Confused at what was happening, Pax followed as Sammie anyway as she pulled him out onto the flat area in front of the stone dwellings.
She spread the sleeping bag across the ground and pulled Pax into the middle of it so that they stood face to face. Then she pressed her mouth against his mouth and her body against his body.
“What about the thermal scanners?” Pax objected. Sammie countered with “They'll see we're not trying to sneak anywhere. The worst that could happen is that there's going to be a thermal video of this on some website."
Soon Pax’s body was overcoming any objections of his mind as Sammie writhed against him in the moonlight. Sammie felt the passion explode within her as Pax ran his hands across her back and brought them down to clutch her buttocks. Soon they were lying together on the hard ground, cushioned only by the thin sleeping bag.
This wasn’t a need for closeness. This wasn’t a holding on to each other for possibly the last time. This was the slow, pleasurable exploration of each other’s bodies as their hands and their lips explored each other beneath the moonlight.
Was this what it was like to be with someone when the world was not crashing in around you? Was this what she was always supposed to feel as Pax slowly nibbled at her ear and gently moved his hand in soft swirls around her breasts?
Sammie ran her hands along his shoulders and slid them down his back and sides. His skin felt so smooth beneath her fingers. The soft ridges of his well defined muscles rippled against her fingertips. Sammie put her mouth close to Pax’s ear and breathed, “Pax, I love you.”
Pax raised his head from her breasts and whispered back, “Sammie, I love you.”
Suddenly it was like they were lying beneath the hot desert sun rather than the cool light of the moon. Her skin burned with a fire that made the breeze feel like an icy wind across her naked back. She shivered slightly and Pax pulled her tightly to himself.
“Are you cold?” he asked.
“Not while you are keeping me warm,” she answered.
Pax now pulled her more tightly against himself and began running the flat of his warm hands across her back and then down to cup the cheeks of her ass. He pulled her against himself so that her sex was pressed tightly against his leg. She could feel her body begin move on its own as she rubbed herself against his thigh.
He pressed his lips against hers and her mouth opened to let his tongue slide between her teeth. Pax was in no hurry, but he was relentless as he oh-so-slowly stroked and rubbed and tweaked Sammie’s body towards higher and higher levels of warmth.
Sammie had been the one who pushed for this, but soon her arms fell to her sides as she surrendered herself to Pax’s expert manipulation of her body and released herself to him without concern for the past or the future. When her body was finally undulating in the dance of overwhelming passion, he rolled her onto her back and gently entered her.
She moaned softly as he began to thrust within her. She yipped in surprise and passion as Pax stopped his movement and supported himself on one arm so that he could squeeze her breast and tweak her nipple. When he resumed his movement, Sammie felt herself rising off the ground to meet his thrusts. Her passion slowly continued to mount, and Pax seemed to be waiting for her, but she could feel no urgency in his actions. It was as if they had all of the time in the world.
The peak of passion did arrive, however. As Sammie reached the point of climax, Pax clamped his mouth tightly down over hers to keep her cries from reverberating out over the valley. Then he erupted within her and lay tightly upon her, pulling them completely together with his strong arms.
Sammie wasn’t sure how long Pax remained lying on top of her after they had finished, but the sound of a distant helicopter eventually caused them both to retreat to the protection of the stone hut. The next morning, Sammie untangled herself from Pax’s arms, dressed, and went down the trail to her motorcycle.
She stopped for a short while at her apartment to pick up a messenger’s uniform that was lying on her kitchen table. Then she continued on downtown. Just before ten she walked into the police station and told the desk sergeant that she had a delivery for Detective Richardson. He said he would take it, but she insisted that it was for Detective Richardson’s hands only.
Sammie felt very vulnerable as she stood in front of the desk waiting for Richardson to come down to receive the package. She knew that police department rules would not allow an unopened package inside, so he would have to meet her in the lobby. Her fear increased as he came out the door next to the desk and his eyes widened in recognition. She held out the phone to him. There was a note wrapped around the phone that said, “If you recognize the messenger, press Redial.”
Detective Richardson took the phone from Sammie’s hand and read the note. He looked at her for what seemed like an eternity and then turned to the desk Sargent and said, “It’s okay. I think I know what this is about.” Then he turned the phone on.
Sammie remained standing next to him. She could hear Pax’s voice answer with “Don't say my name, but if you know who I am, say yes”
“Yes.”
Pax’s voice continued, “Someone is setting up all three gangs to force us into war with each other. If I can sit down with the other two safely, we can negotiate a truce, but none of us can trust even our closest friends. Are you willing to help broker a peace?”
Detective Richardson again said, “Yes.”
Sammie heard Pax laugh. “This could get you a commendation and perhaps a promotion to Captain. The messenger has the details. Handpick who knows about this. You have pawns planted in the police too. Not everyone answers to the same supervisor you do. I am putting my life in your hands, but I may be putting your life in danger also.”
