Fire Meets Fire: Wretched Soulz MC, page 18
And those hit me right in the feels. I’ll give her a future if that’s what she wants. Fuck, if she asked, I’d try to give her the stars. Even if my club never forgives me, if I manage to stay alive, I’d be happy to start anew with someone like Helo by my side. It’s what comes in between that and now that scares the shit out of me.
Slugger pokes his head around the doorway, rapping the doorframe as if his appearance hasn’t been enough to get our attention. “Church,” he rasps. “Now.” As I start turning to Helo, he snorts. “She’s included.”
“Well fuck me.” She grins as he walks away. “You religious?”
“Hell no,” I respond. “He means he wants a meeting.”
Her resulting chuckle suggests she was just yanking my chain and realised that anyway. Still, we walk out together. The rest of the club have already taken their spaces in a makeshift oval with Slugger seated at the head. There’s a seat on the couch next to Skunk, but Helo ignores it, making me suspect she’s already clocked his issues. Poor guy, there’s no deodorant made to counteract his body odour. Fuck knows we’ve all tried giving him different brands. He doesn’t give a shit, making out it’s his pheromones. Personally, I think he’d do well to become more familiar with the shower.
Clasping Helo’s hand, I lean against the wall, pulling her in beside me. My body is tense, suspecting I won’t like their discussion at all. She squeezes my fingers, emphatically knowing I need the support.
Slugger’s an ass, everyone knows it, but somehow he made it to the topmost position in the club. It’s only times like this when he puts his serious cap on that the reason he made it to that spot shows. Gone is the asshole personality, and in comes the professional, willing to make the hard choices.
Banging the heel of his knife on the table, Slugger gets everyone’s attention. He glances around, then catches my eye and holds it. “First order of business. What’s to be done with Chaz? Brothers? You want him in, out bad, or six feet underground?”
I swallow hard, feeling my Adam’s apple bob. While I knew it was coming, I didn’t expect Slugger to table it so fast. I’d hoped we’d get Helo’s business sorted before my fate was decided.
“For running out on the club? Taking our payday away?” Pothead raises a joint to his lips and takes a deep puff. Blue intoxicating smoke wafts out, making Legit, who’s seated beside him, waft it away with his hand.
“Strong shit that,” he chides him.
Pothead looks uncontrite. “Good fuckin’ shit,” he answers him. “Want to try?”
It seems Legit does and Slugger raps his knife on the wood again. Once he’s got his attention, he points to the joint-smoking man. “Betrayal of loyalty to the Soulz, yeah. That’s what we’re talking about. Most serious fuckin’ crime.”
I keep my mouth shut, having nothing with which to defend myself. If things were the other way round and I was in the top seat questioning the behaviour of a brother who’d made the choice I had, I’d have gone for the toughest penalty.
StoryTeller sits forward. “There once was a man who couldn’t understand how a brother would want an ol’ lady in his life.” There’s a slight quirk to his lips reminding me of the times I’ve yanked his chain about his relationship with Sheri. “Then, one stormy night—well, it was probably clear and dry, but hell, my way makes a better story—” He breaks off to allow people to laugh. “A damsel in distress entered his life and it was like a bullet shot straight to his jaded heart.”
Helo jerks beside me, but I place my hand on her arm. It’s best not to interrupt StoryTeller when he’s in the middle of a story, and I want to hear how this plays out. It at least sounds like he’s on my side.
StoryTeller resumes, “The fearless, ferocious leader was cut off at the knees when the damsel cast her magic spell over him. From that moment on she weaved her magic, and he was gone, becoming a slave to her beauty, and unable to think of anything else. All previous loyalties fled as she’d stolen his soul and his heart.”
“What the fuck?”
“Shush,” I chide Helo.
Iron rubs a hand over his bald head as he sits forward. “So you’re saying Prez is bewitched and not in control of his actions? Maybe what he needs is an exorcism.”
“So now it looks like we’ve four options,” Weasel says seriously, while Slugger lets out a weary sigh.
