Chapter 16
Ace
I slammed my whiskey back and set the glass down, determined to give my full attention to what was going on during church and not think about the woman who was slowly giving me an ulcer. Emerson was playing with fire, flirting with one of my brothers. And what the fuck happened to her Romeo? I'd seen the kiss pretty boy had bestowed on her when I'd first walked into the bar. It had lacked passion and fire, and I was fairly certain it had left her dry as a bone.
It had taken super human strength not to go over to them and punch his perfect fucking teeth down his throat. Is that what Emerson was looking for in a man? Some squeaky clean, model-type fucker who probably only knew one vanilla-style way of pleasuring a woman? It pissed me off to think that they might be fucking. What pissed me off even more was that the image of the two of them twisted together acted like acid burning a hole in my gut. It was because I wanted her for myself, but my gut warned me that taking a sweet woman like her would be a huge mistake. Emerson was too fucking softhearted for a hardened, bitter man like me. And sweet had never tempted me before.
So why, then, had I become fixated on her? I should have fucked her from the beginning, and I asked myself why I hadn't. If I had, I wouldn't be going through hell now. I'd know how soft her thighs were when I jerked her wet cunt down over my hard dick. I'd know how her curvy hips fit into my hands, how her soft, fleshy tits filled my palms. I'd know how tasty her hard little nipples were as I tugged on them with my mouth. I'd made myself hard thinking about her, so when Candy had come along and plopped herself down onto my lap, I'd let her stay.
Her grinding had given me some relief, but I hadn't come. Fuck, no. I'd decided then and there that I was going to have Emerson. She was the only woman who’d satisfy my urges now. I didn't know when it was going to happen, just that it was. And when the time came, I was going to fuck her until her pussy was swollen and sore, until she couldn't walk straight because I'd rutted between her fleshy thighs all fucking night.
Until I'd fucked her out of my system.
It was the only way.
"You with us Ace?"
I slowly turned my attention to Tanner, realizing that my head hadn't been present, and the frown between his eyes indicated that he knew it. I nodded anyway, because I wasn't about to let my president know that a woman had commandeered my thoughts. The club and my brothers came first. We all lived by that motto. Driving the Hellraisers out of town was a priority, and anything else took a back seat.
"I'm here," I smirked, crossing my arms.
Tanner nodded.
"Understand you already had a run in with the Hellraisers," Dawson quipped, drawing my attention. I liked the brother, but his flirting with Emerson had pissed me off because it was as good as him saying that he was interested in her.
Someone snorted. "They thought they could take down an old man."
I grinned back at Gabe, giving him the middle finger.
Tanner leaned forward. "We've had a couple of run-ins with them. We asked your chapter to send in help because the fuckers refuse to leave town willingly."
"Glad to help." Joker was the enforcer of the Tennessee chapter and a tough old fucker at sixty-years-old. Bald, tatted up and pierced, he had a reputation for being fierce and lethal with a gut instinct that had saved the lives of him and his brothers many times over. "Those fucking assholes have been wreaking havoc all over the south."
"Who else is coming to help?" Charlie had recently been discharged from the army. Word was the thirty-five-year-old had been a damned good sniper.
Several of my brothers snorted at his question, but Tanner was the one who responded. "Who you see in this room is it, brother."
We'd decided to move church to my house once the conversation had turned to the Hellraisers. I watched the six brothers from Tennessee scan the rest of us in my living room, their expressions revealing slight surprise but not an ounce of fear.
Everyone in the room knew that the Hellraisers had far more numbers than the eighteen of us who were present. But they were a group of misfits and criminals, unorganized and sloppy. We were all competent ex-military men with specific skills, trained to systematize and work out strategic battle plans.
"So, what are the plans to run them out of town?" Jigger, a tall, thin brother with a bright purple Mohawk inquired. "I take it you asked them to leave nicely, they refused, and that's why we're here?"
Tanner nodded, a grim expression on his face. "Something like that. Of course, we'd like to keep the violence to a minimum. We're working with the cops. We've been given carte blanch to do what we need to do to get rid of the Hellraisers."
