by K. J. Dahlen
A few hours later, a soft knock woke them. Sam got up and grabbing his jeans, he answered the door.
Melora heard them speaking but she didn’t really pay any attention. When he came back over to the bed and knelt beside it, she opened her eyes. Turning her head, she noted it was still dark outside. “What’s up?”
“Deke needs you to identify a woman claiming to be Izzy.”
Melora’s eyes widened. Sitting up, she cried out, “Izzy is here?” Grabbing her clothes, she dressed in a hurry and rushed out.
When she came into the main room, she saw her friend sitting at a table with a couple of the guys standing there. “Izzy!” Melora cried out as she rushed toward her.
Beaming, Izzy got to her feet and waited for Melora to reach her.
Wrapping her arms around her friend Melora hugged her close. Tears ran down her cheeks as she stepped back a pace and searched her friend’s face. She saw the fading bruises and the haunted look in her friend’s eyes. “Oh, my god—I’m so sorry,” she whispered. “I never meant for you to get caught up in this.”
Izzy grabbed her arms hard and shook her. “Don’t you dare take this away from him. This was never your fault.”
Melora sat down with her. “But it was my fault. I put you in his line of fire.” She swallowed hard. “I never meant to involve you.”
Izzy held out her hand and cupped Melora’s cheek. “I know that and you didn’t. I knew when I got home that night and found you missing…something bad was going down. Then a few days later, Whiskey and his friend came for me but as soon as he told me what was going on, I knew he wasn’t telling the truth. I knew you wouldn’t kill someone, not for money or power. Whiskey lied to save his own hide. Everything that happened in the last two years is on Whiskey. The little bastard thought no one would care about me. He told me often enough that I was expendable and no one would care whether I was dead or alive. I tried to tell him he didn’t know you very well if that’s what he thought but all he could do was laugh at me.”
Melora’s eyes narrowed. “Yeah, that is going to be his last mistake.”
“Melora, I take it this is your friend Izzy,” Deke suggested.
She looked up and noticed everyone standing around them. “Oh, I’m so sorry.” She got to her feet. “Yes, this is my best friend, Izzy Zackery.”
Izzy got to her feet and faced them. “My name is Isabell Zackery. I know you all probably think I’ve betrayed my best friend but I didn’t. For the longest time, we were all the other one had. I would never betray that.”
“But you let Whiskey and his friends know where she was time and time again.” Mountain crossed his arms over his chest. “Why would you do that and not call it betrayal?”
Izzy shook her head. “I may have been forced to tell them what city she was in but I never told them where in the city she was. She always picked the bigger cities, so they had to search for her. I couldn’t give her much but I could give her that. A head start and a warning.”
“Too bad, it took me two years to catch on to that fact,” Melora muttered.
Izzy let out a deep breath and asked, “So now what? Does Whiskey know you’re here?”
Melora nodded. “Yeah, he found me last night.”
Izzy paled and sat down. “I was afraid of that.”
“What do you mean?” Sam asked.
Izzy pushed the hair out of her eyes. “It means Whiskey has someone else watching out for him. When Silas came to pick him up the other night, Jonesy made a quick phone call. I didn’t hear who he called but he did tell them he was found out. He said it was up to him now. Then he turned to me and sneered that we both would be dead soon and justice would be theirs.”
“So Whiskey has someone else waiting in the background huh?” Sam almost grinned as if he wanted to break some more bones. He turned to Izzy. “How do we find this rat?”
Izzy shrugged. “I don’t know but Whiskey has more than one member in his back pocket. He liked to brag about if he were in charge, they’d all make better money and have no troubles with the law. He always said the law worked for those who paid the most for its protection. Some of the other Ghosts believe that too and they aren’t afraid to break the laws to get what they want.”
“So, what all did he find out about Melora? Through you I mean?” Sam asked.
Izzy and Melora glared at him. “I didn’t tell him anything about her, other than what city she said she was in,” Izzy argued hotly.
