Savage Sacrifice: Savage Angels MC #5 (17 page)

He walks in and stares at me, with Dane’s arms wrapped around me. “Mrs. Reynolds I need to ask you and your band members some questions about the events that happened this evening.”

“Still believe Will Van Ryken is the poster boy for truth?” I ask caustically.

“No Ma’am, and I’m sorry if I said anything to make you feel that I didn’t believe you, or you felt threatened.”

“Why the fuck would she have felt threatened?” asks Dane in a deep menacing voice.

“Reynolds, you know how it goes. I heard you two talking at the police station about Juan Cortez and his henchman Hector. I may have alluded that something could be done to you in an effort to get her to talk,” the officer replies honestly.

Dane moves toward him and I get in between them with both my hands on Dane’s chest. “You fucker, you threatened
my
wife? To get at me?”

“Yeah, I did. But not to get at you, to get at Cortez and his operation. He’s been running drugs for years. He must have a few informants within the police as he always avoids capture. When we do bust someone in his organization it’s small time, like he’s being tipped off. So, yeah, I threatened your wife, hell, I’d threaten you too if it meant getting Cortez and that poison off the streets.”

Dane looks like he could kill him and I reach up and cup his face. “Babe, look at me.” Dane lowers his eyes and looks into mine. “I wasn’t hurt, you weren’t hurt, it all worked out for the best.” I release Dane and turn around facing the officer. “I’m assuming you believe us now when we tell you it wasn’t Dane who broke Will’s arm but someone else?”

“Yeah, I do, but proving it could be difficult. We need to get Van Ryken to drop the charges against you,” says the officer.

I feel Dane wrap his arms around me, pulling me close. “How do we get him to do that?” asks Dane.

“First, I need to get a statement off each of you then I need to go to the hospital and talk to him. Shouldn’t be too hard,” replies the officer.

“Okay, how do you want to do this?” asks Dave, going into his manager role.

“Well, preferably down at the station.”

I nod. “Okay, let's get this out of the way.” I untangle myself from Dane and get up on tiptoe to kiss his mouth. “You’re coming too. I don’t want to do this alone.”

“There was never any question about me leaving you darlin’.” I wink at Dane and look at the officer. “Lead the way.”

“Wait! I have to go get Rosie, she’ll be worried. I’ll meet you all down there,” says Truth.

The officer nods at him and we all head for the door. As the officer walks away, I quietly say to Dave, “Make sure the lawyer is there when we get there. I don’t want anything getting misconstrued.”

“Great minds think alike, princess,” replies Dave with a wink.

I
’m laying in a hospital bed, morphine coursing through my veins and I feel no pain. This fucking tour has been a fuck up from the beginning. I’ve never experienced so much pain. First my arm, then the I fall where I hit my head, getting stitches, and now, some whack job shoots me in the leg. The only strange thing is, no one has been to visit me. Not my manager, the record company or even my bandmates.
Not that I really care
.

A nurse walks into my room. She’s hot, a little old for me but hot. Her boobs are almost busting out of her nurses uniform, they must be fake. I look at her name badge and it says, Ella.

“You know, your name has a lot of musical history behind it. Ella Fitzgerald was known as the First Lady of Song, her voice is sublime,” I say giving her my best smile.

“Well, my name is actually short for Stella,” she replies with a smile.

“Ahh...let me think...the only Stella I can think of associated with music is Stella McCartney and that’s only because of her dad, Paul.”

“Paul McCartney?” she asks questioningly.

“Yeah, you know, from The Beatles?”

Nothing registers on her face, no recognition for the name, obviously not a muso. “I’m not familiar with them, sorry.”

“That’s cool. Not everyone can know one of the greatest bands who ever were,” I say and she smiles at me not realizing I’ve just insulted her.

“I’m here to see if I can get you anything?”

“Anything?” I say suggestively.

Ella licks her lips. “Yeah, you know water, food,” she bends over giving me a look down her blouse as she tucks in my sheet, “anything.”

“Do you know who I am?” I smirk.

“Well, everyone knows who you are Mr. Van Ryken.”

“What if you come back later and you can check my vitals...in all the right places.”

There’s a knock at the door and it opens revealing two police officers. Both have their badges hanging out of their suit pockets. One is in his fifties, heavy set, wearing glasses and the other is about thirty, slim and very tanned.

