“Well, it’s a good thing you’re not in charge,” another guy behind me said. “We can all be grateful that Tony has a more level head than you do.”
“Mind your own business, Jed,” the first guy snarled. “You’re still on thin ice around here, no one wants you here, you don’t belong here. No more than she does.” He pointed a finger at me. I turned to see the guy he was talking to. He was cute, with strawberry blonde hair. His clothes were nicer than most of the other bikers, he wore khakis instead of black jeans and a buttoned shirt instead of a t-shirt and leather. He was young, not much older than me.
“You’ve been saying that for years; you’re just mad because I’m an officer now and you’re not, Cameron.”
“You’re not an officer, you’re a gnat that the officers can’t get rid of, so they let you stay. You’re a flea on a dog.”
“Ha! That’s a good one. The officers let me stay because I’m the treasurer, which makes me a high ranking officer. Thank you very much.”
“Go fuck yourself, Jed.”
“Please excuse these barbarians,” the one named Jed said.
I felt betrayed and sad for my father. No wonder he double crossed these people. There was no loyalty. They just didn’t understand that it wasn’t him, that the drugs were making him do crazy shit and all he needed was to get sober and drug free and he’d be a good man again. He would feel guilty for what he did, and he would apologize, because that was what good men did. Then they’d feel guilty too for punishing him for something his sickness made him do.
“Your food is ruined.” I looked into his light brown eyes and saw a kindness that the rest of them didn’t have. But I still couldn’t trust them. As far as I was concerned now, every MC member from anywhere was a disloyal renegade, a nuisance to society, and if it wouldn’t hurt Maxum, I’d lead the cops straight to this compound. “Come on, I’ll get you something to eat at the bar. You can wait there. I’ll keep you safe. I’m Jed, by the way, I’m not sure we’ve ever met.”
“I don’t care who you are, if you’re with them, then you can go to hell.” I headed back to my car, because I didn’t know where else to go. He ran over to catch up to me.
“Hey, look, we’re not bad guys. They don’t want to hurt him, honest, they just want to ask him a few questions before they let you take him to rehab or home with you. That’s your plan, right?”
“Yeah, that’s the plan,” I said stubbornly, and I doubt they just want to talk to him before I take him to rehab. “I should have known I couldn’t trust Kara, that backstabbing whore.”
“Whoa, you really don’t like Kara.”
“Why should I?”
“Okay, well, look, just give them time to ask him some questions. He owes them the answers.”
“Fine, but I want a burger and fries.”
“I think we can get you that.” He flashed me a grin, and I felt my stomach do a flip against my will. Why did these assholes have to be good looking?
We went to the bar, and Jed got me a burger, fries, and some beer to wash it down. The bar was filled with Midnight Saints, and I hated it. At that moment I hated them all.
The bar itself was rustic with antler decorations, and lots of motorcycle memorabilia. There were pool tables, tall tables with stools, and a few booths and tables. There was a dart board too, and behind the bar was every bottle of liquor you could imagine. The barkeeper was old, the waitresses were young.
I haven’t been around the clubhouse in years, and even back then I had only come around when necessary. I have never been in the bar.
It wasn’t the kind of place I socialized in, I preferred coffee shops and libraries, but if this was where I had to wait for Kara to hand over Maxum, at least the food was good, and the beer was cold.
The preppy guy stuck by me even though I really didn’t want the company.
“So, you’re a law student, huh?” he asked, trying to strike up a conversation. I didn’t say a word, but nodded. Mostly because my mouth was full of food. “What kind of law are you studying?” I glanced at him as I finished chewing and washed my bite down with beer.
“We don’t have to do this,” I said before taking another bite of my burger.
“What?” He feigned ignorance, and I rolled my eyes.
“Small talk,” I said between bites, still annoyed. I washed another bite down and turned to him. “Like I said, if you’re with them, you can go to hell.” I finished my burger and nibbled the fries.
Jed laughed. “Well, if you need anything, I’ll be close by.” He left me alone to enjoy my dinner in peace. He made sure no one bothered me.
