“Promise me, you’ll kill them.” Roxy’s request was low enough for only me to hear. Fuck me. Having a request from my sister to kill them, and another request from my girl, to let them be. What the fuck?
“I promise, Rox. They’ll fucking pay for this shit.” I smoothed her long hair. I peeked over her head to see Chase and Nicole standing together. My brother was consoling Nicole- his arm around her shoulder. I could tell she was trying to hold it in. Christ, she’s only human, and a chick at that. She’s going to be fucking pissed when she finds out my decision.
Before lowering Charlie’s casket into the ground, Dad placed a Condemned Angels cut on top. We all walked up individually to lay roses over him. At the end of the ceremony, we all rode out. In one big group of about seventy bikes, we rode out to the clubhouse.
Nicole
I took a seat on the back picnic table, kicking off my wedged heels and placing them next to me on top of the table. Flashes of today still weighed heavily on my mind. Letting my feet dangle off the edge, all I could think of was that it could have been Jeremy in that casket. Stilling my feet, I felt my stomach knot up, and my shoulders shake. Trying to hold it together, I held onto my stomach, letting my sobs loose.
“Babe?” I looked up and saw Jeremy’s figure outlined by the sunlight. He tossed his cigarette butt on the ground. His voice startled me, and I quickly wiped away the escaping tears. Avoiding eye contact, I licked my dry lips.
“How long have you been standing there?”
“Long enough.” He stood in front of me in his change of clothes. Black riding boots, dark blue jeans, a black thermal pushed up onto his forearms, exposing his intricately patterned tattoos. His cut hung open over his broad chest. The scruff on his square jaw had darkened; the bags under his beautiful gray eyes were prominent. He looked worn down. Jeremy blew out the cloud of smoke he held in his lungs above my head.
“You know I hate that shit.” I leaned back on my hands.
Pushing the hem of my skirt up onto my upper thighs, Jeremy forced my knees apart, making his way between them. Kneading my thigh muscles, his legs were flush with the edge of the table.
“And you know I hate when you keep shit from me.” My swinging legs paused momentarily, “Don’t even think that I haven’t noticed over the past few days that you’ve been distant with me.” He pushed my hair over my shoulder.
“Fuck Jeremy, why wouldn’t I be? Jesus, that could be have been you!” I yelled up at him. Pushing at his chest.
Grabbing my wrists, he pinned them to my sides. “Calm the fuck down, would you?”
“You could have died!” Stupid tears rolled down my face. Jeremy cupped my face, rubbing my wet cheeks with his thumbs.
“But I didn’t.” He gripped the back of my head, forcing his mouth onto mine. He tasted like cigarettes and whiskey. Too stubborn to let him take control of this conversation, I fisted the lapels of his cut, trying to push him away while ripping my mouth from his. Every move I made, Jeremy anticipated. Even blocking my right hand from smacking his face. “I didn’t die, Nicole.” he said, while looking deep into my eyes and I couldn’t look away from him. I couldn’t ignore that electrical current that I felt when he touched me. His touch made my skin burn, in the most delicious way. Spreading my legs wider, I heeled the back of his legs with my bare feet, pulling him into me.
“Then show me you didn’t,” I dared him.
Gripping my hips, Jeremy pulled me up off the picnic table. My legs tightened around his waist. He supported my weight by palming my ass as I wrapped my arms around his neck. Gripping his hair between my fingers, he pulled his mouth from mine, sucking the air through his teeth.
“Jeremy, I need you. Right fucking now, and down the road too. Promise me you won’t go looking for revenge?” He said nothing. Frantically I searched his eyes, no emotion. “Fucking promise me, Jeremy!” I slid down his body, and he didn’t fight me.
“I can’t promise you that.” His jaw tightened and he looked over my head.
“Then you’re obviously not the man I thought you were. You don’t give a shit about me. It’ll always be you and your MC. Risking your life! You’re going to risk losing me? Risk the chance of us ever being anything? Are you that fucking selfish?” I pushed away from him, grabbing my shoes and clutch.
As I tried to walk past him, Jeremy grabbed my upper arm.
“It’s not like that, and you fucking know it. You mean something to me, Nic.”
