Trigger's Salvation: Hellfire Dogs MC #1 (Hellfire Dogs MC Series)

by Crystal Miller

  “What do you mean, ride?” I try to comprehend what she just said to me. Fuck. It’s too early for this shit this morning.

  “Tony is taking you on a bike ride today. And before you protest, I’m taking Beast Boy. Him and I are going to have some Nanny and Alec time. You are going to have fun and enjoy yourself. It’s not every day you get a full day to yourself.” She came over gave me a hug and left the kitchen. A ride? Oh shit! I’ve never rode one before. What if I make a fool of myself?

  After a few minutes of standing there with shit running through my mind, Bridget comes in with some clothes and tosses them at me.

  “No shorts. Wear these and you’ll be good to go. Does Alec have his bag here?”

  “Yeah, let me get them for you.” I go into the living room and come back with his Star Wars bookbag. “Everything is in here. He doesn’t need a bath, Loretta gave him one yesterday because he was caked in mud.”

  Bridget must be able to tell I’m nervous. “Hey, you’re going to be ok. Tony is not going to let anything happen to you. And Alec, Rush said we are taking him to a festival so he’s going to be okay too. You guys are perfectly safe, do you hear me?” I nod my head but can’t look at her. I get nervous when Alec isn’t with me. I never know when Max is lurking around the corner.

  She leaves to go get Alec ready to leave when I hear a knock at the door. I turn around thinking it’s not even eight yet who the fuck is here. Then I hear a familiar voice.

  “Bridget, open up. It’s me.” My heart skips a beat and I start getting butterflies in my stomach. I walk over to the door and open it. What stands before me, makes my loins quake with need. He smiles at me and makes his way into the apartment.

  “Um, babe. You can’t go on a ride looking like that.” He jokes. I look down at what I’m wearing and notice I’m still in my pajamas.

  “Yeah, give me 15 to get ready and to tell Alec bye.” I walk back to the bathroom and change into the outfit Bridget gave me. I slipped on the skinny jeans and tank top in a matter of minutes and threw my hair into a messy bun. Not sure how that’s going to work with a helmet on but hey at least it doesn’t look like bed head. I brush my teeth, spray on some body splash, put on some deodorant and out the door I go.

  As I am walking down the hall to meet up with Trigger, I overhear Bridget and him talking. I stop at the end of the hall and listen when I hear that they are talking about me.

  “You can’t force her to make that decision” I hear Trigger say in a low voice.

  “No, but she needs to know. The threats are real, Trigger. She has to be given the option of what to do. You can either protect her or let her go, but stop pussy footin’ around with this bullshit. I showed you what was sent to me, this shit is only going to get worse.” I can hear the fear in Bridget’s voice. What is she talking about?

  “Why do I do I need protection?” I came around the corner and stopped right in front of them with my arms crossed, wanting to know what the fuck was going on. Does this have something to do with Max?

  Trigger crosses the room to me and gently grabs my arms with his hands. “You are one of Bridget’s friends and hopefully one of mine. Anyone who knows us gets protection no matter what. That’s all.” I could see Bridget behind Trigger rolling her eyes and stomping off. Oh shit. There is more to this then what Trigger just told me. Bridget wouldn’t act like this unless it was something big.

  Next thing we knew, there was a knock at the door and I could feel the tension in the room start to rise. Trigger went stiff and started reaching behind his back and keeps his hand there. What’s back there? Never mind, I just answered my own question. A gun. Bridget rushes to answer the door and as fast as the tension rose, it dissipated when they realized it was someone that they knew. This guy was huge, at least 6’5” and bulging muscles. He had a leather cut on just like Trigger did and a high with tight haircut. This guy looks like he walked right out of the service and right into the MC.

  “Bruh, you should have called.” Trigger relaxed, releasing the gun from behind his back. “Eve, this is Rush. He will be with Bridget and Alec all day so you don’t need to worry about them.” Rush is up to me in what seems like three easy strides and extends his hand. I shake it and notice the scars that traced his hand and ran up his arm. Damn.

