Trench
Fuck me, if that wasn’t the most mind-blowing kiss ever. I could think of another area about to detonate if I didn’t clear my head before I walked inside. I never planned to kiss Tori, but I couldn’t shake the image of her standing at the gate, one of my guns held steady in her small hands and aimed for the prick on the other side of the fence. That was one hell of a sight. I knew the adrenaline would pass soon and I wanted to feel her body writhing in pleasure underneath me, hear my name on her lips as she shouted her release.
The woman was an enigma, one moment passive-aggressive, another minute shy and reserved, but the woman who just challenged two members of the Disciples at gunpoint had me ready to go to war for her. She was someone I wanted by my side. Those booted heels clicking against the asphalt had immediately provoked the beast inside me. She was making it difficult to uphold my promise. I was supposed to be protecting her, not the other way around, and when she got that close to Aaron, her very own living nightmare, my body screamed with the need to shield her. Pops was probably rolling in his grave laughing at my ass. “Told you, boy.”
Tori had no idea how close I’d come to ending that piece of shit right there, consequences be damned, but my anger was outweighed by curiosity. My mind yelled at me to stay close, but give her this moment. She needed to confront him on her terms, take back any power he once held over her and show Aaron she was no longer the victim that he’d made her out to be. That was something I could never give Tori.
She’d earned my respect and probably that of my brothers too with her bold move. Clutch was clearly amused and I couldn’t blame him. Tori was hiding fire underneath her armor. Bottled-up emotions from years of abuse could make a person lethal when provoked.
Aaron made a mistake the second he pulled up to my yard demanding shit, but I intended to help him sort it out. I just needed a little more time with Tori to find out more about the Disciples’ new drug. If I could supply Alexei with the information there would be less blowback for Pandemonium when we went in and leveled their MC. Pandemonium wasn’t pushing or supplying illegal drugs and I wanted that shit as far off our radar as possible. If Preacher was cooking in Calabash that was too close to home and it required immediate attention. Alexei would be all too happy to provide resources for a hit that big. Anything and anyone that presented a road block for his revenue was dealt with swiftly.
One. Fucking. Ride. One debt to pay off for Pops had turned into a shit storm none of us could have predicted, but I was too selfish to deny that I wanted her in the worst possible way. All eyes were on Tori and I as we pushed through the door into the dimly lit room. I felt my girl’s apprehension coming off in waves. She straightened her shoulders, jutted her chin up and did as I asked, walking straight for the stairs and up to the room we now shared. I didn’t miss the way several heads turned to watch as she disappeared into the safety of my personal space. Some curious, some confused, but all of them hungry, and it pissed me off. I waited until the prospect closed the door behind her and stood post outside the room before I took a deep breath and looked out across the open space. I knew the new run was big enough that Clutch called in members who lived further out, but in light of recent events I didn’t want to wait for everyone to arrive. We could fill the others in on the details later.
I waved off the glass Clutch offered at my side and took the entire bottle of Jack Daniels instead, tipped it back and took a generous swig. The amber liquid burned a welcome path along the inside of my chest and I slammed the heavy bottle down on the table closest to me, garnering the full attention of every man in the room.
“If the Disciples want a war, then we’ll gladly give them one,” I began and a few of the older members, here when Pops reigned over Pandemonium, gave me a nod of encouragement. “Business continues as usual. Preacher will try to make us fold, but it will be a cold day in hell before I give his sorry ass the satisfaction. Pops wouldn’t have allowed it. Neither will I. Clutch, Lo, and I had a meeting with the Russians this morning and they have a new job for us. Clutch will start assigning runs later today, so don’t check out on us until you know your part. I’ll be sending more brothers than usual. Some of you will act as decoys and others will be needed to pull extra security. The Russians believe there could be some local competition trying to run interception on another one of their products. I don’t want to take a chance that they’ll get brave enough to tap into our trade too. The only opposition within two-hundred miles are the fucking Disciples. We’ve kept a watchful eye on them for years now, even tried our hands at an unofficial truce, but their blatant disrespect for territorial rules and threats in our own backyard cannot go unpunished. Feel me?”
