by Hamel, B. B.
I listened to his voice, keeping myself calm, breathing deeply, breathing deeply.
“Who are you?” Clutch asked the man.
“Now I can make a noise?”
“Be a smartass and I’ll waste you.”
“Fine,” the man said. “I’m surprised you don’t recognize me.”
“Why the fuck would I?”
“You kicked me in the face earlier today.”
I stared at the man as it really sank in. “You’re a Rebel?” I asked him.
“Bingo.” He flashed a grin that was missing a few teeth.
Clutch bashed him in the head with his gun. The man fell back but wasn’t knocked out. He groaned.
“You fucking cunt. Don’t look at her,” he said.
“You don’t get it,” the man said. “You really don’t get it.”
“Explain it to me then,” Clutch said, pressing the gun against his skull.
“It’s all over. Everything is over.”
Clutch started saying something, but it was drowned out by the sound of motorcycles roaring into the parking lot.
Dow, Noble, Larkin, and Ford all pulled in, their bikes screaming power and fury. They cut their engines and got off the bikes. Larkin came over to me and wrapped his arms around me.
“What happened?” he asked.
“Two guys,” I said. “Clutch killed one.”
“Damn, man,” Dow said, looking at the body. “Right in the heart. Solid aim.”
I shuddered. There was a lot of blood.
“He says he’s a Rebel,” Clutch said.
Larkin let me go and walked over to the man. “What’s your name?” he asked.
“Leeroy,” he said. “Lavoy was my cousin.” He spit onto the ground.
Clutch growled, but Larkin held a hand up.
“Who ordered this?” Larkin asked.
“Go fuck yourself, you old cunt.”
Larkin nodded, and Clutch bashed him again with his gun. This time Leeroy buckled and dropped over, knocked out.
“Well shit,” Noble said. “The fucking Rebels tried to kill you two.”
“Pack up him,” Larkin said to Dow. “And get rid of that body.”
“Got it.” Dow got to work right away on the dead body.
“Noble, stitch Clutch up and then follow us to the clubhouse. I’m taking Janine back.”
“Got it,” Noble said.
“Fuck that,” Clutch cut in. “I want to talk to this fucking cunt some more.”
“You will,” Larkin said, “soon enough. Let’s get him back and then see what he tells us.”
Clutch grunted but didn’t fight.
“Come on, Janine.” I followed Larkin over to his bike and we climbed on. “You okay?” he asked me.
“I am, thanks to Clutch.”
Larkin nodded. “We owe him a lot, don’t we?”
“Yeah, we do.”
He fired up the bike and we headed back toward the club.
I owed Clutch a lot. I owed him my life twice over, and probably even more than that. Dow could handle the dead body, and Noble and Clutch would get that Rebel fuck back to the clubhouse.
And then we’d find out what the hell was really going on.
Fear was running down my spine, but I could barely feel it. I was in shock, probably from what I had witnessed.
But I owed Clutch everything. That was all I could think about. No matter what, I owed Clutch, and I was going to pay him back, someday, somehow.
30
Clutch
After my fucking face got stitched up, Dow came back with a truck. We helped pile the dead body into it, and he headed out to dump the thing out in the desert where it would never be found.
Meanwhile, Noble shoved the Rebel into the back of their van. He got into the driver’s seat and rolled down the window. “Meet me at the club,” he said. “I’ll send some guys back for my bike.”
“Got it.” He pulled out and I got onto my own bike, kicking it to life.
My fucking face was aching, but I was too angry to feel it. This whole thing had gotten fucked faster than I could have imagined, and yet Janine still thought she was really going through with this marriage.
Truth was, after this little fucking stunt, that marriage was done. I didn’t know what Larkin was thinking, but a direct attempt on his daughter’s life by the club he was trying to patch over basically meant the deal had to be off.
But we still had questions, lots of fucking questions. Fortunately for us, we had someone to ask.
I rode back to the clubhouse and parked outside. The place was mostly empty, which was surprising for one in the morning. Larkin must have cleared it out. I climbed off the bike and spotted Noble pulling the van around the back. I headed over and watched as he pulled it into the alley.
“Help me with him,” Noble said, climbing out.
I opened the back door to the clubhouse and then slid the van door open. Noble came around and grabbed the guy’s feet, yanking him toward us. I grabbed his arms, and together we carried the heavy bastard inside.
The weapons locker was just down the hall. The door was already open, so we carried the fuck right in there. Larkin was leaning up against the wall, and there was a single chair in the middle of the room.
“Place him there, boys,” he said. We managed to get the guy upright and sitting in the chair, and Noble began to tie him up.
I walked over to Larkin. “How is she?”
“Better,” he said.
“You know the fucking wedding is off now, right?”
Larkin gave me a look. “Let me worry about that.”
“Come on, prez,” I said. “The fuckers tried to kill her. She’ll never be safe, married or not.”
“I know,” he said softly. “Shit got fucked faster than I expected.”
“So let’s finish it.”
“We talk to him first. Then we’ll decide.”
I nodded reluctantly. “Fine. Where is she?”
“My office.”
“Get me when he’s awake.”
