by K. J. Dahlen
I tapped the screen. “Dammit… password.” I bit at my lip then sighed.
“Well, there’s always his wallet?” She held it up.
I gave her a sideways look. “You jacked it? You are a puzzle, girl.”
She shrugged and opened his wallet. “Mel Santini… thirty-five. Mhmm.”
“Well, it’s Italian but not conclusive.” I kept tapping the screen on his cell trying all kinds of words. Then I looked up. “See if he has any like kid pics or a wife pic in there.”
Chloe thumbed through it and raise up a photo of a toothy, grinning girl.
“Is there a name on the back?”
She licked her lip and flipped it over. “Tracey.”
“How is it spelled?”
“Um, T-R-A-C-I.”
I typed that in.
PING!
“Bingo!” I laughed.
Chloe chuckled. “You are clever for a biker bunny.”
I shook my head. “A self educated bunny.” I scrolled through the phone. “Yep. Al B.”
“Albee?” She titled her head at me.
“Al Bianchi.”
She nodded. “So he was mob. Good call, Bella.”
I stood up then took out the phone’s sim card. “Gonna flush this. They can track em.”
She stared at me. “Wow, how do you know all this stuff?”
I sighed. “I’ve been living on the run almost my whole life.”
Her eyes widened. “No kidding?”
I halted as I stared at her. “No kidding. It’s not a joke. I relied on myself all this time and I am alive and whole.”
“So you didn’t trust Thunder at all?”
I looked away. “I could have with my life. I know that now. But not with…”
“…Your heart?” she asked quietly. “You are some tough chick, but love scares you.”
I huffed. “That’s for fools and dreamers. Not survivors.”
Chloe looked stricken, but she didn’t say anything about it. “So what do we do?”
“For now. We rest. Then I got a plan on where to go.”
“I’m not gonna like it am I?” Chloe looked doubtful as she gazed around at the shabby room.
I grinned at her. “Oh, man, are you gonna love it.” I headed into the bathroom and flushed the piece of metal.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Jaxson
I’d checked several places. The brothers followed me everywhere and it was annoying as hell. I then pulled over at a gas station. It was time to face the music. I would have to call Dagger. This wasn’t going to be pleasant. In fact, it may seal my fate. The man had warned me to never allow her to be hurt.
The brothers all parked around me.
I motioned for them to cut their engines.
They all did and sat on their bikes.
I got out my cell and tapped the screen.
“Yeah?” His gruff voice answered.
“It’s Jax.”
“What’s wrong?’
I sighed. “Chloe.”
Silence.
“What happened?” he asked in a low voice.
“She ran off.”
“WHAT?” Disbelief rang in his tone.
“She thought she was helping this girl out.”
“You’d better be fucking kidding.”
I took a deep breath and launched in, “I called because I wondered if she might have come to you.”
“I haven’t seen her. But dammit Coltrane. How the fuck did this happen?”
I winced. “It’s a long story, but honestly, she might be in real danger, being with this girl.”
“And why?” he hissed.
“Mob is after her.”
“What the fuck?” he growled. “Where are you?”
“East side of town.”
“I’ll get my men out there and Coltrane…”
“Yeah.”
“If a hair on her head is even missing, you’re a dead biker.” He hung up in my ear.
Shit!
I looked around and knew I was getting nowhere fast. I tapped the screen. Thunder. I needed to see if he had any idea where this Bella might go to. It rang, and rang then he picked up. “Thunder?”
“No, asswipe.”
I sucked in a breath “Who the fuck are you?”
“I’m the one that’s going to rain hell down on Bruno De Luca’s world.”
“Listen fucker. Thunder is our VC. Bruno and the whole family will take you out if you kill him.”
“He’s alive. But I don’t give a fuck. He killed our enforcer.”
“He didn’t know who it was.”
“Still not giving a fuck. We trade. The girl for this Thunder.”
I paused. We didn’t have the girl.
