Beyond the Cut

by Sarah Castille

  Heart in his throat, Cade parked his bike under a streetlight and drew his gun from his cut. If the neighbors didn’t notice an open door and a loud TV, they sure as heck wouldn’t notice a biker with a gun, and if anyone was inside the darkened house, he hoped to hell they ran in his direction.

  He approached from the side, peering in the living room window as he made his way to the back door. Using a file from his cut, he jimmied the lock and stepped into the kitchen. Hearing no sound, he crossed into the living room. The streetlights shone through the opposite window highlighting the chaos inside. Overturned chairs, furniture askew. He spotted a gym bag, half open and stuffed with clothes, near the entrance to the kitchen as well as a princess suitcase and a small stuffed toy. Dawn’s purse lay open on the floor.

  His hand tightened into a fist, and his chest heaved. Jimmy had his girls. The Brethren would patch-over to the Jacks. The Sinners would be destroyed. And all because he didn’t do what he should have done weeks ago.

  He turned to leave and then he heard a sound. Soft. Slightly muffled.

  A sob.

  His pulse kicked up a notch, and he made his way to the hallway leading to the bedrooms.

  “Who’s in there?” He flicked on the light switch, gun at the ready.

  The door to Maia’s and Tia’s room opened a crack and then a bundle of pink flew down the hallway, hitting him so hard, he stumbled back.

  “Cade.” Skinny arms wrapped around his hips, holding him tight. “I told Maia you’d come. I knew you would save us. You gave us your word as a biker.”

  “Tia?” His voice cracked as emotion welled up in his throat. That the one person who had the most to lose had such faith in him …

  “Cade.” Maia barreled down the hallway hitting him with such force he staggered back. “Jimmy was here. He took Mom away. He said he didn’t want us.” Her body shook with a sob. “He said he’d kill us if we went outside. Mom said to go to Martha’s house but we were too afraid.”

  “But you’ll save Mom.” Tia tugged on his shirt. “Won’t you?”

  “You know I will.” Or he would die trying.

  After texting the prospect to bring the SUV, he helped the girls pack their bags, then called Jagger to let him know what had happened. By the time he finished the call, the prospect had arrived and Cade loaded the girls’ bags, then locked up the house and led them to the vehicle.

  “Where are we going?” Maia asked.

  “Not sure yet. We have a safe house—”

  “Why can’t we stay with you?”

  Why couldn’t they stay with him? There were no wild parties going on tonight at the clubhouse. And he could ask Arianne to watch them until he brought Dawn home. He pulled out his phone and made the call. Arianne told him she’d ask Dax to join her. He’d just gotten back from a job down south, and since he had five kids he’d know how to have some fun.

  Cade didn’t know about having fun at the clubhouse, or about letting the club torturer anywhere near his girls, even if he did have five kids, but he did know he liked to see the girls smile. And the only way to do that was to bring their mom home.

  * * *

  “Time to get dressed, bitch. You’re dancing tonight.”

  Dawn shot up on the bed when Jimmy burst through the door. She’d been over every inch of the room during the night, and then again over the course of the afternoon, but there were no windows, and the door was locked from the outside.

  “Here.” He threw a shopping bag at her. She recognized the logo from the shop where she’d bought her dance clothes when she’d been with Jimmy before.

  “Put them on.”

  She stared at the bag. Three years ago she would have picked it up and dressed right away. But she wasn’t the same person she had been three years ago. Hell, she wasn’t the same person she’d been six weeks ago.

  “No.” The word fell from her lips before she could stop it. And even though she knew the consequences, it felt so damn good to say that word after so long, she didn’t care.

  “Pick up the fucking bag and put on the fucking clothes.” Jimmy enunciated every word as he crossed the room toward her. He wanted her to cower and cringe and scream and beg. Like he’d said in the car, he got off on her fear and her pain. And when she thought she had nothing and was worth nothing, when she thought no one cared, and she had nowhere to run, she’d given him what he wanted. But not now. Never again.

