“Where is this coming from?” I asked Hunter, and he took a big sip of his beer.
“My guys have noticed women, leaving and entering the warehouse. Beaten up chicks with bruises. The same sort of pattern we’d noticed the last time we busted them,” Hunter explained and I stared at Gunner who had started clenching his fists.
Several months ago, we had busted the prostitution ring that the Dragon Knights were running, we rescued the girls and tried rehabilitating them. A lot of the old lady’s of the older members had come in to help. The Bad Disciples, as an MC, had a firm belief in not harming women or children at the same time as running our business. That was the code that all MCs were supposed to run by, and yet, the Dragon Knights had broken the code in their attempt to make even more money. There was a lot of money in the flesh trade.
“How is that possible?” Glock asked, growing angry.
“What are you talking about, Glock? There are still women around who are vulnerable and can be used for the trade,” Gunner was growing even more enraged by the minute. This conversation was a reminder of what he had rescued Brooklyn from.
“We don’t know anything for certain yet. So it could just be a rumor,” I tried to intervene before Gunner’s rage was started to get out of control.
“My guys have seen these women themselves, hanging around the warehouses that the DKs run. It’s not just a rumor. They could be starting something new,” Hunter went on, not aware that Gunner was stewing in his own rage beside me.
“But we busted them. We destroyed them. They wouldn’t have the balls to start another one, knowing that we could get them again!” Glock was barking now, too proud to admit that we might not have successfully and completely obliterated the Dragon Knights and their flesh trade.
“They might have grown a pair since they started working with the Four Skulls. They have added support now!” Hunter was barking too, defensive of his intel and I banged a fist on the table.
“Shut the fuck up, the both of you. Until we can confirm what we know…about the Four Skulls and the prostitution, there is no need for us to assume anything,” I growled, and Glock and Hunter both seemed to slink back into their chairs.
Axel had assigned me to be the leader of this mission of taking care of our first strike back against the Dragon Knights. So, Glock and Hunter both knew that any ideas would have to first be run by me.
Gunner stood up from his chair, and I watched him walk to the bar counter for more beers. I threw warning looks at the other guys, hoping that they would understand they needed to be more sensitive about the subject around Gunner. Then I stood up and followed Gunner to the bar.
“You okay, brother?” I asked him, and he turned to me with bloodshot eyes.
“Yeah, I’m okay. I just happen to know, what getting involved in prostitution and working with the DKs can do to a woman,” he hissed and took large gulps of his beer.
“Brooklyn,” I said, and Gunner clenched his jaws.
“Some days I think that she’s still not fully recovered. She has nightmares of being holed up by them. She’s afraid that they’ll find her some day and make her pay for being with a member of the Bad Disciples, for causing them to be attacked by us,” Gunner continued. And even though he was staring blankly at the wall in front of us, I knew that he was thinking about Brooklyn and how much he wanted to protect her.
Before I’d met Noelle, I might not have understood what he was feeling, but now I knew. Those were the exact feelings I had for Noelle too. Whatever was going on with the Dragon Knights, I was just glad that she was nowhere near all this. I was keeping her safe.
I hadn’t seen or heard from her in over two months, and every night that I laid in bed, I thought about that morning I had woken up beside her. How she’d asked me to make love to her, and how amazing that had been.
It was only after I’d dumped her, that I realized how hard I’d fallen for that woman and forcing myself to stay away from her, was probably the hardest thing I’d done.
“She has our protection, brother. We’re all going to work together to make sure that the Dragon Knights never get near her again,” I reassured Gunner, who nodded his head, still in a daze.
“I know that, and I know I’d take a bullet for her, but she’s still afraid. She still wakes up at night in jitters, and I want to do everything I can to make sure that fear goes away. I’d give my right arm if I could kill each and every DK member who ever touched her,” Gunner was hissing in rage as he spoke, and I reached out and thumped his shoulder.
“We’re going to take care of it,” I said, and still nodding his head, Gunner walked away, leaving me standing alone at the bar with my thoughts. Thoughts of Noelle.
It would be very easy. All I’d have to do would be to go to the hospital and find her. It would take me less than an hour to see her again, and every day, I was overwhelmed by this irresistible urge to just get on my bike and ride to the emergency room. To pull her into my arms and apologize and beg for her forgiveness. I told myself that all I’d need would be one more night with her and then I could move on. But deep down, I knew that wasn’t the truth. She was like an addiction, a bad habit I wasn't able to kick.
But the truth was, that the only reason the Dragon Knights had now stopped tailing me, was because they’d figured out that they had no leverage with me. Without Noelle or a woman or a family in my life, they would have nothing and nobody to use against me. So, my plan had been successful. By dumping Noelle, I had kept her safe, and that was the way I was going to keep it. No matter how difficult it got to stay away from her.
I looked over at the table, and Glock raised his bottle in the air, indicating for me to get back to the group.
When I returned, I was glad, for Gunner’s sake, to find that they had started talking about something else. I sat down and drank my beer quickly, hoping that I could get drunk tonight and just pass out so that I would stop thinking about Noelle.
