Lincoln's Choice (A Ravens MC Novel Book 2)

by J. L. Leslie

  Mack agrees and then adds, “Then we’ll go help our brothers.”

  I can’t bring myself to agree or even nod. Of course, I’ll go with them. I pretend that I’m still on their side. But I only have one brother now. He never would have sacrificed me. Not for anyone.

  ~Sully~

  I listen to the classical music playing as I wait on hold. Again. It’s been two days since I called the FBI. I was started to think they weren’t going to call me back, but then my phone rang early this morning. They called me and then put me on hold.

  Lincoln has already gone to the clubhouse early this morning so I start getting dressed for work while I hold. It’s early, but it’s still Friday. Still a work day for me. Maybe when I get home, Lincoln can fill me on what’s been going on. I’ve barely seen him since he left to do the Drycos raid on Wednesday night. I know it was a success. Well, we lost two more members, but Lincoln said the drugs were transported and the warehouse is gone. The Drycos suffered a greater loss. Their supplies are gone and five members were killed.

  Still, the brief talk I had with Lincoln wasn’t nearly long enough. While I worked Thursday, he worked too. He worked Thursday night as well, letting me know that he, Thad, and Mack were trying to locate a new warehouse location for us and that he had to drive to L.A. to make this month’s payment to the dealer.

  “Thank you for holding, Ms. McGuire.” A man comes onto the line. “I’m Agent Fisher. I worked with you during your training in Virginia.”

  “So, you found my file?” I ask.

  “You say this man approached you as you were leaving the facility and offered you undercover work?”

  I walk to the dresser and pull out a pair of socks. I put on my socks and shoes while we talk. “Yes, sir, that’s correct. I had just failed out of the training program, you know, with you. As I was leaving the facility, he stopped me in the parking lot. Agent Reynolds mentioned that he’d seen some of my work and that I had potential. He assured me an undercover assignment would help me regain my position with the FBI.”

  “Did he show you his credentials or ever meet with you in his office?”

  “He showed me his badge, but he was worried about someone seeing us and my cover being blown if we met at his office. We spoke by phone. He explained what would be expected me while working undercover and discussed an assignment with me. An assignment with the Rykers motorcycle club of Verdana.”

  The line is silent for a moment and then I hear the man clear his throat. “Ms. McGuire, we have reason to believe you might be in danger. The man you’re working with is Mack Jacobson. He is the leader of the L.A. Sinners and the step-brother to Thad Harrison. He is not and never has been an FBI agent.”

  I swallow, a sick feeling growing in the pit of my stomach. I was right about Mack. He’s not an agent. He’s Thad’s step-brother.

  “Ms. McGuire? Is there somewhere you can go? Someone who can help you?” the man asks. “Do you need us to come to you? We can put you under protective custody. Where are you now?”

  “I’m…I’m at Lincoln’s apartment.” I mumble, unable to think straight. “The address is…

  The phone is knocked from my hands so unexpectedly I don’t even shriek. Mack shushes me, shaking his head. I look down at the phone and I can see that it’s still connected, but Mack smashes it with his boot.

  “I knew you were suspicious.” He chides. “You should have played that dumb blonde I told you to play. The one that gets fucked by the Rykers. The one that every Ryker wants. You can do that, can’t you?”

  Mack slams his fist against my cheek, knocking me onto the bed. I struggle to suck in a breath, the coppery taste of blood in my mouth. My arms are jerked behind my back and bound with duct tape. He came prepared.

  I kick my feet, fighting and struggling against him as he tries to bind my ankles. He punches my back, his large fists knocking the breath out of me and I wheeze against the blanket, coughing out the blood in my mouth. I feel the tape binding my ankles together.

  “You know, it’s always good for a president to suffer a loss. It makes them soulless. Lincoln needs that. He’s already ruthless, but we need his soul too.”

  “Fuck you!” I spat at him and he snatches me up from the bed.

  “I’ll make sure you’re good and soiled before I kill you. That way he’ll know how badly the Ravens fucked you up before they ended you. It’ll haunt him for a long time. That’s the way we need him.”

