~oOo~
Isaac was still in his office with Sam when Bart and Rick came back into the Hall. The atmosphere was thick with distrust, and the room was overrun with Scorpions. There were no women yet—it was still early in the morning, only an hour or two past dawn, and the women had been called off, at least for now. The clubhouse was too unstable to bring innocents into it.
The Scorpions were relaxing, more or less—sitting on the chairs and couches, playing pool, drinking. Len and Havoc were at the bar with Badger, drinking and keeping their distance. Omen was behind the bar with Dom, who’d apparently decided that the shit was piled too high to stay back in his room.
It didn’t look like anyone had taken a bunk. This was a bad time for sleeping.
Rick sat at the end of the bar and asked for a beer.
Bart went up to Badger. “Any trouble getting to the airport?”
“No, brother. Went smooth. They’re probably boarding now—or soon.”
Bart nodded and patted Badge’s back. “Good.”
Omen went down the side hallway, probably to pull another keg. Dom came over. “Get you somethin’, Bart?”
“Nah.” He didn’t want to drink—he had a lot to think through, and he wanted a clear head. But the coffeepot was empty. He came around the bar and took the carafe out. There wasn’t any coffee under the bar. “We out of coffee?”
“Think there’s some in the kitchen. Gimme a sec, and I’ll get it.” He was pouring a beer at the tap.
“I got it. Just fill this when you’re done.” He put the empty carafe back in the coffeemaker and went back to the kitchen.
Other than rooting through the fridge, he’d never spent much time in the kitchen. Usually, there were chicks around to get him what he wanted. So he had no idea where anything was, and he went through almost all the cupboards before he found two giant cans of coffee. He pulled one down and closed the cabinet door. Then there was an uproar in the Hall, and Bart heard what he would have sworn was Riley. Screaming. He dropped the can onto the counter and ran out, reaching for his gun.
Which he didn’t have, because, after the madness in the Room, Sam and Isaac had made everybody put their weapons away before they sequestered themselves in Isaac’s office.
When he got to the Hall, what he saw was Shiv holding Riley in front of him, facing out. He had one hand over her mouth and the other hand between her legs, holding her off the ground. She was struggling, and he was laughing. All the men in the room were on their feet. Bart felt sick with rage.
No one was armed, but Dom caught Bart’s eye and then sent a slanted look under the bar—twelve gauge. Bart nodded once, but put his hand up subtly, indicating that Dom should wait. Dom nodded.
Shiv called across the room to Bart. “Found this pretty little bitch outside. Len is sayin’ she’s yours. Show me her ink.”
Bart walked across the room, stopping when he was only about three feet away. Riley looked terrified, but she relaxed a little when their eyes met.
Shiv got his name for his fondness for blades and his inventive use thereof. He’d dumped four in a locker when Sam and Isaac did their sweep. He was Bart’s size, but about twenty years older and worlds meaner. Still, Bart stood his ground, hoping like hell he hadn’t held a blade back. “She is mine. You need to put her down, Shiv. Now.”
“Been no bitches here all fuckin’ night. This is the only one. You show me your ink on her, or she will have to do.” His hand flexed between her legs, and her eyes went wide and teary.
The sound of a shotgun being cocked split the silence. Bart didn’t turn around, hoping it was Dom and the twelve-gauge. From Shiv’s reaction, it was. And then he heard Dom’s reedy voice. “Put her down. She’s protected.”
Shiv did, and Riley ran the couple steps to Bart and buried her face in his chest. He wrapped his arms around her and held on.
Looking furious, Shiv took a long stride toward the bar, but Havoc and Len both stood in his way. “You let a fucking Prospect draw on me? I will end you.” He turned sharply toward the locker room—where the weapons were—and Havoc and Len jumped him.
Hell broke free. Bart grabbed Riley’s hand and pulled her back, heading immediately to his room. But the Horde were far outnumbered, even in hand-to-hand. Isaac was in the office with Sam. Vic was out of commission. Show was out, after C.J. And he had to get Riley safe. That left Len, and Havoc, and Badger—and Omen and Dom. Against nine Scorpions. Well, eight. He saw Rick, hanging back near the bar. He yelled, “Get Sam and Isaac out here!” and pulled Riley down the hall to his room.