Richardson’s eyes widened slightly. He glanced at Sammie and then back at the desk officer before answering softly, “I understand.” He handed the phone back to Sammie and she handed him a folded piece of paper. As she turned to leave, she heard him say softly, “Vaya con dios.”
She said nothing and walked quickly to her Harley. As she pulled away from the station and into traffic, Sammie felt herself shaking slightly. “God go with us all,” she said to herself. “We are going to need it.”
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
She spent a half hour riding around town making sure that she was not followed. Then she stopped at a fast food place and picked up something to take back to the mesa. After another half hour winding through alleyways to make sure she was truly alone, she headed back to the cave garage at the base of the mesa. The food was cold by the time she got back up to the stone rooms, but it was still better than the survival food that was the alternative.
After eating, they sat on a large rock in front of the huts and talked. “I thought you were Hispanic,” Pax said. “But you seem to be tied into a lot of Native American… … stuff.”
Sammie laughed. “Nobody is pure anything, and Hispanic is a label that is stuck on a wide range of people. Dad says that he is quarter-ass Shoshone, but I think it is much less than that. Mom was nearly full blood Pima, but she said that her family were from the old tribes that were here before the Pima drove them out. They disowned her when she married dad… not because he was a biker, but because his mother was from below." She saw the confusion on Pax's face and explained. "That’s how they refer to Mexico. Bigotry knows no race or color.”
“We have a lot to learn about each other.” Pax took her hand. “Especially if we are going to be spending the rest of our lives together. All of my great-grandparents came from Germany. I never knew them. My parents spoke English, except for a few cuss words they didn’t want us kids to understand.” He smiled and said with a great deal of mirth in his voice, “I can say ‘asshole’ in four different German dialects.”
Sammie laughed again. Her laugh sounded almost musical to Pax. They continued talking long into the night. Even though they never got around to having sex that night, when Sammie fell asleep in Pax’s arms, she felt closer to him than she
ever had before. She was still snuggled into Pax when the sun awoke them in the morning.
“Are you sure about this?” Pax asked her after they had cleaned up and were ready to go.
“No,” Sammie answered. Her insides felt like warm jelly. “But it’s the best chance we have for peace.”
“Then it’s time to ride,” replied Pax.
***
As they rode back toward town, Pax was in the lead. Sammie was riding wingman to his right. Pax raised his arm and pointed toward an overpass ahead. Two Arizona State Patrol motorcycles were on the exit with their lights on. As Pax and Sammie passed the exit, they came down onto the road and took up the front and rear buffer positions. The jelly in Sammie’s abdomen turned to hot lava.
The four bikes continued on until Piestewa Peak was clearly in sight. As they turned onto the access road, another, almost identical, convoy of four bikes was visible slightly ahead of them and an additional group of four was coming from the opposite direction. The twelve bikes proceeded up the fire road to a grassy opening that was very familiar to Sammie. It was here that just a few days ago, Pax and Sammie had made frantic love.
Now the open space was being put to an entirely different purpose. Pax took the lead and began to carve a large circle in the open area. He raised his hand and the six police bikes slowed while the three leaders and their wingmen pulled into a tighter circle. He raised his hand once again and the three wingriders slowed while the leaders moved into an even tighter circle.
Sammie held her breath as Pax, Theo, and Carlos pulled their bikes together so that the front wheels were almost touching. Pax made a sideways slicing motion with his hands and the sound of the engines died away.
Sammie was close enough to hear voices, but not close enough to understand what was said. She looked out at the circle of police bikes. The officers all had their weapons unholstered and were carefully scanning the surrounding trees. They knew that their greatest threat lay beyond the circle, not from within its center.
She could hear Pax shouting, and then her father matching Pax’s tone and volume. Then Carlos was loud enough that she could tell that he was swearing in several different languages. But slowly the volume began to drop. She could see that the posture of the three men was beginning to soften. The burning lava in her stomach was starting to cool back to warm jelly.
Then she saw her father smile. It wasn’t that cold smile that he would give an enemy, and it wasn’t that false smile that he put on for outsiders. It was a true smile. And then Pax smiled. Finally Carlos laughed. Sammie could hear him clearly as he said, “I still think that you Knights are all sons of bitches, but no wolf will attack the dogs just because some chupacabra is trying to stir us up. We will never be your brothers, but we will respect this peace. My blood promise is this. If something happens, I will talk to you before I act, and I will instruct my leaders to do the same if something happens to me.”
“And that is my promise,” said Theo loudly.
“Then we are agreed,” said Pax. He held up his hand with his thumb held high so the officers in the outer ring could see. Theo and Carlos followed his actions. One of the officers holstered his weapon and started his engine. The remaining five followed his actions and soon all six were gliding back down the fire break road.
