Take Aim and Reload (Forgotten Rebels MC Book 3)

by Beth D. Carter

  “Fuck, Cherry,” he whispered. “Why?”

  Her running away cut him deep. It meant that she obviously didn’t trust him, or trust that he would keep her safe. Anger with Kix Rockwood flared to life because Heart was dead certain the man’s little intimidation circus was what made Cherry skittish.

  “God damn it!” he said, a little louder than he wanted.

  He immediately looked into the hallway, listening hard to see if anyone was stirring. Except for a faint snoring emanating from one of the old timer’s rooms, no one responded to his heated expletive.

  Cherry had to be going to get the evidence, but the real question was what did she plan to do with it? Turn it into the Feds? He couldn’t let her do that. No matter what, he couldn’t allow her to hurt the club. She had to return to the cabin. It was the only place that made sense of where it could be.

  He had to go after her.

  Leaving the room, he closed the door softly behind him and headed back downstairs. Once more, he headed into Wick’s office and wrote out a note, detailing what he thought was going down as well as his intention to stop her. His loyalty lay with the club, but his heart was a different matter altogether. It told him to protect Cherry at all costs, and that was exactly what he planned to do.

  Chapter Eleven

  Cherry stared out the dirty window of the piece-of-shit Chevy Nova Church had managed to hotwire to life. They’d been driving for a couple of hours, and dawn was breaking. Her eyes burned with sleep and the force of not crying. She felt like she’d made a colossal mess of everything.

  “Okay, we’re going to stop for the day,” Church announced. “This is Farmington. Not much here but enough to hide out in until night fall.”

  “Shouldn’t we keep going?” Cherry asked.

  “I think the two motorcycle clubs are going to be out in force hunting for us,” Church said with a shake of her head. “The cover of night is our best bet to get out of Missouri undetected. We’ll sleep some, get some food, and then drive this evening straight through to St. Louis and hide out on the Illinois side.”

  Church drove around the small town until she found a few warehouses that looked abandoned. She parked behind one, so the car couldn’t be seen and attract unwanted attention, and motioned for Cherry to follow her. Together, they entered one of the buildings and Cherry sneezed at the dust that swirled around them.

  “Home sweet home for the day,” Church muttered sarcastically.

  Cherry’s stomach rumbled. She placed a hand on top of it, slightly embarrassed.

  Church sighed. “Okay. I’ll go scrounge up something edible.”

  “I can go with you.”

  “It’ll be less conspicuous if only one of us goes.” Church pointed from her face to Cherry’s. “Identical twins are something to notice.”

  Cherry knew she had a point and nodded her acquiesce. Church left without looking back, and a second later, the sound of a car engine revved up and disappeared, leaving Cherry to wonder for a moment if she’d see her sister again. She certainly wouldn’t blame Church for leaving her far behind.

  With a sigh, she took off her jacket and dropped it on a nearby countertop, next to a few yellowed magazines that had the date 1991 on the cover. The floor was made out of concrete so she knew any rest would be near impossible. Already she was second-guessing herself. Maybe she jumped to conclusions about Heart’s meeting with Wick. Maybe they really were nice guys who wanted to help. She sighed and rubbed her forehead. Those kinds of thoughts got women in trouble every day, the belief that the man they liked held some type of hero gene that would do anything to save the woman he loved. Cherry firmly believed in love, but now she was seeing that sometimes love wasn’t so blindly reciprocated.

  Sometime later, Church came back with breakfast sandwiches and two shakes. Cherry sucked at the straw until cold sweetness came up but grimaced a little at the bland vanilla flavor. She noticed through Church’s transparent straw she’d gotten herself chocolate.

  “Why’d you get me vanilla?”

  Church shrugged. “You seem like a vanilla type to me.”

  “Since when? You know I love chocolate.”

  Church just sucked some more at her shake. Annoyed, Cherry went back to hers.

  They sat on the cold slab to eat, and since it had been some time since they’d last had food, Cherry was famished. It seemed like she inhaled her sandwich, eating it all in just a few bites. Church ate slower and seemed to savor her chocolate shake after each bite.