He slammed the door behind them and pulled her close. “Fuck! Are you okay, babe?”
Her head shook frantically against his chest. “No! No, my God!”
Setting her back, he made her look up at him. “I have to get back out there. You stay right here and lock the door when I go.”
Riley clutched at his kutte. “Don’t—don’t leave me. Please.”
“Babe, I have to. They need me out there.”
“I need you in here!”
“You’re not supposed to be here! I sent you away from this shit!”
Without another word, blinking up at him, she released his kutte and stepped back.
“I’ll be back. Stay put and lock the door.” He went out to his brothers.
~oOo~
Isaac, Sam, and Show—who was back, apparently—were pulling Scorpions and Horde apart. Shiv, Len, Havoc, and a Scorpion Bart didn’t know were on the floor, bleeding copiously, but it looked superficial. Sam pulled Shiv to his feet, and Bart charged across the room.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa!” Show charged at him and stopped him dead before he could get to Shiv.
“Back off, Show!”
“No, brother. Stand down. What the fuck is going on?”
“He had his fucking hands all over Riley!”
“Riley? What?”
Then Isaac came up behind Show. “Yes. What the fuck was this about?”
Bart took a breath and pushed clear of Show. “Riley’s back. I don’t know why or how. Shiv came in holding her—hurting her. Making threats. Boss, is this our house or is it not?”
Show caught Isaac’s fist before it could connect with Bart, but Bart had been ready. He needed to punch somebody, even Isaac. Apparently sensing his need, Show put a preventive hand on Bart’s shoulder. “Easy, brothers. Got enough going on.”
Isaac nodded and visibly calmed. “Go on back to her, Bart. We need to know if it’s trouble that brought her back. We gotta get this shit straight.”
“I can’t walk away from what he did, boss.”
“Yeah, you can. You’ve known her a week. The disrespect of our house will be dealt with. But she’s not your old lady, so you step back. You catch me?”
He hated it, but he knew Isaac was right. She was under club protection, but she wasn’t his. He had no particular claim against Shiv. He knew all that, but he couldn’t make himself back off. He stared at Isaac, his fists clenched. Isaac stared back.
Finally, Show stepped between them, facing Bart. “She’s back there alone, right?”
Bart blinked. Yeah. She was. He nodded, and then turned around.
As he was walking to the dorm hallway, he heard Show say, “Isaac, I couldn’t track Ceej down. That’s trouble.”
Bart paused mid-step, thinking to turn around. But he didn’t. If they needed him, they knew where he’d be. He went back to Riley.
~oOo~
When he unlocked the door and went in, she was wedged in a far corner of the room, her arms wrapped tightly around her body. Her face was wet with tears.
“It’s okay, babe. Just me.”
She began to sob, and he went to her and pulled her close. “Did he hurt you?”
When she shook her head, he asked, “What are you doing back here, Riley? Is there something wrong?”
She sobbed harder and knotted her hands into his t-shirt, which was becoming sodden with her tears. He held her for a long time and let her cry.
When she didn’t seem to be settling down, he cradled her face in his hands, pulling her away and looking down into her eyes. “I need to know if there’s trouble, Riley. I need to know why you came back.”
Watching her fight for control of her emotions, he was beset by protectiveness and worry. As it washed over him, he realized he’d been feeling it for awhile, churning in the background. He bent down and kissed her forehead, letting his lips linger on her flushed skin. She gasped at his touch, and when he looked into her eyes again, she was calmer, her eyes intent.
“I wanted to say goodbye. I just wanted to say goodbye.”
She was looking at him so seriously, her pale eyes sad and wet. But the thought of the chaos she’d wrought by coming here now, unannounced and unprotected, just to say goodbye, struck him as hilarious, and he laughed. Even when he saw that he’d obviously hurt her feelings, despite the guilt he felt at that, he couldn’t stop laughing. Angry, she pushed him away, and he fought for and won control over himself.
