BROKEN ROAD (A Back Down Devil MC Romance Novella) (3 page)

four.

Jake walked and never looked back.
He knew the guys would come and take his motorcycle away soon enough. Five
miles from the drop spot there was a large rock on the side of the road. The
opposite side.

That was spot where Jake would bury
his leather cut and that
’
s
where he
’
d communicate with
Back Down Devil. That also meant he was just a mile away from the bar.

As Jake walked, he prepared himself
for whatever waited. He felt naked without his Back Down Devil cut on. Wearing
nothing but an old white t-shirt and blue jeans didn
’
t feel right. Walking in the sun left a nice layer
of sweat on his body. By the time he was within seeing the Rusted Devil MC bar,
his shirt was clinging to his body.

The lot had no gate, meaning the MC
was vulnerable.

There were two guys out front,
smoking and drinking.

Jake got close enough that he was
able to wave. The two men stood, leaving their beer bottles behind.

“
Hey,
”
Jake said as he got closer. He
showed his hands.
“
I
’
m cool, guys.
”

“
You
’
re cool?
”
one of them said, raising an eyebrow.
“
Go fuck yourself.
”

“
What
the fuck do you want?
”
the
other guy asked.

“
A
beer,
”
Jake said.
“
And a leather cut.
”

Both men started to laugh.

“
What
the fuck do you know about this life?
”
the first asked.

“
I
know enough to know you have an open membership going,
”
Jake said.
“
Heard
it from a buddy of mine. I just hitched from Sassonville.
”

“
For
a beer?
”
the second asked.

“
And
a leather cut,
”
Jake said
again.

“
Why
don
’
t I get Kami and figure
this out?
”
the first guy
asked.

“
Hey,
Pitt,
”
the second guy said.
“
Get Apollo. He wants to
interview recruits.
”

Jake surveyed the place. It was a piece
of shit bar. It looked like a biker bar for guys who were washed up or too
afraid to really represent a leather cut.

“
What
the fuck are you looking at?
”
the first guy - Pitt - asked.

“
Nothing,
”
Jake said.

Pitt approached. He was the same
height as Jake but Jake had twenty pounds of pure, earned muscle on Pitt. The
leather cut was the difference though. Without it, Pitt had more prestige than
Jake.

So Jake just stood there and had to
take whatever happened.

“
You
fucking piece of shit,
”
Pitt said.
“
Tell me what
the fuck you
’
re looking at.
”

From the corner of Jake
’
s eye he saw movement. A second
later there was a
zing
sound. He quickly put his hands to Pitt
’
s chest and shoved him back,
swiping at his leg, tripping Pitt to the ground.

A black car rode by, a gun pointed
out the window.

Jake lunged forward and speared the
other Rusted Devil MC guy.

“
Attack!
”
Jake yelled.
“
Fuck.
”

The gun shot over and over as Jake
scrambled to his hands and knees and crawled to a motorcycle. He popped up and
was in instant attack mode. His mind slipped that he was supposed to be here to
get in with the Rusted Devil guys.

Fuck, anyone who shot at Jake was
going to get their ass kicked.

Jake climbed on the ride and
started it. He throttled the engine and took off. The two guys on the ground
yelled something but the roar of the motorcycle was far louder.

Jake went right after the black
car. Through the back window he saw it was just one person in the car. The
driver stuck the gun out and turned his hand, trying to shoot. The bullets were
easy to dodge.

As Jake sped up, he moved along the
driver
’
s side of the car.
He figured the guy must have been reloading a new clip because the car slowed a
little and kept swerving left to right. The second Jake got up alongside the
car, the gun appeared again. Jake cut to the right and kicked at the gun,
knocking it free. It hit the road and bounced. Jake cut to the right again and
kicked at the window, shattering it.

That was all it took to send the
driver into panic mode.

Jake slid back and watched the car
jolt to the right, to the left, and then finally lose itself for good. The car
spun around three times and skidded off the road. Jake killed the engine on the
motorcycle and charged into a cloud of dust the car had thrown up. He got to
the car, ripped open the door, and punched the driver in the mouth. He tore the
guy from the car and dragged him to the middle of the road.

“
Don
’
t fucking move!
”
Jake ordered. He put his boot
to the guy
’
s throat.

The guy tried to fight a little,
but one swift kick to the ribs took care of that. The guy rolled to his side,
groaning in pain. He then dropped to one knee to the guy
’
s back. When he looked up he saw four guys charging
toward the scene.

Two of the guys were the ones Jake
had saved.