Carlos was the next to start his engine. His wingman immediately did also and shortly they were roaring back down toward the highway.
Theo started his Harley and then said loudly above the roar of the engine, “Treat her right, Pax. You don’t deserve her. But she loves you, and you have my blessing.”
With that he and his wingman roared out of the clearing.
Sammie started her Roadster and pulled up next to Pax. “Let’s go home,” he said wearily.
A short while later, Pax and Sammie pulled into the parking lot of the Knight’s Clubhouse. They were expecting things to be quiet, but instead it appeared as if all of the bikes were lined up out front and people were running around shouting at each other. Something was dreadfully wrong. She could clearly hear Short John’s voice yelling, “Calm down. We don’t know what happened yet. We don’t even know if Pax was part of this.”
The shouting and bustle stopped suddenly as Pax pulled up. The Knights stood quietly staring at him in surprise and disbelief. In the silence, Double D’s voice could be clearly heard shouting from inside, “You won’t believe this shit. They were all cops!”
Sammie and Pax rushed into the club where Double D had the large screen television tuned to a local news channel and turned up very loud. A reporter was standing in front of the police station saying, “Detective Arnold Richardson has said that this tragic accident was the result of two different anti-gang divisions attempting a sting at the same time without the other’s knowledge. The result was a shootout between two different groups of police officers. Detective Richardson and his men, with SWAT team protection were set up as decoys dressed as local gang members in an attempt to investigate an ongoing gang war. An elite team from the State Anti-Gang Task Force under the leadership of Captain David Monroe for some reason, and without authorization, attacked the decoys and in the resulting firefight with the SWAT team members, Captain Monroe and the other four officers of his team received fatal wounds. The Mayor has expressed his dismay at this loss of life, but has said that it was an unfortunate accident that can occur when working multiple undercover operations at the same time.”
“Captain Monroe thought he was attacking our meeting!” Sammie exclaimed. “He was behind it all! Does this mean it is over?”
“It's peace for now,” Pax answered. “It looks like the chupacabra is dead, but we still don’t know who held his leash. All we have is peace for now.”
“And each other,” added Sammie as she moved to stand closely beside him. Their hands found each other and their fingers snaked together. There would be time to rejoice and celebrate. A life time, in fact.
RETURN TO TABLE OF CONTENTS
RIDERS ON THE STORM
EMILY STONE
CHAPTER ONE
There were no ‘Welcome Home’ banners hanging from the rafters for Manny Pershing. Ten years in the San Bernadino County Federal Detention Center on a bogus drug trafficking charge had given him plenty of time to think about who was responsible for putting him inside. The only people he cared about seeing were his son and his crew.
They were waiting for him inside. Waiting for him to take back his position as President. His son, Rex, had taken over the Vice-President spot on Manny’s orders when he turned eighteen. Manny needed someone he could trust to keep an eye on things, specifically Xander Thorn, the President of a rival club, the Karthadossian Riders.
In the three years since Rex had taken over the number two spot, things had gone from bad to worse. There had been nothing Rex or the others could do, it had been a deal between Xander and himself that had caused the issues.
About a year after Manny had gotten locked up, Xander Thorn had come to him with a complaint against one of the smaller clubs that fell under the Siouxan Brothers protection. They made a threat against Xander’s daughter, a violation of the only agreement the two men had ever made. No matter what their rivalry was, their kids were off limits.
He ceded the club to Xander as per the agreement. The man who’d made the threat was banished from the club and the others given the choice to stay and fall under the Karthadossian Riders group or leave the area for another club. Most had stayed, unable—or unwilling—to leave the area.
Over the next five years, two other small clubs broke the agreement and were ceded to Xander. Again, most had stayed. The clubs that had been ceded were on strategic routes that the Siouxan Brothers used to do business in and out of San Bernadino County. Being behind bars meant there wasn’t much that Manny could do to stop the invasion of the rival club.
He hoped that putting Rex in his second’s spot would cause some of the younger members of those ceded clubs to loosen their tongues. So far, no one was talking. R
ex had managed to find out that Xander had installed senior members of his own club in those locations, but not why.
Ten years inside allows you to talk to a lot of people you wouldn’t normally get to have conversations with. Especially folks from rival clubs who needed protection while they were inside for a few days awaiting trial. Ten years also lets you do a lot of thinking as to other people’s motives.
Manny had a working theory and if he was right, all hell was going to break loose between the Karthadossians and the Siouxans.
***
Rex Pershing was under a lot of pressure. Being the second in a motorcycle club was a lot of responsibility—even more so when the President was your Dad. He had a lot to prove to people who didn’t think he deserved the spot. He hadn’t earned it. He was too young. In the past three years, he more than earned his place, stood up when it was needed and gained the grudging respect of the others in his Dad’s crew.
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