Temper: Road Roses MC

by Ada Stone

  The second thing I noticed was the red truck parked out front. There was a second vehicle there next to it, a beat up Chevy that I hadn’t seen before, but I imagined that it belonged to Jason. Other than those two cars, the place looked deserted.

  I had the lights off on the car, though it was still running as I carefully crept around the warehouse looking to see what I could find. I noticed a broken window that could probably serve as my way in, and a back door that looked to be sealed shut. The front door seemed to be open, like they entered that way and didn’t bother to close it up after, but I didn’t want to risk going in the same way. Too dangerous, too obvious. No, I’d use the window.

  Driving down the street a little ways, I finally turned off the car, but I left the keys there. Checking my gun, I spoke to Susanna who was sitting in the passenger seat, trembling. “Alright, I’m going to go in. You’ll have to stay here—I won’t risk you in there if things go badly.”

  She opened her mouth to protest, but I fixed her with a harsh stare. She closed her mouth without saying a word.

  “I’m going to leave the keys here, just in case. If anything goes wrong, if anything seems wrong, I want you to run. Don’t go to the police,” I cautioned, sensing what a young woman, wholesome and sweet, might do in this type of situation. “It’s not just a matter of justice with the people I work for. If they figure out you gave them up to the police, the price will be on your head.” I didn’t tell her that I wouldn’t be there to save her, either. “Instead, keep your head down. There’s spare cash in the glove compartment. Don’t go home. Get out of town, use a new name. Start over.”

  She looked terrified by all I was telling her. Tears pricked at her eyes as her hands overlapped her stomach, not yet swollen with the baby growing inside. The baby I now knew was mine.

  Pride and sadness alike swelled within me at that thought. There was a chance I might die tonight without ever even seeing my child, but I pushed that thought aside, focusing on what I had to do. Pulling Susanna across the seat to meet me, I pressed my lips to her in a searing, passionate kiss. One that I hoped told her everything I was feeling in that moment.

  I hoped it told her that she was mine.

  When I broke it, her lips were swollen and her eyes fluttered. “Hide in the backseat,” I told her seriously. “If I don’t make it back, take the car and the money and run. And Susanna?”

  She looked up at me with those huge, bright blue eyes.

  Taking her hand, I moved it so that it was palm up and put one of my two spare guns in the palm of her hand. “Protect yourself. Protect that child.”

  Before I left, she grabbed me and whispered, “Please come back.”

  I nodded once, then I was gone.

  It was impossibly dark outside, so it took me a long moment to let my eyes adjust and get my bearings. Once I did, I spotted the broken window and made a beeline for it. Heaving myself inside, I dropped down quietly, my fall barely making a clopping noise. Even so, I ducked down behind a stack of crates three tall, waiting.

  When silence carried through the entire place and no one made a move as though they’d heard me, I peeked around the corner of the crates. It was empty. Frowning, I straightened up and pulled my gun, searching the lower floor of the warehouse. Cursing quietly, I was about to reconsider my options—perhaps they’d gone somewhere else, maybe it was a different warehouse, maybe they’d dumped the truck—when I heard voices. Swiveling around, I found a set of stairs leading to an upper floor. Floating down those stairs were voices.

  One of them I recognized as Christopher’s.

  I headed up the stairs as slowly and silently as possible, gun at the ready. As I moved closer, I caught pieces of their conversation. “I don’t want to do that,” said Christopher.

  The other man answered in an annoyed voice. Jason. “We don’t have a fucking choice, man. This is your goddamn fault.”

  There was a pause, then Christopher demanded, “How the hell was I supposed to know she’d show up at the hotel?”

  I frowned as I continued my way up the stairs. She? I had a sinking suspicion that I knew who they were talking about and I was thinking that I didn’t like why they were talking about her.

  “Doesn’t matter,” Jason again. “She did show up and now she’s a goddamn liability.” There was a long pause, then Jason sighed and said, “She’s gotta die, man. You know it and I do.”

  I tensed. This was a moment of truth for me. Jason was willing to kill Susanna—which meant there was no question in my mind that he had to die, preferably in a horrible way—but Christopher was her brother. Would he really go along with this?

  There was a lengthy pause, but finally Christopher spoke and sealed his fate. “I know. But… I don’t have to do it, right?”

  My blood ran cold. I thought of two little blonde children running around on a farm together. I thought of Susanna’s bright, sweet smile. I thought of my child growing inside her. Taking a steadying breath, I reminded myself that I got to Susanna first. She was safe and they wouldn’t touch her.

  Not now, not ever. Tonight, I was going to kill them both and there would be no mercy for either of them.

  I was about to enter the room, when I heard the creak. It was the step just below me. Before I even had the chance to turn around, I felt the barrel of the gun digging into the back of my skull.

