Dark Oath_A Dark Saints MC Novel

by Jayne Blue

  After we dried off, we slept for a little while. Well, she slept; I watched her. She slept on her stomach with her perfect round ass slightly in the air. It drove me mad with lust again, but she needed her rest. In the cold light of day, she’d have a decision to make. I knew she might hate me a little for asking it.

  When she woke, she made scrambled eggs. I sat in her little breakfast nook with a towel draped around my waist. Beth wore a short, satin robe and I had plans to get her out of it as soon as she stepped away from the stove. I had a million things to say to her, but so far we’d let our bodies do all the talking.

  “What is it?” she finally said as she slid a pile of eggs onto a plate for me. When she moved to sit in the opposite chair, I reached for her and drew her into my lap. I pressed my nose between her breasts, inhaling her intoxicating, clean scent.

  “Deacon, what is it?” she asked.

  “Beth, I want you to get out of town for a little while. Just until we get a handle on the trouble that’s coming.”

  She pursed her lips and set her fork down. When she slid off my lap and took her seat, I let her, even though my body still ached to hold her.

  “Your trouble,” she said. “It’s got nothing to do with me.”

  I nodded. “It shouldn’t. No. But if I’m right about Sean …”

  She held up a hand. “Sean was Sean. No matter what else ... he wasn’t an innocent. You said the Hawks broke a rule by going after him. I don’t think that’s true. Everyone knew who Sean was mixed up with. Have there been any other family or friends of your club who have gotten hurt?”

  “It’s just a precaution,” I said. “There’s a safe house up the coast. I want to take you there. Get you out of sight while we handle this.”

  She looked me square in the eyes. “How are you going to handle this?”

  I swallowed hard. “Beth, don’t ask me that.”

  Her expression cooled. I realized my words had to sound an awful lot like what she’d heard from Sean. And I had to admit the danger that followed me now could be just as deadly.

  “Fine,” she said, rising. “I won’t ask. Just like I refused to ask Sean. But this time, there’s one glaring difference. Danny ... Deacon ... do what you have to do. But I’m through running.”

  With that, she gathered my plate and turned her back on me.

  Chapter 11

  Beth

  As Deacon stood in my kitchen glaring at me, I did the one thing I hadn’t done in more years than I could count. I called Darlene at the office and told her I’d be late.

  “Take your time, honey,” Darlene answered. “Haven’t seen Ed yet and that’s not a good sign.”

  My whole body just deflated. Dammit. He had a settlement conference this afternoon on an auto accident case. His fee from that was supposed to carry us through the next quarter. If he didn’t show, the judge would have no choice but to enter a default against our client.

  “What do you want me to do?” I asked. I felt like I was talking to two people at once. Deacon stood with clenched fists, his cold blue eyes filled with a protective fury. In his case, I knew his answer. He knew mine.

  “Just live your life, Beth,” Darlene said with a defeated sigh. “There’s only so much either of us could do. I’m so tired of this. If my brother doesn’t care enough to keep his head above water, I’m gettin’ to the point where I’m done letting him drag me under.”

  I knew how she felt. Of course I did. The trouble was, ultimately Ed was the only one who could keep us in business.

  “Okay,” I answered. “I’ll check back in a couple of hours. If anything changes let me know. I can try to call the judge’s secretary and see if we can get another postponement.”

  “Don’t bother,” Darlene said. “I already tried that. The word’s come down from the chief judge. No more postponements for any of Ed’s cases.”

  “What? They can’t do that.”

  “Yes, they can. I’m surprised they’ve waited this long. You know damn well that man has used up every second chance he had. Like I said, take some you time this morning. You’ve earned it. I’ll figure out some way to keep the world from falling apart. I always do.”

  I knew Darlene could probably sense my sad smile as I said goodbye and hung up the phone. Deacon came to me the minute I put my phone on the counter.

  My skin rippled with pleasure as he put his hands on my shoulders. He felt so good. His clean, musky scent filled my head, making me weak in the knees. I wanted him again. Plain and simple. I wanted to lose myself in his touch, give in to all the wicked dreams I’d had over the years. And there was the truth of it. I had dreamed of him all this time. I’d been kidding myself to think I was ever over Danny Wade.

