Link_Ruthless Bastards

by Chelsea Handcock

  “That’s my girl, always thinking ahead. But, dude, if you think Carri’s going to be an easy anything, I believe that you’ve another think coming. Addison isn’t the only one who looks at someone with something in their eyes.”

  “Carrington looks at me differently?”

  “Dude, what, are you like twelve?” Whisk burst out laughing. “No, not Carri. You, asshole, you look at that woman like you either want to devour every inch of her or turn her over your knee and spank her. It’s fucking creepy. You’re lucky I’m the only one who has noticed it.”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Link grumbled, which only made Whisk laugh harder.

  “Listen, take some of your own advice, brother, speak to her. Something more is going on between you and Carri than you wanting to get your rocks off.” Link would have argued, but Whisk’s next words stopped him. “At least, it better be, bro, because if you hurt Carri, Addison will have your balls. Those two might be at odds at the moment, but they’re thick as thieves, always have been. You need to decide if you can deal with the consequences because Addison isn’t going anywhere, and she knows how to hold a grudge.”

  “Listen, nothing will happen between Carrington and me. Hell, I want her to hightail it back to Lexington as fast as the wind will take her ass. You and Addy don’t have anything to worry about.”

  “Keep telling yourself that, man, it might help with the cold and lonely nights that you have coming.”

  “Cold and lonely, my ass. Go back to your woman and stop trying to find things that aren’t there. Carrington being here won’t change the way I live my life one fucking bit. Anyway, Carrington’s life isn’t here, we both know there’s no sense in starting something which can’t go anywhere. Now get your ass inside and comfort your woman.”

  Link watched his brother walk away. The fucker was still laughing and shaking his head like he knew something Link didn’t. Screw that, he knew enough. Did he want to fuck Carrington into next week? Sure. That didn’t mean he would do it. He was a man. He could control himself because the truth was he wanted something else more, and that was her and all that temptation as far away from him as possible. And Link always got his way.

  Chapter 10

  Carri hadn’t known where she was going at first, but she wasn’t shocked when she ended up at the pond. This was the place she used to come to on the harder days when she lived here, hell even before that. On the days when everything was too much, and she couldn’t take it anymore, she would sit and stare out at the water and decide what her next move was. It didn’t always pan out, but the peace she felt here always helped.

  Right now, she was just mad. Angry that everyone she loved had either down right lied to her or didn’t even bother to tell her what had been going on. She had to wonder if part of it wasn’t her fault. She had moved away from Defiance and never looked back. She kept in touch, but it wasn’t the same, and in the last three years, she worked more than anything else. Carri realized she hadn’t been all that great of a friend, to any of them.

  She had spent lunch with Suzie and not once did Suzie bring up what had happened; that kind of hurt. Then there was Cathy. She’d spoken to her on the phone two weeks ago and noticed Cathy sounded off. Even questioned her about it, but bought her line of not feeling all that well hook, line, and sinker. She hadn’t talked to Tank or Reagan in a while, so those two were off the hook, so to speak. But Addy, hell, she spoke to her three or four times a week.

  She and Addy had been best friends since kindergarten. They told each other everything. Well, at least she thought they did, but Addy had been holding back since getting back together with Whiskey. Carri had understood it on some level, new vs old relationship. They were still in the honeymoon stage, after all, and she wasn’t vain enough to believe she was entitled to every aspect of Addy’s life, but damn it she’d been hurt, held, and then the Clubhouse was attacked. Carri thought the BFF card should have included at least some of that information.

  But what had her panties in a twist was that Addy, along with Tuck, Whisk, and Talon had manipulated her. Her parents were the king and queen of manipulation, and when Carri finally got away from them, she swore she wouldn’t allow that to happen to her again, but fuck, it just had. She’d made a complete fool out of herself, with all of them standing by, watching. She felt like an idiot.

  She heard his heavy steps before he sat down next her. Great, the one man on the planet who could make her feel even worse. Looking up, she took a second because damn, Lincoln Frost was that gorgeous; to bad his personality didn’t match the lovely package.