  “I’m not playing this game anymore.” Her heart thundered in her chest and she backed up to the wall. “You want me to stay and play happy families so you can delude yourself into thinking that gives you legitimacy in the eyes of the senior patch, then let’s go get the girls.” She braced herself for the storm, but Jimmy just laughed.

  “You think I want you back to be my old lady again? You think I care what the senior patch think anymore? I’m fucking president. And this isn’t about getting back together. This is about punishment. Revenge. Justice. You humiliated me when you left. Only reason I didn’t do anything about it was ’cause Wolf laid down the law. He didn’t want any Brethren hurting civilians and drawing the attention of the cops or the ATF. It was revenge or the cut, he said. So I chose the cut, but I knew the day would come when you would be mine again. I was patient. And my patience was rewarded.”

  Wolf? She’d always wondered why Jimmy let her go and how she’d gotten off as easily as she had. For months she’d been unable to sleep, terrified she’d wake up with a knife against her throat. Although taking her children away had hurt her worse than any physical pain.

  “That’s when I knew Wolf had to go,” he continued. “So I could make this club great again—the kind of club that doesn’t leave a brother hanging out to dry when he’s been humiliated by a fucking bitch, the kind of club my dad ran. So I went to Viper. I told him Wolf was weak and he wasn’t committed to joining the Jacks. I told him I’d bring him the whole club as a support club if he helped me win the election. Viper wanted more. He wanted puppets to do his dirty work, recruiters to increase his numbers. I had no problem with that. Got me closer to the big man himself.”

  “You went to Viper on your own? That’s treason.”

  “I got my supporters. Brothers who were tired of Wolf taking the teeth out of this club. And my pal Matchstick, up in Demon Spawn, he hated the Sinners. Fucking Sinners forced his club to be a support club. I recruited them for Viper and in return he helped me steal the weapons Wolf had hidden up in Whitefish, and put me in touch with a buyer. Viper told me to use what I needed to pay off Wolf’s supporters first. I hid the money at Shelly-Ann’s place in case any of the brothers started asking questions, and then she got her greedy paws on it. Viper almost killed me. Told me to find it. Shelly-Ann sent me after you.” He reached for his belt buckle and Dawn tensed. Jimmy’s belt had many uses aside from holding up his jeans, and all of them involved pain.

  “Viper came through in a big way.” Jimmy yanked the belt through his belt loops with a sharp crack. “Even got me outta jail. He’s got connections everywhere. The Jacks got puppet members in clubs all over the state. They got cops, senators, judges, lawyers, and government officials in their pocket. Those Sinners are going down, not just in the state but nationwide.”

  He doubled the belt and slapped his palm. Dawn steeled herself not to flinch. Confusion flickered across his face, and then he narrowed his eyes.

  “When I said no one is coming to save you, love, I meant it. No Cade, no Sinners, no deputy. You’re on your own. It’s you and me and a clubhouse full of Brethren just waiting for a share of what I’m gonna use and throw away. So don’t pretend you’re not scared, when we both know you are.”

  Dawn drew in a ragged breath when he closed the distance between them, the belt dangling from his hand. “Can’t you see how he’s used you? How he’s going to use you? Wolf saw it. That’s why he came to the Sinners when Viper started sniffing around. Once Viper does you a favor, he owns you forever.”

  “Shut the fuck up.” He grabbed her ha
ir with his free hand and pulled her forward. “We’re gonna have some fun with my belt. Just like old times. Then you’ll remember to keep your mouth shut. No one gives a damn what you think. You’re a fucking woman. You don’t know dick about club business.”

  Dawn fell to her knees, desperate to keep him talking so she could think her way out. There had to be a way. “Why kill Wolf? If the Jacks were backing you, and Wolf’s loyalty was called into question when you were arrested at the party, you were guaranteed to win the election. You didn’t need to kill him.”

  “You’re as stupid now as you were before.” Yanking her hair, he forced her to turn to the bed. “Because of fucking Shelly-Ann, I didn’t have enough money to pay off all the senior patch. And then the Sinners threw that damn party, and won over most of the brothers who had been on the fence. Even some of the brothers I’d paid off started talking about how a patch-over to the Sinners would be a good thing. I told Viper what was going on. He didn’t want to take any chances. He told me what to do and I did it.”

