“I don’t want to talk about it,” Tommy said.
“You’re not,” Paul said. “I am. I’m talking to our new friend. The President here.”
“Fuck you,” I said.
“Hey, hey, take it easy,” Paul said. “Let me finish my fucking story. So we bust in and the pool guy is behind Tommy’s girl. She’s screaming too. Like you think he’s hurting her or something. So I see Tommy’s eyes flare up. I’m thinking… oh, fuck… He takes out his gun and shoots the pool guy in the back of the head. Boom. One shot. Skull, brains, blood, it’s all thrown across the bed. The fucking guy fucks the girl a couple more times before falling over. Like a nerve dying thing, you know? So Tommy’s girl turns around, trying to figure things out. I mean, she’s getting fucked one second, then there’s a gunshot… it’s all confusing. Poor girl, right?”
“Yeah, I feel terrible for her,” I said.
“Don’t worry about her,” Tommy said. “I drowned her with my own two hands. In the fucking pool. She’ll never fuck anyone else again.”
“Very true,” Paul said. “Very true. See, that’s how we deal with things.”
“Did I fuck one of your girlfriends?” I asked with a blood grin.
Paul snickered. He stood up and waved a finger at me. “You’re pretty fucking funny, President. But if you were fucking someone’s girl, you’d be dead. You wouldn’t have the chance to talk to defend yourself.”
“My hands are tied. I hardly think I can defend myself.”
“He makes a point,” Tommy said, then cracked his knuckles.
“You want to fight him?” Paul asked.
“I’ll fucking kill him,” I said.
Tommy stepped forward. Paul threw a hand out and stopped Tommy. “Whoa. Whoa. Whoa. Let’s… let’s just hang tight. Talk about your girl, Tommy. Think about that fresh kill on your hands.”
Tommy looked at his hands and nodded.
In that moment, I thought about Shelby. I thought about the rest of the guys. If they were going to look for me. If they gave two fucks about me or not. Christ, how the hell did Shelby feel right now?
A door squeaked open and both Tommy and Paul were quick to jump to the side. Light flooded in the small office I was in. Three figures appeared in the doorway. Two were tall, one was short. The short guy stepped forward. The light spread across him. His eyes were narrow and tight, dark as midnight, pure evil. He adjusted a ring on his pinky finger, turning it. His suit was more expensive than Tommy and Paul’s. I didn’t know much about dressing up, but I could tell this guy meant power.
He walked slowly and nobody dared to move or speak.
“Old logging business,” the guy said. “My uncle had investments in it. Always nice to have a burial ground, right? Place in the woods to take the evidence and let nature do its proper job.”
He kept approaching me.
When he stopped, just inches from me, he looked around the office, then down at me. “Worked a few jobs in here. Hell, I fucked a secretary in here once. But we’re not here to talk about that, are we?”
“I have no idea why I’m here,” I said.
The guy reached down and ran his thumb along my swollen cheek. He then showed me blood on his thumb. “My guys do this to you?”
“Nicolas,” Paul said. “You know Tommy, right? I mean, we had to do something. The entire MC was with him. Had to make our move.”
Nicolas put a hand up and Paul fell in line, shutting up.
“Untie my friend here,” Nicolas said. “Then get him a towel. Let’s get him cleaned up so we can have this meeting.”
Tommy rushed to the chair and started to untie me.
I winced in pain when my shoulders moved. “You could have just called.”
Nicolas smiled. “We don’t do calls.”
“You know I just took the patch today? Trying to clean some messes up.”
“Funny. So are we.”
I was finally untied. I brought my hands forward and made fists. I let out a deep breath and looked at Tommy. “Thanks, asshole.”
“I want everyone out,” Nicolas said. “Now.”
“Should we check him for any other weapons?” Paul asked.
“No,” Nicolas said. “We can figure out some kind of trust.”
“Trust,” I said. “You can start by telling me what the fuck is going on.”
The guys all left the room. The door clicked shut.
