by Jayne Blue
Dark Instinct
A Dark Saints MC Novel
Jayne Blue
Copyright © 2017 by Jayne Blue
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
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Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
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1
Maddox
“So, how’s this puppy working out?” My sister Olivia was amused that I’d adopted Bella. Her lower jaw jutted out with the question; she was just waiting for me to say Bella was too much for me to handle. But I wasn’t going to give her the satisfaction. I loved my little bulldog, even though she was chewing all the shit in my house.
“Fine. She’s working out just fine.”
Olivia wanted proof that I couldn’t care for myself, much less Bella. And I wasn’t going to give it to her.
I didn’t see my sister as much as I should – my life was the club – but we made it a point to get coffee, once a month. No matter what.
And she made it a point to be an annoying little sister. It didn’t matter that we were grown.
“Did you talk to Dad this week?”
“No, not yet. There’s some club shit I want to run by him. I’ll call him tonight.”
“You know he’d like it better if you went over there.” Since our Mom died, my sister had taken on the main job of worrying about our Dad.
“Yeah. He knows what I’ve got going with the MC. He knows it’s a priority.”
“Fine. But I’m up at the house every day because he needs it. It’s way too big for him these days.”
I looked at Olivia and realized she really did get the best of our mom. Sometimes it made me happy to be reminded of Mom when I looked at her, sometimes it didn’t.
Today, it was just annoying. Dad did know the life; he’d lived it. Sam Maddox Senior founded The Dark Saints with Red Bullock. A Vietnam Vet, he was tough as nails and I was damn sure he’d be bristling more than I was to hear Olivia and her worrying.
“Dad may have a heart thing, but he’s rusty, not busted. Relax.”
“Yeah, sure.” Olivia lifted the coffee mug to her lips and drained the last bit. She nagged Dad and me, but she also knew when to stop. The Club came first for me and she knew it. I didn’t have a wife or even an old lady. Dad raised us to believe in the MC and to lean on it. It was literally in our blood, so Olivia didn’t push me any further about getting balance. I had Bella now. That was the most domesticated I was going to get.
“Okay, I need to get moving. You’ve quizzed me enough about my shit – what’s up with you, how about that?”
“Oh, you know what? Some asshole keyed my car!”
“Do they know who you are?” I was instantly on alert when it came to Olivia. She was a beauty, and too nice, too trusting.
“Uh, no. It was at the mall, and I don’t have a license plate that reads Daughter and Sister of the MC. It was annoying more than anything else.”
I put some money on the table. “Come on, show me.”
We stood up and I nodded to the waitress. I pushed open the door and let Olivia lead the way into the parking lot.
The Texas sun was already hot and it wasn’t yet nine in the morning. I looked up at it. My rounds for the MC were going to be steamy if I didn’t get that shit done before noon. But first I needed to see what was up with Olivia’s car.
I tried to blink the sunspots out of my eyes. I fished around in my jacket pocket for my sunglasses as Olivia took her typical long strides toward her car.
I heard the popping noise clear as day. It was a sound I’d heard before, more times than I could count. But this time it was out of place. It’s just someone’s tire blowing. That was my first thought.
The reality of that sound kicked in a second later, a second too late.
The diner’s glass window shattered next to me.
And in front of me, Olivia had crumpled to the pavement.
A blood red stain spread all over the crisp white blouse she loved. It was coming from her head.
It was all I could see.
2
Tracy
“You’re how much in debt for this thing?”
My parents were angry and defensive, but they were in a corner. A corner they’d put themselves in and of course they blamed me.
“The Perry Family expects the best. We had to. We’re the bride’s family. It’s expected.”
My mother was really great on appearances and no so great on reality. And my Dad? Well, he did what Mom said. We all did.
When I came home and told my Mom I was engaged to Ted Perry, she was more excited than I was.
“He’s going to be a governor someday! That’s what people say about him.” My Mom was just echoing what the rest of the town always said. Ted Perry was the son of a prominent family. Well, prominent in Southeast Texas anyway. Prominent and rich compared to us, I guess.
From the second I showed her the ring; she was off on a tear. She was telling Ted this and that about how the Plumbs and the Perrys were going to throw the wedding of the year.
But here the three of us were, Mom, Dad, and me, and my Mom’s mouth had been writing checks that my Dad’s bank wasn’t going to be able to cash.
“We’re talking around fifty-thousand dollars,” my Dad said. His face was long and looking more like a hound dog’s than a man’s. I loved him but my mother had mentally beaten him down and now, they were in trouble.
