Pierce's Claim

by Jenika Snow

  Shit was about to get real, but Pierce had known that messing with Fallina would end in this result. Even if Cain hadn’t found out, which was highly unlikely anyway, Pierce would have said something to the other man. He would have told Cain about taking things with Fallina to the next level, and to see if she wanted to be his old lady.

  He moved away from the bed, therefore having Cain and his murderous intent further away from where Fallina was, and prepared himself for the blow he saw coming.

  The hit came out of the right, and Cain slammed his fist into Pierce’s cheek. Pierce’s head cocked back, crashed into the back of the wall, right where he stood, and stars danced in front of his vision. He shook off the pain, saw Fallina stand and adjust the sheets around her, hiding her nudity, and held his hand up, stopping her.

  “Stop it, Dad,” Fallina cried out. “Let me explain.”

  Cain seemed to stop at the sound of Fallina’s voice.

  “There isn’t a damned thing to explain, Fallina,” Cain growled, and kept his gaze on Pierce. “If this wasn’t done behind my back, in the fucking clubhouse, maybe shit wouldn’t have gotten to this point.” Cain was shaking with his rage. “Hell, maybe not. Maybe I would have still beat this punk’s ass. I don’t need to be a fucking genius to realize a Brother just fucked my little girl in my fucking room no less.” Cain’s voice was booming, which drew the attention of all the other Brothers. Pierce saw them gathered outside of the door, Rook looking like he wanted to intervene, but Pierce stopping him with a shake of the head.

  This was his fight.

  Cain took off his cut and tossed it to Violet, who stood there shocked, looking among the three of them. Cain then cracked his knuckles, rolled his head on his neck, and grinned. “I’m going to fuck you up, boy. I’m going to make you understand what it means to mess with my daughter behind my back.”

  “Please. Dad, stop,” Fallina said again. “I’m an adult, and I wanted this.” Fallina’s voice was raised, but shaky, like she was barely holding on.

  “Baby, don’t get involved. I told you I was prepared for this, ready to make it known I want you as mine.” Everything became deathly silent after Pierce spoke.

  “She’s not your baby, and there is no way in hell Fallina is yours.” Cain moved a step closer.

  Pierce looked at Fallina. He didn’t want her upset over this, but that was too late. She didn’t speak, but her shock was evident in her eyes. He knew shit was about to get gritty. All he could do was smile at her, because this little revelation was a big shock to him as well. “Fallina, stay back. This isn’t your fight, baby.”

  Cain growled. “Don’t fucking call her that.”

  “The only way I won’t call her that is if she says she doesn’t like that.”

  Cain scowled harder. “How long have you been fucking my daughter behind my back?” Cain said. He still didn’t move, but he was clearly just as juiced up for this fight as Pierce was.

  “I haven’t been doing anything behind your back.” Pierce didn’t want to fight Cain, but he would. He’d defend himself and defend how he felt for Fallina. “Not that it’s any of your business, but this is the first time I’ve been with her.”

  Another low, deadly sound came from Cain.

  “Dad, please stop this. Fighting him isn’t going to make anything right.”

  “Fallina, you and I will talk about this later, but I thought you were smarter than getting involved with anyone from this club.”

  There was a hushed murmur from the members.

  “What the fuck, Cain?” Tuck said.

  “Low blow, man,” Malice said.

  “Don’t fucking act like you’d want your daughters dating any of us,” Cain said, addressing the club members.

  It was the truth. Pierce knew that. None of the guys would want their daughters with them. They could be dirty fuckers, all of them, but the ones that had found love, had found old ladies, treated them like queens. That wasn’t to say the guys without old ladies didn’t fuck around with the club whores constantly. They did.

  “You’ll leave Fallina alone, or I’ll kill you with my bare hands, Pierce.”

  Pierce clenched his hands into fists. “I won’t stop seeing her unless she says to stop. So, to answer you … fuck no, I won’t stop.”

  “Oh shit,” Rook said from the doorway.

