Charlie's Heart: MC Romance (Burning Bastards MC Book 3)

by Ryder Dane

  A few people that were reported as lost in this area, were never found. Until Selma was safe, he would remain cautious. Afterwards, well that would depend on the damage she suffered.

  Charlie spied Juanita sneaking around the backside of the house and it looked like she began to head east. She suddenly stopped in her tracks and turned around to run back to the house.

  He trained the sight toward the east of the wooden house and took his time scanning the terrain for any telltale hint of a shed or shelter where they might have his woman hidden away.

  There was movement from the house, and he redirected his sight to the person moving around on the porch. Ol’ Birdsong was carrying a long gun and Juanita came out of the house behind him with her dress clutched in front of her body. He watched Birdsong backhand the small woman and knock her to the planked floor of the porch. She stayed down, and Charlie figured that was probably the smartest thing for her to do at the time. The shine maker left off the steps and headed east.

  This was too much of a coincidence for Charlie. He did a quick scan to make sure no one was near enough to be spying him as he backed slowly from his spot on top of the hill and grabbed his pack and double stepped it east. He hated to feel his guts were twisting, that always happened when trouble of the physical variety began. He knew with everything inside that he was going to kill Birdsong one way or the other. The man would never get another shot at Selma.

  He was ahead of Birdsong and slowly crept down the hill behind scrub bushes and briars. As he made his way down, he scanned the area around him and his eyes lit on a hole in the side of the hill. “Fuck, he’s gonna’ be a goddamned pleasure to kill.”

  Sure enough, the walking dead man came into his sight and Charlie waited impatiently for the fucker to step into the cavern. He followed slowly and heard the bastard laughing as he taunted someone.

  There was the sound of something hitting what sounded like flesh and Charlie rounded the corner of the cave to see Selma standing with a small log in her hand and Birdsong bending over to pick up the gun from the floor.

  It was time for Charlie to intervene, the bigger man was pissed off that the woman had knocked his gun from his hand and he cussed a blue streak as Charlie stepped up behind him.

  “Hey, Birdsong, I have a bone to pick with you, motherfucker.”

  His first word had the big man turn his head toward the newcomer and Charlie’s boot connected with his jaw. He looked up at his woman and saw her back away, still clutching her weapon to her chest. She looked wild and dirty as hell but she was alive and he smiled at her before squaring off with Birdsong again.

  “You should’ve never touched what’s mine you dumbfuck, what in the hell did you think would happen when you steal a man’s woman?”

  Birdsong shook his hard head and asked Charlie, “What the fuck are you talkin’ ‘bout? This split tail? She took the kids from the families up here, what would you’ve done if some high and mighty whore did that to you? Hey, ain’t you that biker fuck from a few years ago? What the hell, man, we can finish this matter later, and I got a new batch of some of the best fuckin’ shine ready to sell right up at the house.”

  A small rock, followed by another rock pelted Birdsong on his shoulder and he redirected his gaze to Selma.

  Charlie grinned at his girl, she hadn’t lost her fire. “Babydoll, Birdsong and me, we’re just dancing a bit darlin’, I’ll be with you directly and get you back to where you belong. Hang on, okay?”

  She answered with a stone to the chest that stung even through the thin t-shirt he was wearing. “Hurry up, I am sick of the place, accommodations here suck.”

  Charlie gave a shout of laughter and nodded at her, before turning to Birdsong. “You heard her, time to die.” The fist hit his jaw and the fight was on.

  All through the fight Charlie kept cursing his lazy habits in the past few years. The fact Birdsong was a few inches taller and quite a few pounds heavier didn’t matter. Charlie felt every punch and kick, he hoped Birdsong felt his hits at least as hard. If he made it out of this day alive, he was going to start joining the brothers in the weight room again, fuck this shit.

  The bigger man made a grave mistake when he reached down in the top of his boot and pulled a pig sticker. One thing Charlie was damn fuckin’ good at was knives and he pulled his own knife. “You know, I wasn’t sure there for a minute I was going to win this fight honorable like, now I see I don’t have to worry about that, do I?”

