RAW: THE ULTIMATE MC COLLECTION

by Palomino, Honey

  From the sound of her voice, you’d never know she was being threatened by her monster of an ex. I hated leaving her alone. But now it was time to get my head in the game.

  We entered the hanger quietly, the sound of our footsteps the only sound in the large, open space. Silhouettes of planes in various forms of repair lined the edges, with the big, empty space in the middle reserved for some tables and a few computers. Sullivan sat alone at one of the tables, talking on his cell phone.

  When he saw us, he hung up and walked over to us. His smile was jovial and he seemed relaxed and eager to see us.

  “Gentlemen, thank you for coming,” he said, walking over to shake my hand.

  “Sure, Sullivan. No problem. Where is everyone?” I asked.

  “They’ll be here soon, Mike,” he said, gesturing us to follow him.

  The roar of bikes approaching sounded outside, followed by the sound of them turning off and car doors opening and closing. In moments, the doors opened and two men dressed in expensive suits walked in. They were flanked by four Cretins on either side of them. Two more Cretins were pushing a heavy crate that had been placed on a wheeled cart.

  Ricardo caught my eye and nodded at me. I looked at him first, then over at Carlos standing next to him. He nodded at me also, his expression as serious as always. He certainly wasn’t known for his friendliness. I nodded back, and watched as Sullivan shook hands with his clients. Everyone seemed relaxed and calm as Sullivan walked over to the crate and waited for one of the Cretins to open it. When the lid opened, I saw it was filled with exactly what I suspected it would be. Guns. Machine guns. Dozens of them.

  I briefly wondered what Sullivan was going to do with all of them. Obviously, he was going to sell them, but to whom? His connections were said to be far and wide across the globe, and I cringed inside, knowing they were probably going to the people who needed them the least.

  I pushed all that away. That had nothing to do with me. I was here to do my job, and that was it. And tonight, my job was purely protection.

  With one eye on the Cretins and on eye on Sullivan, I didn’t think to glance over at my brothers. I had complete confidence in them, and checking up on them was the last thing on my mind.

  “Everything looks good here,” Sullivan said. “Thank you, gentlemen.”

  He walked over to the table, retrieving a duffel bag that was lying on top of it. One of the men followed him, unzipped the bag, and smiled after he peered inside.

  “Very well then. We’re done here,” he said, nodding to his colleague.

  I nodded with satisfaction, and watched as Sullivan’s clients began walking towards the door.

  When the first shots rang out, I ducked for cover, not knowing where they were coming from. I pulled out my gun as I looked around frantically. My brothers had followed suit, ducking behind pillars and tables in the darkness and beginning to shoot back. The Cretins had started shooting instead of walking away, and I watched as Sullivan’s clients bravely ran in the middle of the gunfire to grab the bag of cash back and begin running along the side and out the door. Sullivan lay in a puddle of blood near the table, unmoving.

  The crossfire seemed to go on forever, with no clear target or reasoning. I assumed the Cretins were protecting Sullivan’s clients and continued shooting, keeping us back, until the two men had made it to the back door with both the crate of guns and their cash. Bullets flew across the room, both the Gypsies and the Cretins reloading and relentlessly trying to take each other down.

  I wasn’t worried, not at first. I had complete faith in my brothers’ ability to handle a situation like this. But then I heard Reaper cry out, followed by the loud thump of his body hitting the concrete floor, and I rushed over to him. I pulled his body into the shadows, behind some large crates, the bullets still flying and ricocheting off the steel beams and pillars of the hanger.

  Reaper had been hit in his chest, and I quickly pressed my hands against the wound. His eyes were closed, but he was still breathing. But he was losing a lot of blood, and I knew if I didn’t get him some help soon, I was going to lose him. This shit had to end, and it had to end now.

  “Hang in there, Reap, I’m going to get you some help. You’re going to be okay, buddy.” I didn’t know if he could hear me or not, but I said the words for my sake as well as his.

