If there was an election. Because he’d had it with all the crap. After Dawn and the girls were safe, he was going hunting.
* * *
Dawn wheeled Maia’s princess suitcase into the hallway. She’d packed as quickly as she could after receiving Cade’s message, but dammit, she didn’t want to run again—not even to a Sinner safe house. She’d been running away since her family died. First from her uncle, and then from the streets, and now from Jimmy all over again. She wanted to stand up to him the way she had when he broke into her house. But this time, she wouldn’t make any mistakes.
Her phone rang and Doug started speaking after she said hello, his words clipped and his voice unusually abrupt.
“Jimmy’s out of jail. There was nothing I could do. The lawyer he hired is a big-time criminal attorney and he had the sheriff’s head spinning with all the things he said had gone wrong with the arrest. Where are you?”
“I’m at home. I know about Jimmy. But it’s okay. I’m going—”
“Get out of the house, Dawn. Get out now. Get on the bus and come to the police station. I’m just outside of town. I’ll meet you there in twenty minutes. I can get you into a safe house and from there we can arrange for witness protection.”
“Cade is coming. He’s taking me—”
“Don’t make this mistake again.” Doug’s voice rose to a shout. “He can’t save you. When Jimmy dumped the body at your house, you came to me. In your heart you knew I could protect you. Cade is a biker through and through. He’s going to use you the way Jimmy did. He’s playing off your fears with false promises. He doesn’t care for you the way I do. I don’t want to see you hurt.”
Bile rose in her throat. She had done nothing to encourage Doug beyond friendship, and she couldn’t understand why he didn’t get the message. And Cade … Doug was wrong about him. She trusted him, and she trusted herself enough now to know she wasn’t making the same mistake she’d made with Jimmy.
“I’ve made my choice. I love him. And Conundrum is my home. I’m a Sinner now, Doug. I’ve found myself and I’ve found my place. I’m not going to let Jimmy take it away.”
I love him. The rightness of the words rippled softly through her body, warming her from her fingers to her toes. Why had she been such a fool? Last night, with Jimmy in jail and their deal effectively done, she had actually considered giving back her cut. Now she wished he would hurry so she could wear it for him, tell him that she loved him, and then spend a lifetime showing him just how much.
“You aren’t thinking straight. I’m on my way.” Doug hung up before she had a chance to say anything else, and Dawn’s heart squeezed in her chest. He had been a good friend to her but he had pushed this protection thing just a little bit too far. She wondered again about his sister, and what had happened to her that had made him so determined to run roughshod over Dawn’s life.
Dawn turned on the television and settled the girls on the couch as she packed up the rest of their bags. A BREAKING NEWS banner flashed on the screen, and the familiar face of Ella Masters, Conundrum’s up-and-coming news reporter, appeared on the screen. Standing under an umbrella, her sleek brown bob irritatingly unaffected by the humidity, she gestured behind her to a sea of police cars and an east-end alley closed off with police tape and announced that Bernie DeMarco, otherwise known as Wolf, president of the outlaw motorcycle club the Devil’s Brethren, had been found dead less than an hour ago.
Dawn’s stomach heaved and she reached for her phone. Only Jimmy would have the audacity to kill Wolf, on the eve of the election. And she had no doubt who would be next. She texted Cade and Arianne but got no answer.
Damn. Where was he? She wasn’t about to hop on the bus and go to the police station to meet Doug, but sitting in her house waiting for Jimmy to show up didn’t make sense, either. Yes, she had her gun, but she also had two children to protect, and the last thing they needed to see was their mother shooting and killing their father.
“Girls. Grab your coats. We’re going for a walk until Cade gets here.”
“I want to bring blankie.” Tia jumped up and raced to her bedroom. Dawn ran after her. She had just reached the bedroom when she heard a knock at the door.
“I’ll get it.” Maia, already dressed and standing in the hallway, turned the lock.
“No.”
But it was already too late. The door swung open, and Maia fell to the side.
“Jimmy.” Dawn stared at him aghast.
“That’s President Jimmy, love. And I’ve come to take you home.”
TWENTY-FOUR
I shall uphold my creed or I shall turn in my colors.
