Dark Menace MC: Stone (18 page)

“Ready to make a fuckin’ deal, fucker?”

Wildman obviously thought that I was Stone. I
took a deep breath that did little to calm me, feeling my skin
crawl by the all-too-familiar voice. “It’s me.”

He laughed, as if knowing that he’d already
won. “Been waitin’ for you to get back to me, little girl. Your
bitch of a mother took you away from me, knowing I wanted you over
her. We have some time to make up for.”

Oh, God!
I forced down the bile that
rose in my throat at the sound of his evil laugh, refusing to show
him that weakness. Just hearing his evil voice brought tears to my
eyes, but I brushed them away angrily, knowing that I was doing the
right thing for Maddie. Stone would be angry, but he’d have to
understand. When you loved someone, you made sacrifices. My sister
and I hadn’t grown up together, but over the last few years we’d
become close, and we were all that we had.

“I want to talk to Maddie,” I said in the
hardest voice I could muster. Fuck, I hated this man.

“You want? YOU WANT? Wildman screamed into
the phone. “You better give me what I WANT or I’ll slit her skinny
throat and gut the bitch like I did her prick of a husband.”

Ohmygod!
I hadn’t heard how Ronald had
died. I’d never liked him and had only tolerated him, just barely,
for Maddie, but he hadn’t deserved to die that way. “I’m ready to
come to you, just let me talk to my sister first. I want to make
sure she’s still alive.” I sat down in one of the chairs, shaking
like a leaf.

There was a long pause before I heard a
timid, little voice. “Rachel?”

I squeezed my eyes shut, hearing so much in
that one word. “Maddie, listen to me, I’m going to get you out of
there.”

“How?”

“That doesn’t matter. I want you to just hold
on and know that it will be over soon, and when you’re out of there
I want you to follow the plan we set up and get out of town.”

“But—”

“Promise me,” I insisted, cutting her off.
“As soon as you’re turned loose you go somewhere safe. Don’t fight
them, it will only make it worse for you, don’t let them break
you.”

I heard her sob. “They killed Ronald.”

“I know—”

“I know you didn’t like him—”

“Look, we don’t have time for this right now.
I only wanted to hear your voice to know that you were okay, and
tell you that you’ll soon be free.”

“It hasn’t been too bad,” she said softly,
her tone hesitant. “They haven’t raped me.”

I thanked God for that, even as it caught me
by surprise. That didn’t sound like Wildman. Was it possible that
he had changed? No, and even if he had, it wouldn’t have made a
difference. He would always be a monster to me.

“That’s enough chit chat,” Wildman snarled
into the phone. “Talk.”

The time had come. I thought again about
everything Stone had said, but his way was so dangerous, and I knew
that it would end in blood. I couldn’t take a chance that some of
that blood would be Maddie’s. Once I exchanged myself for her, I
knew that he’d come for me. Not out of love, but because he was the
president of Dark Menace and it was the right thing to do. I banked
on that, and would have to deal with the fallout later. Right now I
didn’t even want to contemplate what that could be.

“I’m willing to meet you, somewhere in
public, in town, so that I can see that Maddie is with you and I
can watch you release her. That’s the only way I’ll do it.”

“How the fuck do I know this isn’t a
trap?”

I’m not like you,
I wanted to say, but
didn’t.

“I swear it’s not. I haven’t told Stone or
any of his men what my intentions are.” I didn’t add that I was
going to leave him a note for later. “All I want is to see my
sister safe again.” If I didn’t see her, at least Wildman and his
men couldn’t force me to go with them. They wouldn’t risk a scene
in public. I would at least have some level of protection.

“Where and what time?” he growled.

I thought for a moment, unfamiliar with the
layout of town. Sure, we’d ridden through it on the way here, but
I’d been paying more attention to the way that the giant dildo felt
between my legs while I was curled against a way-too-hot biker. All
I knew was that I wanted the meeting to be somewhere very public,
where there was a chance that there’d be a lot of witnesses around.
It also dawned on me that if that were the case, there was a good
chance that Maddie and I would both get away.

