Mayhem Madness: Reckless Bastards MC Series Books 1-7

by KB Winters

  I smiled politely. “Nice to meet you.” Again. “So, that drink?”

  “I’ll meet you there. I know the place well.”

  I smiled and slid into the rental, wondering what his reaction would be when he finally realized who I was. His best friend’s kid sister.

  ***

  “Shit. Fuck. Shit, shit, fuck … goddammit!”

  I woke up to the sound of a deep, angry and totally male voice, grunting curse words into the early morning air. It took a moment to fully wake up and realize who and what was happening, but when I did, I groaned. “Keep it down.”

  “You should have fucking told me,” the angry male said.

  Wide awake now, I sat up with no thoughts about modesty even as his blue eyes tracked down to my chest. “Told you what, exactly?”

  His look turned dark and not in the sexy way he’d devoured me last night before we got naked and then got lost in our collective grief. “That you’re Ammo’s fucking sister!”

  Now angry, I stood and fisted my hands on my hips. “How in the hell would I know you didn’t recognize me? Do you make a habit of fucking people you barely know?” I held up a hand because I really did not want to know the answer to that. “I don’t care. It’s done, and we can’t change it, but if you have that much of a problem with it, you should leave.”

  He spluttered, outraged and obviously feeling guilty. It was displayed all over his handsome, angry face. Too bad for him I didn’t give a flying fuck about his guilt.

  “You’re Ammo’s kid sister.”

  “Yeah and he’s dead so it doesn’t matter!” That reminder had tears pricking behind my eyes, but I refused to let them fall. I couldn’t. If I started crying now, I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to stop and that was something I couldn’t afford to do. I had to be strong. Well, stronger. I was on my own now. There was no soft place to land, no parachute to guide me down and no fallback plan. So, I pushed down those tears and stared him down. “I want you to leave.”

  He stared for so long I thought he might refuse, but I should have known better. Savior had ‘love ’em and leave ’em’ written all over his face. “I’m sorry, Mandy. I shouldn’t have let that happen. It was a mistake.”

  “Got it,” I told him and wrapped my arms around my waist. I wouldn’t let him see how his words gutted me. Nothing like the sting of cold hard rejection to soothe the ache of loss, right? “Then leaving, right now, shouldn’t be a problem.”

  He nodded and stepped into his jeans, because apparently that was appropriate funeral attire for the Reckless Bastards. “Do you need anything?”

  “Only for you to leave.”

  “But -”

  I shook my head. “Just leave.” There was nothing else to say and even if there was, I had no interest in talking to him. I had one day to get what was left in my childhood home packed up and ready for the realtor to put it on the market, before heading back to New York to finish up my pastry apprenticeship. I had six weeks to go, and then I would return to Vegas and start working at Knead, the best damn place for pastries in the whole state.

  And pretend the last twenty-four hours never happened.

  Chapter 1

  Mandy

  It’s been months since I made the move back to Las Vegas, but it still felt surreal being here. No matter where I went, the supermarket, the hairdresser, the park, I expected to see Ammo’s loose-legged walk and dimpled smile coming my way, a smart retort on the tip of his tongue. But working at Knead kept me busy, which I needed in order to keep me from succumbing to the darkness that always seemed to hover around the edges of my life. Right now, my life was boring and completely predictable and I knew that sounded terrible, but to me it was perfect.

  I’d plenty of excitement in my life. Losing both of my parents tragically and then my brother, living on the streets of Las Vegas while said brother was off fighting a war that hadn’t yet taken him from me. So, boring suited me just fine. I didn’t go out on my days off from work, just relaxed at home catching up on chores, my favorite television shows and reading trashy romance. Some days it felt as though I would die of boredom but it would be preferable to dying any other way.

  But even the work day had to end, and at a little after seven I removed my apron and chef hat, grabbed my bag, and exited through the back of the restaurant. The parking lot wasn’t all that well lit, but I had pepper spray on my keychain and my biggest key clutched between my fingers, a trick all girls from the big city learn early. Or else.

  “Yo, Mandy!”

