Jaxson (Black Devils MC Book 1)

by K. J. Dahlen

  He was awake and blindfolded, probably trying not to panic at the sounds of people talking around him. “You better let me go,” he warned. “You have no idea who my father is. He’ll run you guys out of town for this.”

  Melora smirked at his absurd claims. She had warned him. Cross an MC and you will pay.

  ~* * * *~

  Hawk caught her smirk and winked at her. When Iceman called him earlier, he told his old friend what was going to happen to Michael Jerroe and he also told him if Melora was hurt to return the favor. “I don’t think we have to worry about your old man,” Hawk assured Eli. “He’s going to be too busy worrying about his own ass to worry much about ours.”

  Besides Iceman’s warning, he’d been notified about several businessmen pulling their support away from Jerroe Industries in the last few hours. Hawk knew that was Leon Vincinti’s doing and that suited him just fine. Since Iceman helped rescue Vincinti’s granddaughter the Sinner’s had become more protected than ever in Boston. It had worked out well for everyone, including Iceman. He married old Leon’s granddaughter. Hawk found it a pleasant union.

  His woman and Melora were passing along the side of the large room. Melora paused and looked over at them.

  Hawk stared at Melora’s face. He noted the bruises and her split lip. He stepped forward and punched the blindfolded piece of shit in the mouth. “That’s for her split lip. I’m looking at her and I can see a bruise just about…” He slammed his fist into his cheek. “…Here.” Again, he grinned as he stared at the blindfolded man who was groaning in pain. This wasn’t anything because soon, this guy and his dad were gonna receive a huge surprise.

  ~* * * *~

  Buffy led the way to the kitchen and Melora sat down and watched as the other woman put a kettle of water on to boil.

  When she slid the cup toward Melora, Buffy sat on another stool and asked, “So, why did the dipshit have you down in the tunnel anyway? It’s not a very nice place to go.”

  “He was trying to find an old smuggler’s tunnel.” Melora shook her head.

  “Really? Whatever for?”

  “He thought there might be something hidden in there.”

  “Wow, that’s pretty lame.” Buffy shook her head. “So how far along are you?” she motioned at her belly.

  Melora shrugged. “I’m not really sure maybe around four months?”

  Buffy frowned. “How can you not be sure? Haven’t you seen a doctor yet?”

  Melora shook her head. “I’ve been afraid to find out.”

  “Why? Having a baby is a wonderful thing.” Buffy cocked her head and stared at her.

  “Sam doesn’t think so,” Melora admitted. “He’s walked away from his kid three times now.”

  Buffy snorted. “Some men are idiots.”

  “Yup, Sam would be an idiot,” Melora agreed. “Hey Iceman and Peaches are having another baby.”

  “Really?” Buffy grinned. “That’s great! Iceman will make a wonderful dad.”

  “Yeah, he really loves his son.”

  “We were so happy when he hooked up with his old lady. She’s been so good for him.”

  “Yeah, Peaches loves him like crazy.” Melora tilted her cup.

  “What’s wrong sweetie?” Buffy asked.

  “I just wish Sam would want this baby as much as I do. I think I love him and I really want to be a part of a family again. I’ve been on my own for too long.” She shook her head. “I don’t know why I’m telling a stranger all of this crap.”

  “Sometimes, a stranger can see things you can’t. It’s easy to talk to a stranger, I don’t know you well enough to judge. Besides, who is anyone to judge the actions of someone else? No one is perfect,” Buffy said gently. “I have a feeling you’ll get everything you want in time.”

  “I hope so.” Melora shrugged.

  They heard a commotion in the main room and when they checked it out, Melora saw her father, Sam and Iceman coming in. All three men greeted Hawk and stared at Eli for a moment then Mountain asked, “Where is my daughter? Melora!” he called out.

  “I’m here,” Melora called back.

  Mountain, Sam and Iceman turned toward her. Mountain stomped over to her and searched her injured face before he wrapped his arms around her and hugged her close, lifting her clean off the ground.