  Cherry drew a tic-tac-toe square in the dirt and grime on the floor. “I get to be ‘x’.”

  “Why you?”

  “Because you gave me vanilla.”

  Church chuckled. “Okay, go ahead and place your ‘x’.”

  Cherry put it in the center square. The game came to a draw and Cherry beamed.

  “I won,” she said.

  “No one won.”

  “Nope, I did. I had more ‘x’s then you had ‘o’s.’”

  “That’s only because you went first. By that logic if I’d gone first I would’ve won.”

  “Yep.”

  Cherry laughed and Church even cracked a smile.

  They cleaned up their dinner and tossed the trash in a corner. Wasn’t like there was a garbage can around, as her sister pointed out. They settled down to nap a little, and Cherry placed her arm over her eyes in an attempt to block out some of the light. It was almost impossible to sleep on a concrete floor during the day, but she managed to drift off a little, going in and out of consciousness. She was roused fully to wake toward late afternoon and opened her eyes to see Church above her.

  “Time to get up.”

  Cherry sat up and stretched. Pain generated in her lower back and she winced a little at the stiff muscles.

  “Stretch and move around a bit,” Church said. “Helps ease the soreness.”

  “Ouch.”

  “Yeah,” her sister agreed. “Me too.”

  As Cherry walked around, she thought about Heart again. He’d been swimming through her mind the entire time she had dozed and a sweet ache sluiced through her.

  “I miss Heart,” she said with a sigh. “Isn’t that silly?”

  “Completely,” Church answered in an uninterested tone.

  “I think he liked me on a fundamental level.”

  Church looked up from one of the aged magazine she was browsing through. “What does that even mean?”

  “It means I believe he respected me.”

  Church snorted. “Respected you? Men in a club like that rarely respect women. Have you not watched any television? You know those girls hanging around on the men’s laps? They’re called club property, there for one reason. To get the men’s dicks wet.”

  Cherry frowned. “That’s crude and rude.”

  “It’s reality,” Church said with a shrug. “If you don’t believe me, you can certainly go back and ask them, but they trade their pussy for room and board.”

  Cherry remembered some of the actions of the women as she had walked through the clubhouse. “Really?”

  “Yes, really.”

  “Heart said he respected my decision not to have sex—”

  “Jesus Christ, Cherry!” Church dropped the magazine and threw up her hands to cover her ears. “TMI!”

  “What?”

  “I have no desire to know anything about your sex life.” She pushed to her feet and paced the room in the abandoned warehouse. “There are things about us we don’t need to share, you know.”

  “I simply meant he was honorable.”

  Church threw her a pitying look. “No man is honorable, Cherry.”

  “Paw Paw was.”

  “Paw Paw was old when we came into his life. Past his debauchery years. We have no idea what he was like in his youth.”

  “Not all men are bad, Church.”

  Church glared at her. “Yes they are. All men lie, or cheat, or hurt you in one way or another.”

  “How can you say that? Sur
ely you don’t think Ricky—”

  “Do not bring him up!” Church held up her hand in Cherry’s face, stopping her. “Never mention his name again to me, okay?”

  “Why? He was like our brother.”

  “Did you not just hear me? I don’t want to hear his name, Cherry. He was not our brother.”

  Confusion swamped her as she watched her sister’s walls shoot straight up. This wasn’t the first time her sister had asked her not to mention Ricky’s name, but her denial didn’t seem ordinary. So she did the only thing she seemed good at … pushing Church’s buttons.

  “Paw Paw took him in, gave him a home. Aren’t you the least bit sad of his passing?”

  The question seemed to break Church. Fury erupted on her sister’s face. “No! No, I’m not sorry he’d dead! So fucking naïve, Cherry! Don’t you see? Ricky was the worst of them all and I did everything I could to protect you from him.”

  “Because of his drug use?”

  “Because he raped me!”

