CHAPTER ONE
Raine woke up when Cricket began fussing in the night. He laid there listening to her crying out as if in pain. He heard her whimper in terror of something. Then he heard the name Bane and his heart froze. He’d heard that name before and there wasn’t anything good associated with it.
Wrapping his arms around her, he surrounded her with his warmth hoping to banish her terrors. For over an hour, he listened to her mumble and cry out. Finally, he couldn’t take it anymore and he sought another way to banish her terrors. He kissed her shoulder and his hand began a journey of renewing some heat in her body.
His lips pressed kisses down her neck while his hands reached around and began kneading her breasts. His long fingers plucked and pinched her nipples and he heard her groan for a different reason. One of his hands dropped down to her core and he pushed two fingers deep into her heat. The warm wetness of her arousal ramped up his passion and he felt himself grow hard.
Before he could change his mind, he reached for another condom, pulled it on, then lifted her leg and shoved himself inside her. He groaned as he slid in deep.
Cricket came too slowly and gasped in pleasure. His hands, his fingers, his lips and his cock were delivering everything she could ever want or desire. She was lost in his passion and within minutes, her body was writhing in ecstasy. Her orgasm seemed to stun her breathless.
Raine then followed right behind her sharing the passion she seemed to feel so strongly. When he pulled out of her he whispered, “Sleep, little one.”
Cricket nodded with a shuddering sigh and fell into a numbing sleep.
Raine laid there awake for the rest of the night. He waited for the nightmares to return but they didn’t come back. When the sun finally broke over the eastern horizon, he slipped from her embrace, then he dressed quickly. He bent to kiss her forehead gently then existed the room. He walked down the hall and into the main room.
As it was still very early, there was no one else around. He knew he should start a pot of coffee but just then, he suddenly felt the need for something stronger than morning brew.
He grabbed a bottle of Black Velvet from the bar and a glass then sat down at one of the tables. Lifting the bottle to his lips, he gulped heavily. The whiskey burned his throat as he swallowed it, yet it warmed his belly as well.
Raine’s mind was in a state of confusion. He stared at the tiger murals and wondered if Cricket ever had any totem to protect her like Cassie and Peaches did. He assumed not. Why would someone so young be having nightmares about Bane? Was it Bane Jessin? If it were, then nothing would protect her. Or was it some other man named Bane? He wasn’t sure he wanted to find out.
Bane Jessin was someone who could give anyone nightmares but what it had to do with Cricket he didn’t know.
His eyes turned to the back door as it opened and Deke came through.
When Deke saw Raine sitting there, he changed directions and joined him at the table. When he sat down, he raised an eyebrow at Raine’s drink of choice. “A little early for that, isn’t it?”
“At some point today, you and I need to talk,” Raine told him.
“About?” Deke frowned.
“How and why a twenty three year old girl would have nightmares about a man named Bane.”
Deke paled instantly and sweat beaded on his forehead. A rare reaction for him. After a moment, he reached for the bottle of Velvet and took a huge drink. The fire in his belly couldn’t warm the coldness of his soul the name brought on. He was about to say something when the front door opened and people began to enter the clubhouse. Deke sought Raine’s eyes and without saying a word, nodded at his request.
Deke then got up and carried the bottle back to the bar.
~* * * *~
After Raine’s family got on the road taking Dusty with them, Cricket was to begin her year of servitude. It wouldn’t be so bad and Raine would make sure he was right here alongside her all the way.
Raine got up and went over to Zipper’s corner. “Hey Zip, can you do me a favor?”
Zipper looked up at him and nodded. “Sure, what do you need?”
“I need some info.” Raine ran his fingers through his hair and exhaled deeply. “On a man named Bane.”
Zipper raised an eyebrow. “Does Deke know?”
Raine nodded. “Yeah, he knows. Also, can you find any info on Orrin Tannis? I have a feeling that man hid a lot of secrets. Some that might come back and bite us in the ass.”
Zipper snorted. “Man’s been dead for over seven years. How can his past come back and hurt anybody?”
“You might be surprised,” Raine muttered.
Deke came back into the man room and nodded at Raine. When they entered his office, Deke closed the door behind him and studied Raine for a moment.
Raine walked over to the window and stared out into the yard. “I asked Zipper to run a background check on both Bane and Orrin Tannis.”
“What does one have to do with the other?” Deke asked.