Larkin nodded as I walked off, back down the hall. I passed the conference room where the council met and paused outside the side door to Larkin’s office, knocking twice.
“Come in,” she called out.
I pushed the door open. “You okay?” I asked her.
Janine was sitting in a chair, staring at the ground. She looked up at me. “Yeah, I’m okay.”
“You did good back there.”
She stood up. “Clutch.”
“No need to thank me,” I said, grinning at her. “Just did my job.”
“You’ve saved me twice now.”
“I’m very good at my job.”
She stepped toward me. “What do we do now?”
I shook my head slowly. “I don’t know. We’ll find out soon, though.”
She looked like she wanted to say something else, but I couldn’t take this shit anymore. I closed the distance between us and pulled her against me, kissing her mouth hard.
She melted into my kiss. It felt right, fucking safe, to hold her in my arms and to kiss her deeply. For the first time in my life, I felt like I had something outside the club worth fighting for.
We kissed for what felt like hours, but it was probably only a minute or two. Finally, she pulled away, resting her head against my chest.
“Okay,” she said. “Okay. I think I’m ready to let it go.”
“Let what go?”
“Everything.”
I wanted to ask what she meant, but the door opened and Larkin stepped in.
If he thought it was strange that I was hugging Janine, he didn’t say so, didn’t even miss a beat actually. “He’s awake,” he said. “You coming?”
“Yeah,” I said, stepping back from Janine.
“I’m coming too,” she said quickly.
Larkin went to argue but just shook his head. “Okay. You’re in this now I guess.”
We followed him back down the hall and into
the weapons locker. It was a pretty big room, about the size of a one-car garage. It was soundproof and full of weapons hanging on the walls in racks, plus ammunition and bulletproof vests.
Noble was leaning against a rack, absently picking at his nails. The Rebel was awake and looking around, clearly a bit groggy.
I shut the door and locked it.
“Well, Leeroy,” Larkin said, “you’ve made a fucking mess.”
“Where am I?” he asked, slurring his words.
“You’re in a locked, soundproof room,” Larkin said, “surrounded by men who want to do you harm.”
He slowly seemed to wake up a bit, looking around. “Ah, shit,” he said.
“That’s right,” Larkin said. “Shit.”
“What do you want from me? Just fuckin’ kill me if you’re gonna.”
“We want answers first,” I said, stepping toward him. “You can save yourself a lot of pain if you tell us what we want to know.”
“Why bother?” he asked. “You’ll just kill me anyway.”
“Maybe, but we might let you live if you play along. You like being alive?”
“Yeah,” he said, “I do.”
“Okay,” Larkin cut in. “Then tell me who put you up to this.”
Leeroy stared at him for a second before shaking his head. “I can’t. I just can’t.”
Larkin nodded at Noble, who pushed himself upright and walked lazily over to Leeroy. Noble slowly unsheathed a long, wicked-looking knife.
“What you doin’?” Leeroy asked.
Noble took the knife and slowly ran it down Leeroy’s thigh, cutting a long, thin red line into his flesh. Leeroy screamed.
“Ah fucking bastards!”
“Leeroy, come on now,” Larkin said as Noble stepped back. “Our boy Noble here is very good with that weapon. He can do this to you all night long, and trust me, it only gets much worse.”
“I’m very creative,” Noble added. “Been wanting to try some stuff out lately.”
Leeroy shook his head. “Fuck, please. I can’t tell you.”
Larkin nodded at Noble, who stepped up and looked over at Janine. “You might want to look away,” he said to her.
She looked back defiantly. “I’d rather watch.”
Noble grinned and then took the tip of one of Leeroy’s ears. With a smooth motion, he lopped it off, and Leeroy screamed.
“Now don’t move,” Noble said. “If you do, I could make it worse. I have to get the other one.”
He moved around Leeroy, took his other ear, and cut him again. Leeroy just screamed and screamed.
Larkin stepped up to him again. “I can make it stop. Tell me who put you up to this.”
“Burke! It was fucking Burke!”
“Does Jetter know?”
“Yes! Yes, he knows. Fuck, he knows.”
“Why?”
“They didn’t explain this shit to me,” he said.
Larkin nodded at Noble, but Leeroy started talking fast.
“Okay, okay. Boys think Jetter wants to take the Demons back. We kill the girl, make you weak, and then take you out and put Jetter in your place. I think that’s the plan, just please stop.”
I shook my head, surprised. “Fuck, that bastard.”
“This was all to take over the Demons?” Janine asked, anger and dismay in her voice.
Larkin walked over to us. “It would make sense. Jetter is known to try shit like that.”
“But the Demons?” I asked. “Just makes no damn sense. We’re too big for that.”
“Jetter thinks he’s invincible.”
“What do we do?” Janine asked.
“I’m not yet sure.”
“There’s nothing you can do,” Leeroy called out. “Jetter is going to outthink all of you fucking bastards. Even if you know, he’ll still win. We’re Rebels for life.”
Larkin nodded at Noble.
Noble plunged the knife deep into Leeroy’s chest. Blood welled up, and Leeroy stared at him, shocked, before collapsing back.