  It took a moment for the words to penetrate, but once they did, Cherry felt a fist punch her heart. Church’s declaration yanked the rug out from under her rescued childhood, leaving her stunned and reeling from the horror laid out in front of her.

  “W-what?”

  But Church wasn’t done with her revelation. “Not once, not twice … the only reason he stayed away from you was because of me. I made sure his twisted fucked-up fantasies were taken care of so you would be safe. Because you were my sister. And then one night, when he told me he’d grown tired of all my efforts to keep you safe and that it was time to strip you of your fucking virginity, I made damn sure he would never ever touch you.”

  The implication in those words reverberated loud and clear between them.

  “Y-you—”

  “Don’t,” Church said, backing away. “Don’t ask questions you don’t want to know the answer to.”

  For once, Cherry heeded the advice and remained quiet. They stared at one another, and Cherry saw the pain and shame reflected in Church’s unguarded gaze. For the first time in a very long time, she finally saw a glimpse of the sister she used to know. The only problem was that she had no idea what to say, or what to do, because the knowledge of what Ricky had done were wounds still fresh and bleeding.

  “It wasn’t the drugs,” Church whispered in an aching tone. “I could forgive him if it had just been the drugs. But he was just pure evil and I wish Paw Paw had never brought him home.”

  “I wish I had known.”

  And then that too brief glimpse into Church’s soul vanished. The curtains came down, blocking all Church’s thoughts and feelings, leaving behind the bitter angry woman that she had turned into. Cherry mourned for the loss, mourned for her sister’s innocence, which had been ripped away in the most brutal way imaginable.

  “I’m sorry,” she finally said, not knowing what else to say.

  “Yeah, well, so am I.”

  Then her sister turned and stomped away. Cherry let her, knowing Church needed time to heal from the rawness of the confession. The door banged shut behind her, leaving Cherry to hug herself since she couldn’t hug her sister. Church would never allow that type of softness.

  When had it happened? Why had her sister not told her what was going on? The perfect image of Ricky now morphed into something rotten, and she tried to review all her memories with the new knowledge. Had he said something, done something, to give any indication that a monster lurked within the depths of soul?

  The door opened, and she looked up, surprised that Church had returned so soon. But it wasn’t her sister standing in the threshold. It was Lee Masterson. Fear robbed her of breath. She had no idea how he’d found her, but she supposed it was a moot point now.

  “Please come with me, Cherry,” he said in a deep voice.

  She shook her head, unable to talk.

  He leveled a gun at her. “Don’t make me shoot you. Please. All I need is the evidence you took then Mr. Cabot will release you.”

  “You tried to kill me.”

  “No, I meant to scare you into returning what you stole. If I had wanted you dead, you would be dead.”

  Cherry swallowed down the lump in her throat. “I-I don’t have it on me.”

  “I figured,” Masterson said. “Then we shall retrieve it together.”

  He gestured toward him with the hand not holding a gun. Several thoughts flashed through her mind, from trying to fight to running, but one thing became glaringly obvious. Church had once sacrificed herself to save her from a brutal tyrant masquerading as family. Now it was her turn to return the debt. She straightened her shoulders.

  “I’ll get it if you leave Church alone.”

  Masterson cocked his head. “You’ll turn over the evidence without incidence?”

  “Yes, but you agree not to hurt my sister.”

  “Deal,” Masterson said. “Let’s go, Cherry.”

  “Let me get my jacket.”

  As she turned toward the counter where her jacket rested, she surreptitiously wrote an M into the dust. Then she turned and went with him, knowing that even though they’d lose the evidence against Cabot Pharmaceuticals, she didn’t hesitate at saving her sister.

  Chapter Twelve

  “What do you mean you lost her?” Kix demanded. “It wasn’t like she’s a fucking toy you happen to misplace! Where the hell is she?”

  “Surveillance shows them hotwiring a car and leaving,” Wick replied.

  “And going where?” Slade asked.

  “More than likely, back to the cabin in the Ozarks,” Heart said. “It’s the only place I can think of where the evidence could be.”

