Dark Menace MC: Stone (19 page)

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RACHEL

As the cab came to a stop I glanced around at
my surroundings. This couldn’t be right. The place was abandoned,
rundown, and looked like it might be being used for illegal
activities. The windows were broken out in the small, concrete
structure, the door looked like it had been busted open and hung
crooked on its hinges. Then I noticed the faded writing above the
door-- ‘United States Post Office’.

Ohmygod, I’d been set up!

Just as I was about to order the cab driver
to leave, several bikers appeared in front of us, blocking our
way.

“Shit,” I heard him mutter in a low tone, and
then he frightened me by reaching for something beneath his
seat.

My heart nearly jumped from my chest when I
saw his gun. “Can we back up?” I questioned in a frightened tone.
He shook his head, and I glanced behind us to see that there were
also a couple of bikers there.

Oh, God. I felt sick, and then I saw Maddie.
She was sitting behind a biker. I didn’t even realize that it was
Wildman until he dismounted, dragging my sister with him by a chain
around her neck. God, the years hadn’t been good to him. His hair
was gray now, and pulled back into a man bun. He had more tattoos
than I’d remembered him having, black lines and evil looking
images. He also had small gauges in his ears, and piercings in his
eye brow and lip. His skin was dark and weathered and his face was
covered with wrinkles. Ten years had aged him twenty.

I could see his eyes and expression clearly,
and fear chilled my blood at the way he was staring at me. This man
scared the shit out of me, and he knew it. It occurred to me that
since he’d brought Maddie that maybe he was going to let her go
after all. I knew that was wishful thinking, because the Wildman I
remembered never did what you thought he was going to do. He liked
to dangle the carrot. He was evil through and through, and I knew
what the smile on his face meant. He’d won.

Maddie stood beside him, looking dazed and
frightened. Her clothes were dirty and torn, her hair a mess. She’d
been roughed up, but it didn’t appear as if they’d done any
physical damage to her. That was surprising in itself. I saw her
start to sway before Wildman gave a violent yank on the chain,
straightening her roughly. I watched her hands fly up to her throat
as if to adjust the chain.

“Get out of the car,” he ordered in his raspy
voice. I reluctantly opened the door but stood next to it. I could
feel his gaze running over me, raping me with his eyes. “My girl,
all grown up,” he sneered.

I knew I wasn’t in any position to question
him, but part of me still wanted to believe that he intended to
release Maddie and take me in her place. “Are you going to keep
your word and release my sister?”

His laughter produced chuckles amongst his
men, and there were low murmurs that I couldn’t make out. “You
don’t trust me? We don’t need another skank,” he said cruelly,
releasing Maddie with a rough push in my direction. “Especially one
with no fucking meat on her bones.”

I couldn’t believe he’d released her. As
Maddie wobbled toward me our eyes met and clung, and it was then
that I realized that she was high. She wasn’t really looking at me,
but through me. I glared at Wildman. “You bastard, you’ve drugged
her!” I grabbed her when she was close enough, and she tumbled
against me, moaning like a zombie.

He laughed without humor. “You might say
there were some things she was opposed to. Didn’t want her to hurt
herself, so we gave her a little blow.” That comment brought more
laughter from his men, and made me wonder if Maddie had lied to me
about being raped.

I was seething inside, trembling with
emotion. “You’re a sick, evil . . .” I couldn’t think of a nasty
enough word that described how I felt.

“Careful, darlin’.” His expression had turned
serious now. “That’s not the way to be talkin’ to your old man in
front of his brothers.”

The threat was there. And for a panicked
moment I thought about pushing Maddie into the taxi, climbing in
behind her, and ordering the cab driver to mow the bikers down and
get us the hell out of there. Until now he’d remained motionless
behind the wheel, just watching what was going down. The gun was
still in his hand, and I wondered if I managed to get it, would I
be able to fire it at someone? I’d never shot a gun before, but how
hard could it be?

“Come here, little girl. I kept my end of the
deal, now come to daddy.”