“Stop it.” Mountain growled as he paced. “We aren’t going to get anywhere when everyone is arguing about her involvement. Now we have to put our anger aside and work to come up with a plan to get to Whiskey.”
“You may not believe me and I don’t care one way or the other.” Izzy looked around and stared especially at Mountain, then she turned to Melora. “As long as you believe me the rest of them can go to hell. I would never betray you girl. You’ve had my back for so long I can’t imagine my life without you in it. I would never betray that.” Tears rolled down her cheeks.
“I know, believe me I know,” Melora told her. “I would never betray you either.”
“So now all we have to do is figure out who is working with Whiskey on the inside before he comes after Melora,” Deke stated.
“It isn’t going to be easy to get to her now.” Sam pointed out. “She’s safe as long as she’s behind these walls.”
“Let’s hope so.” Mountain nodded.
“How can they get to her here?” Deke asked.
Mountain stood tall and glared at Deke, Gator and Sam. “I will do what I have to do to protect my daughter, even if you guys don’t agree. I won’t put anyone else in danger but I will not let them get to her.”
Izzy gasped as she turned to Melora. “Daughter? What is he talking about?”
Melora grimaced. “Izzy, meet the man who fathered me twenty four years ago.”
Izzy turned and searched Mountain’s face. She noted the white hair his violet eyes, the hint of a strong chin and the dimple in his cheek. Then she turned to her friend. “And how do you feel about this?”
Melora shrugged. “I haven’t really had time to think about it. He…” She jerked her thumb at him. “…Seems to think it makes a difference but I haven’t made up my mind yet. I never thought about him all this time and now, he thinks he has some sort of say how I live my life.”
“You already know the reason I didn’t come around before. I didn’t know about you until four years ago.” Mountain growled. “Then I had to find you. With the way you have moved around, no wonder I couldn’t.”
“Let’s not do this again.” Sam protested. “Look it’s a new day, maybe we should concentrate on Whiskey for now.”
Then Raven and his men came into the room along with Mountain’s men. As the room filled up, everyone heard Reva and a few others in the kitchen. Before long coffee and pancakes were being served.
Izzy just happened to glance up at the same time one of Raven’s men came out of the kitchen. As he was holding a cup of coffee and a plate of food, she stared at him. A few minutes’ later, plates of pancakes were laid in front of them.
Everyone dug into their breakfast. Melora closed her eyes as she took a bit of her pancakes. She loved pancakes, then a moment later her, eyes widened and she stumbled backwards. Her chair flew out from under her and she grabbed her throat.
“OMG, what’s going on?” Reva shouted as she rushed forward.
When Melora dropped to the floor, Sam, Mountain and Izzy were by her side. Deke, Gator Raven and the others all stood around and watched. They all felt helpless.
“What the fuck is happening?” Sam growled as he helplessly watched her struggle to breathe. She was hyperventilating just to get air into her lungs.
Mountain watched as her face paled and her lips began to turn blue. He looked as helpless as Sam. It was Izzy who finally said, “I’ve only seen her do this once. She inhaled some peanut dust. She’s very allergic to peanuts.” She began going through Melora�
��s pockets and found a small package of Benadryl. Breaking open the package she pushed the medicine into her mouth but her throat was so swollen she couldn’t swallow. “Damn it, does anyone have an EpiPen?” Izzy screamed. “She needs an EpiPen. She’ll die without it!”
Mountain reached inside his cut and brought out a small, white plastic cylinder. Flipping open the cover, he slammed the pen down on her thigh. The click of the pen injecting the medicine inside her seemed to echo in the room.
They all waited anxiously. The rasping of Melora’s labored breathing was the only sound in the room.
A moment later, the blue began to fade from Melora’s lips and her breathing eased.
Izzy pulled her up onto her lap and rocked her back and forth. Tears ran down her face as she held her friend. “God, don’t scare me like that girl,” she whispered. “Don’t do that ever again!”
