I picked up on the”some”. "So not everyone in the club stays here? Is that why there aren't any children?"
He nodded. "Honey, this is a clubhouse, it's a hangout for the members and their women. Those of us who have families actually live in real houses in real neighborhoods." He was making fun of me, but I humored him by remaining quiet. "The only time you may see them around is if we're holding a cookout or something."
"So the only women here regularly are the club women and some of the old ladies?"
"The ones who don't have children. Bee hangs around because Wolfman's the VP, and Max is still a baby. I'm not saying you won't see the other old ladies around occasionally, some come to the parties, but they rarely bring their kids with them. Too dangerous. The only time you'll see everyone is when we go on lockdown."
I understood what lockdown was, I'd see it on TV, like when schools went on lockdown because something bad had happened close by. There were other, more interesting facts about life in an MC that I’d learned since I’d started living at the camp. Some of it I appreciated, like the way that they were all one big family, looking out for one another, fiercely protective and loyal. Then there were the other parts that I was not so appreciative of, the little bits that I'd seen or picked up on, the violence. I knew that there was a lot more that I didn't know, things that I didn't want to know because I liked these people and I didn't want anything to ruin that.
Casey embraced the way the Wreckers lived because she was in love with Jim, but I had no such ties binding me to their way of life.
"Enough about the club." Fury moved closer.
The determination in his eyes sent a sliver of panic through me. I didn't want to hurt him. "What are you doing?" I put my hands against his shoulders to keep him from getting any closer. "Fury…" I shook my head slowly. "I don't want to hurt you." I could feel him tense beneath my palms. "I need a friend. Let's not ruin this." I couldn't keep the pleading out of my voice.
Finally, after a few tense moments, he relaxed and stepped back. "Jace comes back, it will be between him and me, honey, because something tells me if he was out of the picture I'd have a shot at having you."
I didn't have the heart to tell him that he didn't, that the attraction I had for Jace just wasn't there for him. I liked Fury, I liked him a lot, but even if I hadn't met Jace, I couldn't see us being together in that way, in the same way that I'd given myself to Jace that night. I couldn’t imagine Fury making me feel the things that Jace had made me feel, or fucking me with the intensity that Jace had fucked me with. I wanted that, and I wasn't going to settle for anything less. Jace had shown me what I'd been missing, how good sex could be when I didn't hold back, when I had a man who took care of my needs as well as his.
I wondered where Jace was, and if I would ever see him again.
"Brothers! We got trouble!" The anger and urgency in Reaper's voice pulled everyone's attention to where he was on the beach. He was staring down at his phone, a savage expression on his face. When he glanced up, there was a look in his eyes that spoke volumes. "Church in five!"
The men immediately began scrambling toward shore. It was amazing to see how they instantly stopped what they'd been doing and responded to Reaper's command without question. I knew he was a dangerous man, they all were in their own rights, but I'd never seen him look like he wanted to gut someone before. My gaze sought out Casey, and we made eye contact. There was worry reflected on her face, and she slowly swam toward me.
"What do you think it is?" I couldn't help but ask when she reached me.
She shook her head. "Could be anything, but I've never seen Reaper look so . . . so evil before. It must really be bad. If they go on lockdown, they'll leave here and go to their compound."
That was news to me. "Compound?"
"Yeah. It's their main clubhouse where they go for the winters. It’s big enough for all the families to be brought in and protected. I've only been there once. The whole place is surrounded by a high fence and security cameras."
All of a sudden one of the men appeared on the beach, stopping where the grass and sand met up. "Listen up! We're going on lockdown. Old ladies and club whores, you know what to do, get your asses to the compound."
The water swirled roughly as the women rushed wordlessly toward the beach, leaving Casey and I standing there silently. When they were all gone we turned toward each other. "Aren't you going?" I asked her.
Tears brightened her eyes, and my heart hurt for her. She shook her head. "Jim hasn't claimed me. The club isn't obligated to protect anyone who's not a member."
She'd told me that once before, but I couldn't believe that she wasn't included as one of their women. As far as I knew, she and Jim were exclusive. I suddenly felt anger toward him. If he really cared, he would be looking out for her right now. Was it all about the sex, then? I clenched my teeth, wondering what would happen if I went in there and confronted him.
"Come on," Casey said, trying to smile through her tears. "We're not associated with the club, so we'll be okay."
I returned her smile, determined to emulate her carefree attitude, even while deep down an ominous feeling was taking hold, turning me cold with fear.
Chapter 15
Jace
For most of the forty hour ride back to Lake George, my thoughts went back and forth between the Wreckers' trouble and one troublesome little female with killer curves. I was torn between wanting to see Luna again and wanting to stay away. I knew that it would probably be better to stay away until lockdown was over. I didn't need the distraction. I was there to help my brothers first. Still, thoughts of how fucking sexy she was, how she had responded when I was fucking her, and how she had dug those little claws into me when she came, kept my dick at half-mast during most of the trip.
All I wanted to do was get back to her for another night of sinking my dick inside her.
As many times as I could.
Deep.