Giving one of his customary sniffs, Skunk wipes his nose with the back of his hand, then states, “Can’t fault a man for falling in love.”
“Nah. Just like I’m in love with the idea of a new bike,” Fire retorts.
Helo pushes away from my side, goes to the table and plants her hands there palms down. “And you’ll get your new fucking bike. Instead of moaning like old ladies and discussing Chaz, why don’t we get on with planning how we’re going to accomplish that?”
“Lady’s got a point.” Bull nods appreciatingly.
“So you’re going to let Chaz’s behaviour stand?” Slugger asks.
“Yeah.” StoryTeller looks me straight in the eye. “Can’t fault a man in love.”
I’m not in love. Am I? Oh fuck it, he’s right. Else why would I want her as my old lady, or explain my desire to keep her breathing. Maybe StoryTeller’s right and she’s cast a spell on me.
Helo stays in position, but slowly casts her eyes around. “What would have happened had he not taken me away? Would any of you assholes have given me up?”
Claw shrugs. “Thought about it.”
“We don’t know you, lady,” Legit says. “We don’t know if you might deserve what you’ve got coming to you.”
Helo shakes her head and gives an incredulous huff. “No, you don’t know me. But it seems Chaz knows you. If he hadn’t taken me away, someone could have acted impetuously and betrayed where I was without giving us a chance to look through the options.”
“Still don’t know you,” the redheaded Fire insists.
“But your prez does.” She fixes him with a stare that I’m sure has made many a man crap his pants. “Seems trust and loyalty work both ways. Chaz knows my story, and has decided the rights and wrongs of it for himself. Seems like you, his brothers, ought to give him some credit for that.”
“Oh for fuck’s sake.” Slugger kicks back his chair and turns to me with a glare. “Come sit the fuck down, Brother.”
“What?” Skunk’s eyes open wide. “We’re not going to kick him out?”
Walking over to take the offered seat next to Slugger, I take the opportunity to slap Skunk around the head. “Not getting rid of me that fuckin’ easily.” I say the words, but inside, I’m full of relief that I’ve still got my place.
Helo pushes away from the table and starts to return to her previous place against the wall. As I sit my ass down, it’s to Iron’s roar of, “What the hell?” and I helplessly watch him leap from his chair, but he’s too late to catch her before she hits the ground.
It’s pandemonium for a few seconds. I’m on my feet again, then drop to my knees, pulling her into my arms, checking whether she might have any injuries. From what I can see, she’s sound. Skunk vacates the couch, allowing me to lay her down, and Slugger stands, shaking his head in bewilderment.
“She just went out like a fuckin’ light,” Slugger observes. He pinches the brow of his nose, then asks, “What was the fucking trigger?”
That’s something I’d like to know, but unless it was the release of tension when my club didn’t show me the door, I’ll be fucked if I know. All I can tell him is, “PTSD. She can have these attacks out of the blue which bring her down.”
“Poof!” Legend demonstrates with his hand crashing to the floor, having seen it happen before. “She goes out like a fuckin’ light.”
Slugger sighs, his eyes fixed on the woman in my arms. As I check her out, willing her to start stirring, each time I’ve seen this I worry that she won’t come around. Just when I’m relieved to see her eyelids fluttering, he speaks. “Well, that’s that then. Any idea of her taking point in a plan to give herself up voluntarily is bust.” He even looks sad about it.
I understand what he’s saying, how dangerous it could be if she just collapsed, but… hang on one damn minute. He’s not thinking about going back to plan A and turning her in for the money without giving her a chance, is he? Once I’ve thought it, that takes foremost theory in my mind and suddenly I’m laying Queenie down, then standing, growling and throwing myself at him.
“You’re not fuckin’ betraying her!”
I’ve arms around me holding me back before my fist can make contact, and a gun pointed in my face being held firmly in Slugger’s hand.
He thrusts it forward, barrel to my forehead and uses it to push me back. I, myself, am still unarmed, else I wouldn’t be letting him get away with it.
“You and I. Outside. Now.”
As I start backing up, a voice calls out, “You need me, Slugger?”