  “Come on,” he said, trying a softer approach. This was more like the Danny I used to know. He could be hard and gentle all at the same time. He had a way of making a person feel safe and secure. Even before he started to pursue a life with the clergy, Danny was the guy everyone unloaded on. He listened without judgment. But that hard edge was there too, glistening in his pale blue eyes. Deacon Wade, patched member of the Dark Saints M.C. wasn’t used to begging for anything.

  “Danny,” I said, sliding my hands up his arms. “I’m not going to run. Not anymore.”

  “I’m not asking you to run. Not like the last time. I’m just asking you to get out of town for a few days. I need to make sure you’re safe.”

  I touched his face. His rough stubble tickled my fingertips. It got hard to think straight standing this close to him. “You said yourself, no one even knows I’m here but you.”

  “I said I think no one knows you’re here but me. But people know I’m here. If they put two and two together, that could spell some trouble for you.”

  I dropped my hand. “I trust the people in this town, Danny. People like to gossip, but they also know when to mind their own business. Yes, you’ve been seen. And you’ve been seen with me. But this is Crystal Falls. There’s no drug cartel here. The baddest element in town is ... well ... you.”

  Danny flinched, but didn’t argue my point. He seemed on the verge of saying something else, but stopped.

  “Tell me the truth,” I said. I was about to ask a question I’d always avoided with Sean. “How bad is this thing with your club really going to get?”

  He stepped away from me and walked toward the kitchen window. I had a small, square yard with a wooden privacy fence. There were some overgrown bushes in the north corner I’d been meaning to thin out.

  “I don’t know,” he finally answered and I knew he spoke the truth. “I’ve never lived through a full club war. Most of our members haven’t. The last major one happened before my time. Bear’s kept us at peace for over twenty years. That’s ... well ... it’s unheard of in my line of work.”

  I slid my fingers up Danny’s bare back. His jeans hung low on his hips. I was still getting used to the look of him. His rippling muscles were covered in tattoos. It shocked me at first; now in the light of day, it turned me on. The largest tattoo covered most of his back, a kneeling angel with great black wings unfurled behind it and a sword clasped in his hands. The Dark Saint. There were other symbols too, and dates. I traced the small rose on his bicep and the tiny date beneath it. His father’s birthday. Instinct fueled me and I leaned over and kissed him there. A shiver went through Danny and he slid his arms around me.

  “I think I’m glad you did it,” I whispered. Tears sprang to my eyes, shocking me a little. Sean and Danny’s father had been such a sweet, gentle man. He’d worked third shift at an oil refinery just outside of Port Azrael. Coleman Wade was nothing like my own father had been. He was steady, solid, pious. He made the Wade boys go to church every Sunday, no matter what. When Sean fell in with the cartel, Mr. Wade hadn’t wanted to believe it. Neither did I. It was Danny who made us see the truth.

  The night Mr. Wade died still burned in my heart. He’d been shot in my living room. A driveby. And it was my fault. They were looking for me and Sean
. He would have been home, but I kicked him out the night before. Port Azrael was just as small as Crystal Falls when it came to everyone knowing your business.

  “I shouldn’t have made him leave,” I whispered. Danny stiffened beside me. I hadn’t meant to go there. I hadn’t even given voice to it in all this time. It seemed this had been a day for confessions though and dealing with old wounds.

  Danny turned to me. He hooked a finger beneath my chin and lifted my face until our eyes met again. “Then you would have been the one they killed,” he said. I knew it. Of course I knew it. And yet, the guilt was still there.

  “I wanted to kill him,” I whispered. “I wanted Sean to pay for all the things he’d destroyed. Your father didn’t deserve what happened to him. I wanted to make Sean hurt.”

  Danny’s eyes narrowed. “Is that what I was?”