“Aw, babe. I’m sorry. It’s just—we almost had a war out there over you. You could have called. I would have called.” He pulled her to the bed and sat down with her.
“I’m so tired of people telling me where to go, what to do, how to do it. I didn’t want to leave without seeing you. So I decided to come back. I didn’t think about…I didn’t think. I should have. I was stupid. I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay. I’m sorry about what happened.” A thought occurred to him. “How’d you get here, anyway? Where’s everybody else?”
“I rented a car. Everybody else is on their way to LAX, I suppose. I texted Pru when I left. She’s pissed that she has to deal with my mother on her own, but she’ll live.”
He tucked her hair behind her ear. “You should go back, Riley. You need to go home.” It felt strange to be sending her away again. He knew she wasn’t safe here, but it still felt good to be touching her again, and he didn’t like the thought that he soon wouldn’t be able to.
“No. I mean—I will. I don’t plan to move to Signal Bend or anything. But we need to talk. Or I do. I need to understand some things. And then I’ll go. I didn’t mean to make things worse for you.”
“Okay. Then let’s talk. And then you have to go. The guys out there are not good guys. They’re a different kind of MC.”
She shivered. “The Scorpions, right? They’re, like, famous. Or infamous, I guess. Are they supposed to be friends of yours? Is that why they’re here?”
He shook his head. “It’s complicated, and I’m not gonna talk about that with you. That’s not what you want to talk about, right?”
She took a long, deep breath and let it out on a sigh. “Right. Okay. I practiced this on the drive, so hush, okay?”
He didn’t want to talk. He didn’t want to listen. Her eyes were red and puffy from her weeping, and she was still mussed from the way Shiv had pawed at her. But she was composed now and smiling up at him. She was fragile and strong all at once. She was beautiful. He’d said it earlier, when Shiv had her, and Isaac had told him it wasn’t true. But now he felt it as truth: she was his. He wasn’t sure what it meant, or what it could mean. But he thought of Rick’s idea—oh shit, Rick’s idea; he needed to talk to Isaac—he thought of Rick’s idea, and wondered if he might have a reason of his own that made it right. He needed to think; he would when he got her safely on a damn plane. For now, he bent down and kissed her. She relaxed completely against him and opened her mouth.
Whether it was the fucking nonstop intensity of the past several hours or the simple thrill of having Riley in his arms again, Bart was rock hard and suddenly overcome with the need to have her. There was far too much going on right now for them to be fucking, but he didn’t care. He pushed her down onto the bed and lay over her, his tongue searching her mouth. She moaned and hooked her arms around his neck.
He pushed his hand under her top, and she arched against him. But then she brought a hand down and put it over his. He lifted away from her and looked down, confused.
“I know it seems dumb, but I’m still kind of rattled from that guy. Can you just hold me? Maybe we can just make out? Is that stupid?”
Make out. He hadn’t made out since high school. Not for its own sake. Making out was foreplay. As hot as he was for her, it might well cause him to herniate something if he didn’t get a release out of it. But he thought of Shiv’s hand between her legs, and his desire turned to anger.
She was lying under him, looking nervous and small. Pushing the anger away, he smiled down at her lovely face and said, “Sure, babe.”
He kissed her gently, caressing her with his lips and tongue. Every time she moaned, his anger ebbed, leaving only desire. He kissed her, held her, caressed her. Long minutes passed when what was going on outside the door seemed inconsequential. When he finally pulled away, he was in a torment of need; he had to stop. She looked dazed, too, and he grinned. “We were gonna talk, remember? So, what did you practice?”
She pushed a little on his shoulders, and he rolled more to his side. Sitting up, she cleared her throat. “I’ve had a great time here. Well, until today. But anyway, the best of it was being with you. I don’t like the way I feel when I think that I might not see you again. I know maybe we’ll come back to shoot some scenes, but then I’ll just leave again, and I don’t like it. I know we’ve only known each other for a few days, but I don’t want to not know you anymore. You make me feel like just a person. I like that feeling. I’ve been thinking about what that means, for me at least, and—”
She was cut off by a fierce din as someone pounded on the door. “BART! WE GOT TROUBLE!” Havoc. Bart stood, crossed the room, and opened the door.
