“Fuck,” he groaned. “You two…” He was talking to Brett and Hawke. “You two take the front of the lot at the gate. Do we have high power guns?”
“We have an underground set up,” Finn said. “We get some really good shit.”
“Then get it and get out there.”
“You heard him,” Finn said. “Move.”
Brett and Hawke hurried.
Layne then looked at Mack and Jack. They were breathing heavily, holding handguns that seemed bigger than them.
As Layne approached, they both stiffened.
Holy shit…
“You fucking saw them,” Layne said. “You saw them rolling up. You heard them. They pulled a weapon…”
“We didn’t have time,” Jack said. He then hung his head.
“Even though it was one bullet… one bullet can still fucking kill me,” Layne yelled. “You understand that? And if it was a complete ambush with fifty guns, you stand there and take it like a man. That’s why you’re here. Right?”
“Yes,” Mack said. “Sorry.”
Layne walked up to Mack and bumped into him. “Do you fucking understand me?”
“Yes. We do.”
“Yes,” Jack said. He looked worried.
Layne threw his shoulder and hit Jack. Blood sprayed and Jack tumbled back, falling to his ass. He was covered in Layne’s blood. He touched his cheek, realizing what had happened, and turned, throwing up.
“That’s our protection?” Layne asked. “Fuck me.” He turned and looked at Finn. “Who was that? Who shot?”
“MK,” Finn said.
“Mountain Killers Motorcycle Club,” Finn said. “Local rivals.”
“We’re going to bury them all,” Layne said.
He started to walk. From his shoulder, he glanced at me. “You know how to put on a bandage?”
“Yeah,” I said.
“Good. Follow me.”
I started to follow, not even thinking about it.
I caught up to Layne and he looked at me. “Name?”
“Shelby,” I said.
“Shelby. Okay. I’m Layne.”
“Yeah. Okay.”
I was supposed to be behind the bar, serving drinks. Listening to conversations. I was supposed to be figuring out a plan to find my mother. And then see if there was anything I could tell Dad. He demanded good stories and I had quite a few. I was wrong, maybe, but if it was for the safety of me, Dad, and the town, why not? Like there was anything ever really that crazy…
We went into the clubhouse and I saw the blood on the pool table and the blood on the floor.
Ever really that crazy…
Granted, there were some wild times around here.
Layne walked to the door of what Finn referred to as church and he looked back at me. “You know this place well?”
“Yeah, I guess.”
“Where would I be staying?”
“Oh… uh… there’s a room down the hall and to the left. It’s not being used.”
“Take me there. Get some cloths or something.”
I was still holding Layne’s leather cut.
I grabbed towels from the bar and stopped at the bathroom to grab antibacterial spray and some bandages.
I then took Layne to the empty room.
When I stepped into the room behind him, it was instantly hot. I was tense, nervous, turned on.
Layne went to the corner of the bed and sat down. He looked at me. “Do I owe you a tip for this?”
I smiled. “Hardly. I’m not a nurse.”
I approached Layne with caution.
My focus had to be on his shoulder and nothing else. And not just his shoulder or arm or whatever, but the open wound. From where a bullet grazed and cut his hard flesh. That bullet could have been a foot closer to Layne’s body and he could have been dead right now.
I wiped up the blood running down his arm. At the wound, I pressed and twisted.
“Hurt?” I asked.
Layne looked up at me. “I always hurt, sweetie. Just make it so I don’t have to go to the hospital.”
“Don’t like doctors?”
“I don’t like leaving my club.”
I swallowed hard. I took the towel away. The wound was nasty but shouldn’t have caused any major damage. It was still bleeding. I folded the towel over itself and put it back to the wound. I grabbed a bandage and used my one hand and teeth to open the bandage.
I spit it down to the bed.
“So… you’re… I guess the President?” I asked.
“Don’t have the patch yet,” Layne said. “But, yes, I am.”
“You came down from the other place?”
“Brocke. Yeah. I had to get out.”
“Had to? Why?”
“You like to ask questions. You a cop?”
I froze up and shook my head. “No. I… I’m just interested.” I paused. “Well, I mean in you. No, wait. Not you, you. But… you being here…”
I was fumbling, blushing, and felt two inches tall.
I took the towel away from Layne’s shoulder again. I dropped it to the floor and grabbed the bandage. Next, I took the antibacterial spray and kept my eyes on Layne’s shoulders.
Not his tattoos. Not his thick and chiseled body. Not his damn eyes either.
“This is going to sting,” I said and sprayed the wound.
Layne groaned for a second.
I put the bandage to his shoulder and started to use medical tape to keep it in place.
We were in silence. I felt awkward, like I had pushed too hard. Yeah, I wanted information, but not to sell to anyone. Then again, how would Layne know that?
“Hey,” he said. “These guys here… you ever think anything is off?”
“What do you mean?”
Layne stood up. “Nothing. Just hang behind the bar. Or take the rest of the day and night off. I’ll put the prospects behind the bar.”
“I can’t. I need the money.”
“Why?”
“That’s personal.”
