I’m a little bummed this was the last night of my Photoshop class. I can sign up for another one in a few weeks, but I’m not sure if I’ll bother. I have a good grasp of things and with all my shiny new equipment waiting for me courtesy of Wyatt, I don’t need to keep taking the risk of venturing into Ironworks.
This is exactly what’s on my mind as I’m grabbed and thrown face-first against my Jeep in the parking lot. Everyone else in my eight-person class left out the front exit. Stupid me parked in the back.
Keeping silent, I wait to see what my attacker wants before I decide how to handle this. I have the pistol Wrath insisted I carry tucked into a special holster at the small of my back. I also have a knife in the cargo pocket along my right thigh. Neither are accessible at the moment due to the heavy, smelly body pressing me into my car. A wave of panic consumes me. Long-buried memories threaten to leave me quivering and at my tormentor’s mercy if I don’t get it together.
“You one of LOKI’s girls,” he finally grates against my ear.
I can’t decide if I’m relieved or terrified that this is club business and not a random mugging.
He presses his lips to my ear, and slides his slimy tongue over my skin. My body trembles with revulsion from the contact. The wrongness of any man but Wyatt touching me that way infuriates me, giving me the strength to stay still so I can plan a course of action. “I remember you from the night of the fight. You’re with that big blond pendejo. Got a lotta nerve being on our turf.”
Um, actually, as far as I know, if I’m not sporting club logos or here on club business, I can go wherever the fuck I want. I keep my mouth shut, hoping the silence will unnerve him enough to make a mistake.
“Let’s see what presidente wants to do with you. He’s sick of that cabrón president of yours turning his nose up at our business.”
Ice floods my veins. Fucking Vipers. There’s no way in fucking hell I am getting dragged back to their clubhouse. I did not escape one biker hell only to be kidnapped into another one. I hold no illusions that they’ll leave me unmolested while they contact Rock to make their demands.
I’m done with that shit.
The minute my cheek kissed the cold metal of my car, my pulse took off down the highway. I struggle for a lungful of night air and get myself under control. My gaze darts to the bits of surrounding area in my peripheral vision. We’re all alone. It’s up to me to save myself.
His hand clasps my breast and I squeeze my eyes tight. “Oh you’re nice. They’ll be real eager to get you back.”
Thinking of everything Wyatt has taught me over the last few months, hell, just thinking of him and what we finally have together gives me courage. I didn’t wait my whole damn life to be happy, only to have it ruined by this asshole.
I almost cry—I’ve still never told Wrath how much I love him. If I don’t survive this, all he has is a stupid, cowardly note from me, when what I feel for him is so much more than my scared, scribbled words.
My quiet seems to unnerve him, and he gives me a shake. “You listening, puta?
“I hear you, hijo de puta,” I spit back.
The insult is enough for him to let me go, probably so he can hit me. I drop into a crouch while going for my knife. Sure enough, his fist hits where my head had been seconds ago. My fingers close around the knife about the same time he lets loose with a string of curses. Flicking it open, I thrust my arm back as hard as possible, until the sharp blade sinks into flesh.
My attacker falls back on the ground screaming. Whirling around I see I managed to lodge the knife in his thigh. Not bad considering I’d been throwing blind.
No time to pat myself on the back. He’s screaming and rolling around, which is bound to draw unwanted attention soon. His hand flails and brushes against my ankle. Yup, he’s still too close for comfort. My foot lashes out, kicking his hand away with a satisfying crack. Good, I hope I broke some fingers.
I’d dropped my keys when he grabbed me, and now I frantically scoop them up. Unlocking the door, I throw myself in, backpack on and all. A quick glance in my side mirror shows him still wailing and thrashing on the pavement.
Throwing the Jeep into reverse, I get the hell out of Ironworks. Once I’m safely over the bridge, I pull over. My hands are shaking so bad I can barely sit forward to slide my backpack off or reach into my pocket to grab my cell phone.
Wyatt’s on a run. It’s only out to Syracuse, but still, he can’t help me.
I need to hear his voice though.
“Hey, angel,” he answers.
“Wyatt.”
“Trin, what’s wrong?”
“I…I got attacked leaving art class. A Viper I think. I got away.”
“Jesusfuckingchrist, are you okay?” he shouts back.
“I think so.”
“Baby, did he hurt you?”
“Not really. Scared mostly. I sunk my knife into his thigh and got away.” In the background I hear Z asking if I’m okay.
While they take a second to talk, I buckle my seatbelt and get back on the road.
“Trin, where are you now?” Wyatt asks.
“Getting on 787.”
“Good. Okay. You’re probably a half hour from home. Go straight to the clubhouse.” He pauses. “You call Rock first?”
“No. I uh, needed to talk to you.”
He’s silent for a moment. “I’ll call Rock and let him know what’s going on. You concentrate on driving. We’re maybe half an hour from our drop. Shouldn’t take more than fifteen minutes, then we’re turning around and coming straight back, okay?”