  “Man, Pierce, why did you have to say that shit?” Ruin said from beside Tank.

  “He’s a fucking dead man,” Tank said on a groan.

  What he said was clearly Cain’s breaking point because he charged forward. But Pierce was ready for this shit. He’d been ready since he’d decided that Fallina was his. He wasn’t just going to let Cain beat his ass, not like how Lucien just stood there and let Kink pound on him. He was going to fight for this, get bloody and beaten in the process, but fight regardless. Maybe that was the wrong, stupid move, but Pierce didn’t back down.

  No. Fucking. Way.

  They seemed to be in the middle of the room now, with Fallina on one side, and the whole Brothers of Menace on the other. But there was no time to contemplate any of this, for Fallina to talk her father out of it, which Pierce knew she wanted to. Before Pierce knew what was happening he was fighting with one bad motherfucker that had gotten out of prison not that long ago.

  Fists started flying, and the sound of Fallina screaming for them to stop rang in Pierce’s ears. She came barreling for them. He could see her out of the corner of his eyes.

  “Fallina, stay the fuck back,” Pierce grunted out just as Cain punched him in the face. Pierce slammed his own fist into Cain’s chin, saw blood spew out of the other man’s mouth, and felt his adrenaline pump through his veins harder, faster. This wasn’t about fighting Cain, but just about fighting. Pierce’s instincts took control. His need to survive, to let the other guy know he was just as strong, just as powerful, filled him, came rushing out of him. But Cain was hardened by life, by being in the joint, and he was angrier than hell.

  Cain slammed his fist into Pierce’s jaw again, and he stumbled back from the force.

  “You fucking asshole,” Cain said in a dark, deadly rush of words. He swung at him again, but Pierce hit Cain in the stomach, heard him grunt from the force, and laid into him.

  “She’s mine, Cain. I’m not about to let you beat my ass, because I’ll fight for her. I’ll always fucking fight for her.” Pierce slammed his fist into Cain’s jaw, heard the murmur of the guys behind them, but didn’t give a fuck. “I’m not giving her up, Cain.” They fought for several minutes, both of them of equal size and strength and neither one of them backing off. But Cain had years of violent experience. He had prison experience. This would go on until one of them was on the fucking ground dead.

  “She isn’t yours, Pierce.” They fell to the floor, and the fists were flying faster than either of them could keep up. Pierce got him in the kidneys, over and over again, but at the same time Cain was slamming his knuckles into Pierce’s neck and face. They both broke away, blood dripping down their faces, lips and face busted the fuck up, shit bruising and swelling.

  “And she isn’t yours anymore. She’s a grown fucking woman, and you gave up your right to dictate her life long ago, Cain.”

  “You’re a newly patched in member, and you’re already moving in on my daughter,” Cain roared out. The two of them stared at each other.

  “This is enough damn fighting,” Lucien said, coming forward, his face a mask of annoyance. “You want to pound each other in the ground, be my guest, but do it after we deal with M.”

  “I’m not about to just let this go,” Cain said, took a step toward Pierce, and narrowed his eyes. “I can beat this motherfucker’s ass and still deal with M.”

  “This is fucking ridiculous.” Fallina was the one to speak, and everyone in the room grew even more silent, shock obviously resonating from the Brothers. Clearly no one had ever heard her swear before, Pierce included.

  She took a step closer, looked between the two of them, her te
ars no longer falling, but her eyes still red-rimmed. She turned and faced Cain, shook her head, and stared down at her bare feet for a second. She didn’t seem uncomfortable at the fact she was in nothing but a few sheets, but they had more important and pressing shit to take care of right now.

  “Fallina…” Cain said, ran a hand over his hair, but she lifted her head and shook her head.

  “No, Dad.” She took a deep breath. “I asked you to leave it alone, but you went psycho, just started beating on Pierce.”

  Pierce didn’t want her fighting with her father, because even if he and Cain had issues to deal with, Fallina and her relationship with Cain should still be intact.

