Ranger (Reckless Kings MC 3)

by Harley Wylde

  I reached up to wipe the tears from my cheeks. What he’d said was both beautiful and heartbreaking. I didn’t even want to think about having to ever live without him. It didn’t matter how long we’d known each other. He was it for me.

  “I can’t make that promise,” I said. “I won’t. I guess you’ll just have to live as long as I do. We’ll grow old together. Raise a family. See our kids have children of their own. Maybe even our grandchildren will have families before we move on to whatever is beyond this world.”

  “You two are nauseatingly sweet,” my dad said.

  “Like I haven’t had to watch you and Mom when you think no one is around?” I asked.

  “Shut it,” Dad muttered.

  “Visit with your mom,” Ranger said. “We’ll be back as soon as we can. I don’t know if Lavender is going to Church or not. If she’s not, why don’t you ask her to come over? The boys can play out back.”

  “I’ll be glad when all this is over.” I snuggled into him. “I don’t want to feel like I need to hide or always be on guard.”

  “We’ll take care of Lewis Stevens. One way or another,” Ranger said.

  “That’s what worries me.” I kissed him softly and stood. “I don’t want anyone going to jail over this mess. Or worse, ending up dead. Promise me you’ll be careful. I just found you. I can’t lose you.”

  He got up from the chair and hugged me tight. “I will always come back to you, Dani. Always. Nothing will keep me from your side. As for Lewis, he’ll get what’s coming to him. Whether it’s seeing the inside of a jail cell, or buried six feet under, I’ll make sure he can’t hurt you or anyone else ever again.”

  After Dad and Ranger left, I collapsed onto the couch. Mom sat next to me, texting on her phone. I figured she was checking on my brother, or asking Lavender to come over. I didn’t know how she’d handled this all these years. The waiting and doing nothing part. Our men were off figuring out how to handle a rapist and stalker while we twiddled our thumbs. It didn’t seem right.

  “You get used to it,” Mom said. “And as the Reckless Kings grow, you’ll have more old ladies to befriend. Lyssa is coming over, along with Hayley. Lavender said she’s bringing the boys. Why don’t we see what’s in your kitchen? We’ll bake some goodies, maybe make a casserole or two, and carry it over to the clubhouse. When the men are finished talking, they’ll need to refuel before they can carry out whatever plan they come up with.”

  I hoped the club whores weren’t around. I wasn’t sure I could handle some woman clinging to Ranger right about now. Well, not without wanting to seriously kick her ass. Since I hadn’t been part of the Reckless Kings very long, I didn’t know if I’d get into trouble for doing something like that. Lyssa could probably tell me. Or even Hayley.

  “Is it always like this?” I asked.

  “Pretty much. It’s part of why your dad didn’t want to live at the compound. He goes when they need his help, but for the most part, he’s kept to himself. At least, until you and Jackson got a little older. When the two of you started traveling with the rodeo, he started attending more club events. Took me with him when he could. It’s been good for Langston. He had the chance to grow up with Atlas and the other kids, and you made friends with a few of them too. It’s like having a huge extended family.”

  “And after everything we went through, we needed a support system,” I said. “You most of all.”

  Mom nodded. “I did, and your dad gave that to me.”

  “You don’t ever worry about the women at the clubhouse, when he goes without you?” I asked.

  She smiled. “No, baby girl. I don’t. I trust your dad, and I know he loves me. He would never do anything to hurt me and cheating with one of those women would tear out my heart. You think Tank, Venom, or any of the others with wives or old ladies look twice at those women? They don’t. They’re faithful to those they love.”

  I looked down at the floor. “What if they don’t love you? How do you trust them not to be tempted? What’s stopping them from doing whatever they want?”

  “From what I know of the Reckless Kings, they’re a lot like the Dixie Reapers. At least as far as being faithful goes. Neither Beast nor Hawk would dare let those women touch them. I think Ranger is the same.”

  I wished I could be as certain. In a lot of ways, we were still strangers. We might have slept together, and he had claimed me, but we hadn’t been together very long. There was so much I didn’t know about him. What if I put my trust in him and he failed me? I didn’t know if it was something we’d recover from.

