Eric
“We have to go. We can’t leave her there.”
Spike looked at me, and he was very calm. His face was almost expressionless. “I never said we were gonna leave her there,” he said. “I just don’t want you rushing in half-cocked, is all.”
“I wasn’t planning to,” I said. “I know that would be suicide.”
“How much more time do we have?” Slash asked. He only got out of the hospital an hour earlier, and went straight to the clubhouse as soon as he heard there was trouble.
“Ten and a half hours,” I said. “Plenty of time, but every fucking minute that passes is one more minute when they could be hurting her.”
“You think Gareth would go back on his word like that?” Spike asked.
“You think he wouldn’t? Come on. He’s the least trustworthy person I ever knew. He’s always got some kind of motive behind his words. I wouldn’t put it past him to let his crew have a field day with her just to show he could.”
“Don’t let the way you hate him get in the way of your common sense,” Slash advised.
“For a man on pain meds, you have a lot to say,” I muttered.
“It’s funny—they make me chatty. I always heard they made people sleepy, but that’s not how I feel at all. If it weren't for the broken leg, I’d go over there with you.”
“That’s the last thing we need,” I said. “But it means a lot that you said it.” I knew Slash would walk through hell for me, and I would for him. Then I remembered. “Speaking of pain pills, did Pete and Joe go to the hospital?”
“Yeah, they went for scans or whatever it is they do for the brain. They look fine. They’re ready to go back out and make Gareth pay for what he did.”
“They’ll get their chance,” I muttered.
“You need to take it easy,” Spike replied.
“You need to let me be the president, man. Okay? Just let me do what I think is right.”
Spike didn’t seem to mind that I flipped out on him. He was giving me a lot of space to vent. “I get it, brother. It’s your club now, not mine. Just trying to give you a little perspective is all.”
I looked at the two of them. “I know I need to take my time. I know that it means more for him to take care of her so I keep up my end of the arrangement, since I could get him in deep trouble with the recording. This is long-term shit. He could go away for a long time. He’s gotta be careful.”
“Gareth’s not a stupid man,” Spike said, nodding. “He already thought it all through, I’d bet. He knows how important it is to keep his guys away from her. He won’t hurt her. If he does…”
“Yeah?” I asked when Spike trailed off.
He looked at Slash, then at me. “If he does hurt her, it’ll be in front of you. He’ll want you to see it.”
My blood ran cold when I realized how right Spike was. I exhaled sharply, my nostrils flared out. I felt like a bull. I wished it would be as easy as goring him and getting it over with. I needed him out of the picture. I couldn’t spend the rest of my life wondering what else he had in store for me. I couldn’t be afraid to let somebody special like Michelle into my life, for fear that he would take her away from me. That was no way to live.
I had to cut him out once and for all.
“What are you gonna do with the recording?” Slash asked.
“I’m sending it to the police,” I said.
“Won’t Gareth want you to hand it to him? So he knows it’s safe?”
“I didn’t say I would send the original over.”
Spike smiled. “You made a copy?”
“Of course I did. I have it recorded on my phone, too, so there’re three versions of it. I’ll give him one of the copies and send the original to the police. I can’t let him get away with the shit he’s done. He needs to go away for a long time. Permanently.” I knew it wouldn’t be permanent, not really. But it would be for a long time. He had a ton of black marks against his name, and who knew how much more they’d rack up against him after they found out he was selling underage girls.
I winced as Spike poured alcohol over my arm to clean the bullet wound. I had fought with him over getting the bullet out—all I wanted to think about was Michelle, and how to get her—but he pointed out that she might not like having a boyfriend with only one arm. If she even wanted me to be her boyfriend at all after all this shit went down.
Lucky for me, Spike was an old pro at getting bullets out of body parts. Not really something to be proud of, but it came in handy. I closed my eyes and braced myself as he went in with the probe to find the bullet.
“Stay still,” he murmured.
I turned my head away and stayed as still as I could. It wasn’t the pain—pain I could handle. It was the feeling of something moving around inside my arm.
“How many do you think we should take?” Slash asked.
“Who’s we?” I opened one eye to look at him.
“Sorry. I keep thinking like I’m going with you. It’s easy to forget.”
“Even with your leg in a cast?” Spike asked.
