by K E Osborn
Cringing, I stick my tongue out like I’m gagging and he slaps my arm. “Okay, stop, he’ll be coming soon.”
“Especially if I have my way.”
Opening my eyes wide, I start to cough on thin air. “Noah! Stop! Oh, fuck!”
He laughs and hands me my beer. “Only kidding… kinda! Oh, look here’s the hunk-a-spunk now.”
Turning on the stool, I notice Hudson pulling up outside on his Hog. I always find it strange that a cop who deals with bikers rides a motorbike himself. He pulls off his helmet and walks inside Amor striding up to me. I stand up with a smile on my face. It’s good to see him. It’s been a while. We come together in a man hug, embracing each other like old friends do.
“It’s good to see you, buddy,” Hudson says.
“It’s good to see you too, it really is.”
He pulls back from me, strolls over to the bar and takes a stool. He looks up and smiles at Noah, who’s glancing at Hudson with a dazed stare, then he looks back to me. “So that carnage on the highway the other day was caused by bikers, hear about it? Know anything about it?”
Tensing up remembering back to the devastation and mayhem I caused, as I chew on the side of my cheek. “Did everyone come out of that okay?”
Hudson smirks shaking his head and huffs. “The innocent victims were all fine. Their cars, not so much.”
Relaxing my shoulders, I nod and crack my neck from side to side easing my tension. “Good to hear.”
“So… how’s it going?”
I smile. “Smoothly. No one suspects a thing. But honestly… they’re not all bad.”
He jolts his head back and turns his lip up. “You’re crazy thinking that way. You must be getting in too deep. Getting too attached. If you want to win Hannah back, then you need to do the job, bring the club down, and get the hell out of Dodge. You hear what I’m saying?”
Huffing, I choose to ignore him and try changing the subject to him instead. “How are things with Cassie?”
He shakes his head and exhales rubbing his chin. “Not great. She doesn’t get that we’re over… for good. We have been for a year and she’s still trying to fix things.”
“That’s too bad. She really loved you, but she was a clinger that’s for sure.”
Hudson smirks and chuckles. “Yeah, well you think she was a clinger when we were together? You should see her now. Anyway, that’s completely off the topic. You need to keep going, get as much intel as you can and report back to me when you can get out. If you have a gun or drug deal, let us know the drop off location and time, and we can be there to bust them.”
I simply nod, but don’t confirm verbally because I feel guilty for not wanting to turn the Savages in. I’m being pulled in two different directions, and I’m getting serious whiplash.
“You’re doing well, Adam. You managed to get in and patched quicker than I’ve ever seen an undercover do before. I’m proud of you. You’re a good cop. You’ll do the unit and Chief Thomas proud.”
My stomach churns at the thought. Doing the unit proud means turning on my brothers, and I’m growing to love them. Maybe not Chops and Penetrator, but the other guys are like family now and turning on them is going to be a very difficult task for me.
“Yeah, well, let’s hope Doug and I can pull this off.”
Hudson nods. “I know you both can. How’s Doug coping?”
Smirking, I tilt my head. “Well, let’s just say he’s not as in with the crowd as I am. Doug’s a little pushy, so I think that’s why they put him on the gate. So no one had to deal with his twenty-questions all the time. If anyone is going to fuck this up… it’s him.”
Hudson nods and rubs the back of his neck. “Do we need to pull him?”
Huffing, I wonder if that might be the best option. Maybe he should be pulled? But then I think about our cover story and wonder would Adam stay in the club without his ‘brother’ Doug. I don’t think he would, so if Doug left, Adam would too. “No, I think Doug has to stay so there’s no chinks in our cover story. If one half of the brothers left, I think the other half would leave too.”
Hudson nods and takes in a deep breath. “Yeah, you’re right. Okay, but if Doug’s getting in too deep and you think he’ll blow your cover, you let me know and we’ll pull him. The last thing we want is you two ending up in body bags.”
A knot forms tightly in my stomach at that thought. If Mad Dog ever knew about Doug and me, that’s exactly what would happen. Our cover has to remain secret right until the very end. “Exactly. I’ll keep Doug in check. Don’t worry. He’s on the gate almost all the time now, so he doesn’t interact with the men hardly at all.”
