Exiled (Anathema Book 2) (5 page)

Subtlety
was not a pot-bellied president, a meth-head Vet, a blonde playboy, and a walking
injection of steroids. It also wasn’t trading a woman for an IOU.

“I
don’t carry things liable to talk back. I’m not jeopardizing my business by
becoming an accomplice to kidnapping or murder.”

Or
rape.

The
word pitted my stomach. Just another reminder of what I raced to protect.

“No
one’s touching Martini,” Goliath said. “And she ain’t gonna do nothin’ I didn’t
tell her to do.”

“It’s
above board,” Sam said. “No one’s gonna hurt Martini. She’s one of us. We love
her.”

I had
heard that before. I was familiar with loyalty, but I understood betrayal
better. One was far easier than the other. What was a little insomnia and guilt
when there was money to make and pleasure to be stolen?

“All
you gotta do is give that girl a ride.” Sam offered me the money again. “One
little ride up north and drop her off. She’ll be fine.”

“No.”

“No?”

I stood
to leave.

They
didn’t like that. I exhaled my unspoken profanity as Goliath stepped in front
of the door. It was rare I had to look up to meet someone’s gaze, but Goliath
was all size, no finesse, and half the man he thought he was. He pushed me to
the table.

“Sit
down,” he said. “We ain’t asking again.”

Red
secured the laptop and hopped off the counter. He wasn’t looking for a fight,
not like the knuckle-cracking mouth-breather who got in my face. Sam sighed and
pulled a gun from under his vest. I didn’t bother reaching for mine.

“Here’s
the problem,” Sam said. “Martini has to get to Kingdom. You’re the only one who
knows we have contact with Kingdom. Why complicate this? We don’t want to bring
in anyone else, especially someone who might get disillusioned and start
talking. Do you understand, son?”

“You’re
not gonna murder me.”

“No
one would find out,” Sam said. “Anyone tell you how Red got his name?”

“No.”

“He
reds up our messes here.”

I
frowned. None of this fucking Pittsburgh MC bullshit made any damn sense.

Sam
sighed. “It means— he cleans these types of situations for us. Does a good job
too. No one would know you were here, no one would know which river we drowned
you in. Times are hard, Noir. We need our alliance with Kingdom MC, and Martini
will earn their trust for us. A man like you must realize what’s at stake.”

Yeah.
I knew plenty about broken allegiances and covert arrangements.

I
also knew Sam’s gun hadn’t been shot in years.

But
Goliath? Not many men walked around with a worn ball-peen hammer on their belt.
I had enough headaches these days, I didn’t need anyone beating my damned conscience
to a pulp.

Bluffs
were meant to be called, guns fired, and graves dug. I waited for the day when
the hail of bullets freed my guilt from my veins and ended the misery I caused.

But
that day wasn’t today.

I
had work to do. A debt to be earned and vengeance to be wrought. Every passing
hour was one less my father rotted in jail. The bribe was already in place.
He’d get out soon, and I had to be alive to see it.

He
wouldn’t be free for very long.

“Fine,”
I said. “I’ll take her.”

Sam
replaced the gun. “Good man.”

Hardly.
Nothing about me was good, least of all my intentions. The guilt coiled in my
stomach, raked with razors along my chest. The ache in my shoulder burst with a
barbed pain. I deserved it.

Trading
one life for another? That’s how monsters were created. But for Rose, for the
little kid playing in a dirty bar who grew up with filth and suffered in
silence while I paid more attention to the club than the family who needed me?

I
promised I’d do anything to avenge her innocence.

Even
if it meant hurting everyone else.

Something
didn’t add up with this deal.

I wasn’t
a member of the MC, but serving their drinks gave me a lot of perspective.
Normal bartenders listened to their patrons’ love-lives and bad days. But I
cleaned up enough injures and opened enough beers to learn more than a gash
with a property patch should have known.

I
also wasn’t an idiot.

Trading
me to Kingdom as collateral worked when something was worth the hold. Sam and
Goliath said they needed to pay for the laptop. But they earned enough money
from whatever crazy deals they made with Kingdom.

Had
they spent it already? Why were they paying for a laptop Kingdom
wanted
them to have?

What
the hell were they trading me for?

Collateral
was collected for something valuable, an item kept high on a shelf or tucked safe
and secure. But that was in the real world, a regular society where the 1% made
deals with lawyers and contracts, not blood and drugs.

They
said I wouldn’t be touched.

I
didn’t believe them.

My
stomach twisted itself into such a knot the rest of my muscles followed. My
fear got so bad it hurt. Whatever control I had over the situation was fading.
Fast.