  Sandman dashed over to us, his eyes full of worry when he saw Reaper lying there. My blood boiled with anger at the absurdity of this situation. It was supposed to be a simple drop, and now it was a fucking war zone.

  “Give me your gun,” I said to Sandman, taking it from him and grabbing Reaper’s too. With my own, that made three, and I planned to end this bullshit right now.

  I put one of the guns in the waistband of my jeans, and came around the crate shooting the other two in the direction of the Cretins. My brothers had already taken down two of their men, and that left four for me to destroy. I pushed my worry about Reaper to the back of my mind, and throwing all caution to the wind, I snuck around the side of the hanger, approaching Ricardo and his three men from behind. They were spaced out, not in each other’s sight, which played to my advantage. I silently snuck up behind each of them, and one by one, I silently shot each of them in the back, saving Ricardo for last, until the hanger fell completely silent, and I stood over Ricardo’s quivering body as he stared up at me, blood pouring from his mouth.

  “It didn’t have to be this way, Ricardo,” I said, before I pulled the trigger one last time, ending his misery quickly.

  Time seemed to stand still, my heart heavy with what had just happened, and when I heard Sandman’s voice urging Reaper to wake up, I snapped out of my thoughts and ran to Reaper’s side.

  “Demon, call Sam and tell her to meet us at the clubhouse immediately!” I commanded. Sam was our club doctor. She was one of the best surgeons in the city and we paid her immensely to help with situations just like this. Going to the hospital wasn’t an option. Demon pulled out his phone and quickly ran outside to make the call.

  “Sandman, let’s get him in the van now!” With the help of two other brothers, we managed to carefully lift Reaper and carry him outside to the van Demon had opened up.

  “She’s on her way, boss. Said she’ll be there in five minutes,” he said.

  “Drive fast, Demon,” I said, as we all piled in around Reaper and closed the sliding door of the van. “He’s bleeding out.”

  I grabbed Reaper’s hand, and Sandman continued his efforts to stop the bleeding. I looked down at my best friend, his cut covered in blood, his face pale, his life hanging by a thread, and fear filled my heart.

  I had no idea what I would do without him by my side. He had to pull through. There was no other acceptable option.

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  DAISY

  When I opened my eyes Saturday morning, the first thing I saw was my loaded gun sitting on the nightstand. The clock next to it told me it was six in the morning, and I felt a twinge of disappointment that Mike hadn’t called me last night like he said he would. That twinge was followed by fear when I reminded myself of the risks involved with his job. He hadn’t given me details, but I knew it had to be important if took him away from me last night. He had told me repeatedly how much it bothered him to leave me alone.

  But everything had been peaceful. I hadn’t heard another word from Todd, and I spent my evening watching sappy romance movies and eating almost the entire chocolate cake I had baked, my thoughts constantly consumed with thoughts of Mike.

  Slowly, I got out of bed, took a quick shower, and made myself breakfast. I was tempted to call Mike, but it was early, and I figured he might be sleeping after his late night. I tried to assure myself that everything was okay. If it wasn’t, he would have called me.

  The sunlight poured through my windows, tempting me with its warmth. I took my coffee and sat out on my balcony with a book, but quickly finding myself so distracted with my thoughts, that I ended up reading the same paragraph three times in a r
ow. I laid the book down, and sat gazing out at the garden courtyard below my balcony. I watched as the squirrels and birds went about their morning business, loving the sounds of their chirping and laughing at the funny sounds the squirrels made as they called to each other. I loved early mornings like this. Where I didn’t have to rush off to school, I could just be lazy and take my time to just sit and watch the world go on around me. There was something about the stillness of the early morning, when most people were still sleeping. It was peaceful to be outside and not see another soul.

  It was as if I had the whole world all to myself. I laughed under my breath as I realized that I no longer wanted the world to myself anymore. I wanted my world to be filled with the sweetest, sexiest man I had ever encountered and his adorable daughter.