SINNER’S TRIBE CREED
He rode like the devil was on his ass.
Streetlights, stoplights, traffic, pedestrian crossings, and school zones flew past as he raced through the streets of Conundrum.
The prospect had come running out of the clubhouse just after he started his bike, and from the look on his face Cade knew the news was gonna be bad.
Wolf is dead, he said.
Mad Dog is president, he said.
And Cade knew exactly where he was going to be.
* * *
Dawn screamed when Jimmy dragged her from the house.
“Please. Don’t leave them. They’re too little to be on their own.”
Where were the neighbors who’d complained about shots fired at night? Where was Cade? And where was her damn purse and her gun?
“Mommy!” Maia and Tia ran after them, and Jimmy turned and pointed his gun at his two sobbing daughters.
“You want to live, you’ll shut those mouths and you’ll go back inside.”
“Go to Martha’s house after we’re gone,” Dawn shouted. “Then ask her to call Arianne. The number is in my phone. Please, Jimmy. Let them come with us…”
“Shut the fuck up.” Jimmy spun around and slapped her. “I don’t want those brats. They destroyed my fucking life. You draw any attention and I’ll fucking shoot you and get rid of you once and for all. I’m racking up the body count today and three is my lucky number.”
Dawn sucked in a sharp breath. Oh God. Cade. Had he killed Cade, too? Despair gripped her hard and she took a deep breath and pushed her fear away. Right now she had to survive and escape. Then she’d find her girls and get the hell out of Montana forever. There was nothing left for her here anymore.
“Why do you want me, Jimmy?” She stumbled when he shoved her toward a black SUV, parked at the side of the road. No back lanes or shadowy alleys for him anymore. No attempt to even hide the kidnapping. He was president now. Untouchable.
Two Brethren brothers she didn’t recognize opened the door and Jimmy shoved her inside, before climbing in beside her.
“I don’t have your money,” she continued. “I never did. And you’re president now. You don’t have to prove anything to anyone.”
“I know you don’t have the money.” His face twisted in anger. “Shelly-Ann caused me a whole lotta grief with her lies, and when I found out, I made sure she was damn sorry she did. As for you, I like havin’ you around.” He put an arm around her shoulders and pulled her against him. “Pretty face. Sexy body.” He gave her nipple a cruel pinch and Dawn gasped. “Love the way you fucking scream. Nothing gets me off like your scream. Lotta girls broke when I beat them. Inside and outside. I never broke you.” He squeezed her breast and Dawn had to fight back the nausea as seven years’ worth of terror hit her in a rush.
She grabbed the door handle, but the driver had locked the door. She screamed and pounded at the window until Jimmy smashed her head against the glass and promised there was more of that waiting for her if she made any more noise.
After a long drive, the SUV pulled up outside the Brethren clubhouse, a converted barn in the foothills of the Tobacco Root Mountains just outside the Conundrum border. One of Jimmy’s companions opened the door for him, bowing as if he were some kind of royalty. Dawn stepped out of the vehicle, and back into a nightmare.
&n
bsp; Jimmy hadn’t wasted any time. He already had a president patch pinned to his cut, and as they walked toward the clubhouse she could see workers buzzing around what used to be Wolf’s house, a small bungalow near the back of the property.
Other than the construction, everything was exactly the same as when she left. The front door opened into a makeshift office foyer, complete with a potted palm, a rack of magazines and a water cooler, all designed to throw nosy cops off the scent.
Gail, the house mama and pretend receptionist, sat behind an empty desk filing her nails. She had grown her platinum-blond hair down to her waist, and her breasts threatened to explode from her low-cut fluorescent-green tank top. She waved absently when Jimmy shoved Dawn forward.
“Long time. No see.”
“Gail.” Dawn bit back a grimace. Gail had made it clear from day she joined the club that she wasn’t interested in friendship, bonding, or female solidarity, and she definitely wasn’t interested in anyone who might be a threat to her position. Gail looked out for only Gail. In that way, she was very much like Jimmy.
