“What do you call yourselves?” Jackie asked. “Right now, plain black jackets don’t really scream badass bikers to me.”
“We haven’t decided on a name or a patch yet, so we’re riding bald,” Ryder said. “Got any ideas?”
“How about Hot Pieces of Ass?” Jackie murmured, looking over the vast array of leather and chrome. “You seem to have picked the best of the bunch. Something you forgot to tell me, Ryder?”
Ryder snorted a laugh. “Yeah. I forgot to tell you you’re joining the club. I need an experienced PI. Part-time or full-time, it’s up to you.” He pointed to a tall, blond giant in the thick of the crowd. “We’ll talk more about it later. We need to get on the road. Go talk to VD. He’ll set you up with a jacket and helmet. I’m guessing you want to come along on the rescue mission, so you can ride with him.”
“VD?” Jackie muttered as she stomped away. “All this man candy and he hooks me up with someone named VD?”
In response to James’s quizzical look, Ryder said, “Viking Dan will be able to handle her. He just moved over here from Norway. Doesn’t talk much, but when he does, people listen.”
He pulled a leather jacket out of his pack and held it out to James. “Yours, if you’re interested. I’m running a clean club. No drugs. No murder. We’re about justice where the system isn’t working. But we’re willing to step into the gray zone. We’ll hurt only those people who deserve it. We’ll steal only from those who can afford it. We’ll protect those who need it and help those who want it.”
“Vigilantes.”
“More like Robin Hood and his merry men. I also managed to bring on board a few ex-military specialists to run a Special Operations Department.”
Military? Special Ops? James frowned. Who the hell was Ryder? Not an ordinary biker. Was he the deep-undercover operative who had arranged for James to join the club? The one who had called with the now-or-never opportunity? The one he’d never met?
“You forget to tell me something? Maybe that I wasn’t the only rat in Hades?”
Silence.
James tried another tactic. “You’re gonna mix ex-military with Rex’s castoffs? How will that work? Oil and water, my friend.”
Ryder shook his head. “I’m giving them a chance to clean up their lives and make a difference. Everyone understands that any unauthorized illegal activity is a guaranteed dismissal. They get paid by the job and they don’t need to worry about the cops.” He raised an eyebrow and waggled the jacket. “Speaking of which…we could use someone with your skills.”
James stared at the jacket and mulled over the opportunity hanging from the tips of Ryder’s fingers. He wouldn’t have to give up his pursuit for justice. He could still clean up the streets, put the bad guys in jail and help people who, like him, had been screwed by the system.
And if he didn’t accept Ryder’s offer, what then? He hadn’t done anything worthy of serious discipline. Likely he would get a slap on the wrist and a yearlong posting in the frozen North. And then he could go back. Rejoin the homicide team. Return to his high-stress life of rules and order, time clocks and traffic jams. Back to a diet of coffee and donuts. Maybe the occasional night with Lana.
But if he put on the jacket, he would be crossing a line, and there would be no going back to proper law enforcement. His time would be his own. He could live free. Ride free. See Lana whenever, however and wherever he wanted.
He had wasted time considering the other option.
“Fucking embarrassing having a jacket with no patch.” James took the jacket from Ryder’s outstretched hand. “And a club with no name.” He shrugged on the jacket and settled it on his shoulders.
“Perfect fit.” Ryder slapped him on the shoulder. “And you can take Cuss’s bike. He’ll stay here and arrange to get your vehicles back to Vancouver.”
“What’s he riding?”
“Your V-Rod. He misappropriated it from Hades’s lot at my instruction. I thought you might need another set of wheels. Lucky for you, I managed to find a key.”
“I’m sure you did,” James muttered. “Theft and more theft. I can see we’re off to a good start.”
A grin split Ryder’s face. “Welcome to the beginning of life in the gray zone. We’re the rogues of the street.”
“Rogue riders.”
Ryder gave James a considered look. “Good name for the club.”
“So we got a name?”
