And that is what Destiny and the boys needed. To know when that glance was going to occur and offer him his chance at revenge.
Revenge. The desire for it isn’t one that needs acted on often. Eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth. Once one person crosses that line it theoretically would never end. Never a true equal balance in the messy life for a life game.
Another minute ticked off on the clock. It was six after four now and she was wanting to end it all tonight. The sooner the better. Smaller the chance of more bodies hitting the floor. Not to mention the quicker they got it over with, the quicker they got to start moving on.
Destiny would prefer to do it all on her own. But she needed help. Help from Houston and Fabio. She needed Trent’s help to gather the evidence. No matter the circumstance, she needed to be able to try and take this to her club. To her uncle, at the very least. An attempt at doing the right thing, the honorable thing, what the by-laws that protected the club demanded.
Two more ticks of the clock and another cigarette passed before she saw a squad car pull into the driveway and Trent get out of the passenger seat and wave the driver away.
Destiny held her hands up in preparation as he walked in the door.
“At least you’re prepared for your arrest,” he said with an exhausting sigh as he glanced over at her.
“Please, breaking and entering here is by far the least of your concerns.” She paused. “How is she?”
“Alive. She’s still not awake…” he trailed off. “What did you find?”
“Motive.”
“How?”
“I protect my confidential informants far better than you badges ever will.”
“What you got?” he asked, sitting down across from her, stealing and lighting one of her cigarettes.
“Drew Allistar is shacked up with Bianca Martinez, she apparently blames me and mine for her half-brother’s desire to abandon her and his patch family. And Drew hates me for everything.”
“But you have no real evidence of him attacking Marissa or working with my side of the fence.”
“Evidence is your side of this coin, not mine.”
“There is no DNA matching them to Marissa. No physical evidence anyone has found as of yet. I will keep looking. I got information from the lead on this case that they are meeting their own CI tonight. I am in the process of obtaining the time and location. I need evidence of some sort to put my mind at rest and so do you. I need to know they attacked Marissa. Something. You make them “ride out” as cleanly as Kyle did and I will do everything I can to bury it and forget about it.”
“This is my number,” she said, pulling out a piece of scratch paper from her cut. “Memorize it and burn it. Call me when you know. I’ll find you when I have more information.”
***
“I know this morning I said we couldn’t talk to Alec and Eric, but it’s time to call them in. Just the two of them for this. I love this club and this family and I took out Kyle without vote because he wasn’t full patch. This technically requires it but it’s very messy.”
Fabio and Houston looked at her from where they sat in Fabio’s living room. “I’ll call dad,” Fabio finally said and Houston nodded.
Truth was, someone was going to die tonight. Most preferably Drew, but either way, vote or no vote. Only her love and conscience required her to have some sort of approval. Drew was family once upon a time, just a few weeks ago, even though it felt like a lifetime or two.
Eric and Alec rode in together not twenty minutes later. The older bikers looked over at their children with the calm steely eyes of fighters with the hint of concern that came with raising a family in the midst of a hell they never intended to create.
“I know in my gut it is him. I know now that he has motive and now we have opportunity. But we don’t have time or enough proof to get everyone on board to make a unanimous vote,” Destiny said after Houston finished filling them in.
“There is no way to do this legally with the bi-laws. No way to ignore blowback. The last time was different and you know why.”
“If he is the informant, it won’t just be our asses that are likely to end up behind bars, but our friends, our families. It won’t just be us who are likely to end up bullet ridden when this war starts! Marissa has already been attacked and she is literally the most innocent adult you will ever find.”
“So you are doing this for Trent?” Alec growled.
“I am doing this for an innocent person! To keep more of my family from being murdered! We can’t wait for something else to happen! It could be one of us next. It could be Stella or Kristy! It could be the baby Brooks. Wars like this know no lines between right and wrong!”
Alec and Eric exchanged a glance and Alec motioned for his old friend to follow him outside for a moment, away from the grown adults they still looked at as babies.
“Well look at us waiting for daddy to sign our permission slips,” Houston grumbled, grabbing a beer from the refrigerator.
Fabio and Destiny exchanged a glance of their own. “Let me guess, you guys want a moment of your own. I’ll just go take a shit or something by myself,” Houston grumbled, leaving the room.
“You can’t do this on your own, so don’t even think about it!”
“I will do whatever is necessary,” Destiny snapped back at him.
“I know you will. But you have to let me be with you. Every step of the way. I have to know that you are going to be OK. Please, I am begging you, Destiny, for me. For my sake. For my sanity. Let me be there with you.” He crossed the room and grabbed her by the face so she couldn’t walk away and couldn’t look away. “We have come so far, me and you. Whether or not you want to admit it.”
The door opened before Destiny had a chance to respond or to acknowledge the tears fighting behind her eyes.
“Houston!” Alec roared and Houston stumbled back into the room.
“If he shows at the meet tonight, end it in self-defense. Get what evidence on him you can, nothing that incriminates yourself. We will deal with what comes later. All else fails, we will push the fall,” Alec said and turned on his heels. Destiny nodded to Eric. That was the hardest order her uncle had ever given. It went against everything he believed in as a leader. But sometimes the leaders had to make the tough calls.
