Dark Seduction

by Jayne Blue

“You wanna tell me what the fuck is going on?” Moss shouted.

  I went to Bear. When he locked eyes with me, the air went out of my lungs.

  “Fitzie showed up at the hospital where Wendy is.” Bear choked out his words. “Moose is dead.”

  “Moose?” I said; my brain felt encased in syrup. He was telling me something with his eyes, his posture, his words. But I couldn’t let my mind go there.

  “Moose was supposed to take Quinn to the airport,” I said. Quinn. My God. Quinn! But she was on a plane headed for France. She wouldn’t be at the hospital. Why the fuck was Moose at the hospital?

  “Mama!” Shep shouted. “She was on her way to visit Wendy. Pops, is she okay? What the fuck is happening?”

  “Your little Fitzie problem!” Bear whirled back, straining against Axle to get to Moss.

  “Bear, I don’t know what the hell’s going on. I swear to God,” Moss said.

  “He killed one of my prospects,” Bear said. “He pistol-whipped my wife.” Bear turned to me. “An orderly saw Fitzie leaving. He had Quinn with him.”

  The ground seemed to open up beneath me. Quinn. Goddammit. Quinn. She was at the hospital with Mama Bear. She must have wanted to check in on Wendy before she left. Now it was my turn to double over.

  Shep acted quickly. He moved away from us and got in A.J. Moss’s face. Moss held a hand up, keeping his guys from taking Shep down. I was at his side, my fingers playing on my holster.

  “I told you,” Moss said. “I have an idea where Fitzie’s headed. There’s a chick he’s been banging. Lacey. She’s got a place out on Millburn Road. If anybody’s helping him, it’ll be her. She ain’t too bright, let’s just say. He must have caught wind of our deal and decided to try and negotiate a better one. I swear on my fucking patch I had nothing to do with this.”

  “Yeah? How’s that? How the fuck did he catch wind of this?” I asked. Shep held me back. I could see his own fury bubbling. Bear was falling apart. Pistol-whipped. Mama was hurt. Moose was dead. Quinn was gone.

  “I’ll take you there,” Moss said. “I want to see this through just as much as you do.”

  “Go!” Bear said. Chase and Kade were at his side. “Shep, you come with me. Axle, Dom, you go get that son of a bitch.”

  I don’t remember leaving. I don’t remember climbing on the back of my damn bike. I know Kade and Axle were at my side but couldn’t go fast enough.

  Mama Bear. She could be dying. Quinn. Oh God. I couldn’t let my mind even go there. Fitzie was fucking desperate. He had to believe he had nothing to lose. To lay hands on Mama ... he knew he’d never be able to walk back from that.

  When the van carrying A.J. Moss made the turn down Millburn Road, my vision clouded. There was nothing back here but a rundown trailer park. There was no way we could come in stealthy. Axle was one step ahead. He pulled to the side of the road near a drainage ditch. I wanted to keep going. Only the thunder of my engine beneath my legs matched my fury. But instinct made me turn. I pulled alongside Axle and cut my engine. Kade was right behind me.

  The van parked at an angle and Moss stepped out. “Quarter of a mile down that way,” he said. “She’s in an Airstream. One of those fucking goose statues out front draped in an American flag. I have no clue what Fitzie’s driving. We took his ride away.”

  “You should have slit his fucking throat when you had the chance.”

  Moss met my eyes. His were hard, spaced too close together, giving him a rat-like appearance. He was even older than Bear. For years, I’d been made to call him Uncle A.J. when my mother took me around the Hawks’ clubhouse. That hadn’t been very often, thank God. Moss, I think, had known Rip Lyons wasn’t my daddy from the very beginning. I’d heard through the grapevine that old bastard had finally croaked about five years ago. But A.J. Moss? He knew. He fucking had to know Rip took all that shit out on me. If Bear ever found out one of his crew was laying a hand on a little kid … I shook those thoughts out of my head, but Moss saw it in my eyes. If things went south today and A.J. Moss made a wrong move, I wanted it to be me who put a bullet in his fucking brain.

  “Fan out,” Moss said. “She’s about a quarter of a mile up that way. We’ll come in from the east, you go west.”

  “Fat fucking chance, asshole,” Axle said. “I want you where I can see you. You’re with me.”