  Melora enjoyed his greeting before she wiggled to get free. Taking a step back, she found herself wrapped in Sam’s arms. He hugged her even closer and Melora felt good. She leaned her head on his chest and relaxed for a moment. Then she stepped back.

  Mountain cupped her chin and turned her face to his. “I guess I have to beat this creep to teach him some manners.”

  “I’m ok,” Melora assured him. “He just slapped me a few times.”

  Sam growled with a nasty low tone.

  “How is Izzy? When I saw her last she wasn’t doing so good.” Melora told them.

  “She’ll be ok.” Mountain said. “She let us know he’d taken you.”

  Mountain glared at Sam again, then took hold of her hand and led her back to Hawk and Iceman.

  “How are Cassie and Peaches doing?” Melora asked.

  “They’re okay,” Iceman replied. Then he smiled. “We’re following your suggestion and wiping Michael Jerroe off the map. So far, it’s been more fun than anything. The poor guy is going nuts trying to hang on to what he’s worked so hard for.”

  “What are you guys doing to him?” Melora asked.

  “Well, so far we’ve misappropriated his bank accounts, both business and personal. We’ve frozen his businesses and personal credit cards. He should be starting to sweat by this time.” He turned to Eli. “And we’re holding his son hostage.”

  “Does he have any idea what’s going on yet?” She wondered.

  “Not yet, but I’m supposed to call him and clue him in.” Iceman smiled coldly. “It should be an interesting call.”

  “For which one of you?” she asked.

  “Oh, this one’s on me.” Iceman chuckled. Turning to Eli he said, “But before I make that call I want some answers and he’s just the boy to give them to me.” He glanced back at Melora and Buffy. “You ladies might want to leave this to us men. It isn’t going to be pretty and I don’t want you to get bloody.”

  Buffy grimaced. Taking Melora by the arm, she headed toward the back of the hall. When she opened a door, Melora found herself in a room with a jukebox. Buffy went over to the jukebox and began to punch numbers. Turning up the volume, she blasted the music.

  Melora covered her ears and thought about asking her to turn down the volume then she heard Eli’s screams and decided to let the loud music wash over her. She settled down on the sofa and closed her eyes, waiting for the screams to stop.

  CHAPTER NINE

  Michael Jerroe paced the floor in his office. When he got up yesterday morning everything in his world had been looking up, but just in the last few hours, everything had gone to shit. In fact, ever since the phone call from his son last night things had gone wrong for him.

  Frowning, he paused for a moment then began to pace again. What the hell did his kid do? All he had to do was get two women and bring them to him. Had he been caught? Is that why he hadn’t heard from him?

  That might be part of it but there was something else going on as well. About four hours ago, his money started disappearing. His accountant called him this morning in a panic. Someone had systematically drained his accounts. At first, it was just his business account but now his banker had called and his personal accounts were gone as well.

  Then at lunch, his wife called and told him his credit cards had been frozen. What the fuck was going on? Michael had no idea but he was going to find out and lord help the accountant who screwed him over. His regular accountant Simon was going over his accounts with a fine toothcomb, tracking all the movement since his money began disappearing but he hadn’t found anything yet. One minute he was flush with cash and the next mi
nute he was broke. Nothing made sense to him.

  Simon hadn’t been able to find a dime of his money and Simon was the best. Even the money hidden in secret, away from the government was missing. He paused long enough to punch in a phone number and while he waited to be connected, Michael lit a cigar and took a deep puff.

  When Simon’s voice came over the phone line Michael asked, “Did you find anything yet?”

  “No I haven’t.” Simon’s voice sounded strained.

  Michael could almost see him sitting behind his desk. The top he knew would be cluttered with papers, calculators and a desktop computer. He had several monitors that took up every spare inch of his desk.

  “What do you mean you haven’t found it yet?’ Michael roared. “How can the money be gone in the first place? I thought you protected it.”