Destiny’s phone buzzed and she looked down at a text message from a number she knew as Trent’s.
“Midnight, old machine shed, outskirts of town.”
“Six and a half hours to go,” Fabio replied.
“OK. Let’s go see what we can get on Bianca,” Houston replied.
“I’ll call Dez and get an address and a track on the phone.” Destiny was already dialing on her phone.
***
As much as time was of the essence today, hours gaped between them doing all they could possibly do themselves, and the looming meet. Two hours later, Destiny and Fabio were the only two left at his house. Dez was still trying to get a trace on Bianca and Drew but it appeared neither had their phones on.
Destiny offered to cook for the two of them but Fabio declined, which was all the same, Destiny couldn’t cook worth a damn and she wasn’t hungry either. Least not for food.
Fabio offered her the use of his guest shower, the fact that he had two still annoyed her, and when she stripped she was irked that he didn’t join her. But she hadn’t asked and apparently a sober her asking was a prerequisite. She washed her hair under the spray of the water with his spare bottle of men’s shampoo. At least she didn’t find women’s products. She couldn’t fathom the thought of him keeping another woman here.
She dressed in her panties, bra, and a camisole. And smoothed the dark maroon lace that fell over her ass. She always enjoyed pretty underthings. Gave her comfort with her harsh exterior. She brushed out her long hair, leaving it just towel dried, and walked half naked through his house. She double checked the locks on both doors and peeked through the windows, verifying that they had been left alone by both friend a
nd foe.
Through the master bedroom she heard the spray of the shower stop and slide of the glass door as Fabio, as Stephan, stepped out. She carefully drew a deep breath and placed her hand on the door knob, letting herself into his bedroom and shutting the door behind her.
She looked for a place to sit or stand, or anything to stop herself from looking as awkward as she felt. She was losing her damn mind. She had only felt awkward once and that hadn’t been with Stephan. Stephan was strength, fire, and passion. Everything she just now realized she had longed for all this time. She couldn’t handle another rejection, a sober rejection from him.
Destiny was still timidly standing by the door when Stephan opened the door to the bathroom and walked out with a towel wrapped around his waist. His beard was trimmed and tight and although it had been a fresh faced boy who had taken her years ago, she loved the mature look that had taken over her jokester.
Water droplets clung to his muscles and ran down his tattoos. His silver cross still draped from his neck and his hair was slicked back from the shower. Destiny’s pulse raced as they stared at each other, not saying a word. For the first time in years, Destiny was nervous, almost scared. But she swallowed it down. This was what she wanted. This was what she needed. Who knew when or if they would have this chance again. Tomorrow wasn’t a guarantee with them.
She took a timid step forward. Then another surer one. Stephan was still as stone when she reached him after another four steps. Following her every movement with only his eyes. When she was just in front of him she felt it, the sense of security that he gave to chase away every fear, every doubt that she ever possessed. Slowly, she tilted her head back to look up and into his eyes.
“Please.” One word was all she had been able to utter, one simple proof of her willingness, her begging before he lowered his mouth to hers.
Stephan no longer held back. He scooped her up in his arms, his towel dropping to the bedroom floor as she wrapped herself around him. Their kiss never broke as he ripped her camisole in half down her back. He tossed her back onto his bed, breaking the kiss only then. She gasped in ecstasy. So much urgency, so much need and pure strength in him, same as there had been when she was just sixteen. Only now it was… more. It was better, refined and defined.
She watched as he wrapped his massiveness with a small smile before he joined her on the bed. Destiny melted into him, his touch, his kiss, it all turned gentle and velvety. This was more than the electricity that had built up between them. So much more.
His kisses trailed from her neck as he tore at the lace around her chest. When she was finally free of it, he buried his face between them, lost himself in her as she ran her hands through his hair. His hands trailed the vine tattoo that ran up her left thigh stopping at her pelvis, it was her newest, even since she patched. It helped to hide scars she didn’t want to remember.
He pulled her panties from her and down her legs. Once free of her body they were impressively still whole. Stephan kissed her abdomen and ran a finger across her folds. She was flooded and needing.
Destiny gasped and jerked at the feel of his teasing touch. “Stephan!” she panted. “Please. Now.”
He placed his hand on her hip and moved his mouth to cover hers. She spread her legs to him as wide as she could. “Please,” she begged again, writhing against him.
“Say it, Destiny Dallas. I need to hear it. I know you do but I need to hear it.” He kissed her neck and she melted even further.
He was right. She meant it. She felt it and not just because of where they were at this moment, although she would quite possibly say whatever he needed to hear right now to get him where she needed. Tears welled in her eyes. “Say it!” Stephan’s voice was a command. All those years ago he had made her voice her consent in a box trailer when she was as far gone as she was now. Made her vocalize that that was what she wanted, what she needed from him.
Now he was asking for so much more. For something she swore from a hospital bed that she would never give out again.
“I love you,” she whispered in his ear as he slid a finger into her depths.