  Butch moved to protest but Moss stopped him. “Fine,” he said. “Butch, you stay with Jimmy.”

  Jimmy. Nobody had fucking called me that since I was about five years old. My mother always called me James. Then she didn’t call me at all. From the time I was fourteen on, I was Domino. Jimmy didn’t exist. Maybe he never had.

  “You call me anything but Domino, ever again, Axle won’t be the one you gotta worry about,” I said, squaring off with Moss. He narrowed his beady little eyes, but let it drop. He and Axle fanned out, leaving me with Butch.

  I ran. I had no other choice. If Quinn were at the end of this path, I needed to get to her no matter what. She had to be okay. Fitzie would lose whatever bargaining chip he had if he killed her. She was alive when she left the hospital. He’d want her to stay that way. Unless … God, I couldn’t think it. Quinn wasn’t of this world. What if she’d tried to run, tried to fight? Hurting Josie Bullock was the dumbest thing Fitzie could have ever done. And here I was hoping he’d thought straight when it came to Quinn?

  Shattering glass drew my attention. Butch dropped low. We were in sight of the silver Airstream. Just like A.J. said, she had a stupid goose out front with an American flag flapping around its neck.

  I drew down. A shadow moved across the yard.

  “Fitzie!” Butch shouted.

  “You dumb son of a bitch!” I didn’t let him get another word out. I elbowed him in the face hard enough to knock his stupid ass out. Whatever advantage we had coming in undetected, Butch had just blown. To the east of me, Axle popped out of the trees, looking just as pissed as I felt. Moss was right behind him, his lips pursed into a tight grimace. He saw Butch on the ground and just shrugged.

  The first shot broke the window on the Airstream. The bullet whizzed by Moss’s head. Axle threw him to the ground. Though a small, sick part of me wished it had found its mark, I knew Axle was right to get Moss out of harm’s way.

  “Ain’t nowhere to run, kid,” Axle called out. Now that he knew we were here, there was no point in staying quiet.

  A scream came from deep inside the trailer. My blood curdled, but it wasn’t Quinn.

  “Shut the fuck up, Lacey!” Fitzie called out. I heard a scuffle and a thump. He’d done something to her.

  When the front door of the trailer burst open, I dove to my left. Axle and I stood shoulder to shoulder, guns drawn. I pulled up when Quinn stumbled out. Her blonde hair hung in strings. Sweat poured down her face and her red-rimmed eyes locked with mine.

  My heart soared and broke all at once. She was alive. She was whole as far as I could see. But she was terrified and it was all because of me. Fitzie came out behind her, his gun pressed against her back.

  “This is over, Fitz,” Moss said. He was still on his knees, struggling to stand. Axle had thrown him down hard. “You’re surrounded. Nowhere left to run.”

  “No fucking way,” Fitzie said. He was on something. His eyes darted left and right, unfocused. It made him even more dangerous. Quinn mouthed “I’m sorry” to me.

  “Let her go,” I said, training my weapon right at his head. He kept Quinn in front of him. From this angle, I couldn’t get a shot off without putting her at risk. Moss was right though. In the middle of nowhere, Fitz was out of options. There was a beat-up Chevy parked beside the trailer. Maybe he could get to it. But he couldn’t go anywhere without the Hawks and the Saints up his ass for the rest of his life.

  In that moment, I knew how dangerous Fitzie was. Cornered. Scared. Altered. He’d proven how crazy he was by what he’d done to Mama Bear. He had just one play left. Go out in a blaze of glory taking as many people with him as he could.


  “Fitz?” a female voice cried from inside. “Fitz, you said you wouldn’t leave me here. You can’t!”

  “Shut the fuck up, Lacey,” he called back. He pushed Quinn forward. She stumbled but stayed on her feet. She was ten yards away from me. Could she move fast enough if I signaled to her? No. It was too risky. The only way she could drop to the ground was with a bullet in her back.

  “I went to a lot of trouble to bring these boys out here,” Moss said. He was back on his feet and walking toward Fitzie.

  “Stay put, you mother fucker!” Fitzie yelled, his eyes wild.

  “Don’t move, A.J.,” I said. “Do what he says.”

  But Moss kept on walking. Smiling with confidence, he had his hands up. The fucker had more balls than brains and he didn’t think Fitzie was dumb enough to shoot him. I absolutely knew better.

