Disarm (Iron Heretics MC Book 2)

by Michelle Frost

  Disarm

  Iron Heretics MC #2

  Michelle Frost

  Copyright © 2020 by Michelle Frost

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

  Edited by TRIBE editing

  Cover Design: Natasha Snow Designs

  Warning: This book is meant for mature readers. It contains graphic violence and sexual content as well as mentions of domestic abuse and sexual assault.

  Contents

  Heretic

  Iron Heretics Universe

  Prologue

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Connect with Michelle Frost

  Also by Michelle Frost

  Heretic

  her·e·tic /ˈherəˌtik/

  a person holding an opinion at odds with what is generally accepted.

  Iron Heretics Universe

  Recommended Reading Order

  When I began writing Cold Light, I hadn’t realized the world and characters that book would spawn, and the Heretics found their way into several projects before I was able to give them an official start of their own. Below, I’ve listed the titles in the order I recommend them to be read. However, Disrupt can be read as a stand alone if you’d like to start there. Enjoy!

  Cold Light (Iron Heretics MC Prequels #1)

  Discord: An Iron Heretics Short Story

  Make No Mistake (Iron Heretics MC Prequels #2)

  Disrupt (Iron Heretics #1)

  Disarm (Iron Heretics #2)

  Discordant (Iron Heretics #3)

  Prologue

  Leith

  Second weekend of July

  Settling gingerly on the end of one of the wooden benches around the fire, I stared, transfixed, by the camaraderie happening all around me. I’d spent the day on the back of Axel’s motorcycle as we followed the path of a charity ride to benefit veteran’s and their families. I was supposed to have been going hiking and then sharing a scene with the same Daddy I’d hooked up with a couple of times now, Dustin. But he’d stood me up, and when Pax offered, I’d jumped at the chance to escape sitting alone and stewing all day.

  I’d needed that scene. Needed to feel taken care of. It hadn’t taken me long after my disastrous relationship with Malcolm—and despite the vow I’d made to myself that I’d never be someone’s boy again, to figure out that having a Daddy wasn’t really optional for me. I craved it. There was a deep-seated, burning need in me for a Daddy to please. A Daddy that would spoil me, cherish me, and spank my ass when I needed it. If only I could bring myself to trust someone enough again for that to happen. So far, the answer to that question had been a resounding— hell no.

  The hook-ups I’d been having didn’t come close to meeting that need, but they were better than nothing.

  I shifted on the hard bench, my ass a bit sore from being on a motorcycle all day. I’d never ridden a motorcycle before. The first few turns and curves had me tightening my grip around Axel’s muscled torso, but I’d quickly grown to enjoy the wind on my face and the sturdy presence of the man in front of me. All in all, it’d been one of the best days I’d had in years.

  Everyone had been nice to me—even Stone, Axel’s brother, and Calix, the Iron Heretics’ MC President, who was the scariest motherfucker I’d ever laid eyes on.

  “Soda or water?” Axel asked, appearing at my side with a red can of cola in one hand and a bottle of water in the other.

  I looked up at him, my eyes traveling the solid lines of his big body, from the skull belt buckle to his black t-shirt beneath his Iron Heretics’ vest to the full, silver-streaked beard before settling on the deep mahogany brown of his eyes. The firelight washed over his bald head, making it shine. He was sexy as fuck. I’d avoided him before today out of sheer self-preservation because I’d always thought he gave off that Daddy vibe. After today, I’d have to avoid him because there wasn’t a single doubt in my mind—this man was a Daddy, through and through.

  “Soda, please.” Daddy. It was on the tip of my tongue.

  He handed me the red can and slid onto the bench beside me, opening up the water bottle and drinking half of it in one go. I opened my can and took a big drink. The bubbles burned my throat going down, and I couldn’t stop the small burp after they’d hit my stomach.

  My face heated up, and I slapped a hand over my mouth. “Oh my god, sorry, excuse me.”

  Axel chuckled and patted my back before holding the half-empty water bottle in my direction. “Here. Have some of this, too. It was hot on the bike today.”

  My face got even more red when he rested his palm on the bench behind me and leaned toward me a little. He wasn’t touching me, but I swore I could feel the heat of his hand on my hip through my jeans. We traded drinks. I took an equally big drink of the water and immediately felt some of the sleepiness that had been pulling at my eyelids evaporate. I must have needed that more than I thought.

  Axel took a big drink of the soda, burped, and shot me a wink before asking, “Hot dogs or smoked sausage?”

  “Huh?”

  “Do you want hot dogs or smoked sausage?”

  I licked my lips. “Um…what are you having?”

  His lips pulled up on one side. He really had the nicest face. His head was that symmetrical round shape that looked amazing and tough for men with no hair. With the fullness of his beard, I wondered if it was an entirely aesthetic choice instead of a necessary one. Down from there, his thick neck and muscled chest, shoulders, and arms were partly intimidating and completely doing it for my libido.

  “Sausage, I think.”

