"I think now would be a good time for me to check on the prospects," Jim commented before swallowing the rest of his beer and then letting out a burp that echoed loudly throughout the room. "Have a feeling this conversation is going to a place that’s out of my element." He moved around Casey, gave her a brief kiss. "Later, babe."
"Chicken!" Rosa called after him. He waved without turning around and kept heading toward the door. "Are you and Jim good?"
Casey was watching her man leave with a soft smile on her face. "Yeah, we're good. Jim's been very patient and understanding with me since . . . since what happened." She didn't turn her attention back to us until he'd disappeared out the door. "He's taken care of me. For the first time in a long time, I feel safe."
Marie and Rosa didn’t know the story of what Casey’s step-father had done to her and her mother. I was certain that Jim would protect her from there on out. Something had happened to him since Casey's attack. It was as if it had forced him to acknowledge that his feelings for her went beyond sex.
"Jim's a good man, honey. I've gotten to know a lot of the members since I've been here, and after a while you can tell the decent ones from the fakers."
Rosa nodded in agreement.
"I have an idea." Marie grabbed a couple of bottles of wine. "Grab your glasses, girls, and let's go back to my place. I have a feeling that it's going to be a long night. We may as well be comfortable."
It sounded like a good idea to me. We followed Marie to the apartment that she shared with Reaper. It was already late, but it was obvious that none of us--with the exception of Casey--would be able to sleep while our men were out. No sense in lying in bed, twisting and turning miserably when we could be chatting and getting drunk.
I tried not to think about Marie's comment about Jace having it "bad" for me. I wanted to ask her what had made her say that. Did she know something that I didn't? Had she overheard something, or was it just a feeling that she had? Jace was a hard man to read. I sensed that he cared for me, but enough to change his life for me?
I had the feeling that if he did, he would probably never admit it.
Chapter 32
Jace
Son of a bitch! The bullet tearing into my shoulder felt like a red hot poker tunneling through flesh and muscle as it went through and came out the other side. Fuck that hurt. I could feel a hot river of blood quickly soak my clothes, but I didn't have time to assess the damage. We were in an all out battle with what was left of the Destroyers. Their clubhouse had been obliterated by three well-placed drones. What was left of the huge building was on fire and crumbling down to the ground. Bikes and other vehicles were on fire, too. The men who hadn't been killed by the blast were scrambling around like fucking ants, looking for a place to hide, shooting wildly as they ran.
The whole fucking scene looked like an apocalypse.
I knew our time was limited. The blasts of the explosives had probably been heard for miles away, and the sky had lit up as if all of the theme parks in Florida had set off fireworks at the same fucking time. I was certain the phones would be ringing off the hook at the local police and fire departments. They had to be on their way. The good news was that if we had to make a quick escape, there was more than one way out of the area.
A projectile whizzed past my head and I ducked back, feeling the heat of the bullet and swearing at how close it had come.
"You okay, brother?"
I glanced across from me to where Moody was using an old oil drum as a barricade. It wouldn't stop a bullet, but at least it provided him with some cover. He didn't wait for me to respond, peering around the barrel and firing off several shots in rapid succession. I did the same, aiming at anything that moved in the shadows beyond the light of the fire. I squinted, looking for any flash fire that would lead me to the fucking enemy.
"Did you see where Reaper went?" I hollered at him. Once the drones had exploded we'd raced up to the clubhouse as if the devil himself was on our tail, knowing that we had to get there to prevent anyone from escaping. Time was also our enemy.
"Saw him and Razor run off in that direction," Moody yelled back, pointing. "Wants to make sure Sawtooth bites it."
I scoured the direction that Moody had pointed at and saw a shootout taking place between Wreckers and Destroyers. Our side seemed to have the advantage, being that there were a lot more of us than there were of them. The Destroyers were moving erratically and shooting blindly, even at their own brothers as they ran in the way of gunfire. It was absolute chaos for them, and instead of acting like the outlaw club that they claimed to be, they were clearly panicked and unorganized.