  There was a knock at the door a moment before it swung open. Lyssa stepped inside with her daughter, and Hayley followed with little Freya.

  “Lavender was unloading the boys,” Lyssa said. “We also have a few things in the back of my car. I didn’t know what you had in your kitchen, so I packed what we’d need to make some brownies.”

  “And I brought a chicken casserole I made this morning,” Hayley said. “All we’ll need to do is warm it before we take it over to the clubhouse.”

  I glanced at my mom, and she just gave me a small smile. Looked like we were going to keep busy by feeding the men. I only hoped it didn’t blow up in my face. If I walked in and found some club whore hanging on Ranger, and him letting her, it would gut me.

  Langston burst into the house with Atlas on his heels. He beelined for me and flung his arms around my waist. “Missed you, Danica.”

  “I’ve missed you too, little brother.” I hugged him tight. “Looks like us women will be cooking and baking. Why don’t you and Atlas go out back to play?”

  He nodded and took off, Atlas running right alongside him. They darted out the front door and I watched through the window as they ran around the side of the house. Langston knew his way around horses, so I didn’t worry about them getting into trouble with Pharoah and Sunny.

  “I’m sure you have a lot of questions,” Lyssa said. “I’ll answer them while we bake.”

  I eyed Madison and Freya. “And the girls?”

  “I brought two options,” Lyssa said. “I have a baby gate we can put across a doorway, if there’s a room you think they can use without getting into mischief, or I have a playpen.”

  “There’s a sunroom. It’s completely empty right now,” I said.

  “Sounds perfect.” Lyssa smiled. “I brought plenty of toys to keep the girls occupied. We’ll get them settled, then get started on feeding the men.”

  “I’ll show you where the sunroom is, and then I’ll start unloading your car,” I offered.

  I led the way to the back of the house and my mother gasped as she saw the space. I knew exactly how she felt. I couldn’t wait to decorate the room and be able to sit out here and enjoy the sunshine and quiet without having to sit in the heat. I didn’t know if this part of Tennessee saw much snow, but if it did, I knew I’d enjoy the view in the winter too.

  While we baked brownies, I peppered Lyssa with questions about the Reckless Kings and what I should expect while living here. She eased some of my concerns. The rest I’d have to figure out as time passed.

  “You’ll like it here,” Hayley said. “I was terrified when Hawk brought me to Tennessee. I’d spent time with Mariah, and I’d met some of the Dixie Reapers, but it wasn’t the same as having grown up around them. I had a lot to learn, but I haven’t regretted moving here.”

  “I’m sure I’ll settle in soon,” I said. “It’s just all so new right now. I barely know Ranger, and I’ve met Beast, Hawk, and a few other Reckless Kings over the last year, but I don’t really know them.”

  Lyssa hugged me, then Hayley wrapped her arms around both of us. Whatever the future brought, at least I knew these two would stand by me through it all. We’d stick together, just like the old ladies did at the Dixie Reapers. After all, they were our role models.

  “Too bad Casper had Mariah sent to the Devil’s Fury,” Mom said. “Although, it might be a good thing. If the Reckless Kings start claiming all the Re
aper girls, Torch and Venom might not want the club around as much.”

  “Farrah is with the Devil’s Fury,” I reminded her.

  She nodded. “True. Janessa is with the Devil’s Boneyard and Laken is with Ryker, even though he’s no longer part of Hades Abyss.”

  I blinked at my mom. “Wait. He’s a Reaper now? How did I not know that?”

  “They didn’t make a huge deal of it. He’s been living there since he claimed Laken. We all knew it was bound to happen sooner or later.” Mom reached over to squeeze my hand. “But with Ryker being Spider’s son, we still have a family tie to the Hades Abyss.”

  “Wonder who Leigha will grow up and fall for,” Lyssa said. “She’s the next oldest, right?”

  “Out of the girls? Yes,” Mom said. “But Owen and Foster are both eighteen now. I know they want to prospect for the club. It’s possible one of them will find their perfect match before Leigha is old enough to be claimed by anyone.”