Ella looks at me and smiles. “I might just do that.” She winks and leaves the room quickly.

“Mr. Van Ryken, how’re you feeling?” asks one of the officers.

“I’m good, thank the Lord for morphine.”

“Are you up to answering a few questions?”

“Sure, hit me with it,” I say grinning.

“I’m Detective White and this is Detective Wilson. How’s the arm?”

“At the moment if feels fine.”

“Mr. Van Ryken, I should tell you that a man has come forward, a Hector Santiago and he claims he broke your arm,
not
Dane Reynolds.”

“Yeah, that’s true, I was just pissed off that Dane didn’t help. He let that fucker break my arm.”

Detective White looks at me over the top of his glasses. “So, you admit you gave false testimony to the police regarding Mr. Reynolds?”

“Yeah, so what? He’s a fucking criminal anyway,” I say dismissively.

The other Detective steps forward. “It would appear he’s not the only one.”

I look at him quizzically and then remember why I’m even in the hospital. “You know I don’t feel well. Think I need to sleep some more. You lot can come back later,
much
later.”

Detective White smiles at me. “Just so we are clear, you admit that Dane Reynolds did not, in fact, break your arm or threaten to kill you?”

“No, he didn’t, he just didn’t stop the fucker.”

“Thank you, Mr. Van Ryken. We will be back when you’re feeling
better
,” he says as he glances at his partner and leaves the room.

Fuck
. I’ve been so out of it that I forgot about the fucker who shot me and got me to admit to what I did to his sister. Surely, it can’t be used as evidence as my life was being threatened? I would have said anything. Even if it was the truth, there’s no way they can prove it, her body was cremated, we made sure of that.

W
e’re sitting in a large room drinking God awful coffee, waiting for all of The Grinders to be interviewed by the police. I’m holding Kat’s hand, stroking my thumb across the top of her knuckles, she’s resting her head against my arm.  She was the first to go in and they let me sit with her while she gave her statement. The guy who shot Van Ryken and killed himself, spoke to her moments before it all happened. Kat spoke highly of him and sounded genuinely shocked that he would do such a thing.

“You’re very quiet, darlin’, you all right?”

“Just playing it over in my head. I wish I’d known what Tommy was going to do, I could have stopped him,” Kat says sadly.

“Sounds like he was on a mission, I doubt anything you said to him would have made a difference. I’m grateful he didn’t hurt you.”

Kat looks up at me and shakes her head. “He wouldn’t have hurt me. He only wanted justice for his sister.”

I reach out and touch her face, pulling her closer to me. “I’m still grateful you’re okay.” I kiss her forehead and then her soft lips.

“Cut it out you two! I’m done, and I’m the last. Time to go,” teases Truth. It’s interesting to see him with Rosie. He’s very protective and keeps her close to him. I knew the moment he went on a date with her that he was hooked. Truth teases everyone with his flamboyant bullshit,
my brawny biker, my groovy guitarist,
but with Rosie, there’s no teasing, she’s just Rosie.

An older man with glasses walks into the room, I’m guessing he’s a detective but I’m not sure.

“Dane Reynolds?” he asks.

I stand. “That would be me.”

The lawyer that Dave hired moves to stand next to me. “I’m Mr. Reynolds attorney, is there a problem Officer?”

“Detective. Detective White. Just wanted to let you know that Will Van Ryken has dropped the assault charges against you.” Kat stands and wraps her arms around my middle, squeezing me tight. The detective looks at my wife beaming at me and continues with a smile on his face, “One of our officers convinced us to bluff him into believing that a Hector Santiago came forward and broke his arm, he admitted that he was pissed off that you didn’t try to stop it and I quote, ‘the fucker who broke my arm.’”

“I was too far away to help.” All the tension in my gut eases, I’m so relieved that the charges have been dropped. “Are you going to charge him for falsely accusing me?”

“Mr. Reynolds, that man is in a world of trouble. Not only for what he did to you but we are re-opening the case surrounding Cherry Shephard.”

Truth looks at the detective. “I wouldn’t be surprised if more women come forward, bet it’s not the first time he’s done it. The guy believes in his own self-promotion. He actually believes he’s a Rock God.”