“I’m the President of the clubhouse.” Layne inched at me, forcing me back. I bumped into the empty dresser a few seconds later. “I control everything and everyone inside it.”
“I’m struggling to survive,” I admitted. “Okay? I’m a little lost around here.”
“Drugs? A kid? A guy taking your money?”
“No. No. No.”
Layne nodded. “Thanks for patching me up.” He stroked my cheek with the back of his hand. “Not too bad of a job at all.”
After getting his leather cut, Layne went to the door. He opened it and looked back at me. “When you’re done cleaning up the mess on the bed, get me a cold beer.”
Layne left the room.
I sighed, my body on fire.
Yes, sir…
6.
(Layne)
I had to get the fuck out of the bedroom. It was a dick move to leave a bloody towel and a mess for Shelby to clean up. But I didn’t want to be near her right now.
Shelby.
What a great name. Beautiful woman, too.
She had another side to herself that she didn’t want me to know. I could see through it. She had secrets. Nobody wanted to be in a clubhouse like this. Murder, assholes, drive by attacks, and a lot more shit in the wings.
I didn’t have a second to think about a woman.
I looked at my shoulder and gritted my teeth. I had been fucking shot at. I had been hit. The Mountain Killers knew I was here, outside, and came to do something about it. The prospects must have done some of their job, unless they were just terrible at shooting.
At the bar, I knocked and a prospect jumped up where he was changing a keg.
“Hey,” I said. “Get me some fucking clothes. My shit from Brocke is coming up later today or tomorrow. Just grab me some black t-shirts and shit.”
“We have Devil Call shirts…”
“Even better. Get me a fucking shirt.”
I turned and watched the clubh
ouse start to fill up again.
When Finn came inside, I pointed to him and waved him over to me. He was hesitant, hating that I was there. Nothing like some good tension when there’s people out there that wanted me dead.
“Introduce the main people,” I said. “I want to know names.”
“What about our situation?” he asked.
“Alan is gone,” I said. “And who did this… they’re going to fucking pay. I promise you.”
“When?”
“When I say so.”
“That’s not good enough,” Finn said. “I’ve been working on this for months. I’ve been waiting and watching. If the Mountain Killers wanted you fucking dead, Layne, you’d be dead right now. That was a message. That was a warning.”
I looked Finn dead in the eyes. “Then it only seems right that we return the favor.”
“You want to roll up on them?”
“They started it,” I said with a grin.
“You’re not going to last a week up here. You’ll either take off or be killed.”
“Is that a threat?”
“Maybe.”
“You threaten the last President?”
Finn poked a finger to my leather cut. “Where’s your patch?”
He turned and walked away.
He started to round up the guys as I saw Shelby coming back to the bar. Listening so well, she grabbed a big, fat glass and filled it with beer.
I reached into my pocket and took out a couple dollars for her.
She put her hand to my mine. “You don’t. That’s my rule.”
“I don’t?” I asked.
“You’re the President. You don’t have to pay for anything.”
“Anything, huh?”
Shelby started to blush and hurried away.
Finn went through the group.
Brett and Hawke had helped cover the main gate. I thanked them. Ransom, Bain, Rylan. Then Ax.
There were more, but I gave up listening. I didn’t really give a shit.
“Tell me about the Mountain Killers,” I said.
“Shouldn’t we go into the room?” Brett asked.
“No,” I said. “There’s no President here, is there?” Nobody spoke. I gazed along the room. “Tell me about them.”
“Mountain Killers Motorcycle Club,” Finn said. “They stretch up into Canada and east. Rough and tough kind of guys. Real dirtbag outlaws. They are part of another club in Vegas. Group that ran from there down through Reno. They were more or less for show. They work the streets calmly, love to drink, fight, and fuck.”
“Who doesn’t?” I asked.
A few of the guys let out some whistles and cheered. I waved a hand to keep the room calm.
Finn wasn’t impressed. “Group decided the freedom life wasn’t free enough. So they bolted. Why they came all the way here? I don’t know. But they love to drink, fight, and fuck. They love to kill. They love to steal. They love to do anything they can to put themselves in the deepest trouble possible. That means rolling up on our compound and firing. We used to have three dogs out there… now we don’t.”
The room sounded like the wind got knocked out it.
“I’m sorry to hear that,” I said. “What about the old President up here?”
“Rex,” Hawke said.
“Here! Here!” the rest of the guys yelled.
Finn folded his arms and stepped out in front of everyone. Standing defiantly like he was the leader of Devil Call up here.
“We lost him,” Finn said. “Literally lost him. I know the Mountain Killers took him. But we could never… we could never get there. Get it figured out. And then, uh, we got his arm.”
“You got his arm?” I asked.
“They threw his arm over the gate,” Ax said. “We knew it was Rex’s because of the tats and the rings on his fingers.”
“No cut?”
“They kept the cut,” Finn said. “But they had the President’s patch curled up in his hand. Fucking with us, you know? Trying to push up. Tempt us. They hate us here because we keep things in order. Like with Alan. You fuck around, you get hurt. We work with the local sheriff’s office and help out when we can.”
“Okay,” I said. “What about the people around here? They accept the MC?”