  It wasn’t fair and he knew it. It seemed he still had plenty of his own guilt to work through. I pulled away from him. “You know you weren’t. But Sean never even knew that you and I ... that we …”

  “Beth,” he said. “This is why I need you to get out of sight for a couple of days. I won’t go through this again. I won’t put you in the middle of another mess you didn’t create.”

  I shook my head, trying to clear the shock at what he’d just said. “I’m already in the middle of it, Deacon. You put me in the middle of it the second you rode out here to find me. And before you take on the martyr role again, I’m not sorry you did.”

  I wanted to tell him how much I’d missed him. It was something I wasn’t sure I was fully ready to admit to myself yet. I’d lived with a hole in my life. I’d filled it with other things. Work. Looking after Ed Albright. But I was starting to understand the shape of that hole more than I ever did. It was Danny. It was Deacon. And it scared the hell out of me.

  Something changed in Danny. His posture straightened and his face took on that hard edge. That was the thing that was most different about him. It wasn’t the tiny age lines around his eyes or even the tattoos. He had a roughness to his core that may have been there all along, only now it was exposed. I can’t help that it thrilled me a little.

  Danny brushed past me, walking with purpose. He went to the bedroom and pulled open my closet door.

  “What are you doing?” I said, running to catch up with him.

  “I told you, I won’t go through it again. I won’t put you at risk. You are going to the safehouse, Beth. If I have to drag you kicking and screaming.”

  “No!” My shout cut through the air. Deacon froze. He’d found a leather backpack in the bottom of my closet and gripped it tight.

  “No,” I said softer. “I’m not running. I’m staying right here. I gave up everything. You can’t ask me to do it again.”

  He pursed his lips so tight the blood left them. Tossing the backpack to my bed, he came to me. “It won’t be forever. A few days. That’s all.”

  “Don’t. Don’t promise me that. You’ve done that before, remember?”

  God. It seemed I was on some merry-go-round. We’d had almost the exact same conversation the evening of Mr. Wade’s funeral. Danny promised to keep me safe. I just had no idea how he’d planned to keep that particular oath.

  “I’m safer here,” I said. “You said yourself, it’s my connection to you that puts me at risk. How can you be sure this safehouse you have really is safe? Deacon, I don’t know your people. I know mine. Crystal Falls are my people for now. I’ll lay low if that’s what you want, but I’m not running. I’ve sacrificed too much for Sean ... and ... for you ... You can’t make me do it again.”

  My words came out in a flood. I hadn’t even planned what I’d say, but once they were out, I knew how deeply I meant them. As good as Danny made me feel, I would not run again. Not even for him.

  He threw the backpack on the bed. Once again, I was struck by the steel in his eyes. Nobody said no to Deacon Wade and the Dark Saints M.C. Except I just did.

  “You should go,” I said, as a hollow pit formed in my core. At the same time, a tiny flame flickered inside me, drawing me to him. I wanted him. Craved him. Even now, my sex quivered with the need for his touch. But I’d let passion rule my heart far too many times.

  “Beth.” He moved, reaching for me. I stepped away.

  “No,” I said. “I’m sorry, Danny. Do you know how badly I just want to chuck everything and run away with you? Because I do. I want to trust you. I want to get carried away with you. But I can’t. Not this time. Too much has happened. I’ve made too many choices based on fear. I won’t do it again. I’ve fought too hard to make a life for myself. I won’t give it up. Not even for you.”

  He ran a hard hand over his face. God. I still knew him so well. He was angry. He felt helpless. But he knew I was right.

  “I can’t stay here, Beth. I have to handle things with my club.”

  “I know.” My throat felt tight.

  As if on cue, his cell phone vibrated in his back pocket. Squeezing his eyes tight, he answered it. I backed away, not wanting to hear too much. But it didn’t matter, I could read the expression on his face. He would leave me. I asked him to. Still, it hurt like hell.

  I walked back out to the kitchen. My own cell was ringing. Darlene’s picture popped up and a pit formed in my stomach. It was Ed. It couldn’t be good news.

  “I need you, love,” she said. “I think I’ve worked out a solution to Ed’s docket today, but you’re going to have to come in and make some promises.”