“We got a name. Now let’s go get your girl.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
“Move it, Roxie.”
Levi shoved Lana into the drab motel room and slammed the door behind him, cutting her off from the comforting hum of traffic and the hushed murmur of voices.
Lana trembled as she turned to face Levi, her heart aching from thudding a warning she had not heeded.
For the longest time they stared at each other.
Although his face was painfully familiar, his gray eyes glittered with a cold, feverish light so unlike the warmth that had drawn her to a young, ambitious biker ten years ago. But that Levi was gone and the sooner she came to terms with it, the closer she would be to finding a way forward.
“Crazy little bitch.” He backhanded her, sending her tumbling to the floor with the force of his blow.
“I’ve been dreaming of this moment since the day you ran out. You fucking humiliated me. Not only did I take flack for not being able to control my own wife, I lost respect. I was kicked out of Fang’s inner circle. I almost lost my fucking patch.” He kicked her side and then his foot came down on her chest, squeezing the air from her lungs.
Dazed, breathless, Lana fought blindly, legs and fists flailing. She made contact with something, and he swore, then pressed his weight into her rib cage.
Too hard.
Her lungs burned. The edges of her vision faded to black. Her limbs dropped heavily to the floor, and she concentrated her energy on sucking air into her chest.
And then he released her. Sweet, clean air filled her lungs in a rush, and she curled up on the floor, coughing and choking.
“I’ve spent a long time cleaning up your messes,” he snarled. “And I’m fucking tired of it. After I was forced to apologize to the brothers, I hunted Scooter down. Didn’t take much to make him scream. He bought his way into the Wolverines, but he didn’t take time to learn the rules.”
“Oh God.” Lana’s heart stuttered. Scooter had joined the club as a prospect only a few months before she escaped. A trust-fund baby wanting to rebel, he couldn’t handle the violence and especially not the abuse dished out to the clubhouse slave. Underestimating their newest recruit because of his slight frame and gentle manner, the Wolverines didn’t pay him much attention, keeping him around only to extort his monthly trust-fund payment. And then one day, without fanfare or warning, he wrapped Lana in an old tarp, hid her in the hollowed-out backseat of his truck and drove away.
“What did you do to him?” Part of her didn’t want to know, but she owed Scooter her life. The least she could do was remember him in death.
Levi gave a rough laugh. “Question is, what didn’t I do to him? He learned the hard way not to fuck with Wolverine property.”
Lana’s stomach clenched so violently bile rose in her throat. “You killed him.”
“I would have killed him. I earned my blood patch after you left so I had the right to do it. But Fang wanted his money so he ordered me to leave him alive. I beat him up so bad he’ll remember it for the rest of his life—or at least until he stops sending me his monthly payments. And it’s on your shoulders. You knew better than to take that ride.”
Fear slithered through her veins and wrapped itself around her heart. She’d made a colossal mistake. Levi had been cruel and abusive, but never a killer. He’d crossed the line, and from his cold, detached gaze as he talked about taking lives, she knew it was a one-way trip. There would be no talking to him. No reasoning with him. No clever plan to make him change his mind. She had been foolish and naive in the extre
me.
Run. The word screamed through her head, blocking out Levi’s laughter, urging her to save herself before Levi killed her too.
In one swift move, she rolled and pushed herself to a crouch, then she threw herself at him in a tackle that would have made her football-crazed father proud.
“Fuck.” Levi lost his balance and stumbled back into the dresser. But he was quick. Before Lana reached the door, he grabbed her around the waist and threw her on the bed. Then he climbed on top of her, kneeling astride her hips, pinning her with his body.
“You never appreciated what I did for you.” Spittle flew from his lips as he shot out his words in a fury. “I took you away from that shit-hole town we grew up in and from a family who never gave a damn about you. I helped you escape. I gave you money, a place to live and a life you loved. We were good together.”