There were several nods and grunts in response before the first question about Tori came.
“What are we doing about the girl?” Deuce asked and I held down the smirk that threatened to show when I caught sight of his swollen nose. The mark I’d put there for touching Tori.
“We aren’t doing anything. Long story short, Pops owed her mother a favor. I’m settling his debt.”
“Looks more like you’re settling down, not settling a debt, Pres.” One of the older brothers goaded from the back. I ignored his ribbing and smiled. I wasn’t going to deny that the woman had gotten under my skin, but I wasn’t acknowledging it out loud yet either.
“No disrespect, Pres, but this is bullshit. We’re starting an MC war over tits and ass, and you’re the only one getting those rewards. Are we going to start a charity program, offer every female whose mama blew the former Pres a get out of jail free card?”
White-hot rage burned a trail up my spine as Deuce sank back into his chair and crossed his arms behind his head. I took a step forward, ready to hand Deuce his ass for disrespecting Pops and Tori’s mother with his words, but Clutch’s hand reached across and stopped me.
“If Tori is with Trench she’s under our protection, whether your dick is feeling jealous or not. You know the rules, Deuce. Been in place since day fucking one. Pops never gave shit to anyone who didn’t deserve it so you can fucking believe that if he offered his help to Tori’s mom, it wasn’t over some lousy fuck.” Clutch replied and though Deuce didn’t look satisfied he wasn’t ready to fight both of us on this. “Anyone else have something to add?”
“Yeah, I got a question.” Another voice joined the conversation, as the shadow of a man waltzed in through the back. He sidled up next to the bar and took the open stool beside Stryker with a shit-eating grin. “Who gave her the piece?”
Fucking Reaper. My Sergeant-at-Arms who’d been taking a hiatus of sorts for the last several months. He checked in from time to time, but never gave us details as to his whereabouts. I granted his extended vacation after a shady deal left one of our own men dead a year ago and implicated Reaper’s woman as the informant that led to his ambush. Reaper’s emotions were stony on the best day. Add his trust issues to finding out the one woman he ever let inside his head, and his heart, was a narc. Well, that kind of shit fucks with your mind. It nearly drove him over the edge. Next to Clutch, Reaper was the closest I would ever get to having a big brother. Granted, he was only two years older than us, but we reminded him every chance we got. I smiled, but continued the meeting as though Reaper had never left. He wouldn’t want the attention and I had a feeling his special skillsets would be tested soon.
“I did.”
It was a lie, but a necessary one to avoid chaos. The men did not trust Tori yet, but they trusted me. “Clutch will get started with the schedules. LoJack, I need at least four different routes mapped out for the new run. Reaper, glad to have you back brother. The rest of you need to make busy with the bikes. I need five more outfitted with kits for the next run,” I barked out orders. This was my comfort zone, what I understood best. I watched Pops take command for years and silently took note of what worked and what didn’t when it came to motivating the boys. Usually, the list was short, women and booze. That I could accommodate.
The men cleared the space, set off to their own tasks while I moved towards the bar and my old friend.
“Been gone a year and this is how I find out you have an old lady. When you going to introduce me?” Reaper smirked before finishing the shot of whiskey in his hand. “I guess I should be glad this one can handle herself.”
“Tori’s under my protection. That doesn’t make her my old lady, Reap,” I clapped my hand over his shoulder.
“So, you don’t mind if I ask her out, then?”
Clutch walked up on the tail end of our conversation and busted out laughing at the scowl that had made an appearance on my face.
“Are you fucking kidding me, Reap? Trench is already pussy whipped and she hasn’t even given it up.”
“What the hell, Clutch? Got your ear up to the wall so you can hear us, brother?”
“Keep telling yourself it isn’t coming, brother. I’ve seen that look before,” he chuckled along with Clutch and poured himself another double for good measure.
“Fair warning, Reap. Tori’s a handful,” I crossed my arms and waited for him to finish off the glass.