Nicolas took out a gun and put it under my chin. I made fists again, this time ready to really strike.
I gritted my teeth. “You suit and tie fuckers keep pushing the limits…”
“I’ll keep it simple, Layne.”
How the fuck does he know my name?
“I’ll keep it very simple,” Nicolas said. “Someone is going to die. And you… you get to choose who.”
4.
(Shelby)
I shouldn’t have called about the situation. That was part of the deal for me. So I could work at the MC clubhouse and do my best to survive and somehow stay off the radar. After watching Ax carry Jack’s lifeless body from the clubhouse, and then watching Finn carry that goddamn map around like it held the meaning of life, I had to take my own action. The entire thing wasn’t fair to Layne. He had nothing to do with the Mountain Killers. Or the guys in suits and ties. The mafia. Just thinking it almost made me laugh. I mean, weren’t there movies about that stuff? And even if it were a real thing, wasn’t it a long time ago when that stuff really happened? Imagining it in today’s world actually made it so I couldn’t laugh. Because it was terrifying.
The men in suits were equipped with power, money, image, and an infrastructure that was just far beyond anything Devil Call MC could ever compete with.
I knew it because Daddy had a book about it, an old notebook that he tossed on the hood of the car. We were in a back alley, Daddy swore we were secure and nobody would see. I could tell he was pissed by the way he kept pacing, adjusting his sunglasses, always looking over his shoulder, knowing we shouldn’t have been doing this.
The notebook was full of scribbled notes. Sketches of really bad drawings. Thoughts. Even written out conversations. It was very sloppy, but well detailed. Hell, I never knew Daddy could produce this kind of work.
“This is all yours?” I asked.
“Nobody knows about it,” he said. “You shouldn’t know about it. But the second you told me… what you saw… shit, Shelby, you have to get moving. If they’re circling in, it’s going to get bad.”
“They’re not circling in,” I said. “They took…”
Daddy nodded. “That’s the way it works.”
“He had nothing to do with anything.”
Daddy smiled. “Think about what you just said. Think about what you’ve seen. You think anyone in that MC has their nose clean of shit? Hell, they don’t even clean themselves up after they step in shit. They pride themselves on it. That they’re messy and rough and tough.”
“You need them. You know you need them.”
Daddy slammed his hand on the hood of the car. “Don’t fucking tell me what I need and don’t need.”
He reached for the notebook and grabbed it. He closed it and rolled it up. He pointed it at me like a person would a rolled up newspaper to a dog who had pissed on the floor.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered, knowing it was easier to be defeated in front of Daddy than to defy him.
“You can’t get involved with them,” Daddy said. “You know that. You want to find your mother, that’s up to you. I’m not helping. I never have and never will. That bitch deserves everything she has gotten. You’re walking a dark road that’s going to end up with you hurt.” He then looked at the notebook. “Don’t fuck with this, Shelby. You will get hurt. You will get killed. I cannot protect you from it.”
“I don’t think you can protect me from anything,” I said.
I didn’t mean it in such a bad way. I just meant it as the truth. Daddy could never protect me from anything. Not with the way the MC
ran itself. Not with me behind that bar. Not with Layne in my panties.
Christ, my one rule… one damn rule…
As I thought about Layne, my eyes faded for a second. That made it so I couldn’t see the hand swinging toward my face. By the time I realized Daddy had struck me, I was on the ground, on my ass. Leaning against my own car, I stared up at him as he swung again. The second one hurt worse because I was expecting it. That’s the thing with pain… when you expect it, it fucking hurts. When you don’t expect it, you could just roll with it.
Daddy pulled his hand back like the hammer of a gun. And I just stared up at him. He only did it because he worried about me. His version of beating common sense into me. I wondered if he used to do that to my mother. If that’s what chased her away and made her decide she didn’t love me anymore.
