by Parker, Zoey
She looked angry, disappointed. But I knew it was right.
And I knew, then and there, seeing the way she looked and feeling the way I did, that I would kill anyone who got in the way of her safety. I would burn down the Vicious Wolves clubhouse and everyone inside if it meant saving her. She was mine.
Chapter Eleven
The mood in the clubhouse was quiet, tense. Probably because everybody heard the fit I had inside the office when I found out about Lance’s betrayal.
I did my best to cover, acting like nothing was wrong. I figured if I played it off, it would be forgotten.
It wasn’t.
“What the fuck was that all about?” Onyx was staring hard at me as I piled my plate with pancakes and bacon. “I mean, you scared the shit out of the girls.”
“I’ll apologize to them,” I said. I poured myself a cup of coffee and carried my stuff to the table. I didn’t want to give my outburst more attention than I needed to.
“What happened?” I looked up at him and caught him looking at Erica. I knew right away that he blamed her.
“It wasn’t about her,” I muttered, taking a mouthful of food.
“Who, then?”
I looked around, checking to see whether anyone was listening. “The Wolves.”
“What?”
“It’s a long story, okay? I’ll fill you in.” This wasn’t the time or place. I didn’t want anyone other than a few key members knowing about Lance. I trusted Onyx—otherwise, I wouldn’t have named him as my second. I wasn’t sure who turned on me the way Lance had.
Where did I go wrong with him? I never held him back, never went against him in a vote. We were brothers. We were all brothers. At least that’s what I’d thought before I saw the proof that he turned on me. Now, just about everyone was under suspicion.
Well, except for the girls. They wouldn’t do anything like that. They weren’t even aware of the life we led, not really. They were happy enough just hanging around the clubhouse, taking care of us guys. I watched them talking and joking together as they put out more food. They were good girls, and loyal to us. I didn’t doubt them.
Who, then? Frankie? He was always a little too ambitious, and he had a wild streak. Sometimes I wondered what he would do if I gave him a long enough leash. I had to keep an eye on him all the time. Maybe it was him. Maybe he got tired of me always looking over his shoulder and wanted to step out on his own.
Or maybe it was Axel. No, it couldn’t be Axel. He was a pretty fucked up guy under all his softness. Years of intense abuse will do that to a person. But it wasn’t like he had a split personality, for God’s sake. And he would have needed one to fool me. Or would he? Lance had fooled me.
What about Joe, or Ralph, or any of the others? I realized with a sick feeling that if it could have been Lance, it could have been any of them. Someone had gotten in his ear, told him what he wanted to hear. That could have happened to one of the other guys sitting in front of me, eating a big breakfast, pinching the girls’ asses as they walked by and laughing when the girls swatted them with dishrags.
Who was the traitor?
Then Erica sat down across from me. The look on her face told me she knew what I was thinking. She had the smarts not to open her mouth, though.
“Who can I trust?” I asked Onyx. “I mean, really, truly trust? Who do you think?”
He looked confused, but scanned the room. “What are we talking about here?” he asked.
“I need to take maybe three guys out with me today.”
“But we’re in lockdown,” he muttered.
“Yeah, well, I called the lockdown, didn’t I? I get to say when it’s broken and who can break it. And I’m breaking it.”
He shook his head, but he knew better than to go against me when I made up my mind. “Whatever you say, boss.” I heard the disapproval he was feeling, but I didn’t care. Sometimes he was too cautious, even for me.
“So who do you think?”
“Where are you going? To the Wolves?”
“Of course.”
Onyx looked at me again, and this time, he was serious. “I don’t think that’s a good idea, Vince.”
“I didn’t ask you if you did.”
“I wanna go with you, make sure you’re all right.”
“Negative,” I said. “I can’t risk it. Besides, somebody has to stay here to guard the ones left behind. You’re the only person I trust with a job like that.”
He growled, and I knew he was looking for a fight. I wouldn’t give it to him.
“So, whaddya think? Axel, Frankie, Chip?” Chip was one of our youngest members, but he’d shown a lot of potential. And if it was possible for the Wolves to get anybody away from the club, it would be a new member they chose.
That was my plan, I decided. Take the three of them out with me. If one of them was the liar, the other two and I could take care of it together. Otherwise, it would be good to have them covering my back if things went south
“All right,” Onyx agreed. He turned back to his plate. I knew he was brooding, but I couldn’t give him my attention just then. I had more pressing things to take care of.
Like the girl in front of me. “How’s your food?” I asked.
She nodded, smiling. “Excellent. You have some real gourmets in your kitchen.”
“They’re used to cooking for a crowd,” I said. “And they know if the food wasn’t good, they’d hear about it from this bunch of crybabies.”