“Well, that’s a fucking good thing then.”
Nodding, I take a deep breath and a gulp of beer.
“Drinking on the job now, Adam? And don’t you have to ride back to the clubhouse?” Hudson asks raising his eyebrow.
Shit! I forgot where I was. This is how you function as a brother, but as a cop, it’s strictly no alcohol when driving and especially when working.
“I’ve only had a couple of sips. Definitely, won’t be over the limit. Test me if you like? Sorry, it’s just a habit I’ve picked up from the club. You kind of have to adjust to fit in there, and being there 24/7 helps you forget how to function normally when you step into the real world.”
He nods and slaps my arm. “Right. Well, just don’t drink anymore. Ride safe, and report in when you have some credible intel, okay?”
Furrowing my brows and pout slightly. “You’re leaving?”
He frowns. “Sorry mate, I have to. I’m on the clock and Thomas is riding my arse. Gotta have these reports in by eleven, and I haven’t even started. It was really good seeing you, though.” He stands up and looks at me pursing his lips. “Look after yourself. Don’t go getting yourself killed, you hear me?”
I smile and shake my head. “I’m smarter than them. Don’t worry about me, Hudson. I got this.”
I don’t think, I got this!
“Yeah, you do. See ya.”
“Later.” I pick up my beer glass bringing it to my lips.
“No more drinking, Donovan!” he says as he walks out the door. Rolling my eyes, I bring the glass back down to the bar and huff. This is shit. Noah wanders over wiping a glass with a tea towel and smirks.
“So, he’s a cop too, right?”
I smirk rolling my eyes. “I’ll see you next time, Noah.” Standing up shaking my head, I turn walking out of the bar with Noah chuckling behind me.
Jumping onto my ride, I wondering if I’m actually going to be able to pull off this sting. Taking a deep breath as my stomach churns while thinking about the path ahead of me, I start the engine and begin the ride back to the clubhouse.
It isn’t too long before I’m pulling back into the compound through the gates. Looking up at Sentinel as I ride through, he nods and I acknowledge with a return nod letting him know the meet went well. After parking in the usual spot, I pull off my lid and notice two ramps set up. Furrowing my brows, I leap and hoof it over to them. Crash is lying in between them breathing heavily. A bike revs in the distance and I furrow my brows wondering what the fuck is going on.
“Crash what are you doing?”
Hearing the Hog accelerate from my left, I turn to see it flying toward the first ramp. Crash stares up at me as the bike hits the ramp soaring right over him. Ryder is on the bike and his foot stand kicks Crash right in the face as Ryder glides over the top of him. Blood spurts from Crash’s nose as an eruption of cheers applaud from behind me.
What the fuck?
Ryder lands on the other ramp and skids to the side raising his hands in the air in victory. Furrowing my brows, I walk over as Crash moans out in agony. Lookout walks outside as Crash stands up hobbling about, blood pissing from his nose. Behemoth stands next to Lookout and grabs his shirt.
“What the fucken fuck you grabbing me for fucker?”
Behemoth nods toward Crash, who walks past him moaning as he
holds his nose, blood pouring down onto his shirt.
“Oh, for fuck’s sake, you fucken motherfuckers gotta go and make everything fucking bloody all the time. Great! Now my fucken world’s spinning. Shove a cock up my arse and pound me happy. Catch me fucker.” Lookout’s eyes roll into the back of his head as Behemoth clenches his hand on his shirt harder while Lookout falls limp like a rag doll dangling from a piece of string.
“Always passing out. Poor guy,” Behemoth says picking Lookout up and throwing him over his shoulder.
Mad Dog starts clapping as everyone is chuckling. “That was perfect.”
Furrowing my brows, I wonder how a brother getting a broken nose and another brother passing out could be perfect. “What was that about?” I ask.
Mad Dog smiles shaking his head. “Crash tried to ride the moped and smashed it. So I ordered Ryder to jump over him.”
Opening my eyes wide at his words, I swallow hard at the sheer look of satisfaction in Mad Dog’s eyes. The bastard truly is happy about what’s just happened. It’s a bit of an extreme punishment, but Mad Dog seems to be doing things to the extreme these days.
