Inflamed: A Shadow Riders MC

by Kiki Leach

  She looked up at me for approval. I blinked once and nodded to let her know that it was okay to speak to him.

  "Yes," she said.

  "Good--"

  "How old are you?" she asked, just as he was picking himself up from the ground.

  He stopped midway at her question and I tugged on her hand.

  "How old does he look?" I asked her, albeit jokingly.

  "Old. But not as old as Pop-pop."

  From across the way, Eightball burst into a fit of laughter. River glared at him and snarled. And just like any snake in the grass, he slithered off into the night.

  "He's not that old," I said to Avery. "He's just old enough." River's eyes met mine again and from the look he gave me, as if he literally wanted to devour me whole right then and there, I wanted to faint right at the base of his feet. Instead, I exhaled.

  "They're all rounded up for you," Styx called out from the door, distracting us.

  River nodded. "We’ll put your girl down before you have to meet ‘em, yeah?” he said. Then he pointed his head toward the club. “You ready for this shit?"

  I wrapped my hands around Avery's ears and shook my head. "No." He made a face and took a step back. "But seeing as I don't have much of a choice..."

  He threw his hand in front of himself and bent forward. "After you two, doll."

  I smiled at him, then turned back toward the club and silently whimpered.

  Here I am, walking straight back into the open mouth of hell.

  Chapter Ten

  After placing Avery in bed and watching her fall asleep all over again, River and I left her in the room with Verna and returned to the front of the club.

  One by one, each member lined up along the wall on the opposite side of the room like soldiers at River's presence. Or better yet, like paper ducks inside a shooting gallery.

  I chewed down on the inside of my lip until it almost bled, only stopping when I felt River's large, calloused hand gliding down to the small of my back. I turned my eyes up to him and he glared at me just before bending his mouth down to my ear and whispering, "Just be cool. Alright?"

  "I think if I were anymore cool right now, I could freeze snow."

  He snickered. "Just be you, darlin'. Like you are with me. These motherfuckers won't know how take your shit, but I know that you can give it right back to 'em ten-fold." His fingers curved into me and my breath caught just as I sucked in air in an attempt to calm my bubbling nerves. "Let's go."

  As we shuffled across the room, he pointed to the first man on the very end and nodded; a man so tall and wide, with the muscles in his arms bulging out from beneath his shirt, that he somehow managed to make Dog the Bounty Hunter look like a soft and fluffy, cuddly teddy bear in comparison. His eyes were hazel, his nose was somewhat smashed in like a bottle cap and his waist-length hair was stringy, grey, and looked as if it hadn't been washed in a few good years, which might have explained the leather do-rag. He was covered in bright, colorful tattoos from his neck all the way down to his fingers, and on his right arm, SHADOW RIDERS, CBC was diagonally written in bright, bold green letters, matching the color of the letters on the back of his cut.

  "This is Tiny," River told me.

  "Tiny?" I almost wanted to laugh, because, really? But given that he could've crushed my windpipe with just two fingers if I even looked at him sideways, I thought it was better to just smile and nod instead.

  "Yeah, bitch, Tiny," he shot back. I flinched at his brash and unapologetic use of the word toward me and held my tongue. He made a face. "Biggie Smalls was already taken." I realized fairly quickly that this was certainly not a man to mess with, no matter how much I wanted to kick him in the side of the head for referring to me in that way. River's fingers dug into me and when I looked over him, his entire body had stiffened, his jaw was locked as he grinded his teeth and his other hand was balled into a tight fist. Tiny glanced at him for less than a second, then turned back to me and leaned his head. "So you're the bitch that's got this motherfucker's nose all wrapped up inside that goddamn pussy of yours?"

  I blinked, startled. "What?"

  "Your pussy, bitch," he said again, crossing his arms over his chest. "The sweet spot that's just achin' between those goddamn 'fuck me' thighs of yours? This son of a bitch has clearly been waitin' to get up inside all of that since this mornin'. Maybe even before then when you were--"

  "Forget this asshole," River blurted. "He's a no good motherfucker when he's had too goddamn much to drink."

