by J. L. Leslie
“Get on the bike, Harper,” I call out, hearing the bite in my tone. She keeps walking. “Get on the fucking bike, Harper!”
I see her entire body stiffen as she stops walking and turns around. Her hands on her hip, her hazel eyes glaring at me. She wants to say something, I can see it, but she keeps her mouth closed.
After at least a full minute, she stomps over to the bike and snatches her helmet from my grasp. I hear her mumble that I’m an asshole under her breath as she straps it on. When she climbs on behind me, she barely holds onto my waist and she sure as shit doesn’t rest her chin on my shoulder.
I miss the closeness we usually have as I take her home. She doesn’t cling to me and hold on tight. I don’t feel her legs pressing close to mine. Fuck.
When I stop at her house, she’s quick to get off, slinging the helmet onto my lap with such force that it jars my nuts. She’s on her porch before I catch up to her.
“Thanks for the ride, but don’t fucking bother again,” she says, coldly, digging for her keys in her purse.
I grab her hand and jerk her to me, surprised when she doesn’t snatch away. “I never lied to you about who I was, Harper.”
“No?” she replies. “So, that’s the man you are? You slice people open and then hang their beaten and battered bodies up for the whole world to see? That’s you?”
Her eyes are filled with tears, and I know I should say something about Gavin. About what happened to the other Hades Riders and how I had nothing to do with their deaths, but I can’t. Not yet.
I know this is a losing battle. I’m fighting to keep her close, knowing I’m going to lose her in the long run. I always lose and with her, I’ll never win.
“It’s a part of who I am, Harper, I can’t lie about that,” I admit. “But I would never hurt you or your daughter.”
Her brow furrows as though she wants to say something. As though she wants to tell me that I shouldn’t make promises I can’t keep, but she doesn’t. She closes her mouth and averts her gaze, and it kills me that she won’t even look at me.
“This man that I am with you, that’s who I want you to see,” I tell her. “But there are times that I have to be a different man. A man that my club has to see. A man they need me to be. There’s a darkness inside me, and I won’t let you see that if I can help it.”
She gazes back at me, and I hear her swallow. “But I did see it, Lucien,” she says, quietly. “I don’t think that’s just who your club needs you to be. I think it’s who you want to be. Who you need to be.”
I nod just slightly. “Maybe.”
“And what about who I need you to be? I’m not afraid of that darkness inside you, Lucien, but I told you I don’t want to be someone you just have fun with and tossed aside. I have a little girl to think about.”
I lean forward and touch my lips to hers. I don’t want to say anything, make any promises when I really don’t know which ones I can and can’t keep. I barely know this woman, but I do know that I don’t want her to see that side of me again, even though I do believe she’s tough enough to handle it.
“Lucien?” she says, pulling back. “I don’t want to play these games with you. Do you understand?”
“Yes,” I answer her.
“And Lucien?”
“Hmm?” I answer.
“Don’t ever fucking boss me around like that again.”
Harper
I manage to find my keys and get them in my door before he can respond. I don’t want to hash things out with him any further, I just want to get inside. Luckily, he lets me.
Mackenzie is watching television, but she gives me a curious look when I shut and lock the door behind me. I hear Lucien ride off on his bike a couple of minutes later.
“Everything alright?” she asks, and I sigh as I slip out of my tennis shoes.
“I’m really starting to think this whole elaborate plan of fuck him then kill him is a really bad idea.”
She eases up on the sofa. “You like him.”
“No,” I lie easily. “I just don’t like wasting my time. Lucien McNamara is a waste of my damn time and trying to be this whole seductive woman is just not me.”
I walk over and plop down beside Mackenzie, pulling my feet underneath me. It’s just after six o’clock Sunday morning, and I’m exhausted. I’ll sleep a few hours and then try to get something fun in with Layla today. Maybe a trip to the park or something.
“If he makes you nervous, we can call it off and send someone else in,” Mackenzie offers, and the thought of another woman with Lucien makes me feel sick to my stomach.