“Right, now we’ve had our fun, let’s get back to work. Techie, I want you to find someone we can talk to about José and his employer.”
Techie nods and exhales. “It’ll take time. It’s not easy to find shit with not much to go on, but I’ll get onto it right now.”
“That’s all I ask.” Mad Dog stands up walking with Shogun next to him. He steps inside the clubhouse leaving me bewildered as to what I’ve just observed. I can’t believe the idiocy Mad Dog is doing for fun. I know Steel wouldn’t approve, he’d be appalled by his father’s behaviour. I wish there were some thing or some way we could make Mad Dog see the way he’s acting isn’t rational.
He’s falling apart.
He’s melting down.
He’s lost without Steel.
2 WEEKS LATER
It’s the middle of the night and I can’t sleep, yet again. Thoughts of Hannah and my kids are swimming in my head. It’s hot too, which isn’t helping. Sliding out from bed, I step out of my room and down the hall toward the clubroom to get something to drink. As I walk toward the clubroom, the light is on. Raising a brow, I know I was one of the last up so the lights should be off.
Entering the clubroom, I look out to watch Mad Dog pacing the floor. No one else is here, they must all be in bed, but he’s looking down at the ground rubbing the back of his neck like he’s got a lot on his mind. Taking a deep breath, I wonder if I should turn back around, or see what’s up. I figure I need to get in close, so I move over toward him and he looks up at me as I approach. “You okay, Prez?”
He huffs and shakes his head. “No.”
“What’s up?”
“My ex-fucking-wife called, that’s what. It was a shock and I’m in a bit of a spin.”
Tensing my shoulders, I clear my throat not really knowing what to say. “Do you want me to get Chops?”
“No! I just need a beer.”
I nod and walk over behind the bar to start pouring him a cold one. The frosty head makes its way up the stein and I place the full glass on the bar as he storms over and plants himself on a stool. “You wanna talk about it?”
He shakes his head and grabs the beer. “Nope! Just haven’t heard her voice in eight years. I don’t know how to handle it.”
His reaction to his ex-wife makes me think of Hannah, and if I will be like Mad Dog in eight years without her. “Losing Steel and then this… no one can blame you for being on edge. Not to mention the Mexicans we still know nothing about.”
Mad Dog nods and takes a long draw of his beer. He puts his stein down and sighs. “Hopefully tomorrow, Techie will bring this guy in he’s been tracking that might know something. I’m in a torturing mood.”
Chuckling, I nod. “I bet you are.”
Mad Dog skulls the remainder of his beer, wipes his mouth and slams his stein on the bar then slaps my arm.
“Thanks for being here, it helped. I’m going to bed. I need to sleep. Or I’ll lay in bed awake more than likely. Shit! Anyway, I’ll see you tomorrow.” He belches loudly, the sound resonating off the walls, then he marches off flicking the light switches as he goes. The faint glow of the moon filters in through the window, and it lights the path back to the hall where I need to go. Strolling from behind the bar, I walk down toward the hall. For some reason, everything in me is wanting to stop off at Skye’s bedroom and just go in. But I won’t. Not tonight.
Making my way back to my room, alone, I crawl back into bed pulling the sheet up over me as the ceiling fan blows a soft breeze down over my arms. I’m conflicted. I want to be spending the night with Skye, buried balls deep fucking her, but I want to be making love to Hannah. I can’t have both, so for tonight, I’ll have neither.
CHAPTER FOUR
After another restless sleep, I make my way out of my room to the clubroom where everyone is already up. I’m rising later and later because it’s taking me so long to fall asleep, with all the conflicting thoughts running through my head.
Hannah or Skye.
The club or my job.
I’m being pulled in every direction and I have no idea if I can withstand the pressure. Rubbing my face as I stagger into the open expanse, I notice Mad Dog talking to Chops. Sniffing as I go to look the other way, I notice Aimie walk up to Mad Dog and wrap her arm around his waist. It churns my stomach to witness someone so young with someone so fucking old. He pushes her off him and she furrows her brows at his dismissal. One thing I know about Aimie, she only wants approval. She moves back in thrusting herself into Mad Dog’s arms and kissing his lips actively. He grabs her waist and pulls her from him forcefully. I start rushing toward them, but he reacts before I can get there. Thrusting her down onto the pool table, he backhands her across her cheek. Her head snaps around to the side as she yelps out in pain, cowering into herself.