  I looked out at the parking lot outside of the garden gate, and noticed a car I didn’t recognize. A plain, black sedan was parked in the corner. Was it the same one Mike had hesitated when he spotted the other day? I wouldn’t have noticed it at all, except it was the only car that was backed into its parking space. I put my hand up to my forehead, shielding my eyes from the sun to see better. The car appeared to be empty. I scanned the parking lot again, looking for any sight of another person, any sight of Todd, but there was nobody around.

  I sighed in relief. The car probably just belonged to a guest. My apartment complex was fairly large and busy, and strange cars weren’t that unusual. If it was Todd, he would have confronted me by now.

  What was the point of just watching me and sending me text messages? He was just trying to scare me. And while it might have been slightly working, I wasn’t about to let him see it.

  The sound of my phone ringing brought me back inside, and when I saw it was Mike, my heart began beating a little faster and I smiled with relief.

  “Hey, baby!” I said as I answered.

  “Hey.” As soon as I heard his voice, I knew something was wrong.

  “Are you okay?” I asked.

  “Yeah, I’m okay. But something happened last night. It’s Reaper.”

  “What happened? Is Reaper okay?”

  “We won’t know for a while. He was shot, Daisy. It’s bad. It’s real bad,” he said. His voice cracked with fear and I instantly felt terrible for him.

  “Oh, Mike, I’m so sorry. My god! Is there anything I can do?”

  “Actually, yes, that’s why I’m calling. But first, is everything okay at your place?”

  “Yes, everything’s fine here.”

  “Any word from Todd?”

  “No, nothing. I haven’t seen him, he hasn’t texted, nothing at all.”

  “Okay, good.”

  “What can I do, Mike? I want to help. Where are you?” I asked.

  “I’m at the clubhouse. We all are. I have a doctor here working on Reaper,” he replied.

  “Oh. Um…okay. You can’t go to the hospital, I’m guessing?”

  “No, that’s not an option,” he said, curtly.

  “Okay. What can I do?”

  “Rosie is going to be waking up real soon. I don’t want her to see Reaper, or even know what’s going on, not until she has to know. I was wondering if you could come over and pick her up?”

  “Oh, yes, of course!”

  “I’m worried about you two being at your place, too, though. How do you feel about taking her back to my house and hanging out there until I can get away from here?”

  “That’s fine, Mike. Whatever you need, sweetheart” I said. My heart was breaking for him.

  “Thanks, Daisy. I really appreciate it.”

  “Of course, my lo— ,” I stopped myself before I said the word ‘love’, forgetting in that moment that we weren’t there yet, at least not out loud. “Anything at all.”

  I heard the relief in his voice as he gave me directions to the clubhouse. When he said goodbye, I felt so sad for him. He sounded so worried.

  I changed my clothes and gathered a few things to take with me. I wasn’t sure how long I would be at his house. As I was packing a few change of clothes, I saw my gun on the nightstand and contemplated if I should take it or not.

  Deciding it was better to be safe than sorry, I engaged the lock on it, and placed it in my backpack with the rest of my things.

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  MIKE

  Seeing Daisy walk into the clubhouse was like seeing an angel walk into my life. My heart was filled with such darkness, the visions of the night before looping through my head like a bad movie, and the never ending crushing guilt that I always experienced when I had to hurt someone weighing heavily on my mind — all this, combined with the enormous fear that Reaper wouldn’t make it, were making me feel like the world was crashing around me.

  When Daisy walked into the room, for one brief moment, all that was lifted and I felt nothing but love and happiness. But then, I remembered what she was going through herself, and I knew the darkness in our lives wasn’t gone yet.

  We still had Todd to deal with. I wasn’t sure when he would appear, but I knew it wasn’t going to be pretty when it all went down. I almost didn’t want to put Rosie at risk by being with Daisy, but I was in a tight spot and I had no choice. At least if they were together, I could keep a better eye on them. I compromised with myself by putting them at my house with one of the brothers guarding them there. That was the best I could do. I couldn’t leave Reaper’s side just yet and I didn’t want to break Rosie’s heart, either. Reaper was like a second father to her. She would have been devastated.