  "Shit, VP," hollered Blue from the other end. "Don't blame the booze. This son of a bitch doesn't need a goddamn excuse to act like such giant motherfucker to anybody that walks through here. It's just in his goddamn DNA."

  "Your boy's right, Riv,” Tiny mentioned in a slick tone. “I don't need any kind of goddamn excuse. But the shit's not to say that I don't finally fuckin' have one."

  River dropped his hand from my back and eased in front of me to stare him down. "And just what in the fuck is that shit supposed to mean, asshole?"

  Tiny opened his hands and smiled. "Means nothin', VP. Not a goddamn fuckin' thing." His eyes slid over to me once more before he bumped past River and lightly staggered to the other side and out of the club.

  River watched the door until he heard the rumbling of a motorcycle, then turned back to me and shrugged. "Like I said, just forget that motherfucker, alright? He's pissed about alota shit goin' down, not just about you bein' here."

  "Okay." I didn't really believe him, but the truth was that it didn't really matter all that much if I had.

  "Come on."

  He walked me over to the next member of the club, the treasurer, Snake, whose slithering tattoos, split tongue, jagged teeth and mismatched blue and green eyes quickly explained away his name. Though he didn't really manage to say all that much to me, unlike Tiny, he was actually pretty polite. As much as a biker can be, I suppose.

  After that was Meathead (self-explanatory), followed up by Bullet; with a bald head, pierced tongue and a set of earrings the size of saucers weighing down both lobes, he got his name thanks to the number of times he had been capped in just about every place on his body, including his skull (which is why he kept his head shaved), and the fact that he managed to outlast each one despite bleeding out on a few occasions during shoot-outs with rival clubs. His chestnut colored eyes gave off a complete shyness about him that his more than outgoing personality sure as hell didn’t seem to in the least.

  Next came Shiver, whose bright blue eyes were just as expressive as the smile plastered across his face, and whose hair was cut just enough to let me see the specs of white growing up past the strands of sandy blond.

  He took my hand inside both of his and kissed the back of it. "Nice to meet you, darlin’,” he said. “Now this may be inappropriate as fuck for me to say, seeing as how you’re standing here with VP and all, but I feel like I’ve got no other choice but to let you know that you sure are one fine piece of ass."

  River dropped his head and moaned. "Jesus Christ, motherfucker."

  "So, Shiver," I said, trying to move the subject along. I released my hand from his and stood back. "I'm almost afraid to actually ask this, but why the hell do they call you that?"

  "Don't be afraid to ask me anything, babe. We're all a bunch of goddamn open books around here. 'Cept for the motherfucker standing right beside you." He snickered. "Somethin’ about him remaining an enigma or some shit seems to drive these bitches into wanting more of his cock than they should.” I nearly choked on the bile that started to build inside my mouth the minute he said that. “But if you wanna know why they call me Shiver, it’s 'cause that's what happens when I make the bitches come. The ones he turns down, anyway." He started shaking his entire body; head to toe, everything on him shook like a giant bowl of jelly, then he danced his way over to the edge of the pool table and gyrated against it as if a woman was in front, ready and waiting spread eagle for him instead of that sharply pointed edge. "OW!" He smacked himsel
f on the ass and the boys around him began hooting and hollering, whistling and clapping. All except for River who more or less looked like he wanted to bury him six feet beneath a pile of dirt.

  "Shit. Come on." I tore my eyes away from him as River dragged me over to Blue and pointed. "You already know this motherfucker." He gave Blue a look, which forced him to drop his foot from the wall and stand straight before me.

  "Can you guess why they call me Blue?" he asked me.

  "For..." My eyes went from his head straight down to his mud covered boots and back again. "I don't know, blue balls?"

  Blue took a single step toward me and leaned in, snarling. Then his dark brown eyes brightened and he spread his lips into a grin so wide that he would've rivaled any circus clown doing the same. "Like I told you this mornin', brother," he directed to River. "She's my kinda bitch."

