The Bad Boys of Summer (75 page)

He looked over at the Mexicans. "The drugs stay with us. I think you can see I mean business. I speak for the president of the club, Dax is a nobody. He won't be VP for long."

Troy was laughing on the floor as he spit out more blood. "You're insane if you think the Triad won't kill you for this," he said.

"They don't want a war with us over this, I'm sure," Guts said. He was turning back and forth now, but careful to make sure that he kept his hostage between himself and the other gangs. "If I let their friend go, no one got hurt. If they come after me, the whole MC gets involved. We have other MCs we're friendly with, maybe they get involved too. We both lose lots of guys on both sides. And for what?"

A sudden shot rang out, startling Madison as she reached up to cover her ears instinctively. Everything seemed to move in slow motion for her. She saw all of the guns start to spin around, pointing at Dax. With wide eyes she stared at him standing only a few feet away, closer than he had been when she last looked at him. He was holding his gun out, it's barrel still smoking.

All of a sudden Guts dropped to his knees, his hands limp at his sides as the gun he had been holding slipped through his fingers onto the ground. Once his knees hit the ground his body fell to the side toward Madison. It wasn't until his head hit the floor that she saw the big gaping hole in the side of it.

After the loudness of the gunshot, the sudden silence seemed to fill the room in its place. Dax dropped his gun first, and then slowly so did everyone else.

The man that Guts had been holding was covered in blood, but otherwise seemed unhurt. He just stood there, dripping.

"
M
adison
, can you go get some towels from the Champagne room," Dax said quietly. She nodded numbly, running to the private back room and quickly finding a fresh pile of towels that the girls used for a variety of purposes. She rushed back out and handed some of them to the bloody Triad member. She kept a couple back herself and helped him by wiping down his back. She wiped up blood and other bits of matter, the origin of which she didn't really want to think about. She deliberately tried to keep her mind blank, not thinking about what she had just seen. She felt like if she concentrated on anything other than just wiping this man down, she would throw up.

Dane had helped Troy to his feet, but then walked him over to a corner and sat him down, telling him to stay put until they were done. She was considered giving him one of the towels as his face was still covered in his own blood, but then she remembered the deal he had tried to strike with Guts and the Prez and decided he could go fuck himself.

"Guys, I'm sorry about this. This situation is fucked up," Dax said. "I know you probably both have some misgivings about this deal now..."

The Mexicans were talking quickly between themselves in Spanish, and the Triad were discussing something in Mandarin. They both stopped at almost the same time.

One of the Chinese men spoke up first. "You did the right thing. We respect that you killed one of your brothers to save one of ours. I think we both know he was right," he pointed quickly at Troy across the room. "This would have turned into a war, and you avoided that. We are still ready to move forward with this deal if they are." Now he indicated to the Mexicans.

"Hell yeah," one of the drug lords nodded. "This MC is crazy. We'll be glad to start working with you guys instead." He had a smile on his face, but Madison had a feeling there was some truth in what he was saying.

"The promise that Guts spoke of," Dax said. "That dies with him as well. This girl is my ol' lady, she isn't going anywhere."

The Mexicans both nodded.

Dax turned to Madison. "Go get yourself a drink. We'll be out in a few mins. Dane," he turned to his Sergeant-at-Arms, "I think I can handle things from here. Can you take Troy out of here and keep an eye on him and Madison until we're done?"

"Sure thing, Veep."

Dax shook his head and rolled his eyes. "And call someone to take care of this. At least there was no one to call the cops this time. I can't imagine what we'd have to pay to keep another one of these quiet. This place will start to get a bad rep."

Dane laughed and turned, putting his hand on Madison's shoulder as he guided her around the pooling blood. He stopped in front of Troy and jerked his head. The beat up biker nodded grimly, getting up and shuffling out of the room ahead of them.

"Shit, Trish!" Madison said when they got out to the bar area. She quickly filled Dane in on what had happened at the club. He grabbed his cell phone and made a quick phone call, walking away as he did but keeping his eyes on her and Troy to make sure he didn't try anything.

Troy sat on a bar stool after reaching over and grabbing a bottle of scotch. He opened it and started drinking it straight.

Madison sat down a couple of stools away and watched him closely until Dane walked back. "It's taken care of. I got a hold of Lurch, he had just gotten back to the club. He and Thunder busted into Dax's office. Trish was fine. They have the Prez still in there, waiting for us to get back."

Madison breathed a sigh of relief. She didn't know what she would have done if anything had happened to Trish. She already felt responsible for so much of this, even though logically she knew that it wasn't her fault.

She didn't end up leaving with Dax for a couple more hours, even though his business with the two other gangs was done in less than half that time. As soon as the agreement details were ironed out, the Mexicans and the Chinese left, and he sent Dane out to escort Troy back to the clubhouse and back to Trish. Madison stayed with him while he waited around for the cleanup crew to come and take care of Guts. He supervised that for a while, and then they finally made their way back to the club.

It was already past 8 PM when they pulled into the compound, so Madison was surprised to see the grounds covered in bikes. She wondered if there was a party going on or something. What bad timing that would be. Hopefully they wouldn't stay here long. She couldn't wait to get out and back to Dax's apartment. She was exhausted. Emotionally and physically.

When they walked through the door, the place was packed with bikers and a lot of their girlfriends. Everyone was talking loudly to each other, some in smaller groups but a much larger one was formed in the center. As soon as people started noticing that they had arrived, the crowd in the center began to part and Madison was relieved to see Trish and Dane at the center of it.

"Trish!" she said, running towards the girl. Trish's eyes lit up as she saw Madison and she opened her arms, taking the girl into a big hug as soon as she was within reach. Dax followed closely behind her, putting his hand on Trish's back and giving it a rub.

