The ride seemed to drag on forever. Soaked through from the snow and sleet, my clothing was stiff and unforgiving, chafing against my skin and rubbing it raw in multiple places. The pain was secondary to the cold that was bone deep and chased away any memory of warmth. I was beyond the point of shivering. I stopped reacting to the cold long ago and that worried me. My body was locked in this position, rigid and uncomfortable.
I felt my hands slipping often now. Every few minutes they would start sliding down his torso and my eyes would flutter, fatigue settling in as I fought the urge to sleep. Any body heat he initially provided had disappeared. I heard a few grunts and loud curses as he held onto my hands and placed them back in place. Soon it wouldn’t matter. I’d fall off and any hope of ending this ride from Hell would no longer matter.
A few minutes later we left the highway as the familiar streetlamps and roads of Tonopah came into view. We’d made it. I could hold on. Just a few more minutes.
The biker didn’t say a word as he pulled into a parking lot and stopped, cutting the engine off. One muscled thigh swung over as he stood, turning my way quickly. I didn’t have the energy to argue when he pulled me upward and I fell into his chest. My legs felt like they were made of jelly.
The helmet was removed as his piercing eyes roamed my face. “You alright? Can you walk?”
Nodding, I pushed off his chest, standing to my full height as I wobbled. “I, I think so.”
He didn’t seem convinced. “I can carry you.”
Right. Like that was going to happen. Setting my jaw, I shook my head. “No. I’m fine.”
This time he smiled slowly, raking his gaze over me once before taking my hand and walking quickly inside. Loud rock music and multiple conversations ceased as we stepped through. His hand tightened on mine briefly and squeezed. I was almost tempted to pull away, but his strength was the only thing keeping me upright as I winced in pain. If I didn’t get out of these clothes soon, I’d be raw from head to toe.
I felt every set of eyes in the room settle on the big man at my side. He pulled the bandana down and smirked, ticking his head toward a few bikers gathered around the bar. A few shouts and jokes could be heard around the room. He must have been gone for a lengthy amount of time because people approached, many of them clapping him on the back and giving him shit.
The biker released my hand as he accepted a shot of liquor and I looked around the room, noticing the bar, multiple pool tables, leather couches, and big screen televisions anchored to the wall around the perimeter of the room. It was a warm and comfortable space, surprising considering the plain exterior of the building.
“Who are you?”
I turned, coming face to face with a monster. My mouth opened in a silent scream as a hulking man with skull makeup approached, his eyes sunken dark holes as his mouth twisted into a vicious grin. Frightened, cold, tired, and unable to think clearly, I backed up and smacked into the biker who brought me here. An arm snaked around my waist as I heard his growl rumble within his broad chest.
“Leave her alone.”
“I think you better explain, brother.”
The two men faced off as I trembled with fear, my legs threatening to give out and send my body tumbling ungracefully to the floor.
“She’s with me. End of discussion.”
The biker grabbed my hand and led me from the room quickly, not bothering to engage anyone else in conversation. I didn’t catch what he was grumbling about with the loud music but heard his clear displeasure.
We moved down a long hall that branched off in several directions and held a row of doors. He paused at one and pulled a key from his pocket, unlocking the door before we entered. A light was flipped on and he turned, staring at me for a long minute before speaking.
“Get out of those wet clothes. I’ll be back soon. Don’t leave for any reason. I mean it.”
Did the man ever do anything but order others around?
I never had a chance to reply as he stomped from the room and slammed it shut, turning the key as he locked it from the outside. Even though I knew this was for safety more than anything else, I was still frustrated.
Damn biker.
Chapter 5 – Bodie
“What the fuck was that?” I snarled, shoving Rael in the chest as soon as I made it back to the bar. Just because he was the enforcer of the club didn’t mean he had to stick his nose in my business. He scared Sasha. I didn’t like the fear that had been evident in her eyes.
A rumbling roar echoed in his chest and the two of us slammed into the bar as he retaliated, knocking over glasses of booze as my brothers scattered and moved out of the way.