My heart beat in my lip and my cheek was already swelling, both still stinging. My nails clawed at the pavement. I could have screamed, but it would have done nothing. Remember, we had met here secretly. And if there was one thing Daddy knew, it was how to maneuver around Oakville. I could scream, cry, and yell all I wanted and nobody would find me. And if by some dumb chance someone did see us, it was Daddy versus me. He controlled the scene. He controlled me.
I thought about Layne again.
Taken by the mafia. They were going to fuck him up. The notebook had two schools of thought when it came to those guys. They would either put a bullet in the back of your head which was either a sign of respect or impulsive anger, or they’d slowly torture and kill. Cut off fingers, toes, tongue. Take out an eyeball. All that fun, dark stuff that was best left for nightmares and not reality.
Daddy’s hand came down again. I could have absorbed it. He’d only do it a few more times and then get mad at himself. He’d jump back, grunting, and turn, shaking his hand. Then he’d start to cry and give some attempt at a heartfelt speech. That was just hit style.
A little fire sparked and I thrust my right foot forward. I smashed it against his left shin and sent him back. I couldn’t believe it actually worked. His leg bent awkwardly and he stumbled back, grabbing for his leg. I reached up and grabbed the door handle to my car. I pulled myself up and opened the door. The keys were in the ignition. If it were a movie, this would be the part when the car wouldn’t start.
My car started.
I looked out the window and watched Daddy as he leaned against the wall of a building, his right hand on the butt of his revolver. He could have taken the weapon out and killed me. But he didn’t. Maybe he was in complete shock that I actually fought back. Maybe he wanted to make me suffer later.
I didn’t stick around to ask questions. I put my foot on the gas pedal and took off. My tires squealed and I peeled down the alley. When I cut from the alley, I turned the wheel to the right and just kept going.
Oakville wasn’t the smallest town in the world, but it was far from the biggest. It was beat up, rundown, trying to revive itself in certain points. The MC kept things under control, but they were always fighting. The Mountain Killers were very bad people. Suits and ties, the mafia, whatever they were, were even worse. They belonged somewhere else.
And if they were here, it was big trouble, like Daddy said. It also meant Daddy would stay away from it. He and everyone else with a sense of power would turn their eyes and let it play out. They were supposed to be the justice, the law, to keep the town safe.
Guilt flooded me.
I needed to tell Layne exactly who I was.
I stopped at a stop sign and sat there much longer than a few seconds. I wondered what Layne would do to me when he found out who I was. I wondered if Layne would return. Or maybe the mafia would return a piece of Layne. Or just his leather cut.
My stomach turned and I swallowed hard, my mouth dry.
I looked up in the mirror to make sure there were no cars behind me, waiting for me to go.
There were no cars waiting.
Just a small group of motorcycles.
The Mountain Killers MC were behind me.
5.
(Layne)
When I turned on the faucet, the building felt like it was going to shake to the ground. The pipes rattled, groaned, and a few spurts of water spit out. The water then started to flow and I let it go for a few seconds before daring to touch it and splash it on my face. My face hurt, I wasn’t going to lie.
I turned and Nicolas stood with his arms crossed. Two lumbering men were behind him with short, black hair, shoulders a mile wide, eyes beady and staring me down.
“You better?” Nicolas asked.
“I feel great,” I said. “Now, do you feel like telling me what the hell is going on?”
“Sure. Let’s get out of this building though. It feels…stuffy.”
Nicolas nodded to his bodyguards and they started walking first. I walked alongside Nicolas, keeping my mouth shut and my eyes wide open. It was sometimes better to be observant than to just act irrational.
Our feet hit the floor, echoing as we walked.
“See, it’s a delicate situation,” Nicolas said. “Our businesses have purpose and then collide. I know about your deals running into Canada. We have guys up there. Hell, we’ve probably indirectly worked with each other at some point. Small world, I know. Our contact guy… Alan…”
“Shit,” I whispered.
“Hey, it’s okay,” Nicolas said. “We know you took him. We know you killed him.”