My insides twisted at the way that he said
‘daddy’. I turned to assist Maddie into the cab when a shot rang
out. At first I wasn’t sure what I was hearing until I glanced up
to see the cab driver’s head hanging back off his shoulders, blood
and brain matter splattered everywhere. I screamed and stood up,
leaving Maddie slumped in the back seat. My gaze flew to Wildman,
and I knew then that he had no intention of letting either one of
us leave. We were both his captives now.

Oh, God, I’d fucked up so bad. I wanted to
throw up. How could I have ever thought that I’d be able to deal
with a monster like him? Maddie and I were probably both dead now.
At least it was something to hope for.

And then I remembered the gun.

Wildman began to walk toward me, and I knew
that I couldn’t let him touch me. I leaned back into the car with
the thought of reaching over the seat for the gun when all hell
broke loose. Suddenly there was a rumbling sound of other
motorcycles riding in, and gun-fire erupted all around us. I saw
enough to know that it was Stone and his men before one of the cab
windows was shot out. Screaming again, I pulled the door closed
behind me and pulled Maddie down onto the floor with me.

For the first time I was thankful that Maddie
had been drugged. She had no idea what was going on around us, and
lay still on the floor, just whimpering. I, on the other hand,
jumped and cringed every time the car was jostled. It sounded like
there was a war going on outside, as if everyone was shooting at
the same time. I could hear loud hollering and shouting, but
couldn’t tell which side they were coming from. Chaos seemed to be
everywhere. I could also hear the sound of motorcycles revving up
and retreating.

The entire thing only lasted about five
minutes, but it was the longest, loudest five minutes of my life.
Gradually the chaos died down, the shooting stopped, and I could
hear the murmur of voices coming close to the car. I was too afraid
to move, could barely breathe, and suddenly the loudness in my ears
was the sound of my own heart. The door was abruptly opened. I held
my breath and reluctantly turned to see who was standing there.

Stone!

Thank, God! I jumped up from my position on
top of Maddie, overwhelmed by the relief I felt at seeing him.
Tears sprang to my eyes as I hugged him to me tightly. “God, Stone,
I’m so glad to see you. Thank you for coming.”

I knew immediately that something was wrong.
His arms just hung at his sides, not returning my embrace, and then
his hands curled around my upper arms and he pulled me away from
his taut body. I slowly raised my watery gaze to his, afraid of
what I was going to see. Of course he was angry, I should have
expected that after sneaking away from the clubhouse again,
and
disobeying his explicit orders not to get involved. But
what I hadn’t expected to see was the cold, angry indifference on
his chiseled face, as if he felt absolutely nothing.

He doesn’t care.

“Did you doubt that I wouldn’t come for you?”
His voice was just as bitter, matching the blankness in his dark
eyes. “Forget I asked. It’s clear that you don’t trust me.”

I stepped back, stunned, unable to comprehend
what was happening. I knew that I’d caused his reaction, but he was
wrong. So wrong! I did trust him. “Stone, I’m sor—” my voice
trailed off. I stopped when his gaze drifted to something behind
me. He did a chin lift.

“Animal didn’t make it.”

I recognized Reggie’s voice, and I swung
around with a gasp. Our eyes met briefly before he returned his
gaze to Stone’s. Beyond Reggie lay Animal’s lifeless body, the
bullet hole clearly visible in his chest right over his heart. The
tears in my eyes spilled over for the senseless loss. He was young,
around my age. By the time I turned back to Stone the tears were
falling down my cheek.

“That’s on you,” he said coldly. Before I
could make sense of what he was saying, he added in the same dead
tone, “Take her and Maddie back to the clubhouse on the bikes.
Bulldog and Ripper, you take care of clean-up.”

As I stood there in speechless disbelief,
Stone walked to his bike and mounted. For the first time it hit me
that I wasn’t going with him. He started his bike and roared away
without a backward glance. I met Reggie’s gaze, seeing the censure
in his eyes.

“I screwed up,” I said quietly. The enormity
of what I’d done finally hitting me. My intentions had been good,
but the outcome had been the same thing I’d been trying to
prevent.

Max came over and joined us. “Yeah, you did,
babe,” he replied, hearing my comment.