Damn StoryTeller. Is it now I’m going to find out I can’t trust the man? I remember he acted as escort and enforcer to Slugger many times when he was a nomad. Is his loyalty to the Alpha and not myself?
“I can handle him,” Slugger replies, brave man that he is with a weapon held securely. My fists might be good, but they can’t do fuck all against a bullet.
As I walk backward, I find someone has helpfully opened the door, and, unlike StoryTeller, who offered to stand up for Slugger, my enforcer remains in the room with the rest of my so-called brothers.
What if this is my execution?
“Put that fuckin’ gun down and face me like a man,” I snarl as soon as we’ve privacy with the door closed behind us.
“I’d take you on—and win—anytime, Chaz,” he sneers back. “But beating you with my fists ain’t gonna solve anything.”
“You can’t have her.” I wave my hand toward the cabin behind me. “They’re good men in there. Once they understand what you’re planning on doing—”
His face glows so red it looks like it’s going to catch fire. “And what exactly the fuck am I planning?”
I wave my hands. “You’re going to take an innocent woman and—”
“Innocent?” he interrupts me again. “No one’s fuckin’ innocent from the moment they’ve escaped the womb.” Before I can counter that, he continues, “I’ve had it up to here,” he indicates his neck, “with you, Chaz. You’re so wrapped up in that bitch you can’t see straight—”
It’s my turn for an interruption. “I’m not wrapped up in her.” I say the words even though I know Helo’s got to me, so deep, any thought of harm coming to her hurts my soul. “I can’t have you give up a woman who should be revered and respected for what she’s done and what she’s lost for the sake of money to buy a few new Harleys.”
A sly grin comes to his face. “Who said anything about Harleys? Might fancy myself an Indian—”
Ignoring the gun, I launch at him. He fires a shot that luckily goes over my head but the loud gunfire has the result of at least stopping me. Won’t be much use to Helo dead.
Now, again, he’s got the weapon pointed clearly at me. Gone is the joker. Gone is the man intent on messing with my mind. Instead, in front of me, is the man who clawed his way up to be the Wretched Soulz head.
“Now you’re going to fuckin’ listen to me.” He beckons with his hand not holding the gun and indicates a low wall. “Shut the fuck up and go sit over there.”
I don’t immediately obey, which gets the gun cocked more firmly my way. Unsure if he’d really shoot me, I do read that Slugger’s losing what little patience he has.
Still trying to retain, or regain, the upper hand, I take the indicated seat, then demand, “Okay. I’m listening. What have you got to say?”
“You’re a fuckin’ idiot.”
As a starting point, it’s direct, and I can’t argue he’s wrong. I’ve never acted so much out of character. But I’m not about to show I agree with him, so I just let my eyes rest quizzically on his.
“How long you been prez of your charter?” After asking the question, he shakes his head. “Nah, don’t answer that. Obviously too long and not fuckin’ long enough.”
This time the rise of my brow shows my confusion.
Suddenly his fist bangs down on the picnic table so hard it makes the thing bounce. He’s certainly got my intention when he states, “You’re a fuckin’ moron. You misread your men. You misread me. At no fuckin’ point were we going to turn that woman in.”
CHAPTER NINETEEN
CHAZ
My jaw drops to the ground, then closes, then my mouth opens shaping the first letter of the word, but. At Slugger’s furious glare, I slam it shut, and take a moment to rearrange what I’d heard in the clubhouse and my, admittedly hasty, interpretation of the facts.
It doesn’t take long for me to come to the same conclusion that he has. Christ, I’ve been an ass. Sure, I’d heard the brothers talking about the windfall to come, but should have given them credit. Men I’ve lived and ridden beside for the past decade and more would never let me down, and whatever perceived wrong Helo had done to the club didn’t merit giving her up. Of course my brothers would want to have their cake and eat it too. Particularly if, as we now know, it means snatching the prize out of the hands of our archenemies.
Then I could be partially excused. My brothers were one thing, but I’d had Slugger to add to the mix. And he was unpredictable. Doesn’t exonerate me though. I should have waited, talked, listened, and maybe have better thought things through.