  “I did Mr. Jerroe,” Simon insisted. “Someone breached the firewalls protecting your accounts.”

  “How the fuck can that happen?” Michael yelled. “You told me you had the best security money could buy!”

  “I’m trying to track it now but whoever did this is very good.”

  “You’d better fucking find every last dime.” Michael growled. “I can’t even buy a pack of gum at the moment.” He paced the floor again. “My wife took some friends to the club for lunch today and she couldn’t pay the bill. I had to run cash out there for her. She was so embarrassed, she cried. My wife is not a pretty crier.”

  “I’m sorry Mr. Jerroe. I’ll find the money and restore your accounts.” Simon groveled. “I just need some time.”

  Michael slammed the disconnect button. He was tired of excuses. He picked up his cell phone and dialed his son’s number. The phone rang and rang, then finally went to voicemail. Michael growled and threw the phone against the wall. It shattered in several pieces. “Where the hell are you Eli?” he called out to no one. Then he picked up the receiver on his office phone and punched out his son’s number. When it began to ring, he put the phone on speaker and listened to the ring echo through his office.

  At the fourth ring, someone picked it up, “Hello.”

  “Who the fuck is this?” Michael demanded.

  “Well, who the fuck are you?”

  “My name is Michael Jerroe, who am I speaking to and why are you answering my son Eli’s phone?”

  “Hello Michael Jerroe. My name really isn’t important but I have something that might be.” He chuckled. “That is if your son is important to you.”

  Michael crushed the cigar in his fingers. “Where is my son? What have you done to him?”

  “I haven’t done anything to him yet,” the voice assured him. “So how is business going today Mr. Jerroe?”

  Michael frowned. “What is that supposed to mean?”

  “You have a decision to make.”

  “What the fuck are you talking about?” Michael demanded. “Are you the asshole that stole my money?”

  “I’m one of them yes. But that’s not what you have to decide today.”

  “I want my fucking money back asshole!” Michael shouted.

  “Your son kidnapped one of our women today and for that you’re paying a penalty. Consider the money a down payment on that penalty,” the voice taunted.

  “No woman is worth all that money.” Michael sat down hard in his chair. “You took millions of dollars from me.”

  “Your son took our woman on orders from you. He only got one of the two you ordered him to take but one was bad enough.”

  “What do you want?” Michael asked.

  “You made a terrible mistake several years ago when you went into business with Janelle Walden. That was your first strike. Then you made a second mistake when you thought you could take our women without paying for that mistake. That was your second strike and shame on you for what you did. Eli tells us you were going to send in a team and kidnap them if he couldn’t get the job done quickly. But don’t be too mad at him…he did admit that under duress.”

  Michael swallowed hard. “Is my son still alive?”

  ~* * * *~

  “Please…what kind of man do you think I am?” Iceman laughed over the phone. “Yes, he’s still alive for the moment. Now, let’s get back to the decision you have to make today. So far, you have two strikes against you. You have to decide if you want to live or not. If you choose life then you end up with nothing left to your name. No money, no business, no house, no fancy cars, nothing. You walk away with nothing more than the clothes on your back, the same for your wife, and Eli. If you chose death then you take your own life and your wife and son still end up with nothing but you won’t be here to see them suffer.”

  “That’s not much of a choice is it?” Michael sneered.

  “Oh, there’s one more thing,” Iceman continued. “If you choose life, you have the choice to start all over, you can rebuild your enterprises and your business, but if you come near us or our women again, the choice will not be yours to make. The next time we meet, you will not live through it. You won’t know when or where it will happen but a bullet will get you. If you even think about crossing us again, you won’t live through it.”

  “Why are you doing this to me?” Michael asked.

  “I told you, you went into business with a bad woman and you took one of our women and threatened two more of our women. We don’t take bullshit from people and you are the worst kind of people there is. You think because you have money you can do whatever you want? Well, we’re here to teach you different. You have to learn you can’t push good people around and not pay the consequences. You messed with the wrong people today, you messed with not one but three MCs. This is your lesson of the day.”