I glanced back at Moody, seeing a Wrecker sneaking up on him from the right. I raised my weapon and shot off a round, watching the fucker jerk backwards before hitting the ground. Moody's head snapped to his right, gauged the situation, and then he swung back to me. He acknowledged my action with a chin lift and went back to firing, and I did the same. I saw a flash of white in the distance, and, realizing what it was, continued to shoot. Reaper's last words before the explosives had detonated had been to take no prisoners.
Reaper and Razor suddenly appeared out of the trees on the left. Razor was limping with an obvious leg wound. His pant leg was saturated with blood down to his boot, and there was a bandana tied around his thigh for a tourniquet.
"Did you find Sawtooth?" I yelled across the space between us. I noticed Razor get on his bike and start it.
Reaper shook his head with a grim expression on his hard face, giving Razor a pat on the shoulder before he took off. "Not a fucking sign of him!" he shouted, and then his eyes narrowed. "You're hit, brother! Need to get the fuck out of here!"
Reaper had made it clear that if anyone got hurt and could make it back to the clubhouse on their own that they were to leave immediately. If the time came that they needed to make a hasty escape, he didn't want anyone holding them back.
"I'm good!" I'd been shot before, much worse than this, and other than the fucking pain, I could deal with it.
I saw movement out of the corner of my eye and turned to see someone running across the yard on the Destroyers' side. He fired in my direction, and I ducked before firing back. For the first time I noticed that the sound of gunfire had slowed down considerably, which probably helped me to pick up on the sound of distant sirens. That was the sign that we needed to get the hell out of there. Brothers began backing away, firing at random as they made their way to their bikes.
"Sounds like they're coming from the village road!" Reaper shouted over the startup of bikes. "Split up and get your asses home!"
The thunderous sound of us taking off as we revved away, spitting up dust and dirt, soon faded when we veered off to take different routes. Moody and I headed toward the main road that led to the village, knowing very well that we could be stopped by police. Being that we weren't patched members of the Wreckers, we were the logical choice to be in a position of being noticed. If we were stopped, it would give the Wreckers more time to reach the club.
As we rounded a corner two police cars appeared, racing in our direction with lights and sirens blaring. The cops behind the wheels barely slowed down, and why should they? We were riding the speed limit and we weren't wearing our cuts. Not to mention that it was dark. Moody and I exchanged a look when we realized that we'd made it past the cops. Soon after came a fire truck, and I had to wonder if the town had enough man power to cover all the fires that we were responsible for that night.
Many of us arrived back at the clubhouse at the same time. We shut our bikes down and sat back, watching quietly as more brothers arrived. It wouldn't be over until everyone had been accounted for. Razor and Jim were present, mingling among us.
"You need a doc?" Jim asked with concern, his gaze taking in the blood.
I exchanged a knowing smirk with Razor. "Naw, brother. If he--" I motioned toward Razor, "can stand it, I sure as fuck can." My tone indicated that I thought Razor was a pussy. He in turn gave me the finger. W
e both laughed.
"The doc's on his way anyway," Jim went on to say. "He'll want you pussies looked at. Said Skipper took a bullet, too."
I frowned. "Bad?"
Jim shrugged. "Watched shit go down on the computers with Rollin and Tucker. Took those hideouts out like they were fucking toy houses. Was cool as shit seeing them all go off at the same time."
"Was cool being there, brother," Fury added. "Using drones was a fucking good idea," He told Moody, who was sitting quietly on his bike, smoking a cigarette. "I'm thinking this won't be our last time."
"Kind of takes the fun out of doing shit ourselves," Puck grumbled.
"Get over it, brother," Raze snapped. "Tonight was a success. Doesn't matter how shit got done. It's over."
The sound of more brothers arriving at the compound caused me to glance over them to see who they were. Reaper was finally back. He positioned himself in the center of the yard, surrounded by all of his brothers, and flipped off his bike.
"Before we begin patting ourselves on the back, we need to get situated in case the law comes calling. You can bet if they think we were involved with anything that went on tonight that they're not going to wait until day break. They'll want to catch us unprepared."
He was right.
"Get out of your fucking clothes, crawl into bed with your women, do whatever you need to do to look like you've been here all night." His voice boomed over the men. "They ask, we partied all fucking night with our brothers from Maine and Massachusetts."
