Jen

“You’re going to need to stay quiet. I’m going to do everything I can for you, but don’t make it harder for me to do that.”

Peck had busted two of them. I felt satisfied as hell about that. That was good work on both our parts. Except…

They weren’t The Dark Saints. At least I didn’t think so. The Saints were the three that had me. The Saints were in the shadows of this deal and I’d thought they were the leads.

And just like my Grandmother said, The Saints got off scot-free. And they had me by the throat.

Benz warned me to be quiet and I couldn’t see any other play. They could easily snap my neck. They all looked like they wanted to. Benz was furious.

I’d underestimated exactly what that would look like. It was terrifying and way beyond my ability to handle.

Bo. He was the one I’d tripped. I felt a knot swelling up on my head. I’d hit it on the cement when I’d grabbed for Bo’s ankles and tried to tie up his legs to prevent him from running.

He was almost as tall as Benz, but wider. If he had chosen to punch me, my face would have caved in. I had no doubt about that.

Then there was Kade. He was darker than Benz and Bo. He brought up the rear of the three-Harley parade headed to the MC.

I was dead. There really couldn’t be any other outcome.

They all had stone faces.

As we rode to the MC, my mind raced.

How would I escape? Could I escape? Why didn’t I just ask for a sidearm from Peck? I should have. Shit.

I consoled myself that he’d collared two drug deals. That was something. It was the only thing that had gone right.

But it wasn’t what I was after. I was after The Dark Saints and now they had me.

Was Benz going to help me? He’d warned me to stay quiet. He said he was going to do everything he could for me. Did that just mean making sure I died quickly?

What the fuck had I been thinking?

Going for Bo’s legs like that. I should have stayed hidden! At least then I’d have had a chance to get out of there. But no. I just had to join in. I had to try to get at least one of The Saints in handcuffs.

The ride didn’t take long. In fact, it was too short. Each mile closer to The Saints and this Bear person they had talked about also meant a minute closer to something very bad for me. Were these my last minutes alive? I thought about my Daddy. Had he seen his death coming?

In my present state, I decided not seeing it coming might be better than this dread and panic swirling in my chest.

We pulled into The Saints’ compound. At least it looked like a compound to me, from what I could see in the dark. They cut the engines to their Harleys. The quiet was terrible.

Benz helped me off the bike. It was funny really. Why would he help me if he were about to kill me? Don’t trip so I can strangle you, I thought sardonically.

We walked around the back of a building and into a side hall.

I tried to orient myself. Maybe I could run for it? Any little detail could help me, maybe? But who was I kidding? The Dark Saints were off the highway, hidden. There was nothing really around if I ran. In what direction could I run? How long before there was a bullet in my back?

They led me into a kind of meeting room. There was a wood table in the middle of the room with some sort of symbol carved into it. I’d seen that symbol inked into Benz’s flesh.

At the head of the table was Bear. No question about it. This was the President of The Dark Saints. This was the mastermind of the MC. He had gray hair pulled back into a ponytail. His eyes were hard. As scared as I was of Benz, Kade, and Bo, this was worse. This man had seen more than I wanted to know about. And I’d messed up his plans.

“Sit.” Benz pulled out a chair for me.

Bear’s jaw was clenched, and he seemed to be grinding his teeth to keep from gnawing off one of my limbs.

He lifted his cell phone and put it on speaker.

“Detective Janning.”

So Janning was in on it. The very man I’d complained to was in on this drug deal. My prospects were getting worse.

“Bear, what the hell is going on? This is not what we were prepared for. I’ve got these two low lives and we’re no better off.”

“Yeah. And you didn’t think it was important to let me know that some gash was talking all about it at the station today?” Gash. Nice. That was me. I winced and felt a hand on my shoulder. Benz’s. Was he trying to scare me or comfort me?

“I had it handled.” Detective Janning said on the phone. I was now “it”: quite the step up.

“Let’s just go with, we both had some loose ends that unraveled this deal. We’ll handle our end.” Bear looked at Benz.

