Fighting Mac (Charon MC)

by Khloe Wren

  Without saying a word, I took my helmet off and handed it to Mac to deal with. Then, when he gave me a smirk and a shake of his head, I stormed off toward Marie’s front door. I headed straight for the back room, where I dumped my bag and did a hair check in the mirror. While I did a quick re-do of my pony-tail Marie poked her head in.

  “You okay, sugar? You had this thunderous expression when you came in.”

  I gave her a grin. “Oh, that was just because Mac was being a tease. I’m fine. Thanks for coming over yesterday, it was nice to just sit down and chat.”

  She smiled. “It was nice.” Her gaze narrowed on me as she ran it over me. “Would have preferred to be meeting up to shoot the breeze with you, rather than checking how wounded you are.”

  I winced. “You and me both.”

  Marie had released her hold on my face as I spoke and now she pulled me in for a tight hug. “Still think you should be in bed resting up, but I need the help so I’ll just shut up and make sure you don’t push yourself too hard today.”

  “I promise I’ll let you know if I start feeling ill, or super tired.”

  She nodded. “Good. Now, c’mon, sugar. We got work to do.”

  With a smile, I followed her out to the cafe, to start my work day. It was about two hours later when Scout came barreling into the place like his ass had caught fire and we had the only water in town. His fierce gaze quickly found both Marie and me before he strode over to where Mac was leaning against a wall near the back of the place. Scout leaned in close to Mac’s ear and said something that had my man frowning deep enough I could clearly see the expression from across the room.

  “Sugar, how about you take these coffees over to the boys and have a break? See if you can find out what’s got their panties in a twist this time.”

  With a nod, I absently took the tray from Marie and headed over to them. I set the drinks on the table nearest them before I said anything.

  “Mac? Scout? Why don’t you sit down and have a drink?”

  I frowned when Scout grabbed Mac’s arm, halting him when he went to move toward me. He growled something about “club business”. Mac responded with something about learning from past mistakes. I stayed silent as they glared at each other for a while, then just when I was about to go back to Marie, Scout released his hold with a sigh and they both came over. Mac held a chair out for me to sit in, then both men seated themselves and reached for their coffees.

  “For the record, I don’t like this shit.”

  Mac raised an eyebrow at Scout. “You want a repeat of what happened with Silk because of old traditions about who gets to know club business?”

  Scout shocked a gasp out of me when he actually growled at Mac. “It keeps the women safe if they don’t know shit. They can’t rat us out if they don’t fucking know anything.”

  “I’m not saying we start airing every damn thing. But stuff that’s relevant, that affects someone’s safety–no matter if they’re a prospect, old lady or daughter of the club–they should be told about it.”

  I sat sipping my coffee, wondering if I should leave them to their argument. “Would you like me to give you two a few minutes?”

  While still staring at Scout, Mac reached over and wrapped his large palm around my forearm. Okay, guess I wasn’t going anywhere then. This scary silence was worse than the arguing. With a sigh, I spoke up again.

  “Any word on Sledge? I’d certainly feel better knowing he wasn’t roaming the streets.”

  With a huff, Scout readjusted his bandana and scanned the cafe. No one was anywhere near us. “Sorry, darlin’ he’s still on the loose. However, we did work out how he got free.”

  I carefully put my coffee down before I turned my full attention to the Charon president. “And how was that?”

  “Seems we have a rat problem. Well, us and Satan’s Cowboy’s both.”

  “Rats?” I frowned as my gaze flicked between the two men. I needed to find a book or something that would teach me this biker code they seemed to speak all the damn time.

  Mac’s palm stroked up and down my arm before he spoke. “A rat, as in someone who was one of us but was betraying us to someone else.”

  “Ah. Okay. Was I right? Was it whoever was missing?”

  Scout shook his head with a low curse. Mac grinned proudly as he spoke. “Told you she had it figured out.”