The other two were complete
strangers to Jake.

“
Holy
fuck!
”
Pitt yelled.
“
Who is that?
”

“
That
’
s Tommy,
”
one of the other guys said.

“
You,
”
one said, pointing to Jake.
“
Stand up.
”

Jake stood up. He showed his hands,
again.
“
I
’
m good. I was just trying to
help.
”

“
You
fucking took me down,
”
Pitt
said.

“
There
was a bullet going for your skull,
”
Jake said.

“
Shut
up.
”
The man stepped at
Jake.
“
What are you doing
here?
”

“
Like
I said. A beer and a leather cut.
”

“
Do
you know who I am?
”

“
No,
”
Jake said.

“
I
’
m Apollo. President of Rusted
Devil MC.
”

“
Good
to meet you then. Sorry about pushing your members there.
”

“
You
took that motorcycle?
”
Apollo asked, pointing.

“
Yes.
I chased this piece of shit down.
”

“
That
’
s my ride,
”
Apollo said.

Fuck. I took the President
’
s ride
…

“
I
’
m sorry,
”
Jake said.

Apollo pointed to the body on the
ground without looking.
“
Pitt,
Slaughter, take Tommy back to the bar. Check his pockets. I bet he was paid for
this little drive-by.
”

Apollo
’
s eyes were locked with his.

“
I
heard from a buddy you have an open membership going. And that you like guys
who can fight. I
’
ve had
experience.
”

“
The
guy behind me is Kami,
”
Apollo said.
“
He
’
s my VP.
”

Jake looked at Kami and nodded.

A second later, Apollo took out a
gun and put it to Jake
’
s
head.
“
No fucking way you
attacked my men, took my ride, and chased down a shooter
…
you
’
re
a fucking liar
…”

Well then, that didn
’
t take long
…
about five minutes and I
was already busted.

five.

They didn
’
t have handcuffs so they used chains. They wrapped
them tight around Jake
’
s
wrists, Kami holding at the middle of the chain between Jake
’
s wrists as he guided him
through the lot. There was a small group of guys watching. They were all in
Rusted Devil MC cuts. A few of the guys yelled to Jake.

“
Fucking
rat!
”

“
Gonna
cut your dick off and make you eat it!
”

“
I
’
m not who you think I am,
”
Jake said.

The President of the MC, Apollo,
stopped and turned. He threw a backhand and sent Jake to the ground. Jake saw
stars, literally, and then spit up a chunk of blood. He thought for a second
there was a tooth in the blood but luckily there wasn
’
t.

“
Get
him to the garage,
”
Apollo
ordered.
“
Pitt, head back
out on foot and get my fucking ride. Clean it up. Gas it up. Wash the rat smell
off it.
”

Jake spit on the ground again and
then was pulled to his feet.

They then skipped the main door to
the bar and went to the side. There was a garage out back and Apollo opened it.
The garage looked like any other auto garage. The drain in the middle was
perfect for draining oil
…
or
blood.

Rusted Devil might have been a beat
up MC, but that didn
’
t mean
they were dead.

So this situation was pretty damn
serious.

Jake couldn
’
t do a thing right now but go for the ride.

Kami sat Jake down and hooked the
chains to a chair.

“
Now,
let
’
s have some fucking
fun,
”
Apollo said. He put a
boot between Jake
’
s legs,
on the chair. He put a hand out.
“
Kami,
give me the hammer. The good hammer. The one that
’
s
all fucked up. The one that won
’
t
kill on the first swing, no matter how hard I try. The one that takes at least three
really good swings
…”

Jake stared up at Apollo.

You have no idea who the fuck I
am, man. You fucking kill me
…

And what?

What would happen?

Nothing.

Back Down Devil were in their own
world of shit. They weren
’
t
going to ride up to Rusted Devil and start another war.

Jake sat there and realized just
how insignificant his life really was.

Kami handed Apollo the hammer.

Apollo wasted no time in bring
ing
it up into the air.

six
.

Keira watched the guys all rush out
of the bar. When they left their bottles of beer and their shots of whiskey
behind, it was never good news. Five minutes before that, Apollo stormed out of
the bar like a giant looking for a meal.

When the bar was quiet and empty,
the feeling was eerie. Keira used to look forward to it. A chance to breathe and
fantasize about a normal life. But now, seeing the place empty, it felt more of
a premonition than anything else.

Grabbing a towel, she wiped the
bar.

She then came out from behind the
bar and grabbed a bunch of bottles to toss.