  “It’s nice to meet you,” I look into his eyes and notice that they are almost a copper brown and soft, almost puppy dog like.

  “Same.” He smiles and it was almost immediately that I smiled back. We release hands and he looks over at Trigger and holds his gaze. It was almost like they were having a conversation with their minds. When they finally break their gaze, Bridget is holding Alec and the diaper bag and giving Rush the look like it’s time to go.

  “You two have fun.” Rush has a mischievous looking smile on his face. “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.”

  “Which is what?” Trigger asks inquisitively.

  “Exactly.” Rush laughs and heads out the door with Bridget and Alec When Rush closes the door, Trigger starts gathering up his helmet and phone. I grab my ID and debit card out of my wallet that’s sitting on the living room side table.

  “You won’t need that.” I hear Trigger say from across the room.

  “Won’t need what?” I’m confused. I need my ID and my debit card. They don’t leave the house without me. But I’m not about to bring my purse on the bike. My luck I would lose it.

  “Your debit card.” Trigger says.

  “Why not?” Still confused. Surely, he doesn’t think he’s going to pay for this day.

  Trigger comes across the living room and meets me at the table that my wallet is sitting on. He reaches into my back pocket and pulls out my debit card. “Because when you’re with me, you don’t pay. It’s called being a gentleman.”

  I put my hands on my hip and give him a look of defiance. “And how are you gentleman like?” Fuck! Did I just say that? I see hurt in his eyes for a moment before he puts my debit card back in my wallet.

  “There are somethings you don’t know about me. I’m not all rough around the edges like you think I am.” He’s almost defensive as he talks. I should have just kept my damn mouth shut.

  “Well then, I’m ready when you are.” I try to recover the mood that was there just a bit ago. I like the Trigger that I’ve been around since last night. Bridget is right. He really isn’t that bad of a guy.

  As Trigger and I lock up the apartment and head to the parking lot, I notice that he keeps looking all over the place, like he’s looking for someone or something. He guides me over to his bike. As we walk up to the bike, I can feel my eyes getting huge. The damn thing looks like it could swallow me up as soon as I sit on it. It’s royal blue with black leather seats. Trigger pulls up the back seat of the bike and pulls out a spare helmet. It looks like a weighs a ton but it had my favorite colors on it, blue and black. Trigger snaps the back seat back into place and climbs on.

  “You comin’ or are you going to stand there all day?” he asks through his helmet.

  “Uh, yeah.” I stammer out. I climb on without managing to look like an idiot but I can’t figure out what do with my arms. Do I wrap them around him, like they do in the T.V. shows I’ve seen? Or do I set them on my lap? Without saying a word, Trigger reaches behind me and grabs my arms and pulls them around the waist. I can feel the firmness of his abs beneath his shirt. Damn. Next thing I know, he starts up the bike, starts revving it into gear, and we take off out of the apartment complex and onto the main road. I closed my eyes expecting him to take off like the assholes on crotch rockets, but he didn’t he took his time, like we had all the time in the world today.

  Trigger jumped on 1-90 with no indication where he was going. We were maybe on the interstate for twenty minutes when we exited the highway and made a left on Segnette Boulevard. He’s taking me to the state park. I’m so not even dressed for this and the mosquitos are going to be horrendous with all the rain we have been getting lately. Lovely. This ought to be fun.


  Trigger

  Having Eve on the back of my bike was like a dream, a dream I never wanted to wake up from. I don’t think I can keep the beast inside at bay any longer. I needed her. I craved her. Her scent, her tender touch, the way she was with her son. I needed this kind of woman in my life. I can already tell that I’m going to fall hard for her. I need to watch myself. Letting people into my life has proved to go wrong in all sorts of ways.

  I park the bike at the picnic area of the park, take my helmet off, and help Eve off the bike. She’s a little off balance since it seemed to be her first time on a bike.

  “You good babe?” I ask grasping her hips to help her steady herself.

  “I’m good.” Eve takes her helmet off and starts straightening out her hair. Even with her helmet hair, she still was the most beautiful woman. She may not see it, but I do.