  “You can’t just take everything I own.”

  “We already did.” Iceman smirked into the phone. “By now, they’ve repoed your cars and the bank just foreclosed your house. There should be a sheriff at your door escorting your wife from the premises and a locksmith changing the locks. There is also a security team in your outer offices waiting to escort you out of the building.”

  “You dirty rotten bastards!” Michael growled then knocking could be heard on his office door. “I’ll see you all in hell before I give up. I will get it all back somehow, someway and then I’ll bury you all!”

  “Now that would be a mistake on your part,” Iceman warned him. “We can leave it at this or we can take it a step further and ruin your good name. This is a warning to everyone who’s ever done business with Janelle Walden in the past. Stay away from our women or prepare to lose everything you own, including your lives and the lives of your family.”

  “My wife is going to leave me anyway, so what the hell do I care?” Michael growled. “She won’t stay with me if I have nothing left. She likes the high life too much.”

  “You still have your son.”

  “No I don’t,” Michael insisted. “You have him. How do I know you’ll release him to me?”

  “Well, we sure as hell don’t want to keep him. He’s no good to us,” Iceman replied with a grin. “Oh, and if you’re thinking about tracing this call, don’t bother. You won’t find us and you also won’t know if we’re watching you or not. We will be watching you for some time and if you do anything that might constitute a threat to us, well, we will stop you and any associates you choose to help you. Word is already spreading on the streets to that effect, so no one will help you.” He paused then added, “And believe me when I say, we know every lowlife in the area and they have all been warned to stay away from you.”

  “You really are a bastard,” Michael grumbled.

  “Thank you, I have worked hard to get where I am today.” Iceman chuckled. “Oh, you should also know you pissed off the Vincinti family as well.” Iceman paused long enough for Michael to think about that for a moment. “I know you know that name and the family. I don’t have to tell you Janelle made the same mistake and she paid a very high price for her stupidity.”

  ~* * * *~
<
br />   “You’ve taken everything I have and left me with nothing,” Michael whispered as reality hit him hard.

  “You’re still alive aren’t you?” A moment later, the line went dead.

  Michael heard the echo of the dial tone and someone was pounding on his door.

  When it burst open a moment later, there were several security personal standing there. One of them came forward and placed a legal document on his desk.

  Michael didn’t have to look at the paper to know what it was.

  “We’re here to escort you out of the building.”

  Michael got to his feet. Standing tall, he smoothed down his jacket and stepped around his desk. Walking toward the door, he joined the other office personal and the security officers escorted them to the main doors. No one spoke until they got down to the street.

  Everyone began crowding around him, and with everyone talking at once, Michael couldn’t even think. Finally, he held up his hands and told them all, “Just go home. The office is closed and you’ll all have to try and find new jobs. I have nothing left to offer any of you.”

  “What about our pensions?” someone called out.

  Michael glared at them all. “Everything I ever had is gone. I can’t give you what I don’t have.”

  After a stunned moment someone asked, “Christ, who did you piss off?”

  “Some fucking MC.” Michael growled. “Just three fucking MCs,” he added in a whisper as reality set in. He turned and began walking away. Michael didn’t know where he was going he just needed to be alone. At the moment, he didn’t know what he was going to do but revenge burned in his belly. He turned the corner and the noise of the city was gone. The street was empty and he took a few steps, then a few more. How long he walked, he didn’t know and he didn’t really care.

  Then he heard something that caused him to raise his head. In front of him was a sedan. The back door was open and the engine was running. Michael looked around but didn’t see anyone there. Suddenly, someone shoved him from behind and he fell to his knees. Then huge hands grabbed his shoulders and a low voice growled in his ears, “Someone wants a word with you. Get in the fucking car.” Then the hands shoved him into the backseat. The door slammed shut and the car took off at a high speed.