“Yeah, fucking right.” I walked away from him, towards my car.
I knew then and there what I had to do. I had to get to the Devils before Jeremy did.
JEREMY
Chase backed out of my driveway, dropping me off so I didn’t ride home was a good idea of his, not letting me ride home on my own. I stumbled to the back door. I was about to use my key when I realized Nicole’s car was in the driveway. I figured she came home after our little confrontation earlier. I didn’t think she’d be home after that, more like staying the night at Chase and Roxy’s house. I went to open the door handle, locked. That’s unlike her. She never locks this damn door, no matter how many times I bitch at her.
Jingling my keys in my left hand, I found the house key and walked into a dark kitchen. The house was quiet, Nic was probably sleeping. The dim hallway light led my way to the staircase. Slowly climbing the stairs- more like up one down two, railing, wall, repeat. I saw her bedroom door cracked, with light spilling out. Swallowing my pride, I went to confront her. Knocking lightly on her door, there wasn’t an answer; maybe she fell asleep with the light on. Splaying my fingers on the door, I pushed it open to see her in bed with the covers around her like a damn cocoon.
Feeling guilty about earlier, I rubbed the back of my neck and sat on the edge of her bed.
“Nic, baby.” I gently shook her with a hand on her hip.
Stirring, she moved the covers down.
“Hey, sexy.” Nina sat up, removing the covers from herself. I shot off the bed, reaching for my gun holster.
“Don’t even think about it.” Freezing my hands as I felt the cold metal against my temple. Looking out of the corner of my eye, I saw someone I didn’t expect to see holding a gun to my head- Nicole.
What the fuck? Taking a deep breath, and clenching my cheeks, I looked over her shoulder to see Jax propped against the wall. He had his arm in a sling, and a shit-eating grin.
My eyes looked down at Nicole. Her eyes were unreadable. I spotted her packed bags in the corner of the room. Nina got out of Nicole’s bed, adjusting her tight Harley Davidson halter-top.
“Should have killed you when I had the fucking chance,” I spat out at Jax, ignoring Nicole.
“Well, we have our little sister to thank for that, right, little Nikki?” My eyes flashed to her, Nicole’s eyelids shut hard, then opened back up to me.
“What the fuck are they talking about, Nic?” I yelled at her, she barely flinched.
“You just couldn’t fucking listen to me, could you? I couldn’t let you do it! You couldn’t fucking promise me shit, so I took matters into my own hands. Before the ambush at the club, I found out that Nina is my sister and Jax…” Her small voice trailed off.
“Your brother? You were protecting them? I bet you knew all along. You fucking bitch!” I spat at Nicole. Looking between her and Nina, I was starting to see the slight resemblance. Fuck, how could I have missed it?
“Shut up!”Jax’s voice boomed over ours, causing all eyes in the room to go to him.
“Now, Jeremy, you should be fucking thanking her. She’s taking the debt with the Condemned Angels onto her own shoulders. She loves you too much to let anything bad happen to you.” Now shit was fucking making sense.
“No, she fucking isn’t going anywhere with you, crazy ass motherfucker!” I yelled at them. Nina suddenly grabbed Nicole by her long hair, she yelped out, while reaching back and grabbing onto Nina’s hand.
“Get the fuck off me!” Nicole yelled over her shoulder. I stepped towar
ds her, and Nina raised a gun at me, and Jax walked up behind Nicole- wrapping his arm around her waist under her breasts. My fists clenched at my sides.
“Fuck off, she’s ours now. She always has been…seeing as her real Dad is a part of Devil’s MC. She’s never been apart of you or your club. Now, we’re taking her home.” Jax kept eye contact while shoving his nose into Nicole’s hair, and breathing deep. Motherfucker!
“You won’t even make it out of town,” I threatened him.
“We’ll see. I’m sure they’ll stand down once they realize we have her. You can fill them in.”
“Nicole, tie him up.” Jax pushed her forward, causing her to stumble.
Sitting by the headboard, Nicole grabbed the rope out of Nina’s hands.
Binding my wrists together, she avoided eye contact with me.
“You’re fucking stupid. I could have gotten you out of that shit,” I said through a clenched jaw.