“Okay, let’s get your sister out of the cab
and onto a brother’s bike.” Reggie reached in for Maddie. I was
going to help him but he had her in his arms and out of the car
before I knew it.

“I’ll take her on my bike,” he said, “You go
with Max.”

As I followed Max to his bike I scanned the
bodies littering the ground. None of them were Wildman. His bike
must have been one of the ones I’d heard leaving during the
shooting.

“The fucker got lucky again,” Max said,
guessing what I was searching for.

He climbed onto his bike and I got on behind
him. It felt strange wrapping my arms around someone other than
Stone. I tried not to think about what waited for me back at the
clubhouse, wondering if it would be another session with Ripper.
Instead, I tried to focus on being happy that Maddie had been
rescued and that neither of us was in Wildman’s clutches. She was
riding with Reggie in front of us. I was worried that she hadn’t
said a word during the whole ordeal. Maybe a shower and some sleep
would knock her out of her stupor.

The closer we got to the club, the more
nervous I began to feel. I’d never seen Stone like that before. It
was as if he’d flipped off a switch. He’d been closed off, like a
stranger. It had frightened me when the only response I’d got out
of him had been almost robotic-like. Although he’d claimed me in
front of his club, he’d never really made a commitment to me. In
actions, perhaps, but in words, definitely not. Something told me
that even if he had, after today, our relationship was going to be
very different.

Max maneuvered his bike backwards into a spot
against the building of the club. Once he switched the engine off I
dismounted. My gaze went to Stone’s bike. The four of us walked
into the clubhouse together, stopping in the bar when we saw Stone
standing at it with a drink in his hand. Rita was next to him, but
he seemed to be ignoring her. I recognized a man who was deep in
thought when I saw one. The room was full of his brothers and the
club’s sweetbutts, but they didn’t approach him. Instead, they
looked at their president with unease.

He swallowed the contents in his glass and
held it up to Ty, indicating that he wanted a refill. “Take Maddie
to one of the vacant rooms and put her to bed. She can sleep off
whatever shit she’s on.”

I wordlessly watched Reggie pick her up and
carry her down the hallway until they disappeared. I wanted to go
with her, but instinct warned me to stay put.

“Stone, I’m sorry.” I knew that I had to try
to make him understand. A muscle twitched in his clenched jaw, but
he didn’t look at me. “I, I—” The words wouldn’t come. The
reasoning that had once been so clear to me suddenly seemed very
inadequate.
Stupid!

I glanced at Rita. The look on her sneering
face was triumphant. I watched her hands, with their claw-like
nails, wrap around Stone’s muscular bicep. She rubbed it in further
by rubbing against Stone like a bitch in heat. Had I pushed him
back into her bed? She certainly seemed to think so.

“Stone—”

He slammed his glass down on the bar and
turned to me. You could have heard a pin drop after that. I held my
breath, tears burning once again in my eyes. For what seemed like a
thousand minutes his burning gaze held me captive, bars that were
solid and impregnable, and left me feeling cold. I searched his
eyes for the man that I loved, but only saw the ruthless leader of
a biker club.

When he finally, spoke my heart broke into a
million pieces.

“I can’t be with someone who doesn’t fuckin’
trust me to take care of her and her family.”

“Stone—”

“I told you we would get Maddie back,” he
continued, as if I hadn’t tried to speak. “I told you to stay the
fuck out of it. If you were a prospect or a brother you’d be dead
right now, because I won’t tolerate someone going above my
decisions and putting the club at risk.”

“I’m sorry, Stone.” God, how many times would
I have to say it before he believed me? I tried to ignore the smirk
on Rita’s face, but it was damned hard to do when she was right
there next to him. “It wasn’t about going against your orders or
not trusting you, I wanted to avoid bloodshed. I know Wildman and
thought…” Thought what? That I could outsmart him? That I was
strong enough and smart enough to go up against a monster and he’d
just roll over and do what I’d asked?
God, I’m such a fool!
I wanted to say so much more, but the words stuck in my throat.

“Your impatience cost us a brother.”

I caught my breath at the icy reality of his
words, the tears now falling freely down my cheeks. His words cut
like a knife. He was right. Animal would still be alive if it
hadn’t been for me.