Raine sighed. “God, I hope nothing but if there is a connection, don’t you think we need to know about it before we get another surprise? A surprise we don’t want or need?”
“What happened last night anyway?” Deke frowned.
“Cricket had a nightmare. After everything that happened, I’m not all that surprised. That girl must have gone through hell with having Cordy as a sister and no one watching out for her. It started out easy enough if any nightmare can be easy, then it got bad. She was shaking so much, I could hardly hold on to her. Her cries were heartbreaking. She was crying out for her mother and tears? She cried a boatload of tears. Then she began whispering about a scary man named Bane. She asked Orrin why he was so afraid of him. Was he the boogeyman? She kept asking if she should be afraid of him. Then she cried out about how Bane’s eyes scared her and how he was so scary that day.”
Deke drummed his fingers on his desk as he listened.
Raine turned to stare at Deke. “I think she saw him one day when she was just a kid. She kept whispering about having to pack up her stuff and that she had to hurry. Then she cried because she forgot to bring her doll with her and her parents wouldn’t go back for it. It broke my heart to listen to her sobbing.”
Before Deke could say anything, there was a knock on the door. Zipper then came in with several sheets of paper in his hand. He passed them over to Deke. “I found this on one of the MC chatrooms this morning. I thought you might be interested.”
Deke glanced down at the paper and frowned. He looked over at Raine and held out the paper.
Raine took it and searched the information. “What the fuck?” he whispered. The paper he held was a wanted poster. It had Orrin Tannis’ photo and a request for information wanted on him or his family’s whereabouts.
Deke looked over at Zipper. “Did you respond at all?”
Zipper shook his head. “Hell no, I didn’t. I thought you should know about it though.”
“Can you tell who put this out there?” Raine asked.
Zipper shook his head. “All I have at the moment is an email address for responses. I’m running down a search for who’s behind it now.”
“And the other info I asked you for?’ Raine asked.
“I’ve only just gotten started.” Zipper shook his head. “That kind of info takes time to collect.”
“But?” Raine growled.
“But what I found doesn’t sound good,” Zipper replied. He handed Deke a couple of other pieces of paper.
Deke studied the papers then handed them to Raine. “I have a new name for you to research,” he growled. “Cricket Tannis. Find out what you can on her now.”
Raine stiffened and glared at his President.
When Zipper left the room, there was a moment of heavy silence. Then Deke stated, “You know why I had to ask.”
Raine turned and stared out the window again. ‘Yeah, I know. I don’t fucking like it, but I know.”
“I have to protect the club over everything else,” Deke stated.
“What’s going to happen to her if you find something you don’t like?”
“That will depend on what it is and how potentially dangerous it is.” Deke nodded at the papers in Raine’s hand. “That doesn’t make any sense. Orrin lived among us for years in Maine. He was a real person and now, we find out he never existed? That just doesn’t jibe. At least not right now it doesn’t, but I will find out who he was and why he lied.”
Deke grabbed his phone and began making calls. One of the calls was to his father, Bones who was president of the MC that Orrin Tannis was in years back, then other calls went out to Iceman, Mountain and Gator.
When they all arrived, Deke glared at Bones. “Who the fuck was Orrin Tannis?”
Sam frowned. “What the fuck is that supposed to mean? You knew him.”
“I met him but what do you know about him?” Deke asked.
“What is all this about?” Sam demanded. “Why all these questions about a dead man?”
Deke handed his father one of the papers Zipper gave him this morning.
When Sam read it, he hissed. “What the hell?”
“What does that paper tell you?” Mountain asked.
Deke glared at the other men in the room. “It states that Orrin Tannis never existed.”
“What?” Iceman growled. “What the fuck is going on here? I never knew the man personally, but his daughters came here. In fact, one of them is still here. What is all this shit?”
Deke sighed. “I don’t know but I will find out.”
Gator shook his head. “How did all this come about anyway? What made you start asking questions about a man that died seven years ago?”
Deke passed him another piece of paper. It was the wanted poster on Orrin.
“I’m afraid that was my fault,” Raine announced. “With everything that happened yesterday, Cricket had a nightmare in the middle of the night. She said some things I needed to verify. I asked Zipper to run a search on a few names she called out in her dreams. One of them was her father’s name and the other was a man called Bane. I needed to know who Bane was.”
Sam paled and looked over at Deke. “She called out the name Bane? Are you sure?”
Raine gave him a sharp nod. “Yeah, I’m sure and she was terrified.”