Around me, my brothers laughed and joked and took jabs at each other, and I tried to follow the conversation. I had no other option but to try and lead my life as best I could, even though it felt like it was half of what it used to be, without Noelle in it.
CHAPTER 16
Noelle
I was ten weeks pregnant now, and I had started to feel tired by the middle of the day. Twelve-hour shifts were becoming even harder to deal with, and most of the time, any chance I got, I tried to rush into the staff room and have a sit-down.
My plan was still the same; to try and work as many twelve hour shifts as I could, till I couldn’t anymore, and it was beginning to seem like that time was fast approaching. I had started to show a little too. My belly had begun to stretch the fabric of my scrubs.
I was hoping that the people I worked with every day, wouldn’t notice right away. However, it was obvious that if someone saw me after a long time, they would see it immediately.
It had already been a couple of weeks since I last saw my parents, and I was still trying to avoid seeing them again for as long as I could manage. The next time I saw them, I would have to tell them what was going on, because it would be so obvious about what was happening.
Now, with an ache in my back, I tried to keep up momentum as I walked down the corridor towards the outpatient ward. It was my turn to deal with some of the patients there, who had come to the hospital for minor problems. I could feel my ankles hurting and my mind swimming a little, as I pushed through the door and stepped in.
I was carrying a chart in my hand, and I looked at it now.
“Mr. Mark Kaz?” I called out the name of the first person on the list.
“Over here sweetheart,” I heard a voice and looked up to find the man sitting on one of the chairs. I gulped when I took a look at him because he had instantly reminded me of Tank and his friends.
He was a big guy, with bulging biceps, scruffy hair, and tattoos. His hair was long too, dirty blond and left open. Unlike Tank’s, this guy’s hair was greasy and thinner. He ha
d intense blue eyes, and he was staring me up and down as I walked towards him. I knew he was checking me out, and unlike with Tank, whom I had felt an instant sexual attraction towards, this guy was just giving me the creeps the more he looked at me.
I pasted a smile on my face and walked towards him.
“I see that you need stitches,” I said, peering into the open gash on her forehead. It looked like he had been bleeding from that wound till recently, and now the blood had started to clot around the gash.
He had a wide toothy grin that stretched across his face, as he watched me.
“I don’t need them,” he said and laughed, and I tried to smile. I could sense him watching my every move as I wrote down notes on my chart. His gaze drifted from my breasts to the spot between my legs, my belly and face. When I looked at him again, he was biting down suggestively on his lip.
“How about we skip the stitches, and I take you out for a bike ride instead?” he asked, peering into my eyes. I tucked in a few strands of stray hair behind my ears and tried to smile again.
“We need to give you the stitches, Mr. Kaz. Why don’t you follow me in here?” I said and then turning around, I led him towards the gurney in the corner of the room, which was surrounded by a curtain to give the patients some privacy.
I knew it was a quick and easy job, it wouldn’t take more than a few minutes and once done, this guy could be out of my hair.
He followed me in and then sat down on the gurney, with his legs spread wide apart so that I had no choice but to look for a second at the bulge in his pants. He was clearly trying to tell me something, and I had a feeling that it was going to make me sick.
He was watching me, as I worked on preparing the needles and the anesthesia. I had been quick to notice the MC patch on his jacket. He belonged to some gang called the Dragon Knights, and I almost sighed with relief. At least he wasn’t a part of Tank’s gang.
“I don’t need that stuff, sweetheart. You can put the needle straight through,” he said when he saw me dabbing a cotton ball with the anesthesia.
“I recommend that you take it,” I told him, trying to be as polite as I possibly could.
“And I recommend that you don’t give it to me,” he said, through suddenly gritted teeth and a look of warning flashed across his face. I could see that this guy was accustomed to getting what he wanted.
I dropped the cotton ball in the waste bin and stepped closer to him with the needle in my hand.
I got a whiff of tobacco and whiskey from him, as I stood over him. Mark was looking up at me, presenting his forehead to be stitched. In the three years that I had been a nurse and the thousands of times that I had stitched wounds, never before had I felt a shake in my hands.
Something about this man scared me. It wasn’t just that he was undressing me with his eyes, there was a threat to him, and my body was on high alert. I was trying to tell myself that I shouldn’t be quick to judge him, the way I had misjudged Tank and his friends; but I couldn’t help it. Something about this man told me that he was capable of violence and harm.
***
Mark Kaz had been clenching his jaw, while I counted twelve stitches on his forehead. He was determined not to demonstrate any pain while I pierced his skin with the needle.
It would have taken me five minutes under normal circumstances, but it took me eight instead because I was starkly aware of the fact that this man was making me stitch him up without any local anesthesia. I was also afraid of him.
As I snipped the self-dissolving thread from the stitches, and stepped back, I noticed that he was glaring at me with a different sort of expression on his face now.
“I recognize you,” he hissed and then his gaze fell on the name-tag on my breast. “Nurse Peters…” he added, and for a few moments, I felt my body freeze.
I had no idea what he could possibly mean by that. I had definitely never met or seen him before in my life; and if I had, I would have remembered him.
“Excuse me?” I said, in a soft, weak tone as I stepped away from him.