  When he held up his hands, one with a six pack and the other with a cloth grocery bag and said, “Truce, I’ve even brought a peace offering,” Carri smiled, but she wasn’t in the mood for company. Typical Link was clueless, making a spot for himself right next to her on the little dock, handing her a beer.

  Now, the beer, yeah, that sounded good about now. Carri wasn’t a big drinker, but there were moments where alcohol was definitely needed. She murmured thanks and continued her perusal of the pond, hoping Link would get the hint and take off, now that his deed was done. After about fifteen minutes of complete silence, Carri had enough.

  “You know you don’t have to hang out here with me, I’m fine. I’ll go back up to the house in a while and talk to Addy. I need a minute.”

  “Sorry, honey, but you’re stuck with me for the foreseeable future, Addy’s orders. She doesn’t want you to be out here alone.”

  Shit, Carri thought, she should have known and thought about how Addy would feel after what had happened to her here at the Vultures hands. She wouldn’t feel safe, and she would be worried about Carri. Damn, she sucked at this friend thing. Carri went to get up, but Link pulled her back down.

  “Nah, stay awhile. She’ll be all right as long as I’m out here with you. Might as well enjoy our beer and eat some of this food Addy sent.” He started to dig through the bag, handing her Tupperware dish after Tupperware dish; it was ridiculous. When he came to a blanket, he basically threw it in her face, and said, “She must have thought you might get cold.”

  Carri turned, sat Indian style, and stared at Link. He was doing his very best to avoid eye contact at all costs; for a big, bad biker, it was a sight to see.

  “Why are you doing this? You don’t exactly like me and sorry, Link, but you haven’t given me any reason not to feel the same way about you.”

  “It’s no big deal. Addy asked, and I said I would come out here and bring you all this crap. Well, except for the beer.”

  “You calling Addy’s food crap is blasphemy in some parts of this county,” Carri laughed. “Now spill. You look as comfortable as some of my clients when they’re brought into the courtroom in cuffs.”

  “It’s not a big deal. Like I said, Addy asked and I said I would. Just drop it,” Link growled.

  “So, you and Addy are friends now; I hadn’t heard that. It shocks me with all the shit you put her through. Hell, you sent flowers to your niece’s funeral signed the Frost Family, nothing else. Why the hell would you have done that? It was cruel.”

  “Yeah, I’m an ass, and everybody knows it. What do you want me to say, Carrington, that I fucked up back then? They weren’t ready to be what they are now. The flowers, shit, I was all of twenty years old, what did I know about being appropriate? I only wanted to send something to acknowledge Sunshine in some way and that was the only thing I could come up with. I was deployed at the time, it wasn’t like I had many options. I should have let Tuck handle it, but damn-it, I needed to do something. Whiskey, on the other hand, shit never mind.”

  “No, hold up, I want to hear this. Whiskey what?”

  “Fuck, listen, I didn’t want to hurt Addy, but he wasn’t ready for that type of commitment. He was still a fucking kid. His great affirmation back then was saying fuck you to the town. You were there, you saw firsthand how he treated her and everyone else. He needed to follow through with the plan to become what
he is today, a better man.

  “Addy was a prize he wanted to play with more than the others. Hell, I don’t know, but Addy, shit, she wanted it all, marriage, babies, the two of them making a family of their own. All I saw was my brother would be stuck here with no way out. I had to help him, both of them. It’s my job, always has been.”

  This was a side of Link Carri never expected. Him sending the flowers wasn’t a crass move at all, it was his way of showing he cared. He might not have delivered the message the right way, but he still tried and for that, Carri gave him some points. Link wasn’t the Ruthless Bastard everyone thought he was; he cared and cared deeply. He just hid it behind his rough and gruff exterior.

  “I might get where you were coming from back then,” when Link went to start talking Carri stopped him, “that doesn’t mean I agree with your tactics. You were harsh. If I was Addy, I wouldn’t have asked you to do anything, let alone let you in my house. That woman has more forgiveness in her heart than the two of us put together. We could both learn something from her.”

