We had been one of three catering services chosen for the extremely lavish celebration. Glory Days would make and serve the hors d’oeuvres at the extended cocktail hour. Glory had spent the last couple of days preparing prosciutto and fig wraps, Italian fried olives, paper thin slices of Calabrese salami, and provolone wrapped in a flaky crust, steakhouse crostini, grilled mussels, and a huge antipasto platter.
All the way home, Glory chattered away like a happy little songbird. “I think that went well. Don’t you? And those girls from the college, they did a great job. There was a couple of times when I thought that tall one was going to drop the crostini, and the one with all that hair, next time I will have to make sure she puts it up. But I think we should use them again. What do you think?”
“I . . . uh.” Glory had been talking at such a nonstop rate that I had been taken totally by surprise when she actually directed a question at me. But, I shouldn’t have worried, because the question was strictly rhetorical.
“Of course,” Glory continued without missing a beat, “Dolly and Pinky get right of first refusal on every job, but I know how much they love looking after Willow. Not sure why it takes two of them, though. Gianni asked for her a couple of times . . . hm . . . really hadn’t thought much about that at the time. But do you think? Dolly and Gianni? Oh God, if the boys had a hard time accepting me working for the Italians, can you imagine if Dolly and Gianni . . . Oh, boy, can you just imagine that?” Glory paused for a moment to consider the possibility.
Not in my wildest dreams.
I couldn’t imagine the sister-in-law of the president of the Hells Saints MC having any sort of romantic entanglement with the purported front boss of the Bonzini crime family.
Talk about complicated. Disaster would not even begin to define it.
But Glory was right. Tonight, Gianni had definitely expressed concern about Dolly’s absence. I suddenly wondered if all the jobs being thrown in Glory’s direction had less to do with her and more to do with the fact that Gianni seemed to like having Dolly around. Not to take anything away from the bang-up job that Glory always did. But still, Gianni did seem to hover whenever Dolly joined our little serving crew.
I pushed that thought aside and concentrated on how good it was just to see Glory happy. And she was right, the girls had done a great job helping out. Donna and Linda were classmates of mine. I knew that they had previous experience waitressing. When Glory told me that we were going to be short some help, I had asked them if they were interested in earning a few extra bucks. I think that they said yes before the offer was fully out of my mouth. And I didn’t blame them. I knew firsthand that the cliché about perpetually broke college students was true, and I had assured them that Glory would make it worth their while.
Usually when Raine worked for Glory, Diego stayed home with Willow. But today he had had business to take care of, so Pinky and Dolly had happily stepped up. Diego knew how Jules and some of his brothers felt about the Hells Saints women serving it up to the mob, but he never gave us any shit about it. I thought that was very, very cool of him. Even though D and I had a rocky start, I had not only grown to respect the man that my sister had married, I had grown to love him.
No question about it, Diego Montesalto had his outlaw ways. But I knew that he would totally support my sister in whatever she wanted to do. I knew it by the way he had supported me when I told him that I wanted to go back to school. I knew it by the way that he had stepped up to help Glory pick out the used van that she had decided she needed for the business.
Diego took care of his girls, and he did not feel the need to offer up his opinion at every opportunity.
Unlike Jules. Who, even though he had ended things with Glory, still felt the need to express his very strong opinions each time Glory’s business was mentioned.
Jules was still doing that shit.
Which is why it took us by surprise when we pulled into our driveway at well past midnight, and we saw Jules’s bike parked in its old spot. As we drove the van closer to the lake house we noticed more bikes.
Then we crested the hill and saw the boys.
Their shadows cast an eerie glow against the pale light of the crescent moon.
I felt my sister tense beside me and I knew that her first thought was for Willow. Whatever had brought the boys out in force like this could not be good.
Diego, Reno, Crow, Pipe, and Riker stood with their backs to us, forming a tight circle some yards from the front door. They stood on the lawn with their guns trained on whatever it was that was in the middle of that circle. Tension split the air. Not one of the brothers looked up as our van slowly made its approach. Every move they made was deliberate, focused, and primed.
Raine opened the van door before we came to a complete stop. My sister bolted past whatever was happening in the yard and ran toward the brightly lit cabin.
Her baby was in that house.
I saw Diego lift his shoulders slightly as his wife ran past him, but he kept his eyes focused in front of him.
Glory and I stepped out of the van, but stood quietly next to it.
My eyes were trained on my man. I didn’t like this one bit. I didn’t care that a circle of his brothers stood side by side with Reno. Weapons had been drawn and that single act terrified me. I knew firsthand that advantage could turn to disadvantage very quickly when deadly force was on the table.
“Claire?” Reno called out to me without turning around. “I want you to get back in the van. Now.”
A thick cloud moved across the dim light of the moon, making it even harder to see. A flash of lightning split the distant sky and I automatically began to count the seconds and wait for the crash of thunder. The large broken-angel emblem on the back of Reno’s leather cut stood out in sharp relief.
I stood frozen to the spot.
“Claire, get in the goddamn van,” Reno snarled the command again. I had only heard him use that tone once before with me. And that was the night that Gino had died.