  The other risk was that we were pretty much sitting ducks at this point. If the Cretins decided to retaliate, and I knew they would sooner or later, the first place they would come was the clubhouse.

  I had to get them both out of there and into a safe place as soon as possible.

  Getting Rosie out of the clubhouse without seeing Reaper first was quite a challenge, and I felt terrible lying to her and telling her he was running an errand for me. As she and lil’ Mike jumped into Daisy’s truck and she kissed me goodbye, it was bittersweet. At that moment, I had never wished more that my life was different. I desperately wanted to jump in the truck with them, and drive far down the road and somehow find a way to leave it all behind.

  But I couldn’t. This was my life. This was all my fault, all my responsibility. And if Reaper didn’t make it, I didn’t know how I was going to go on.

  Sam had arrived at the clubhouse before we did, and had already set up a makeshift operating room in the back bedroom. The brothers set up bright lights and helped her lay all her tools out as she went about inspecting Reaper’s wound. After five minutes, she came out with a quick update before disappearing back into the closed room.

  “He’s lost a lot of blood. A hell of a lot, Mike. The bullet nicked his lung, and severed an artery. It doesn’t look good, but I can assure you I will do my best to save him.”

  “Thank you, Sam. I’ll be right here. Let me know if there’s anything at all that you need.”

  I watched her walk back in, my heart ripped to shreds with worry. He had to make it, he just had to.

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  DAISY

  By the time we arrived at Mike and Rosie’s house, it was ten in the morning. I left my things in the truck and followed Rosie into the house.

  She gave me a tour as soon as we got inside, not even questioning the appearance of Sonny, the burly man Mike had sent along with us. He stayed right outside the front door, and I felt a slight sense of relief knowing he was there.

  Their house was exactly as I had pictured it. Modest, but cozy and comfortable. It was nothing like the cement-floored clubhouse I had just seen. The living room was filled with pictures of Rosie and Mike, and a few with Rosie and Reaper and Mike with some of the other men, all wearing their cuts proudly and standing next to their bikes.

  She walked me to the back of the house first, taking me through the back door and onto a wide, back patio that led down to a huge back yard. The yard was filled almost entirely w
ith a huge Oak tree that was engulfed by the most elaborate tree house I had ever seen.

  “My daddy built that!”

  “He did?” I asked, incredulously. It was enormous, and had lots of twisting bridges and stair cases and railed off platforms.

  “It’s absolutely amazing, Rosie! I can’t believe he did all this himself.”

  “Well, he did have a little help from the club,” she said.

  “Okay, I see, well it’s beautiful!”

  “Thanks! Let’s go to my room,” she said, grabbing my hand and pulling me along.

  When Rosie showed me her room, she did so with pride. The walls were painted a gorgeous lavender color and she had matching lavender lace curtains. Her white daybed was covered in a pink flowered print comforter. I noticed the two pictures on her nightstand, and walked over to look at them.

  “This must be your mama,” I said to Rosie, as I looked at the photo. “She was beautiful.”

  “Yeah, she was, huh?”

  She definitely was. Her thick black curly hair framed her gorgeous, youthful face. She had huge green eyes, and a pretty smile. It was one of those smiles that was so sweet and genuine, you knew she had to be a really nice person.

  I looked at the other picture, a snapshot of Mike and Rosie at Disneyland, both of them wearing mouse ears.

  “This is wonderful!” I said, laughing.

  “I know, I love that picture so much!” she said, laughing with me. “Daddy was okay with wearing the ears, but it took some convincing to get him to take a photo with them on.”

  “I bet!” I said, returning the pictures to her nightstand, and following behind her as she completed her tour of the house. It smelled like the two of them. I loved that about houses, how they often adopted the smell of the inhabitants. Or, maybe it was the other way around. Either way, their house smelled faintly of leather, crayons and lilac.