“How’re you two feeling?” Gunner chuckled, sliding two cups of coffee across the table to Colt and Sierra as they sat down. She’d entered the kitchen but the women had chased her away with much teasing, encouraging her to rest after her ordeal yesterday.
“Fucked up,” Sierra said softly, causing the rest of the table to chuckle.
“I guess so,” McKenzie said, peering over her mug at Sierra. “Two-and-half hours of solid fucking will do that to you.”
“Skye can hardly walk today,” Perri added with a nasty smile.
“Serves her right,” Sierra said with evil satisfaction. “Her insides would have to be as tough as shoe leather to take what she did and not be sore as hell.”
“We vote you into the club later this morning,” Nic said with a smile at Sierra. “I think you’ve proven your worth.”
“I’m not sure I want to be in the club anymore.”
“Hang in there, Sierra,” Bobbi said. “It’s going to get better.”
“Why? What’s happening?”
“Nothing for you to worry about,” Colt said.
“So you’re keeping secrets now?”
“Just this one, for now. It’s for your protection. For all of your protection.”
“Am I the only one who doesn’t know?”
“No,” McKenzie said sullenly. “None of us know but for Harrison, Fletch and Colt.”
“And that doesn’t bother you?”
“It’s just for a day or two,” Colt said softly, making shushing motions. “Things are in play at the moment and the fewer people who know what is about to go down, the better. I’m going to fill in Gunner and Nic later this morning.”
“Oh, so just the guys will know?” Sierra asked.
“For now,” Colt said softly. “Look, it comes down to plausible deniability, okay? If the shit hits the fan, you can honestly say you didn’t know anything about it. You’ll know soon enough, if it goes according to plan.”
“Or not,” Harrison said bitterly.
“Or not,” Colt agreed.
Sierra looked to Perri who just shrugged, so she decided to drop it. It wasn’t long after breakfast began to appear from the kitchen. Nobody said anything to her, but she noticed that the lower rank and file seemed more upbeat than any time before. Monica came in with Skye just as the plates were hitting the table, Skye moving slowly as both women glared at her.
“Good morning, Skye,” Sierra said cheerfully, just to be a bitch. “Good game yesterday. How’re you feeling this morning?”
“Fuck you, you cunt,” Skye snarled. “You’ll get yours.”
Sierra didn’t expect Skye to be friendly, but she didn’t expect the unbridled hostility either. “When you’re ready to try again, you know where to find me,” she said, her voice soft but her tone steel hard.
“Oh no,” Monica sneered. “I want a shot at you first.”
“I’m right here.”
Monica started to stand up, but Skye pulled her back down and whispered into her ear. Monica smiled. “Later.”
“You’re doing fine…but you need to keep your left up more,” Bobbi said as she slowly backed away, Sierra punching at padded shield she held in front of her. The men had ridden into the desert, and Sierra had come to her after helping clear away breakfast and asked if she would work with her.
Sierra was gasping for breath, Bobbi a more severe taskmaster than Colt was. “Keep working the body,” Bobbi encouraged. “I don’t care how tough the opponent, if you keep hitting them in the body, you are going to wear them down.
Bobbi had taken what Colt showed her, modified it slightly to show her how to rely less on power and more on finesse. Watching Bobbi move was like watching a ballerina, light and nimble, never still, ducking and weaving. The thing that impressed her the most, and something she knew would take years for her to master, was her explosive kicks. Bobbi had kicked her in the shoulder a couple of times, just to show her what it was like. Sierra knew she was pulling them at the last moment, but if Bobbi had aimed only a few inches higher and delivered a full power kick, she was certain she would be out on her ass. No wonder all the women were afraid of her.
“Take a break,” Bobbi said and Sierra bent over, hands on knees, gasping. “Stand up! How are you supposed to breathe with your diaphragm crushed like that?”
Sierra straightened but it didn’t seem to help. “I’m so out of shape,” she wheezed.
“Yeah, but not as bad as you think. I was working you pretty hard. I doubt there is another woman here, except for me, that could go as long and as hard as you have.”
“What do you think?” Sierra asked, picking up her water and taking a long pull from the bottle.
“I think you need a lot more practice.”
“Thanks,” Sierra said bitterly.
Bobbie giggled. “But considering you just started yesterday, not bad. Colt did a good job teaching to jab, but you still have a lot to learn.”
“Will you teach me?”
“Why? You planning on fighting professionally?”
“No, I’m just tired of being pushed around. I want to learn to take care of myself.”
Bobbi nodded. “Sure, I’ll teach you what you need to know for that. It will be good to have a sparring partner again.”
“I figured that you and Harrison sparred.”
Bobbi grinned. “Not much anymore because we always ended up fucking once we went to the ground. So now we skip over the sparring and go straight to the fucking.”
Sierra giggled. When she and Colt were rolling around on the ground the other day while he taught her holds and throws, she got seriously turned on. “I can see that.”
