The Devil in Her Soul (Heartless Devils Motorcycle Club Book 3) (11 page)

It took her a moment of searching, but she finally found the linen closet and gathered four pale yellow towels and hurried downstairs with them, but not before she had relieved herself. When she arrived, the men already had the body on a tarp.

“Why don’t you wait in the garage,” Asher suggested as he took the towels from Jenny.

“No,” she whispered. “No, I will see this through.” Her bravado didn’t prevent her from turning her back to the body as the men bent and removed the bag, wrapping the towels around the head to contain the blood.

“You next, asshole,” Chains said as he turned toward Mikio.

“No!” the younger Hamasaki screamed. He lunged at Chains but the burly biker clubbed him hard in the face with the gun. Mikio went to the floor in a heap.

“Goddamn it,” Chains swore. “Now we have to clean up the blood
and
I have to drag his ass out there, too. The stupid fucker. Why did he have to make everything so hard?”

Jenny watched as Chains bent to pick up the unconscious man when movement out of the corner of her eye caught her attention.

“Kenny—” she screamed, trying to warn the man, but it was too late. Yoshiko had a knife in her hand from the block on the counter and she drove it deep into Kenny’s back.

Kenny bellowed in pain and went to the floor like a puppet with its string cut. Yoshiko turned to run, but made it only a step before Asher’s gun burped and she fell hard into the counter and then slid down, her eyes wide in pain and shock. Asher took two quick steps toward her and fired another bullet directly into her head.

“Mother fuck!” Chains breathed, dropping Hamasaki and moving toward Kenny. “Hang on, man!” he said as he knelt beside the fallen man.

Jenny couldn’t believe what had happened and she dropped to her knees beside Kenny, taking his hand in her own. “I’m sorry! I’m so sorry!” she sobbed.

“I’m sorry,” he grunted against the pain. “I’ve fucked this all up.”

“No, it’s all good, man,” Chains said, pressing one of the towels into the bleeding wound.

“I can’t feel my legs,” Kenny panted.

“Chains! Finish it,” Asher ordered as he pulled his phone and dialed.

“What about Kenny?” Chains asked.

“Jenny and I’ve got him. We need to finish this shit! Hurry!”

Chains nodded and gently laid Kenny back.

“John! Asher! We’re fucked! Kenny is down and we need some help cleaning up. Send Gator, Jack, and someone to get Kenny to the hospital. It’s bad John, real bad.”

“What happened?”

“Kenny’s been knifed, and I had to shoot someone in the house. We’ve got blood to clean up, and some painting to do. Make it fast, Boss.”

“On it,” John said then hung up.

Asher heard the muffled pop of Chains’ gun and he turned to watch as biker started pulling the man back into the house, before turning back to Jenny.

“Jenny! Go upstairs and make the beds. Chains will bring the luggage up. Unpack it and put everything away. Can you do that?”

Jenny nodded but didn’t release Kenny’s hand. “What about Kenny?”

“Go,” Kenny gasped, pulling feebly at his hand. “I’ll be okay.”

The Devils spent the next several hours putting right what had gone wrong. While Kenny was rushed to the hospital, Chains and Asher wrapped the three bodies in the tarps and loaded them into the Range Rover. While Chains disposed of the bodies, Asher, Gator, Jack, and Jenny scrubbed the area with a strong concentration of bleach where Yoshiko had been killed. There were two holes in the wall where the bullets had passed through Yoshiko’s body, holes covered with the spackling paste that Gator brought after the bullets were dug out of the studs behind the wall.

While the men worked on the wall, Jenny sifted through the planters until she found the two bullets buried in the dirt. She was surprised to find them so near the surface, but was thankful that it made her job easier.

Slightly more than an hour after he left, Chains returned with the Range Rover. The inside of was thoroughly wiped down to remove any trace of his presence in the car, and the back was carefully inspected for any signs that would indicate its grisly cargo.

The sun was beginning to light the horizon when five more Devils arrived, loaded down with painting supplies. With seven men working on it, the walls of the kitchen were repainted in less than an hour. The color was slightly different from what the kitchen was originally, but by the time the job was done, there was no way to tell anything had happened.

