A Dream of Summer (Bleeding Angels MC Book 3) (18 page)

I leave the car a ways down the track, pulling off the road to avoid detection, and I run the rest of the way to the location that Suzie had given me. I look around as I go, hoping that I see some sort of a sign that the Feds have called in the cavalry, but I don’t see anything. I reason to myself that they wouldn’t be all that good at their jobs if they couldn’t remain undetected in a situation like this.

As I get closer I see a group of bikers in exactly the place that Suzie had told me they’d be. I count about fifteen bikers and as I catch sight of Jake, standing close to Scar and Ryan, my heart goes into my throat. There’s no way for the Feds to know that he’s not one of the bad guys. If they arrive and start shooting, Jake could get caught in the cross-fire. I swallow my fears; they’re not going to do me any good now.

I try to get a little closer, because from where I am there’s no way the wire will pick up anything that’s said. I find a spot that’s only about twenty yards from the group of bikers and I try to slow my breathing, which sounds so loud in my own head I wonder how I haven’t alerted all the bikers to my position. I fiddle with the recording pack that’s stuffed down my jeans, remembering the instruction manual that I only looked at briefly and hoping that I know how to turn it on. That’s when I hear the crunch of gravel underneath boots coming from behind me.

“Well, well, look what we have here.” Elvis is standing behind me, a wide grin on his face like he’s just hit the jackpot. “What’s a pretty girl like you doing in a place like this?” He laughs at his own wit and grabs me by the arm, hauling me up onto my feet. His face is close to mine and I can see how dilated his pupils are. I wonder if Elvis even remembers a time when he wasn’t high on something. He drags me over towards the circle of bikers, who turn around in surprise as we approach. I see Jake start to take a step towards me, but I shake my head, looking at the floor. Just because I’ve been found out, doesn’t mean that he has to be, too.

“Aimee Winters, the girl with the big
cojones
,” Scar says as he approaches me and Elvis shoves me towards him. It’s funny—now that I know the story of him and Sally, he isn’t as scary to me. I look at the scar on his face that he carries around like a badge of honor, but really it’s just a testament to Sally’s love for her son and how far she was willing to go to save him. “Now, how did you find us all the way out here?” He tilts his head to look me up and down, taking in the over-sized jacket that I’m wearing and trying to figure me out.

“I followed Jake,” the words are out of my mouth and I realize that this is my best chance at a plausible story. I ignore the chuckles that come from the surrounding bikers and notice that one of them slaps Jake on the back as if to tell him what a stud he is.

“Why?” Scar isn’t as easily convinced as the other men and I feel like his eyes are boring a hole through my brain.

“Because I love him,” I say desperately, turning towards Jake who looks at me with fear in his eyes. I know that the fear there is for my safety but the other bikers probably think he’s scared of what his obsessed ex-girlfriend is going to do. “Please, please, take me back, Jake.” I beg him, making my voice as pathetic as I can. “We can be together again, like we were before. Nothing has to change. I’m nothing without you. You can do whatever you want to me.” All I can hope is that Jake understands what I’m doing and plays along like I need him to.

“That’s what she said to
me
,” Ryan interrupts, laughing and playing the part of the big man. The tension radiating off of Jake as Ryan speaks is palpable and I get the sense that the bikers are just wishing for a fight to break out.

Jake keeps looking at me, ignoring Ryan. “I already told you the other night, I don’t want you. I don’t want anything to do with you, you crazy bitch.” He spits the words out and I try to remind myself that it’s just an act. “I’m not interested in Ryan’s sloppy seconds.” He looks straight at Ryan as he says the words. “That is, if he even managed to get the job done.”

Ryan looks panicked, his gaze flicking between Jake and me. Then it’s as if a switch inside of him flips and he launches himself at Jake and the two men are throwing punches at each other, grunting and grappling. The bikers start shouting words of encouragement and I can feel the bloodlust rising. Before too much damage can be done, Scar intervenes, moving between the men and pushing them away from each other.

