended up being a lot alike, and with the barrier between them smashed for good, Sebastian turned out to be a brilliant leader of both.

  In fact, with one side of the equation balanced, the other side just kind of fell into place. With Edward gone, the deal we’d all thought ruined picked up steam again. As it turns out, Edward had used his influence to force Velocity to renege on their end of the bargain, and in his absence, the original terms were looking good again. Not only that, but Sebastian discovered that Hans had actually slowed things down when he went to Germany to sort out the stolen parts fiasco, and now that a competent leader was at the helm, all the pieces were finally coming together. Piston ended the quarter on a high note, coming back from certain doom, and this coming quarter looks even better.

  I should know, because I’m not just Sebastian Redding’s EA anymore. I’m now the VP of Operations, which I thought would be incredibly overwhelming, given how
much has happened to me recently, but somehow it just feels… right. As right as being at Sebastian’s side, seeing this through. Our relationship is steady, Piston is secure, and on the weekends, I’ve learned to unwind with his MC—and Jackie, too. Especially now that I was able to talk to her about everything. She’s loving the attention she’s getting from all of the leather bound hunks at Axle’s.

  Turns out I’m capable of far more than I imagined. Sebastian and I really do make a good pair, after all.

  I’m still contemplating this when the reporter repeats his question. It’s the first, actual press conference we’ve had to address the situation, and it wouldn’t have happened at all if I hadn’t insisted. Sebastian’s advice was to “let them fuck themselves,” but as Snake and I knew, sometimes the VP had to take the reins and have the president’s back, regardless of how daunting the situation might be.

  “Miss Silver,” the reporter says, brow furrowed into an impatient ravine, “your comment, please?”

  Nah, they don’t want the whole story. And honestly? Who would believe me, anyway? So as the crowd quiets, I smile and say, “Come on now, Mr. Bradley. I think we all have a little outlaw in us, wouldn’t you say?”

  The uproar that follows is deafening and I sigh, still unable to shake the smile from my face. Just another blissful day in the life of dealing with the aftermath of a crazy, rogue club president, CEO, and love of my life.

  Sneak Peek of Aubrey’s Upcoming Series

  The Hale Brothers Series - A Sneak Peak at Book 1

  As promised, here is a special treat. This is the first (unedited and subject to change by the time the book is released) chapter of my upcoming book. It is the first in a series about three bad boy brothers that are trying to change their ways and make something of their lives. Each novel will be stand-alone, but also tell an over-all story all together when read as a series. I hope you enjoy it!