Being alone used to be a good thing
for Keira. Right up until she realized she was probably going to end up alone.
Kami wouldn
’
t survive the
life forever. He was too hotheaded and Apollo didn
’
t give a shit about anyone in the club. There would
come a day when Kami
’
s body
would be tossed onto a pool table, bleeding, dead, whatever. Or maybe something
worse would happen to Kami and he
’
d
never come back at all. If that were to happen, then Keira instantly became
free
game
to everyone else in the MC.

No matter what, Keira knew she
’
d end up on the run.

The door to the bar busted open and
a few guys came rushing in.

“
Goddamn,
”
Hale said.
“
I can
’
t believe it. Another attack. Another fucking rat.
”

“
Take
it easy,
”
Ax said.
“
We
’
ll
…
hey, where the fuck is
nice
tits
with some beer?
”

Keira swallowed her anger - and
what was left of a beaten down pride - and walked to the bar. She got behind it
and found Ax leaning over, his eyes wide, trying to stare down her shirt.

When Keira put two beers on the
bar, she asked,
“
Good
action out there?
”

“
Take
that top off and they
’
ll be
even more action in here,
”
Ax said.

“
Not
a chance,
”
Keira said.
“
Who
’
s the rat?
”

“
I
don
’
t know,
”
Hale said. His face was still
messed up from when Kami attacked him.
“
Some
guy took Apollo
’
s ride and
took off.
”

“
He
didn
’
t take off,
”
Ax said.
“
He chased down someone that
tried to take some of us out.
”

“
What?
”
Keira asked.
“
Who was it?
”

“
Low
life druggie,
”
Ax said.
“
But he was paid off to do it.
The cartel is fucking with us bad.
”

“
The
rat from the cartel?
”
Keira
asked.

“
I
don
’
t know,
”
Hale said.
“
Apollo and Kami have him in the
garage.
”

The garage.

Keira had to go in there quite a
few times and clean up. The guys were nice enough to get most of the chunky
stuff out of the way. It was mostly just blood and making the place look normal.
There was one time when Keira had been mopping up a mess and she found
something stuck in one of the gaps of the drain.

An eyeball. A human eyeball.

She threw up into the drain and
didn
’
t sleep for a few days
after that.

“
Poor
bastard,
”
Ax said with a
grin.
“
They
’
re going to cut him into
nothing. Especially with the mood Apollo is in.
”

“
Man,
this shit is bad,
”
Hale
said.
“
Getting worse by the
day.
”

Keira casually wiped the bar and
kept her ears open. Not that there was anything for her to really hear and
digest. It was just another bad situation for the club. Someone came to attack
them.
Big shocker.
Then someone else
…
saved them? And that guy was the rat now? That part didn
’
t make much sense, but Keira figured Apollo and
Kami knew better.

After getting Hale and Ax another
beer, then a shot, she slipped out the back, grabbing a garbage bag. She tossed
the half full bag into the dumpster and looked at the garage.

Normally, she
’
d hear screams.

They were far enough away from
other people that screams weren
’
t
heard.

The garage was silent.

Keira took a couple steps and then
paused. She didn
’
t need to
see whatever was happening. It didn
’
t
matter. This was Rusted Devil MC business. This was about Apollo and Kami
figuring out what to do next. Then again, Keira was angry about how this all
happened. Watching the club sit there, drunk, high, whatever, all foaming at
the mouth to vote to work with the cartel. They saw dollar signs when they were
bullets instead.

Whoops.

The garage door opened and a body
came flying out. He wasn
’
t
dead. Far from it. The guy -
the man
- stumbled forward, hands behind
his back. He looked right at Keira and she gasped, losing her breath. The man
looked like he was cut from stone. A perfect physique, a white t-shirt that
pulled tight to his body thanks to sweat and his muscles. His face was
beautifully perfect, a little bit of stubble showing. His hair was black, short
and messy, his eyes just as dark.

Keira felt her mouth open as her
body instantly heated up.

This was the rat?

If so, he was the hottest guy she
’
d ever seen in her life.

Kami came out of the garage and
walked up to the stranger. The man was bigger than Kami, height, muscles,
everything.

“
You
’
re going to fucking prove
yourself,
”
Kami said.
“
And if you try one thing, we
’
ll gut you.
”

The stranger just stared at Keira.
He slowly nodded.

Apollo came out of the garage, gun
in hand. He lifted it and pointed it at the back of the stranger
’
s head.

What did the sexy guy do then?

One of the corner
’
s of his mouth curled a little.
He was starting to smile.

Keira felt her heart racing.

Who in the hell was this guy?