The barkeeper gave me a second basket of fries on the house, and I ordered a second beer. Not my favorite. I was more of a martini girl, but it was refreshing and gave my head a distracting buzz.
If I was going to be stuck, I was going to enjoy myself. At least there was decent music playing on the jukebox.
Chapter 4
Kara
Seth and his men dragged Maxum down to the dungeon. They chained him up as Tony and I came down. “Oh, that bitch is going to pay when I get out of here,” he swore.
“Maxum, what makes you think you’re going to get out of here?” Tony snarled. “You’re a fucking traitor, we should skin you and feed you to the dogs.”
“Tony, you’re the fucking traitor,” Maxum said. “You promised to stick by me no matter what.”
“No, I stuck by my club. I made an oath to the club, and you’re the fucking traitor.”
Maxum laughed so Tony nodded to Seth to punch him. Maxum spat his blood at us. “You’re all going to pay when I get out of here. The Blue Diablos and the Shadow Order will make you all burn.”
“Again, what makes you think you’re going to get out of here?” Tony asked.
“Because, it’ll come down to release me or die. Of course, once you release me, I’ll kill you anyway.”
Seth punched him again and again and again till Tony called him off. I stepped forward.
“For the record, Sophie had nothing to do with this. Her plan was to take you to fucking rehab. She thinks you can get fixed, so don’t punish her for this, this was all me, your fucking blood daughter. You owe us answers, and Seth is going to get them out of you one way or another. And he knows some nasty ways to get you to talk. We’re going to take you apart, one piece at a time, so get comfortable, Dad, because you’re not going anywhere.” I slapped him hard across the face. “I’m not afraid of you anymore. It’s your turn to be afraid.” I slapped him again then I stepped back, and Seth stepped up.
It was an invigorating moment, the evil shit finally all out on the table and him in front of me, ready to suffer.
“You ready to talk? Why did you betray us? Why did you leave us?”
Maxum remained silent.
“Why did you want me dead?” Tony cut in.
“You’re a fucking traitor and a thief.”
“What the fuck did I ever do to make you think I’m a traitor, and what the fuck did I steal?”
Maxum remained silent.
“Alright, Prez, what should we start with first? Fingers?” Seth cracked his knuckles and then took out his tools.
“Let’s do this slow, start by peeling off his fingernails. I heard it hurts like hell getting your fingernails peeled off. It’s bloody too,” I suggested. Ever since I knew this plan was being enacted, I had been looking up ways to make someone hurt, make them scream, but not die. It was sick, but this was the person Maxum had raised me to be. The way he treated me had led to this day.
“I think I have just the tool for that.” Seth grabbed his hand and starting with his right thumb, he pulled off the nail. Maxum screamed and cursed us all.
“Good start,” Tony said. “Now time for you to answer some questions.”
“Go to hell!” Maxum growled. “I ain’t telling you shit. I only have one regret, Tony, and that is, not killing the right person that night. Next time, I won’t make the same mistake.”
“Lucky for me, there won’t be a next time.”
“My men will find me. If I don’t show up at our next meet up, they’ll know something is up, and they will rain down on you like fire and brimstone. And when they are done, there won’t be a man, woman, or child left in this shithole.”
“Keep talking, asshole, you’re just digging yourself a deeper grave,” Tony said. “Take the next one, Seth. He clearly isn’t getting the message.” Seth took hold of his hand and peeled off the next nail. Maxum screamed and cursed us.
Tony waited ‘til he went silent again.
“Are you ready to answer my questions?”
“So, you take my nails, then what? Break my fingers?”
“No, no,” I said. “You’re not in control here.” I stepped up and slapped him across the face. He just laughed at me, so I slapped him again. He laughed again so I gave him an uppercut that took him by surprise. His nose started bleeding. “Do I have your attention now? Answer the fucking questions.”
“Damn, Kara! I didn’t know you had that in you,” Seth said.
“I’ve been building this shit up since birth.”