  “His brother’s a Raven. He’ll never believe they would do this to me!”

  “Oh? He will, Sully. Trust me on that. Or should I call you Alexandria? Damn, you and Katy favor so much. She was sweet and so trusting. I simply offered her a ride on my motorcycle and she’d never ridden on one before. She just got right on.” He laughs. “I fucked that tight, wet pussy of hers that night too. God, how she begged and pleaded. She fucking loved every damn second of it. You will too, Alexandria.”

  Mack strokes my crotch through my jeans, a cruel leer on his face. I spit in his face, disgusted that I now know it was him who killed my sister. It was him who took her from me. As he wipes the spit from his face, I slam my forehead into his nose as hard as I can.

  “Shit!” he yells as blood oozes from his nostrils.

  Although I brace myself for his blow, it still knocks me to my knees. My cheekbone throbs and blood drips from my own nose down to my lip. While I’m on my knees, Mack covers my mouth with duct tape. He snatches me to my feet and throws me over his shoulder. As he heads downstairs, I look for any sign of life, but no one is around. The parking lot is quiet as he lies me down in the back of the Tahoe.

  I moan and scream against the tape, hoping and praying that someone hears me. I struggle to sit up and my eyes grow wide when I realize Mack has grabbed a crowbar from the floorboard. I turn my shoulder towards him to shield myself, but it doesn’t help. The pain is excruciating. He hits me again and this time I sink to the seat. My eyes slowly closing as everything goes black.

  Chapter Thirty

  ~Lincoln~

  Apparently, men and women alike enjoy discounted sex. The Lion’s Den is at full capacity. The rooms are booked through the weekend on a buy one hour, get a second hour for half off deal. Of course, Thad jacked up the price of one hour by an extra hundred bucks.

  While the patrons here are carefree and wild, I’m running on fumes. I barely slept Wednesday night after the raid on the Drycos’ warehouse. Thad, Mack and I met Thursday and checked out some warehouse locations, knowing we need something more permanent to store our supplies. My only break was when I drove to L.A. to make our payment to the dealer. Even that wasn’t resting though. I did use that time to call Luka and let him know when the auction was being held. He assured me the Ravens would plan an attack.

  I slip back to the rooms and stop at Sabrina’s desk. Her red hair is down around her shoulders. Her plump red lips spread into a smile when she sees me.

  “You here for your hour, Linc?” she teases. “You know I’ll fuck you for free.”

  “I’m picking up the girls.”

  She almost looks disappointed. I know Sabrina better than that though. The fact that I no longer use her club whore services doesn’t bother her one bit. She is the epitome of what a club whore should be like.

  “You know, Linc, I could have been your old lady. I could have become what you wanted me to be.” She tells me. “You didn’t have to start fucking around with Sully.”

  I shake my head. “Sabrina, you and I both know that you don’t want to be anyone’s old lady. Not really.”

  “Maybe you just didn’t think I wanted to be. Every woman wants a man who’ll make her feel like she’s the only one for him. You never made me feel that way, Linc.”

  “And I was never the only man for you.” I remind her. “Where are the girls?”

  “I have them ready. They’re in the back room. I gave Thad their lingerie. Mind telling me where he’s sending my best girls?”

  “It’s club business.” I
answer and her bottom lip pokes out in a pout.

  I ignore her and walk down the short hallway to the last room. I knock lightly on the door and a young woman with short, black hair answers.

  “Let’s go.”

  She swallows and nods, knowing exactly where they’re headed. She and the other three girls follow behind me outside to the Tahoe. She climbs into the front passenger seat and the other girls file into the back.

  As we drive, the girls in the back whisper to each other. I wonder how they feel about what’s going to happen to them. Since Juan brought them to us, they’re lives have not been what they expected. They work six days a week in a club as prostitutes. They were supposed to be mistresses for rich businessmen.

  “We’re grateful you are saving us.” The woman in the passenger seat tells me.

  “I wouldn’t call it that.”

  “You’re not the one in the room.” She counters.

  I look over at her and she appears to be so young. Innocent. Maybe at some point in my life I was innocent. I know I lost that innocence the moment I met Cal Harrison.