"So the cops are going to turn a blind eye to killing?" Joker growled around a grin.
"There will be casualties, but we're not planning to go in hot," I began, thinking about the conversations my brothers and I had already held before the other Sentinels had arrived. "They're staying out at Cacklebery."
"At least that's working in our favor," Coffee said in his deep baritone voice. Coffee was built like the actor Michael Clarke Duncan had been, and was just as dark-skinned. He was an expert at explosives, and one powerful hit from his meaty paws usually knocked a man out cold. "If shit does turn bad, at least there won't be too many civilians around."
Several nods went around the room. No one wanted civilians involved or hurt. The cops wouldn't be as understanding about what went down if that happened.
"What about the cops?" Jigger asked. "What can we expect from them?"
"They put together a task force assigned to the Hellraisers, run by Deputy Callahan. We've been working closely with him for years. His men have been informed that we'll be helping."
"They won't be a problem," I added after Tanner.
Joker, who was the only officer present from his chapter, and therefore in charge of his brothers, nodded with satisfaction. "So, what's the fucking plan?"
Before Tanner could answer the question his phone went off. Silence followed as he brought it to his ear and quietly listened to what was being said at the other end. When his expression turned dark and his mouth drew tight, I knew that it was bad news. Less than a minute passed before the call was disconnected and he jumped to his feet.
"The Hellraisers are stirring up shit at my fucking bar!"
****
Emerson
I cast a quick glance down at Bonnie to where she was hiding behind the bar. She was petrified, and I couldn't blame her. She was one of the lucky ones who'd seen the trouble heading through the door and had ducked before they'd seen her. I, on the other hand, had been walking out from the bathroom when the Hellraisers had stomped through the bar from the front door. I'd halted in a mixture of shock and surprise, momentarily frozen at the sight of the four bikers who were storming through the place as if they owned it, and loudly making their presence known.
The good thing was that we were about to close up and the place was empty but for a few of the staff. The dancers had long gone, but Bonnie and I, as well as two servers, were still there. Sissy and Gloria had been cleaning the tables and stacking the chairs when the bikers had stormed in. They'd stopped what they were doing and had stood frozen like frightened deer; because it had been clear that these men meant trouble.
Eventually self-preservation kicked in, and I moved behind the bar as if it could protect me. "Sorry, but we're closed," I felt compelled to say, forcing a smile.
"Well, well, well, look what we have here, brothers," a particularly grungy-looking biker said with a big smile. "Three pretty ladies all to ourselves." He and his brothers snickered.
"Means two of us are gonna have to share," one man said. "I don't mind a threesome.”
"Well, I ain't sharing," another man grumbled in a croaky voice. His eyes hadn't left me since I'd walked into the room. "And that one's mine." He nodded toward me.
Over my dead body, I thought to myself, reaching for the bat that we kept on hand for emergencies. "Look, why don't I give you a free drink on the house and then you boys can just move on?" I wanted to say ‘please,’ but the word stuck in my throat. My fingers wrapped around the handle of the bat. "Do you know who owns this bar?" The cocky smirks spreading across their faces told me that they already knew, but I said it anyways, hoping that if they didn’t know, the name would send them running. "The Sentinels."
One of the biker's stepped forward. "Yeah, we know who the fucking Sentinels are." His tone said that he didn't care, and he wasn’t scared. Before I knew what he was going to do he picked up a discarded bottle on the nearest table and threw it violently.
I automatically ducked when I saw the bottle heading my way, but he'd been aiming for the liquor shelves behind me. The crash was deafening, and suddenly I was ducking for another reason as glass and liquor sprayed down around me. I let out a cry, but it was nothing compared to the screams that I heard from Sissy and Gloria. I made eye-contact with Bonnie. "Call Tanner!" I whispered, frightened. I heard several tables being overturned and chairs being broken. The sound of glass shattering indicated the damage the men were intent on doing.
"I already did!" she whispered back, eyes round with fear. "They're on their way."