“You challenging me?”
“Fuck yeah,” I answered, more than ready to burn off some of my anger.
“Knock it off, you fuckers.” Grim stood with his usual mixture of humor and annoyance. “Get in the chapel. Now. It’s time for church.”
Several grunts and a few snorts of humor could be heard around the room.
Lucky pulled me aside, ticking his head toward Rael as he reluctantly moved away. “What’s up, brother? You seem wound up tight.”
Lucky was my cousin Daniel. He joined a few years back. Lucky was one of few I confided in about Suraya and all that shit six months ago. When the Scorpions attacked the Blacktop and Grim’s Trish was nearly killed, the carnage that unleashed left me in a fit of rage, consumed by bloodlust after I found Suraya’s dead body on the ground at Acid’s feet. He killed her to prove a point. It was personal.
Cracking my neck, I inhaled deeply to avoid the change, my Reaper ready to rise to the surface and take over. I didn’t let him lead right now but one day soon I would. Acid would know pain and suffering the likes of which he’d never heard of before that moment. I would ensure he remembered my name and the vicious way I stripped him down long before he had the decency to die.
“I’m good,” I finally replied, moving away from the bar.
We followed Grim into the chapel, shutting the door behind us with a click. As we all took our assigned seats, my gaze swept over my brothers and their tough, no-nonsense expressions. Grim picked up the gavel and banged it loud enough to make sure we were all paying attention.
“Church is in session.”
Looking across the table, I found Rael watching me. I honestly didn’t know what the fuck Rael and I had against one another. It wasn’t one incident that stood out among the rest or a few words that cemented our mutual annoyance. Maybe it was the fact that the enforcer position belonged to my old man before me. Or maybe it was due to the fact that Rael didn’t have the same history with the club that I did. But titles were just that, titles. At least to me.
I knew my place in this MC and it was by Grim’s side. Always. I loved and trusted my brothers – even Rael – and my loyalty was concrete no matter how much we bickered in person. Sure, he pissed me off. Cocky, unpredictable, and just fuckin’ crazy. He was worse lately, too.
If I was honest, I knew I’d also changed which only made matters worse. Since all that shit six months ago, I’d gone rogue. I was a wildcard. That didn’t sit well with the guy in charge of the club’s safety and I had to give him credit for making sure I understood that.
Our eyes met and he licked the blood from his bottom lip before grinning evilly.
Crazy fucker.
I smirked, giving him a nod. Yeah, we were good.
Grim sighed heavily and we waited expectantly for him to continue. “Bodie is back at my request.” My brothers nodded, many of them curious but no one said a word. “It’s been a long six months and this club has some shit to settle. Let’s hear what you found, Bodie.”
There wasn’t a delicate way to give the news. “We’ve got a problem,” I began, ticking my head toward my prez.
“What kind of problem?” Grim hardly ever reacted to bad news. He internalized everything which was both good and bad. Shit ate him up much worse than the rest of us and those he confided in were a small, select group.
The prez carried a heavy load of responsibility and regret. I knew this firsthand.
“There’s a rat,” I spat, disgusted. It was the only conclusion that made sense and one I’d thought about most of the ride back to the Crossroads from Hawthorne.
Noises of protest and disgust could be heard around the table.
“Explain.” Grim’s voice was calm, cool but no less powerful than usual.
“I wasn’t in the Blacktop more than a few minutes when the place was overrun with Scorpions.”
Mammoth shook his head. “Maybe they were only scoping the place out.”
“In this weather?” Wraith slapped a palm down and the table shook. “No way.”
Rael nodded. “Agreed.” He was always quick to believe the Scorpions were ready to start shit and he was usually right. “There’s no way that’s a coincidence.”
“Those fuckers keep pushing it,” Xenon added, clearly agitated.
“Where were you when you called me? Who could have heard?” I asked with a frown, wondering if he had been distracted by pussy or something else.