Once, she would have agreed with him just to avoid the inevitable confrontation and the consequences that flowed from it. But not now. Not after discovering there was something stronger than fear…
Don’t lose hope.
“That was when I believed in you,” she snapped. “After all those years of being ignored by my family, I had no self-esteem. I believed you when you said you loved me. I believed you when you said you were sorry when you hit me. I believed when you said you were going to make a success of your life. I just never realized your idea of success was running drugs and weapons for the Wolverines. I never realized your idea of love was handing me over to the Wolverines and laughing when they beat me.”
Levi’s lips curled into a snarl. “You were supposed to help me get ahead: give a few blow jobs, run the weapons, help with the deals. Do what old ladies are supposed to do. Instead, you kept trying to run away. If you’d kept your mouth shut and done what you were told, Fang wouldn’t have had to intervene. You were the only old lady he decided to mark.”
Lana shuddered. He was right. She had brought it on herself. The mark meant Levi’s discipline could be collectively enforced and that she would be returned to the Wolverines if she was caught running away. It had worked only too well.
“You could have stopped him,” she said. “You could have protected me.”
“Jesus Christ.” He raked his hand through his hair. “You still don’t understand. If I had refused to mark you, I never would have become a Wolverine.”
Furious, Lana struggled against the weight of his body. “You bought that membership with my blood and your soul. Was it worth it? Do you have all the money, power and glory you ever wanted? Do they treat you as a king, Levi? Because that’s what you were here. You were the Gray Skull’s leader. Everyone looked up to you. They respected you. Even me. And you gave it all up to lick Fang’s boots.”
“I fucking saved you,” Levi shouted, his face red and his lips white with rage. “I married you so you wouldn’t have to be the house pet. And what thanks did I get? Another fucking humiliation.”
Bile rose in Lana’s throat. Ten years worth of fear and anger coiled in her stomach. She clenched her fists above Levi’s hands clasped tight around her wrists and willed herself to stop talking. Every instinct told her to stop. She had pushed him too far, and now that he was blood patch, she was playing with her life. But the words kept coming. Words she’d bottled up since the day they’d walked into the Wolverine clubhouse. Words she had to say, even if they were the last ones she uttered.
“Why don’t you be honest for once? You married me so you didn’t have to share me. Not because you wanted to protect me. Not because you loved me. Because you’re weak and insecure, and you didn’t think I’d stay with you once I got a taste of someone else. You’ve always been insecure. You hit me at the beginning because you were worried I would leave you for someone else. You hit me in the middle because you couldn’t control me. And you hit me in the end because you knew you had lost me.”
“You know what your problem is, Roxie?” Holding her wrists over her head with one massive hand, Levi undid his belt buckle with the other and whipped the belt out of the loops in one long pull. “You have a big fucking mouth. You always talked too much. And you always thought you were better than me.”
He cracked the belt like a whip, the sound echoing in the tiny room. “I’m gonna put an end to that right now. I’m gonna teach you a lesson you’ll never forget. Then I’m gonna take my knife—the knife Fang gave me when I became full patch—and I’m gonna mark up that pretty face so no one will ever want you again. After that, you’ll be damn grateful for any attention I give you.”
His words had the desired effect. Terror burst from her chest and she screamed. Over and over. Until Hang Nail pounded on the door and warned Levi he was attracting unwanted attention.
Levi’s eyes glittered fever-bright as he pulled the knife from his boot. “Looks like I’ll have to gag you. I haven’t even touched you and Hang Nail is beating down my door. Imagine how you’ll scream when I cut you. We can’t have someone calling the cops.”
She shook her head violently. No gag. No cutting off her air. No cutting off her words—the only weapon she had left.
“If you gag me, you can’t kiss me,” she whispered, fighting back the wave of nausea in her gut.
Levi scowled. “Kiss you? Why the fuck would I do that?”
“Maybe you’re right. Maybe there’s still something left of what we had together. Maybe it got lost in the excitement of joining the Wolverines and we drifted apart. But you knew in your heart it was still there. That’s really why you married me.”