“Don’t you all think that?” asks the detective with a smirk.

“Well, some of us
are
Rock Gods, but there are plenty of pretenders out there,” muses Truth, flipping his hair out of the way.

The detective laughs and so do I, trust Truth to make light of a bad situation. Truth winks at Rosie, grabs her hand and walks toward the exit. We all follow him out of the building and into a waiting limousine.

“Now what?” asks Truth.

“We’re off to Tulsa next, then Louisville then Nashville. You are all booked up for the next ten weeks. The tour finishes in Sydney Australia. I need to get on the phone and make sure Dark Ink is ready to step in, and make sure all the changes have been made to the posters etc. You all need to take it easy and look after yourselves,” replies Dave as he gets his cell out of his jacket.

I look at Kat. “Ten more weeks? Do you get time off?” I ask disappointment lacing my voice.

“A day here or there but not really. I’m sorry honey. You could come with us?”

There’s no way I can be away for that long. “How long are you in the states for?”

“They’ll be touring here for two more weeks then Puerto Rico, Taiwan, Thailand, Japan–“

“Okay, Dave, I get it,” I say in frustration. “What if I stick with you for the next two weeks and then you come home to me and stay at home for a while?”

Kat cups my face in her hands. “I’d like that, honey.” Then she kisses me lightly on the lips, as she pulls away, I think how lucky I am that she still loves me and wants us to work.

I
t’s been three weeks since I got shot. The bullet tore through an artery and damaged some ligaments in my leg. It took two surgeries to fix it and another month of physio before I can walk without crutches or a cane. The press are like vultures, they’re wanting a statement. My band are the only people I let through the door, and I’ve employed security to keep everyone out. The sexy nurse has made my stay in this God awful place bearable. Ella is really good at head. She’s had a lot of work done, not just her tits. I think she’s older than she lets on and she wears contacts too. Don’t get me wrong I like a woman who takes care of herself but it feels like she’s trying too hard and she keeps saying she is on the
path of self-fulfillment
, whatever the fuck that is.

The record company also dumped us from their label stating moral grounds, that’s a fucking joke. The executive I had under my thumb told me that not even God himself could help me now and told me to use what I had against , as no one would believe me now. I’ve employed a lawyer to help with the police investigation, but over the years, we’ve roofied more than one fan. Some we settled out of court, but some just disappeared and we never heard from them again. Well, now they’re all coming out of the woodwork. There’s talk of a class action civil suit against us. I was right, they can’t get me for doing Cherry, as there’s no body and we paid the coroner a lot of money to stay quiet, so much so that they can’t find him. Rumour has it, he left town straight after I got shot, to a country with no extradition.

There’s a knock at the door and a security guard sticks his head in. “There’s a Dane Reynolds here to see you. Do you want me to let him in?”

I sigh and say, “Yeah, but I want two of you in here with me.”

He opens the door wider and walks in with Dane right behind him.

“Glad to see you’re feeling better Will,” says Dane with a smug look on his face.

“What do you want?”

“Just to see how you are faring. Looks like you are in a world of trouble,” gloats Dane.

“You came all this way to tell me what I already know?”

“No, I’m here on business and thought, two birds one stone,” Dane looks at the security guards. “I also ran into Juan and Hector, they aren’t happy that they haven’t been paid, not happy at all.”

I feel physically ill. Juan Cortez is not a man you want to be on the wrong side of. I’m trying to liquidate my assets to pay him and the mounting court costs, but it’s taking time, and he doesn’t like to be kept waiting.

“If you see Juan, you tell him I’ve got it fucking handled. He’ll get his money,” I snarl at Dane.

The door to my room opens and in walks my Ella, in her way too tight nurses uniform. She takes one look at Dane and freezes.

“Don’t mind him, he was just leaving,” I say to her.

Dane turns and looks at Ella. “Do I know you?” She shakes her head and looks scared. “You look familiar.”

“Yeah, whatever, Reynolds, out. Ella’s works here at the hospital. She actually likes me and she does a great job of making sure I’m comfortable. Ella, could you find me another pillow please?” Ella nods and leaves the room. Dane stands there staring at the closed door. “Time for you to go, unless you have something else you want to tell me? Something
else
I don’t want to hear?”