“Quit yapping.” Jimmy pushed Dawn into the clubhouse proper. Her nose wrinkled when she inhaled the familiar stench of unwashed bodies, stale sweat, cigarette smoke and beer, as she fought back the stomach churning memories associated with the unpleasant scent.
A few Brethren members watched TV in one corner, and another cleaned guns at the worn kitchen table. Clothes hung off the free weight machine, but the pool table was busy, as usual. The bikers she knew smirked as she walked past and a few newbies gave her quizzical looks. But of course no one talked to her, because Jimmy hadn’t given permission. She was nothing here until he acknowledged her.
He steered her into a small room containing a bed and dresser. Jimmy flicked on the light and closed the door, then pointed her to the bed.
Dawn’s pulse kicked up a notch and she took a seat, hoping he would let her call someone to look after the girls if she was compliant. But when he leaned against the door and folded his arms, his face twisted into a cruel, victorious smile, Dawn’s hands clenched on the rough polyester bedspread. There would be no mercy for her tonight.
“Lucky for you I gotta stay here until things get settled. Otherwise I would have taken you home to hear you scream.” He pulled a bandanna from his pocket and dangled it in front of her. “Not that you’ll get off that easy. We can always muffle the sound.”
“Let me call someone to look after the girls, Jimmy, and I’ll do what you want.”
Jimmy snapped the bandanna between his hands. “Don’t give a fucking damn about those brats. Consider it part of your punishment for trying to humiliate me at the bar.”
“What are you talking about? I didn’t do anything to do.”
He struck her across the face with the back of his hand and she fell sideways on the bed, her cheek throbbing.
“I forgot what a goddamn slut you are. You loved being up there on the dance floor showing off to the crowd, practically fucking that Sinner in front of my brothers. You’re gonna fucking dance for us, but it’s me you’ll be touching, me you’ll be fucking, and it’s me you’ll be begging for mercy, which I’m not gonna give.”
“I’ll never dance for you, Jimmy.” She pushed herself up, bracing for another blow. “Not again.”
This time he just laughed. “You will dance. ’Cause if you don’t I’ll send someone for those girls and I’ll kill them in front of you.”
“You wouldn’t.”
“I’m president of the damn Brethren.” Jimmy reached for the door handle. “Soon to be Viper’s right hand man as president of his key support club. With the Jacks at my back, nothing’s gonna stop me, love, and no one’s coming to save you.”
She threw herself at the door after the dead bolt slid into place, pounding on it and beating it with her fists. Then she screamed until her voice was raw. But of course no one came to help her. Not now.
After all, no one defied the president.
* * *
He knew he was too late when he pulled up to the curb in front of Dawn’s house. First, she usually left on the light on the front porch. Second, the front door was partially open, and it seemed no one had called the police. Third, the TV was blaring hip-hop and Dawn was a jazz kind of girl.
Heart in his throat, Cade parked his bike under a streetlight and drew his gun from his cut. If the neighbors didn’t notice an open door and a loud TV, they sure as heck wouldn’t notice a biker with a gun, and if anyone was inside the darkened house, he hoped to hell they ran in his direction.
He approached from the side, peering in the living room window as he made his way to the back door. Using a file from his cut, he jimmied the lock and stepped into the kitchen. Hearing no sound, he crossed into the living room. The streetlights shone through the opposite window highlighting the chaos inside. Overturned chairs, furniture askew. He spotted a gym bag, half open and stuffed with clothes, near the entrance to the kitchen as well as a princess suitcase and a small stuffed toy. Dawn’s purse lay open on the floor.
His hand tightened into a fist, and his chest heaved. Jimmy had his girls. The Brethren would patch-over to the Jacks. The Sinners would be destroyed. And all because he didn’t do what he should have done weeks ago.
He turned to leave and then he heard a sound. Soft. Slightly muffled.
A sob.
His pulse kicked up a notch, and he made his way to the hallway leading to the bedrooms.
“Who’s in there?” He flicked on the light switch, gun at the ready.
The door to Maia’s and Tia’s room opened a crack and then a bundle of pink flew down the hallway, hitting him so hard, he stumbled back.