Havoc looked freaked out and furious. “It’s Isaac. Jesus holy fucking Christ, brother. It’s Isaac.”
~oOo~
The silence in the hospital waiting room was oppressive. Sitting in a cheap vinyl chair in a row of cheap vinyl chairs, Bart held Riley’s hand. She shouldn’t be here. She had no business sitting here with the Horde family. Nobody had challenged him for bringing her; they all understood. There was nobody else to keep her safe. He could have sent her back to the airport—he should have sent her to the airport—but he couldn’t do it. He needed to hold her hand.
He looked around the room. Havoc and Len sat to his left, Riley at his right. Badger at her right. Show across the room, near the entrance, his arm around Shannon. Shannon had Gia, who was sleeping on Shannon’s shoulder. The front of Show’s shirt was dark and stiff with blood. Everyone was quiet.
Lilli sat alone, at the far end of the room. Her hands folded in her lap, she was staring into the space in front of her. He didn’t think she’d spoken to anyone or even moved since he’d come in with Riley. She had blood on her shirt, her jeans. Her hands. Her face.
The Prospects were back at the clubhouse, alone with the Scorpions and in charge of a bound and wounded Vic. Bart could only hope they’d be okay.
The more pressing concern was here. The Horde were needed here. When they’d all come together, Show told them what happened. Now the information scrolled through Bart’s head as if it were on a teleprompter, looping over and over and over again.
Show and Isaac had found C.J. At Isaac’s house. Seeing his bike on the side of the road about a quarter mile from the house, they’d split up to go around in opposite directions.
C.J. had shot Isaac in the back with his Mossberg 590.
He got off two shots before Lilli put a bullet through his head.
Now, Isaac was in surgery, his torso full of buckshot.
As they’d taken him in, the doctor who came out to explain what was happening and direct them to this waiting room had told Lilli that they were doing everything they could.
That’s what Show knew.
They all knew what it meant.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Riley didn’t know what she should do, or if she should do anything. The waiting room was so quiet. They were alone in it, but they hadn’t been at
first. At first, there had been another family—an older couple, a middle-aged man, and a teenage boy, all of them holding each other. But when the Horde had come into the room, the men in their leather, ink, and metal, and Show and Lilli covered in blood, the other family had gathered themselves up and left. The teenager had done a double-take as he’d walked past her.
She wondered where they’d gone. Was there another waiting room near the surgery wing, or had their fear of these men overtaken their concern for their loved one? Did the Horde inspire that kind of fear?
They didn’t in Signal Bend. They were adored in Signal Bend. Riley had only been in town a week, but still, she’d never seen anything but affection and admiration for the Horde, and they paid that respect back in kind.
As she’d been preparing for her trip, nosing around on the internet, she herself had been nervous, wondering what she’d be coming into. But then she’d met them. Actually, she’d met Bart first of all, and he’d charmed her right away. After that, even when she’d been warned to be careful, she hadn’t seen much to make her wary.
She liked them. Moreover, she felt safe with them.
Even today. That guy—Shiv, she guessed his name was—had been crossing the lot, walking away from a big, chrome-heavy Harley and toward the clubhouse as she’d parked her rental car. He’d growled, “’Bout fuckin’ time,” and just snatched her right off her feet, before she’d even closed the car door. When she’d fought and kicked, he’d changed his hold, shoving his hand between her legs, and laughed at her. “Good girl. I like a fighter.” She’d stopped fighting and had a moment of despair.
But he took her into the clubhouse, and she’d known she’d be okay. Bart’s bike was there. Isaac’s bike was there. She’d be okay. As soon as she’d seen Len and Havoc and Badger, she’d screamed. The guy had covered her mouth, his hand vicious over her face, and she’d been scared, but still she’d known she’d be okay.
And she was. Bart had saved her. These men, the Horde, did not scare her. Those others—they did. Riley supposed the people who’d left the waiting room in this county hospital didn’t know to make a distinction.
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