  River dropped his hands around his waist and turned his eyes to the floor.

  Blue nodded and turned back to me. "Pleasure's been mine, darlin'." He slipped his hand beneath mine and bent his head over it. "From the very fuckin' beginnin'." His eyes shifted to River, who glared at him. Blue lowered my hand and smiled at me again, before bypassing us and crossing over to the bar.

  I spun on the balls of my feet and stared between the men as they each grabbed a set of beers handed over to them by Styx and Trucker, and sat down. River peered and shoved his brows together.

  "Where'd the fuck Wolf head off to?" he asked.

  The men looked between each other before Blue stood back up and nodded his head toward the back of the club. "Think he’s back in his office gettin' more info on Fontaine," he said.

  My chest felt like it was caving into my entire body the moment I heard even a fraction of his name. River stared down at me and placed his hand at the small of my back again. "Come on," he said, guiding me from the room.

  We passed the bar, followed by what looked like a kitchen, then took a left turn down the hallway, followed by another and past one bedroom, which River quickly informed me had belonged to him, until we finally hit a wall covered in black and white pictures of bikes, women on bikes, women on men on bikes and... breasts. Actual pictures of women who at one time flashed their breasts for these men around some area within the Compound.

  Now I know exactly just where to keep Avery from traveling off to inside this place.

  After turning down another corner, which lead down another long hallway, we finally stopped in front of a bright red door with the word PREZ written in white, bold letters just above a tiny peephole. River moved to the side of me and kept his eyes on my face while knocking on the door.

  "YEAH!" a gruff voice called out from the other side, startling me.

  I threw my hand against River's arm and looked up into his eyes. "What the hell do I say to him?"

  "Just let me talk and if he asks you somethin', just answer him, alright?" he told me. I nodded, all while trying to keep my heart from actually beating outside of my chest. River turned to the door and cleared his throat. "I got Mia with me," he said. We heard some mumbling on the other side followed up by a loud bang.

  After a few seconds, the door to the office finally creaked back and a man who looked every bit of his name, Wolf, peeked his head out. I sucked in air and held it tight before finally muttering a shaky, "Hi."

  He was silent at first, and moved his eyes over to River before returning to me and nodding. "You sure as hell don't look like what I remember of you, darlin'. Which if you ask me, is a pretty damn good thing." He pulled the door back entirely and stepped aside. River nodded at me and I headed into the room ahead of him. Wolf closed the door behind us and though in reality he probably wasn't, he looked about seven feet, ten inches tall; a complete giant. His long white hair and beard, matched with what looked to be naturally tanned skin almost made him look like a picture of Moses, while his cool gray eyes almost reminded me of my own father. And he was built; even for a man of his age, there wasn't a single ounce of fat to be seen on him through that thin, white tee. And despite what appeared to be River's own hesitations about him, he was actually kind of pleasant. At least so far. "I just got off the phone with some people I know out in Tampa," he said. "Everything your girl said was legit and then some. Fontaine's on his way out in a few weeks and he's been makin' plans to come after his kid for a long goddamn time now, since before findin' out she was even his."

  "Oh my God," I said under my breath.

  Wolf paused and swiped a hand back and forth across his forehead. "Son of a bitch was also in fact responsible for that house burnin' down in Daytona, just like she told you he was. And that piece of cloth did in fact belong to a six year old girl she tried to help save from it."

  River turned from me and threw a fist into the wall, denting it. "SON OF A FUCKIN' BITCH! Shit." He dropped his hands to his sides and lowered his head while taking in a deep, solid breath. "This motherfucker is solely responsible for every goddamn fuckin' thing that's fucked us over as a club since then." He spun back around to Wolf and shook his head. "Where the fuck do we go from here?"

  "You don't go anywhere, son, not yet. Not until we figure out what the fuck his plans are."

  "We know what the fuck his plans are," River shot back. "You just said the son of a bitch wants Mia and her goddamn kid, which is no different than the shit I told you before."