His expression wavered between suspicion and longing. Finally he grunted. “Don’t think this will change my mind about cutting you. I can’t have you running away again ’cause if you do I’ll have to kill you or I’ll never live it down.”
Lana’s stomach clenched violently as she struggled to soften her voice. “You were my first, Levi. I’ve never forgotten that first time. Put down the knife and kiss me like you did that day by the lake.” She wiggled a little, testing his hold. His weight was like a boulder holding her down, his knees pinning her to the bed.
“You think I’m stupid?” he snorted. “I know you. The minute I put the knife down, you’ll stab me in the gut. The knife stays in my hand.”
Damn. He did know her well.
He leaned down and pressed his lips to hers in a hard, bruising kiss. Wet and slimy. Tasting of ashes and stinking of death.
Lana shuddered and hid her revulsion by squeezing her eyes shut.
“I’ll beat you first,” he mused after he pulled away. “Then I’ll fuck you. Then cut you. Then fuck you again.”
She forced herself to be still, think her way out. But her mind blanked, weighted under silent screams of terror. Gritting her teeth, she shut off her frantic brain and let instinct take the lead. “Oh, Levi,” she breathed, opening her eyes to gaze up at him. “Kiss me again.”
He stared at her, weighing her words, and then he smiled, a stark baring of stained, yellow teeth beneath the thin red slash of his cruel lips.
She knew before he even moved that the next kiss was meant to harm. He leaned over and smashed his mouth against hers. Cruel and brutal. Teeth scraping, tongue plundering, lips bruising. She shuddered at the pain, but still she opened her mouth and let him in.
Then she bit him.
Her teeth sank through his bottom lip and he howled in pain, dropping the knife as he tried to pry her teeth away. The metallic tang of blood flowed over her tongue, making her gag. But still she held on, biting so hard her teeth scraped together through the soft flesh of his lip.
Levi screamed. He yanked her hair and punched and slapped at her head until she saw stars instead of the rage in his eyes. Only when he slid his hand around her throat and squeezed, cutting off her air, did she consider letting go. And only when her vision began to fade did she release him.
Levi shot back down the bed, clutching his torn, bleeding lip. Head still fuzzy from lack of oxygen, Lana lifted her legs to her chest and hammered them into his groin. Levi ho
wled and fell backward off the bed.
“You’re gonna fucking die for that, Roxie.” He staggered to his feet and reached for the knife. “This marriage is fucking over.”
James slowed his motorcycle to a stop outside the tiny motel nestled at the foot of the mountain. Viking Dan pulled up on one side, Jackie clinging to his back, and Ryder pulled up on the other.
“Last one on the list,” Jackie said.
James scanned the parking lot and his heart dropped. No motorcycles. Just a few cars and a truck and trailer. Damn it. Where were they? Ryder’s gang and the local police had checked almost every hotel and motel along every route leading to the border and no one had reported seeing a group of bikers. Did they push on? Were they already in the US? No. He couldn’t consider failure. They had been riding longer than he had and he was already so stiff his feet were going numb. They had to have stopped somewhere.
Ryder returned from a quick reconnaissance. “Nothing. Desk clerk has only been here an hour and doesn’t report seeing any bikers. He didn’t have a number for the clerk who was here earlier.”
Viking Dan sighed. “I guess we move on.”
“Wait.” James scrubbed his hands over his face. “There are no other motels for at least an hour. If it were me, this would be a good place to fuel up and lay low. It’s out of the way and their legs would be hurting something fierce by now. Let’s take a quick break and stretch. I’ll do another walk-around.”
He made a tour of the parking lot, peering into the few cars in the stalls, and then walked the perimeter of the motel, checking the grass and earth for prints. His mood darkened as he completed his circuit. Where the fuck was she? Had he totally misjudged the situation? Was Levi stupid enough to head straight to the border?
Barely Undercover: Legal Heat, Book 2 Page 25