“
Enough
. We don’t have time for this bullshit. You want to beat the crap out of each other? You do it after the deal.” Scar looks between the two of them for their cooperation.

“You crazy fuck!” Jake yells at Ryan, breathing hard. His eyes are burning with so much hate I’m surprised that Ryan doesn’t melt into his boots on the spot.

“That’s enough, I said.” Scar shoves the two of them further apart. When he’s satisfied that they aren’t going to beat the living daylights out of each other, he advances towards me, his hand going straight to his waistband. “Now little girl, I think you’ve caused enough trouble for one night.” He pulls out his gun and aims it straight at my head. I try to keep upright, but my legs are shaking so badly. “We’ve got some business to attend to and you’re just going to distract my boys here.” He flicks his gaze towards Ryan and Jake.

Out of the corner of my eye I see Jake take a couple of steps towards Scar, his hand going to the waistband of his jeans where I can see him taking hold of his own gun.

“Boss, they’re here!” one of the bikers yells, breaking the tension of the moment.

“Saved by the bell, little lady.” Scar smiles, making his gun disappear as quickly as he had brought it out. “Jake, tie her up back there, out of sight. I don’t want to spook the Wetbacks.”

I feel so relieved that I almost collapse in a heap on the floor. I dig my fingernails into the palm of my hand to bring my concentration back to the here and now. I don’t have the luxury of freaking out. I feel Jake’s strong arms grab me from behind and he hustles me past the other bikers, sitting me down in the dirt as softly as he can.

“What the
hell
are you doing here?” Jake whispers under his breath as he ties my hands together in front of me. He sounds angry enough to take off.

“Suzie told me. Don’t worry, the Feds will be here soon,” I assure him, wishing that I was as sure of that as I was trying to seem. “You just have to keep playing along for a little longer, okay?” I keep my gaze down on my hands so that none of the other bikers get suspicious.

“I don’t like this. You almost got yourself killed.”

“Jake,” Scar calls from the head of the group. “You’re with me. Ryan, you watch her.” He jerks his thumb towards me.

Jake starts to protest, but Scar turns on him. “You’re an Angel now and that means that you do what I tell you to do, got it?” He doesn’t wait for a response. It’s clear that he doesn’t expect one.

Ryan walks over to me, a look on his face like he’s just been given the shiny red bicycle he’s wanted since he was a kid. He brings his face close to mine and I shuffle away from him as far as I can, but there’s nowhere to go. Behind Ryan I can see that three SUVs have pulled up and I count ten men coming out, standing in front of the Angels. I see what look like ten massive beer kegs being placed between the two groups of me. That must be the drugs, but I’m too far away to hear what’s being said. The wire I’m wearing is completely useless.

But right now I have bigger problems than worrying about the wire. Ryan’s hands are all over me. His nearness gives me flashbacks of that night in his bedroom. I can feel the panic inside of me start to rise as he talks, his face inches from mine, so close his spit lands on my cheek.

“You just couldn’t stay away, could you?” he asks and he has that crazed look in his eyes that means any shred of humanity has checked out. “You said you were here for Jake, but we both know that’s not true. You’re here for me. You can’t be without me.” Ryan’s completely delusional. His eyes have a faraway look like he’s watching a different story play out in his imagination.

“Ryan, leave me alone. I don’t want anything to do with you.” I kick out at him, hearing him grunt as my heel connects with his shin. But any victory I feel is short-lived.

He pushes me back so that I’m lying in the dirt and then puts his knee in my chest, making it difficult to breathe. “This is what you want, isn’t it? You want me to hurt you. You like it. You’re a fucking whore. You want me to wrap my fingers around your throat. You want to die.”

Our eyes meet and Ryan takes it to mean that I’m telling him that he’s right. All I’m trying to communicate to him is how much I hate him. “Yeah, I know that’s what you want, Aimee, you dirty whore. Then, when you’re not breathing anymore, that’s when you want me to take you. Fuck you in that sweet little ass of yours. That’s what you want, isn’t it?” Ryan’s breathing heavily, and I can feel the fucked up hardness of his erection against my. “I’ll fuck your ass and I’ll fuck your mouth—that’s what you want.”