I guess I’d hesitated too long, because
Wildman snapped, “We’ll meet at the fuckin’ post office on River
Road in exactly thirty minutes.” He hung up before I could
respond.

The post office, yeah, that was a good place.
I didn’t know where it was, but the cabby I intended calling to
come get me would. I hung up and quickly called information for a
cab, finding out that there was only one small company in town.
After being connected, I told the dispatcher that I’d meet the
driver right outside the gate on the road. Then I grabbed a piece
of paper from the pad on the desk top, and the pen lying next to
it. It didn’t take me long to scribble down a note to Stone.

After stapling the note closed so that it
would be read by no one but Stone, I went to the bar, finding Lulu,
Darby, Sissy, Rhonda, and Trudy eating breakfast in silence. They
looked absolutely disheveled and exhausted. Their hair stuck out
all over, their makeup was smeared, the little bit of clothes that
they wore were wrinkled and hanging half-off. I found myself
smiling.

“Good morning, ladies, I thought last night
was supposed to be a quiet night.”

Rhonda groaned. “It was, but not for the Dark
Menace boys.”

I frowned, glancing at Trudy, and was greeted
with a weak smile. “They always get rowdy before they deal in club
shit, and we can expect the same when they get back.”

“Something about fighting and war gets their
peckers up,” Lulu added. “Hell, Pit Bull and Bulldog fucked me for
three steady hours before they left.”

“Do any of you know where I might find
Stone?”

“Ah—”

It was then that I realized that Rita wasn’t
there. Oh, fuck, had he spent the night with her? My face must have
revealed my thoughts, because Trudy quickly said, “He’s not with
Rita, honey. She’s been with Ripper all night.”

Well,
that
was interesting,
considering what Ty had told me the day before about her not having
to sleep with any of the other men. Instant relief was followed by
questions--where
had
he spent the night? “Where are they,
the boys, now?”

“Well, some of them are still sleeping,”
Sissy responded around a mouthful of eggs. “Some of them are
working at the garage or bike shop in town, some are off doing club
business…” She left it hanging.

“We never know what that is, and when we do
we keep it to ourselves.” Lulu finished her coffee and stood up. No
one said anything about the fact that her left boob was hanging
out. “I’m going back to bed to
sleep
this time,” she
giggled.

“If you need Stone for something I think Max
is around somewhere.” Darby reached for a sausage as she yawned
behind her other hand. “As the VP he handles shit when Stone isn’t
here.”

“No, I, ah, was just curious where Stone is,
that’s all,” I stumbled, hoping that no one noticed that I was
suddenly nervous. I caught the time on the clock and realized that
I had wasted ten minutes talking with the girls. “If I leave a note
for him, will one of you make sure he gets it?”

Trudy immediately glanced up from spreading
butter on her toast, and I knew what she was thinking. Why would I
need to leave Stone a note when I wasn’t supposed to leave the
clubhouse? I prayed that she didn’t ask, because I didn’t want to
lie to her. I only knew that the cab was going to be out front at
any minute and I needed to be out there waiting for it.

“It’s just telling him that I need to talk to
him as soon as he comes back.” The reason sounded lame even to me
but I handed the stapled note out, hoping one of them would take
it.

“I’ll give it to him.” Trudy reached for it.
“Why don’t you have some breakfast with us?”

I returned her smile and reached down for a
slice of bacon. “Not that hungry this morning.” I took a deep
breath. “I think I’ll see if there’s anything light in the fridge
and then wait for Stone in our room.”

I couldn’t just walk out the front door with
them sitting there, remembering that Ty had told me that there was
another way in through the kitchen. Once I pushed through the door
I glanced around the kitchen until my gaze landed on the door. I
rushed to it, opened it, and took a step outside. Instead of facing
the street, as the front door did, I found myself facing the
garage. The bay doors were open and I could hear a variety of tools
running, but I didn’t see anyone.

I made my way toward the front of the lot and
ran the rest of the way to the street when I saw the cab pull up.
Once I was inside, I sat back and released a breath of relief.