  Quinn. In a split second, it would be over. Her eyes met mine and she seemed to know her fate. This was bigger than both of us. Too many variables. I couldn’t control it. Couldn’t keep her safe. A single tear fell from her eyes and she gave me a tiny nod.

  No. God. No.

  She turned to the side and faked to the right. I steadied my weapon and aimed at Fitzie’s head. Too close. Quinn was too close. Fitzie sensed movement and pushed Quinn forward, raising his gun. He had it trained on her head.

  The first shot cracked, taking me off guard. My shot. A second. A third came from my left and another from behind me. Quinn screamed and dropped to the ground, rolling away.

  Fitzie stood even straighter and taller. He took one awkward step back, his face melting into a strange smile. Then a blossom of red formed on his forehead and a thick, single line of blood poured from a hole just above his left eye. He dropped to the ground face forward.

  “Quinn!”

  For the rest of my life, I’d run those last few yards to get to her. She lay on the ground. Gunfire had come from everywhere. It was Moss’s shot that took Fitzie out. But it had been far too close.

  Finally, I got to her. Quinn reached for me, tears streaming down her cheeks as I gathered her into my arms and kissed her.

  “You’re all right,” I said. “You’re all right. I’ve got you.”

  Sobbing, she collapsed against me and the world fell away.

  Chapter 24

  Domino

  “I’m fine, really!”

  I’d heard Quinn say that at least a dozen times. I stood just outside the privacy curtain in the E.R. as the attending doc looked her over again. He shone his penlight in her eyes, made her track his finger. He pressed his thumbs against her cheekbones feeling for tiny broken bones around her eyes. She couldn’t see me. As far as she knew, I was long gone. I’d given her one last look when they loaded her into the ambulance but stayed away though it tore my guts apart.

  “Thank you,” Quinn said. The doctor was professional, but a little starstruck himself. He was young with dark brown hair that he wore a little longer than most doctors.

  “Okay. But if you feel light-headed, nauseous, or anything’s just off over the next twenty-four to forty-eight hours, you let me know.” He clicked his penlight off and slid it back into his breast pocket. I jerked back, moving further down the hall. When he opened that curtain, I didn’t want her to see me. As the doctor came out, he closed the curtain behind him. His step faltered as he saw me about midway down the hall.

  “Are you responsible for her?” he asked, pointing behind him.

  I hesitated. The answer bursting inside of me was yes. Hell, yes. But not in the way he meant. I’d asked her to leave to keep her safe. Not an hour later, she almost died and it was all because me. Yes. I was responsible for all of it.

  “No,” I said, keeping my voice low so she couldn’t hear. “I was just ... leaving.”

  The doc cleared his throat, sensing the awkward tension. Then he excused himself.

  I squeezed my eyes shut. Forever, I’d have nightmares about Fitzie walking out of that Airstream with his gun at her back. Just like Bear would dream about Mama Bear and how long it took for him to get to her.

  Feet shuffled on the floor behind me. I turned. Quinn’s driver stood in the hallway, hat in hand. I turned and took a firm grip on his arm. I led him down the hall where Quinn wouldn’t be able to overhear.

  “You get her straight to the airport. You make sure she gets on that plane.”

  He narrowed his eyes and jerked his arm out of my grip. “I know what my job is, sir.”

  I let his tone go. Let him be angry. As long as he did what I told him. As long as Quinn got as far away from Port Azrael as possible and fast. For my part, we had plenty to clean up, what with Moose’s death and now Fitzie’s. The Port Az P.D. had a ton of questions, but they’d already gotten what they needed out of Quinn. She was free to go.

  Quinn’s driver pushed his way around me. I took a deep breath and squared my shoulders. I knew the best thing I could do for her was make a clean break and just walk away.

  “Dom!” Shep came around the corridor. Shit. Quinn might have heard but there was no help for it now. I turned back. She didn’t come out from behind the curtain. If she had heard, she chose to keep her distance.

  Mama Bear had been admitted for observation to a room upstairs. Bear was with her. We’d take turns standing guard outside her door. Bear didn’t want to be too careful. A.J. Moss and his crew lit out of Port Azrael as fast as they could. Good riddance to them. I hoped we wouldn’t see them again for a damn long time. Though I knew that was too much to hope for.