  Birdsong crouched, ready to shuffle and jab, but Charlie wanted this day over with and sent his balanced blade straight into his enemy’s throat hard enough for the tip to be seen sticking from the flesh on the opposite side of the man’s neck. The wound didn’t stop the man’s momentum and he moved forward faster than Charlie could get far enough away from the glancing slice along the top of his rib.

  What made Charlie look toward Selma with surprise was the piece of wood she’d been using as a club earlier, sailed with enough force to shove Birdsong’s face back when it hit right between his eyes.

  The screech that came from his lady peeled the skin from his ears, but he was so happy to see that she wasn’t layin’ in a puddle of tears that he grinned and forgot his wound while he went to her to give her the hug he needed.

  The closer he got to her, the more he could see the wild, desperate look on her face, and the tears sliding through the dirt on her face. She was shaking in fine tremors and he looked back over his shoulder wondering if it would be stupid if he carved the fucker up some.

  “Hey, babydoll, I see you can still hit what you aim at.” He slowed his steps because she didn’t acknowledge him at all. Shit, she was shocky and he didn’t have a damn thing with him to help her but a warm embrace, so he didn’t give her time to punch him, he reached for her and drew her into his arms, holding her tight to his chest.

  She didn’t struggle, but she didn’t return his hug right away either. He choked up like a damn woman, but she was breaking his heart here. He had to clear his throat a couple of times before he could speak and not bawl like a titty baby.

  “I was so worried about you, girl, you got no idea how much I’m sorry I didn’t pick up the phone when you called. I’m a stubborn old fool, and I don’t deserve for you to forgive me, but I’ll do anything for you. I heard your voice and you sounded so scared, I wasn’t with you.”

  He loosened one arm and held her jaw in his hand so he could see her face. “I love you, babydoll, you can believe that, even if you don’t have faith in anything else. I came as soon as I could and it wasn’t fast enough. I’m sorry, baby, so sorry.”

  Chapter Four

  Selma heard someone coming and knew Birdsong would be checking on her to see if she was still alive. She picked up the foot long section of firewood and held it to her side as she stood waiting for her captor to show his filthy ass. She was tired, she was scared, and she was cornered. She had nothing to lose if she fought back, and she planned to fight for her life.

  She had been here alone for the past three days and nights, but the only time it actually bothered her was at nighttime, when the predators became curious and she would see only the glint of a yellow or green set of eyes in the darkness. She chucked rocks and empty jars that had held the preserved food she’d been eating. So far the animals had left after she began screaming at them to go away in the darkness.

  When Birdsong rounded the short corner, she’d brought the wood down onto his fingers holding the rifle, and watched the weapon fall from his grasp. She was raising the wood to her shoulder when she noticed the shadow slowly coming up behind the cursing man who bent down to pick up the gun.

  Hearing Charlie’s voice stunned her. Her heart thumped hard in her chest and she backed away when he smiled at her and kicked the bigger man in the jaw. All she could think was that he’d come to save her. Charlie was here, he kept his promise, and while she didn’t register most of what he said to Birdsong, his words, “My Woman” warmed her deep inside. She wasn’t alone now
, her love came for her, claimed her, and was fighting her enemy to rescue her.

  She saw the knife in Birdsong’s hand slice through Charlie’s shirt and didn’t stop to think when she threw the chunk of wood in her hand at his head. Nobody was going to hurt her man without dealing with her.

  Seeing that a knife stuck through the big man’s throat stopped her from grabbing another piece of wood and attacking him. He hit the ground and she ignored him as Charlie approached her cautiously. She let go of her fear as he held her to his strong chest. His heart was beating hard under her cheek, and she felt so safe being enclosed in his tight embrace, that she never wanted to move from this spot with him.

  She heard him calling her babydoll, and her arms closed tight around his slender waist. His big hand holding her swollen jaw so tenderly gave her hope. “Charlie, I prayed you would come, and here you are, I knew you would come.”

