Bishop had endured a shitload of abuse in his twenty years, more than most would want to live through and Bishop had to say it prepared him spectacularly for the beatings he took.
At first, he fought the club members one-on-one, fed to him one right after the other. But then the LoV decided that three on one was fairer (which it was) but Bishop was hungry and dehydrated. He was also somewhere beyond the pain.
And Keller? Keller was there.
So was Fletcher. Dressed in a bomber jacket and jeans, he looked rougher than Keller, but Bishop knew that didn’t always mean anything. The two men sat together, watching Bishop fight. Keller looked relaxed, but Bishop knew it had to be an act.
There was negotiating going on. And it didn’t seem like Keller was having any of it, but hell, Bishop’s ears were ringing and he was so goddamned turned around, left to fight for his life up here. For the few seconds in between fights, he’d ask about Rebel, if he was getting the medical help he was supposed be, and no one answered him.
After he stumbled back, winning another round by the seat of his pants, he heard Chi say, “Look what the cat dragged in.”
Bishop turned and saw Chi holding Mathias by the neck, a gun to his head in an amateur move that Bishop knew Mathias could easily escape from. But he didn’t.
“He’s gonna sit here and watch you fight. And fight. And fight, until you can’t fight anymore,” Chi told him. “For Ocho. Then, it’s the mute’s turn.”
Mathias bucked at the hold, glared in Bishop’s direction. Bishop could hear the words as clearly as if Mathias could’ve shouted them.
Hang on, Bish—not much longer. Don’t let the fuckers win.
Bishop pushed himself from the ropes and headed toward the next three opponents.
* * *
Declan’s Humvee pulled behind Defiance’s bikes and Mathias’s jeep. Luna breathed a sigh of relief at seeing her MC here. If Declan hadn’t physically held her in place, she would’ve run out to see them.
Stupidly, because she knew better. Declan was taking his role as protector seriously, for both Bishop and Rebel.
“I won’t tell them anything,” she assured Declan now.
“I’d have no problem telling them,” Declan said. “But for Rebel...”
“Right. So how are we going to explain this?”
“I’ll take care of it.” Declan’s eyes followed Caspar as he walked in front of the truck. She’d almost forgotten how goddamned scary Caspar looked, with his white blond hair, ice blue eyes and the scar that bisected his cheek. Add to that his height and build, plus the leather, and most guys would’ve been nervous.
If Declan was, he didn’t show it. He opened his window and said, “Luna’s with me. Couldn’t leave her behind. Promised Bishop.”
Caspar cursed, then pointed to her. “You caused a shitload of trouble.”
All she could say was, “I know. Please, help Bishop and Rebel.”
“We’re on it already.” He looked at Declan. “We handing off Keller to you?”
“And Bishop,” Declan said and Caspar’s expression tightened.
“We’ll fuckin’ talk about that. Stay here. No matter what you hear, stay the fuck here,” he told Declan.
“Only for her,” was all Declan said before he rolled up the window.
“Bishop’s contract’s still going to be enforced after all of this?” she demanded.
“Keller’s never letting Defiance out of his grasp. Would Defiance, if roles were reversed?” Declan asked.
She had to admit he was right. As Bishop liked to remind her, Keller was bad, but he was the devil they knew. And Defiance needed Keller and his government contacts. The LoV was either too stupid to realize that, or else there was a new game in town to threaten Keller and Defiance.
* * *
Bishop took down another three LoVs, but barely. Most of the time, he was on the mat, strangling them between his thighs, using the last of his strength. His body shook from the exertion and he wondered if he’d even want to fucking fight again after this. Like this was some kind of aversion therapy.
And then he’d look up and see Luna’s face above him—a total illusion, he knew, but it still helped, because she was telling him to hurry back to her. And he had to.
The explosion was so controlled it only took out the wall behind Keller and Fletcher and Chi, made it crumble softly. The dust pushed them forward and that’s when Mathias made his move, getting out of the chair and the bonds he’d only pretended held him.