Melora choked out a chuckle. “I’ll try. It hurts too much.” Her voice was barely above a whisper. Looking up at Izzy she asked, “Where did you get the Epi from? The only one I had ran out about six months ago.”
Izzy glanced over at Mountain. “I didn’t have any, he did.”
Melora slowly turned her head to stare at her father. “Why did you have one?” she asked softly.
Mountain stared at her for a moment. “I have the same allergy you do. I’ve learned to always have one on my person somewhere.”
“Well, ain’t that a kick in the head,” she whispered as she stared at the man who shared more than blood with her.
“What I want to know is why you would eat peanuts with such a violent allergy to them?” Sam asked with concern in his voice.
Melora shook her head. “I wouldn’t. Not on purpose anyway.”
Mountain and Deke got up and stared at her plate of food.
Deke took a knife and separated the two pancakes on the plate. Between the pancakes was a layer of fine powder. Licking his finger, he dipped into the powder and brought it to his lips. He stared at Mountain for a moment then turned to Melora and the others. “Well, someone knows you have an allergy, they put ground nuts between your pancakes.”
Melora gasped and Izzy echoed it.
Sam reached down and helped her to her feet. Wrapping his arms around her, he held her for a moment then assisted her to a chair.
Reva had come to take away her plate and Izzy poured her some fresh coffee.
“Damn.” Melora swore as her hands shook setting her cup down.
Izzy dropped to her knees next to where she sat. “I didn’t do this,” she whispered to her friend.
Melora raised her hand to cup her friend’s cheek. “Damn, Izzy…I know that!”
Izzy closed her eyes. “But they don’t. They think I tried to kill you.”
Melora looked up to the faces of the men around her. She could see Izzy was right. Everyone was staring at Izzy with more than questions in their eyes.
“Did you mention this allergy to anyone in Whiskey’s camp?” Deke asked.
Izzy started to shake her head then remembered something. “I don’t think so but one night when Whiskey was there they were all drinking and doing dope when someone mentioned snacks. Jonesy got up and brought some peanuts to the table. When I didn’t eat any Whiskey tried to force me to eat with them but I didn’t want any. I tried to stop him but I couldn’t. I spit them out and Whiskey got mad, screamed at me that I was wasting good food and I said I didn’t eat nuts of any kind. I told him I wouldn’t have them in the house. I think he knew the reason was because my roommate was allergic but I swear I didn’t tell them that.”
“Okay, so who here would know that?” Raven asked. He’d been shaken by what happened. He’d never seen anyone suffer something like that. In his life, people died sometimes by violence or old age but never like that. He searched the faces of the men he’d brought with him. They too were shaken by what happened. Then he spotted Gremlin. He was the only one who wasn’t all that shaken. He tipped his head and continued to study the other man.
When Gremlin noticed his gaze, he met Raven’s eyes with a steady look.
Raven growled. He couldn’t prove it but he knew Gremlin was Whiskey’s inside man. “Why?” he asked. “Why did you do it?”
Gremlin looked around. “What are you talking about man? I didn’t do anything!”
Raven scoffed. “Yeah, you did. You ground up a few peanuts and slipped them into her food.” He stormed over to face the other man. “What did Whiskey promise you? What did he give you to betray this club?”
Gremlin stumbled to his feet. “I don’t have any idea what you’re talking about man. This club is everything to me!”
Raven grabbed the other man’s shirt and hauled him closer. “You bastard. You damn near killed someone, doesn’t that mean anything to you? She’s an innocent. We don’t kill innocents.”
Gremlin sneered but didn’t say anything.
Raven shoved the other man back down in his chair. Then he turned to stare at the rest of his men. “I’m only going to say this one time. The Ghosts of Dixie is my club and yours but this is beyond what the club stands for. We are not murderers and thieves, we are a motorcycle club not a band of thugs. If I do find out that one of my own is responsible for this, I will gladly hand them over to Deke and Mountain. Right now, we’re a strong influence in our town, under Whiskey’s rule you’ll be out running from the law every single day. He’s so far gone, you won’t be able to trust him. He’s ruled by the dope he should’ve been smart enough to avoid in the first god damn place. He planned to take over the club, then run guns and dope up and down the east coast. Do any of you guys think he’s above the laws of this land? Do any of you guys want to become outlaws? Do you think you’ll really be safe if he takes over the club?”