  “Could be?” Kix ran a hand though his hair. “Fuck!”

  “She needs to be stopped,” Slade murmured coldly. “Now we have no choice. Cherry needs to be—”

  “You better stop right there.” Heart stepped closer to him, chest puffed out, ready to do battle. “You are not going to hurt her.”

  “Just who do your loyalties lie with?” Slade demanded. “Because it should be with your club. Don’t forget that woman can put us in jail. She can bring Federal watchdogs down upon you and your crew.”

  “My colors don’t bleed. Wick knows my loyalties to this club. But Cherry is mine and under my protection.”

  “At what fucking cost?” Slade gestured around to all the Brothers. “How much can your men sustain themselves when the coffers run dry?”

  “Enough,” Wick said. “We’ll worry about The Forgotten Rebels later. For now we need to worry about finding the sisters and getting that evidence.”

  Kix pointed at Heart. “You are taking us to that cabin.”

  “I will if you agree not to harm Cherry,” Heart countered.

  Kix folded his arms. “This is not a negotiation! The girl betrayed us.”

  “The girl thought she had no choice! Jesus Christ, this is just like Piper’s situation.”

  “This is nothing like what happened to Piper.” Kix sneered. “She watched her family be blown away by a piece of scum asshole.”

  “So did Cherry, except instead of a madman with a gun she had an adopted brother with drugs,” Heart said. “Piper did what she had to do to survive, and Cherry is doing the same thing. I’ve claimed her as my ole’ lady so you don’t harm a hair on her head, got it?”

  The two men glared at one another. Heart refused to give an inch. He didn’t care who stood in front of him. Wick stepped between them and pushed them apart.

  “Okay, we need a plan and action instead of this posturing.” He looked at Kix. “Don’t kill the sisters. If you find them, bring them here. The Forgotten Rebels will deal with her.”

  It took another few seconds for Kix to nod in agreement, and only then did Heart step back.

  “Now, it’s been almost six or seven hours since they’d left,” Wick said. “No doubt they made it back to the cabin by now so we have to—”

  “We have a visitor!”

  The cry had ea
ch man turning to stare at the gate.

  “Who is it?” Wick called up to the man standing guard.

  “Piece-of-shit Nova,” the guard reported. “Wait … it’s the girl. Although I don’t know which one.”

  Heart immediately broke away and ran to the gate to throw up the switch. Slowly the gate rolled open, but his happiness was dashed as soon as he saw the woman sitting behind the wheel. Wick stepped up next to him with Kix and Slade just behind them.

  “What do you want, Church?” Wick asked.

  Church turned off the motor and stepped out of the car. Panic was on her face, which made the bottom drop out of his stomach.

  “Please! I need your help,” Church begged.

  “You needed our help earlier too and managed to shove a big fuck-you up my ass,” Wick said coldly. “Why the hell would I help you now?”

  “Masterson took Cherry,” Church said. “I have no way of finding her. Please. I’ll do anything you ask of me if you help me find her before he kills her.”

  Wick’s eyes narrowed. “When did he take her?”

  “A few hours ago,” she replied. “Took me this long to get back.”

  “What happened?” Heart asked. He tried very hard not to think about what Masterson could’ve done in the few hours he had Cherry.

  She flicked a look at him and he saw regret in her face. “We got into a fight and I stormed out to calm down. When I returned, she was gone and had put an M in the dust.”

  “Dust?” Slade asked.

  “We spent the night in an abandoned building,” she said. “Off Highway Sixty-Seven, near Farmington.”

  Wick frowned. “We thought you were headed back to the cabin for the evidence.”

  Church shook her head. “She had the flash drive on her the whole time. I only told you she didn’t so you wouldn’t kill us.”

  “I say good riddance,” Kix said cruelly. Church glared at him. “If Cabot has her then the evidence is gone and so is our problem.”

  “If you say one more thing like that I will slice off your balls in the middle of the night to give you one more problem to fix, hear me?” she demanded.