“Tell De Luca to call.”
Click.
“FUCK!” I yelled and wanted to throw my phone.
A few of the brothers stared at me.
I tapped the screen again and wondered why it hadn’t broke from the force I used.
“Yeah?”
“They got Thunder,” I told Bruno.
“WHAT?” he yelled.
I pulled the phone away from my ear at his shout. “They have his phone.”
“He had protection.”
“I don’t know what happened. If I know him he ditched them.”
“God dammit!” another yell.
“They said they want you to call. They want to trade the girl for Dino.”
“Fuck, fuck! The hell I will!”
“Well, we can’t anyway.” Not that we would. I wanted to wipe these mother fuckers out. I could only imagine what they were doing to my best friend. I felt sick. I couldn’t think straight. Chloe gone. Dino captured.
“We got it!”
I stilled. “Got what?”
“Marco had his phone tracked. You say you just talked to this bastard?”
“Yeah, a minute ago.”
“Well, aren’t they dumbasses. Get all the guys ready to go. Then I’m calling in…my other men.”
I flinched. His mob men. I never wanted any part of that. But at this point, it looked like war and we would need all of his people. “Yeah.” That’s all I had to say.
“Jax. We will get them back.”
I sighed. “But will Thunder be in one piece?”
“Shit. I will take that out on Al himself.”
I still had nothing to say.
“Jaxson?”
“I need to find Chloe.”
“I don’t want you out there.”
I shook my head and pinched the bridge of my nose.”
“I mean it Jaxson. I can’t lose you. Besides, he’s your VC and best friend, you gotta help get him out.”
He was right. “Okay.”
“Thatta boy and I think I may have located the girls.”
I sat up straight in my seat. “What?”
“Yeah, I got someone watching them. So if anyone approaches them, we will hurt them bad. I don’t want to set the women off. I think they took weapons with them.”
I bit at my cheek. Chloe telling me about arming herself. “Okay. I agree. They may get hurt in the crossfire.”
“Exactly.”
“But I want to know where she is Bruno.”
“She’s safe. Our brother Thunder is not. Now move your ass! Meet us at…” he paused. “All the way out on Highway thirty and Mastiff road.”
“Fuck. They took him to a killhouse?”
“Yeah, seems so. Fuel up. Check the guns, bring the brothers ya got.” Bruno hung up.
I stared at the screen. Then tapped it again. I looked up at the guys as I got off my bike. “Fuel up! Spider have my bike fueled.”
Spider nodded and got on my ride.
Miggs stayed with me. I stared at him.
“Bruno told me to be your wall.”
I almost smiled, as a wall was just what he was. “Yeah.”
My call rang. “Coltrane?”
“Yes, Dagger. Bruno has her location.”
“He fucking better. This was his fault wasn’t it?”
“Not really,” I lied. “But Thunder is at a kill house.”
“What?”
“The Bianchis have him.”
“Fuck! Where?”
I paused. Yeah, he cared about this too. He’d known Dino sat in jail for months for something he did and yet he’d said not a word about Dagger doing the deed. “Out on Highway 30 and—”
“ —Mastiff.”
I raised my head up. “Yeah, you know it?”
“We know all the mob and the cartel’s…places of business.”
“Okay, bring your guys. And Bruno is bringing in non MC.”
There was a long pause, then he spoke, “Well, I hate the fact but we may need em all.” He hung up.
One of the guy’s brought my cycle over and only then did Miggs move out of the way. Then there was another guy on my other side.
“Okay, Bruno is heading out with his men to Highway 30. They got Thunder.”
The men all looked upset.
“Let’s ride!” I called out as I got on. “We got a war to go to.” I started the bike up and we made our way to the freeway.
The feeling of doom settled over me and it wasn’t from the shot in the back sensation. No, that had left finally but replacing it was the thought of Dino. The man had only done the right things. For everyone in his life. Then with this girl. He gone and done the wrong thing. But it was still in the same vein. He’d done it to protect her.