  The president turned a serious expression on me. “We went over the video feeds from cameras hidden around the clubhouse. No one but me and Keys know where the fuckers are. Actually, it wouldn’t surprise me if Keys added some even I don’t know about. The paranoid bastard put so much security on accessing the feeds, it took a while to get to it. Then some more time to go over it all but we’ve now managed to piece together most of what went down both last night and this morning.”

  I stiffened until Mac moved to lace his fingers in with mine, giving me a squeeze.

  “We know Em sold you out. But I don’t think she realized what the fuck she was getting involved with. It was the Satan’s Cowboy’s prospects that killed our boys, and we assume Em. No cameras outside the fence line. Although, I’m sure Keys has that covered now. It was also one of those prospects that fucking busted Sledge out this morning.”

  I frowned, again, as my mind reeled with the details. “How’d he manage that on his own?”

  “He had help. Two of the club whores were with him.”

  At Scout’s words, Mac flinched and suddenly couldn’t look me in the eye. He tried to pull his hand away but I tightened my grip, not letting him. “What does that have to do with you?”

  Scout answered my question when Mac stayed silent, grinding his jaw.

  “Because the two whores are ones known for liking Mac’s cock.”

  The crude language had me wincing but before I could react to the information, Mac cursed and rose up from the table, jerking free from my hold on him, before he stormed off outside. What the fuck?

  “I’m not sure I understand what just happened.”

  I didn’t think Mac had cheated on me with one of them. He wasn’t that sort of man. But our relationship was so new, and we’d gotten together under pretty extreme circumstances. So, I could be wrong.

  “The stupid bitches were jealous of you and wanted you gone so Mac would go back to using them. Mac seems to think that makes this shit his fault.”

  I rubbed my chest. That hurt. I knew Mac hadn’t been celibate before meeting me but still, listening to Scout talk about him screwing whores hurt. “Why are you telling me all this again?”

  “Because we kept information from Eagle and Silk and it nearly got her killed. More than once. Mac seems to think if you know who’s gunning for you, you’ll be safer.”

  Clearly Scout didn’t agree. At least not fully. With a small nod, I rose from the table. This was all too much to process.

  “I gotta get back to work.”

  Without looking back, I went behind the counter and started giving the coffee machine a cleaning. One, it, no doubt, didn’t need. I couldn’t believe the mess my life had become. And I knew it was only going to get worse. Especially, since I apparently wasn’t safe at the clubhouse like everyone had promised me.

  Mac

  I stormed around to the cafe’s parking lot, where I started pacing. I’d brought Zara to the clubhouse to be safe. Instead it’d put her in more danger. Because of me and my fucking cock. Fucking whores. They knew the score. At least, they were supposed to know the score. And that was, that they were there to ease the brothers’ needs. Not get fucking attached to any one of us. Dammit! And I’d stormed out before Scout could tell me what had happened to the bitches. I needed to be sure they were gone from the clubhouse before I took Zara back there.

  I scrubbed my hands over my head. It really was past time I bought a house. I wasn’t a prospect anymore, and didn’t have to live at the clubhouse. Maybe something near Eagle and Silk? The club could work on buying all the houses on that little dead-end street they lived on, and
create a mini gated community for club brothers and their old ladies. It would be easier to keep everyone safe that way.

  My phone ringing ended that line of thought, especially when I saw it was from a private number. There were few possibilities of who would be calling me from an unlisted number, none of them someone I wanted to speak with.

  “What?”

  “Jacob Miller, you are a hard man to get hold of.”

  Mr. Smith. Our FBI contact was at the top of the list of who I’d guessed would be calling. And the reason I answered the damn call. I’d heard stories of how the feds would come arrest their undercovers if they went silent on them. That was the last fucking thing I needed right now.

  “I can’t talk right now.”

  “Oh, I think you can. You are, after all, all on your own, pacing around a parking lot. Is there a reason you haven’t been keeping me updated with the club’s activities?”

