by K. J. Dahlen
They all saw Cricket standing there with shock on her face. She paled as she stared at the stranger.
When the stranger turned to look, he gasped at the sight of her and whispered, “Grace?” Then he closed his eyes.
Cricket cried out and ran for the back door. The sunlight flooded the room for a moment before the door slammed closed again.
“What was that all about?’ the stranger asked as he turned back to Deke. He acted like the glimpse he had of his past had no meaning for him.
Deke shrugged and looked over at Raine. He motioned for the man to go after her, then turned his attention back to the stranger. “I have no idea.” He motioned for the man to sit and when he did, Deke sat opposite him.
“As I said, someone here clicked on a wanted poster of a man named Orrin and I came to find out why.”
“And you would be who?” Deke asked.
“Someone you don’t want to know,” the man replied. “I’m just here after information.”
Deke’s eyes narrowed as he thought about what to say. He had a feeling his position was very precarious at the moment.
The stranger sat back in his chair and asked, “Who was that woman?”
“Why do you ask?”
The stranger shrugged. “I usually don’t get that response until they know me better.” His eyes narrowed as he stared at Deke. “What is her name?”
Before he could answer, the back door opened and Raine dragged Cricket back inside. She looked ready to bolt again, but he held her hand. He brought her over to the main table and stood behind her.
Cricket stared at the floor. She was trembling and her knees barely held her up. When the stranger pushed a chair out for her to sit on, she glanced quickly at Deke. When he nodded slightly, she sank down into the chair.
The stranger leaned forward and grasped her chin, lifting it to look at her face.
Cricket stared at the man’s face as he stared at hers. When she saw his eyes, she found she couldn’t look away.
His fingers tightened on her jaw and he clenched his own.
Her eyes slowly closed and her lips trembled as she whispered his name, “Bane.”
CHAPTER THREE
The stranger’s lips curled. His fingers dug into her skin for a moment, then he released her. “You look just like your mother.” He looked back to Deke and shrugged. “My name is Bane Jessin and I want information about a man named Orrin.”
“My father is dead,” Cricket told him.
Bane turned his head and stared at her. “How long?”
“Seven years.”
“How did he die?”
“He got caught in a back blast. Someone sabotaged his bomb.”
Bane didn’t say anything for the longest time, then he asked, “Which daughter are you?”
Cricket swallowed hard. “I’m Cricket, his youngest.”
A muscle flexed on Bane’s jaw. “And your mother? Is she still alive?”
“No, she died a long time ago.”
Bane closed his eyes for a moment. When he opened them, he pinned Cricket with the cold glare. “How did she die?”
“She had breast cancer. I was six when she died,” Cricket whispered. After a long moment, she dared to ask, “Did you know my mother?”
Bane nodded shortly. “Yes I knew her. She was my wife.”
Cricket scrambled back on her chair. The look on her face was one of pure horror. “That’s a lie,” she whispered.
Bane hesitated then said, “Grace and I have been married for almost thirty years. I can show you the marriage license if you like.”
Cricket shook her head. “She was married to Orrin.”
Bane got to his feet and snarled, “She was never married to Orrin. She belonged to me and only me.”
“I don’t believe you,” Cricket seethed as she backed away from the table. “You would say anything to tear my father apart right now. You’re the liar.”
“I may be a lot of things but I never lie.’ Bane straightened his posture. “Orrin on the other hand, lied and cheated every chance he got.”
“May I ask how you knew Orrin?” Deke asked.
Bane turned and lifted his lip in a sneer. “Orrin was my brother and he stole my Grace away from me a long time ago.”
Cricket backed away from him another step or two. She turned to run but Bane caught her wrist and he refused to let her go. He jerked her closer to him and Cricket cried out in pain. “You and I need to talk about some things.” He told her quietly. His fingers crushed her bones together. “Let’s find some place we can talk.”
Raine stepped close.
Deke’s hand shot out and pressed him back as he shook his head at him.
Raine clenched his fists as his face went red.
Gator took his other arm and they held him still.
Cricket felt the tears of pain and shock run down her face. She shook her head. “I have nothing to say to you.” She tried to pull her wrist free of his grip.
Bane wasn’t letting her go. His grip tightened harshly and she cried out.
Raine growled and fought to get free of the other men’s grip.
They pulled him over and behind the table.
“But I have things to say to you. Let’s find a place to talk,” Bane spoke in a low tone.
“No.” Cricket shook her head. “We can talk here.”
Bane looked around the room. “Are you sure you want to involve them?”
Cricket nodded.
Bane glared at the room and everyone in it. “This is between you and I. If you involve them, they are in it until the end and it may not end the way you want it to. Think about that before you stay here.” He wrenched her arm again. “Now, do we stay here or find somewhere private we can talk?”
Cricket shook her head. “I want them to hear what you have to say. They knew Orrin and I have nothing to hide.”
Bane’s lips tightened in his rage. The only sign he gave was to narrow his eyes.
Cricket stared at him. She saw the same thing in his gaze now as she had when she was five. His eyes looked endless as if he had no soul and that frightened her.