  That was all she said as she slumped in his arms, passed out from exhaustion, and the release of fear.

  “Oh hell, woman, this is a bad place for you to take a nap, but if that’s what you want to do, we’ll stay right here ‘till you wake up. Seeing how he treated you like a damned animal makes me want to feed him to the fuckin’ cougars and wild boar.”

  He gently lowered her slight form to the dirty blanket covered pallet and went to search Birdsong’s pockets for the key to the padlock holding the leg shackle in place. He had to roll the big man over to go through his pockets, and left everything he found on the ground next to the body. The fucker had a leather thong with several keys on it and Charlie grabbed it up. He had some difficulty pulling his knife free, but a boot to the side of the bastards head helped his efforts and he wiped his blade on the dead man’s shirt. He stabbed the blade into the dirt to the hilt a few times to clean the red off better before sliding it back into his boot.

  He heard a noise and reached for his knife again, but he saw Juanita standing at the mouth of the cave and she was peeking inside.

  “You might as well come inside, I hope you don’t put me to the trouble of chasing you down. I don’t hurt women, even one’s married to the likes of this fucker.” He turned his back on her, took the keys to where Selma was tethered, and began trying out the keys one by one.

  “All I want is to get my woman off this hill and to a safe place.”

  He felt her move closer and glanced up at the key dangling from Juanita’s fingertips. He nodded, and took the keys to unlock the metal from her ankle. Seeing the condition of her dainty feet, made him realize she wasn’t walking out of this place on her own.

  “Mr., I was coming to let her loose, you don’t have to worry none, the judge here did me a favor by takin’ the kids, and I owe her for not tellin’ Birdsong that I was the one to call the social workers. I want to help her.”

  Charlie could see the woman shaking, she kept glancing at her husband’s body and looking back at Selma. She wouldn’t look at him directly, and he figured it was probably fear that held her tight.

  “You want to help the judge here, I appreciate that, but unless you have someway for me to carry her off of this hill, we will be stuck here until I can get some brothers up here to help. I can carry her, God knows I would try, but I won’t get her back over the hill before my people can get here. So unless you have another way to take us to my scoot, we’ll be your guests.”

  Juanita appeared to be thinking, and she smiled for the first time that he’d ever seen.

  “There should be a key to the car they brung her here in on that leather, Ol’ Merl and Saul took the truck to go buy sugar and provisions, the car belongs to Merl. I can take you to your motorbike I guess, they’ll be here by mornin’ so I can’t take you to town an’ be back here pretendin’ to worry about Birdsong.”

  He bent down to pick up his ladylove, and started walking to the cave’s entrance.

  Juanita hung back for a few minutes, and ran past him once she’d lit the fuze on the sticks of dynamite that she put under Birdsong’s fat belly. She’d grabbed the cash and left him lie.

  “You might want to speed it up a bit, I don’t know how old those sticks of dynamite is, but they was startin’ to leak when I took them outta the sack.” She kept going and Charlie looked around for cover.

  They were only about fifty feet from the cave, and his knees weren’t up to running right now, even if he wasn’t carrying the extra weight. He crouched down and laid Selma’s unconscious body on the soft ground cover, before lying on top of her, covering her face and torso from flying rocks and debris. He tried to keep his weight off her chest, but the impact of the explosion shoved him down on top of her hard. He was so stunned by the impact of rocks that pelted his head and back, that it took a few minutes for him to realize what he was doing, and he pushed himself from her body.

  He sat up and had to orient himself for a few long minutes. The last explosion that big he’d been around for was in Nam, and the results of that had been a titanium plate in his head and several years of riding his bike to help him settle his past experiences. He kept his eyes trained on Selma, if he closed them he knew he would see the movie running through his brain of that last mission. He didn’t want to see that again. Seeing body parts flying around you, well, it had a big impact on his life. Her eyes fluttered open and he leaned down to kiss her.