  My hand tightened on my phone as I pondered how to answer without just telling him to fuck off. I was pretty sure that wouldn’t go over well. When I heard a crack, I eased up the pressure. Breaking my phone wasn’t going to help any.

  “Any reason why you’re spying on me?”

  “I needed to talk to you, so I simply watched you until you were alone. You, Mr. Miller, are not alone much these days. Now, I’ve answered your question, how about you answer mine?”

  I moved to lean against the back wall of the cafe, where I could keep an eye on anyone approaching. I did not want this conversation overheard.

  “What activity in particular are you wanting to know about?”

  “Don’t play dumb with me. You won’t like how that ends. I’m talking about the little trip the Charon MC made down south in the early hours of last Saturday morning. How you have one Ms. Claire Flynn in your custody, yet didn’t inform me about it. You need to turn that girl over to us. We’ll take very good care of her, I assure you.”

  I counted to ten, trying to stay fucking calm, when what I really wanted to do, was to figure out where he was watching me from, go there and pound him into the ground.

  “Not sure I trust the FBI with an actual person, Mr. Smith. Considering how fast the L.A. mob knew about the information we gave you, I wonder how long it would be before the Iron Hammers knew about you having Claire? And how long until someone got to her and took her out? She’s safe where she is.”

  “We could simply come into that cafe and arrest her, you know.”

  That was a good point. “Then why haven’t you?”

  “Because we don’t want to lose you boys as assets.”

  I scoffed at the idiot. “Should have thought about that before you leaked that info to the mob, then. It left a bad taste in our mouths.”

  “Yes, that was unfortunate. The FBI is not unlike any other organization. We have our disloyal members. I believe you’re familiar with that?”

  It took all my willpower to not growl out loud. “Sounds like you know everything without my help. Not sure why you’re even talking to me. Cut the shit and tell me what you really want, since you know I won’t hand over my woman to you.”

  “Ah, so she is warming your bed. Good. I need you to tell me everything she’s told you about the Iron Hammers. And about the work her father was doing.”

  I froze at that reference. “What has her father got to do with anything? He was murdered by the Iron Hammers three years ago, along with her mother.”

  Sure, after Zara told me about the murders I’d started to wonder about the possibility that her father may have been up to something involving the club, but it wasn’t a priority to work that shit out. He was dead and buried. Finding and eliminating Sledge was my number one priority right now. Well, that was my number two. My first priority was keeping Zara safe.

  “You are not that naive, Jacob. Or that stupid. I need you to use Claire to dig into her father’s dealings. There’s a link there between him and the club.”

  “Why don’t you question the prospect that went away for his murder?”

  “We did. He didn’t know anything about the crime. He was a scapegoat the club used, nothing more.”

  I got the impression Mr. Smith knew more than he was telling me. But I also knew he wasn’t going to tell me whatever it was, so I didn’t bother trying to get him to.

  “I can try, but Claire doesn’t know anything. She still believes that it was a robbery gone wrong that got her parents killed.”

  “I very much doubt that. A robbery where nothing at all was taken? Not even jewelry? And where the getaway vehicle is a bike? She can’t be that stupid.”

  “Trauma and grief will allow the brain to believe all sorts of things, Mr. Smith.”

  He sighed into the phone. “Get me something, or we’ll be forced to pick her up and get the information ourselves. Understand?”

  At that I did growl, unable to hold back my anger. “Don’t you ever threaten my woman.”

  “Mr. Miller, I am not threatening anyone. Just giving you some facts. Goodbye.”

  I hung up the phone and nearly tossed it across the parking lot. Fuck! Forcing myself to pocket the phone before I gave in to temptation smash the thing, I started looking around for something I could fucking hit. I needed to vent in a bad fucking way, but there was nothing for me to channel it at.

  “How about you head up to the gym and I’ll take Zara home?”