He dragged her back to the table and sat her down. Sitting down near her, he leaned close and whispered, “When your parents left my home and began their life together as lovers, they stole something from me. It had no value to them, only to me. Orrin took it only because he knew I would miss it.”
“What did they take?” Cricket asked.
“An heirloom from our grandfather. Something he passed down to me alone. He had no right to take it.” Bane squeezed his fingers tight on her skin. “I want it back.”
“But I don’t know where it is!” Cricket cried out. Tears of pain welled in her eyes but she didn’t struggle against his hold.
“I have been looking for them for damn near thirty years. I found them once, but they escapade before I could get the item back. They took you and Cordelia and disappeared again.”
Cricket shuddered. “It was you that day.”
“Yes, it was me,” he ground out. “Orrin told me Grace wasn’t home yet and like a fool, I told him I would be back. I would have allowed them both to live, if they had returned what they took from me but instead, they ran like thieves in the night.” He glared at her for a moment. “Now, I have only you. The revenge I planned all these years will never happen. They both escaped my wrath by dying too soon.” Then he sat back and stared at her for a moment. His eyes glinted and he got a weird kind of smile on his face. “But all may not be lost yet,” he murmured. Leaning toward her again, he fixed his cold stare on her. “Why are you still here? I would have thought you’d have been long gone by now.”
Cricket didn’t want to answer. Closing her eyes against the new pain he presented her, she bit her lip. Glancing over at Raine, she saw his worried gaze but shook her head when he tried to step forward.
“Cordy kidnapped Deke’s children a couple of days ago,” she explained quietly. “I helped return them after we were
caught. We faced a tribunal and Cordy and I pled guilty. I have to serve the club for a year as my penance.”
“And Cordelia?” Bane asked as he cocked his head to one side.
“Her sentence was death,” Cricket told him quietly.
“Did she fear death coming for her?” he asked after a moment’s pause.
Cricket shook her head. “No she welcomed it. She was like you and had no soul.”
Bane’s lips tightened and his fingers bit into her already tender wrist. “That may be true, but it doesn’t mean you can say it to my face,” he warned her. He turned his head and searched the faces of the men around him. Then he turned back to her. “As Orrin’s daughter you are family and Jessin’s are no one’s slaves.” He growled.
“My last name is Tannis,” Cricket insisted.
“Your last name is Jessin,” Bane corrected her grimly. “You may not want the name but it means something to me and at one point, it meant something to your father too. He may have changed what they called him but he couldn’t change what or who he truly was.” He glanced around the room again, then pulled her closer to him and whispered, “Look around you. Do you see their faces? They look to be good men, all of them.” Leaning even closer, his lips touched her ear. “Do you know what I am? What I’ve made a fortune doing?”
Cricket nodded.
“Then you know I am very good at killing people. I kill without remorse and I can kill anyone I chose. Look at them closely my dear. I’m sure in the short amount of time you’ve been here, you have become friends with some of them, have you not?”
Cricket nodded again.
Bane hissed. “Then even if you don’t know anything else, remember this one thing.” Bane backed up a bit and stared her in the eye. “I will give you seven days to find what your parents stole from me and return it to me. Seven days from right now, and not a moment longer. If you fail, I will come back here and kill every one of these men and their families. They will all die. This ground will run red from their blood.”
Cricket gasped. “But how the hell am I supposed to find something and return it to you if I don’t know what it is?”
Bane shrugged. “That’s not my problem. It’s yours.”
“You’re insane,” she whispered while shaking her head in disbelief.
“And they will all be dead in one week if you fail.” He leaned closer again and warned her, “If you tell them and they run, I will find them and take them out no matter where they go. If you tell them my plan, I will have no mercy.” Leaning back a bit, he motioned between them. “This is to stay between the two of us, only you and I will know what this is about.”
Cricket began to shake. This man was insane. There was no way she could do what he asked. She lifted her head and glanced around the room. She saw the men of the Sin’s Bastards MC. Then looking toward the kitchen, she saw their wives and children. Everyone was watching her.
Before she could agree or not agree, the front door opened.
~* * * *~
Leon and Calderone Vincinti came inside the clubhouse.
Following them was Dominic Marconi.
A few of their soldiers followed them in and spread around the room.
Bane released Cricket and watched the newcomers as he took note of where their men stood. He turned to Deke and raised his brow. “What exactly is all of this for?”
Deke shrugged. “I have no idea. I didn’t call them.”
Leon walked over to where Bane and Cricket were standing. “No Bane, he didn’t call us. We were coming here for a wedding anyway. Dominic’s daughter is marrying one of Deke’s men and we were going to surprise her with a wedding.”
Bane held out his hand and Leon took it. He turned to Calderone and nodded. Turning to Dominic, he held out his hand.
Dominic walked over and shook his hand.
“I understand congratulations are in order. You found your daughter after all this time?” Bane asked.
Dominic nodded. “I did indeed.”
Bane turned to glare at Cricket. “I too have been looking for someone I was once close to for some time but it seems I am too late. My brother and my wife are both dead.”