“I just wanna be part of the action,” Slash said. “I can’t help it.”
“I know, brother. I hate that they’re the reason you can’t be with us. This is for you, too.” I closed my eyes again while the probe moved around in my muscle. I felt it hit something.
“The bullet,” Spike said. I hated that he was taking so long to get it out. I had to get to Michelle. Part of me wondered if he was deliberately taking his time, not just because he didn’t want to hurt me. He wanted me to think things through, too.
“To answer your question,” I muttered through clenched teeth, “I think we should go all-out. I wanna have as many of our guys outside as possible. I don’t know what Gareth’s gonna try once we get there.”
“He might be luring us all into a trap,” Spike said. “Think about it. Wouldn’t it be great to get the whole club down there, then blow the place up or something?”
“Would he blow up his own clubhouse?” I asked.
“Like you always say, I wouldn’t put anything past him.” Spike’s voice was as tight as mine.
“I don’t love the idea of going alone.” I winced as the bullet slid out of the tunnel it made in my bicep. “So I’ll take a dozen with me. They can sit across the street until I call them in.”
“Don’t think I won’t be there,” Spike said, and I heard his grin even though I wasn’t looking at him. “You need somebody at your back.”
“Thanks.” I waited while he stitched me up, and every stitch took me one step closer to Michelle. I’ll be there soon, baby. I’ll get you out of there.
###
Once Spike had me patched up, I met in the main room of the clubhouse with the rest of my gang. They all looked ready to go. I was touched by how much danger they were willing to put themselves in for me. Michelle didn’t mean anything to them—only Pete, Joe, and Spike had ever met her.
I remembered when she asked me questions in bed, about why I joined the club to begin with. I knew she didn’t understand the big deal, why I would want to be part of something that was so violent and dangerous. I wished she could see what I saw when I looked out over their faces. They were ready to go into battle for somebody they had never met, because of me. That was what it was all about. The unspoken brotherhood. I didn’t even need to ask. They were ready to go no matter what it meant for them.
“I want a dozen of you with me on this,” I said.
“Only a dozen?” I didn’t know who asked, but I nodded.
“If we all ride in, he’ll know we’re coming from a mile away.”
“He already knows we’re coming.” A few heads nodded.
I sighed. I didn’t want to have to put it this way, but they were forcing my hand. “If this is some sorta trap, I don’t want all of you with me. I would rather leave a lot of you here. What if this is his way of getting us all in the same place, at the same time?”
Now the looks on their faces were a little less confident. Now they looked like they wondered what the fuck they were getting themselves into.
“I understand if any of you don’t wanna come along. I really do. This isn’t the sort of thing you signed on for. I get it. I don’t even expect any of you to come, honestly, and I know Michelle wouldn’t. So don’t feel like you have to.”
All of them stayed there, just where they stood. “Whoever you want, we’re ready to go.”
“Even if it means you might end up, I don’t know, blown up or something? I mean, this is Gareth we’re talking about. He’s psychotic. He sent one of his own men in here so that I would kill him. Who knows how far he would go?”
“Don’t worry about it.” That was Pete, and he looked determined to rip somebody’s head off. “We’ve got your back. Just tell us what to do.”
I nodded. “First…” I looked at Suzie, who stood behind the bar with a stunned look on her face. I handed her a large manila envelope. “I want you to take this to the police station. Don’t tell them who you are, or who I am, or anything about what’s inside.”
“I don’t even know what’s inside,” she whispered.
“Then it won’t be a problem.” I grinned at her, and she smiled through her fear. “Come right back here when you’re done, okay? Stay in contact with Slash. Let him know when you get to the station and when you’re leaving. If he doesn’t hear from you, he’s gonna send people after you. So make sure you keep him posted.”
“I will.” There was so much in her face—I always had the feeling she liked me as more than a friend, and now that I was with Michelle there was no chance for that to develop. I felt sorry for her, but I knew her feelings wouldn’t stand in the way of doing what I asked her to do. She was loyal, just like everybody else there.
“First,” I said, “let’s all have a shot.” She pulled out glasses, and I poured one for everybody in the room, including her. I raised my glass, and they joined me.
“To the Lightning Bolts,” I said, and they echoed before we all tossed the whiskey down our throats.
“All right,” I said, making sure my gun was loaded. “Let’s go.”