Lucky spoke up. “I heard him on his cell. Mammoth was here. Rael. I think that’s it besides the prospects. They were bringing in supplies.”
“No cookies? Nobody new?” Cookies were club whores who were constantly around at the beck and call of the members of the club. They provided sexual pleasure and release in any way the brothers wanted but it was a choice. No woman was forced to be a cookie.
“Fuck no,” Rael spat, “not on my watch, brother.”
Mammoth cracked his knuckles. “Want me and Rael to interrogate the prospects?”
Prospects didn’t attend church. Until you were a full patch you weren’t privy to the secrets of the club or its structure, financial or business ventures, or any other information.
“Wait.” I held up a hand. “You said we had deliveries. What kind?”
Patriot puffed away on his cigar, meeting my gaze across the table. “Booze, smokes, fuckin’ toilet paper. Standard shit.”
“And the Denali brothers?”
Xenon narrowed his eyes. “They were here briefly. Had a shipment issue. Some kind of glitch.”
“What fuckin’ glitch?” Grim looked pissed. “Why am I just now hearing about this shit?”
“Took care of it,” Wraith explained. “Didn’t see a reason to bring it up until now.”
“Fuck,” Grim cursed.
“Toad and Shadow were the only prospects around,” Hannibal added, flipping the metal lighter in his hand open and closed repeatedly with an annoying click. “I watched those boys nice and close. Wasn’t them.”
Resisting the urge to shiver, I nodded to Hannibal. The brother didn’t flinch as our gaze met and I didn’t linger on the multiple scars on his face or the teardrop of blood tattooed by his right eye a few inches from the reaper that wrapped around the right side of his skull. Head closely shaven, he was one of the scariest looking in our brotherhood, but he earned his respect with every hard-fought year he’d been in this club. As Treasurer, he kept a low profile, but nobody did anything at the Crossroads without Hannibal’s knowledge.
“Then our rat was one of the delivery drivers. It’s the only conclusion that makes sense.”
Grim pursed his lips. “That’s a hell of an opportunity. I don’t say shit in front of anyone. Fucking hell,” he cursed.
“But the prospects kept opening the door to bring in boxes,” Mammoth pointed out. “Somebody heard somethin’.”
“I agree. Which means this asshole had more than one chance to overhear your conversation, prez,” Rael sneered. “And obviously they heard you were sending a brother to the Blacktop.”
Grim cursed, shoving to his feet as he lit a smoke. “Acid.”
A chorus of agreement echoed around the table. It was the most likely explanation.
“He’s probably had a guy in place for months waiting for the right Intel.”
“Dammit, Bodie. That’s the last thing we need.”
“I know.”
“And it’s not a coincidence with the Denali brothers either.” Xenon lit up a joint and inhaled, turning to Grim. “I’ll go over the security feed. If there’s anything suspicious I’ll find it.”
Xenon was our IT guy. He was fuckin’ brilliant when it came to computers and technology.
“Mammoth, Rael, I want you on this. Go over all the spreadsheets and invoices. Get the prospects to help but don’t say shit about what you’re doing or why. Xenon check those cameras and let me know if you find anything. The rest of you, keep an eye out. If you come across anything suspicious, I want to know immediately.”
“The Scorpions continue to be a problem,” Hannibal announced as everyone met his stone-cold stare. “I want to scope out their shit. Take Lucky and Patriot with me to do a little recon with your permission, prez.”
Grim nodded. “Done. Any other club business?”
Rael sat up, looking my way on purpose. “What’s up with the Suraya look-alike?” he asked, kicking back in his seat as our eyes met. “Don’t mean no shit, brother, but you’re ol’ lady is gone, and that little piece of ass wasn’t a ghost.”
Fuck. I knew that but I didn’t want to talk about it.
“I don’t know,” I admitted. “But I think Suraya had a twin.”
A few of the guys seemed surprised but they didn’t say much.
“An identical twin?” Rael seemed surprised. “That makes sense, actually.”