Finally quiet ensued, but my relief was short-lived when I rose to my feet to see that three of the bikers were moving toward the cowering servers. "Leave them alone!" I screamed. The men didn't even hesitate. The women began running toward the back, but they were accosted before they made it.
Their screams were shrill and sent a spike of cold fear down my spine. We were completely alone and without protection, and there was no telling when Tanner and the others would get there. I swung my eyes to the man who'd made it clear that I was the one that he wanted. He began to move as if to come around the bar, but I quickly stepped out in front so that he wouldn't see Bonnie.
His wide smile indicated his pleased surprise that I’d come forward without a fight. "Eager for me, sweetheart?" His bloodshot eyes raked up and down my body in an insulting manner.
"Eager to give you this, asshole!" I hissed angrily, bringing the bat up. "Now you men get out of here!" The man facing me threw back his head and roared with laughter. But he wasn't laughing after I swung the bat, only missing his head when he jerked back at the last second.
His eyes turned into squinty beacons of pissed-off anger, his whiskered face hardening with the promise of retribution. "Fucking bitch!" He jumped at me with blinding speed, but I managed to dash behind one of the few tables that was still standing. "You'll be sorry for that." He easily gripped the edge of the table and flipped it over.
I kept the bat between me and him. "Stay away from me!"
He laughed, but it held little humor. "The Sentinels are going to learn that the Hellraisers are here to stay, and Daytona is going to be our town. And that includes their women."
The man was crazy! I swung frantically, determined to maim him and put a stop to this, but he was too fast jumping out of the way again. I lost my concentration when Gloria screamed. I glanced her way to see her being pinned down on top of the pool table while one man moved between her legs, undoing his belt at the same time.
"No!" I screamed. "She's pregnant!" She wasn't, but I was willing to say and do anything to prolong his attack. He hesitated for only a second, looking in our direction and waiting as if for permission to continue. "Please don't hurt her!" I pleaded.
The man in front of me snorted. "Pregnant women have been fucked before." That was all his friend needed to hear before he shrugged and continued his assault.
"No!" I screamed, swinging my bat like a crazy woman as I tried to make my way over to them without being stopped. I was vaguely aware that Sissy and the other man were gone, but I didn't know where they'd disappeared to. "Get off her!" I swung the bat at the back of the biker’s head, but it never connected.
I found myself grasped from behind, an arm curling around my upper body and a hand grabbing me by the hair and yanking my head back. The bat fell from my hands as I reached back to try and relieve the pressure of his painful hold.
"You're a wild one," he grated down into my face, nearly gagging me with his breath. "I'm gonna enjoy taming you."
I heard a scream from the direction of the restrooms and realized that Sissy had been dragged back there. Tears gathered in my eyes as the realization hit me that we were helpless against these men. I didn't have the chance to assess Gloria's situation, suddenly finding myself being flung halfway across the room. I slammed into a juke box, grunting at the impact and losing my breath. Before I could turn around the man had reached me, pushing his body up against mine and grinding his hard-on into my bottom. I clenched my teeth and tried to push him off me, but I was no match for him.
His hands were everywhere, pinching and squeezing at my breasts, running up my legs, between them and rubbing against my crotch. I twisted angrily, pinned between him and the machine, crying out when he lifted my skirt and I knew what he was about to do. I felt his hands between us, undoing his pants, and tried one last time to push myself away from the juke box. Grunting, he grabbed both my hands and pinned them above my head, keeping me bent in an awkward position that was painful, and left me exposed.
"No!" I screamed, anger and fear vying for first place. "Get off me, asshole!" My heart was pounding rapidly in my chest when I felt his rough hand move my panties aside.
I screamed, trying to clench my legs closed.
The door to the bar flew open, hitting the wall.
The Sentinels spilled into the room with their guns drawn.
My gaze locked onto the murderous look in Ace's dark eyes as he pushed through the door.
The man who had been about to rape me stepped back.
The sound of rapid gunfire erupted and I closed my eyes.