“Yeah, I’ve got a little mess here, too. Officer Peck can i.d. one of your guys. The one that ran and tripped? I’m guessing, by what he’s said, it was Bo. Bo needs to disappear for a while until Peck stops jizzing in his pants over this. He’ll need a little time to get with the program.”

“Thanks for the heads up. We’ll let you know when we decide what’s next.”

Bear ended the call and looked over at me, then down at his hand. He began picking at a callous on his palm. The tension increased every second as the room stayed silent, waiting to hear what Bear wanted to be done.

“Looks like we can lay this at your feet, Benz?” Bear’s exasperation turned to something stone cold.

“I didn’t know she was a cop. I thought she worked at the fucking library.” Benz said. Bo and Kade squirmed in their seats.

“It’s your mess. You handle it. Now. Bo, get going.”

“Yep.”

“No vote on this? Don’t we need to put it to a vote?”

What had just happened? How was Benz supposed to clean up the mess?

“Uh, excuse me?” Bear raised his voice. “You’ve fucked up enough here, Benz. Take care of her. Kade. Make sure he does.”

“Oh, now I need a babysitter?” Benz spat back at Bear.

“Apparently you do,” Bear gave it right back to him.

I didn’t know what was happening. Benz said the club was his family. This looked like the meanest fucking family on Earth. He’d said that Bear was like a father to him, but right now, it felt like the two of them could rip each other apart.

“Let’s go, Benz, come on.” Kade took me by the arm. I stood up.

“I got it. I understand. Let’s go.” Benz brushed Kade out of the way and led me out of the room, back the way we came. Kade followed.

I was terrified. The Prez of The Dark Saints had ordered me killed!

Was it going to happen here? Were they going to shoot me? Should I start screaming? I knew in my heart that screaming wouldn’t do a damn thing. If I was going to die, I’d die with some dignity. That was all I could think. Don’t do anything that would shame my Daddy right now.

We walked a few feet away from the building. Maybe they wouldn’t do it here, where they lived and worked? Maybe there was a place they dumped bodies? Would anyone realize I was missing? Paula Laraby wasn’t expecting me for another week. Shit. No one would realize I was even gone for days.

“Kade?” Benz said. He had a firm grip on my arm.

“I know. He’s wrong. We’re not,” Kade said to Benz. The two exchanged some unspoken communication.

“We’re not killing a cop. Especially one that just this morning waltzed right into the police station pointing the fingers at The Saints.” Benz still had a hard grip on me.

“What are you going to do?” Kade asked.

Benz looked at me and pointed to the back of his bike.

“Get on.” He let go of me. I could run or get on his bike.

Both seemed like death.

I chose to climb onto his bike. Any moment that I wasn’t being murdered was a moment in my favor, I decided.

“What are you going to do?”

“Sorry, Kade.” With that, Benz unleashed a punch to Kade’s face. He staggered backward.

Benz got on his bike in one quick motion and then gunned it. I looked behind me to see Kade waving. Like he’d expected to get hit. Like it was no big deal. It was a punch that would have sent anyone else to dreamland. These men were all fierce and I’d basically chosen to go in against them naked. My stupidity was horrifying.

“What are you doing? Where are we going?” I asked Benz as we sped into the darkness.

“I’m saving your ass, even though you were willing to fry mine,” Benz yelled over his shoulder.

I had no idea what was coming next or where he was driving us.

He was saving me. Or at least it seemed that way.

The man I’d been so quick to turn into the cops was helping me. I honestly didn’t know why or if he’d change his mind on the dime. But I realized I’d bungled my way into a mess.

But maybe, just maybe, I’d also found the one good man in The Dark Saints. Benz was not who I thought and he was not his father’s son.

I hoped that meant I was going to figure my way out of this alive.

We rode into the night and didn’t stop. I held on. Benz was defying his club. I didn’t know what that meant. I didn’t know if a person could come back from that.

The amount of shit I didn’t know had nearly gotten me killed and I wasn’t going to make that mistake again.