I didn’t ask him to elaborate in front of everyone. This was a discussion I wanted to keep as short as possible, especially with my own lack of answers.
“Shit, Bodie,” Grim finally replied. “Where did you find her? The Blacktop?”
“Yeah,” I drawled, running a hand through my hair. “Which doesn’t sit well with me. Sasha is in danger. The Scorpions saw her at the bar. At least one member got away before I could stop him.”
“And if they think she’s Suraya,” Mammoth concluded, “They’ll be out for blood.”
“Exactly. Sasha needs the club’s protection, Grim. I wouldn’t ask otherwise.”
I felt his hand drop on my shoulder and squeeze. “Done. There won’t be a problem.”
My brothers nodded their agreement.
“And the other person I asked you to find?”
Trish. “No sign of her.”
Grim’s jaw locked and something fierce flashed in his dark eyes before he sat down and banged the gavel again. “Church is dismissed. You have your assignments. Let’s find this fucking rat.”
A few of the guys left but half of us were still sitting around the wooden table carved with the Royal Bastards Tonopah, Nevada logo etched into the oiled surface. Behind us in a big frame was the Royal Bastards Code. Each of our names and signatures were signed below it . . . in our blood. I didn’t have to look at the parchment to repeat each and every single line of the code. They were committed to memory as well as the rules of the Tonopah, Nevada Chapter.
“Get the fuck out of here,” Grim growled, lost in his own shit and the lack of news about Trish. It was clearly written on his face. “I need a few minutes.”
We shuffled from the room, heading out toward the bar.
Rael was watching me with that cold, calculating expression that never left his face and added to the freaky vibe that originated from the skull makeup he always wore. Black circles made his hazel eyes seem deeply sunken into his head while his nose was blackened, and his lips resembled macabre teeth ready to snap at the first opportunity. Demented and more than a little twisted, he looked the Reaper without even taking on his deadly form.
Rael preferred it that way.
“What if she’s a spy?”
Every muscle in my body tightened with his words. “She’s not.” Even though the idea had already crossed my mind, I wouldn’t indulge Rael with my suspicions.
“You better make sure.”
“Don’t fuckin’ threaten me, Rael. I ain’t playing your fucked up games.” Rael wasn
’t getting anywhere near Sasha. If he tried, we’d have words and it wouldn’t be a civil discussion.
“Cool it,” Grim ordered, staring both of us down from the chapel doors. “Enough shit, Rael. Bodie, find out what you can and report back to me.”
Rael and I separated but not before I caught the smirk on his face. If he didn’t watch it, I was going to permanently adjust his bad attitude. The sudden surge of protectiveness I felt over Sasha didn’t sit well with me. Neither did the idea that I would fight another brother over her if needed. Grumpy as fuck, I headed back toward my room and the little brunette who had turned my world completely upside down.
Chapter 6 – Sasha
He left me here. That asshole biker dumped me in this room and left me here for over an hour and a half and still hadn’t returned. Pissed off, I had already rummaged through his room and found a couple of clean towels, heading into his bathroom for a long, hot shower only a few minutes after he locked the door. At least he wasn’t here to bother me and ask another round of stupid questions.
Honestly, I didn’t know what his problem was. He seemed to be in a foul mood from the moment we met but it was my name that really set him off. What was the deal? Did he know my sister? Suraya was dating one of the brothers in the Royal Bastards, but I had never met him. She didn’t want me entangled with their MC and said it was too dangerous to be involved. Didn’t stop her from hanging around this clubhouse they called the Crossroads or sleeping with a biker.
What a double standard.
I should have done more to interfere. Asked more questions. Pushed her harder. But Suraya was my one real weakness. Not only were we identical twins, but she was my other half. We were true to every cliché ever said about twins – we finished each other’s thoughts and sentences, switched places to help one another out on many occasions for school and tests, dated some of the same guys. We even dressed alike as girls. Suraya and I shared everything . . . until she started dating a Royal Bastard.
The Biker's Gift (Royal Bastards MC) Page 3