Not only did I haul myself into the van, I pulled Glory in with me. Once back inside the safety of the paneled walls, Glory and I sat stone still and completely silent. No one wanted to startle five men with drawn weapons.
We had no idea who or what was on the inside of that circle.
“This can’t be good,” Glory whispered to me. “I don’t see Jules. Do you see him?”
I shook my head.
Just then I heard the loud rumble of thunder and a flash of lightning split through the black sky. The bright light tore a jagged hole through the leather-covered, heavily booted legs of the brothers. The violent light blazed through the circle and illuminated two silhouettes.
“Oh, my God. Is that him?” Glory leaned toward the windshield. “Look! There on the ground. Claire, is that Jules?”
“I think it might be.” I leaned in too.
“Holy shit. What is happening?” Glory whispered.
“I don’t know,” I whispered back.
From where we sat, Jules’s face was barely recognizable. He lay with his cheek to the ground while the heel of a worn, brown leather boot sat pressed against his throat. Jules’s eyes had opened wide with the pressure of bursting capillaries, and his face was a grotesque shade of eggplant. His arm was being pulled taut, his wrist bent forward in a bone-shattering hold.
“Claire, whoever that guy is, he is going to kill Jules.” Glory choked back a sob. She put her hand on the door release.
I stopped her.
“Don’t you dare,” I warned my friend. “You’ll only make things worse. Let the boys handle this. Reno won’t let anything happen to Jules.”
Glory nodded mutely. Then she put her hands back in her lap.
We waited.
In the heavy stillness of the dark night, the strains of a calm voice crackled through the air. Despite the circle of 9mm trained on him, whoever this guy was, he meant business.
I rolled down my window just enough to be able to hear what was being said.
<
br /> Glory leaned in. “What are they saying?”
“Shh,” I whispered back and placed my ear to the open window.
That same low, soft voice laced with controlled violence drifted toward me on the cool night air.
“The way I see it, motherfucker, is we both live to have a conversation about why you snuck up behind me and cocked a fucking piece to the back of my head, or we both go to hell never knowing why. But I got to tell you, my arm is getting pretty goddamn tired of keeping this hold, and I’m thinking it’s only a matter of time before one of these boys gets trigger-happy. I am not sure who is in charge here, but whoever is better listen up. Either I’m gonna ease up and these assholes are gonna stand down, or I’m gonna lean in and snap your boy’s neck. I really don’t want to kill him, and I sure as shit don’t want to die in the middle of nowhere. But you have got to know, if I meet the boatman tonight, I am not crossing that river alone.”
I held my breath and waited.
After what seemed like an eternity, Diego came to a decision. He slowly stretched out his right hand and gave a silent command. The boys immediately withdrew their weapons. In response, the booted foot visibly eased up on Jules’s neck. The color returned to his face, but the boot remained in place.
Glory and I breathed a sigh of relief.
In one weird fluid movement, the boys disengaged their handguns and immediately returned their pieces to the back of their waistbands. The response was quick. Whoever had Jules’s neck under his boot drew back entirely. Then he eased up on the crippling grip he had on his arm and hoisted Jules up.
Nobody moved.
Nobody spoke.
The boys stood ready to have at the stranger. They were just waiting for Diego’s slightest command. But they kept their hands close to their sides. Even from where I sat, I could see the tense lines of their faces and the clenched balls of their fists.
The shift in the circle had increased my visibility. I could see him now. And the man I saw looked every bit as badass as the ones who were facing him. He was tall enough to meet Jules’s murderous stare head-on. He had on an olive-green T-shirt and a pair of camouflage-type cargo pants. At first glance, he looked bald. But in the sometimes light of the drifting moon, I caught a glimpse of cropped white-blond hair. Mumbled strains of conversation traveled toward us. Glory and I held our breath as the stranger turned to Diego as if asking permission for something.
Apparently permission had been granted. Because, in a slow and precise move, the stranger clutched at his neck and reached inside his shirt to release what must have been some sort of chain.
Moonlight flashed off a pair of thin metal dog tags.
The stranger moved back slowly then, away from the circle of brothers, and raised his arms to shoulder level. Then in the universal gesture of surrender, he made his hands clearly visible in midair. His eyes locked on Jules’s face, and he was speaking directly to him.
I rolled down the window all the way so I could hear.
“I don’t know who the fuck you are, man. But I know what you’re thinking. And before you go for your piece or you have one of your brothers go for theirs, put yourself in my goddamn place. I don’t know what business you have with me, but while that USMC tattoo on your arm tells me you’re my brother, your actions tell me a whole different story.”
He paused and looked around at the rest of the boys.
“I didn’t survive three tours to be shanghaied in my own country with a gun to the back of my skull. Now you want to tell me who you motherfuckers are?”
That single gesture of surrender, coupled with the honestly delivered words, cut the tension by half. The boys were no longer standing ramrod straight with itchy fingers at their hips and murder in their eyes. Still wary, their postures got more relaxed. The Saints now looked at the stranger with something more like curiosity and less like intent to kill.
Thank God.