“Go clean up your hand, I’ve got this. He ain’t going to talk, so I’ll just keep pulling off nails ‘til he screams uncle, then maybe he’ll be ready to talk.”
“Let’s go see Sophie, we’ll tell her he’s fine, that we’re detoxing him. Get her on her way. Seth can handle him,” Tony said.
I listened to the man I loved, and one of the only people I trusted in the world, and followed him. We’d have plenty of time with Maxum to make him pay.
Tony lead me out of the room and helped me clean off my hand. Then, we went to the bar where Jed has been protecting Sophie.
Chapter 5
Sophie
I finished the second basket of fries and had moved on to the nuts. I had grown bored with the place, but my stubborn pride wouldn’t let me leave. Hours passed when Kara and Tony finally came in.
“Can I take him now?” I demanded.
“Actually, no,” Kara said.
“What?”
“Look, if he’s going to dry out anywhere, it will be here with us. This rehab place you found is a joke.”
“Kara, that was not what we agreed to.”
“No, it’s not, but you want him to sober up, right? You want him fixed?”
“Yeah.”
“Well, he can do that here. We’re his friends, his family. He needs to understand that he can trust us again; he needs to understand we have his best interests at heart. We want our Prez back.”
“I don’t trust you. I don’t trust any of you. You’re all backstabbers,” I said, getting angry. “Let him go!”
“Listen here, Sophie, we’re not the ones who stabbed him in the back. He stabbed us in the back. Now, you want him to get help, well that’s what we’re doing, but we’re doing it our way, because he owes us, and because he’s Kara’s father and the grandfather to our future children,” Tony said. “Now, I suggest you go home, go back to law school, and leave him to us. We know what we’re doing.”
“Go to hell, Tony, and take your two bit whore with you,” I spat at him. He knocked his chair over in rage, but Kara got between us.
“She’s angry. She has every reason to be,” Kara said, standing up for me. Not that I was buying it. Things with Kara were likely confusing on purpose. It was why Maxum had warned everyone against her all these years, even though it was his own flesh and blood. In her case, she let her genetics define her; became like her ungodly slut of a mother who tempted the most holy of men. “Just walk away before you do something you will regret.” Tony growled at me, but did as Kara said.
“Just trust us, Sophie. This is for your sake too. I don’t think you know what you’ve gotten yourself into, but we do.”
“Trust you? Never. You betrayed me. I will never forgive you.”
“I saw what was going on in the car; he was about to hit you. You can deny it all you want, but Maxum is a monster, and you don’t know how to deal with that. Just leave him to us, and go back to law school where you’re safe. This isn’t your world, you don’t belong here, and for the last time, that man isn’t your father. He’s mine, and I know what’s best for him, so, do everyone a big favor and yourself. Get the fuck out of here.”
“You need another drink,” Jed said after they had walked away, thinking I would just be on my merry way. How could I trust they won’t kill him? Leave him down there forever? “What do you like?”
“I don’t care.” I shrugged. I was in shock, I was beyond pissed, I didn’t know what to do. Part of me wanted to storm in and take him away, but I knew I wasn’t strong enough to fight the whole MC who would come down on me if I tried.
I had to face it, he was out of my hands, and there was nothing I could do about it. Kara was a fucking liar and a fucking traitor, and I would never forgive her for it. I would never forgive any of them for it. I should just leave. Just walk away and never come back.
They could all burn in hell for all I cared. They probably would anyway; they were all thugs, after all. But I didn’t get up; I just sat there lost in my head.
Jed got two beers and sat with me. The beer tasted like horse piss, but I drank it anyway. So many emotions were going on in my head that I didn’t understand, and I didn’t want to, so drinking and losing those emotions seemed like a good idea.
I was angry. I was hurt. I was sad. I was confused. I was perplexed by the whole situation. I didn’t know who to trust. I didn’t know who would stab me in the back if they got a chance. I didn’t even know if this guy who seemed nice was actually waiting to either, one, sexually assaulted me, which seemed plausible since he was supplying me with the drinks, or two, stab me in the back when I least expected it. For all I knew he was hired by Kara to do away with me.