“Let’s get the fuck out of here,” Asher said, flipping off the lights in the kitchen. He, Chains, and Jenny has stayed behind to look things over one more time, to make sure they hadn’t missed anything. He hadn’t liked using the lights, but they didn’t have any choice while they were cleaning and painting. The entire house reeked of paint and bleach, but that would fade in a day or two as the air conditioning circulated the air in the house.

“It’s over,” Asher murmured as he started the Tahoe.

“Thank God,” Jenny whispered.

“We need to stop and check on Kenny,” Chains said from the back.

“That’s where we’re headed, brother,” Asher said as the SUV surged away from the curb.

“Jenny,” Chains said from the back, his hand touching her shoulder. “You did good back there. Real good.”

Jenny patted Chains on the hand. She would never like him after he had slapped her, but she took his compliment as he meant it. “Thank you, Chains.”

They rode in silence, each lost in his or her thoughts until they arrived at North Shores Medical Center. It had been three hours since Kenny had been whisked away, but he was still in the emergency suite.

“How is he?” Asher asked the HDs standing around.

“It’s not good, Asher,” Skeel said. “They are still running tests. He’s going to live, but they think the knife cut his spinal cord. They are trying to determine how bad he is.”

“Fuck…” Asher breathed.

“Yeah,” Skeel agreed. “The docs said he might never walk again.”

“What did you tell them when you brought him in?”

“Bar fight.”

Asher nodded. “Good thinking. That cover should hold. Does Kenny know?”

“Yeah. It was his idea. It happened at the Liquid Lizard over a woman.”

Asher nodded again. “Okay. I’ll pass the word around. Have you gotten any sleep?”

“No, but I’m good. Someone is supposed to come relieve me in an hour.”

“Okay. Hang tough until then. Chains, Jenny, and I need to get home and get some rest.”

Skeel pulled Asher into a hug. “We’ve got it. Kenny told me how it went down. Don’t sweat it. He doesn’t blame you. This is just some nasty shit, that’s all.”

“Yeah,” Asher murmured.
Easier said than done,
he added to himself.

Three weeks later, Kenny Slovoski arrived back at the Heartless Devils clubhouse. He had a little feeling in one foot, but it was unlikely he would ever walk again. He greeted Asher warmly, pulling him down into a back-pounding hug. Asher had been to see him almost every day he was in the hospital, checking up on him, and Kenny knew Asher was blaming himself for what happened.

“Stop beating yourself up,” he whispered as he held Asher close. “It’s not your fault. I knew better than to turn my back on that bitch, but I did it anyway. I must be getting old.”

Asher nodded, but said nothing, and Kenny let him go. This was a conversation they had several times already. Maybe someday he would come to believe Kenny’s words.

“John!” Kenny bellowed, also pulling his old friend into a hug.

“How are you doing, Ken?”

“Pretty good. The nurses were pretty, but I couldn’t get even one of me to give me a hand or blowjob to see if I still worked.” Kenny smiled as John laughed and backed off. He had been saving that line for when he got back, but there was business that had to be tended to. “Let’s get this over with. The sooner we get this behind us, the sooner everything can get back to normal.”

John nodded. He hated to lose Kenny, but if he couldn’t ride, he couldn’t be a Deacon. It was a long-standing rule that had to be upheld. “Yeah, okay. Let’s do this.”

Asher wheeled Kenny into chapel and the doors were closed. Jenny knew what was going to happen and she sat down to wait.

“I haven’t had a chance to thank you properly,” a voice said from behind Jenny, making her start.

“For what?” Jenny replied, turning to face Rachel and motioning to another chair.

“For what you did with Hearts.”

Jenny nodded. “Yeah, well, not my finest hour. But it had to be done. What happened to her anyway?”

“I don’t know. We boxed up her stuff, but it is still here, waiting for her to call for it. If she does.”

Jenny shrugged. It was no longer any of her concern. “Who’s taking over the clubhouse?”

“Mandy and Silk are taking turns for now. We are still trying to work out something permanent.”

“I’m sorry if I put anyone out,” Jenny said.