“Yeah, gotten me out, and you in? I won’t fucking lose you, I’ve lost too much. You already know that. You won’t have to choose between the MC and me, ever again.” She tugged on the knotted rope.
“Jesus, Nic, you could have talked to me before taking drastic fucking measures. I’m fucking coming for you.” Nicole’s head shot up.
“No, you won’t. Part of my agreement is to sever all ties with the Condemned Angels. Forget me. Forget whatever we had. It’s over. This is the way it’s going to be, Jeremy.” Jax grabbed Nicole’s arm with his good hand and pulled her away. I strained against my restraints.
“Fucking touch her, I swear to God, I’ll fucking kill you with my bare hands,” I threatened him.
“Pussy,” Jax laughed before he hit me over the head with the butt of his gun. Losing consciousness, everything went dark.
CHASE
“Christ, answer your fucking phone!” I yelled into the receiver. I have been trying to call Jeremy for the last fucking ten minutes because we just spotted Devils running by the clubhouse and what looked like Nicole on the back of a bike.
“He isn’t picking up?” Hunter asked. I peered over my shoulder while trying Jeremy’s phone again.
“Nah. Let’s go over there.” We quickly rode over to Jeremy’s house, only to find him tied to Nicole’s bed knocked the fuck out. What the fuck?
When Jeremy came to, he looked fucking pissed!
“Where the fuck is she?” Jeremy demanded as Hunter and I finished cutting him loose. We all headed down to the kitchen.
“She was spotted with Jax about an hour ago. It didn’t look like she was resisting going with them. Care to fucking explain that shit?” I yelled at him, starting to charge him, but Hunter got between us.
“Fuck!” Jeremy ran his hands through his hair and down his face.
“Nic is related to them.” Please tell me I just heard him wrong.
“What did you fucking just say? What the fuck does that mean? She’s with them? She’s Devils? Has Nicole been fucking spying on us?” I know I was jumping to fucking conclusions, but this shit will crush Roxy if she found out.
“Just hold the fuck up for one second! Fucking hear me out. She’s not with them, never has and never fucking will be. Nicole is Condemned Angel’s property…my fucking property. She went to them in exchange for me.” Jeremy was now pacing the room. Hunter and I just stared at him in silence.
“Well, fuck,” Hunter mumbled, taking a seat at the kitchen table.
“Now what?” I asked Jeremy. I’d never seen him like this before. Jeremy looked like a madman, fucking pacing and thinking out loud. And now that he just stated that Nicole was his, we gotta go kick some motherfucking ass and get her the fuck back home. I thought we just got done with this shit.
“How many Goddamn times do I have to go see the fucking Devils? Let’s get the boys together for an emergency Church meeting. See what Pres says, and go get her,” I offered.
The three of us rode to the clubhouse, calling together the brothers for Church. It really hit home seeing Jeremy to the right of Moretti, replacing Charlie. These motherfuckers are going to pay.
“This is fucking déjà vu,” I complained as we got started.
“Well, we’d do this ten times over for any of our girls. But this shit ends now. I’m fucking done.” Moretti was fucking pissed.
Jeremy
I had to air out Nicole’s family business now. It’s fucking do or die. I cleared my throat.
“Is there something you need to say, son?” My father turned his attention to me, the rest of the table did as well.
“Jax…he’s Nicole’s brother.” I couldn’t even look them in the eye.
“What?” Moretti boomed.
“She’s a Devil?” “She helped them?” “No, fuck you, not our Nicole.” Accusations were being thrown around.
“Just hold the fuck on. He’s a half- brother, and Nina her half-sister. Nina dropped that shit on her right before they ambushed us.”
“So, what the fuck does that mean? She was just waiting to up and leave us?”
“No! Nicole just found out that they are her family. She’s been through enough shit in her life. Nicole is innocent and every man sitting at this table knows it. She took my spot, to settle the bad blood we have with the Devils.”
“Shit.” Dad wiped a hand over his face. I know my Dad thought of Nic as another daughter. She basically grew up in front of him with Roxy. I knew he would never leave her in the hands of the Devils.
“So, what do you want to do about this?” Hunter asked me, his forearms resting on the table. I knew he cared for her too.