“Cade.” Skinny arms wrapped around his hips, holding him tight. “I told Maia you’d come. I knew you would save us. You gave us your word as a biker.”
“Tia?” His voice cracked as emotion welled up in his throat. That the one person who had the most to lose had such faith in him …
“Cade.” Maia barreled down the hallway hitting him with such force he staggered back. “Jimmy was here. He took Mom away. He said he didn’t want us.” Her body shook with a sob. “He said he’d kill us if we went outside. Mom said to go to Martha’s house but we were too afraid.”
“But you’ll save Mom.” Tia tugged on his shirt. “Won’t you?”
“You know I will.” Or he would die trying.
After texting the prospect to bring the SUV, he helped the girls pack their bags, then called Jagger to let him know what had happened. By the time he finished the call, the prospect had arrived and Cade loaded the girls’ bags, then locked up the house and led them to the vehicle.
“Where are we going?” Maia asked.
“Not sure yet. We have a safe house—”
“Why can’t we stay with you?”
Why couldn’t they stay with him? There were no wild parties going on tonight at the clubhouse. And he could ask Arianne to watch them until he brought Dawn home. He pulled out his phone and made the call. Arianne told him she’d ask Dax to join her. He’d just gotten back from a job down south, and since he had five kids he’d know how to have some fun.
Cade didn’t know about having fun at the clubhouse, or about letting the club torturer anywhere near his girls, even if he did have five kids, but he did know he liked to see the girls smile. And the only way to do that was to bring their mom home.
* * *
“Time to get dressed, bitch. You’re dancing tonight.”
Dawn shot up on the bed when Jimmy burst through the door. She’d been over every inch of the room during the night, and then again over the course of the afternoon, but there were no windows, and the door was locked from the outside.
“Here.” He threw a shopping bag at her. She recognized the logo from the shop where she’d bought her dance clothes when she’d been with Jimmy before.
“Put them on.”
She stared at the bag. Three years ago she would have picked it up and dressed right a
way. But she wasn’t the same person she had been three years ago. Hell, she wasn’t the same person she’d been six weeks ago.
“No.” The word fell from her lips before she could stop it. And even though she knew the consequences, it felt so damn good to say that word after so long, she didn’t care.
“Pick up the fucking bag and put on the fucking clothes.” Jimmy enunciated every word as he crossed the room toward her. He wanted her to cower and cringe and scream and beg. Like he’d said in the car, he got off on her fear and her pain. And when she thought she had nothing and was worth nothing, when she thought no one cared, and she had nowhere to run, she’d given him what he wanted. But not now. Never again.
“I’m not playing this game anymore.” Her heart thundered in her chest and she backed up to the wall. “You want me to stay and play happy families so you can delude yourself into thinking that gives you legitimacy in the eyes of the senior patch, then let’s go get the girls.” She braced herself for the storm, but Jimmy just laughed.
“You think I want you back to be my old lady again? You think I care what the senior patch think anymore? I’m fucking president. And this isn’t about getting back together. This is about punishment. Revenge. Justice. You humiliated me when you left. Only reason I didn’t do anything about it was ’cause Wolf laid down the law. He didn’t want any Brethren hurting civilians and drawing the attention of the cops or the ATF. It was revenge or the cut, he said. So I chose the cut, but I knew the day would come when you would be mine again. I was patient. And my patience was rewarded.”
Wolf? She’d always wondered why Jimmy let her go and how she’d gotten off as easily as she had. For months she’d been unable to sleep, terrified she’d wake up with a knife against her throat. Although taking her children away had hurt her worse than any physical pain.
“That’s when I knew Wolf had to go,” he continued. “So I could make this club great again—the kind of club that doesn’t leave a brother hanging out to dry when he’s been humiliated by a fucking bitch, the kind of club my dad ran. So I went to Viper. I told him Wolf was weak and he wasn’t committed to joining the Jacks. I told him I’d bring him the whole club as a support club if he helped me win the election. Viper wanted more. He wanted puppets to do his dirty work, recruiters to increase his numbers. I had no problem with that. Got me closer to the big man himself.”
The Sinner’s Tribe Motorcycle Club, Books 1-3 Page 62