I
checked my phone. Twenty minutes passed since Sacrilege met with my tall, dark
mystery. I tried to flirt, but Noir was a stone wall. I liked a challenge. Even
Goliath was twisted with the right pout. He wasn’t a teddy-bear, but most men
had a few stitches loose where the stuffing got ripped out. All I had to do was
pull Noir’s loosest thread and hope to God Kingdom MC had easier men to crack
than my newfound chauffeur.

The
garage’s door slammed. Red scorched the earth as he stalked to his bike. Anger
didn’t look good on him. A degree and white lab coat would, but Red turned his
back on a world where conflicts were resolved with a handshake instead of a baseball
bat and gasoline can. He slammed his helmet on his head as the engine roared
over his profanity.

“I’m
not letting this happen,” he said. “You go to Kingdom and wait for me.”

“What
am I waiting for?” I asked.

“Fuck
if I know. Sam and Goliath won’t tell me why you were traded.”

“I
told
you it was about more than a laptop.”

“Doesn’t
matter. You won’t stay there for long.”

“You’re
already ending my vacation?” I pulled my sunglasses down the bridge of my nose.
“And just as I broke out the coconut rum and planned on sunbathing.”

“That’s
the kind of attitude that will get your teeth knocked out.” He revved the bike.
The harsh strike of his gaze was enough to rattle me. I didn’t like when the
sunset blue of his eyes hardened. “Don’t trust your ride—whoever the fuck this
Noir
is. I’d rather you straddle the gas tank than wrap an arm around this guy.”

“Yeah,
he seems like a ray of sunshine.”

“Just
take the ride and let him move on. Don’t get friendly.”

“Where
are you going?” I asked it a little too quickly.

“To
find a hundred grand.”

“
What
?”

“A
hundred grand. That’s Kingdom MC’s investment in us. Guns and cash. I’m gonna
find a way to buy us out of this deal.”

“One
hundred thousand dollars…” The amount hurt my head. “What the hell are we doing
with a club that can toss that type of
investment
around? What was on
that laptop?”

“I
don’t know.”

“Find
out!”

“They
aren’t gonna tell me.”

“Where
are you getting a hundred thousand dollars?”

“Mind
your business.”

“This
is bullshit,” I said. “They can’t hide this from us.”

He
snorted. “Stay quiet. Play dumb. If they think you’re nebbin’ your nose where
it doesn’t belong, you’ll get hurt.”

“I’m
going to get hurt anyway.”

“Don’t
say that.”

“Sacrilege
is too deep in this mess. We’re both in trouble.”

Red
refused to meet my gaze. “Promise me you’ll behave and do what they say. They
shouldn’t hurt you. It’s not part of the deal.”

“Kingdom
isn’t just letting me crash on the couch,” I said. “They aren’t good men who
came across a hundred thousand dollars and decided to be equitable to their
neighbors. They’re gonna want more than collateral, Red.”

Red
handled his anger about as well as Goliath held his liquor. “So what? Want to
run?”

“Think
I should?”

He
clenched his jaw. “If you don’t show up, these guys will think we cheated them.
They’ll get angry, and then I guarantee you’ll get hurt.”

“Great.”

He
flexed his hands over the handles. “I’ll bring money as soon as I can and get
you out.”

I
didn’t tell him he probably wouldn’t make it in time. The thought chilled me,
binding me in a shiver torn between shock and self-preservation.

This
deal was more dangerous than any of us realized.

Sacrilege
didn’t have anyone with the intelligence, power, or balls to bargain with the
real devils of the world, and they never kept secrets. Our club wasn’t
complicated. Men earned their patches, fucked their women, and struggled to
find work that didn’t involve the same drugs draining their families. The men
who got killed were the ones pricking a needle on the wrong side of a high, and
it didn’t happen often. A good night was making enough money to cover gas and
the bar tab.

They
thought they could trap me in the middle of whatever sin they sold for their
souls?

Fat.
Fucking. Chance.

The
meeting ended, and the men filed from the garage. Goliath wasn’t a man for
goodbyes. He preferred exuberant, furious hellos ground within the sheets,
mostly after a club run and a couple of drinks. He swore at Noir. His
vocabulary wasn’t the most impressive, but his colorful string of words painted
a threatening picture.

Noir
ignored him and focused only on me.

I
regretted stumbling off the motorcycle. I lost my formidable seat of power, my
only defense against the man who protected his bike like it was his only
possession.

Noir
was a large man. His shadow darkened me in his strength, his brawn learned on the
streets, built and strengthened for necessity, not vanity. He dressed in riding
leathers. Head to toe. Leather jacket, gloves, belt, pants. Some men wore it to
look formidable, a declaration of their toughness and an invitation for
trouble. Noir didn’t need to threaten.