  I cleared my throat and shifted on my feet. “Um, I don’t know if anyone’s noticed, but Foster has a tendency to flirt with Leigha. I have a feeling he’s waiting for her to turn eighteen before he makes his move.”

  My mom groaned and smacked her hand over her eyes, shaking her head. “No. No, no, no. Preacher is never going to let Bull’s son anywhere near his daughter. Not after last year.”

  “What happened last year?” Good grief. Had I been living under a rock? How did I miss all the stuff going on at home?

  “There was a pregnancy scare,” Lyssa said. “I heard all about it from Mariah. Some girl claimed Foster got her pregnant. She’d lied. The baby wasn’t his, which we found out after it was born, and Bull demanded a paternity test. But the simple fact he’d slept with that girl, and the baby could have been his, pretty much put a nail in his coffin where any of the Reaper daddies are concerned. He won’t be going near Leigha anytime soon. Not and live to see the next morning.”

  Damn. “New rule. Share the gossip as it’s happening and not a year later.”

  Lyssa snickered. “Sure thing.”

  Chapter Ten

  Ranger

  The more I found out about Lewis Stevens, the more I hated the guy. How had a monster like him been allowed to roam free all these years? Not only had Wire, Shield, and Lavender found more than a dozen girls this asshole had beaten and raped, but it looked like he’d killed two girls when he’d been younger. The law hadn’t been able to pin anything on him, and being under eighteen, his record had been sealed. Unless you had world-class hackers digging into the guy.

  “From what we’ve been able to determine, he’s getting close to his end goal,” Wire said. “The letters are getting more frequent. With each girl he’s assaulted previously, he made sure they disappeared from a rodeo he didn’t attend. Our best guess is that he planned to have someone snatch Danica at the event she was heading to when she stopped here.”

  Jesus. I could have lost her, and I wouldn’t have even known where to look. Bile rose in my throat as I studied the pictures Wire had found. They weren’t from police records. The women hadn’t gone forward. Probably too terrified. No, these were from Lewis’ personal collection. One he’d kept backed up to a cloud storage of all places. Fucking idiot.

  The images detailed not only the brutal way they’d been beaten to within an inch of their lives, but he’d also had someone take pictures of everything he did to them. Only a few women had gotten away with only a few bruises to outwardly show for what they’d suffered. Looked like he’d gotten slightly smarter over the years. Found ways to hide what he’d done to them.

  “I want him dead,” Cowboy said.

  I glanced at Danica’s dad and couldn’t agree with him more. I wanted this asshole six feet under too, but he was in the spotlight. Dani had been right about one thing. Making him disappear wouldn’t be easy.

  “Any of these women willing to come forward?” I asked.

  “A few,” Wire said. “Most… aren’t alive anymore to tell their story. Three committed suicide. Two have been committed to psychiatric facilities, too damaged from what happened to make it on their own. The others died in accidents. The ones who are willing to testify against him have changed their names and gone into hiding.”

  “There’s more,” Shield said, his gaze going around the table and stopping on Hatchet. “Brother, you remember knocking up some girl about twenty years ago?”

  Hatchet leaned back in his seat and folded his arms. “I was sixteen. Just a dumbass kid. My girlfriend had an abortion, then moved out of state. What the fuck does that have to do with anything?”

  “She didn’t have an abortion,” Wire said. He slid a photo across the table to Hatchet. “Your daughter is alive, and she’s one of Lewis’ victims. She’s at Balmoral Psychiatric Hospital in Missouri. I’ve already asked Spider to have one of his crew go check on her.”

  Hatchet picked up the picture and studied it. He stood so abruptly, his chair fell over. The roar he released was a mix of rage and pain, the type of pain only a father can feel when his little girl has been brutalized by someone like Lewis. Hatchet put his fist through the wall -- twice -- before falling to his knees.

  “Her name is Raven,” Shield said. “If you want to head to Missouri to go meet your daughter, none of us will stand in your way.”

  Hatchet got to his feet, his hands fisted. “No. I’m staying. Before I meet her, I need to make this asshole pay. I want to look my daughter in the eye and tell her she’s been avenged. That she no longer has to live in fear.”