A truck came through the opened gate, drawing my attention. It was Melvin, the club doctor. Once he was inside, someone closed the gate and locked it.
"Some of you brothers need to see doc. Get rid of your bloody clothes first. Let's fucking move!"
Bikes were left where they were as we all began dismounting and heading inside. I went directly to my room and stripped down, frowning at the empty bed. I'd expected Luna to be there, sleeping and waiting for me. I'd hunt her ass down later. Right then I needed a shower, and then I wanted Melvin to take a look at my shoulder. I paused at the mirror in the bathroom and examined the wound. It didn't look bad, but it hurt like a bastard, and the flesh surrounding the hole was swollen and raw looking, and still bleeding slightly. I wasn't a doctor but I was fairly certain that I'd need stitches, antibiotics, and some pain meds.
I got a quick shower, pulled a pair of jeans on, and slipped into my boots. Before I left my room, I snatched up my bloody shirt and headed outside to the fire drum, where someone had already lit a fire. I tossed my shirt into it and watched the flames swallow it up for a minute. Fire may not have been the best way to get rid of evidence, but it was fast. Once I was satisfied that my shirt would soon be nothing but ashes I swung around and went back inside.
It was quiet. The women who'd been sitting and waiting for their men to return were gone now. A few brothers were scattered around, drinking and half asleep. I grinned. It hadn’t taken them long to set up the scene for the cops.
"Where's Doc?" I asked no one in particular.
"Through the kitchen in the back room." Skipper had just walked into the room from the kitchen, and had overheard my question.
I looked him over. I didn't see anything to indicate that he'd been wounded.
His expression looked grim. "Don’t fucking ask," he grumbled, walking away with an odd gait.
As I was walking through the kitchen I heard faint murmurs coming from the back room, and then laughing. Sounded like Melvin had some help, because I could have sworn that one of the voices I heard sounded like a woman. It was too muffled to make out who it was, so I wasn't surprised when I stepped into the room to see a woman with him. I was surprised to see that it was my woman.
"Hold his leg tight, honey."
Luna was bent over Razor's naked thigh, both of her hands pressing his leg down onto the table as directed by Melvin. The elderly doctor poured something over the wound, which caused Razor to rear up with a hiss and nearly knock Luna to the floor. She leaned her upper body over him, trying to pin his shoulders down. I knew that she was only helping, but I didn't like the fact that it put her tits so close to his face. She was still wearing the pretty dress from earlier, and it had gaped open. Razor started to turn his face, which would put his nose right into her cleavage.
I let out a growl that drew everyone's attention my way. "Move one more inch, brother, and I'll kill you myself."
Razor stiffened at my threat, assessed the situation, and I knew the second he realized the cause of my warning. He smirked, and the only thing that saved him was the gaping wound that Doc was working on.
Luna gasped at my sudden appearance, and then her expression fell when she saw that I'd been shot. "Jace!"
"Don't let go of his leg!" Melvin yelled when she made a move to come to me.
She jolted back into place, but her gaze remained on me, and I thought, How can I let this woman go? Jesus, I was conflicted over my feelings for her and doing what was right. The tears in her eyes revealed that she was hurting for me, and I wanted to kiss her trembling lips until they quivered with a different emotion.
"I'm okay, babe. Just a nick." I downplayed it, but it didn't remove the concern from her eyes. "I went to our room and you weren't there." I didn't add that I'd hoped that she would be naked and waiting for me to ravish her. I needed Luna. The best way to come down from a fight like the one I’d been through was to fuck it out, and I had no doubt that that was exactly what most of my brothers were doing that very minute. "Didn’t know you were here playing nurse."
"I spent most of the night with Rosa, Casey, and Marie in Marie's apartment. None of us could sleep. I was on my way back to our room when I saw Dr. Melvin heading toward the kitchen with his bag."
"She's been a big help." Melvin glanced up with a smile, and shot Luna a wink. "And it's just Melvin or Doc, sweetheart."
"Fucking hell that hurts!" Razor swore as Doc began digging around for the bullet. His face had broken out in a sweat and his hands were clenched into tight fists.