I hadn’t protected Chloe in the same way. God, I missed her face. Her scent. Her.
As I rode, my mind drifted as we roared down the highway. I pictured her the first time we both knew we just had to be together.
With the wind in our faces, we’d ridden up to the foothills of the national park. My ribs and face had still hurt like the devil from the beat down I took from Anthony on the docks but I knew Chloe had been going stir crazy in the house. We’d both needed the fresh air.
I’d found an out of the way parking place. We got off the bike and decided to go for a walk.
I shook my head knowing she was the one woman I shouldn’t want at all. But wasn’t that the way of things? Didn’t we always want the one thing we shouldn’t have? Was fate so cruel to throw that up to us?
I leaned over and she didn’t move away from me like she should have. Was she as curious as I was right now? Did she want me as much as I wanted her? I was the one thing I knew she shouldn’t want, not with the way her mother felt about bikers and MCs. She’d grown up in that life and lost the one man she should have been able to count on. If her father had been alive then the two of us would never have met. He was a Blood and I was a Black Devil. We’d have been sworn enemies and always would be.
I’d leaned closer to her and when there was less than an inch between us, I whispered, “Tell me to go away.”
“Why?” she whispered back as she licked her lips.
“Because we shouldn’t be here, we shouldn’t be together but I can’t help myself. I want to kiss you right now.”
“Maybe I want that too. Did you ever think about that?”
I could barely hear her words but in my heart, they were as loud as a shout. I’d closed the distance between us and my lips brushed hers gently. A zap of electricity sparked between us. I felt it and from the look in her eyes, she’d felt it too.
I pulled away from her but she quickly wrapped her hand around my neck and pulled me back to her. Then it was her lips that covered mine. Her lips that pressed on mine. The power between us built up to ignite a fire in our mouths. I gasped and when I did, she thrust her tongue into my mouth. I quickly took over the kiss and we devoured each other.
Her hand tightened on my neck and the kiss deepened. All I could think about was how much I needed to kiss her. How good it felt to have her in my arms. I crushed her body to mine and I felt her shiver of excitement as we continued to kiss.
Finally, I broke the kiss and gasped for air. She wasn’t much better and it took us both a few minutes to breathe again. My heart was pounding in my chest. I’d even felt a trickle of sweat roll down the side of my face.
“Oh, my god…” she’d whispered breathlessly.
I looked over at her and nodded. “Yeah, all of that…”
Something bumped my bike and I was pulled out of the memory, but her face still lingered there in my head. I looked over and Miggs was pointing at the exit sign. Shit, it was Mastiff road. I veered off onto it. The bikes all crowded me. Dammit, there wouldn’t be anyone here to off me would there? They needed to back the fuck off.
Angry and frustrated, I refused to acknowledge that I’d been daydreaming.
I set my mind right as I saw other bikes ahead. Bruno and his crew. Then suddenly there was more roaring.
I pulled off and as I did, I looked back.
There were at least 25 bikes behind us. Dagger’s Crew.
Bruno motioned me over.
I hit my kickstand down and got off the cycle. I had to ignore Bruno for the moment. I waited for Dagger to pull up.
The man was huge. I always forgot that except when I saw him again. I stood waiting. I knew what I had coming and in fact, I wanted him to do it. I’d failed Chloe again.
The big biker stopped his Harley. Blaze as he called his bike. Then he kicked the stand and stepped off his cycle in a cloud of dust.
I stood and waited for him. I remembered when I’d asked him for permission to marry Chloe.
Dagger’s voice had been a lash of pure anger. A threat. “No. No. No. This life will break her. And there’s a special place in hell for men that hurt the people I care about.”
I hadn’t even winced at his promise of retaliation. “I expect you to kill me if anything happens to Chloe. If you didn’t do it, I’d send myself to hell for that. Without Chloe, I wouldn’t have anything to live for.”
Now something had happened to her.