  “Is she gone?” he asked.

  “Going,” I answered.

  “You say your goodbyes yet?” Shep’s eyes searched my face.

  “No. Just ... I don’t want to talk about it.”

  “Ma’s asking for you.”

  “She’s awake?” My heart soared.

  “Yeah. Come on, man. Don’t keep her waiting.”

  My heart tore in two as I followed Shep to the elevators. A clean break. That’s what we needed. Quinn might hate me for it but at least she’d be alive to do it.

  My steps falling heavy on the marble floors, I walked behind Shep and paused just outside Mama’s hospital room. She was sleeping The left side of her face was purple, swollen, and misshapen. She had stitches through her eyebrow.

  Bear sat at her bedside, his eyes red-rimmed and his hands still shaking. I thought maybe I knew at least a little of what he felt. He’d been with Mama for going on thirty years. He’d be lost without her. And it had come too damn close today.

  “She just fell back asleep,” Bear said. “She was asking for you. Sit for a while. She flits in and out.”

  So I sat. Bear held Mama’s hand as she slept. She looked so peaceful. A couple of the other guys came in and out bringing food and coffee for Bear. Mama stirred a few times but didn’t come fully awake again for almost two hours. When she did, her eyes lit up as she saw me.

  “Hey, Mama,” I said. I was careful when I hugged her, but her grip was strong, bone-crushing even. It felt good.

  “He’s really dead?” she asked. “That fucker’s dead?”

  “Yeah.”

  “You shot him?”

  I shrugged. “I shot at him. I think it was A.J. Moss’s bullet that actually killed him. Lucky fucker. Quinn was too damn close. He could have killed her. I can tell you, he didn’t give a fuck either way. For that alone, I’d like to …”

  “Enough,” Mama said. “We’ve all had enough close calls for one day. And Moose …”

  Her eyes misted with tears. I’d barely had a chance to process everything, let alone losing Moose. He was a good kid. Solid. It would have taken him a few years yet, but he had a good chance of patching in when he matured a little. And I’d trusted him with Quinn’s life. He’d paid for it with his.

  “We’ll take care of his family,” Bear said. “I don’t give a damn if he had a patch or not. We’ll take care of them.”

  Mama reached for Bear’s hand and squeezed it. “Good. Now what about Quinn? I want
to see her with my own eyes. I was mostly out of it when Fitzie took her, but she had me scared to death.”

  I shot Bear a look. “Uh ... Mama ... she’s gone.”

  “What do you mean, gone?” She glared at me.

  “She got checked out. Given the all clear. She’s got a driver taking her back to the airport. She’s getting on a plane for Paris. She’s going back to her life.”

  Mama crossed her arms in front of herself. Even with one eye swollen shut, she could still manage an evil death stare straight at me. “Her life.”

  “Yeah. I let her go.”

  “Uh huh.” She looked from me to Bear. Shep stood in the doorway and he too suffered her withering gaze.

  “She’s better off without all this baggage.”

  Mama adjusted the thin blanket covering her. When Bear moved to help her, she waved him away. “Let’s see, her life. She got man-handled by a producer until you stepped in and stood up for her. She can’t walk three feet outside without being mobbed by photographers. And despite all of that, she went away with you, walked down the street with you on her arm. She stuck around with you lot and pitched in at the clubhouse in the middle of a full-on lockdown. She didn’t have to do any of that. And even when you chased her away, she came here ... with me ... to check on Wendy.”

  “Mama ... Quinn doesn’t belong here. You know it.”

  “Don’t tell me what I know. I’ll tell you what I know. You love her.”

  It was my turn to fold my arms in front of myself, as if it could shield me from Mama’s frontal assault. “Of course I love her.”

  “Right. And she loves you. You know that too, right?”

  I opened my mouth to argue, then clamped it shut. Mama threw her hands up. “You ever tell her?”

  I looked at Bear for help. There was none forthcoming. He cast his eyes to the floor. Shep backed out of the room behind me. Mama pointed a finger at me. “So you just decided all of this for her. Sent her packing and she didn’t even get a vote? Look. I get it. Walking away from each other is the safe thing to do. And maybe this knock on the head is clouding my judgment. But, honey, if you don’t tell her you love her and give her the chance to decide for herself, you’ll regret it forever.”