  “I think Addy would have asked the Devil himself to come out here and make sure you were okay,” Link laughed, still not looking at her. “I’m just the Devil who happened to be closest. Plus, Tuck told me to talk to you, anyway; two birds, one stone. I’m efficient if nothing else.” This time he did look at her and smirked. It looked good on him, too good in fact. Broody Link was gorgeous, but smiling Link, hell, that man was every fantasy rolled into one person. No one should look that good.

  “Okay Lucifer,” Carri smiled back, “tell me what you need to.”

  “Good one. You know, I think there’s a movie out there somewhere that was named after you so…”

  “Shut up, Link,” Carri laughed, hitting him in the shoulder. Damn the man felt like a brick wall. Carri winced and shook the pain out of her poor hand. Clearing her throat, she said, “Okay, get on with it. If you’re lucky, I’ll share some of this, as you put it, crappy food with you if you’re nice.”

  “Honey, I’m never nice, don’t forget that, and we’ll both be better off for it.”

  Carri could see through his bullshit now. Whenever someone got too close or made him uncomfortable with a compliment, he deflected back to the bad boy. She could deal with that; bad boys were her specialty after all.

  Carri started to dish out the food, making plates for both of them, handing Link his. For the next however long, Link filled her in on what Tuck wanted, which consisted of researching every legal transaction the RBMC had over the last three years. The thought of the project overwhelmed Carri. This would take a lot of time and effort on her part. She was up for it and would do it, but she might be in Defiance longer than she’d planned. Working side by side with Link, now that was another thing altogether. She didn’t know if she was up for that challenge, she didn’t know if she ever would be. Link could crush her, she knew it.

  Carri was getting cold, the food was gone, and she’d drunk one beer. Link had drunk two, but now that business had been taken care of, they sat there, not saying a word. There was one thing Carri wanted to know, and she figured Link was the only one who would tell her the truth.

  “Tell me what happened to Cathy and Crank.”

  “Shit, hon,” Link laid back on the dock and covered his face with his arm, “you don’t want to know about that, it was bad. Real bad. Crank hasn’t been back to the club since and although I’ve spoken with Cath once, she hasn’t been around either. They’ve both been staying out at my sister-in-law’s old house.”

  “I talked to Cathy not too long ago, and she told me they were moving into Peyton’s place. I didn’t even think to ask her why, figured it was easier with the dogs and the business. But now that I know all this, I have to ask, what about those damn dogs? They should have protected them. How did those assholes even get close? Cathy said they were all incredibly well trained. It doesn’t make any sense.”

  Link dropped his arm, but didn’t get up from his reclined position on the dock.

  “The dogs were darted, they lost two of them because the Vultures used too much Ketamine to knock them out. I tried to talk to Cathy about it, but she changed the subject. Crank thinks it’s all his fault, that he didn’t do his job and protect his Old Lady. But, hell, Carrington, there wasn’t a damn thing he could have done. They caught him, drugged him, beat the shit out of him, then dragged his ass away from the house and Cathy. Whisk found him at the caves. Cath, I found her at the house. Shit, I still have nightmares about the shape she was in, what those fuckers were getting ready to do to her. I wish I could bring them back to life just to kill them all over again. It was brutal.”

  Carri couldn’t help it, she laid her hand over his, and he entwined their fingers. It felt good, too good maybe, but she wouldn’t let go until he did. Hearing the things which happened to her friend, hurt, but Link had seen it with his own eyes, and it still haunted him. If she could provide him with one small comfort, she would do it.

  “The caves,” Carri questioned, “you mean Pop’s caves, the ones here on the property? What were they doing there? Pop boarded those up years ago. I didn’t even think anyone beside you, your brother, Addy, and I knew about them.”

  “Yeah, that’s what we thought too, but the Vultures were there. We don’t know what they were using them for or even how they knew about them, but I think Jamie is behind it. Talon was checking into that, but with him going on the run with Tuck, I’ll bet that got pushed off. It sucks that the Prospects fucked up and blew the entrance. I would have liked to have taken a look at what they were up to. Now it’s all only a bunch of rock which will take weeks to get rid of and then, we don’t know if it’s stable anymore or how much damage the blast caused.”