  I froze at the sound of my name. Other than the people at Knead, I didn’t know anyone in this city any longer, which meant it was someone I used to know. I turned slowly, ready to pounce if I needed to. Instead I only had to bite back a groan at the sight of my former friend, and I mean that in the loosest definition of the word.

  “Krissy.”

  She hadn’t changed much in the last decade, a little older with a few gray sprouts, more noticeable because of her shiny black hair. She had a few fine lines around her pale blue eyes and she was thinner than she used to be, but otherwise she looked exactly the same.

  “I heard you were back.”

  “I am.”

  I left this place ten years ago and she was a big part of the reason why. I did plenty of shit I wasn’t proud of back then, all in the name of survival, and I didn’t regret it. For me though, it couldn’t go on forever. Using a fake I.D. in a city like this was asking for trouble. And card counting? Plenty of people had ended up buried in the desert for that particular sin. I had a knack for counting cards even as a teenager, and Krissy was quick to pick up on it and capitalize on it. She finagled a way to get me the I.D. so we could take the casinos for enough cash to make it from one month to the next.

  “How’ve you been?” She looked at me now, the same way she did when I was sixteen and alone for the first time in my life. Like a predator who found the biggest, juiciest target just lying around.

  “I’m good, Krissy. You?”

  “Better now that you’re back. I missed you.”

  I snorted my disbelief at that. “Right. What’s this about?”

  “You don’t believe me?”

  “No, I don’t. We were useful to each other, but that’s it. If you leave, you’re dead to me. Remember?” She’d said those words to me the night before I put this fucking town in my rear view. Krissy wanted to scam and scheme forever. Not me. I wanted more out of life.

  She brushed the words away with a dismissive flip of her hand. “I was upset.” She smiled in the way she used to do that I’d always mistook for care. It was plain old manipulation. “How long have you been back?”

  “A while.”

  “You weren’t going to look me up?”

  “No.”

  I’d hopped on a bus that took me all the way to the other side of the country but I’d only gotten as far as Colorado before I realized Krissy wasn’t my friend. And had never been my friend.

  “Then I guess it’s a good thing I found you because –”

  I held up a hand. “You can stop right there. I didn’t come back for you or for that and I’m not doing it, so whatever you’re thinking you better find someone else.” I walked away, still staring at Krissy because I didn’t trust her as far as I could throw her scrawny ass.

  “It’s like that now?”

  I nodded and her friendly smile hardened. “I need your help.”

  “I can’t help you.”

  “You can,” she insisted.

  “Fine, then I won’t.” She glared at me and walked away. I had a feeling, though, it wouldn’t be the last I saw of the woman who taught me that no one could be trusted.

  By the time I made it back to the shithole apartment I rented, I was in a bad mood and ready to fight someone. Anyone. I hated seeing Krissy again, reminding me of who I used to be. More importantly, of how stupid and naïve I used to be. Never again.

  “Ugh!” I said out loud to the closet as I kicked off my shoes. I h
ated that seeing her brought up all those memories and emotions. Feelings I’d worked hard to bury ever since a certain blue-eyed biker reminded me why feelings were total bullshit.

  I made a sub and killed three beers while I binge-watched TV until I passed out on the sofa. I’d nearly made it a full night without thinking about Ammo.

  ***

  My first day off in almost two weeks and I’d decided to spend it tracking Savior down. I must be out of my mind to willingly face the source of my greatest rejection. But I knew returning my brother’s leather vest with the Reckless Bastards insignia to his other family would mean a lot to Ammo. Which meant it was, literally, the least I could do.

  After I spent the morning cleaning my apartment, doing a load of laundry and picking up groceries, I jumped in my used blue sedan and made my way to the converted airplane hangar that was their clubhouse. The closer I came to the frosted glass doors, the more anxious I became and with a striking blonde standing sentry at the door, overnight shipping seemed like a better option. Then she turned her head toward the sun and a serene smile tilted her full lips. “Now that’s a smile I’d kill to have,” I told her honestly, startling her.

  “You can have the smile, it was as phony as a two-dollar bill.”