  Nodding, I drew in a breath. “Okay. I’ll be there within an hour.”

  Deacon stood behind me. I hung up with Darlene and turned to him. “Beth, I wish you wouldn’t. I wish you’d stay out of sight.”

  “And I wish you’d stay right here. It looks like we’re both running for trouble.” I smiled up at him. I’d told Danny I wanted to fight for the life I’d built. And yet it burned in me to ask him to give up his. He couldn’t any more than I could.

  “Fine,” he said, giving me a soft smile that melted me. “You win. But will you promise me you’ll be careful? Don’t go off anywhere by yourself. Stay in town or stay home. No new client meetings. Home before dark.”

  I gave him a salute. “Promise. Can you promise me that you’ll be careful too?”

  He smiled and slid his fingers through my hair. Leaning down, he kissed me. Heat snaked through my heart. Oh, I wanted him. I’d never stopped. But we both had to get back to the lives we’d built. I just prayed his wouldn’t ruin him.

  Chapter 12

  Deacon

  Ten years ago, I thought I’d given up my soul. I had. But not for the reasons I’d been telling myself. Beth was my soul. She was my heart and my breath. As I rode out of Crystal Falls, I felt the pain of her loss like a knife in the gut. How could I have been so stupid to think I could touch her again ... taste her ... and not want more?

  Axle’s words were ominous. I’d tried to play it off in Beth’s living room, but she knew. She could see straight through me just like she always could. Bear was calling for a full meeting first thing in the morning. A few of the guys had already gotten their wives and women out of town. It was bad. I just prayed leaving Beth in Crystal Falls was the right thing.

  I meant to get a quick shower and change of clothes as I pulled into my driveway off Cliffside Drive. I had a little place overlooking the dunes. Not an ocean view, but you could hear it this far out. My heart dropped when I saw the tan sedan parked at the curb. I pulled my Harley into the garage and drew my Nine.

  The house was empty, but the sliding door to the wooden deck I’d built in the back stood open. Squaring my shoulders, I took a breath to steel myself against what I knew was coming.

  “You trying to let all the flies in?” I asked, stepping out onto the deck. Father Sanchez sat cross-legged, staring out at the sandscape. He’d brought a bottle of wine and helped himself to one of my glasses. I’d asked Toby, one of the probies, to keep an eye on my place while I was gone. It probably took all of two seconds fo
r Father Sanchez to get him to tell him where I kept the spare key.

  “I’m trying to let the air in,” he said, sipping his wine. “It gets stuffy in there all closed up.”

  I tossed my keys on the wrought iron patio table and took a seat beside him. Father Sanchez tilted the wine bottle toward me. He had an empty glass waiting. I waved it off.

  “Ah,” he said. “Still only a sip of church wine on Sundays for you?”

  I swallowed hard. “Something like that.” Of course, Diego Sanchez knew just how long it had been since I graced one of his pews at San Mateo’s.

  “Well, you found me,” I said. Father never liked to be rushed. He stayed in control by staying silent. It was an old trick he used with parishioners. Let them do ninety-nine percent of the talking and they walk away thinking you’re wise as Yoda.

  “I’ve been worried about you, son,” he said.

  “I’d have thought you had a congregation full of souls to save, Father. You know mine’s a lost cause.”

  He laughed softly and set down his glass. “That’s what you like to tell yourself. Though, I know you don’t believe it.”

  I squirmed in my chair. I didn’t want to be rude, but the old man’s timing was lousy. He’d argue it was entirely perfect.

  “Look,” I said. “I appreciate you taking the time to check in on me. And I could tell you I’m fine and you won’t believe it. And we can do the dance we always do. But I can’t do it now. I need to get to the clubhouse.”

  He nodded. “You’ve been away a lot. That’s not like you. Especially now.”

  “What do you mean by that?”

  Sanchez turned. He leveled his dark eyes at me. When I was a kid, that look used to turn my spine to water. It was as if he could see straight through to my soul. I could never lie to him back then. I didn’t try now. But there were some things that just weren’t this old man’s business anymore.