Nope, I wasn’t going to let that happen.
I glanced at him. He was cute, and he certainly didn’t look like he belonged in a biker bar; he didn’t even look like a biker. He looked like, well, a guy who belonged on a yacht on some deserted island.
Maybe deserted wasn’t the right word, but then I was drunk and wasn’t really thinking clearly. I continued to drink the beer, and when that was gone, he got me another and I drank that one. Then, I decided I wanted shots.
I wasn’t sure why, but I did. So, I said shots, and someone brought me shots. I didn’t know what it was of, I didn’t care. I just wanted to drink my feelings and emotions away.
I just kept slamming the shots back, it was cool in my mouth and then burned going down my throat; it was amber colored. I didn’t ask what it was, I just kept drinking. The rich cutie, whose name I had long forgotten, kept right on sitting beside me, drinking with me. If you can call nursing a beer drinking.
Maybe he was a decent guy. He was keeping an eye on me, and if someone got near me, he would puff up his chest and challenge them ‘til they backed off. I ended up getting drunk for the third time in my life.
Chapter 6
Jed
Sophie was beautiful, and something drew me to her. I felt protective of her. Maybe it was the way she didn’t fit in, yet she was pulled in by Maxum, and now everyone was against her even though it wasn’t her fault.
The other guys seemed annoyed that I had brought her to the bar, but I didn’t care. She had nowhere else to go, and she had to eat. They wanted to use her to get back at Maxum, but I wouldn’t let them, so they changed tactics and just wanted her gone.
“Jed, just get her out of here.” Austin said.
“She isn’t hurting anyone,” I protested.
“That’s not the point; she’s not welcome here.”
“Like I said, she isn’t hurting anyone. You don’t like it, tough.”
“You don’t want to mess with me, Jed. You mess with the bull, you get the horns,” Austin challenged, almost as drunk as Sophie was getting.
I scoffed, blowing him off. “I ain’t scared of you. Unless Kara or Tony tell me to get her
out of here, she stays. Kara’s the one who brought her here. You got a problem, take it up with her.” I stood my ground. Austin held up his hands and walked away.
“You didn’t have to do that. I understand why they hate me.”
“They don’t hate you, Sophie,” I said. “They’re just angry, and you’re the closest thing they can take their anger out on.”
“Sure, they do; they hate the man I love as a father.”
“Yeah, but that doesn’t give them a right to hate you. You didn’t hurt us, he did. Besides, Kara is his blood, and they don’t hate her.”
Sophie scoffed. “Everyone is always reminding me of that fact. She sure doesn’t act like a daughter. Betraying her father like that, when all he needs is help, but she won’t give it to him, because she won’t swallow her damn pride. I shouldn’t have brought him here, I should have just done it myself.”
“Could you have? Could you have handled him when he got pissed? What if he hit you or worse?”
“He wouldn’t do that,” she said hesitantly, defiantly.
“Just let everyone calm down. You’re an innocent in all this, they’ll see that soon enough.”
“Why do you care?” Sophie asked.
“Because someone has to. If not me, then who?”
“Nice.” She frowned at me.
“What I mean is . . . look, you’re an outsider like me. So, I get it,” I said.
“You don’t get anything.” I couldn’t tell if she was this belligerent because of her anger and the drinking or if this was how she was.
“The club doesn’t like people who think they are better than them. So, you went to law school, you’re trying to do better, be better, no one can hold that against you, in fact that might come in handy for us someday, who knows. I come from money, never asked for it, never wanted it, came here to escape it, but they won’t let me forget no matter what, that I don’t belong. Yet I stay, because this is where I want to be more than anything. I love motorcycles, and I love the camaraderie that comes with a biker club. I figure if I stick around long enough, they’ll see that I belong here. If you do the same, they’ll realize you do too.”
Hinder (Midnight Saints MC Book 3) Page 2