  I nodded. Probably like a bobblehead. “That sounds good to me, too.”

  “Do you have any food allergies or condiments you don’t like?”

  “Um, no. I’m really not a picky eater.”

  He watched me for a moment, head tilted down, those dark eyes roaming from holding mine to my lips and back again. “Okay.” He hefted himself up. “You stay right there, and I’ll bring you another water before I cook our food.”

  I nodded, terrified that if I opened my mouth, Yes, Daddy, would pop out. Watching him walk up the path to the cabin where all the food stuff was laid out on a long table, I drained the rest of the water bottle then started in on the soda he’d left behind.

  Pax, my friend and co-worker, sat down beside me, a huge smile on his face. “I take it you’re having a good time?”

  I nodded. “It’s been a good day. Thanks for asking if I could come.” I was pretty sure that up until recently, Pax hadn’t been all that fond of me. Not that I could blame him. Morphing into a brat tended to be my default setting, and since Pax and I worked together at the gay night club, Spritz, he’d seen plenty of it.

  “You’re welcome. I’m sorry that guy didn’t show up for your date.” Pax was a good guy. Taller and broader than me with dark hair, eyes, and olive skin, he was dating the Sergeant-at-Arms of the Iron Heretics, Mace. Mace was also the head of Spritz’s security team. Truth was, I’
d always found him attractive and tried to get him to take me to bed, even though he wasn't exactly my type. He only had eyes for Pax, though.

  “It’s okay. Really, I don’t think there’s any way it could have been better than this.” I bit my lip before drinking more of the soda, wondering if Pax would understand what an admission that had been for me.

  He smiled. It was warm and made my chest feel tight. I really hoped we could be friends. If I wasn’t going to have a real Daddy, I’d need friends. Good ones. Pax was a good one.

  Axel stopped in front of us, a bottle of water extended toward me and the other hand holding a long metal grilling stick with four sausages on the prongs. He winked at me again as I took the water.

  “Thank you,” I said as he turned and stepped closer to the fire, holding the roasting stick out over the flames.

  Pax nudged me with his elbow, one eyebrow raised.

  I lowered my voice. “Like I told you before, I’m not in the market for a Daddy.” It wasn’t a lie. No matter how badly I wanted to be someone’s boy…I couldn’t. Not full time. Not after what had happened last time.

  “Doesn’t mean you couldn’t date him though, does it?” Pax asked, looking thoughtful. “I mean, I’m not personally into the whole Daddy-boy dynamic, so I could be wrong, but it isn’t always an all the time thing, is it?”

  Clearing my throat, I shot a glance at Axel’s back, hoping he couldn’t hear our whispers. “It doesn’t have to be, but…” I didn’t know how to finish that sentence without giving everything away. Because I’d only spent eight solid hours with the guy and already knew…if I was with him, he’d be my Daddy. End of story.

  Pax nodded. “You don’t have to explain. He’s a good guy is all I was getting at.”

  “I know.”

  Pax excused himself and headed back over to his boyfriend. The bikers were a lively bunch—talking, laughing, eating, and drinking. The sky above was starting to darken. Being July, with the longer days of summer upon us, I assumed it was around nine p.m. I could have pulled out my phone to check, but for the first time in a long time, I didn’t want to. Didn’t want to worry about the time or if I’d gotten any messages. All I wanted was to sit there and pretend that these were my people, and that the big, beautiful bald man walking toward me with two heaping plates of food, fresh cans of soda stuck in the pockets of his vest, and a smile on his face was really mine.

  I’d been home for an hour, and the emptiness was already clawing at me. It was late, after one a.m., and I really should crawl into bed and let sleep soothe the ache in my chest. Instead, I was scrolling through a hook-up app, a blind desperation threatening to choke me. Why hadn’t I asked Axel to stay? He would have. I knew he would. But he worked security at Spritz too and that meant it couldn’t be a one and done. I’d be faced with the temptation of him nearly every day, and if I had him once, there was no way I’d be able to walk away.

  So, the apps.

  Closing my eyes, I sucked in a deep breath.

  I’m okay. I’m home, in my own apartment, and I don’t need to have someone to look after me. I can look after myself. I said it over and over in my mind, breathing slowly and deliberately.

  A single tear welled up and spilled down my cheek as the same voices that so often drowned out my own were shouting and sneering inside my skull.

  You’ll never amount to anything, Leith. You can’t even take care of yourself.

  You know you’re not going anywhere. I own you. You’d never make it without me.

  My phone buzzed in my hand, shattering the endless, overwhelming noise in my head. The notification on the screen said I had a new message.

  I clicked into the app and found a message from Dustin. An apology and a request to see me tonight. It was late, but since it was Sunday, that meant I didn’t have to work until Wednesday night. Knowing I’d have plenty of time to sleep off a scene tomorrow, I messaged him back saying I’d meet him out in front of my building, but that I expected that apology in person. I was still pissed that he’d blown me off all fucking day without a word, and pissed that he wasn’t who I actually wanted him to be, but he was what I had just then. So I’d make him grovel a little, and then let him take me back to his shitty apartment and give me what I desperately needed.