  “What’s your name and how old are you?” I ask her.

  “Cara. I’m twenty-five. Some of the girls with me are younger, but not by much. I’m nearly an old maid.”

  “And you think this life is better? That coming here was better for you?”

  She nods, her eyes glistening with tears. “It was better than being sold where I’m from. The men are nicer here.”

  She’s wrong about that. We can be just as cruel as any other male. It doesn’t matter what country we’re in.

  ~Sully~

  When I come to, my head throbs and my mouth is dry. I’m lying on a bed, but I don’t recognize where I am. It’s a nice room though. A four-poster bed with a matching dresser and vanity. My wrists and ankles are still bound, but my mouth is no longer taped shut.

  I start working my wrists to loosen the tape so that I can get my hands under my behind and work them down my legs. The tape is bound so tightly it doesn’t give much, but I keep moving and working them until I accomplish my goal. Once my hands are in front of me, I start undoing the tape on my ankles.

  Unfortunately, I hear the door open and Thad strides in dressed in a nice tux. It’s similar to the one he wore the night we came to Governor Chaise’s estate. He’s holding a small bag in his hand. He looks down at my hands and ankles and anger contorts his face.

  I scurry across the bed and reach for the door, but he’s too fast. He crosses the bed and snatches me back by my hair. I scream out, but his hand covers my mouth. I bite down and he uses his other hand to punch me in my stomach. I double over in pain and he shoves me back to the bed.

  “It’s almost show time, Alexandria.” He says, a little breathless.

  I don’t miss the fact that he called me Alexandria. Rather than try to sit up, I lie still and wait on him. He picks the bag up and comes to the bed, pulling lingerie out of the bag. He lies a black lacy matching bra and panty set with garters onto the bed and skims his fingertips over the material.

  “You’ll go for a high bid with this on.” He comments. “You’ll have to fix yourself up though. That blood won’t fucking work. The governor said there’s some makeup in the vanity.”

  Thad comes around behind me and pulls a knife from his pocket. He flicks it open and cuts the duct tape from my hands and the rest from my ankles. He snatches the sticky material from my skin and I suck in my breath from the pain.

  “Get ready. I’ll be back to get you in fifteen minutes.” Thad glances up to the windows. “We’re on the second floor and they lock from the outside.”

  The door clicks behind him and I hear it lock from the outside. I immediately try the windows, but he wasn’t lying. I can’t get them open. My best option is try and escape while I’m downstairs. There’s most likely a decent crowd of people. I can try to slip off after the bids are in now that I know where I am.

  I change into the lingerie and then sit down at the vanity. I use some makeup removal wipes to clean the blood from my face. My cheek and chin are already bruised from Mack’s blows. I don’t know that the makeup will completely cover them up. I apply what I can and then run the brush through my hair, letting it fall straight down my back. I put the brush back when Thad returns.

  “I knew you fixed up nice, Alexandria.” He whistles. “Mack had a different plan for you, but I knew this one would be better. Let’s go see how much a piece of traitor ass sells for.”

  Chapter Thirty-One

  ~Lincoln~

  I stand beside Mack in the foyer and watch as the second woman is auctioned. I’ll admit, she honestly looked relieved. The first woman did also. Cara was telling the truth. This is what they want.

  “Thad mentioned this is your second auction.” Mack comments and I nod. “He said you brought a woman with you to your first auction? It was your old lady, wasn’t it?”

  “She and Cal had organized this arrangement with Governor Chaise.” I answer. “They didn’t discuss the deal with any other Rykers.”

  “I’m surprised Cal discussed business with his old lady, I mean she was his old lady first, right? That’s not good for the club. I mean, including the old lady in club business.” Mack says and I shrug.

  “I suppose it depends on the old lady.” I reply.

  “Old ladies are the equivalent of club whores, Linc. The only difference is they might be worthy of a ring and bearing sons.”

  “We can agree to disagree on the matter.” I state and nod towards the auction area. “Only one woman left.”

  “Two.”

  “Two?”

  “We have two women left to auction. We brought five.” Mack corrects me.