“Okay.”
“You did good, Angel Face. I’m proud of you.”
“Your training paid off.” There’s so much more to say. It wasn’t the defense exercises he taught me that saved me. It was him.
He chuckles and the sound comforts me.
My mouth’s dry and I swallow past the lump in my throat to come up with a lighter tone so he doesn’t worry. “I lost my damn knife though.”
His chuckle gives way to harder laughter. “Babe, I’ll buy you another one. Now get home.”
“Motherfuckingdirtygoatfucker!” Bellows out of my mouth the minute we hang up. My fist flies into the dashboard and I’m so enraged, I don’t feel a thing.
“Relax, brother. You heard her, she’s okay. She did good,” Z reassures me.
This is an easy run, which is why there’s only two of us. Thank fuck, because that means there are more brothers at home to take care of whatever shitstorm just blew up.
“Calm down and call prez.”
The cloud of rage in my head breaks while I dial. Twice in the time I’ve known her Trin needed me, and both times I couldn’t be there. Both times Rock’s gonna be the one to take care of her.
At least this time she called me first.
“S’up brother?” Rock greets me in a lazy voice. I hate that I’m about to ruin his night.
“Trin got attacked leaving her art class tonight. Possibly Viper.”
“What?” He explodes on the other end. “Where is she? Is she okay?”
“She’s on her way to the clubhouse. She says she’s fine, just shaken up. She knifed the guy and got away.”
“Fuck. He alive?”
“I think so.”
“No cops then.”
“She ain’t in the system anyway, bro.”
Rock’s quiet. “I gotta get the story from her before I decide what to do. But trying to kidnap an ol’ lady. Man, you know what this means.”
War.
Damn fucking right. I’m ready to murder every single Viper with my bare fucking hands.
“We’re almost at the drop, then we’re turning around and coming right back.”
“Good plan. Go ahead and let Stump know what’s going on.”
“You think we’ll pull them in?”
“Never know.”
From passing through Demon territory, I’ve seen Stump with some regularity over the last few years. Only recently did I discover he’d been involved in wiping out the fuckers who harmed Trinity when she was a teenager.
To say I’ve got a soft spot for the grumpy, old fuck is an understatement.
Stump and his son, the VP of the Demons, Chaser, greet us with handshakes. Stump’s delighted with what we’ve brought. As his guys load it in their van, he invites us to their local support club.
“Can’t. We got a situation back home. Bordering MC tried to jack my ol’ lady tonight. Gotta get back.”
Whether he’s surprised by the information or the fact that I have an ol’ lady, I’m not sure.
“Who’s your ol’ lady?”
“Trinity.”
A dark look of concern transforms his face. “She all right?”
“Yeah. Knifed him and got away, but I gotta—”
“I understand. I’d do the same. I know Trin from way back. She’s a good girl. Glad she’s with someone like you now.”
“Aw, shit. I remember Trinity from when she was just a lil’ kid,” Chaser adds.
Not really sure what to say to that, I just nod.
Stump shakes my hand. “That shit ain’t right. You let us know if you guys need support.”
“Will do.”
Without the concern of a crapton of weed in the back of the car in case we get pulled over, Z presses the pedal to the floor.
Rock meets me at the door with a hug. “I spoke to Wrath. Guys are all coming in. You okay?”
Pulling out of his embrace, I nod. “Yeah.”
All softness vanishes and President Rock is in charge. “While we’re waiting for Wrath to get here, tell me what went down,” he barks at me as he leads me into the war room. Teller’s waiting in a seat on the other side of the table, but he gets up and gives me a hug.
Holding me at arm’s length, he peers into my eyes. “You okay?”
I nod and he releases me.
Rock points at Wrath’s chair and has me sit.
“Sorry, you’re going to end up going over this more than once, sweetheart,” Rock apologizes.
It’s okay. I tell him word for word everything I can remember.
“This is over me not letting them dip into our territory. Are they fucking nuts?” Rock fumes.
“We’re gonna have to call some brothers in to help keep Crystal Ball locked down,” Teller mutters.
“Yeah, I’ll have Z do it when he gets in. Where the fuck is Murphy?”
“Don’t know, Prez. I texted him a bunch. Got no answer yet.”
“Fuck, that’s all we need.”
My head hurts from where I got slammed against the car. Listening to them go back and forth lulls me into a sleep like state. Sometime later, I’m aware of Rock picking me up and laying me down on the leather couch in the back of the war room. A blanket floats over me and I drift out.
Angry voices shake me from sleep a little while later. The guys are assembling around the table. Murphy’s here and he smiles at me. Wrath and Z’s spots are still empty. My bladder insists I get the fuck up, so I toss off the blanket.
“You okay, Trin?” Rock calls.
Feeling fuzzy, I nod. “Yeah. Gonna run to the bathroom.”