Bishop rolled out of the ring and got in between Fletcher and Keller. Keller hadn’t even noticed that Fletcher had pulled a knife on him, he’d been so focused on coming for Bishop, it seemed.
Bishop pushed Keller aside and slammed the knife out of Fletcher’s hand, then surprised the beefy man with a hand around his throat. Fletcher’s eyes widened and oh yeah, Bishop had enough strength for this.
Keller was next to him. “You’ll never have my army, Fletcher. You might have contacts, but I’ll crush you like a goddamned bug.”
Then Keller’s hand was on Bishop’s shoulder. “Let him go, Bishop. He’ll let us walk out.”
But Bishop was beyond listening. It was only when Mathias walked up to him and signed, We’re taking what we came for—nothing more. Let him go, that Bishop did. Fletcher fell to the floor choking, and Bishop had made an enemy of another very dangerous man.
Oddly enough, it made him smile. “I’m not supposed to smile,” he said, which in turn made Mathias shake his head and smile and sign, that’s right, Bish.
“You know I don’t care though.”
Yeah, Bish, I know. Think we can leave this hellhole now while we have the advantage. We’ve got the compound trapped by flashbangs but that’s not going to hold for long.
“Thought you’d never ask.” He reached out and slung an arm over Mathias’s shoulder as Keller followed. Caspar and one of the other men who’d met them from the neighboring compound were already outside with Rebel. “Hey, how’s Jessa?”
Awesome. She started a band.
“Bet she sings you to sleep every night,” Bishop said.
Mathias stared at him for a long moment before telling him, You haven’t changed, Bish.
And Bishop knew without a doubt that was a damned good thing.
* * *
Luna was practically pressed against the window. She heard small explosions, gunfire, yelling all around her, but she couldn’t see anything in the dark.
“What’s taking so long?” she asked, not really expecting an answer.
And then she saw men coming her way. Declan readied his machine gun, not letting it down even after they saw it was Mathias and Casper with Bishop and Rebel...and Keller.
Bishop. Her heart pounded like it was coming out of her chest. He was walking on his own, but leaning heavily on Mathias.
Declan got out of the truck, ready to cover them, telling her, “We’ll put Keller up front. Sit in the middle with Bishop and try to keep him calm, okay?”
She scrambled over the seat to wait. Keller got into the passenger’s seat, but Luna ignored him. When her door opened and Mathias saw her, he smiled. Nodded. A much warmer welcome than Caspar had given her.
He helped Bishop in—he looked like he’d been through a million fights and she couldn’t judge if he’d won or lost them. But he’d won something because he was here.
He grabbed her hand, glanced over as Rebel was helped into the third seat. Rebel smiled at her and they didn’t say anything over the bark of orders happening. And then Declan was in the driver’s seat and the Humvee started up, following Mathias’s van, heading back to Keller’s. No doubt, because it was closer.
There was still a lot to deal with.
“Bishop, take this,” Declan told him. He handed her a bottle
of water and two pills and she grabbed them and fed them to Bishop, who was having trouble focusing.
“Bishop, I’m here, baby,” she told him.
“I know, Luna. You were always there.” He touched the side of her face. “And you, you fucker—you’re out because of Defiance. Remember that.”
He’d been pointing at Keller, the vehemence coming out of nowhere. Behind her she heard Rebel mutter, “Shit, here we go.”
Keller turned around a little. “You think I owe you?”
“You owe Defiance,” Bishop growled. “I could’ve let them kill you.”
“Then why didn’t you?” Keller demanded.
“For the record, I rescued you because it’s better for me and Declan. Not because I think you’re awesome,” Bishop told him.
“He’s so not a people person,” Rebel muttered. “Luna, control him.”
And good luck to her with that. “Come on, Bishop. We’ll deal with it back at the compound, with Caspar.”