Erica laughed, and something inside me felt lighter. Something about her kept me centered. Knowing that she was taking things as well as she was helped me think more clearly.
Then again, the longer she was so close to me, the more wrapped up I was in the sight of her and the scent of her. The memory of the way we made out in the office was still fresh in my mind, too, and I knew from the way she looked at me from under her lowered lashes that she remembered as well as I did. I felt myself getting hard.
No! I mentally shook myself. Now’s not the time. There’s too much at stake.
It was true, and I forced myself to stop thinking of how good it felt to hold her, kiss her, hear her groan. I would make her mine, but later. Once things were calmer. Once my club was safe, and she was safe.
After we finished eating, Erica insisted that she help clean up after us. “I have to do something!” she said when the girls told her they didn’t need her to help them. It was interesting, the way they all interacted. She surprised me over and over, that Erica. I was sure when I brought her here that she wouldn’t get along with the club girls. They were miles out of her league. But then she went and got drunk with Brett, and now she was insistent on helping them with the chores. She got more interesting every minute.
I got Axel’s attention and told him to round up the other two I’d picked for the visit to Wolves headquarters. It was on the other side of town, an area that made our location look fancy. We’d have to be ready for anything that came along.
They met me in the office, where I asked that they close the door so we could have some privacy. I saw the way their eyes went to the hole in the wall, where I’d punched through. I ignored it.
“We have to pay a visit to the Wolves clubhouse today,” I said. Better to get right to the point with things like this. “I want the three of you with me.”
I watched their faces carefully, to see if one of them would react in a way that pointed to him being the one who turned. None of them looked anything more than surprised.
“Just the three of us?” Axel asked. “And you?”
“Yeah,” I said. “I’m not going for all-out war here, guys. I want to find one of them in particular.” While I spoke, I went through the other pictures on Erica’s memory card, where it was still in the laptop port. I wanted to find one of just the Wolf I’d beaten the night before. Lance couldn’t be part of the photo I showed them.
“Here,” I said, and I turned the laptop toward them, so they could get a look at the guy in question. “He
’s the one I want.”
“What are we gonna do to him?” Chip asked. He sounded nervous. I wondered if it was because he was the other traitor, or because he was so new.
“We aren’t going to do anything. I’m going to talk to him. You guys are gonna have my back. Understood?”
“You’re just talkin’?” Frankie looked unconvinced, maybe a little disappointed. He always wanted a fight.
I nodded. “Just talking,” I said. I stared him straight in the eye when I spoke, so he would know I meant business. “There are a few questions I have for him in particular. That’s all. For instance, what was he doing in this alley, on our turf? Why did he chase after Erica when he saw her? That sort of thing.”
“So it’s about her, then?” Axel smirked.
“No, it’s not,” I insisted. He was dying to make more of Erica and me than there was. “It’s finding out why he was there, and what was so important that he chased her down for two blocks and looked like he was gonna kill her before I pushed him off her. What was he doing? Who sent him there? That’s what I’ll be asking.” I glared at Axel, challenging him to come back at me with another smart comment. He stayed silent.
“Any other questions?” I asked, looking from one of them to the other. They shook their heads. “Good. We’ll leave in fifteen minutes. Not a word of this to anyone. Understood?” They nodded, and we split up.
I went up to my room to get ready. In the closet was a box of guns, knives, ammo. I wanted to be armed, but not over-armed to the point where they’d think I came to shoot the place up if anyone other than the member I was looking for found us. I loaded my Glock and pushed an extra clip into my back pocket, then pulled out my hunting knife. Sometimes it came in handy when a person I was questioning didn’t feel like giving me the answers I wanted right away.
I let myself get caught up for a minute in thoughts of how good it would feel to make the bastard who chased Erica squeal when I used that knife on him. He would find out how it felt to have a blade waved in front of his face, not knowing what the person holding it meant to do to him.
And even though I hardly wanted to admit it to myself, I wanted revenge for Lance. Yeah, he had gone behind my back and fucked things up in a big way. But they must have tricked him somehow. He was still wearing his kutte. He still felt loyal to the club. He wanted out of whatever deal they forced him into. And they killed him for it. Nobody killed my men without paying for it.
I heard a soft knock on the door to the bedroom and whirled around, expecting to see Brett standing there. But it wasn’t her. It was Erica, and her eyes were huge as she looked at the knife I was still holding in my hand.
I put it down, feeling guilty for some reason I couldn’t understand. “What are you doing up here?”
She looked at me like it was the stupidest question she ever heard, then sat on the bed. “So you’re going, then?”
I nodded. She might as well know.