  “You don’t know a lot about me, Dad, and although you’ve been a really good dad, even when you were away for so long, I just can’t do this anymore.”

  “Fallina, sweetheart,” Cain said, clear pain in his voice.

  “I’m a fake, a fraud.” Her voice choked up on that last word. Pierce knew where this was going, but didn’t know if he should intervene. “For the last several years I’ve been stripping, Dad, taking my clothes off for strangers because it’s the only way I could feel alive.”

  The tension, heat, thickness and anger and shock in the room filled to a suffocating level.

  “You what?” Cain said in a soft voice, in a tone that was menacing, as well as hurt.

  Although Pierce knew Cain would never hurt Fallina, the protective instinct inside of him rose and he stepped forward.

  “You stand the fuck down, boy,” Cain said with hatred in his voice. Cain turned back around and moved closer to Fallina, grabbed her shoulders, and leaned down so they were eyelevel. “Baby girl, what the hell are you saying?”

  There was a moment of silence, but then Fallina said, “Exactly what I said, Dad. I am a disgusting woman that takes her clothes off so that men can stare at me because it is what makes me feel whole.”

  Even from where Pierce stood he could see the way Cain clenched his jaw, at the sight of his nostrils flaring, his body tensing.

  “Stripping…” Cain didn’t phrase it like a question.

  Before she could respond, and before Pierce could intervene, Cain turned, pushed everyone out of his way, and cursed loud enough that it felt like the walls shook.

  “What. The. Fuck,” one of the Brothers said, but Cain was focused on Fallina, and didn’t give a shit about who had said it.

  “Get the fuck out of here, all of you,” Pierce said to no one in particular. Everyone left, and once the door shut he walked over to her, pulled her into an embrace, and just held her. “Baby, why did you do that, especially right in front of everyone?” He pulled back and cupped her cheeks.

  “I just needed to say it, and what difference does it make if they were watching? They would have all found out anyway.” She closed her eyes and breathed out. “It feels like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders, even if my dad hates me.”

  Pierce shook his head. “Cain doesn’t hate you. You’re his daughter, and he’ll always love you. He’s just shocked right now.”

  She softly laughed, but it wasn’t humor filled. It was just sad. “Well, it’s out in the open now, and there is no going back. I don’t know if he’ll ever be able to forgive me, because I know in his eyes this is one of the worst things I could have done.”

  “You don’t know that, baby.”

  She smiled, and he wiped a tear off her cheek. “No, I don’t, but I can assume that knowing his daughter got naked for strange men isn’t something he can really deal with. He’s spent his whole life protecting me, making sure I didn’t go down the wrong side, didn’t fall into the wrong crowd.”

  “And you didn’t, Fallina.”

  She shook her head. “But I did. I strip, Pierce—”

  “Used to,” he said with conviction. “I’m here to make sure you get through this, to help you find that peace.” He pulled her in close and held her again. “I’m not a therapist, have no experience in this stuff, but I’m not going anywhere, baby.”

  And he wasn’t. Ever.

  Chapter Sixteen

  They were sitting in the van in the middle of nowhere, with nothing but the shrouded moonlight to show them their landscape. The club had been called to meet M and had been ordered to fulfill that fucking favor.

  The back of the van was big, but when they had the majority of the MC crammed in there it was like a fucking sardine can. Lucien, Tuck, Tank, and Pierce were in the back of the van, with Cain and Kink in the front. Cain was still fuming over last night, but he was manning up for tonight, and hadn’t started anymore shit.

  There was another van next to them with Malice, Rook, and Ruin, the van that would be helping haul the women, or so M thought.

  The van was silent, the air heated. They were jacked up over this. Underneath their feet was a storage compartment, one that Tuck and Tank had installed a few months ago to hold their things. But tonight it only held their guns, ones filled with enough ammo to level River Run if they wanted to.

  “When is this fucker supposed to show up?” asked Tank.