“He’s not getting out of this motherfucking car until we get something straight. I’m not starting over, got it,” he told Keller as Luna kept a hand on his biceps. She could feel the tension in his muscles—he was practically vibrating.
“We’ll discuss this, as Luna said, back at the compound.”
“Keller, if I don’t like how it goes, I’ll kill you where you stand.”
“And he’s not joking,” Rebel muttered again.
Finally, Bishop seemed to relax a little. It wasn’t until they pulled into Keller’s and Declan and Keller got out that he slumped against her. He half hugged her, half passed out on her.
“You’re pissed,” he murmured against her neck as Mathias came to the truck’s door.
“Very,” she agreed. “I’m only not yelling at you because you’re down and out.”
“Fuck that,” he told her. “Didn’t fall down once.”
Mathias signed and Bishop said, “Ah, fuck you, brother. You’re seeing things.”
“How many guys did you fight?”
“Lost count. Didn’t matter. All that did was saving Reb and getting back to you,” Bishop told her.
“I know why you did it.”
“I hated doing it. And Rebel’s pissed at me, but fuck it. Fuck it,” he called loudly and she turned in time to see Rebel shooting the finger from the backseat.
The only reason Defiance had let him ride with Declan was the promise of a doctor close by, or else he’d be headed back to his own MC. Her stomach knotted with tension at the thought of going inside with Caspar and Keller and dealing with this. But she didn’t have a choice.
“Luna—you forgive me? Hated leaving you. Don’t understand how much I hated it,” Bishop murmured as he kissed her jaw.
“Mathias, get me out of here before I see something I don’t want to,” Rebel called as Bishop pushed her back against the seat, like the painkillers had made him Superman.
She touched his bruised cheek lightly. “I’m sure you can convince me.”
He gave her a soft grin. “I’ll spend the rest of my life doing that.”
“I love what you did for me. I love you, Bishop. But if you ever lie to me again...”
He shut her up with a kiss, one that vibrated through her entire body. She moaned into his mouth, relief and arousal and if she never had to leave this backseat, she’d be okay.
Chapter Thirty-Three
Rebel
Back at Keller’s, with Caspar crowding the room, Bishop sat with Luna at his side and Mathias at the door. Caspar sent the rest of the team to wait outside the gates while he negotiated with Keller. And right now, Keller was with Zara and Kammy in a private room, getting checked out.
Rebel was on the couch. The LoV had given him enough medical care to keep his bullet wound from becoming infected. The antibiotics saved him, but that didn’t mean there were any good feelings toward the LoV. But they’d all known that taking out the LoV, when they had no idea the kind of muscle Fletcher had, was stupid. So they took back their own and they’d left a few dead LoV in their wake.
The glucose IV, and God knows what else Zara put into Bishop’s IV, made Bishop slightly high, which would hopefully stop him from going insane during the Keller and Caspar negotiations. At least Rebel hoped so. There was a hell of a lot of negotiating to do, and Rebel just wanted to fucking pass out. He was going back to Defiance after this—the new compound—back to work as soon as he could. Whether there was a reason to return, beyond seeing Luna, remained to be seen. Keller wasn’t letting Bishop off the hook so easily. But Fletcher? He was an enemy for Defiance and Keller to bond over if there ever was one.
Of course, before they got into that, Caspar was going to deal with what Rebel knew had to be a burning question for him.
“Here’s the first fucking thing I want to know,” the president of Rebel’s MC asked, stopping his pacing to hover over Rebel. “How the fuck did one of Keller’s men know where you were?”
Yeah, it definitely looked suspicious. Rebel took a breath and looked at the man he’d known for as long as he could remember, wondering if he was really going to do this here. Because as much as he didn’t want to admit he was sleeping with Declan, for Caspar to think he was working with Keller behind Defiance’s back was far worse. “I went to Keller’s to try to see Luna,” he started.
“They’d never have let you go,” Caspar told him.