  “Which entrance?”

  “What do you mean, which? There’s only one on the south side of the property.”

  “No, there are two. One by the apple orchard, not far from here, and the one you’re talking about on the south side. Pop showed me both of them. I could take you there in the morning; I’d like to see what those guys were doing. It doesn’t make any sense, this is Kentucky, not Texas or a border state. What would they need the tunnels for? There isn’t even a good interstate connection. It doesn’t add up.”

  “Did you and Addy ever take the tunnels all the way through? And remember this might not be a border state as you said, but Defiance does border another state.”

  “No, Pop didn’t even like that we knew about them. I can remember playing at the entrance one time and him giving us a lecture about safety. He took us both a little way in, but it wasn’t our thing. I don’t know, I think we were like eight, still playing with Barbie’s and baby dolls. Dirty, dark, bug infested caves didn’t appeal to us. You think they were trying to get stuff to West Virginia or Virginia? Still doesn’t make a lot of sense to me.”

  “I’m still working it out in my head, but now, thanks to you, I can get into the caves and figure it out.” Link squeezed Carri’s hand. She’d forgotten she was still holding his because it felt right. She could feel the blush creeping up her neck. Good thing the sun had completely set, and they were now sitting in the dark with only the moon to light the area; otherwise, Carri would be even more embarrassed.

  Blurting out the first thing that came to her Carri said, “I can show you tomorrow if you want. It’s not that far, and Pop marked it with a pitchfork in the ground if it’s still there. Even if it isn’t, I still know the general area, I’m sure I could find it.”

  “Thanks, hon, but let’s get you back to the house before Addy has a heart attack and Whisk comes out here and kicks both our asses.” She and Link walked back to the house in relative silence. It was nice to just be for a while, and Carri didn’t want to admit it, even to herself, but Link made her feel safe. After their talk, she also needed to rethink all the other stuff she’d thought about him all these years. Lincoln Frost wasn’t a one-dimensional man, he had many facets, and she wanted to stick around to see them all. Then he had to blo
w it all by talking again.

  “I think we can make this quick and painless. You could even take all the paperwork back to Lexington with you, and we could call each other. I still don’t like the idea of you hanging around Defiance.”

  Carri couldn’t help it, her back tensed at his words. He’d changed in the last couple of minutes, his voice going from whiskey smooth and slightly sweet to hard with absolutely no give.

  “And why is that Link?”

  “You aren’t needed here Carrington.”

  Oh, that hurt. Carri didn’t talk to him just picked up her pace, wanting nothing but to get away from him. As she got closer to the farm house, she noticed that someone was sitting on the old porch swing and knew it was Addy. Not bothering to address Link, Carri took off running for the only safe place she’d honestly ever known; Addison.

  Chapter 11

  Link had fucked up again. Shit, it was becoming a repeated pattern in his life, one which seemed like he couldn’t break. Things between him and Carrington were too easy. She hadn’t been at all what he thought. She was tough, but also kind. She listened and offered him comfort, something no one had ever done before. It freaked him out. She even said she understood what he did all those years ago, even though she didn’t agree with how he’d handled things. It all felt too natural, and he wanted that easiness too much, so he had to shut her down.

  It was for her own good, Link justified. He didn’t want her caught up in this mess any more than she already was. He wanted her safe. He wanted her to be the one person he didn’t fuck up trying to help. He, fuck, he really did care about her. As he watched her run up to the porch, he wanted to yell at her to stop, to apologize, but Link never apologized, and he wouldn’t start now. He would do this, he would get her back to Lexington, and he would forget about her; that was what was best for both of them. So why did even thinking those words hurt his heart?

  Shaking himself out of his thoughts, he made his way to his bike and mounted it; time to get the hell out of here. He would come back in the morning and check out the other entrance to the caves Carrington was talking about, then he would deal with the other shit he had to do. His phone vibrated in his pocket, and he wasn’t stunned to see who it was. Accepting the call, he said, “Val, meet me at the club in twenty, we need to talk.”