“I said, that I recognize you from somewhere,” Mark said, and he stood up from the gurney and took a step towards me, while I slowly backed away from him.
“I can’t think of why. I’m pretty sure we have never met before,” I said, trying to sound casual. The only explanation for his behavior, could be that he was looking for more reasons and conversations to keep me there with him. It was obvious what he wanted. This had to be some sick twisted way for him to make a pass at me.
“You’re saying that I’m imagining this?” he asked, and now he wasn’t grinning anymore. Instead, his blue eyes were dark and narrowed and he was squinting at me threateningly. How was this man not in pain?
“Maybe you’ve been to the hospital before and seen me around?” I asked, and threw him a weak smile. He had taken a few more steps towards me, and again, I tried to back away from him.
“I have never been to this hospital before,” he declared and now, my back was grazing the curtains. I was very close to getting out of there, but he was only a few inches away from me.
“Well, I wish you the best of luck, Mr. Kaz. Have a nice day,” I said, and I turned around to step out through the curtains, but he had caught my wrist, and he yanked me back.
I gasped and nearly cried out, I could feel his hands digging into my flesh as he held me close to himself.
“You know Tank, from the Bad Disciples,” he stated, rather than asked. I could hear my heart thumping in my chest. I hadn’t expected to hear Tank’s name again, and especially not from a source like this.
“I don’t know who you’re talking about!” I cried, and tried to wriggle myself free. That vicious grin on his face had started to make an appearance again. He knew I was lying.
“You’re that chick from the restaurant,” he hissed, and I could feel my mind swimming. I felt like I was going to be sick. I had no idea what he was talking about…which restaurant? All I knew was that I needed to get away from him. I tried to pull my wrist free from him again, but he held me tightly in position.
His eyes roamed over my face, he stared down at my breasts and then his gaze landed on my stomach. I watched in horror as his eyes widened and the smile on his face spread even more. He looked up at me with a jerk.
“You’re pregnant,” he said, and I gulped, trying to hide the horror that was washing over me in waves.
“Please let me go. Mr. Kaz. This is a hospital, and you’re hurting me,” I cried and tried to pull myself away from him again. He didn’t seem to even be struggling to hold me there. He was still smiling, looking at my face and then at my belly again.
“Are you carrying that asshole’s baby? Did he manage to knock you up?” he said, and then a laugh escaped his lips. A horrible, high pitched laugh, and he finally released my wrist.
I stepped away from him, backing away through the curtains, and even though I shouldn’t have been running, I ran straight out of the room and through the doors.
My sneakers squeaked in the hallway as I ran towards the staff break room. I shut the door behind me and locked it, feeling out of breath and terribly sick.
I crashed down on one of the chairs, panting. None of this had made any sense. If Mark Kaz belonged to a different Motorcycle Club, how did he know about Tank and me? We had been out once…was that the restaurant he was talking about?
And now he knew that I was pregnant. Would word spread? Would Tank find out that I was pregnant and carrying his child?
I didn’t even want to imagine what his reaction to that would be. I couldn’t claim to know Tank well, but the one thing I had managed to figure out about him; was that he wasn’t exactly the type of man who looked forward to anything involving commitment.
Would that make him madder than realizing that I had kept the pregnancy a secret from him for nearly three months? Would he even care?
I wanted to scream, I wanted all of this to go away. Mark Kaz from the Dragon Knights had scared me. He clearly h
ad a beef with Tank and was trying to take it out on me. I was afraid of what would happen if Mark returned to the hospital with his gang. Was this the result of the shootout and retaliation that Tank was telling me about?
I reached for my belly and stroked it, trying to connect with the baby that was growing inside me. Everything had changed so suddenly. All my plans had come tumbling down around me.
It would be foolish of me to not let Tank know what had happened today. But how would I even contact him?
CHAPTER17
Tank
Axel had just dismissed Church at the Rusty Pelican when I felt my cell phone vibrate in the pocket of my pants. As the others started finding chairs to sit down on so that the beers could start flowing for the night, I slipped out my phone and stared at the unknown number on my screen.
“Yeah,” I said when I answered the call, and for a few seconds, the person on the other end said nothing.
“Who the fuck is this?” I growled, immediately assuming it was one of the Dragon Knights trying to call and spook me.
I ducked away from the group, walking towards the doors of the bar so that I could step outside into some silence.
“Tank?” it was Noelle’s voice, and I would have recognized it anywhere. I stopped in my tracks at the door. My feet had simply stopped moving. My grip on the cell phone at my ear grew tighter.
“Tank?” she said my name again, and I felt like I was going to explode. This was not a part of the plan. She wasn’t supposed to reach out to me. I thought I had taken care of it.
“How did you get my number?” I growled into the phone, trying to hide the weakness in my voice with rage. I had been dreaming about Noelle for the past three months. She had filled every waking thought I’d had since I last saw her, but I didn’t want to let her know. I needed her to keep hating me.
Noelle faltered as she spoke into the phone, she sounded nervous.
“Hospital records,” she replied, in a low, squeaky voice and I pushed through the doors of the bar and stepped out into the cool night.
Snake (The Road Rebels MC Book 3) Page 40