  Funny. I introduced myself because I wasn’t a caveman and because I wanted to assure her I wasn’t here to snag one of her biker boyfriends. “Mandy.”

  “Teddy,” she said. “I’m Teddy and I’m only here because my babysitter made me come.” Her smile was genuine this time, filled with a hint of sarcasm and mischief.

  I couldn’t remember the last time I’d had a real conversation like this with another woman, or with anyone really. Despite the sexist views of society that women belonged in the kitchen, professional kitchens were dominated by men. Even on the pastry side, dicks ruled the world. But Teddy was edgy and kind of snarky, a contrast to her classic beauty. “I’m just here to return something to … the club.” No need to mention Savior.

  Her eyes flashed with recognition and we spent a few minutes discussing the write-up I’d gotten and asking me about wedding cakes. She wanted something special for a friend, wanted to know if I was up for it.

  I nodded and she said, “My bag is inside, but please don’t leave without exchanging contact info.”

  I promised, feeling awkward as a tall, gorgeous man with long blond hair exited and took a protective stance behind her. “Nice to meet you,” I told her and steeled my nerves to go inside when Savior came out. “Just the person I came to see.”

  “Mandy? What are you doing here?” He looked at me warily, like I was planning to make a scene. Typical man. Give him one night of hot sex and he thinks you’re ready to wear his ring.

  “Don’t worry,” I told him as he led me to escape a loud gang of partiers. We found our way down a dark hall to a stark room with a twin bed, a dresser and photos of bikini-clad women on the wall. “I’m not here for a repeat performance. This was in some of the things I put in storage after the funeral. I know Ammo would want you guys to have it.” I handed him the jacket, making sure our fingers didn’t touch at all. That was a temptation I didn’t need or want.

  “You should have told me,” he said, just as my hand landed on the doorknob. His voice was deep and angry, eager like he’d been waiting for a chance to get this off his chest.

  I sighed and whirled on him, now pissed off. Between Savior’s indignation, Krissy’s harassment and my boss Landry’s total asshole-ness, I was losing my grasp on patience.

  “You’ve known me since I was a little girl, Savior. How in the hell was I supposed to know you didn’t recognize me? You never asked for my name so I assumed it was because you knew it.”

  In hindsight, I should have realized that between the Reckless Bitches, his biker swagger and handsome face that he probably fucked plenty of nameless women. “Anyway, that’s why I came here, to give you Ammo’s jacket. Nothing more.”

  “Kutte,” he said, correcting me on the leather jacket.

  “Whatever. Have a nice life.” I yanked the door open and hooked a left until I heard the noise of the group we passed on our way to the room with more privacy.

  “Mandy, wait!”

  I froze and turned, waiting for him to say more. “If you, ah, need anything —”

  “I don’t. I’m fine on my own.” I didn’t need or want the Reckless Bastards’ help in general, or his help specifically.

  “Ammo would want —”

  I cut him off. “Ammo is dead, Savior. Whatever loyalty you had to him, doesn’t extend to me. Goodbye.”

  I soaked in his rugged handsomeness for several long seconds before forcing my gaze and my feet to move away from the tall, imposing figure he cut. Savior was nice to look at and even better in bed but he’d made his feelings about fucking me very clear. The further I got away from him and the clubhouse, the more my heart rate would settle and the calmer I’d feel.

  Knowing what was waiting for me at my shoebox apartment, nothing but mindless entertainment, I decided to take a trip to the cemetery. Visit the only people in the world who had ever truly cared about me. At least they were all together now, and as I sat on the prickly grass in front of the three headstones, I knew they were the reason I’d come back to Vegas. I thought there was nothing for me here, but it turns out everything that mattered to me was right here.

  Which meant I wasn’t going anywhere. Not anytime soon, anyway.

  Chapter 2

  Savior

  “Herman Redding’s farm was raided and not by the fucking Feds. He’s our biggest supplier.” Everything about Cross screamed stress and pissed the fuck off. Redding was the biggest supplier for the club’s dispensaries, but thankfully not the only one or we’d be shit out of luck when the supply ran out. “His crops were burned in the middle of the night. The government might be assholes but they wouldn’t do that.”