“Hell, Whiskey would put a bullet in your head for looking at him wrong and you guys know it.” Chase scoffed. Chase was one of Mountain’s men.
“He ambushed Travis when he was going back to his motel room,” Rigger another of Mountain’s men stated. “He stood in the shadows and waited for Travis to pass him before he shot him in the back.” Rigger got to his feet and stared at the men Raven brought with him. “And do you want to know why he did it? Because Travis stopped him from beating a woman who spilled a drink on the table, he was sitting at. She didn’t spill it on him, just the damn table. She didn’t deserve to be hit for that but Whiskey didn’t care. He put a bullet in Travis’s back and now, he’ll will never walk again. Hell, he almost didn’t live but Travis had a strong will. He survived the bullet but he’ll never play with his kids again, and he’ll never make love to his woman again. That’s what your precious Whiskey does and will do again!”
“He isn’t going to get the chance,” Mountain vowed. “You may not know or care but this girl is my kid, any threat to her is a threat to my club and we will not tolerate it.” He joined Raven and stared at his men. “If you allow Whiskey to get to her, be prepared to go to war with the Sons of Satan. We will bring the full wrath down on your heads and no one will survive.” Then he turned and went back to Melora’s side. He stood beside Sam, placed his hands on her shoulders and glared at the others.
One by one, his men came to stand beside him.
Then one by one, they all came to stand behind their leaders.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Later in the day, Mountain finally caught up with his daughter. The clubhouse was almost empty. Melora stood at the back door watching the men make their rounds outside.
“Are you all right?” he asked.
Melora nodded and turned to glance at him. “Thanks to you I’m alive.” She looked away and licked her dry lips. “Do you really think one of Raven’s men put ground peanuts in my food?”
“Yeah, I do and I think Raven was right about who did it.”
Shaking her head, she whispered, “Wow, I’ve never had anyone hate me like this before.”
“Whiskey won’t get close to you.” Mountain shook his head.
Melora laid her hand
on his arm. “You don’t know that. You can threaten all you want but he’ll use anyone and anything he needs to get what he wants. Even though at this point everyone knows the truth, he won’t stop until I’m dead. ”
“He knows it’s too late.”
Melora scoffed. “At this point that idea is moot. Now he knows he’s got nothing left to lose. I’m sure Gremlin told him Walker was here.”
“Then he knows he lost everything.”
“Yeah, but he’s gonna make sure I pay for sticking my nose in his business.” She sighed deeply. “I guess I knew this day was coming ever since that day in Raleigh. I hoped to just slip away and turn up somewhere else, safe and sound.”
Mountain stared at her for a moment then had to ask, “Why didn’t you do that then?”
Melora shrugged. “Well, I intended to, but Sam made me turn and face it. And maybe I was tired of letting the bad guy win every God damn time.” Her voice was low. “When it all came out…I finally found my courage again. I didn’t want to let this go on anymore. Baily didn’t deserve what happened to him that night either. He was stupid to cross Raven and Whiskey but he didn’t deserve to die like that. Not over something so inconsequential as money. ”
Mountain rolled his eyes. “Not everyone thinks money is inconsequential.”
Melora shrugged. “Not everyone is hung up on the all mighty buck either. Having lived with little or less than little money, I just don’t see the draw to it.”
“Sometimes it’s all that matters to some people.”
“I know and for them all I can feel is pity.”
“Pity? Why?”
“There’s so much out there that money can’t buy, like a brilliant sunrise or sunset. Like the beauty of nature at its finest, or like the feeling of loves first kiss. Or the way having a best friend can make the day better. All those things in life are more important to me than money.”