  Rather than argue with him, I stand and watch. I know I only drove four women. I picked those women up from The Lion’s Den. Thad and Mack brought the supplies for them to change into and met me here. I don’t know of a fifth woman that’s being auctioned unless one of the club whores decided she wanted to do this and I don’t see that happening. The club whores are happy with the Rykers.

  I cross my arms and watch the men in the room make their bids on the woman standing before them. Cara is dressed in a light, blue nighty. Her short, black hair is cut in a bob at her neck. When she’s sold, she actually smiles.

  Mack rubs his hands together. “I’m anxious to see this last one. She’ll be a top seller. Now that we have the drugs from the Drycos and the money from this auction, we’ve solidified our funds for the next six months at least. Maybe longer.”

  I see Thad at the bottom of the stairs and my heart plummets. He’s holding Sully’s arm and guiding her to the crowd of men. Her perfect tits are encased in black lace. I can see her rosy, pink nipples through the lacy material. Her pussy is covered in the same matching material. Sheer black stockings cover her legs, garters attaching them to the lace panties. Her black heels click on the ceramic tile floor.

  I step forward, reaching for my gun and the moment I do, the cold steel of Mack’s gun is at my temple. I cut my eyes towards him and he’s shaking his head. Thad watches our exchange, a sadistic grin on his face.

  I listen helplessly as the bids grow higher and higher. The men are practically salivating at the sight of Sully. My Sully. They want a chance to tame this woman. See if she’s really the badass, tattooed biker chick that they believe her to be.

  “How good does that pussy taste?” Mack asks. “Thad says her pussy is like fucking heaven.”

  I slam my fist into Mack’s gut and go for his gun. Catching him off guard, I disarm him and put two bullets in his chest without thinking twice about it. Screams and shouts of panic fill the room as the men and their new purchases scramble to safety. My eyes are on Sully as Thad drags her to him and holds his gun to her head. I take off towards them, pushing and shoving people away. Thad laughs, a maniacal sinister laugh. I fix my gun on him, just as unwavering as he is.

  “Do you know who this bitch is, Linc? She’s a fucking rat!” he yells. �
��Tell him who you are, Alexandria McGuire.”

  I look from him to Sully, not wanting to believe what he’s saying. Her blue eyes are pleading, but they tell me he’s not lying. She’s not Caroline Sullivan. She’s not Sully.

  “Lincoln…” she says, quietly.

  “I know you’re a fucking rat too!” Thad screams, spit spewing from his mouth. “You didn’t think I knew what you were up to, did you? Talking to Griffin Knowles!”

  Sully looks confused and I feel guilty for not telling her. I know she would have supported me. I didn’t have to keep it a secret from her.

  “The Ravens, Linc? And to think I was going to make you president!” Thad shakes his head, tapping the gun against Sully’s temple. “But I could never do that! You’re weak! You let your own men fuck you up the ass!”

  Sully struggles in his arms and Thad tightens his hold. I see her wince with pain and anger boils through me.

  “Still, this one…this lying, fucking rat right here! She’s working with the FBI! We have to kill her! She’ll take us all down!” Thad yells. “She knows everything!”

  Sully shakes her head and Thad smashes the butt of the gun against her cheek. I use his distraction against him and fire a shot, hitting him in the shoulder. He lets go of Sully and she runs to me.

  “I’m sorry, Lincoln, I’m so sorry!” she apologizes.

  The front door splinters open and uniformed men and women enter yelling, “FBI!” Thad screams obscenities at Sully, unwilling to surrender his weapon. I watch him, his eyes wild, and I reach for Sully when he raises his gun in our direction.

  Gunshots ring out and Thad looks down at his chest. Blood seeps through the white of his button up. He stares down at it in shock a few seconds before slumping to the floor. Sully lets out a gasp and lowers the gun she’s holding. Agents rush me and I’m knocked to my knees, the gun taken from my hands.

  “Ms. McGuire, I’m Agent Fisher. It’s an honor to meet you. It appears you did an excellent job. I’m anxious to see everything you have obtained during your time with the Rykers.”