  He was right about that. I looked around the Church table, with one empty seat for our missing brother Gunnar, at the other members of the club who wore looks that ranged from pissed and ready to fight, to worried we might be in for some major conflict. Not that the Reckless Bastards ever backed down from a fucking fight, but with grass and ass legal, there was no reason to ever get caught up with the fucking law. “It had to be done by another MC. The burns were too clean and efficient, definitely not some shit a tweaker could do.”

  Cross nodded. He was confident in my assessment because fire, bombs, guns – it was all in my wheelhouse. I was an explosives expert in the military, Sergeant at Arms for the club and I liked to fuck shit up. “The lines were clean to make sure not one crop remained so I’m inclined to agree. We need to find out who, though.”

  His gaze scanned each member sitting around the table, letting them know this was serious shit. “We need to up security at our dispensaries, which means security defaults to the brothers who can legally carry. Those of you who can’t, go talk to our other suppliers and see if they need security help. We take in too much cash to lose this income.”

  “Roadkill MC just opened a dispensary, so we should start with them,” I offered, knowing those fuckers had no fucking limits.

  Jag pounded his fist on the table and kicked his chair back to stand up. “I’ll dig into their digital shit, see what pops up.”

  Jag, despite his quiet demeanor, was a badass motherfucker. He could kill a man at a thousand yards or dismantle his life with nothing more than an internet connection.

  “Good,” Cross said and pounded on the table. “Church over.” Most of the brothers made a quick exit but Cross eyed me in that way that said he wanted to talk. Dammit.

  “What’s up?”

  “Was that Mandy I saw in here the other day?”

  I blinked. How in the hell had he recognized her? “Yeah it was.” I knew he expected me to say more but what the fuck else was there to say?

  He glared. “Ammo might be dead but he’s still our brother, which makes her family. We are all she has, Savior. Do
n’t fuck with her if you don’t mean it.”

  I laughed. “Yeah, well I already told her that and she told me with Ammo gone we could fucking forget about her. Besides,” I grinned, trying to lighten the mood as I patted my chest. “I always mean it at the time.” Which was a dick thing to say, especially given the way shit went down with Mandy.

  If the dark scowl he wore was anything to go by, Cross wasn’t amused. He raked a hand through unruly brown hair and blew out a breath. “Just don’t fuck her, okay?” My face must have given something away because he groaned and smacked the table. Hard. “Seriously? How long has she even been in town?”

  “It was at the funeral. I didn’t know she was Mandy when it happened. I didn’t handle it well, which probably has something to do with why she wants fuck all to do with me. Or the club.”

  Not that I blamed her. I was a prick and she should steer clear of me. Mandy was a girl meant for picket fences and two point five kids, all that regular shit. I wasn’t that guy and never would be.

  Cross’s eyes darkened damn near to black. “That’s too bad, Savior. She is under our protection whether she wants it or not. Whether she asks for it or not. Always.”

  He was right. That’s how we rolled. Except for expelled brothers, Reckless Bastards protected their own. I nodded at my Prez to let him know I heard him loud and clear. “I’ll make it right.” Or I would try. Mandy was different now, hard with sharp edges. Distant. Except for those few hours in bed, she didn’t reveal much emotion or any other clues to her feelings. Even angry, she was as blank as stone.

  “See that you do,” he said and left Church.

  I followed him a few minutes later, making sure the door was locked tight. Church was our sacred club space where we discussed business on all sides of the law. The room couldn’t be hacked, bugged or breached in anyway. Even the door was reinforced because we protected our shit.

  I needed to clear my head though, so I took long strides through the clubhouse, ignoring two of the Reckless Bitches eager to get my attention. The best way to clear my head was to fuck some shit up, so I crossed the parking lot and headed for the gun range where I found Max grumbling about wedding shit. He and Jana, his ball and chain, had a double header coming up. They had a bun in the oven and were getting hitched soon. “Hey man, quit your bitching. I need the biggest gun we have to shoot some shit up!”