  Ten minutes later, I pushed through Spritz Villa’s front doors and out into the warm night air. Dustin was standing on the top step. He was a lot taller than me—which wasn’t an uncommon thing—and dressed in dark clothes. His head was actually free of the ball cap he was so fond of wearing, and his blond hair shone in the golden glow of the streetlight.

  “Hey,” I said, coming to a stop in front of him. When he didn’t immediately respond, I frowned.

  For a moment, he stood completely still, staring at me with his hands stuffed in the pockets of his jeans.

  “Um, hello? If you think I’m going anywhere with you before you apologize, you’re dead wrong—”

  Faster than I could blink, his face split into a wide smile, and he lifted one of his hands, jabbing a needle into my neck. I gasped at the pinch, and my eyes went wide as my heart stuttered out one completely terrified heartbeat before everything went dark.

  Chapter One

  Axel

  Three Days Later

  Someone had taken Leith. Not just someone. The brother of the man Mace had killed for torturing Pax for information a year ago. Somehow, the slimy blond asshole had gotten Leith to come down to meet him on the front steps of his apartment building, drugged him, and carted him off after pausing to smile for the fucking camera. Like he’d wanted us to know exactly who’d taken the red-haired boy that hadn’t been far from my thoughts since I’d dropped him off Sunday night.

  Only a few hours before his kidnapping, I’d wanted to ask him to come home with me, but decided instead to call the next day and ask for a first official date. I could admit when that call had gone unanswered, it had stung.

  None of that mattered now.

  Mace, Lex, and I were standing in the hallway of a putrid little apartment. After hours of searching, we’d found Leith. He was kneeling, naked and silent, on the hard linoleum of the bathroom floor. Lex stepped back, leaving Mace and I in the opening of the small room. My eyes kept traveling over Leith’s body, unable—unwilling—to compute what I was seeing. Tearing my gaze away from the bruises covering his torso and the cuts on his thighs, my eyes landed on the dark collar around his neck…and the chain running from the back of it to a bracket in the wall.

  Something broke inside me.

  With a growl, I went straight to the wall and gripped the chain, feeling the metal bite into my skin as I wrapped it around my fist and gave a hard yank. Plaster cracked and gave as the bracket tore out of the wall. I let it fall to the floor with a thud. A bottomless pit of rage opened in my stomach as I sucked in air, trying to get myself under control. Ducking my head, my eyes caught on Leith’s slender body covered in bruises and trembling on the floor.

  He needed me. That single thought brought me back to myself.

  “Mace, let me take care of him.” I met my Sergeant-at-Arms’ eyes, and we shared a nod of understanding. Someone would pay for this, but whatever Leith needed in that moment came first. Mace backed out of the room, pulling the door closed until only a small crack remained.

  Taking a deep breath, I lowered myself down to my knees in front of Leith. “Leith? Can you hear me?”

  Fear that he was locked inside his head as a way to cope ran through me. I didn’t want to touch him without his permission, but I couldn’t leave him here either. After a moment, he nodded. It was a small thing, the barest dip of his already tucked chin, but some of the tension seeped out of my chest.

  “Can I help you up off the floor?” He had to be hurting. There was visible discoloration on his knees, and tremors wracked his body. It was taking everything in me to not wrap him up in my arms. “Leith.” I kept my voice low and as gentle as I could make it. “Sweet boy, will you look at me?”

&nb
sp; Slowly, he raised his head, and the tenuous thread holding my composure together stretched further. His bottom lip was split on one side. One eye was swollen shut, dark red and purple bruising surrounding it. As bad as that one looked, it was the other eye that worried me more. The gaze peering out at me from that single blue orb was distant and clouded with fear.

  “Leith, it’s Axel. I’m here to help you. You’re safe now.”

  He licked his lips, eye darting from my face to the door and back again.

  “The only people here are Mace and Lex. Pax and Arden’s boyfriends?” I hoped that mentioning his friends would help jolt him out of his fog.

  “Axel?” The cracked, hoarse sound of his voice was at once a complete relief and made me so angry I wanted to tear the goddamn room apart.

  “It’s me. Let’s get you up off the floor.”

  “Okay.”

  I reached for him slowly, getting my hands under his armpits as I got back to my feet. He unclasped his hands from behind his back and held on to my forearms. His legs shook as he unbent them. With fingers digging into my skin, he planted his feet, breathing like he’d run a marathon.

  “Easy,” I told him when he stepped toward the sink and stumbled. “Leith, can I carry you?”

  “Yes,” he rasped, leaning more heavily on me.

  Without hesitation, I scooped him up bridal style and moved the short distance to the sink. It was dingy and devoid of anything other than a single bar of soap. The chain was dragging behind us from where it was still attached to the back of the collar around Leith’s throat. I realized it was long enough that he would have been able to reach the sink and the toilet. God, how long had that bastard left him here like this?