  She chased his demons away. Once they became lovers, his nightmares were almost gone. She’d been his touchstone, and there was no way he would let her go again, somehow, some way, he would find a way for them to be together.

  She was waking up and he pushed her hair back from her face with a shaking hand. Fuck, he couldn’t lose her again. He got to his feet and pulled her up and into his arms to resume the walk to the Johnson homestead. Nothing mattered but the woman in his arms. He ignored the way the almost non-existent cartilage in his knees stabbed pain through his thighs and kept putting one foot in front of the other.

  He left Selma in the house with Juanita while he got a drink, and headed back to the hill to retrieve his rifle and pack. He thought about leaving them, but that rifle had kept him alive many times over, and he’d be damned if he would leave it to be ruined in this place. The three long swallows of good corn liquor had helped oil his joints, and dull the pain so this walk wasn’t bad.

  Seeing the hole in the hillside made him whistle. He wondered how many sticks of the dynamite she used, because half of the hill resembled a molehill. There was no sign of Birdsong, and that was all to the good. He found his things and went back to the house.

  It was time to take his woman home.

  Hearing Juanita helping Selma around upstairs, Charlie headed to the bathroom where they were and walked in while they were talking. He noticed Juanita had helped her to the bathroom and given her a washcloth to wash her face and arms. He hated to break up the hen party. “I hate to break into this reunion, but we need to get moving if we plan on getting off this hill before dark.”

  All the way down the hill, Juanita kept telling Selma about the kids and how she worried about them. “I know you’ll give them good homes and plenty of food, but I’m still gonna worry ‘bout them. You promised you’d send for me if they need me, so I’ll be holding you to your word.”

  They were finally at the bottom of the hill close to where he’d parked his bike and he wanted to get moving. Juanita started the old car and jumped back out to give Selma a hug, and crooked her fingers at him to come to the vehicle. Fuck, now what?

  She pulled the bungee cord loose from the trunk and opened it to reveal five cases of quart jars filled with Birdsong’s moonshine. “Here you go Mr., you take whatever you can carry. I plan to run the still now, and anytime you want more, you just come back, and you can have a few quarts anytime you want them.” She leaned down when he bent to select a couple of quarts, and said, “You take good care of that woman now, you hear me? She’s a saint.” She grabbed two more quarts and followed him back to the scoot.

  He put the four quarts in his saddlebags and hoped they
didn’t crack and leak out, but Juanita ran back to the car and came back with two old pieces of cloth to wrap them in.

  “There you go. Judge, don’t forget, you promised, and I’ll be content knowing my babies are getting what they need.”

  She left them there and Charlie smiled at Selma. He had to step up to her and hold her one more time before they got on the Indian and got back to town. She squeezed his ribs tight as they kissed.

  “We’re going to sort us out as soon as I get this mess about the children straightened out. I am serious, we have to find a way, I can’t keep living without you.”

  He nodded his head. “Goes both ways, babydoll, now, let’s get situated and get out of here.” He got one more kiss and backed the bike out of the bushes completely and onto the road.

  Once he reached the main road, he gave the throttle a twist, and the old bike ate up the miles. It occurred to him that they were exactly where they should be, on the bike, with her arms around his waist holding him tight. He gave a shout of sheer happiness and got an extra hard squeeze from behind him. Fuckin’ A there would be some way, it was just fucking hair.

  As much as he wanted to, he didn’t take her home. He stopped the bike at the emergency room entrance of the hospital, and cut the engine.

  “Don’t leave me, Daddy, you can get your cuts taken care of and be with me, can’t you?” She hated hearing the desperation in her voice, but she couldn’t let him walk away, she needed him. “You promise you’ll come in with me, or I won’t go inside, I mean it.”

  He was weary to the bone, but wasn’t ready to let her stray too far from his sight either. “Babydoll, I’ll stay with you as long as they let me, but we both know they are gonna have questions that we won’t be answering the same. They are gonna at least take me in to question me, and probably lock me up until the suits bail my ass out. I killed a man, and it don’t matter what walk of life or what he’s done. He’s dead.”