“You don’t think she meant Bane Jessin, do you?” Iceman asked. “How the fuck would she know him?”
“We don’t know that it is Bane Jessin,” Deke stated. “Before we could get into it, Zipper found the wanted poster on Orrin. He’s digging deeper now, but I couldn’t keep this from all of you. This could mean trouble for the club and you have the right to know about it.”
“Why don’t we just ask Cricket?” Mountain spoke up.
There was a knock on the door and when Deke answered, it was a nervous looking Zipper who stood there. Deke frowned at the look on his face. “What’s wrong?”
“I followed up on that email address and I don’t think you’re going to like what I found.” Zipper visibly trembled.
Deke grabbed his arm and pulled him into the room. “What exactly did you find?”
“I used my hacker skills to track it down and it led me to place I wasn’t expecting. To a second account set up by a man, we don’t want anything to do with. Bane Jessin.”
The men standing there didn’t say anything for a moment then Deke asked, “Are you sure?”
Zipper nodded. “Not only that but he had a program set up to backtrack any searches. I got offline ASAP but he might already have the location of the query.”
“Why would a man like Bane Jessin be looking for Orrin Tannis?” Sam asked. “Orrin was good at what he did but the two men were worlds apart. Jessin is a legend.”
“A legend we want nothing to do with,” Iceman commented.
Deke glanced up at Zipper. “Find Cricket and bring her here. Don’t tell her anything, just get her ass in here.”
Zipper left and Deke poured everyone a shot. Slamming his shot down, he stared at the door he didn’t know if he wanted answers or not. Bane Jessin was bad news any way you fucking sliced it, but if the man was coming here, they needed to know so they could prepare.
A moment later, Cricket entered the office and stared at the group of men waiting for her. She didn’t say anything for a moment then asked, “What do you want of me?”
“Do you know a man named Bane Jessin?” Sam asked.
Cricket’s face whitened but she didn’t say anything. Then she backed up a step or two and shook her head. “No, I don’t know him,” she whispered.
“Then why did you call out his name in your nightmare last night?” Raine asked.
Cricket turned her head and paled even more. “I did?”
Raine nodded. “You did and you sounded terrified of him.”
Cricket rolled her eyes and fell to the floor in a dead faint.
Raine rushed forward and picked her up. Laying her down on the sofa, he checked her pulse and patted her check. “Cricket, come on. Wake up girl. Cricket? Wake up.”
She groaned and her eyelashes fluttered. Curling up on her side, she groaned and tears rolled down her face but she wouldn’t open her eyes.
Deke knelt down beside Raine. “Cricket, we need you to wake up and answer some questions.”
She opened her eyes reluctantly. “I don’t know the man.”
“Why would he have an info wanted poster out on your father?’ Sam asked.
Cricket turned her head and frowned at him. Pushing herself into a sitting position, she brushed her hair back. “He did?”
“He still does,” Deke informed her. “Zipper just told us that he has a program to backtrack any inquiries. Why would he want information on your dad so badly?”
Cricket looked at everyone in the room. “I don’t know.”
“You must know something.” Iceman grew impatient with her denials. “You had a fucking nightmare about the man. You called out his name in your sleep.”
Cricket began shaking her head. “No, I couldn’t have. I don’t know him.”
“Did your father know him?’ Sam asked. “Did something happen when you were a kid, maybe?”
Cricket frowned as she thought about that for a moment. “I don’t know. How the hell would I know that?”
“The hidey hole?” Deke snapped his fingers. “You told us Orrin built that space for you girls to hide in if someone came looking for you. Could he have put it in his home in case someone like Bane came by?”
Cricket looked confused. “Maybe, I guess so, but who is this Bane Jessin anyway?”
Everyone in the room just stared at her as if she were crazy.
“You’ve never heard the name Bane Jessin before? You don’t know who he is?” Deke asked.
Cricket shook her head.
“Bane Jessin is a world class killer, an assassin who has built up a reputation for being the best at what he does,” Deke explained.
“He’s the best because he’s never been caught and he always gets his target,” Iceman growled.
~* * * *~
Cricket grew more fearful with each word they said. A memory came alive in her mind to a time when she was very young and someone came knocking on their door. She peeked around the corner of her bedroom and saw her father answer the door, then she heard her father and another man shouting.
All she could remember of the second man was his cold black eyes and even as young as she was at the time, she thought he was the devil himself. She shivered as his eyes practically glowed in her mind.