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Susanna

  I was sitting curled up on the floor between the two rows of seats. I was trembling all over, thinking of the things that Alexei had just told me. They were supposed to bring me comfort, knowing that I was safe. I had the keys to his car and a stash of money. I hadn’t checked it, but I knew without asking that it wasn’t just a little bit of money. I could be out of here without even glancing back. I could be whoever I wanted. Wherever.

  But the only place I wanted to be was with him.

  The idea that he might not come back was eating me up inside. I had already been so close to losing him; I wasn’t sure I could take it again. First, I’d tried to push him away, terrified of this idea of him being a hitman, but things had changed dramatically since then. I’d broken my own heart before, but I’d found the pieces of it and put it back together again. I decided I loved Alexei, only to be told that he was dead.

  It had nearly killed me on its own.

  And now? Now, he was running into that warehouse with at least two dangerous men inside, both of them more than willing to kill him. And all along, he was making sure I was safe.

  My hands made soothing circles over my stomach, massaging and caressing the soft belly that would soon grow. All this time I’d been terrified of a becoming a single mother, and that feeling hadn’t changed. What had changed was the reason why I felt that way.

  I hadn’t wanted to disappoint my father, but now I didn’t care. If he was going to disown me for this, then he never really loved me.

  I didn’t want to struggle, to give up my dreams, to have to raise a baby when I didn’t have a clue what I was doing. But if that was what I had to do, I would do it. I would do my best, even if I messed up from time to time. I’d love that baby with all my heart and take care of it to the best of my ability.

  I was scared of being a single mother because I couldn’t bear the idea of spending the rest of my life without Alexei. How would I explain that it was my baby’s uncle who killed its father?

  Tears sprung to my eyes and I got out one quiet sob before clamping my hand down over my mouth. I wouldn’t cry. I wouldn’t be weak. And I definitely wouldn’t draw unnecessary attention to myself.

  Sucking in a shuddering breath, I pulled myself together.

  I was going to lose someone I loved tonight, I realized. Either it would be the man I loved or it would be the brother I’d known all my life. I closed my eyes against the flood of memories of the two of us growing up together. I remembered climbing trees and swimming in the pond. I remembered ice skating and hay rides. I remember sneaking out and drinking with friends
.

  Where had it all gone wrong?

  But then, I already knew the answer to that, didn’t I? It had started to go wrong when our mom died. Chris shut down, lost himself to despair. When he tried to crawl back out of it, he wasn’t the same boy I’d always known. He was meaner, crueler. It was like there was a ball of darkness lodged in his chest and the only way he knew how to deal with it was to take it out on others. I had always told myself that he didn’t mean it, but now I wasn’t even sure that was true.

  He just needs help, I had thought, trying to convince myself that the brother I loved was still in there somewhere. He needs therapy, rehabilitation. He doesn’t deserve to die, does he?

  The fact that I wasn’t sure anymore spoke volumes about the state I was in and just how much had gone horribly wrong. I shifted uncomfortable on the floor of the car. The night was so dark and so quiet that it was really freaking me out. It didn’t help that now I knew there were terrible things that went bump in the night. Terrible things that my baby was going to have to deal with. Shaking my head, I tried not to think about it.

  Maybe everything would be fine. Maybe Alexei would take pity on Chris and let him go. Maybe Chris would go and seek help out on his own. Maybe Alexei would love me as much as I loved him and we’d all live happily ever after.

  A bitter laugh escaped my lips before I could stop it. I shook my head. What a ridiculous fantasy.

  I froze when I heard a sudden shout. It was coming from the warehouse just beyond the car. Was it Alexei’s voice I just heard? Was he in trouble?

  “Oh God,” I said aloud. Was he going to die?

  Before I could think better of it, I was struggling to unwedge myself from the tight space on the floor of the car. I needed to get out of there. I needed to get to the warehouse and run to help Alexei. If he died while I hid and did nothing, I’d never be able to forgive myself.

  When I’d managed to get myself out of the folded up position on the floor, I scrambled over the bench seat in the back and opened the door. Just before I made a mad dash, I ripped the keys from the ignition and made a break for it.

  If it wasn’t Alexei who was hurt, but rather someone else was and they were trying to run, I wasn’t going to make it easy for them.

  That was the only really intelligent thought I had as I ran towards the sound. Alexei had gone in through a broken window, dropping down to the floor on the other side, but I was nervous about putting that kind of weight on my stomach. What if it hurt the baby? Besides, I wasn’t sure what I’d be dropping down into and what if the landing wasn’t so soft?

  Instead of the window, I went around to the front of the building and jerked on the double doors that led into the warehouse. It was a risk, but I decided it was the only one I could really afford to take. They opened easily, without even a lingering chain to suggest they’d ever been locked in the first place.