  "He wants his goddamn kid," Wolf emphasized. "Not just hers. That's what's at the root of all of this." He went over behind his desk and took a seat. "I've reached out to a few of the other charters willin' to take a chance on this, and Miami and Orlando are willin' to meet up here this weekend so we can fully discuss the shit that needs to go down once Fontaine makes himself known on the streets again. My boys in with some former members at the correctional facility out in Tampa said he's liable to go underground the moment the gates open up for him at the prison. We've gotta be quicker than this son of a bitch, know his moves before he even makes 'em."

  "What about Buck and Tru?" asked River. "Stony or Rock or any of the other goddamn nomads?"

  "Can't get through to any of 'em just yet, but it's comin'." He dropped his elbows on his desk and shoved one hand inside the other. "How much of Fontaine's business did you know about once you became involved with him, darlin'?" he asked me.

  "Not much," I said. "On our first date to some Italian restaurant, he told me that he was studying for his MBA and that his parent’s had all the money. It wasn't until after the fire that everything about him came flooding out. And whatever he didn't tell me, I just looked up for myself or paid people with his money to tell me what they knew."

  “Goddamn Nancy Drew over here,” mumbled River.

  “How the hell else was I supposed to find out anything? That includes everything I needed to know about you and the club,” I said. He didn’t respond.

  Wolf arched a brow and peeked up at him, then refocused on me once more. "You weren't aware of Ricky bein' involved with the mob or any of these Cartels before you two hooked up?"

  I looked aside, feeling completely foolish. "No," I said. "I know that may sound naive as hell to even admit to now, but I had absolutely no clue about him until that night."

  "Alright." He sat back in his chair and wiped both hands down the front of his face. "He's always been a slick motherfucker." He looked up at River again, who focused his eyes on the corner of the room and slightly rattled his head. "I'm gonna make a few more calls before headin' out tonight, see if I can get in touch with a some of the other nomads, maybe some other charters or clubs he was associated with... We wanna take out this sick fucker, we gotta go about it the right fuckin' way, with a goddamn army on our side,” he said. "And darlin'?" He got up from his chair and rounded the desk. He reached out for my hand and as he smiled beneath his beard, tiny wrinkles appeared around the corners of his eyes. That and his hair were the only two indicators of his actual age. "This motherfucker will no doubt take damn good care of you and your girl while you're here with us. If he doesn't, if any o
f these assholes step outta line with you, you come straight to me and I’ll take care of it."

  "You might wanna remind Tiny of that shit," River said.

  "I'll deal with him when I can." He kissed the back of my hand and eyed River, whose face seemed to be turning red with fury, though I felt as if it didn’t have a single thing to do with me.

  "That it?" he mumbled.

  Wolf lowered my hand and nodded. "I'll call you in the mornin' and let you know what else is up."

  River backed over to the door and yanked it back. "Come on," he told me.

  "Okay." I stopped and turned to Wolf. "Thank you."

  He winked at me. "Sure, darlin'."

  The two men looked at one another one last time before River stepped out with me and slammed the door shut. He guided me back down another hallway, and then another until we were finally back in front of the room I was going to share with my daughter. I gently pushed the door back and peeked inside to see her with her eyes still closed tight while she remained beneath the covers. On the other side of the room was Verna, sitting in a chair and reading what looked like the Holy Bible. When she saw us, she removed the glasses from her face and placed them on top of her head. She smiled and pressed her index finger to her lips, then gently got up from the chair and moved over to us.

  She pulled the door but left just enough of it open for me to see inside. "Never in all my years have I known a child to sleep as heavily as yours," she whispered. "Except maybe this one here when he was about her age." She peeked up at River. He grimaced. "But she's beautiful and sweeter than any child I think I’ve ever met."

  "Thank you," I said. "And not just for what you said about her, but for keeping an eye out--"

  "Oh, honey," she replied, her voice as warm as the crisp air outside. "You're a part of us now. Maybe not officially, but for the time being, we'll be more or less like your family, dysfunctional as we all may be. But we always take care of our own around here." She grinned, then turned her face back up to River. "Is Wolf still inside his office?" she asked him.