Dominic look surprised as no one even knew this hitman had any family. He glanced at Leon briefly then looked back at Bane. “I am sorry to hear that.”
Bane shrugged. “At least now, I know for sure and can stop searching.” Glancing over at Cricket, he introduced her to the men, “I’d like to introduce my niece, Cricket.”
Dominic and Leon nodded in her direction.
She nodded back but didn’t say anything.
“I also just found out she was sentenced to serve this MC for one year for something she had nothing to do with.” Bane growled as he turned to glare at Deke. “I understand it was her sister that did the crime and her sister that paid the price.”
Deke nodded. “It was Cordy’s doing.”
“I want Cricket released from her service,” Bane demanded.
Cricket shook her head. “I won’t do that!” She took a step away from him. “I didn’t stop her, so I share her guilt. This is a matter of honor for me and I will serve my time.”
Dominic raised an eyebrow. “But my dear, you did nothing wrong and Bane is right. As a member of his family, you shouldn’t have been blamed in the first place.”
Cricket turned her head. “I never had much but I still have my honor. You of all people should understand that. I was tried and sentenced to serve this MC for one year and I will serve every single day. I will not recognize the Jessin name, because it isn’t mine.” She turned to Bane. “I want nothing from you, not even your name. You have darkness and death all around you, just like Cordy did. I finally have a choice. I choose to walk away from you.” Cricket turned and began walking toward the hall that would lead her to the bedroom she had.
She took about ten steps away from him when she heard a whirling sound and pain shattered her shoulder. She wanted to cry out, but she had learned over the years not to show her pain. If she did, Cordy only made it worse. She felt the bite of red hot pain and when she turned her head she found herself looking at the hilt of a small dagger in her skin. She raised her eyes and stared at the man who claimed to be her uncle. “You really are a bastard aren’t you?”
“And you would do well to never forget that fact.” Bane growled.
“Go to hell!” she roared. Grabbing her arm, she turned and hurried down the hall. A moment later, everyone heard a door slam.
Raine was struggling to get loose as Gator and Wiley held him in a tight grip.
Deke looked over at Raine and the guys then nodded.
Raine looked infuriated as the men let him go and went down the hall into the room.
Deke looked over at Bane. He didn’t say a word to the other man.
Bane just stared back his cold eyes blank.
~* * * *~
Morgan Brother’s Auto Shop
Associated with the Sin’s Bastard’s MC
In between the time when darkness left and the dawn appeared on the horizon, the back door of the Morgan Brother’s shop opened a few inches. A blond headed young boy peeked inside and when he found nothing and nobody, the door opened a bit farther.
The young boy slipped inside the shop and began searching the main room. He quietly took the stairs and made his way to the second floor. When he returned a few moments later, he went directly to the back door. He opened it and motioned for someone to come in.
A moment later, a young woman joined him, she moved slowly and she was in great pain. She had both arms wrapped around her waist and she was slightly bent over as if to protect herself. She was smaller than the boy, yet she was full grown. The young boy wrapped his arms around her waist carefully and assisted her to the base of the stairs. Taking one step at a time, they made their way to the second floor.
The woman tried not to let her brother know how bad she was hurt but she couldn’t quite do it.
The third step from the top,
she groaned and the boy stopped for a moment. Then he whispered, “We have to find a place to hide for a while before anyone gets here.”
“I know,” she whispered as she closed her dark brown eyes against the pain. Taking as deep a breath as she could, she nodded. “Let’s go.”
He helped her up the rest of the way and led her to one of the rooms at the end of the hall. He took her over to a stack of boxes and helped her to the floor behind them. He laid his jacket down and moved her over to lay on it. “You rest, I’ll try and find us something to eat,” Jordan Moon told his sister.
Sawyer raised her hand and laid it along his jaw. “I just need water. I don’t think I could eat anything right now. Be careful. Make sure the back door is locked in case he followed us here. You know how to leave no tracks behind.”
Jordan nodded. “I do and I won’t.” He leaned forward and kissed her forehead. “I’ll be back.” Then he got up and disappeared.
~* * * *~
Sawyer leaned back and cringed. The accident had left her with some bruised or broken ribs and a sore jaw where she hit the steering wheel of her truck.
The fact that Micah didn’t stop after hitting her truck was to their advantage. They had taken off and hadn’t stopped running for hours. But Sawyer couldn’t go on. Her chest hurt like fire and she couldn’t breathe anymore. Jordan had to find them a place to recover.
Sawyer exhaled slowly. Every breath she took hurt so bad, but she knew she couldn’t give into her pain. She had to protect her brother, she had to protect herself. Micah Johnston was a pig of a man and she wanted nothing to do with him. Getting that message through his thick head hadn’t worked. He wanted her at any cost and it had cost her too much already.
Closing her eyes, she felt her body give in to the relaxation of winding down, it was a feeling she always had when she relaxed enough to sleep. She worried for a moment about Jordan but knew deep in her heart, he would be okay. He knew very well the lessons they had learned about how to hide and how to get out of danger. It broke her heart that he had to learn those lessons at such a young age but that was life and there was nothing she could do about it. Nobody ever said life was fair.