“Hardly,” Bain said. “They fucking hate us here. They associate us with crime.”
“That’s how it always goes.” I said. “I stopped at a bar and Pep was there.”
Everyone laughed a little.
“Pep,” Finn said. “Be careful with him. He’s a crazy old bastard. Loves his gun.”
“I stole it off him.”
“You stole Pep’s gun?” Hawke asked. “And you’re still standing?”
“I don’t take shit,” I said. “Get that right now. I don’t deal with it. Whether anyone likes it or not I was sent up for a reason. We’re going to stop the bullshit from getting around. We’re going to play by our rules and nobody else’s. That means going up and going after the Mountain Killers.”
“You can’t do that,” Bain called out. “That’s fucking suicide.”
I stepped forward, beer in hand. I walked toward Bain, staring him in the eyes.
The tension tripled. How the fuck nobody else in the room could know what me and Finn knew was a joke. It meant nobody was goddamn focused on the club or the purpose of the club.
Devil Call MC wasn’t just some guys in cuts. We weren’t all the guys down in Brocke either. We weren’t all the guys in Oakville. Fuck, we had charters that went far away. Places that nobody would think a MC could survive, but everyone played a role together to make it so the entire club could survive.
One little kink in the chain wasn’t going to take us down.
But the idea of treason. Of fucking with our mission. Of fucking with me…
My anger raged. I had gone through hell in Brocke, fighting with my best friend. I almost had to kill him. Having my heart shattered because my best friend killed my girlfriend. For good cause, too. And then when I found love again, she wanted my best friend. The world had revolved around Talon for a long time.
No more.
This was my fucking world. My fucking rules.
And I stood there, looking at Bain.
“Say that again,” I whispered. “Look at me and say that again.”
Bain’s eyes shot left, right. Then back to me.
“Nobody else is here right now,” I whispered. “Just you and me, brother. Isn’t that right? Brother? Is that what you are?”
“Jesus Christ,” Bain said. “What the fuck is this?”
When he asked the question, I was put at a crossroads. I could either believe him or believe Finn. Both men I didn’t give a shit about. But I knew this… I came to the clubhouse and it was a mess. They were getting ready to kill a man. I was shot. Everyone was disorganized. The previous President went missing, except his arm and his patch.
So something was going on.
Something needed to be done.
Crossroads.
I took a drink from my beer. I stepped back and then let out a breath. Life changing moments. Fuck, life itself was nothing but life changing moments. That’s why it was life. Live, die, and then the shit in between.
I brought the thick beer glass forward and smashed it against Bain’s head. It shattered and Bain fell back to the pool table, as shock and blood spread across his face.
That’s when he knew he was going to die.
7.
(Layne)
There was a shard of glass sticking out of Bain’s head. I grabbed it and pulled it out as he screamed. He looked around for help.
I pointed to Finn and said, “Keep control.”
Finn quickly took out his gun and made sure nobody stepped in on the situation.
“What the hell?” Bain cried out.
“You tell me.”
“You just got here.” Bain stuck his fingers into the gaping wound on the side of his head. “Oh, fuck, I’m going to bleed out, man.
Help me.”
“Nobody is going to help you,” I said.
I grabbed Bain by his shirt and pulled.
I looked at Finn. “We have a room for this?”
“Fuck yeah,” Finn said. “We have a garage. Concrete floor with a drain.”
“Good.”
“What the hell is happening?” Rylan asked.
I looked at him. “You’re all getting chained up. And I’m getting my fucking answers.”
It was a risky move. A really risky move. Me versus everyone up here in Oakville. But the shit had to stop. I had to get control. Respect? That would come with time and action. Fuck, I haven’t even taken the guys into the meeting room yet and officially taken the patch.
This was about force and power.
I led everyone outside, dragging Bain. He was whining, crying, begging for me to give him a chance to talk.
Everyone would get their justice. Their chance to talk. Their judgement. Their fate.
Finn showed me where the garage was behind the clubhouse, in between some of the stacks of cars. The back of the garage faced the clubhouse so it looked like an old, beat up concrete wall. Around the side was a door. Finn opened the door and that’s where we all went. There were tools, chains, and other tools that could be used as weapons.
I threw Bain to the ground.
I looked back. “Now we all have a choice. We can accept this fate or we can all fight. You want to start this war with me, start it right now. I’ll make one call and Talon will be up here. This charter will be wiped clean and you’ll all be left to be picked off one by one by the Mountain Killers. Is that what you want?”
Of all damn people, it was Ax who made the first move. He put his hands out. He made fists and put his wrists together. He stood there, ten feet tall, angry, but he nodded at me.
The rest of the guys followed suit. They all put their fists forward, wrists together, succumbing to me. I could have chained all them up. But just that calm sign was good enough for me.
I glanced at Finn.
He wasn’t buying into it. He still had a gun in his hand, a scowl on his face.
“You listening to me, Finn?” I asked.
“Fuck you, Layne. Just make your decision and do it.”
SAVAGE ROAD (A Devil Call MC Book) (Layne & Shelby Book One) Page 3