I had a feeling that Luna's presence was keeping him manageable.
"Got it!" Doc said, holding the tweezers up so everyone could see the bullet. He then dropped it into a dish and doused the bloody wound with a saline solution.
"Fuck! That hurt worse than getting shot!"
"Stop your bellyaching," Doc ordered gruffly. "You're damned lucky that bullet didn't do any permanent damage. If you stay off this leg you'll heal up just fine. Push it and you may have a limp."
Razor swore some more under his breath and closed his eyes. It grew quiet for a minute while Doc stitched up the wound and then wrapped it. I continued to lock eyes with Luna, getting hornier and hornier by the minute. I knew my dick was turning hard, right there for anyone to see. I didn't give a fuck. When Luna's gaze dropped there I watched her eyes widen, and heard her breath catch. Then her eyes returned to mine and I nearly lost it when her tongue came out to wet her bottom lip.
"Okay, roll over. I'm going to give you a shot of antibiotics."
"Get ready, honey, you're about to see some prime buns of steel," Razor joked, rolling onto his side.
I growled. Luna rolled her eyes and stepped back so that Doc could move between her and Razor. She averted her gaze when Doc pulled Razor's boxers down to expose one cheek. Then, and I could have sworn that Doc did it on purpose, he jabbed the needle into one cheek as if he were stabbing someone with a knife. Needless to say, Razor jerked and let out a hiss in pain.
"Son of a bitch, Doc! Next time let your pretty nurse do it."
"You're all done," Doc said carelessly. "Want a lollipop?"
Luna giggled. Razor grumbled and, with Doc's help, got off the table and limped from the room.
"Your turn." Doc turned to me, and I sat down on the table.
He pulled off the towel that I'd tied under my arm to help stop the bleeding. Luna sucked in her breath and reached down to take my hand. I met her worried eyes, giving her hand a little squeeze. "It's no
thing, babe. I've been shot worse."
Overcome with emotion, all she could manage was a nod. I felt like a prick, subjecting her to my world, which was so far removed from hers that it wasn't funny.
I ground my jaw as Doc examined the wound, not so much because from the pain, but of what I knew this was doing to Luna.
"You got lucky." I met Doc's eyes. "Bullet went through and the damage is minimal. Lie back for a second." I complied, and he doused the wound with a solution. It hurt like a bastard. "Bad news is I'm going to have to stitch you up on both sides."
I'd already figured that. "Do what you have to, Doc. Make it quick."
Doc laughed. "You got some place to be?" I locked eyes with Luna. Yeah, I had some place to be. Doc noted the look that I gave Luna. "Never mind."
Yeah, he knew. He'd been a doctor to the Wreckers for a long time, long enough to understand how the men worked out their aggressions, whether it be with alcohol, a fight, or fucking. I was sure that he'd guessed exactly how I was going to work out any lingering stress that I had. He wasn't stupid. Being called to the club in the early morning hours to treat a few members who'd been shot left no doubt that we'd been involved in some serious shit.
Doc was paid well to treat the club members and keep his mouth shut.
As he continued to work on me, I began to think about what would come next, before I left to do the job that Moody and I had been hired to do. I couldn't leave Luna with her thinking that I was coming back for her. I wouldn't do that to her. She had to move on with her life, find a good man, and have a good life. Someone she wouldn't have to worry about whether or not he was coming home because his life was dangerous and unpredictable.
It didn't matter what I wanted.
I was going to do what was right for Luna if it killed me.
Chapter 33
Luna
Something was wrong. I could sense it. A woman knew when things had changed between her and the man she loved. Yeah, I said it. I loved Jace. I’d realized it right after he'd walked into the room where I'd been helping Melvin treat Razor. Seeing that Jace had been wounded, and realizing the kind of dangerous life that he led, had proved too much for me to accept at that moment. He could have been taken away from me. My first instinct had been to run from the room, but I didn't want to appear weak in front of him. I'd wanted Jace to see that I was strong enough to be in his life.
Dangerous (Nomad Outlaws Trilogy Book 2) Page 25