With hell in his gaze, Dagger stalked over.
Miggs stepped in front of me.
I grabbed Migg’s arm. “Step aside, brother.”
He paused.
“Come on man. Do it.” I glared at the mountain man sized biker.
He gave a nod and stepped out of the way.
Dagger stepped up and pulled his massive arm back.
BAM!
Lights exploded in front of my eyes as I staggered and tried hard to stay on my feet. I swayed a bit and could hear shouts from behind me, especially Bruno yelling. I ignored it and stepped up to Dagger again. I raised my chin and felt the blood dripping from my nose. “Again, old man,” I hissed.
He stared at me. Hard. His eyes were so much like Chloe’s. He then blinked. “You want me to beat you down, don’t ya?”
I took a deep breath and said nothing.
He lowered his fist. “Nah. You should suffer more.” He stepped closer and looked me in the eyes. “Cause you will if she doesn’t come back safe, won’t ya?”
I slowly nodded. “I’ll want you to put me down, old man.”
He shook his head and stepped off.
“WHAT. IN. THE. FUCK?” Bruno stormed up to us.
I raised my hand at him. “He has a right Bruno.”
Bruno looked livid. “Once maybe. But if he touches you again—”
“What? Fucking De Luca?” Dagger challenged. “You’ll do what?”
I stepped between them. “Come on. We got business. Thunder, remember?”
They both paused.
It was an old feud. But we had other people to kill. I spit the blood out of my mouth onto the pavement.
Bruno started giving directions and Dagger waved his men over.
Everything around me buzzed. But I couldn’t really hear it. Thunder had better be alive or the men who had him were all dead.
CHAPTER TWENTY- THREE
Dino
I didn’t know how long I’d been here. It was just hours. A part of my brain knew this but it felt like fucking days. When they popped that
trunk, a rifle butt of a gun hit me between the eyes. It had been hours now since they’d taken me.
I’d passed out when that fuck had used the drill. So I had no idea how far into my bone he’d gotten. So this was it. I was finally laid down. The next move would be to kill me. I almost wished they would. Then a will to live would rise up. The want of a woman. I never got to have her. I let out a chuckle, yet here I was about to die for her.
My tombstone will read: Dumbass Dino Damicio gave his life for a woman he never got to fuck. I titled my head back in the bloody chair and laughed.
“What’s so funny fuckhead?”
Damn, it was that bastard again. I refused to speak, but I kept chuckling. Who the fuck cared. I was dead anyway. I’d lost a lot of blood and my body was burning up. They’d tried to give me water I remember that now and I’d spat it all out at them. Why? I was dying anyway. The quicker the better, I say.
They’d wanted to know where Bella was. I told them I had no idea. Yeah, I cracked some, just before the drill hit me. But what could I tell them? She was just gone. But I didn’t even tell them that much. Fuck them.
I thought of Jaxson. He would have to handle the club on his own. Well, there was always Bruno. But if Chloe didn’t come back, he would cease to be the guy I knew before anyways. I remembered Chloe for a minute. Yeah, spoiled brat, but she loved my brother and that had always been good enough for me.
I felt the cold metal against my temple. Finally! I sure as hell would miss it all. But I guess my luck just ran out this time.
“Your Bruno refused to hand her over,” the man’s low voice echoed in the room.
Good! Dammit, Bruno hadn’t let me down. But then again, he couldn’t hand her over could he? I was delirious. But they also didn’t have her. Fuck! I wouldn’t be around to ever know. I wanted Bella to have a decent life. I would have tried my damndest to give her one.
“Have any last words?”
I grinned and opened my mouth to tell him to go fuck himself.
Then I heard the shot and I flinched. I waited for the pain and the blackness. Instead, something wet and warm covered me. Oh, shit! It’s my own brain matter. I can still see? And feel? No, god no! Was this what death was like? You just kept living your death over and over? Yeah, maybe I’d been somewhat of a bad guy and I landed in hell.