I didn't want to think that maybe she'd gotten close to one of the brothers while I'd been away, that she’d given herself to him like she'd given herself to me. The thought angered the hell out of me, mainly because I knew that if she had, it was my fault. I'd made it damn clear that there would be nothing between us but casual sex, and why? Because I'd been afraid that she would think that a night in my bed would mean something? That shit had happened to me once, and I'd learned from that lesson.
Christ. I had to admit, though, that she was the first woman I hadn't been able to get off my mind. My fucking dick hadn't been able to get Luna off his mind, either. I'd had the opportunity to mess around with more than one woman since leaving Lake George, and he hadn't been interested, not even in the naked pussy that had walked around the strip club I'd visited in New Mexico, and some of that pussy had been prime.
I hoped to holy hell that Luna hadn't ruined me for other women.
We were making good time, stopping only once to sleep. I'd kept in touch with Reaper. Usually when a club was on lockdown they didn’t let anyone in or out, but he knew that we were coming. He'd also reached out to their Maine and Massachusetts chapters to be ready in case they were needed. Like most MC presidents, Reaper liked to handle his own club shit. He'd already retaliated for the Destroyers putting Tiger in the hospital by returning their brother to them with a bullet hole in his head.
The Wreckers hadn't gone looking for trouble. As far as Reaper was concerned, the Destroyers had started shit by crossing lines and shooting up the clubhouse. He wasn't known for looking the other way, either, and whatever happened now would be the Destroyers’ own fucking fault. My experience with this kind of thing made me ready for anything. It could fizzle out after the Destroyers realized that they'd bitten off more than they could chew, or it could go into a full out war because their prez was out to prove something.
That could get messy.
Damage would be done.
People on both sides would die.
Reaper's compound was practically infallible
, but war wasn't fought behind the safe walls of an MC's clubhouse.
Moody signaled to me that he wanted to get off at the next exit. I followed him off the highway to the right, and into the first gas station that we came to. I pulled up next to him, sensing that he wanted to talk, because it hadn't been that long ago when we'd stopped for gas. We shut our bikes down away from the pumps.
"What's up?"
He leaned back on the seat of his bike and crossed his arms. "Been thinking. What are we, a couple of hours from the compound?" I nodded. "Might be a good idea to leave the highway and make the rest of the trip on back roads. Take in the sights."
I knew Moody well enough to know that he wasn't interested in taking in the fucking sights. He was hoping that we'd run into something that might help the Wreckers, maybe see something we shouldn't. I rubbed the bottom half of my jaw, irritated with myself for not thinking of it first. Moody's mindset was on helping the Wreckers, whereas mine had been on pussy. Fuck. I had to do something to get Luna off my mind.
Maybe that something I needed to do was fuck another woman.
"What's wrong, brother?" he asked with the slightest twitch on his mouth.
You couldn't hide anything from the bastard, because watching was what he did. He sat back, disinterested, when he was really watching and taking in shit, analyzing it before he reacted. And when he did react, it was precise and deadly.
"Got blonde pussy on your mind?"
I glared at him. I should never have told him about Luna. Not that I'd mentioned her name, or even where she was from. We'd gotten shitfaced one night and I'd bragged about having a taste of the hottest, tightest, sweetest little pussy on earth and that we'd spent a night fucking our brains out. The fact that he knew it was blonde told me that I'd obviously spilled that detail to him. His pointing it out was his way of reminding me that I didn't like blondes, usually.
I wasn't about to admit anything to him. "I think that's a fucking good idea, man. We might get lucky and see something we can report back to Reaper." I started my bike, not waiting for him, and pulled onto the road in the direction that we needed to go.
The first hour went by without incident. We traveled at a pace that would allow us to look around and catch anything of significance, traveling through small towns that led to countryside and hilly roads, dangerous roads that wound through and around the mountains with steep drop offs. Moody rode beside me, close to the yellow line, unless the road turned hazardous and then he dropped behind.
I figured that we had about forty minutes left when we came up on four Destroyers coming from the opposite direction at a fast speed, faster than was safe. I immediately wondered why they were in such a hurry. The six of us kept eyes on each other as we passed. Moody and I turned to watch them continue down the road. Only one of their guys showed any interest in us. They weren't after nomads, and had no reason to suspect that we were in the area to help the Wreckers. I pulled over to the first overlook.
"What are you thinking?" Moody pulled up beside me and asked.
"I'm thinking they seemed to be in a hurry to get somewhere."
"We should follow them."
I hesitated for a second before pulling out my phone. "Let me make a call first." I hit Reaper's number.
He picked up right away. "Yeah?"
I could tell that something had happened from the tone of his voice. "Any reason we'd come across four Destroyers in a big fucking hurry on Route 9?"
"You're on Route 9? Shit! Those fuckers have a hideout somewhere up in that area, brother. You're going to want to follow them." Something changed in his voice, and I knew that I wasn't going to like what he had to say next. "They showed up at the fish camp last night, looking to cause trouble. One of them must have remembered seeing some of our bikes at Casey's trailer the first night they showed up. They took the girls, brother. Witnesses said they took both Casey and Luna, kicking and screaming."
"Fuck, brother, why weren't they at the compound?" I snarled without thinking. Why weren't they protected?