After that initial flash of lightning, Glory pretty much had to depend on me to tell her what was going on. Because of the tree angle, she couldn’t see through the passenger side. Evidently the blow-by-blow I was giving her was not quite up to par, because suddenly she squeezed herself between me and the steering wheel. Then she shoved her head sideways out the window.
“Roll it down all the way,” she whispered. “My head is going to get stuck.”
“You’re leaning on my arms,” I hissed back. “I can’t move. And it’s moved as far down as it goes.”
Just then another strike of lightning split the sky, and its bright white light fully illuminated the scene before us. The faces of all the players were spotlighted in that quick flash.
Glory gasped loudly beside me.
“Oh, my God,” she cried out. She extricated herself from the small space, slid over to the passenger side and opened the door. “Oh, my God. Oh, my God. Oh, my God.”
I watched through the windshield as my roommate ran straight toward the mayhem.
“Glory, get back here!” I yelled to her through the open window.
“It’s okay, Claire, come on.” Glory turned around and motioned me forward. Then she started running again.
I looked immediately to my left and met Reno’s glare from across the yard. When he saw Glory start to rush toward him, he shifted his body forward and made a jabbing pointed motion to me.
A motion that clearly said, “Stay in the van.”
I immediately answered his silent command. By getting right out of the van and going after Glory.
Because really what choice did I have? I couldn’t leave my friend alone to deal with the maniac inside the circle, could I?
Besides, I was curious as hell.
I was hot on Glory’s heels when she shoved her way through a small opening in the circle of men.
“Jesus, Claire. Did you not just see me tell you to stay put?” Reno intercepted me and pulled me to him.
“I saw you, Reno. I did. I just didn’t do it,” I answered.
My man just shook his head.
I leaned in closer to him. “Who is this guy anyway?”
“No idea, Babe, but it sure looks like Glory knows.” He pointed his chin beyond me. I followed his gesture.
Yep. It sure did.
CHAPTER 28
Fearlessly, my friend had taken her place right in front of the dangerous stranger. For what seemed like forever, the two of them just stared at each other.
When the big guy made his move toward Glory, I gasped and turned to Reno in alarm.
My man moved forward.
All of a sudden, Glory released a cry of such complete and utter happiness that no one could mistake that sound for anything other than what it was.
Pure joy.
Then Glory pulled Jules’s would-be assassin close to her, and hugged him.
Hard.
He answered by wrapping his arms around her and lifting her clear off her feet.
Glory giggled.
I looked at Reno, who had stopped. “This is just getting more and more bizarre.”
My man kept his eyes trained on Glory and his arms around me.
“Can’t make this shit up, Babe.” He nodded in agreement.
Who was this guy?
I snuck a look at Jules, who had murder written all over his face. The rest of the guys just looked confused.
The heavily muscled man was busy extricating himself from Glory’s arms. When he put her down gently, she turned to everybody and announced, “This is my brother, Master Sergeant Hallelujah Thomas, United States Marine Corps.”
Oh, my God. This was Glory’s brother?
The boys weren’t feeling it. Jules, still sporting a face that was somewhat puce, definitely was not feeling it.
But Glory was feeling it.
Really, really, feeling it.
And that was good enough for me.
“Honey, let me go,” I whispered to Reno. Reno arched an eyebrow, but he released me.
I pushed through the dispersing crowd of somewhat
confused Saints and walked up to Master Sergeant Hallelujah Thomas. When he looked at me, I stuck out my hand and said “Glad to meet you, Master Sergeant Thomas. I’m Glory’s roommate, Claire. Welcome home.”
Glory’s brother took my hand and smiled. Then he blushed.
“Thank you, ma’am.” Hallelujah paused to give his sister a wink. “Actually, it’s captain now. And you can call me Hal.”
Glory beamed proudly.
“Captain now,” Glory whispered and nudged me. “Did you hear that?”
“I sure did,” I replied with a smile.
A dark shadow moved closer, and I looked to see that Diego had stepped up beside me. He nodded to the ink on the young captain’s pumped bicep. There was an intricate seal tattooed into his arm with an insignia that I did not recognize. The large tattoo read, Always Faithful, Always Forward.
Diego asked him, “You Special Ops?”
“Yes, sir,” Hal answered. “MARSOC.”
Then Hal nodded at Jules.
“I’m a Marine, like my brother, here.”
We all turned to look at Jules. The murderous look of barely contained violence had not left his face. A small muscle jumped in visible fury against the clenched line of his jaw. His eyes were narrowed and his mouth drew a grim line. Jules’s body was primed and ready for a fight.
Hal did not miss that.
I doubted that Hal missed much of anything.
Glory’s brother released a small sigh. A look of what might have been disappointment passed quickly over his face. Upping the ante, Hallelujah Thomas then met Jules’s glare head-on.
Glory made a small sound of distress. The two warriors looked at her. When Jules made a small move toward her, Hal reached for his sister first. Then in a deliberate and defensive movement, Captain Thomas put himself directly in front of Glory. He put himself right between her and the rest the boys.
That move was not lost on any of us.
Chasing Claire (Hells Saints Motorcycle Club) Page 13