“And you’re going to talk to the guy from last night?” I nodded again. She reached for a strand of long blonde hair and twirled it in her fingers.
“You don’t like the idea?”
“What do you think?”
I sat next to her. “Nothing will happen to me.”
“You don’t know that. I’m sure Lance thought the same thing.” She bit her full lip, and even though I was tensed up from what I was about to do, I couldn’t help remembering the way it felt when I bit down on her lip earlier. The way she hissed. The way she loved it.
I cleared my throat, pushing the distraction aside. Would she always have that effect on me? “Lance was different. He trusted them. I don’t. And I’ll have backup.”
“I’m so scared.” I saw tears shining in her eyes, and the animal in me roared with the need to protect her. Someone had made her so afraid, she was crying. I’d make them pay for it.
“You don’t have to be. I’m on it. I’ll take care of everything.”
“I’m so tired of being scared.”
“I know.” I took her in my arms and let her rest her head on my shoulder for a little while. I wanted to stay with her. I wanted to go out there and kick ass. I knew what I had to do, but it didn’t make letting go of her any easier.
“I’ll be back before you know it. Okay? Hang out here, get some extra shut-eye if you want. Play games on the laptop, I don’t care. Just stay here. All right?”
She nodded as she wiped her tears away, then got up off the bed and walked downstairs with me.
I couldn’t miss the look on Brett’s face when she saw us walking down the stairs together. It pained me to see her like that, but she and I spent a lot of time talking the night before. It was all we did, actually, before falling asleep. She knew where we stood. It would just take time for her to get used to it.
My men were ready. I looked at Onyx, who was sitting by the bar. The look on his face reminded me of the way my mom looked whenever one of us kids did something she didn’t approve of.
I couldn’t worry about him then. I had bigger issues. “Okay, let’s go,” I said grimly. My entire body was tense, adrenaline pumped through my veins. I couldn’t lie to myself. The excitement was addictive.
Then again, so was Erica. I turned back to take one more look at her before walking out the door. There was a time when I didn’t care what happened to me when I went out on a job like the one I was leaving for. I didn’t care if I got hurt, or killed. Now I cared very much. Maybe too much.
Chapter Twelve
It was a bleak, cloudy day. Just the kind of day I needed it to be. There would be plenty of shadows to hide in while we made our way around the Wolves’ clubhouse.
I had decided before we left to split up a few blocks from the old warehouse the club used for a clubhouse. It was nothing like ours—the club had renovated our warehouse years ago, a long time before I sat at the head of the table. We had the money back then, thanks to the drug business. I wasn’t interested in staying in that game much longer. It was too dangerous.
Like the explosion during the drug deal last week. I’d been using that in the days since as another reason to get the hell away from drugs and into more legit more business. I didn’t want to lose any more of my guys.
Now that I knew it was a set-up involving Lance, I wondered if there wasn’t more unhappiness over my decision than I thought. Yeah, the other members had been pissed off at first. Drugs made us rich. They could afford nice houses for their families, if they had them, or nice apartments for their girlfriends. They got used to living the good life, or as good a life as people like us could expect. Criminals, roughnecks. White trash by most standards.
When they found out the well was gonna run dry, they weren’t happy. I heard all kinds of arguments, but they couldn’t make me change my mind. I wanted us to be legit. It would pay off in the end, I had argued back. Less chance of jail time—after all, who made money while they were in jail? Who would provide for their families, their kids, while they were behind bars for drug running? The FBI would crack down hard on us if they got the chance. We had been lucky for a long time, but our luck had to run out.
Alex, president of the club before me, got us into drugs back in the eighties. Since then the Fury Riders controlled the drug trade as far as clubs went. He had vision, and he laid a strong foundation. Other clubs resented that. Especially the Wolves and their president, Alexander York.
Just thinking the name put a bad taste in my mouth. He’d hated the Riders for years, ever since he came into power and probably before then. He had turned his attention to us the minute he was named head of his club. He wanted to take us down and control the drug trade.
As far as I was concerned, he could have it. But handing it over wasn’t enough for him. He wanted the club, too. I wouldn’t let him have that. If he wanted both, he would get neither.
Was that how he got through to Lance? Did he promise him money? Lance had a family, young kids, a young wife. Maybe he’d been afraid of losing the revenue. Maybe he’d just be
en pissed off because when he joined the club, we were flush with cash and riding high. I knew not everyone joined for the reasons I had.
Why had I? Sometimes it was hard to remember, when things were as fucked up as they were as I rode to the Wolves’ clubhouse. Friendship. Family, which I had none of after my brothers and sisters were split up. A support system. Fun. An endless stream of girls, just one after another until I was numb.