  The fact that M was coming with the load didn’t mean he trusted anyone; it meant the opposite. When they’d met up with M at his strip club they’d gotten the drop off location, which surprisingly had been only an hour outside of River Run. They’d gotten the instructions on how everything was going to go down, which sounded seamless, but what M didn’t know was that they were going to stop this once and for all. M wouldn’t be dealing in anything from this point on if all went to plan.

  “They should be here any minute,” Lucien said in a deep, tense voice.

  The club had met with their gun supplier as soon as they’d gotten the go about the details on M. The Grizzlies were on standby if they needed it, and there were other Brothers of Menace charters, two to be exact, that the club had asked to be on the lookout. They were currently just on the other side of the hill blocking the other side of the road from them, waiting in a blacked-out van and ready to take down M if need be. But the club wasn’t stupid enough to think that M wouldn’t have his own arsenal, or that he didn’t have backup on hold as well. It was the way of the world they lived in.

  And then the flash of headlights came through the tinted, almost blacked-out window. Everyone straightened, reached down for the guns they had grabbed before climbing in the van, and started strapping up. They moved their feet, Tank lifted up the door to the compartment, and they all grabbed a few extra guns.

  Pierce put one at the small of his back, in the boot at his ankle, on the inside of his cut, and anywhere else that would hold a weapon. He had a few knives stashed as well. This was definitely going to get bloody, especially with the members strapping up as well.

  When the SUV, followed by a van, came to a stop a few feet from where they were. Lucien was the only one to climb out. He slammed the back doors closed, and they all leaned to the side to be able to stare out the front windshield. Lucien and M were talking between the two vans and SUV, M nodding every time Lucien pointed to the van, or clearly said something. And then M turned and gestured to the van, crooked his fingers, and the van crept forward, backed up, and then reversed. The brake lights came on brightly, and then shut off. Pierce heard the sound of doors opening and closing, and then two big motherfuckers came around the van, stopped at the back doors and one of them started shouting. But M lifted his hand, putting a stop to the fucker, and the two goons finally opened the back door.

  Inside were what looked like ten or fifteen young girls, all looking terrified, dirty, and some even beaten. Pierce grew pissed, and could see in the body language of the other members that they were, too. The girls started piling out of the van, and Pierce could see how stiff Lucien was, his anger tangible from the distance even though they were in the van.

  “I should kill those motherfuckers and let each of those young women kick them in the balls for what they did to them,” Rook said, seething with anger.

  They all murmured their agreement.r />
  “Let’s just get this taken care of first. Then we can blast the motherfuckers,” Tuck said.

  But then something twitchy started happening. One of the men that had been in the van, the one that started yelling, approached Lucien. Voices started rising, but from the van they couldn’t make out what was being said. All the guys started to shift in the back.

  “Something’s going down.” Tuck was the one to speak again, almost to himself it seemed.

  And then the guy pushed Lucien, started pointing to him and looking at M.

  M stepped up to Lucien, seemed calm, but then things turned ugly when M pushed Lucien back. Guns were drawn on their President, and more guys piled out of the other van and SUV, coming forward toward where the Brothers were.

  “We need to go out there,” Tank said.

  “No, we’ll wait until he gives us the signal. You know that’s the plan,” Rook said, his focus on the windshield, at the scene before them.

  “Man, ain’t no time for a fucking signal,” Pierce said. “They’re coming right for us, guns drawn, and murder on their fucking faces.”

  “You think they found the other van across the hill?” Tank asked, grabbing his gun, and cocking it.

  “Looks like they found something out judging by the pissed expressions and barrels pointed at us,” Tuck said under his breath.

  There was yelling from M now, but the guys were grabbing their weapons, getting them ready, because as soon as that back door opened shit would hit the fan and blood would be spilled.

  “Get the fuck out, motherfuckers,” one of the assholes that had been with M said on the other side of the van’s backdoor.

  And then the sound of a gun going off had them turning and looking out the window, seeing M with a gun in his hand, pointed at Lucien, and their President on the ground.

  All hell broke loose then.