Breaking Hammer (Motorcycle Club Romance) (Inferno Motorcycle Club Book 3) (33 page)

"Good for the club," Blaze said, grinning, as he slipped a hand around Dani's waist.

"Hmm," she said.  "I don't seem to recall the club making me a job offer yet, do you?"

"Let's just say, you've got an in with someone who has a lot of influence over those kinds of decisions," Blaze said.
 He patted her ass.  "Now, get on home already, would you?"

Dani laughed and kissed him on the cheek, then punched him playfully on the arm as she stepped away from him.
 "All the power of being club president is going to his head now.  He's getting so bossy."

"It's good to see you, Dani," I said.

"You too, Crunch," she said, kissing me on the cheek.  "Don't stay away so long next time."

Blaze took another drag on his cigar, then turned to me.
 "Now.  You didn't come out here to fucking socialize.  What's going on?"

Blaze didn't say anything for a few minutes, but I could see the wheels in his mind turning even after I stopped talking.

"You had this discussion with Geezer?" Blaze asked, wanting to know if I’d told this story to the president of the Vegas chapter.

I shook my head.
 "Aston's well-connected.  After what happened with Mad Dog..."  My voice trailed off, the implication clear.  I didn't trust the Vegas chapter.  They had given me no reason not to trust them, but I'd been burned once before and I wouldn’t let it happen again.

Blaze shook his head.
 "The club isn't going to have ties to someone like him."

"Benicio smuggles," I said.
 "We sure he doesn't smuggle people?"

"No way," Blaze said.
 "He has a personal issue with it.  He spent twenty years in prison in Panama, and from what I understand, it wasn't a fucking picnic.  Doesn't like the idea of imprisoning anyone else.  Dani's father, Guillermo, now that was another fucking story."

"You sure about that?"
 I asked, still wary.  "We're talking about a lot of money.  Big fucking money.  Meia's only hinted at things, but everything I've pulled on Aston says he's connected to politicians, millionaires, people with real cash."

"Fuck," Blaze said.
 "I'm certain of it.  Guillermo was involved in that kind of shit.  Benicio wouldn't do it, on principle.  Made a thing of it after Dani killed Guillermo."

"I'm not asking for club resources," I said.
 "Just a meet with Benicio.  I've hacked Aston, and I've hit a wall.  I've narrowed down places he could have taken her.  My gut says it's Bangkok, though, back to where she was when she was a kid.  The finishing school she talked about.  Benicio's got an ear to the ground.  I just need some more intel, and I need a contact for a weapon when I get there."

"Christ, Hammer," Blaze said.
 "You're not going over there by yourself.  It's fucking suicide."

"You need to stay at the club -" I started.

"That's why I have a fucking Veep I trust," Blaze said.  "I was out of the country when the shit with April happened.  I was absent from the club, and if I'd have been around more, I might have seen what was going on with Mad Dog.  What happened with Mad Dog- with April- it's my responsibility.  You're not following this guy to fucking Thailand to get slaughtered by yourself."

I nodded.
 "Okay."

"I'll call Benicio.
 And for fuck's sake, call Axe.  He's a better shot than either of us are."

I blinked, but my eyelids felt heavy and swollen.
 I saw everything through a haze, cloudy and blurred.  I tried to move, rolled onto my side, and immediately felt nauseous.  Bending over, I heaved the contents of my stomach into a bowl beside the bed, this ornate heavy thing with gilded edges I almost felt bad about defiling.  
Almost.

I didn't even hear him behind me.
 It was like he materialized out of nowhere, from behind me, his hand on the back of my neck, holding my hair away from my face.  His touch was gentle, like a lover's.

Except he was no lover.

When I was finally finished, my body weak, depleted of everything, I turned to look at him, the man who held me, the man who had taken everything from me.

"Oh, don't look at me like that, doll," Aston said, his voice excessively polite.
 "It's not becoming."

"Where am I?" My voice was hoarse, my mouth dry.
 I could barely form the words.  "Where's my son?"

"Oh, please tell me you recognize this place," he said.
 "It would be a tremendous disappointment if you didn't, after I put out the effort of bringing you here.  Come on.  You can feel it inside you, can't you?  You've come
home
."

My heart felt like it stopped beating, and I inhaled sharply as I looked around the room, finally beginning to register my surroundings, the teak bed and the jewel-toned pillows.
 The smell of lemongrass and jasmine permeated the air, and nearly made me vomit again.  Yes, I knew this place.  How could I ever forget the place where my innocence was ripped from me?

"Where's Ben?" I asked again, my voice bolder than I felt.
 I pulled away from Aston in horror, walking toward the other side of the room.  He watched me, the way an animal watches prey, his eyes following my movements.  "Is he here?"

"I have plans for you, Meia.
 For both of you."

My blood ran cold.
 "What plans?"

"Now what would be the fun in it, if I told you everything right now?" Aston said, striding across the room to face me, gripping the bottom of my face with his hand.
 "There would be no excitement, no anticipation."

I struggled, and Aston squeezed my jaw tighter, then leaned in close to me.
 "And the excitement has just begun."

"Why, Aston?"
 I asked, my voice trembling.  I reminded myself that I could endure whatever horrors he had planned for me.  I could hold on.  Ben's life was at stake.

"Because you're mine," he whispered.
 "I gave you freedom.  Latitude.  And you repay me by fucking some white trash biker?  You seem to have forgotten who owns you.  I owned you when you were a child, and I will always own you.  You think you can have a life apart from me?  I am
everything
to you.  I give you breath."

"I'd rather
die
than be yours."  I spat the words, before I could even think about their implications, for me or for Ben.

Aston let go of my face, and turned away from me as if to leave.
 His blow, a closed fist to my cheek, took me by surprise and I recoiled, my hands immediately going to my face as I stumbled back against the wall, covering my head in an instinctive attempt to protect myself.  Pain shot through me, and spots colored my vision as the nausea from before overwhelmed me.  I dropped to my knees, bile rising in my throat, and heaved on the floor.

From somewhere far away, I heard Aston's voice.
 "You will be mine until your dying breath.  And, after that, Ben will be mine."

"No..." I choked out the word, the throbbing in my cheek so intense I could barely think about anything else.

"Ben is earmarked for a very special purpose," he said.  "There is a group of very wealthy men who are interested in him."

Tears streamed down my cheeks, and I crawled on my hands and knees toward Aston, wrapped my hands around his ankles.
 "No, Aston," I pleaded.  "Don't do this.  Please don't do this to my son."

He looked down at me, with scorn in his eyes.
 "It's
you
who've done this, Meia.  Until your last breath, know that it's you who've sent your son into the lion's den."  He bent down, his face close to mine.  "The men who will buy him?  They are particularly fond of boys his age.  They just...have a tendency to get a little, shall we say, carried away.  They require new replacements due to their...
vigor
."

I heard myself wail, but it was like I was far away.
 Aston pulled away from me, and I knew he was leaving, but I dry-heaved on the floor, my stomach empty of everything.  And when I couldn't expel any more, I lay there on the cool floor, curled up into a ball, unmoving.

Aston's words played in my head, stuck on a loop.
 
It's you who've sent your son into the lion's den.

It was all my fault.
 I had been selfish, had allowed Hammer to get close to me.  And now, my son was going to pay.

I was his mother.
 I was supposed to protect him, and I had failed.

There was no hope anymore, only darkness.