“Please take me to the post office on River
Road,” I said.

The glance that he gave me in his rearview
mirror seemed off, but I didn’t question it. After a couple of
seconds, when I didn’t say anything else, he shrugged and took
off.

STONE

Fuck, I was tired. I couldn’t wait to get
back to the club, take a shower, and get a few hours of sleep
before I had to deal with club shit again. I’d never meant to go
out the night before, but trouble at one of Covacks’ tittie bars
had needed handling, and seemed beyond the capabilities of the two
prospects providing muscle for the night. At least they knew when
they were in over their heads. I didn’t expect the prospects to
deal with every fucking situation that came their way, but I did
expect them to show me that they had the brains to know the
difference.

The next club business would be dealing with
Wildman. Max had called earlier. Shooter and Animal had returned
with information on where to find the fucker. The Red Devils were
apparently setting up their new clubhouse in an old grain factory
not far from where the Predators clubhouse had been located.
Sources had also confirmed that Rachel’s sister was being held
there. I couldn’t wait to take care of this fucking shit and get
back to normal.

Yeah, like club life was ever normal.

Proof of that would come soon enough.

I knew as soon as Reggie and I rode through
the gates to the clubhouse that something wasn’t right. A couple of
prospects were outside arguing and pointing wildly while my VP
stood there listening, his expression grim. We pulled up next to
them and cut our engines.

“What the fuck is up?”

Max turned away from them with a gruff order.
“Get back to work.” My gut told me that I wasn’t going to like what
he was about to say. “Got a problem, Prez. Your old lady took off
again.”

Fuck me, I didn’t need this now!

“She snuck out the side door and by the time
the prospects saw her she was getting into a fuckin’ cab.” He held
out a piece of paper. “You’re not gonna like what this says.”

I snatched the paper from his hand and shook
it opened. It was obvious that it had been stapled once, but Max
had opened it. As my VP he had that right. My gaze scanned over the
contents, and the more I read the more my jaw tightened and my
anger grew. I couldn’t fucking believe that Rachel had gone against
my orders. It didn’t matter one fucking bit that she thought she
was doing what was right. It didn’t matter that she was trying to
avoid a bloody war between Dark Menace and the Red Devils. It
wasn’t her business to worry about club shit.

I was the fucking club president.

I made
every
decision about club
business, and every decision was followed,
always
.

And she’d just fucked up royally.

“Fuck!” I swore viciously, crumbling her note
in my hand. “Get as many brothers together as you can,” I snarled
at Max. “We’re riding out.” He took off, and I turned my attention
to Reggie. “You stay here, brother.”

“Fuck that, I’m going,” he barked.

I didn’t argue with him. I was seething
inside, with too many fucking emotions running around in my
head—anger, frustration, concern, and fear. Fear for Rachel, fear
that we wouldn’t get to her in time, fear that we might lose both
women. Most of all I feared what my reaction would be when I
finally had my hands on her again. If she’d been a brother or a
prospect who’d ignored my decision, the consequence would have been
swift, without feeling, and would have included a secret burial in
the mountains somewhere.

Fuck me, I knew that whatever the outcome
was, it was going to fucking hurt.

Bulldog, Ripper, Shooter, and Animal came
rushing through the front door with Max. I was relieved to see
Animal—if we had to go to the Red Devils’ clubhouse he would know
the location. They wordlessly went to their bikes, mounted, and
then they were following me through the gate onto the road.

The old post office on River Road had been
shut down years ago, after the new, bigger one had been built in
the middle of town. There’d been talk for a while that it was going
to be turned into a recreation club for kids, but the plans had
never taken root. Now it was just an abandoned building with busted
out windows, where junkies did their business and some of the
prostitutes took their johns.

As we raced full throttle down the service
road that led to it, I dreaded finding out what we were riding in
to. There would be no way to sneak up on Wildman, and the
confrontation was bound to turn bloody.
Fuck! Fuck!
Fuck!

I wanted to get my hands around Rachel’s
throat just as much as I wanted to fuck her.