“What if he didn’t do it?” I ask her. “We always thought that since he died with Gavin that he was the guilty party. That he deserved to burn to death too, but what if he was set up? What if someone else wanted him dead along with Gavin?”
“You’re telling me you think Lucien is innocent and that he was framed? That sounds a lot like your feelings talking.”
“It’s not my damn feelings talking, Mackenzie,” I argue. “He said he knew who killed Gavin.”
“We’ll ask Donia on Tuesday when we meet and see what she has to say. She’ll know what to tell you.”
Donia is the president of Hell’s Fury. She lost not one, but both of her sons when the Sinners went on their rampage against the Hades Riders. There was not one member of the Hades Riders left alive. Not a single one. The Sinners wiped out an entire club.
Donia vowed to honor her two sons’ memories, and I know she eventually wants to take the Sinners down. She just wants to do it slowly. She’s already cut off their supplier. In fact, we monopolize the Jiminez cartel. If I had to guess, that was probably why the Sicario got close enough to Lucien to receive the treatment he did. I did my homework after Warren came to the DEA office. Decided I needed to know about the clubs in this town and educate myself on this life I’ve decided to live. I don’t want to get caught in a war where I don’t know the enemies.
The Sicarios are not known for being reckless. They probably want to know who Jiminez is working with now. If he got himself killed, it’s because he was in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Hell’s Fury is a lot smarter than that. We have taken our time making our moves. We have a loyal supplier and loyal buyers. We are continuously adding more names to that roster.
We have done our research. We aren’t careless with our members and what we do. I may have been welcomed with open arms, but I’m still a prospect. I haven’t earned the title of member just yet, but I know that if I kill Lucien, I will earn that title.
Mackenzie on the other hand, she is our vice president. She has been with Donia since the very beginning. She knows the ins and outs of nearly every club in California. This is why she knew who the man was that walked into the DEA office when I didn’t have a clue. It didn’t take her long to find out that he did indeed come to L.A. to join the Sinners after the Rykers were killed in a fire. I’m sure it wasn’t a coincidence that the former Sinners’ president died shortly after that.
It’s also why she knew that the next buyer we needed to target was Governor Chaise. Apparently, he had some dealings with the Rykers. Now, she and Donia are in the process of setting up a deal with him so we can become his new supplier. There’s no way in hell we’ll allow him to start working with the Sinners.
“Yeah, I’ll talk to her,” I promise Mackenzie.
And I will. If anyone knows what to do, it’s Donia. Thing is, I’m pretty sure I know what she’ll say, and I’m not sure that I want to hear it.
Chapter Fourteen
Lucien
It’s Sunday and too pretty of a fucking day for me to be meeting with a sadistic fuck like Suggs. My mind has already been thrown for a loop with the shit that has happened with Harper, so I don’t need any more on my plate right now. Yet, here I am, asking him to give me as many jobs as he can.
He tosses me four dossiers across the table. I pick the top one up and flip through it, nodding my head. Caucasian male. 34.
No kids.
That’s doable. I put it down and pick up the next one. Hispanic female. 26. Married. One kid. I can handle that one too.
The third one I’m not too crazy about. Caucasian male. 72. Married. Four kids. Three grandchildren.
“Jesus, Suggs, you got me offing geriatrics?” I ask him, and he shrugs. The last file has me mumbling a curse. “Kids too?”
“Hey,” he says, “That one’s a kidnapping. There’s a drop point.”
“What’s the payout?”
“The usual. Fifty G’s each. Oh, but the kidnapping one is seventy-five.”
I stand up, taking the dossiers with me. I know there are more details in them. More about each case and reasons on why there are hits on these people, the kid included.
I don’t have to agree with why someone wants them dead or snatched. I just have to do the job and collect my money. Two hundred and twenty-five grand for a few jobs that I won’t lose any sleep over. Well, one of them I will, but I will get past it. That monster inside me will make sure of that.