I can’t take it anymore, Ryan’s knee on my chest is making it harder for me to get my breath and I’m really scared that he’s just crazy enough to follow through with what he’s telling me he wants to do. It takes all the strength I have to buck him off of me, making him sprawl in the dirt beside me.

“Get off of me, you crazy fuck!” I scream, trying to keep the panic attack that’s building at bay.

“I don’t want you. I don’t want you dead or alive. But dead is the only way you’re going to get anything from me, you pathetic little man.” I spit the words out, channeling all of my hate into my words.

For a split second I feel like I may have gotten through to him, but I’m wrong. The frenzied look comes back into his eyes and he lunges for me, grabbing my throat and squeezing.

I flail and feel my bound hands connect with his chin. His hold on me relaxes for a moment but then it just tightens again.

I’m going to die here. I’m going to die
. The thought comes into my head and I squirm as hard as I can to get away.

I hear Jake calling my name, but he sounds so far away and Ryan’s hold around my throat just gets even tighter.

Everything happens so fast. It all goes very wrong, very quickly. I see Ryan getting in Aimee’s face, and I have to clench my fists to hard that I can feel the blood pumping in my hands to stop myself from going over there and pulling him off. Aimee had said that the Feds would be here any minute. I have to trust that. I keep looking between Ryan and Aimee and the Dealer and his crew standing in front of us.

I’m acting as Scar’s second, so I’m close enough to hear how the pleasantries the two men exchange quickly break down into an argument.

“I need to taste it, you know—try before you buy,” Scar is saying as he makes a move to lift off the top of one of the kegs of beer.

“You’re not going to get any taste, Scar, until get my fucking money,” the dealer responds.

It’s clear that neither man trusts the other and I wonder how the hell they’ve managed to do business before. Scar motions towards Grey on his right, who throws down a duffel bag at the feet of one of the dealer’s men. He bends down and opens it, and I can see from here that it’s filled with dollar bills. He zips the bag shut, straightens up, and nods towards the dealer, signaling that everything is as it should be.

“We heard the Feds have been creeping around. You getting slack in your old age, Scar?” the dealer asks.

“What are you trying to say,
amigo
? You got a problem with the way I’m running my business, you say so. Otherwise, you keep your fat Mexican motherfucking mouth shut.” Scar’s voice is low but the threat is clear.

I have my eye on the twitchy guy standing behind the dealer. He’s been looking around him and his hand keeps on hovering over his waistband, where I can see the outline of a gun. I wonder if he’s the new guy, the one that they’ve roped in, just like they’ve done with me. He looks young, about my age.

You can taste the tension radiating between Scar and the dealer, and in a split-second everything changes. Aimee screams from behind me and I turn to see Ryan sitting on top of her, his hands around her throat. The twitchy guy in the dealer’s crew gets nervous and pulls his gun out. Then it’s like someone’s flipped a switch and everything happens in slow motion. The twitchy guy gets shot, but none of the bikers have their guns out yet.

I’m already turning around, heading towards Aimee a fast as I can, when it seems to dawn on Scar what’s happening. “Feds!” he yells in full voice. “That fucking bitch brought them here. Ryan, kill her!”

But Ryan doesn’t need any encouragement—it looks like he’s holding onto Aimee so tightly that I’m not sure how she’s managing to stay conscious. I remember the promise that I made to her—that I wouldn’t let anyone hurt her. I don’t plan on breaking it. Not now, not ever.

I’m dimly aware that bullets have started to fly and I hear cries as some of them find their mark in the men behind me. But my attention is trained on Ryan and Aimee in front of me. I barrel into Ryan at full speed, taking him by surprise and pulling him off of Aimee. It doesn’t take him long to recover and he gets in a few punches as we both end up in the dirt, punching and kicking each other as hard as we can. I barely hear the pandemonium that’s going on behind me. People are yelling and gunshots are firing, but all I’m focused on is beating this bastard to a pulp so he can never think about hurting Aimee again.