  I spun to see Scout coming toward me with Zara walking beside him. My gaze landed on her and refused to leave. She was so fucking gorgeous. And innocent. So fucking innocent in all of this. And she looked a little shell-shocked, making me wonder if maybe Scout had been right and we shouldn’t have told her so much about what was going on. But, dammit, she needed to know that the whores at the clubhouse weren’t loyal, that we had some rats that we needed to clean out. I winced. Technically Eagle, Taz and I were rats. Really fucking bad ones because we hadn’t told the feds one single thing about the Charons yet.

  I ran my gaze over her face and noticed her skin was more pale than normal. She loved her parents. What would it do to her if we found out her father was a piece of scum like Sledge? It would fucking destroy her. How the fuck was I going to do this without actually involving her?

  “I’m not leaving her side, Scout. We got anyone downstairs I can work out with?”

  With a chuckle, Scout shook his head. “Sorry, brother. Cowboys took the others with them.”

  Zara cleared her throat, cutting Scout off. “I can go to the gym with you. Work out for a bit, while you do your thing.”

  I nod. “That’ll work. Let’s go grab our gear and head over there. What happened to the women?”

  I needed to know they wouldn’t be waiting at the clubhouse when we returned later. “They haven’t been stupid enough to show their faces yet. The prospects on the door know what to do with them if they do show up.”

  I gave Scout a nod. “Good. C’mon, babe.”

  I held out my hand and she came straight to me, no hesitation.

  “I’ll leave you to it then. I’ll catch you both later.”

  Scout went to his ride and headed off as I tucked Zara under my arm and led her over to my bike.

  “You know, how I said I couldn’t remember everything that happened while the Iron Hammers had me? Well, I just remembered something.”

  I paused in the process of getting out her helmet to look over at her. “What’d you remember?”

  “When I was cuffed to the bed, I told Sledge that I hadn’t made my report to the police official. That I wasn’t going to, so there was no reason for him to hurt me. He responded that I’d caused enough trouble already and I was going to pay for it on my back. But he also said something about my dad. He said it’s especially sweet after what your pops did. Then earlier you were talking about their murders, now I’m wondering if there isn’t something more to it.”

  I forced myself to move, to hand her a helmet before I spoke. This was the perfect opportunity. “It’s probably worth looking into.”

>   With a huff, she put the helmet on and buckled it. “I have no idea where to start. Would be easier if we could just beat it out of Sledge, huh?”

  She gave me a smirk as she tried to joke but I couldn’t muster even a smile at the moment. She slid up against me, rubbing her soft body against mine as she leaned up to cup my face in her palms. “What’s wrong, babe?”

  “I’m worried about you, about how you’ll handle whatever dirt we dig up on your father.” I leaned down and kissed her before she could respond, not wanting her to respond.

  “C’mon, bunny. Let’s get moving.”

  Zara

  By the time we got back to the clubhouse after spending time at the gym it was well past dark. I snuggled into Mac’s side as he wrapped his arm around my shoulder when we came into the main room. Though there were people all over the place, it wasn’t as loud or noisy as last night. But it was clearly party time. Jake, or I guess it was Bash now, was sitting in one of the booths with a woman on each side of him. He was kissing the hell out of one, while the other was working to get his jeans undone. Heat raced over my cheeks when she pulled his dick out and lowered her mouth to suck on it. Guess this was his party for his new road name, so he didn’t have to do any prospect work tonight.

  “You don’t need to be looking at another man’s cock, bunny.”

  “Trust me, it wasn’t intentional. Looks like he’s not so bashful anymore.”

  That got a chuckle out of him as he guided me over to the bar. We’d both had showers back at the gym, but I’d only had my work clothes to change into. “Mac?”

  “Yeah, babe?”

  “I’m just gonna run up and change out of my work stuff, ‘k?”

  He pulled me around and kissed me, hot and heavy like always. He pulled back with a grin as I stayed where I was, trying to get my brain to re-engage.