“That’s why I told him to turn the fuck around,” Declan broke in.
“Now suddenly you’re a Defiance sympathizer?” Caspar demanded.
Declan snorted. “Hardly. But I work with Bishop. I know he wouldn’t want Rebel on the compound, no matter what.”
“So you sent him out in a storm instead?’ Caspar asked, advancing toward him.
Declan stood his ground. “I had no idea a storm was brewing. If you’re able to predict the weather now, you’ll make a mint. But either way, you’re determined to pin this shit on me.”
“Caspar,” Rebel started but Declan continued, “For the sake of what Keller’s proposing, we need to put this shit behind us. Fletcher can and will do some major damage, and not enough was done to the LoV today.”
Caspar bristled, but couldn’t deny it. Rebel’s throat was tight, and he hated hiding this shit, hated that Declan had to cover for him.
In truth, he hated owing anyone, and he didn’t want to owe Declan. He didn’t want their relationship to be about owing, even though that’s how he planned to start out.
* * *
When Keller came back into the room, accompanied by Kammy and Zara, there was silence for a long moment. Finally, he acknowledged, “I think Bishop earned his freedom from service tonight.”
“What exactly does that mean?” Bishop asked.
“It means, you can go back to Defiance. We’re even.”
“So business as usual?” Caspar asked. “Because last I looked, you were tryin’ to take a cut of my business.”
Keller stared at him. “I won’t stop that.”
Bishop stood, the painkillers giving him Dutch courage or maybe it was simply because he was peaceful in knowing he was making the right decision. “I’m staying. With Luna. I’m not fighting though.”
“What the fuck, Bishop?” Caspar growled, but Mathias was nodding. Signing, He’s saying that in order to survive, we need an alliance with Keller. A real one.
“No matter how much we might hate it,” Bishop added. “No offense, Keller.”
“None taken,” Keller bit out. This alliance wasn’t going down easy for any of them. But it was necessary.
“So what’s the proposal? We leave you Bishop and Luna and what? You give us one of your guys to live with us?” Caspar asked.
“That’s fine,” Keller said.
Caspar pointed at Dec
lan. “We want him.”
Keller looked like he was about to argue but Declan put a hand up and then said, “That’s okay with me. But we’ve got to share our comms. I’m not being cut off from here. And Defiance’s comms suck.”
Caspar nodded. So did Keller.
“Defiance is too far for any of this to be effective,” Keller pointed out. “If Fletcher’s coming for us, we have to tighten ranks.”
“We can do that,” Caspar said. “I’ve got to take this to the table—even if it’s just by phone.”
Keller nodded. “Let’s sleep on it. Reconvene in the morning.”
“We’ve got a place to stay tonight,” Caspar said. “But Rebel can stay here. He still needs the doctor.”
Then Caspar stretched out his hand toward Keller and after a second’s hesitation, Keller shook it.
* * *
After Caspar and Mathias left, Bishop went to check on Rebel, and Luna waited with Kammy and Keller.
“Are you really okay with staying?” Kammy asked.
“Are you really in love with Keller?” Luna asked.
“I’ll defend him as long as I live,” Kammy said. “Just like you’d do for Bishop.”
“He tear-gassed his own people,” Luna said.
“He didn’t want them dead,” Kammy told her.
Keller added, “I need to keep the peace. Need to cull the wheat from the chaff. But I don’t want to kill them. I love my compound.”
“But exterminating other people?”
“Like you’ll miss white supremacists?” he asked.
“What happens when they turn on you and decide no one will miss mobsters?” she asked.
“Luna, everyone would miss mobsters and MCs. You know that’s the truth,” Keller said.
“I still want to hate you. A part of me does,” she told him.
“Good. Keeps you on your toes.”
Chapter Thirty-Four
“Are you really okay with this?” Bishop asked her that night as they lay under the mirror in his bed.
“As long as I’m with you. That’s all I know. You make it better, Bishop. You always have.”
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