His
very presence menaced. His eyes burned an intense and furious shadow. He
searched the parking lot for threats and looked at me like a problem to be
hauled away.

I
had no idea what happened to this man to make his eyes so hard, his squared jaw
so practiced with grimace, and his body taut with unspoken violence. It might
have once enticed me. Now, I wasn’t so sure.

This
man was danger—a desperate beast lurking in the shadows of a pride he once
ruled. He regretted his every breath and coiled for a battle life hadn’t yet offered.
No road was long enough for him to outrun the chasing demons, but his bike
delivered him beyond the sins quaking in his wake.

He
was the same kind of mistake I made again and again.

Except
this time I wasn’t teasing to get on his bike. This time, I had no choice but
to greet the monster who’d command my next hundred and fifty miles. He thought
he’d be the dangerous one.

He
had no idea what he was getting us into.

My
stomach clenched as he approached. His expression hardened like steel, and the
sparks of his impatience scorched every part of me.

“Get
on the bike.”

I
couldn’t resist. I could
never
resist, as if I didn’t know
exactly
what a bitten lip and bump onto my tip-toes would do.

“But
you were so insistent earlier.” My tease thickened the air like honey. “Change
your mind?”

He
ignored me. The offered helmet was shoved into my hands. A reprimand.

“Get
on the bike. Now.”

He
fit within the seat like the Harley became an extension of him. Not how
Goliath’s ride sunk and creaked and sputtered with a bad starter and a hundred
extra pounds coiling the suspension. Not how Red punished each and every mile
he stole from the tires.

Something
forced Noir onto the road. He sat poised, like he was born on the bike, but his
jacket had no patches or emblems of home. He lurked like an exorcised ghost—no
club, no identification, no proud display of strength to the world. The un-patched
leather unsettled me as much as the weapons lining his belt.

I
slid behind him, adjusting my sunglasses if only to hide my concern. A man like
him had a home. Once. He didn’t learn to ride with such confidence without the
support of a club. So why wasn’t he there now?

He
was running. I didn’t want to imagine the crime he had committed.

This
was a bad plan. We weren’t even out of the parking lot, and already I learned
more from this man than a bottle of whiskey revealed from any other lost soul.

I
held my distance, but packing wasn’t about elegance. I couldn’t force space
between us. Riding was intimate. I had to touch him, grip his shoulders, and
lean with him. I had to trust the man delivering me as a hostage to a rival MC.

Except
this man didn’t deserve my trust.

He
also didn’t deserve Kingdom’s retaliation if I decided to bolt.

Every
part of me tightened as the bike started. Lost in a kick of dust, exhaust,
leather, and his spiced scent, I did as I was told and clung to him. He pulled
onto the street and ordered me still. I pretended like the obedience insulted
me, and I ignored how the pit of my belly pistoned just as hot as the engine he
flared.

My
hometown wasn’t big, but somehow no one in Sacrilege ever found their way out.
My father. Me. Red. We weren’t lost, only aimless and waiting for the reclaimed
time and opportunity promised to the region.

The
two red-lights on our main drag were surrounded by the shell of old brick
factories, closed up just tight enough to keep only respectable people out. We
passed more cars parked in used dealerships than actual traffic. But Jimmy’s on
the corner had good pizza. It was probably what kept three generations of my
family here.

Noir
headed for the highway. I edged closer and tucked against him, bracing against
the chill. One hard turn way too fast for the chewed up pot-holes of Pittsburgh
fame and I clung to him as well. We bumped over a rough patch. My grip
tightened on his shoulder.

“
Fuck
!”

He
jerked away. I fumbled against his back, but I balanced on rides far more risky
than his momentary wobble.

“I’m
sorry!” I rested my hand lower instead, curling over his waist. “I didn’t
mean—”

“It’s
fine.” I almost didn’t hear his mutter over the engine and wind.

“Are
you hurt?”

He
didn’t answer. Something got him bad. He rolled the arm, but his tension didn’t
fade. He was still riding. Either he was that goddamned tough, or the job paid
a hell of a good wage.

The
thought curdled everything in me—my once iron stomach rusted and eroded. This
was all happening way too fast. The deal didn’t make sense, and my silent rider
delivered me too quickly to Kingdom’s supposed throne.

It
ended now. Someone was going to tell me what the hell was happening. Something
passed in secret between Kingdom and Sacrilege that was valuable enough to
trade in flesh and shield in blood. We had a three hour trip to Lake Erie
before my fucking world ended, and I needed answers.

“Hey!”
My usual tempting softness did nothing against the howling wind of the highway.
I tugged on his jacket and raised my voice. “Can we stop somewhere?”

“No.”