Colt and his crew dismounted. They had ridden far out into the desert, away from prying eyes and ears. “What’s the plan here, Colt?” Nic asked.
“I think it’s time to take Paul out,” Colt replied, his voice devoid of emotion. It’s a bad thing to forcibly take over the president’s chair and it may tear the Death Valley Motorcycle Club apart, but he could no longer stand by and watch what was happening.
“It’s about fucking time,” Nic said.
“Yeah,” Gunner agreed. “I’ve been wanting a shot at that fat fuck since Anna…”
“What’s the plan?” Nic asked.
“No plan. We wait for our moment and then we make our move. He can either leave on his feet or on his back.”
“Kill him?” Harrison asked. “You didn’t say anything about killing anyone.”
“You think he’ll leave on his own?” Colt countered.
Harrison thought it over. “No. But that’s some bad shit, Colt. You better be sure. Who’s going to do it?”
“I am,” Gunner said immediately.
“No. If it has to be done, I’ll do it. That way if someone has to take the rap, it will be me.”
“Why you?” Fletch asked.
“Because you, Nic and Harrison have old ladies.”
“I don’t,” Gunner pointed out. “And I owe him. I owe him big.”
“That’s why you can’t do it. It would look personal, and it would be. I’m the best choice.”
“What about Sierra?” Harrison asked.
“She’s part of the club now. She can either accept it, or not. If she can’t, she can leave with the rest of the club.”
“You don’t mean that,” Fletcher said softly.
“I do mean it. I want her to stay, but this is bigger than her. Bigger than any one of us. DVMC can’t continue like this. We’re about to self-destruct as it is. Just look at how the club is dividing into two camps. This shit with Sierra is going to break the club apart.”
“So when are we going to move?” Gunner asked. “The sooner the better. I think we should do it when we get back.”
Colt grimaced. “I would like to do that, too, to protect Sierra, but, again, it would seem personal, like I’m doing it to protect her.”
“Aren’t you?” Harrison asked. “I know I would if it were Bobbi.” Fletcher and Nic nodded in agreement.
“Yes, but, again, there is more to it than Sierra. She has built a lot of goodwill. I want to use that to bring as many people onto our side as we can. If we get enough, Paul may realize he has lost the club and step aside.”
“What are you saying? You’re going to make Sierra go through with all these challenges?” Nic asked.
“Yes. No. I don’t know! Look, I’m kind of making this up as I go, okay? I didn’t expect this to happen. I think we’ll all know when it’s the right moment.”
“And if Sierra doesn’t agree on the moment?” Gunner asked.
“Then we decide if it’s time to move or not. I’m not going to ask her to fight if she doesn’t want to.”
Nic, Harrison, Gunner and Fletch looked at each other than back to Colt. “You’ve not steered us wrong yet,” Fletch said. “We’ll play it your way, but you’re taking a big risk with Sierra, you know that.”
“I know. I don’t like it any more than you do, probably less, but I don’t know what else to do. We need to rally as much support to our side as possible, and Sierra is the one doing it.”
“Are you going to tell her?” Gunner asked.
“No.”
Nic’s face wrinkled. “Why not?”
“Because I want her reactions to be natural. I don’t want her to make decisions based on what she thinks I want,” Colt explained.
Fletch toed the baked earth. “This is fucked.”
“Don’t I know it,” Colt said. “But if you have a better idea, I’m all ears.”
There was a long moment of silence. “I’m in,” Gunner said.
“Me, too,” Nic said.
Colt relaxed slightly as Nic threw in his support. He was pretty sure he could count on Nic’s, but as Sergeant at Arms, and tasked with protecting the club, he didn’t want Nic and him to end up on opposite sides. No good could come from that.
“You can count on me,” Harrison said. “I’ll ask Bobbi to watch her back to make sure she isn’t jumped.”
“What about you, Fletch? Are you in?” Colt asked, worried that his best friend was having second thoughts.
“You know I am. Perri likes Sierra, and so do I, and I don’t want to see her get hurt. This isn’t her fight. It’s ours.”
“She’s one of us now,” Colt pointed out.
“That doesn’t make it her fight. This has been coming for a long time, since before you joined.”
Harrison nodded in agreement. “Yeah, but it’s funny how things work out,” he said to Colt. “She’s helping you finish what you started. It wasn’t until you got here that we had any chance at all to pull this off. Fletch and I tried but we couldn’t make any headway. It wasn’t until you showed up that things began to change. I guess we just need outsiders to come in and shake things up.”
“It’s not just me, it’s all of us, and those who think like us,” Colt corrected. “Paul has gotten the club so warped we don’t even realize how fucked up we’ve become.”
“Well, not until now.”
Colt snorted. “Right. So we’re in agreement? Paul has to go, by any means necessary?” Colt put his hand out in a fist, and each of the other men placed theirs on top, layering their hands and gripping firmly to form one mighty fist. After a moment the fist broke apart. “Let’s get back before someone starts get suspicious.”