“Good riddance,” Noble said, spitting.
“What a fucking mess,” Larkin said, eyeing the blood and the body. “Get the pledges in here to clean it up.”
I turned to Janine and expected to see her staring, horrified, at the dead body with a knife in its chest, but instead she was just looking thoughtfully back at me. “What?” I asked her.
“Nothing. Just wondering what to do now.”
“You okay?”
She shrugged. “That’s the second guy with a knife in his chest tonight. I guess I’m used to it now.”
Larkin turned toward us. “Come with me, you two.”
He led us back out of the locker and down the hall. We moved into his office, shutting the door behind us.
“Got a plan?” I asked him.
He stepped up to Janine. “I am so, so sorry, Janine,” he said. “You know I love you, and I hate what this has done to you.”
“It’s okay,” she said softly. “I wanted to help. I really did.”
“Actually, there is one more thing I want to ask you to do.”
“Anything,” she said. “Anything to make all this worth it.”
He grinned and looked at me. “What about you, Clutch? Up for one more job?”
I laughed, grinning broadly. “Fuck yes I am.”
And so he told us his plan, and my smile just spread with every word he spoke.
31
Janine
I stared at myself in the mirror, the veil pushed up over my hair, and couldn’t help but laugh.
My wedding day. I never really thought this day would come, despite everything we’d gone through to get here. I wanted it to happen if at least to help save the club that had raised and protected me.
“You look amazing,” Caralee said. “Seriously. If I were a guy, I’d have such a big boner right now.”
I looked at her and laughed. “A big boner?”
“Yeah, you know, a stiffy.”
I shook my head. “Hard cock, Caralee.”
“Whatever. You make me hard.”
I laughed again and looked back in the mirror. “Yeah. I clean up okay.”
“Okay? Shit. Better than okay.”
I had to admit that I did look pretty damn good in my dress. All white with small black accents, it was the perfect biker wedding dress. It was tight along the top, making my boobs look enormous and amazing, and spread out loosely in ribbons of tulle and satin bows.
“You look way better than I did on my wedding day,” Caralee said.
“Well that’s not fair, considering you were basically forced into it.”
She laughed. “Good point.”
There was a knock on the door. Caralee walked over and answered it.
Clutch stepped inside.
I gaped at him, completely surprised. I was always shocked when I saw one of the boys dressed up, but it was especially shocking to see Clutch in a suit. And it was even more shocking that it fit him.
“Wow,” I said.
He grinned, staring at my body, his eyes roaming my length. “Same to you.”
“I can’t believe you guys are wearing suits.”
“Prez ordered it,” he grunted. “Not my thing, but we’re keeping up appearances.”
I nodded. “How’s it going out there?”
“We’re nearly ready for you. You good?”
“Yeah, I’m good.”
He glanced at Caralee and then crossed the room and stopped near me.
“Careful,” I said. “My makeup.”
He smirked. “You look fucking gorgeous,” he said softly.
“Thanks.”
“You sure you want to do this?”
“I don’t have much to do.”
“True.”
I glanced down and noticed a slight bulge at his hip, barely noticeable unless you were looking for it. I glanced back up at his handsome, serious face, and smiled.
“It’s my wedding day. It’s a happy day.”
“When do you need us?” Caralee asked.
“Ten minutes. I’ll knock again.” He left and shut the door.
Caralee gave me a little grin. She looked cute as hell in her little bridesmaid dress, and as much as that smile annoyed me, I couldn’t be mad. “Things still weird between you two?”
“Maybe,” I said. “Maybe not.”
She laughed. “Yeah, okay. I can practically smell the tension between you two.”
“That obvious?”
“Only to people who are breathing.”
I sighed. “I guess it’s pretty messed up to want another man on my wedding day.”
Caralee joined me at the mirror. “In this instance, I think you’ll be okay.”
My mind buzzed back over my father’s plan, and I took a deep breath, steadying myself. I was nervous as hell, I had to admit, but my role in all this was pretty small.
I just had to get up there and say some words. I just had to marry a man. That was it, nothing special, nothing permanent or life-changing.
“Come on, let’s make sure you’re perfect.” Caralee started fussing with my dress and my makeup.
I couldn’t pay much attention to any of it. I knew it mattered, that appearances mattered in this, but I couldn’t really care. None of this was what I wanted, but there I was, getting married anyway.
I thought time was supposed to drag when you were nervous. But when Clutch knocked on the door again, it felt like he had just stepped out of the room.
He opened the door. “Ready?”
“Ready,” Caralee said.
He looked at me. “I’ll be with you.”
“I know.”
I walked forward, taking a deep breath, and stepped out the door, Caralee in tow.
“Caralee, you go first with Burke. Larkin will walk Janine down the aisle.” Caralee nodded.
We moved down the back hallway and stopped near Larkin’s office door. It was open, and inside were Burke and Larkin, both looking uncomfortable in their suits.
“Hello, boys,” I said, stepping inside.
“Wow,” Larkin said. “Honey, you look beautiful.”
“Thanks, Dad.” He took my hand and squeezed it, smiling.