“You come to your senses?” Slugger asks. When he sees the shrugging movement of my shoulders, his gun magically disappears. “Are you ready to start actually planning how we’re going to keep your ol’ lady safe, and get that money into the club?”
“I’m going in.”
Both of us swing around at Helo’s quiet, but insistent tone. Eyeing her carefully, I look for signs of whether she’s recovered from her recent episode. Her face is drawn, her eyes don’t look completely clear. To my mind, she looks like she needs some down time and not to be involved in a serious discussion about how to save her life.
Slugger gets there before me. “There’s no fuckin’ way you’re getting involved.” His voice leaves no room for doubt or argument. Or, at least, wouldn’t for any members of the MC.
Helo, of course, is a different animal. Dazed as she still must be, she takes on a stance that screams who the fuck do you think you’re talking to? She doesn’t even need to say a word.
It’s only for a split second but I wish I had my phone out at that exact moment to take a picture of the expression on Slugger’s face. It’s like he’s never been faced with such female derision. It puts him on the backfoot and shows as he all but stammers, then quickly recovers himself.
“You… back there…” his hand waves at the door of the cabin. “You fuckin’ passed out.” His voice strengthens as he gets himself back on firm ground. “There’s no fuckin’ way you can take point on any mission, let alone go in by yourself.”
She doesn’t seem to give any weight to what he says, as she replies, “The Dominators won’t get the money until they pass me off to whoever is behind all this. It’s got to be me. They won’t be interested in anyone else. The objective is not getting rid of a nest of one-percenters, it’s getting the two million dollars.”
Slugger’s raised eyebrow shows she’s made a good point. He crosses his arms over his chest and regards her for a moment. “And how do you suggest we do that?”
I don’t like her grin one little bit. “They could kill me on sight, so I need to give them an incentive to keep me alive.” A chilling chuckle, then she adds, “I go in as a literal bomb.”
Her first words are bad enough, but I’m one hundred percent certain that when I do hear the rest of her proposal, I’m not going to like it. My lips momentarily press together, then I ask, my words coming out in a controlled monotone, “Would you care to expand on that?”
With total oblivion as to my feelings she says in a completely matter-of-fact way, “I go in wearing a suicide vest.”
“And the trigger?” Slugger asks, his voice menacingly low.
“Pressure switch on a remote control that I’ll be holding.”
“Fuck no!” I exclaim. “You pass out and you’ll blow yourself up.”
“Dummy switch?” Slugger asks, almost hopefully, making me feel a wave of relief that he has to be right.
But Helo shakes her head. “No. It’s got to be believable. I’ve got to be believable, if I’m going to get the information from the Dominators and get them to disclose the name of the fucker who’s after me, so we can take them down.”
“Then no,” Slugger states firmly. “You need our help to get the explosives unless you’ve got a supplier on speed dial?” He pauses, raises a brow, then continues when she ruefully shakes her head. “Admire your bravery, girl, but ain’t gonna help you commit suicide.” The next time she makes her short hair fly side to side at her dismissal of his comment, he softens his features. “Not questioning your abilities, but back in there?” He waves his hand toward the cabin. “You went down for no fuckin’ reason. I’m not risking that on my watch.” He shoots a crafty look my way. “And that’s just me being gentlemanly. I’m not even enamoured with you like our friend Chaz.”
A statement I couldn’t deny even if I wanted to waste my breath.
It’s a stalemate. Helo is right. We need to get information from the Dominators and it’s hardly unlikely they’d just give it to us. As soon as they get their hands on her, then all they’ll see is a payday. As far as we know, they may still get one whether she’s dead or alive.
There must be another way. Our clubs are evenly matched, animosity shared. Any direct attack will end in a bloodbath, and not without loss of life. Of course, there’s the option to take one prisoner and find what we want to know by torture, but will that info be known to everyone in the club? My brothers, for example, wouldn’t necessarily know all the details. It’s more likely their prez, VP, or maybe their treasurer will be the ones that we want. But cutting them from the herd will take some planning.