“Any bonus for delivery before the deadline?”
Suggs laughs. “The deadline is this Friday, man. That only gives you five days.”
“Bonus?”
“Sure, five on each.”
So, just shy of two hundred and fifty grand. I nod and leave him sitting there. No need in enjoying the pleasure of his fucking company any longer than I have to.
I head back to the clubhouse and study the dossiers. I can take out the woman tonight if I play my cards right. She works the front desk at a cheap motel downtown. I can be in and out in a matter of minutes. Might be messy, but I’m not concerned about getting caught. Just need to be paid, and I want the bonus.
The money will bring in some of what I need to pay Wakeford. At least it will put a dent in it and then we’ll also have the money from the fight as well. I’ll need to hold church to talk with the guys and see what else we can do to gather the funds.
I close the dossier on the woman and open the one on the young man. He’ll be a little trickier. He’s a chef at a popular restaurant, Sun Deck. The small amount of info on him tells me he works long hours, so my best chance will be to get at him at the restaurant, which won’t be easy. I may need some help with that one.
As for the old man, I’ll take him out at home and try to make it as painless as possible. I’m certain I can get him while his wife sleeps.
I’ll need to do some recon on the kid though. Kidnapping is not my favorite thing to do, but I have experience with it. It always draws a lot of attention. Media, police, and sometimes even FBI. I don’t need that kind of heat on my ass.
She’ll be the last job.
Harper
I spend Sunday afternoon at the park with Layla and Mackenzie and then get a text from Lucien that he has some club work to do and won’t be around for a few days. This gives me time to think about what to say to Donia at our meeting on Tuesday night.
“Look, I already told you if you’ve changed your mind about it and your feelings are getting in the way, then just say that,” Mackenzie says while Layla is playing on the swings. “Shit, we would rather know that you’re going to chicken out before we get fucked over. Right now, we can send someone else in to get the job done, and your hands will stay clean.”
“I don’t have any feelings getting in the way,” I deny. “I just don’t want to do the plan the way we discussed. I mean, I could just kill him and be done with it. I’m not fucking the club over, but I want to be sure he’s who we actually want to kill.”
“Don’t fall for that bullshit he’s dishing about being innocent. We both know he’s far from that and we both know that drawing him in is better. You need to be close to him in order to get the job done. He needs to trust you. Plus, you could probably find out some valuable intel from the club. We have another source, but let’s face it, you’re the most valuable one with you being involved with Lucien.”
“I hadn’t thought of that. He’s usually pretty honest when I ask him things. He didn’t lie about killing that Sicario. Shit, me and Layla were just eating at that pizza place,” I tell her. “But that’s why I don’t understand why he would lie about Gavin when he hasn’t lied about anything else.”
“That you know of,” Mackenzie points out. “Just keep your ears open and tell us what you find out. Anything is helpful to us.”
We let Layla stay a bit longer before heading in so I can sleep a little before work. Lucien doesn’t pick me up Sunday night or even Monday for work. I tell myself this is a good thing. This means it could be over and it should be over.
I can change the plan without trying to pull him in, and it won’t be because I’m backing out or my feelings getting in the way. It’ll be because he ghosted me.
I head into the Hell’s Fury meeting only slightly worried about what Donia is going to say now that I haven’t talked to Lucien in a couple of days. I sit beside Mackenzie while Layla plays with the other kids. We’re at our clubhouse, which is actually the basement at Donia’s home. It draws a lot less attention than actually having a clubhouse like the other clubs do. The other women are laughing and chatting, waiting on the meeting to start.
My phone buzzes in my pocket and I check it before the meeting gets started. I smile at the text from Lucien. It’s funny how I’ve been so worried about what Donia might say and here I am, sitting in front of her, and smiling at the fact that Lucien said he misses me. Why does that make me feel good?