“You love lots of people, Double D,” his growl was deep and primal. She had been the unfortunate witness to plenty of his foreplay with other woman. Destiny had never seen him like this before.
“I’m in love with you, Stephan Ames. I am in love with you. Just you, it should have always been just you,” she sobbed, tears flowing freely now. “I have always loved you, longer than I’ve ever known.”
Stephan kissed her and removed his fingers and sliding himself deep into her. She moaned in his mouth before he broke the kiss and rested himself on his hands, propped above her, cross dangling from his chest and resting between her own valley.
“Me too,” he said and she slapped him on the ass hard. He grinned wickedly at her. “I am in love with you, Destiny Dallas Callaghan. Forever, for always.” He kissed the tattoo across her heart. “‘Til Death.”
“Then prove it,” she replied, digging her nails into his back and pulling him into her.
29
Fabio had always been the one with the plan so it shouldn’t have shocked her to know he had set an alarm for them sometime before they drifted off to sleep, wrapped in each other’s nakedness and clinging on for dear life.
Fabio woke her with a kiss on her lips. “This was either a really good idea or a really terrible one,” he told her as he squeezed her all the tighter.
“Why do you say that?” she asked, her pulse quickening in both need and fear of rejection.
“It’s no secret I’ve needed you, Destiny. I needed to hear you say what you did.”
“I did too. I do need you, Stephan, and I am in love with you,” she said, rolling to her side to face him as he slid onto his back.
He chuckled. “It’s strange. Hearing you call me Stephan. I like it but it’s still strange. Maybe keep it just for when we are alone?”
She smiled sheepishly and agreed. “How could this be bad?”
“Tonight on, things are bound to get bloody. You are trying to transfer and we will figure all that with the patch out. How to explain it to our MC, because I am not letting you go now that I have you. It’s just not happening.” He sat up in bed and she followed suit. “I know you are one of the best. But I have always worried about you since you were old enough to be stubborn enough to join this way. But I’m afraid when the bullets start flying I’ll lose it worse than you or the rest of the Callaghans ever did. I feel sick at the thought of someone’s barrel aimed at you.”
“We will get through it. Through it all. The peaceful times will be here before you know it. We are cutting the head off this thing now. There will be mornings when we wake up here like this together and not at ten at night before riding. There will be those mornings you talked about the day of the charity ride. We will have that, Stephan. I promise you.” Slowly a tear trickled down her face.
“I haven’t seen you cry in years,” he said softly, using one big strong finger to wipe it away. “Please don’t do it on my account.”
“I haven’t felt like this before. My hearts never hurt with such a… such a painful joy.”
“I know, baby. I know,” he said, pulling her onto his lap. She felt him grow and shift under her but he didn’t make any moves to claim her. Stephan just held her close to him and rocked her in his arms.
Finally, he kissed her head. “We got to get moving.”
She climbed off his lap and searched for her panties. Her bra and camisole were shot to shit and she cursed out loud. Fabio tossed her go bag at her feet.
“Anastasia brought it by before you got back,” he explained and they both quickly dressed.
***
An hour later they sat astride their bikes in the faint light of an outdated outdoor floodlight at an old gas station, ten minutes out from where the CI meet would go down. The gas station didn’t provide security cameras or high traffic so it was a safe place to meet.
Destiny and
Fabio waited in silence. Black gloves on their hands, the Kevlar that he had stashed at his place from God only knows where, was now strapped to their chest, under their black t-shirts and their cuts. Side holsters rested on their backs, both guns loaded, both carrying two extra clips for each. They were ready for it.
After a few minutes, headlights and engine roars appeared down the highway. Two Harleys coming in. Destiny put her hand to her Glock despite the fact they were waiting on company. You could never be too sure.
Houston and Alec pulled up across from them and killed their engines. “Where’s Pops?” Fabio asked.
“Waiting for news at the clubhouse. It was best someone that was in on the loop stayed behind,” Alec told him before turning to Destiny. “Have you gotten word on those traces?”
She nodded. “Bianca’s came on a little while ago in Pride territory. Dez has automatic updates sent to my phone. I have the most current photo of her I could find.” She pulled the print she had gotten from Fabio’s home computer before wiping it clean from her cut pocket and passed it to her older brother.
“Nothing on Drew yet?”
“Trent had a friend put out an APB on him for an outstanding traffic court date. Apparently Drew had some high unpaid speeding tickets in Lubbock. Nothing’s come back on it yet.”
“Why didn’t you have Trent put out the APB himself?” Houston asked, passing Bianca’s picture to Alec.
“I didn’t want to alert any of the Sweetwater patch in case anyone reached out to him. There is still a lot of the family that don’t know or suspect him of anything,” Destiny told them.
“You got the equipment?” Alec asked Fabio and he nodded.
“Do you know how to point, twist, and shoot? A camera, that is?” Fabio asked Houston, pulling a digital camera with a long view focus lens from his saddle bags.
“It’s not my first recon detail.” Houston took the camera from Fabio and slid it in his own bag.
“The Kate is in the roll, some assembly required.” Fabio jerked his head to motion behind him on the bike.
The Devils Bastards MC: Destiny Dallas Callaghan Page 21