"You know club rules, Jace. Fucking Jim was on his way back to get them when shit settled at the compound and he realized Casey wasn't there. He claimed her then and there and took off to bring her back. Would have included Luna, since she's Casey's girl."
Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! I didn't like this. How could so much have happened since my last conversation with him two days before? They must have already been at the compound.
"We've been looking for them, but those fuckers have hideouts all over the place. We don't believe they were taken to the Destroyers’ clubhouse. We went there first. Had a hell of a gunfight and set the fucking place on fire, but they managed to save most of it. Managed to get one of their prospects and he swore the girls weren't there."
"Moody and I will double back and see if we can catch up with them." Urgency to catch up with the bikers we'd passed burned in my blood. The thought of Luna in their hands made me ill. They weren't good men.
"Jim, Puck, and Fury are out there looking for them, too. Good luck, brother."
Moody's expression had remained stoic as he'd listened to my side of the conversation. He was smart enough to fill in the blanks. I didn't want to take the time to explain shit. All I said was, "They've got Luna." I spun my bike around and took off, picking up speed, determined to catch up to the fucking Destroyers.
If they touched a hair on her head I was going to kill them.
Fuck, I was going to kill them anyway.
Chapter 16
Luna
Casey and I had been thrown into a small, locked room. I knew that the door was locked because we'd both tried to open it in a panicked attempt to escape, getting nothing but laughter from the men on the other side. I don't know what we would have done if we had managed to get the door open--the men who'd taken us had been rough and indifferent in their handling of us. They probably would have relished having to subdue us again, and hurting us. After a while, I'd pulled Casey away from the door.
The room had a bed with dirty linen on it, and nothing else. There were rusty, iron bars on the windows. The tiny closet was empty except for a dead mouse, and the single light on the ceiling revealed a cluster of dead bugs in the dull shade. It had been dark when they'd taken us, but I'd been able to make out that we were in a run-down house deep off the main road. We were surrounded by trees.
Four bikers had taken us. I'd been at Casey's, keeping her company and trying to get her out of her funk from being left behind by the Wreckers. She'd tried to put up a good front, but I knew her well enough now to recognize that she'd been faking it. She'd been upset, and I knew that if I hadn't been around she would have been miserable and crying. I figured my presence would take her mind off Jim.
We'd made homemade pizza and drank beer until we both eventually fell into a mindless stupor, she on the sofa and me in one of the chairs. I hadn’t known anything until the loud sound of motorcycles jarred me from sleep. I’d sensed that it was late, and so hearing the sound rip into the quiet of the night had been surprising and slightly alarming until I’d realized what I was hearing. Had Jim returned for Casey? I had glanced over at her slowly rousing form, and by the time her eyes focused on me, the door had burst open and four bikers rushed in.
Samson had begun barking, and rushed over to the men, ready to protect his mistress. One man had kicked him viciously, sending the large dog whining against the wall. As he’d tried to get back to his feet, the same man had shot him. Samson didn't get up again.
"No!" we’d both screamed. It hadn't taken us long to realize what was happening. Casey and I had fought them with all we had, and they had taken perverse pleasure in subduing us, using painful force. In the end, it had taken them very little effort to force us to leave with them. All we could hope for was that our screams had alerted some of the nearby campers into witnessing what was happening so they could tell someone.
Now here we sat, on the filthy bed, waiting for God knows what. "This is what you meant about protecti
on from the club, isn't it?" I asked softly. Casey nodded. "What do you think they want with us? We're not connected with the Wreckers."
A half-laugh, half-snort escaped her. "They're going to use us for leverage, honey." She pinned regretful eyes on me. "Remember that night they showed up, the night of the shooting?" I nodded. "Fury and Jim were with us, their bikes were seen at my place. I'm sure they figured out that, at the very least, we might be friends with the Wreckers. You were dragged into this because you were at my place last night." She looked away. "Be glad they took you."
"Why?"
"Because they wouldn't have left any witnesses to my kidnapping."
Oh, God. She didn't need to spell it out for me. A sick feeling rolled in my belly. "Let's hope they did leave some witnesses," I said softly.
"Oh, I'm sure someone from camp saw them take us, but it was too dark for them to know it was the Destroyers. All they'll be able to confirm is that bikers took us."
"The Wreckers will figure it out," I said with more confidence than I felt. "We just need to keep quiet and hope those men out there forget we're even here." I was hopeful, but no sooner had I spoken than the door opened.
Casey instinctively leaned closer to me as if I could somehow protect her. My gaze locked on to the man standing in the doorway. I fought down the fear, fought down showing it to him, but the truth was that I was terrified. These men had been ruthless in their handling of us, laughing at our helpless cries. I sensed that pleading with them for mercy would have the opposite effect, and tried to steel myself for whatever was to come next. I could only pray that Casey followed suit, but the trembling of her body revealed that she was close to breaking down.
The biker tossed us a bottle of water and a wrapped sandwich. It was clear that we were to share. His scowl roamed over us, evil in his eyes and a knowing smirk on his lips. "Which one of you bitches owns the trailer?"
Dangerous (Nomad Outlaws Trilogy Book 2) Page 11