Run is overly optimistic. What I do resembles lurching. Instead of using the communal bathroom, I go into my room to clean up. Brushing my teeth unzombifies me a bit, but I’m still exhausted.
Walking back to the war room, I hear car doors slamming outside. I quicken my pace just as the door’s thrown open and Wrath storms in. Fierce is the only way to explain his expression. I choke out a startled gasp drawing his attention to me.
“Angel.” In three quick strides he crosses the room, and sweeps me into his arms. Only then do the tears start falling.
Every sob that wracks my girl’s body sends a shiver of rage through me. This is three years ago all over again. Fucking Vipers going after women.
This time, they all fucking die.
Trinity has her arms looped around my neck, face buried against my shoulder, legs wrapped around my waist. I’ve got my arms banded around her keeping her tight to me, one hand rubbing her back.
“You’re okay, baby. I got you. You did good. I’m so proud of you,” I keep whispering in her ear.
Rock and Z are standing in the doorway to the war room looking like they’ve just spotted an alien spaceship in the living room. I pause to flip them off, then go back to calming my girl down.
Every patched brother is at the table as I carry Trinity in and drop into my seat. She adjusts, so her legs are draped over my lap and she’s leaning against me. She’s stopped crying, but she’s definitely still close to the edge. Exhaustion dogs me, but I shake it off.
Rock gives me the story. I’d like to hear it from Trinity’s mouth, but she’s still silent and I don’t want to push her. My brothers are still staring at us like they can’t believe what they’re seeing. Fucking hell, can’t we concentrate on the war that’s breathing down our necks instead of my love life?
“He said he remembered me from the night of the fight,” Trinity says suddenly.
“Good. Good Trin,” Rock reassures her. “Anything else you remember?”
“Uh, he called Wrath a bandeho.”
Bricks snorts at that. “Was it a pendejo, sweetheart?”
“Yeah.”
My eyebrows draw down. “What the fuck is that?”
Bricks shrugs. “Depends where the fucker is from. Could be anything from jackass to coward.”
I grind my teeth.
Lowering my voice, I ask her the question I’ve been dreading the most since I first got her phone call. “He touch you anywhere else, baby?”
She squeezes her eyes tight, her lip quivers, giving me all the answer I need. White spots of rage dot my vision.
“Any other words Bricks can translate?” Rock asks with a smirk to lighten things.
“He called you a cabrón.”
“Asshole,” Bricks clarifies.
“Called me a puta, but I know what that means,” Trinity says with a laugh.
I know what that means too, and if my rage intensifies anymore I’m going to disappear in a cloud of smoke.
Trinity sits up and faces the table. I keep my arms around her waist. I know we need to strategize, but all I want to do is take her to our room and make sure she’s okay.
“It all happened so fast, guys. I just knew I couldn’t let him take me anywhere.”
“You kicked ass, Trinny. We’re all proud of you,” Teller says with a smile. Everyone agrees.
“All right, I’m going to give Ulfric a call. We gotta align ourselves with his pack again. He’s been itching to take these fucks out for a while now, and I’m sure this will push him over the edge.” Rock doesn’t elaborate on why that might be. Trinity shifts in my lap.
“Do you want me to go, prez?”
Rock flicks a glance at my face, which I’m sure is screaming No fucking way and shakes his head. “Stay in case I need you to explain any of it to him.”
Rock uses a burner to call, but sets the phone on the table on speaker so we can all hear.
“What?” Ulfric snaps.
“It’s Rock.”
“What up, man?”
“Got a situation. Viper tried to grab one of our ol’ ladies tonight as she was leaving class.” Rock gets that out right away, because he needs to establish that Trinity hadn’t been violating our turf agreement with the Vipers.
“Fuck me. You sure it was a Viper?”
“Pretty sure. Said he recognized her as one of our girls.”
We all hear him cover the phone and call for his VP and sergeant-at-arms, then put us on speaker. “I got Merlin and Whisper on now too.”
“His beef seemed to be about us not wanting to do business with him, but she didn’t get a lot more info than that,” Rock continues.
“Whose ol’ lady?”
“Mine,” I answer. “Wrath.”
“Since when you got an ol’ lady?” Merlin snickers.
“Who?” Ulfric asks.
“Trinity.”
“Fuck, she okay?” Merlin asks.
I find it interesting that Whisper didn’t spill to his brothers why I gave him a split lip a couple weeks ago.
“I’m okay,” Trinity answers.
There’s a bit of silence as I’m sure they’re absorbing the fact that one, Trinity belongs to me now, and two, we’re letting her sit in on club business.
“Tell me the story from the beginning,” Ulfric asks.
Trinity sits up, her voice much clearer and recounts everything.
“Damn girl. Your man trained you well. Nice job,” Merlin praises her.
Hearing her tell the whole story from the beginning leaves me shaking with murderous rage by the time she finishes.