  “Oh God, Jimmy.”

  He pushed her over the bed. “God’s not gonna help you now.”

  * * *

  Cade didn’t knock before he entered Jagger’s office. Instead, he slammed open the door.

  Jagger looked from his desk. “Did you find her?”

  His chest constricted and it took a moment before he could speak. “She’s at the Brethren clubhouse. I’ve spent the night doing all the recon I can do. I have a plan to go in. I’ll need at least twenty, maybe thirty brothers with me.”

  Jagger rubbed his forehead, and in that moment Cade knew something was very wrong.

  “What’s up?”

  “Mad Dog just called. He wants to meet. Says he’s interested in hearing the details of the deal I offered to Wolf.”

  “He’s only doing that ’cause he knows I’m coming after him. It’s a trap. If he made a deal with Viper and goes back on it, Viper will hunt him until he’s dead.” Which is exactly what I should be doing right now. Cade clenched his hands by his sides. Every minute he wasted was a minute Dawn might be suffering.

  “I agree it doesn’t feel right, but we can’t just kill the president of another MC, especially if he’s making overtures to the club.” Jagger scrubbed his hands over his face. “Our future is at stake. The lives of all the club members are at stake. He offered to bring Dawn and the shipment of AKs Wolf promised us as a gesture of good faith if I agree to meet with him.”

  “Like she’s a piece of property.” If he’d listened to his instincts and taken care of Mad Dog in the beginning, Dawn wouldn’t be in that clubhouse, and the club wouldn’t be at risk. He loved the club. He loved his brothers. But he loved Dawn, too. Weeks ago, he’d made a sacrifice for his club. Now he would make a sacrifice for her. He had wasted enough of his life bearing a heavy burden of guilt over things he couldn’t control. This time, there was something he could do and nothing was going to stand in his way.

  He slid the cut off his shoulders and threw it on Jagger’s desk.

  “I’m done.”

  TWENTY-FIVE

  I will never abandon my brother.

  SINNER’S TRIBE CREED

  Cade pushed himself away from the wall outside the police station and walked under the glow from the overhead streetlight, making himself visible to the cop crossing the parking lot.

  “Benson.”

  Benson turned and frowned, then looked back over his shoulder at the police station as if assessing how close he was to safety. “Cade? You looking for me?”

  Hands held high so Benson could see he wasn’t armed, at least not visibly, Cade walked toward him. “It’s about Dawn. I need a favor. Didn’t want any brothers to see me talking to the cops. You know someplace private we can talk?”

  “Jail?”

  “I’m not in a joking mood.”

  “I wasn’t joking. When we renovated the station, we built nice new comfy jail cells, so no one is using the old cellblock. The cameras are offline. It’s as private as you’re gonna get, and to be honest, I’m not keen on going anywhere you might stab me in the back.”

  “No honor in stabbing someone in the back, but fine, let’s go.” As long as he had his weapon, he didn’t care where they talked and with the clock ticking he wasn’t prepared to dick around.

  Benson led him through a back door and down a dingy flight of concrete stairs. He keyed a number code into a panel beside a thick steel door. Fluorescent lights went on when the door opened and they walked along the corridor to a small, windowless room filled with monitors and a few chairs. The cellblock smelled of mold and sweat, and faintly of piss.

  “Guard station.” Benson waved Cade over to a metal chair. “Or maybe you’re familiar with it.”

  “Never been incarcerated. I like to keep my nose clean.”

  “Sure.” Benson took a seat near the door. “That’s why you’re in an outlaw biker gang that runs guns, shakes down small-business owners, and protects drug dealers as they transport their goods through our fine state. Oh, and I’m sure you had nothing to do with the body that was found outside Dawn’s house.”

  Cade bristled. “We run legitimate businesses in and around Conundrum.”

  “To launder your money.”