  A bunch of the guys from the club are here having a cook out. I thought this would be great for everyone to meet Eve and see that she is with me and off limits. I may not have claimed her officially, but that doesn’t mean that the rest of the guys won’t get the hint to back off.

  I grab her hand and we head over to where the rest of the club is at. She looks nervous. I didn’t want to tell her while we were at the apartment. I don’t want her closing up on me and shutting me out. This could either be a good or bad idea. When we reach the picnic tables, I grab a beer from the cooler and offer Eve one. She declines which is what I expected and grabs a soda from the other cooler.

  Seg, our Sgt. In Arms, comes up and slaps me on the back. “Is this the chick Bridget has been going on and on about. Damn, definite MILF right there.” I was on top of Seg before he knew what hit him.

  “Don’t you ever say something like that again.” I have him by the neck of his shirt with one fist made ready to meet his face hard. “She’s not for any of you fuckers! Do I make myself clear?” I growl.

  “Crystal.” Seg has his arms up ready to block the punch I’m ready to give him. “Calm down, boy. I was only joking. You know none of us would touch something that’s not ours.”

  Yeah right. I think to myself. I stand up and offer Seg a hand. I may not trust him entirely but he is still my brother and I have to give him that respect. Seg dusts himself off and walks over to Eve and extends a hand.

  “I apologize about what you just saw. We can act like animals at times. I’m Seg, by the way.” Eve reaches forwarded and shakes his hand. The look on her face looks as if she has seen a ghost.

  “Eve, nice to meet you.” Eve says as she starts to relax.

  “There’s plenty of food if you’re hungry. Help yourself.” Seg turns to walk away but stops dead in his tracks. “And Eve, if you ever need anything, let us know. You’re with Trigger which means you’re a part of the family.”

  “Thanks, I think.” Eve says. I take Eve to go get some food. She loads up her plate with red beans and rice, corn bread, and a hamburger. I look at her and then her plate and a smile stretches across my face.

  “What?” she asks. “Don’t laugh. I didn’t eat breakfast this morning, remember?”

  I put my arms up in surrender. “OK. OK. Eat as much as you want. No one is going to starve.” I laugh.

  We find a picnic table that is not as crowded and sit down. “So, is this what you guys do with your spare time?” Eve asks as she takes a bite of food.

  “Most of the time I’m working on one of the bikes or we go on a run. This is one of those rare occasions where we can just cut loose.”

  “All work, no play. Huh?” Eve laughs

  “Pretty much. Play time though. Play time can be fun.” I whisper in her ear and give her a wink. She turned about 5 shades of red in a matter of seconds. Poor girl has no clue what I want to do to her.

  We sat there and ate our food in silence for the next few minutes. She couldn’t finish all of her food, which I expected, so when I got up to thrown my plate away I took hers with me. Besides last night, it makes me wonder when the last time she actually ate a meal. I’m on my way back to the table when I’m stopped by Malik, our Prez.

  “Run tonight, 2200 hours. Be there.” Mac orders. We don’t contest when Mac tells us to do something. It turns into an all-out brawl with his temper, so we just agree and let it go. This means that my night with Eve will be cut short.

  I nod in understanding and walk back to the table. “Hey babe, I have a run at 10 tonight. What do you say we get out of here and go relax for a bit?” Eve is quick to get up and come to my side. She’s shaking. Why is she shaking? “You ok?”

  “Yeah, I just heard a coyote or something. It sounded like it was right behind me when it growled at me.” Are you fucking kidding me? I shake my head and make a mental note to do some hunting when I get back.

  “Don’t worry babe, he probably came out when he smelled the food. Ready to roll?” Eve nods her head and we start walking back uphill to the bike. Eve pulls her phone from her back pocket and checks it. I notice her face drop as she’s checking it.

  “Babe?” I ask.

  “I may need to take a rain check on that relax part.” She says as she types on her phone and locks it. She sticks it back in my saddlebag and slides her helmet on.

  “Why? What’s up?” I’m confused. Is something wrong with Alec? Bridget would have gotten ahold of me with that was the case.