“I got that much already. Did you see the look on Castro’s face? Fucking priceless, brother. I want to buy her dinner just for making one of those Disciple bastards shit his pants.” Reaper motioned Jinx, who had taken back her spot behind the bar, for a beer. “I caught up with Stryker out back before the meeting. Word is she is more than a handful.” Reaper waggled his brows and I was seeing red again. Motherfucking Stryker. Reaper laughed at my obvious distress. “She must be under your skin, brother.” He had no idea how deep.
We were both laughing by the time we reached my room upstairs. I was going to make sure Tori knew Reaper was safe first, but when I opened the door I found Tori sitting in the corner of the room, one hand holding a phone up to her ear while the other held her knees tightly to her chest as she rocked back and forth. Her eyes stared blankly at the bed as though she didn’t even notice we had entered the space.
“Shit.” I mumbled and took off towards her. I crouched down in her line of sight and pointed to the phone in her hands, my mind going back to her blackout at the diner.
“What the hell, brother?” Reaper cursed as he took in her terrified expression and moved closer.
Tori’s fingers white-knuckled the phone in her grip as she continued to listen to the male voice shouting for attention on the other end. He was about to get exactly what he wanted. From me. Trying to control my own temper, I reached out, taking Tori’s chin gently in my hand and drawing her eyes to mine. The broken look on her face, the tears swimming in the back of her green eyes was too much.
“Give me the phone, babe,” I whispered, barely containing my rage, but knowing Tori did not need another angry man to contend with.
She hiccupped on a breath before I realized she had started crying. It gutted me. I had seen my fair share of emotional women. Hell, I’d probably been the cause for their tears once or twice, and I never gave it a second thought, but seeing Tori upset and shattered was something else entirely. I wanted to protect her, console her somehow, the overwhelming feeling to fix whatever was causing her pain so far out of my comfort zone. Tori was mine to keep safe. I could reason the why and how of it all with my head later.
“It was Aaron, Trench. He killed Vita. Preacher told me.”
Tori shook as she spoke and my entire body tensed. I tried to reassure Tori with my eyes that I would take care of it. Take care of Aaron and Preacher for her. I saw the moment she relented. With tears still swimming in her vision, Reaper growled something under his breath beside me, and I carefully extricated the phone from Tori’s hold. I stood, muffling the receiver from the barrage of insults and cursing that continued to carry through the line. By the time Preacher had finished I was seeing red.
Hadn’t I just warned his fucking club? He obviously had no fear of death. I was more than happy to change his viewpoint. I still had no idea who Vita was, but I speculated she meant something to Tori, judging by the look of disbelief that shone back at me.
“Seems your boys don’t know how to deliver a message, Preacher,” I barked into the phone.
“Well, well, well. We finally speak.” He chuckled, the sound irritating my every nerve. “They delivered the message just fine. It’s my inability to listen that you don’t seem to like.”
“Well, feel free to come by so we can clear up any miscommunication.”
“As inviting as that sounds, I think I’ll take a rain check. I was just taking my daughter on a little trip down memory lane.”
“Any memories you and Tori have will be erased soon enough, Preacher. Your days are marked.”
I glanced over to see Reaper crouched next to Tori. He couldn’t hear the conversation, but he knew all too well that sick fucks, like Preacher, got off on empty threats and intimidation tactics. My eyes seared into hers, my rage fueled on by her anxiety.
“You won’t be the first to try and take me out, boy. As soon as Tori is back home where she belongs, I’m coming for you.”
The phone went silent before I could respond. If Tori hadn’t been reason enough for Pandemonium to declare war with the Disciples, then Preacher’s threat to me was plenty. Disgusted, I dropped the phone on the floor in front of her and smashed it under the heel of my boot. It was a cheap piece of crap anyway and I suspected she used it for the same purposes as we kept the simpler, older devices. A burner. Practically untraceable and easily disposable. How he got the number didn’t matter.
One way or another, Aaron and Preacher were dead men.