  When I first came inside, I thought I must have gotten the wrong place. There was nothing inside the huge room used for storage other than a few stacked miscellaneous crates. I noticed that they were mostly pushed up along the walls and that the floors were dusty. The only thing that suggested to me that maybe someone had been here recently were the footprints. The floor was so dusty that even in the dim lighting I could make out the brief trail of cleared floor in the dark. Footprints. They began at the window and led to something I hadn’t noticed before.

  A set of stairs.

  Hurrying forward, I rushed up the stairs. Now I heard the noises again. There was a crashing sound and some grunting. It sounded like a struggle. Fear settling in my gut, I moved as quickly as I could up the stairs towards the sound.

  When I reached the second floor, I saw that it was Alexei. He was fighting with another man who was dressed in dark colors, blues and blacks as far as I could tell. The other man was about the same size as Alexei, but he didn’t look as strong. At least, I didn’t think so. But they were fighting angrily, urgently. The man seemed to sense that the only way to stop Alexei was to put him down for good.

  The thought made me pale, nauseating me. I thought for a moment about running forward to try and help him, but thought better of it before reacting. If I inserted myself into the fight, what good would I really do him? Probably, I would just present myself as a weakness for Alexei and a means of leverage over him for the other guy.

  I was still debating the wisdom of trying to help when I spotted them. I saw Christopher’s golden blonde hair first, just a shade darker than mine. His back was turned to me and running beside him was a second man. They were sprinting from the room, talking in low voices that I couldn’t really make out.

  Alexei was still fighting with the other man as my gaze darted between the two fighting men and the two that were desperately running away. Every fiber of my being wanted to help Alexei, but I already knew what a terrible idea that was. I wouldn’t do him any good by trying to join in the fight. If anything, I’d just end up getting myself badly hurt, and that was something neither of us would be interested in.

  Plus, the baby…

  Turning towards my brother who I could just barely see running around a corner, I considered my second option. If I didn’t stop them and they got away, Alexei would have to track them to the next location. And the next. It could go on forever. I didn’t want my brother to die, but Alexei would never stop. But maybe if I got to him first, if I reasoned with him about everything that had happened, if I got him to give back the money, then he wouldn’t have to die. I didn’t care what Alexei had told me in the car. There had to be another way.

  Deciding that that was my only course of action, I ran towards the two fleeing men. I spared Alexei one last glance, heartened to see that he seemed to have the upper hand with the other man. I told myself that he was strong, that no matter what, he would survive this.

  For me and for our baby.

  I ran down the hallway, trying to follow the two men. I had seen them turn at the very end of the hall, heading somewhere that I couldn’t yet see. I had no idea how the warehouse was set up and was surprised that there seemed to be rooms and a hallway all on the second floor. I thought these places were just meant for storage, but it seemed like this one was actually set up like some sort of house.

  Had my brother maybe been living here? Or at least, hiding out?

  That seemed pretty likely, which was kind of unfortunate. It meant he and his friend—Jason, he’d said, though I didn’t know of any friends of Chris’s who were named Jason—had to know this place a lot better than I did. Was there another staircase at the end of this hall? Did it lead up another flight or back down to the main floor? Was there a secret passage or a window they were going to jump out of?

  I couldn’t know, so I just ran and hoped that I could head them off before they escaped. I had to get to them first, to reason with them before it all went horribly wrong. My heart told me that Alexei would win his fight and maybe that was just because I was so desperate to believe it, for him to be alive when this was all over, but I was confident of the outcome all the same.

  Which meant I didn’t have a lot of time to try and get through to Chris and this crazy Jason guy. I hoped and prayed that they would listen. The weight of the gun tucked into the waistband of my jeans, the one Alexei had given me, reminded me that I had some leverage. Maybe it would be enough to make them listen.

  I turned the corner into another hall and saw Jason and Chris standing at the end of it, breathing heavily, talking to one another about something urgently. I hurried forward, confident now that I could finally talk some sense into them.

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Alexei

  I took a hard hit to my jaw, making the bruise already there throb all the worse. The force of the blow sent me stumbling back until I hit the rickety old wooden table behind me. It couldn’t support my weight and ended up crashing down beneath me. A whoosh of air escaped my lungs harshly thanks to the force of the landing. My back ached beneath me, pieces of chipped, splintered wood
pressing into my back.

  What a night.

  I would have been faring a lot better in the fight if I hadn’t been already injured. But my body was protesting the work I was forcing it to do and I wasn’t having as much luck with this man as I might have under different circumstances.

  He had to have had some sort of previous fighting experience. Maybe ex-military. They weren’t always the most intelligent of the bunch so I imagined it would be pretty easy to get dragged in with a few lowlifes like Christopher and his little pal Jason.

  Normally, I would call Vinny and ask for permission—or at least confirmation—that he wanted this man dead, too, but I didn’t have time to bother with such formalities. I’d kill him for free and, more to the point, I wasn’t about to stop in the middle of our scuffle to have a little chat with my boss.