Rachel giggled. “Are you kidding? This is great! We’ve been talking about having you teach us how to do some of that chop-socky stuff you were doing.”

Jenny grinned. “I would, but I don’t know that I would be very good at it. We can talk about it sometime maybe. After what has happened, I’m more in the mood for shopping instead of fighting. We still need to do that shopping trip.”

Rachel nodded and grinned. “I know how you feel, sister. You ready for this?” she asked with a nod toward the chapel door.

“Are you?”

Rachel nodded. “I think so. I know Gator is looking forward to it. He told me he hoped he could do half as good a job as Asher did.”

Before Jenny could answer, the doors to the chapel opened and Asher pushed Kenny out. “Shall we go meet the new Vice-President and Sergeant-at-Arms?”

Rachel grinned. “Yes. Let’s.”

Epilogue

“Lucy! I’m home!” Asher called in his best Desi Arnaz imitation.

“Back here, Asher!” Jenny called from the back of their house. “You’re home early,” she said as he entered their bedroom and she gave him a quick kiss.

“It’s not every day you graduate
Valedictorian
from the University of Miami School of Law.”

“No,” she agreed. “And thank God. I’m sick of school.”

“Your Dad’s here.”

“Dad? Why?”

Asher rolled his eyes. “Maybe he came to see his daughter graduate?”

“Yeah, but that’s not for hours yet,” she said as she moved out of the bedroom toward the front of the house. “Dad? Is everything okay?”

John gave his daughter a crooked smile and a hug. “Yeah. I guess. I can’t believe you’re graduating. Melissa would be so proud.”

Jenny smiled a bit wistfully. It had been almost a year since her mother had been killed and a lot had changed. She had moved into Asher’s house, giving up her apartment. After Asher’s elevation to Vice-President, he had slowly taken on more and more responsibility for running the club. With investments from the Bucs and the Trifectas, the HDs had been expanding. They dominated the strip club and escort business in Miami, and had expanded aggressively into Boca Raton, Fort Lauderdale, and had just completed a deal to buy six clubs in Tampa. They were also starting an x-rated video production company to further diversify their income stream. While they may never rub elbows with respectable bankers and real estate barons, the HDs were now a fully legal operation.

“I wish she could be here,” Jenny said softly.

“Me too, baby,” John replied.

“Are you going to join us for dinner?” she asked.

“No. I have some other things to do. But I wanted to stop by and give you the news first.”

“What news?” she asked.

Asher nudged her on the shoulder and when she turned he handed her a wine glass with barely any liquid in it. He handed a beer to John, keeping another for himself. John nodded in thanks and held his bottle out. “To my beautiful daughter, Jennifer Lynn Carter, Miami’s newest and brightest lawyer.”

They clinked their containers together. “I haven’t heard if I passed the bar yet,” Jenny said after she had taken tiny a sip of her wine.

John spluttered. “Like you would fail it. Please.”

Jenny grinned. She didn’t think she failed it either, but she didn’t want to get her hopes up too high. “You mentioned some news…” Jenny reminded her father.

“Yes. Another toast! To Asher Randall Lowe, the new President of the Heartless Devils Motorcycle Club!”

Jenny gasped. “Really? When?”

“I announce it tomorrow at chapel. But I wanted to tell you first.”

“Dad! Are you sure?”

“Of course I’m sure. He’s ready. Hell, he’ll be twice the President I ever was. Look at everything he has done in the past year. Besides, I’m getting too damn old to be worrying over shit like payroll. I’m ready to leave that for the young bucks.”

Jenny giggled and then held her glass out. “To Asher Lowe, the next President of the HDs!” Once again they clinked their containers together. “I’m so excited for you, Asher,” she gushed, giving him a kiss before taking another tiny sip from her glass, leaving a taste in case there was another toast on the way.

“Thank you, Boss. I’ll try to do you proud,” Asher said to John.

“You won’t be able to call me that much longer,” John said with a smile. “I’m glad. I have more important things to do… like walk my daughter down the aisle in a couple of months and play with my grandkid.”

Asher smiled and rubbed Jenny’s stomach softly. She wasn’t showing yet, but it wouldn’t be true much longer.

THE END