“Don’t you ever interrupt me and my VP while we’re talking again. You got me?”
She nods holding onto the side of her face as her eyes flood with tears. “I just want to make you happy,” she whimpers.
Mad Dog laughs and glowers at her. “You’re a club whore! You could never make me happy. Now fuck off.”
Jess steps up, grabbing Aimie’s arm pulling her off the table and into an embrace as she glares at Mad Dog, then she walks off with her outside. He sniffs as we all stare at him.
“What the fuck are you all looking at?” he yells as my chest heaves from breathing so heavily.
I can’t handle women being abused. It doesn’t sit well with me, at all. He just went down a notch on my belt.
Techie walks in oblivious to what just went down, dragging in an old guy by his ponytail that reminds me of the actor Danny Trejo. I loved him in From Dusk Till Dawn and Con Air. But it’s not him, obviously.
“He’s here. But I have to tell you that 28.6% of the world’s population is Hispanic. 0.43% of them reside in Australia. They may sound like small odds, but when you’re looking for a particular individual in a percentage of people… 99,459 is still a fucking shit load of Hispanics to go over in Australia searching for someone who knows anything about José the Mexican,” Techie states with authority.
Mad Dog laughs as Techie drags the guy in. His knees are bloody and his mouth is bleeding too. I’m pretty sure Techie, and I’m assuming Ryder, have already had some fun with him.
“Well, well, a little Mexican friend. Take him to the Chop Shop. Chops get ready… Stealth, I think it’s time you see how we interrogate.” Mad Dog grins widely as Techie hands the guy over to Chops, who grabs him by his hair and pulls him toward the basement. It’s only now I take notice that his hands are tied behind his back with cable ties.
“What do you want with me, amigo? I know nothing. I’m just a family man esé. Please let me go.” His moan as Chops cracks his fist into his jaw echoes up from the basement stairs.
Swallowing hard as Mad Dog walks up to me, I
try to control my erratically beating heart. I’m not entirely sure I can watch whatever is about to go down.
I’ve seen some terrible shit in my time as a detective, but this…
Mad Dog slaps my shoulder breaking me from my thoughts and starts walking with me toward the Chop Shop. “I know you’re new to this, but like I said, I’m taking you under my wing as my protégé. If you can’t hack this, then I’ll have to rethink my stance on that. You hearing me?”
Swallowing, I nod and take in a deep, steadying breath trying to calm the rising panic bubbling away inside me.
Four words keep ringing in my ears.
To serve and protect.
And right now, I’m about to stand by and watch—a probably innocent man—mutilated and more than likely die. The thing that really fucking sucks is, without blowing my cover, there’s not a damned thing I can do to stop it. If I want to be in Mad Dog’s good books, I have to not only stand and watch but try to enjoy the show.
We begin the descent down the dark stairwell into the Chop Shop and I take another deep breath never having been in here before. We arrive the bottom and Mad Dog opens the door. Stepping through, my feet feel heavy as my boots hit the concrete floor. Moving around the partition my eyes open wide when I see a metal chair and the Mexican strapped to it completely naked. Seeing the guy in all his glory disturbs me. I guess it’s to make the victim feel shame and embarrassment so they will talk faster. It makes sense.
Mad Dog treads up to the Mexican and pulls his chin up making him look right at him. The guy’s eyes open wide as he breathes fast and rushed like he’s panicking.
“I don’t know nothing, I swear esé. I don’t know who you’re after, but I can’t help you. I have a family… a wife, three daughters and one of them is pregnant with my first grandbaby. Please papi, I don’t know anything.” He flicks his eyes up to the right.
Mad Dog huffs and shakes his head. “Well, I’m sorry family man. If you’re here, there’s a reason. Techie wouldn’t just pull a random Mexican off the street for me.”