“What?”
“We’ve sold the house. That will go a long way.” My mother waived her hand at my Dad. I sat there in awe.
“How in the hell?”
“Don’t swear. Daddy and I have sold the house. We’re moving into a condo. That’s going to cover some of it. The immediate vendors can be paid so that the Perrys will never know.”
“Some of it? Look, I don’t need a big wedding. I’ve said that to you over and over.”
“Your father and I will NOT look stupid or poor or like we can’t provide.”
“But you can’t. The country club, the dress, and the – what was it?” I had forgotten all the things she’d already committed to and locked in for this wedding. It was still six months away!
“The fleet of classic cars and the releasing of those birds,” my Dad chimed in with just a few of
the million things my mother had lined up for a wedding still months and months away.
“Yeah, that.”
I had tried to stop her. But of course, I really didn’t know the extent of the hole she had dug.
“We’ve got to be out of here in a few days,” my Dad told me and that was it. My home was going to be gone. There wasn’t even a place for me at the new condo. Maybe she thought I should go live with Ted? Well, I wasn’t about to have that conversation.
I left the house, and my parents, pretty much as they were when I’d entered. Dad was doing what Mom said and Mom was spinning her fantasy that I was the next Princess of Port Azreal. Even though there was no way to pay for all she’d dreamed up.
It was a mess.
And I couldn’t tell Ted. My mother would be mortified if I did that.
So instead I spilled my hard luck story to my boss, Harlow Hayes. I needed advice from someone who was grounded in reality, not dreams of the Governor’s mansion.
“Honey. Are you sure about Ted? If he loves you, he’ll understand. He’ll want to marry you at the local park wearing cut-offs and serving beer in a red solo cup.”
“Uh, that’s not quite Ted.”
Harlow was talking about the kind of wedding that’d suit the love of her life, Kade. A hot as sin biker who would do anything for her, go anywhere, and who would be fine marrying her or not whenever or wherever she said.
My situation with Ted was different. I wasn’t sure he’d marry me anytime or anyplace. The plan for our big day was a much more calculated plan.
My family’s financial predicament felt like a knot I had to untie, and I had to do it quickly. And I really couldn’t ask Ted for help. Maybe he would help but that’s not who I was. I was going to get this solved without begging for handouts from the Perry family. It wasn’t the way I wanted to start my marriage, in debt to my mother-in-law.
My parents had made promises about a big wedding. Ted’s parents and their fancy friends had based their social calendar on those promises. And the whole thing had been described and tied neatly in a bow in the local newspaper – on the society page for crying out loud!
I was royally screwed.
I had a nurse’s aid degree but I was working in a pet shelter. I loved Ruff Life and working with Harlow, but it wasn’t going to pay for much.
“Hey, remember Bella?” Harlow snapped me out of my own head for a moment.
“Yes, sweet bulldog. Your biker friends adopted him.”
“Yes, well, not so sweet biker friend these days.”
“What do you mean? Maddox was adorable with little Bella.”
“Yeah, he was. But lately his life hasn’t been that great. And, well, I bring him up because he’s hiring, or rather, his Dad is.”
“What?”
“I wondered if you knew anyone. Maybe one of your old classmates from your nurse’s aid days who’d be willing or able to handle this job?” Harlow handed me a print out of an email.
WANTED: Live-in housekeeper and health aid. A large estate in Port Azreal is in need of a live-in housekeeper and home health aide. The applicant will be required to do daily housekeeping and cook for two adults and support, nursing care. The ability to cook and adhere to nutritional guidelines a plus.
I read on, all the while thinking that the live-in aspect of this job would solve my immediate situation. But the rest? Housekeeping? I could certainly do that. I had my nurse’s aid training but so far hadn’t used it at all. I loved working at Ruff Life but it was really for pennies and it didn’t use my degree.
I’d spent the last year working at the animal shelter. I mostly cleaned up after the animals. Cleaning up after people seemed like a step up.
And then I read the pay range. It was five times what I was making at the non-profit.
I loved the animals, heck I loved Harlow, but I was desperate to do something to keep my parent’s financial fairy tale from collapsing in front of the Perry family and the entire town.
“Harlow, I do know someone.”
“Oh, great! I thought you might.”
“Me.”
“What? Wait no. I didn’t mean that. I want to keep you here.”
“This says it’s full time, and it’s great money. Plus, Maddox is … well, I met him, he’d be great to work for.” I thought back to the time I had handed Bella to the biker and admitted to myself that he was incredibly sexy. Not my type at all, bikers. But still, working for him wouldn’t be a hardship.