I know all of the reasons why I should despise him. There are a shit ton of them, including his bossy attitude, yet I forget them when I’m around him. It’s easy to remind myself of them when I’m alone or when I’m with Hell’s Fury. They’re staring right at me then.
Donia’s two sons that were gutted, their intestines wrapped around their bodies, and laid right on her front porch. Then there was Suzanne’s brother who was burned to death. Heather’s old man who had his throat slit and lacerations all over his body. He was strung up from a chain and hung up outside the police station with Mackenzie’s brother. They were both missing for several days before their bodies were displayed.
There were others that were just as gruesome. All reasons as to why I should hate Lucien McNamara. The demon. The Revenant.
All reasons why Hell’s Fury has been seeking retribution. Retaliation. Why they want Lucien, this man being called these awful nicknames, dead.
Only he’s just Lucien around me.
“This meeting has officially started,” Donia begins. “Any new business?”
Annie speaks up, “There’s a website taking entries for fighters. The fight is going to be held at the Sinners’ clubhouse this Friday night. 5K per entry and the entries are based on divisions.”
“Like prospects, members, and presidents?” Crystal asks, and Annie nods.
“Looks like they’re trying to drum up some funds. It’s a dangerous way to do it, but it proves that us monopolizing the product from Jiminez has affected them and they haven’t gotten any goods to sell.”
This is what the biker at Mario’s was talking about. The address he gave me is to the Sinner’s clubhouse, and he was telling me about the fight. He wanted me to know that retaliation is coming. Lucien hasn’t said a word to me about this fight.
“Maybe some of those assholes will be killed in their own fight,” Suzanne says.
“Maybe. On other business, word is, the Sicario was found at one of the Sinners’ warehouses,” Donia says, and I shove my phone into my back pocket. “We believe he was there searching for our product, or at least he was trying to find out who has monopolized the Jiminez cartel, and he came up empty-handed. Now, they know it isn’t the Sinners, so they’ll keep looking.”
“He paid for his mistake,” Mackenzie comments.
“If the Sicarios are getting anxious about who we are, then others will be as well. We knew this day would come. For now, we will still lay low. We need more power before we make ourselves known,” Donia tells us.
“The Sicarios aren’t interested in product from Jiminez since they get their goods from Mexico, but they want the intel. We’re not going to give that to them. There is another supplier in this area though, and I want them shut down. No doubt the Sinners are working up a deal with them. Hell’s Fury needs to be the go-to dealer.”
“Is this supplier a threat to Jiminez?” I ask her.
“No. The Jiminez cartel is the largest supplier in L.A. This supplier is low-level, but runs a decent amount of cocaine through the city. It’s reported to be seventy percent pure, and like I said, I’m almost one hundred percent positive it’s the Sinners’ new supplier, so I want them gone.”
I nod, understanding that it’s not about a low-level supplier. It’s about the Sinners. When we made the deal with Jiminez, she cut their supplier. The fact that they have another one doesn’t sit well with her. She wants to bleed them dry slowly. Cutting off their product supply is the best way to do that. No product, no money.
“Wakeford & Sons is a front for this supplier. Their product is in their trucks, so I need to know which of you can drive delivery trucks?”
I see Crystal and Annie raise their hands and I raise mine as well. Donia levels her eyes on me, a slight grin tugging at her lips.
“Prospect, I’m proud to see your hand go up. You’ve done well with us,” she compliments. “Now, those of you who raised your hands, be prepared to steal those fucking trucks. I’ll have Mackenzie get you the intel on their delivery schedules.”
I swallow hard, although I knew that was a possibility. She tells the three of us that once Mackenzie gets us the intel, she’ll provide us with weapons. Once the meeting is adjourned, I approach her to talk to her about Lucien.
“Donia? Can I talk to you a moment?”
“Is this about the Revenant?” she asks, crossing her arms over her chest.
I feel my face redden at his nickname. It’s not a compliment to me, but perhaps he finds it to be one. I know it puts fear in people and maybe that’s a good thing for him and his club.