  “Spider will take good care of her,” Cowboy said. “She’ll be in good hands until you get there.”

  Hatchet nodded and reclaimed his seat. I noticed Wire and Shield removed a handful of pictures from the ones they passed around the table. I knew they had to be of Hatchet’s daughter. It was one thing knowing Lewis had assaulted her, and another to see it. At least they were sparing him that much.

  “Lewis is competing in a rodeo in Wyoming right now,” Cowboy said. “I checked his schedule. He has a fan site that lists all his upcoming appearances, and he’s got a page on the PBR website. After Wyoming is Texas, Arizona, and Oklahoma. He’s trying to rack up enough points to guarantee himself to be toward the top by the main PBR event.”

  “So how do we do this?” I asked. “Every town he stops in puts another woman in danger. If he can’t get to Dani, he may grab someone else.”

  Wire tapped on his keyboard a moment before looking over at Hatchet. “According to Surge, Spider has sent Breaker after your daughter. He’s a good kid. I remember him when he was a Prospect. Name’s Teller, and he’ll lay down his life to keep Raven safe.”

  Hatchet nodded. “Thanks. I hate not being the one to go get her, but I know this is where I need to be right now.”

  “How are we going to get him?” I asked, trying to keep everyone focused on Lewis. I needed this asshole off the streets. Not only for Danica, but for every woman who crossed his path. He didn’t seem to have a type. The pictures showed women who were blonde, brunette, black-haired, purple-haired… he didn’t seem to care. They were different races as well. Only thing they had in common were their ages. They seemed to range between sixteen and twenty.

  Wait. I looked over all the information again. I wasn’t wrong. Every last one of them was twenty or younger. Except Danica didn’t fit the profile.

  “Danica is older than all these women. Are we sure he’s the one after her?” I asked.

  “I thought of that,” Wire said. “There’s a chance it could be a copycat, someone who knows how Lewis operates, but has decided they don’t want to work behind the scenes anymore. In which case, I’ve pulled up a list of men he’s used to not only take pictures but also deliver the notes. Anyone tried to pull prints off the letters Danica has?”

  “We don’t have a way to run them,” Beast said.

  “I can do it,” Wire said. “I brought everything I’d need. When we take a break, I’ll check the letters for prints and run any I find.”


  “I handled some of them,” I said. “So did Danica.”

  “I have hers already,” Wire said.

  I wasn’t sure I wanted to know why he had her prints. Considering the trouble the Dixie Reapers had found over the years, it wouldn’t surprise me if he had prints on everyone in the club, even the babies. Hell, they’d chipped Lyssa’s vehicle, phone, and who knew what else. They’d probably done the same thing with Danica, and all the other girls. I couldn’t blame them. In fact, I liked that they could find my woman at any given time.

  “Let’s figure out how we’re grabbing Lewis, then we’ll focus on the men who have helped him. I think we need to take them all out,” Beast said.

  “I agree.” Hawk leaned forward, bracing his arms on the table. “If we take out Lewis, there’s no guarantee his little minions won’t decide to take up where he left off. Anyone who would agree to watch any of that, much less take part in some way, is evil to their core.”

  “Or Lewis has something on them,” I said.

  “Shield and I will see what we can find,” Wire said. “Right now, I think we have all the main players. We mostly focused on digging on Lewis. No reason we can’t do the same for the other men. Might take a few hours.”

  “Until then, why don’t we take a break?” Beast suggested.

  I cocked my head, trying to figure out what I’d just heard from the other room. “Anyone else hear a scream?”

  Everyone stood and rushed into the main part of the clubhouse, and then came to an abrupt stop. Holy. Shit. My eyes went wide as I stared at Dani, slamming Letty’s head into the bar repeatedly. Lyssa was in the process of hauling another club whore out the door, by her hair. Or more accurately, dragging her since the woman was on the ground. Hayley kicked another in the stomach and followed it up with a punch to the woman’s face.

  “What the fuck?” I mumbled.

  “I think our women have taken exception to the club whores being here in the middle of the day,” Beast said. He didn’t seem the least bit disturbed. In fact, he looked damn proud of his woman.