"Glad to see you're okay. He didn't touch you, did he?"

Trish shook her head. I think he wanted to, but he knew what would happen when you guys got back. Although I think he expected a different outcome. He mentioned that you'd probably be stripped of your patch by the time the night ended."

"I still might be," he muttered.

Madison knew what he was referring to. He had killed one of their own, after all. And although he could try to keep it a secret, there were a lot of people that knew, including Troy. It wouldn't stay secret for long.

"What's going on?" he asked Dane.

"Word got out about their being a coup when people found out that Thunder and Lurch were holding the Prez in your office. Everyone started coming back here and taking sides.

"How does it look?"

"Better since I started telling them what actually happened. But they were all just waiting for you. A meeting has been called. Things have to be decided. A few guys are questioning Troy right now."

"Will he tell the truth?"

"We made sure the guys questioning are pretty persuasive."

Dax nodded grimly, and Madison didn't even want to ask what that meant.

A few minutes later the meeting was called and the men all filed out. She kissed Dax, squeezing his hand in support.

"He'll be fine, won't he?" She asked Trish once all the men had left.

"I'm sure," she said. But something in her voice made Madison question her conviction.

They sat quietly, holding each other's hand as they waited. Time ticked by, minutes turned into an hour, then longer. "What the hell is taking so long?"

"I guess they have to go over everything that happened. Hear everyone's side of it, and then decide what to do. I don't know that this has ever happened before. The president of the club pretty much took a member's girlfriend hostage, promised his VPs girlfriend to another member, and one of his self imposed deputies tried to ruin plans that the club had all voted on, under his direction."

"And what about Dax? He killed Guts, another club member. Has that happened before?"

"Umm, well, yes, I think that has in the past."

"And how did that turn out?"

Trish just patted her hand gently. "This time is different..."

It was almost another half an hour before the doors finally opened and the men started streaming out. There was a lot of talking at once, but no one seemed exceptionally jovial. Her heart sank as she scanned the crowd for any sign of Dax. Her and Trish stood up, making their way into the crowd.

Thunder and Lurch then appeared, and between them was the Prez and Troy. They looked different though. Madison quickly realized it was because neither of them were wearing their leather Desperados jackets.

The other bikers stood quietly in the room, forming two lines leading up to the door. Lurch and Thunder walked the men to the door and then opened it. Troy looked back at everyone, as if he was going to say something, and then just turned around and left right behind the bigger biker ahead of him.

When Madison looked back along the line, she finally saw Dane and Dax standing at the other end of it, watching the president and Troy get escorted out. When the front door closed, the noise erupted again, this time the voices were more excited and there was some laughter. Trish and Madison pushed their way through the crowd and threw their arms around their respective men.

"What happened?" Madison asked.

"We told them what happened and Troy filled in some of the rest, after some convincing. Apparently, after our meeting with the Triad this morning, he went and told the Prez and Guts all about it. The two of them told him that they would kill that deal and make sure to blame me. They would use that to come back to the club and say I'd been sabotaging the deals and try to get me voted out of the VP position.

Troy's angle was that once I was no longer VP, you would be fair game for being passed around the club and he wanted first crack. He said he was cheated out of it the first time around because he met you when I did and only got a blow job, and then I got promoted before he could have a go. Honestly, he seemed a bit obsessed with you. I mean, you suck a good dick but you must have done something special to him."

Madison blushed, but Dax just put his arm around her, giving her a squeeze.

"Anyway, when Troy realized that the plan involved pimping you out to the Mexicans, he realized that he'd probably never get his chance with you after all and felt cheated again. Something snapped in him and he attacked Guts, as you saw. Anyway, once they heard all of that, the club was quick to strip both of them of their memberships and send them packing."

"What about you? Are there any repercussions to you killing Guts?"

"Well, I guess you could say that..."

Madison's heart started to pound. "Oh no, what are they going to do?"

"Well, I'm not VP anymore."

She gasped. "Really? They stripped you of your rank? I'm so sorry baby! But I guess if that's all they did, it could have been worse. Who is VP now?"

"You're standing next to him," he said.

Dane was smiling ear to ear and Trish's head snapped around to look at his jacket where the VP patch was fastened. "Oh my god baby! I didn't even notice!" She swung her arms around his neck, giving him a big hug.

"Yes, looks like the club has a new Veep," Dax said with a smile. "You know what? I am actually starting to like the sound of that nickname. I think I will start using it after all."

"Congratulations Dane," Madison said, ignoring the teasing Dax was giving to his friend. "You'll make a wonderful VP," she said.

"Depends," he said. "The asshole they made president can be a real dick to work with."

"Oh no," she said. "What is it with this club and picking bad presidents? Who is it?" Her mind raced to think of some of the guys she would least like to see elevated to the highest rank in the club. Luckily the worst of them were dead or expelled.

"You're standing next to him," Dane said with a big smile.

"What?" Madison was confused. Suddenly Trish's eyes lit up and she grabbed Madison's chin, turning it until she was facing Dax's jacket. The president's patch was firmly attached and, like her friend, she hadn't even noticed.

"Holy hell!" she said. She threw her arms around Dax and kissed him hard on the lips. "Are you kidding me? And here I was thinking they were going to expel or kill you or something terrible!"

"Luckily we have some brains left in this club," Dane said. "They realized that after what Guts had done, the only move left was to put him down in front of the Triad. Otherwise they would have come after us all. As tough as we can be, that wouldn't have ended well. This place would've been burned to the ground and everyone in it would have been just a red splatter on the pavement. He saved the club, and everyone in it."

"My hero," she said, batting her eyelashes at Dax in a teasing way.

"Come on," Dax said, grabbing her by the wrist and leading her out of the room towards the offices in the back. "We have a new office to break in, and I've never fucked a first lady before."