“He was on the inside with another crew,” I said. “Look, I just got up here and am getting control of things. I know that means dick to you…”
“No, no, new leadership is another delicate situation to be in. You need respect, power, but you don’t have the experience.”
“I can handle my own.”
“Sure you can.”
I looked at Nicholas and he grinned.
Right then I saw myself attacking him. I could grab him and hold him hostage as I worked my way out of the building. Take him back to the clubhouse and really make a fucking statement to whatever shit this was.
We kept walking and Nicolas said, “Watch your step, Layne.”
I looked down just in time to see two bodies on the floor. One was face down, dead. The other guy, who was face up, gurgled and reached for my leg. He grabbed my jeans and I shook him free. It was like something you’d see in a zombie movie.
I walked, glancing back, the guy reaching and trying to roll over.
“Oh, fuck it,” Nicolas said.
He paused, took out a gun, and shot.
Now the guy on the ground would never move again.
Nicholas then put the gun in my hand and squeezed tight.
“Your kill, Layne,” he said and grinned. “Forensics can match that up. Better not drop the gun.”
I stepped back, gun in hand. I tucked it behind me. “What the fuck do you want?”
“To talk, man. To just talk.”
We left the building a couple minutes later and there was black car waiting. The bodyguards opened the back door. Nicolas got in first, I climbed in behind him. The door was shut and the car started to move.
“You’re going to make a decision on who dies next,” Nicholas said.
“I am?”
“You are. President.” He pointed to my patch.
“And can you tell me what that means? One of my guys owes you money or something?”
Nicholas grinned. “Everyone owes us something. The Reinitelli family comes from a long line of friends and enemies. We’re deeper than you could possibly imagine, Layne. We appreciate what Devil Call MC has done. From Brocke down to the Mexican border. And now up through Oakville and into Canada. Bravo. A bunch of guys on motorcycles really making a movement.”
“We’re just protecting what we know.”
“And you like to fuck, fight, and kill. You like to raise a little hell.”
“True.”
“Let me share a secret,” Nicolas said. “So do we.” He tugged on his own tie and he leaned toward me. “We l
ove to kill. To shake things down and earn.”
“How does that involve me?”
“There’s a development going in right at the border of Oakville. We are involved in that. Your club can’t go anywhere near it. We need the development. We need the reason to be around Oakville and south of it. So we can go west to the ocean and north. We have product to move. We have product to deliver. You understand that?”
“Drugs? Guns?”
“Doesn’t matter to you,” Nicolas said. “I’m making a little offering because I don’t believe in forceful takeovers unless I need to. You seem to have your hands full already with the Mountain Killers, right? Now you’ll need another contact point at the Canadian border.”
“Sounds like that’s our problem and not yours.”
“Very true. We can help with that.”
“No thanks. I don’t get into bed with anyone who doesn’t have a pussy between their legs.”
“I can arrange for that,” Nicolas said. “Come with me to Vegas and spend a weekend. I’ll show you women you never believed could exist.”
“I’m needed right here.”
“You’re not though. You’re in the back of my car. You were taken at my orders. Shit, Layne, I could have taken all of you out. But I didn’t. I wanted to meet you. I remember talking to Rex a few times. He was mean and jittery, always drunk. So maybe that’s why I orchestrated this.”
Nicolas reached for the door handle and opened the back door. I pushed on the seat, thinking we were still moving.
We weren’t moving though.
We were stopped.
“This is where you get out.”
“That’s it?” I asked. “All that shit… for what?”
“My way of saying hello,” Nicolas said. “You’ll get used to it.”
“No, I won’t,” I said. “You stay the fuck away from Devil Call. We’re not your bitch. We can take care of our own.”
“I know you can, which is why I’ll be in touch soon.”
“Don’t bother.”
“No. You still have to make your decision, Layne. It’s been a stressful day, so I’ll let you decide at some other time.”
SAVAGE ROAD (A Devil Call MC Book) (Layne & Shelby Book One) Page 9