“We go in, take them the fuck out, get her and come the fuck home.”
“Well, look where that got us the last time,” Chase added in. Good fucking point.
“We need to keep this shit out of our town, out of our families, and our club,” Moretti stated calmly.
I rubbed the stubble on my face. “Bring in Derrick.” I crossed my arms. Derrick the Nomad was ex-military. All those little pills he popped got him kicked out of the service. He was a top performer, a sniper to be exact. He kept that shit on the down-low, and so did we, just in case we needed to call in a favor.
“We take them out from afar, don’t get our fucking hands dirty.” My Brothers were nodding their heads in agreement.
“Let’s vote on it. All in favor of this say ‘aye’.” Everyone agreed in unison. Thank fuck.
“Well, there you have it, Jeremy.”
“Hell fucking right, let’s go get my Old Lady.” I might as well put that out there now. Everyone stared at me as they paused in mid-standing. “Yeah, you fuckers heard me right. You want to take a vote on it?” I looked them all in the face, and everyone had shit-eating smirks on their faces.
“About fucking time!” Chase slapped my shoulder.
“When do we go?”
“We need to plan this out, let’s have Derrick scope the area. It’ll take time, son.” My father patted my shoulder.
“That’s not what I want to fucking hear. Why the fuck can’t we go get her now. Jax…I don’t trust that motherfucker with Nicole.”
“Nicole is a tough girl, she can fend for herself right now. We have a lot at stake here, Jeremy. Think clearly.” I stretched my neck, the cracking of my bones filled the room, and I stormed out. I have no fucking patience for this shit. Sticking a cigarette between my lips, I dug in my pocket for my lighter and phone.
Me: Meet me out back in 10
Hunter: Alright
JEREMY
“What brilliant fucking plan do you have now?” Hunter started without even me having to say anything.
“I’m not fucking waiting. We are going to get her tonight. The fuck I know what they have planned for her, and I won’t wait. Not another minute. Derrick is on his way- we ride out tonight.” I took a long drag of my cigarette.
Hunter rubbed his hand down his face.
“Fuck.”
“I know you’d do the same exact shit for her, I don’t want to fuck
ing hear it, Hunter.” I narrowed my eyes at him.
“Yeah, I know, she’s got that voodoo pussy.” He wiggled his eyebrows, and I went to charge him, pushing him up against the brick wall.
“You say some fucking shit like that to me ever again, I’ll fucking kill you, Hunter.” I knew he was just bustin’ my balls, but fuck, that shit got under my skin.
“Calm the fuck down. I’m fucking with you. You are right about one thing- I’d do the same. I’m with you, brother.” He extended his hand to me. Taking a deep breath, I let out a cloud of smoke and released his now wrinkled shirt. I took his hand and gave it a hard shake.
After Derrick arrived at my house, we suited up. We were all wearing black pants, thermals, cuts, boots, and black bandanas tied around our lower faces. Checking our ammo, we went to mount our bikes and rode out. My Dad was probably going to kill me, but shit, I was VP now, and Nic is my fucking girl. There is no one in this world who can take her away from me. And anyone who gets in my way is a dead man.
The few hours it took to get to Devil’s stomping ground were almost more than I could handle. With each and every mile my hatred for Jax grew, along with my wanting for Nicole. That motherfucker was dying tonight.
Nearing their clubhouse, we stopped about a quarter mile back. Parking about five hundred yards out, we left the bikes on an off beaten path. Climbing the dirt path, we found we had a perfect view from up here. Derrick set up his gear; lying down on his stomach he lined his eye up with his scope. Hunter and I lay down on either side of him with binoculars in hand.
They must have been celebrating Jax’s homecoming. We could see through the warehouse style windows, the compound was like a night club. There was a large stage with multiple strippers on poles.
“Do you see her?” I pulled down my bandana and wiped the sweat from my forehead.
“No, not yet. I see Jax’s bike, so they are in there, somewhere.” Derrick stole a quick glance over at me. I didn’t like that fucking answer.
There were strobe lights going off, which caught our attention, and a heavy bass rhythm with the rock music. The three of us watched intently, knowing something big was going on.
Ride Hard (Condemned Angels MC Series #2) Page 10