“He’s not the same Maddox.”
“What?”
“I don’t think you’d like him, or working for him.” Harlow had a look of concern. Sometimes I think she protects me like a kid sister. Or overprotects me.
“Will you be mad if I applied for this job?”
“Of course not, I want you to do what you want to do. But, well, I just want to warn you, Maddox has turned into kind of a beast. I mean, I love him and I get why. But he might be a terrible boss.”
“I think I can handle a biker and his adorable bulldog. I’ve got you as a role model.” Harlow handled Kade, one of the toughest bikers on the planet, with ease. Kade’s appearance at Ruff Life had made me realize bikers weren’t just what you saw on the surface.
For the first time since my parents revealed the pickle they’d put us all in, I was smiling. This was meant to be! I was going to solve two problems with one job. I’d have a place to live rent-free and I’d quadruple the income I was making.
I couldn’t wait to get started.
“Will you be a reference?” I asked Harlow because honestly, she was a friend, and the last thing I wanted was to ruin that.
“If it’s what you want? Of course.” She hugged me, and I held tight to the piece of paper with the job opening.
Live in housekeeper and home health aid may not be anyone’s dream job but I was desperate, and I knew I could help Maddox. I remembered his raw good looks, and the way he’d taken to Bella.
This was going to work out perfectly!
3
Maddox
“You did fucking what?”
“I hired a new live-in housekeeper and caregiver.” My Dad was sitting in his chair. The TV was on. Wheel of Fortune. It was his favorite fucking show. Hardened vet, MC founder, Wheel of Fortune fan. That was the progression.
“Why, what happened to, uh, Jeff?”
“Jared. You scared him off or pissed him off. Or haven’t you noticed there’s been a different temp here every day for the last week?” My Dad’s voice was gravel and grit after a lifetime of smoking.
“No.”
I’d moved into the big house with my Dad. There was really no other way, or so I’d thought, in the six months since Olivia’s shooting. My Dad couldn’t do it alone. I knew that.
But I kept to the third floor. I had an office and a suite of rooms up there. It was more than I needed or wanted. The rest of the house was too much of the past. It could rot for all I cared.
The past, that’s where we were stuck.
“That’s the sixth housekeeper in six months,” my Dad grumbled.
“I’m not fucking counting. Just make sure they stay out of my way.”
“I’ll let ‘em know you’re an asshole but that’s pretty self-explanatory.” My Dad leaned over to the TV tray next to his recliner and I knew he was struggling to get the water glass. He took a serious amount of medication. I had no idea until I’d moved back here how weak he’d gotten. I turned away and let him figure it out.
If it weren’t for him, and the life he’d started with the MC, Olivia wouldn’t have been shot. And he wasn’t going to get a pass from me just because he was fucking old now.
“I’m going upstairs.”
“You should go to the MC.”
I did my best to avoid my Dad. We always wound up arguing. He saw the MC as a way to help us, “get through.”
Bella, my bulldog, curled up next to my Dad. I should never have gotten that dog.
It was just another thin
g that kept me from my mission.
I was going to find out who shot Olivia and I was going to do the same fucking thing to them.
I wasn’t going to kill them; I was going find a way to make them live, like she had to.
I’d fulfilled my role at the MC, as treasurer. I made sure the money was tight. But the rest of it? Patrolling Port Az, running interference on heroin, and chasing low lives? They could have it.
Kade and Benz were my closest brothers in The Dark Saints but they hadn’t been able to give me what I wanted:
The name of The Devil’s Hawk who’d shot my sister. Or if it was a Texas chapter, them.
So I fulfilled my oath as an officer, but just barely. I had a higher oath now.
To find the fucking Hawk or whoever had sunk a bullet into the base of my sister’s brain. I’d made that oath when she lay bleeding in my arms.
I heard the bike but didn’t see the shooter. And it haunted my every single breath. I was supposed to protect Olivia. I was there to protect the whole fucking town. And I’d failed.
I sat in my den. There was a bulletin board on the wall. I had a set of 3/5 cards, one for each of The Hawks I had a name and face for. If I could score a picture, I did that too. Usually a mug shot.
I hated them all. My rage was directed and focused, like a white-hot laser, at the fucking asshole who shot my innocent sister. At the one no one could name.
My phone cell vibrated.
“Hey, brother.” It was Benz. He wanted me to ride tonight. I knew it.
“Come on, just a few hours.” I hated leaving Olivia. I hated going to the MC. I hated everyone and everything.