  “To provide services to the good citizens,” Cade countered. Damn. He didn’t want to like Benson, but he had to admit the dude was sharp as whip. He knew the score with the Sinners. No doubt he had some plan in mind to take them down in the future.

  “So what favor could you possibly need from me?” Benson folded his arms, his chair squeaking as he settled back.

  “I might need you to get Dawn and her girls out of town.” He leaned his forearms on his thighs and dropped his hands between his legs. “Shit is going down between the clubs. Could get ugly. I got something I have to do and if something happens to me, she’ll have no one to watch out for her. If that happens, I want you to put them in the witness protection program so they can live a safe life.”

  He had Benson’s attention now. The chair squeaked again as Benson leaned forward, mimicking Cade’s position. “What do you mean by ‘shit is going down’?”

  “Nothing for you to worry your pretty little head about.” Fuck. He just wanted to get Benson’s agreement and get out. Biker business wasn’t cop business and he didn’t want to give the game away. Plus, it grated on him something fierce to have to come to Benson for help. But without Cade, Dawn had no connection to the Sinners, and the safest place for her was out of town.

  Benson’s mouth opened and closed and Cade prayed he didn’t say something that would piss him off. He was wound too tight, a coil ready to spring. Never could he have imagined having to go to the police for help.

  “You’re not wearing your cut.”

  “Very observant,” he said drily.

  “So you’re not a biker anymore?”

  “I’m a man who’s gotta protect the people he cares about whatever the cost.”

  “Hell.” Benson stood and walked over to the wall beside the door. “You’re going after Mad Dog.”

  Was there any reason not to tell him? Benson and Dawn were friends. She trusted him. Hell, Benson wanted her in his bed. And he’d tried to help her get out already. “He’s got Dawn at his clubhouse. If I don’t get to him, he’s gonna kill her and destroy my club.”

  “The only reason he got Dawn is because of you.” Benson’s upper lip curled in disgust. “I called her when Mad Dog was released. I told her to get out of the house. I told her I’d meet her at the station and take her away. But would she listen? No. She said she was waiting for you. She said she loved you.”

  Cade’s heart skipped a beat. She loved him. He’d never heard sweeter words. Too bad they had to come from Benson’s damn mouth.

  “Sorry, Benson.”

  “You’re not sorry,” Benson spat out. “You don’t care for her the way I do. She’s a victim of your world and she needs to be protected. You twisted her into something she’s not. Y
ou dragged her back into the cesspool she tried so hard to escape.”

  Cade sat up in his chair, his skin prickling in warning at Benson’s flushed face and trembling hands. Seriously, the dude was out of control. He couldn’t figure out if the Benson was obsessed with Dawn or if something else was driving him.

  “She’s a strong woman who knows her own mind and who can look after herself. She owns her past and she’s living a life she wants to live. You need to respect her choices.” He stood and crossed the floor. “You’re a good cop, but you’re way outta line with the fucking disrespect. Stand aside. I’m gonna go get my girl and after I do, I don’t want you anywhere near her.”

  “I’m afraid I can’t let you do that.” Benson pushed a button on the wall and raced into the hallway moments before a huge metal door dropped from the ceiling and slammed into place.

  “What the fuck?” Cade drew his weapon and only just managed to stop himself from shooting. The bullet could very well rebound around the room and kill him.

  “Benson? What the hell is going on?”

  “If anyone is going to rescue her, it’s going to be me.” Benson’s muffled voice was barely audible through the safety door. “I’ll protect her and keep her safe. I’ll take her away into the witness protection program and she’ll live a happy life away from you and Mad Dog and every other damn biker in the state.”

  “You fucking bastard. Let me outta here. He’ll kill her before you get to him. You know he will.”

  “Sorry, Cade.”

  “The minute I get outta here you are fucking toast. You will never breathe another breath…”

  “You won’t be getting out of there,” Benson shouted. “That’s a three-inch steel safety door to protect the guards in case of a riot. It can only be opened from inside the station. And if you think you can call for help, there’s no phone signal down here. But I guess since you’re not a Sinner anymore, there’s no one for you to call.”