  “Cara can’t finish out her shift at the dress store. I need to go cover for her since Elise is out of town.” She sounds disappointed.

  “Hey, it’s no big deal. I’ll take you and I’ll have Rush pick you up after you’re done. Cool?” I can’t tell if she has any facial expressions going on under the helmet but she nods her head in agreement. The store is only a half hour away, plus it’ll give me time to get ready for tonight’s run.

  I climb on the bike and hold out my hand to help her on as well. “Ready, babe?” She nods her head. At that I start it up, kick up the kickstand, and off we go. In less than five minutes we are back on 90, heading toward town. Eve was less nervous behind me, she seemed to have grasped the feeling of the bike.

  When I get off the exit towards her work, that feeling came back. That feeling that someone is watching. I think I’m just being paranoid. There are a lot of people out today but for some reason it felt like someone was trying to come in on our territory. The Hellfire Dogs have been in New Orleans for almost 60 years and have only been challenged once. We keep the streets and the people safe from things that go bump in the night. That’s why the cops here don’t bother us and we don’t bother them.

  I pull up right outside the dress store and notice there is a different ambiance to this part of the neighborhood. I take off my helmet and just sit there for a moment as Eve works her way off. I’m taking everything in, trying to get a feel for the street.

  “Hey.” Eve is waving a hand in front of my face.

  “Yeah.” I snap. Shit, I didn’t mean to do that. “I’m sorry babe. Must have zoned out for a minute.”

  “That’s ok.” She says with a look of confusion on her face. “You said Rush was coming to pick me up tonight?”

  “Yeah, he should be here about eight.” I snatch her phone from her hand. “If you get done early or if you run into issues, here’s my number. Rush won’t be on the run tonight, so he will probably be easier to get a hold of. But if you call me, I will answer as soon as I can. OK?” I hand her back her phone and hold her hand for a minute. “I’ll try to be back as soon as I can.” Eve just nods her head. I stand up and give her a kiss on the forehead and whisper to her. “I will be back, I promise.” A smile creeped onto her face and she turned and walked into the store.

  I sit there for a few minutes making sure things are good when I see this blonde walk out of the store. She must have a case of resting bitch face because damn, even when she looked at me she gave me a scowl. After I made sure everything was good, I started up the ol’ girl and took off down the street with the feeling of being watched following close behind me.

  This run is
not like other runs. We are going to meet with another club to talk territories. Instead of heading to Baton Rouge, we are heading to Morgan City. It is neutral ground for all the clubs to come and discuss their issues and man, do we have issues. The Deadly Sinners MC has been experiencing an increase of activity in their area and naturally they would think it is us because we are the closest Club to them.

  With Morgan City, we can at least have our Alpha Female of Louisiana there to make sure that all the issues are discussed and that no blood shed happens amongst all of us. Sierra Thibodeaux took as alpha female a few years ago and for a woman she is one hell of a leader. Her father taught her well when it came to listening to others and making decisions based on the best interest of all the clubs rather than herself. She isn’t someone to fuck with either. She is strong, beautiful, cunning, and smart. And with all those mixed into one person makes her extremely dangerous.

  As we are loading up to go to Morgan City, I can only speculate what the Sinners are finding. They haven’t given us much detail, just that the activity is bad enough that the cops and even the public are questioning what is happening. Our jobs are to be the cops’ eyes and ears at night but if we are failing at that what good are we? It also makes me wonder if what I am feeling in the French Quarters is connected to what is going on in Baton Rouge. I have always been the one who thought about attacks while we were out of the city. We know it is bound to happen but leaving the city vulnerable with barely any of us in the city is genocide.

  I finish packing up my saddle pack and lock it up when I see Malik coming out. I need to tell him what I have been feeling in the city.

  “Malik.” I signal him over. As he walks over to my bike, I notice that he has a scowl on his face. “You got a minute to talk, man?” I ask. He doesn’t look like he’s in the talking mood but he needs to know.

  “Sure. Let’s go to my office.” He snaps at me. He heads across the parking lot to a small building on the west of the parking lot. He opens the door and signals me to head inside. “Take a seat. What’s up?”