Devil's Savior

CHAPTER 12

The sounds of the crew working around me are soothing. I know it wouldn’t be for a lot of people, they would be annoyed at how loud it is. While I hear the noise of it all, I also hear progress. It rings in my ears and reminds me that I’m part of building something from nothing.

There is power in that.

It takes time, dedication, hard work, and some skill to accomplish, but when the task is done you can step back and know that where nothing stood before there is now something to find pride in. And it doesn’t matter if it’s a home or a commercial property because both have merit and a place in this world.

Maybe that’s why I haven’t minded needing to put in the extra work when it comes to Sioux. Before she came into my life, there was nothing there other than the occasional romp in the sheets with an angel or some random woman. But it wasn’t meaningful. Not like it is with my Firefly.

Before I met her there was nothing in my heart, other than the club, but it’s going to take everything in me to build something beautiful, something that will withstand time and all the shit life can throw at you. We’ll be solid and strong.

Of that I have no doubt.

And now that I’ve gotten her to start believing in us as well, I can see even more worth in the foundation I’ve laid.

We will be happy.

We will love each other.

We will form a family built on love and devotion.

What could be better?

I wish I could have seen her face when she got the flowers I sent her. Maybe it was kind of a cheesy move, but I don’t even care. She needed to know I was thinking of her, especially after we spent the weekend together while connecting in a way she wouldn’t have allowed before.

I’m sure Mrs. Bisby teased her about the flowers somehow and I bet my woman blushed. The memory of her flushed skin after she came on my tongue a few nights ago flashes in my mind and I push it away in the hopes that I don’t embarrass myself at my own damn job site.

Hammer, who helps me run the business for the club, slaps me on my back and pulls me from my thoughts of Sioux. I want to growl at him to leave me alone, but I know I can’t. I should be paying attention to what is going on around me. When someone loses focus on a site that is when shit can go badly quickly.

“You looked a million miles away,” there’s some censure in Hammer’s words which are right on point. I give him a chin lift to acknowledge what he’s not saying outright. “Do your wandering thoughts have anything to do with a certain hot blonde you brought to the clubhouse Friday night?”

I narrow my eyes at my brother, protectiveness and possessiveness roaring to life inside of me. He holds his hands up and chuckles. It’s enough to force me to calm the fuck down.

The job site is not the place to punch out my club brother especially since all the people around work under us. We might not be the most professional men, considering we’re just fucking bikers, but we do take our jobs seriously.

If Lucifer found out I punched out Hammer in front of our employees, he would kick my ass. I’d like to avoid that as much as possible. The man might be getting up in years, but I wouldn’t want to go up against him.

“Don’t talk about my woman,” the warning is clear in my tone and he only grins at me like he finds me amusing as fuck.

“I know you’ve been hooked on her for a while, but how whipped you are surprises the fuck out of me.”

I narrow my eyes at him, but shrug one shoulder, not giving a single shit that Sioux owns my ass. “One day when you meet your woman, I’ll remember how much shit you gave me about mine.”

Hammer scoffs, but there’s a faraway look in his eye that has me wondering if he only protests finding someone and settling down to protect himself. I can’t say I don’t get it, but he’ll sing a different tune when whoever is meant for him appears in his life.

Instead of firing back at me, Hammer turns his attention toward the crew. “They’re working hard. I should be ready to do the punch list late next week and then we’ll get all that shit fixed and get an inspector out here to sign off on the final build.”

I nod, my eyes scanning over the work being done. “Works for me,” I grunt, still a little salty over my brother talking about my woman. From the smirk he throws my way, he knows it too.

The fucker.

Before either of us can say anything else, my phone goes off in my pocket and my shoulders tense when I see that it’s Lucifer calling me.

When I answer, I don’t even get a word out before my Prez barks, “Shit is going down. Need you at the clubhouse now.”

He’s gone before I get the chance to respond, but he doesn’t need me to. He knows that I’ll be on my way to him right away. When I look over at Hammer, he’s already nodding his head in understanding.

While I wasn’t thrilled about having to leave the bubble of spending time with Sioux over the weekend, I did have Church. There was no way I could miss it, not that I would want to since filling in our brothers would help me to keep my woman safe.

I could feel the rage like a physical thing in the room as Lucifer filled in the rest of the brothers about what the RRMC was up to. Then Hacker updated us on everything he had found out about Hustle, whoever else was making a name for themselves in the revived club, and the flop house they were denigrating our streets with.

“Those fuckers,” Feral, Tack’s father, growled. His eyes were blazing with barely restrained fury.

Feral might not have had a position in the club anymore, but he was a lot like Lucifer in the sense that he was a force and hadn’t missed a step even as he aged. I lifted my chin toward him to let him know that I’d ensure he was in on when we went and took the RRMC down.

“They’re scum,” Lucifer agreed. “We’re keep our eyes on them, and we’ll move in and take care of them when the time is right.”

Grunts of approval and disdain for the RRMC filled the room. I glanced around, knowing that the men sitting around the table would do anything to protect each other, our family, and our city.

I was not expecting Lucifer’s call, but if he says shit is going down then I need to get my ass in gear. As an enforcer for the club, I’m always in on the planning and we use our brother’s skills to choose who goes with us to execute our plan. I have a feeling most of the brothers are chomping at the bit to be a part of the Rolling Rebel’s demise.

“If Prez is calling it must be serious,” Hammer prods gently.

“Expect to be called in at some point. Shit is going down,” I grunt and see understanding light up his eyes along with a healthy dose of glee at the prospect of inflicting pain on those who have been in a thorn in the club’s side for way too long.

I don’t waste time talking to any of the men working. Normally, I would because I want everyone to know we value them and their work, but I don’t have the time for that shit right now. I have no doubt that they’ll understand.

They aren’t under any illusions about who they work for. They might not wear cuts, but we still consider every person who works for a DSMC business to be part of our extended family.

The ride to the clubhouse is not nearly as enjoyable as when Sioux was wrapped around me. When I went to Church over the weekend, I brought her with me, and she was on the back of my bike. It was fucking heaven.

Sure, I asked her to join me under the guise of her being able to spend time with Wrenley, which wasn’t exactly a lie, but the real reason I wanted her with me was because I knew she’d be safe within the walls of the compound. One being true doesn’t mean the other isn’t. If she suspected anything, she didn’t say.

From the way she was smiling when I stopped by Wrenley and Prodigal’s house after Church, the ladies had a good time together. I might have been on edge because of the talk around the table about the RRMC, but I didn’t want my woman to feel any of that.

When we got back home, I pulled her up to our room and we snuggled together while watching a movie. I found that the tension in my body eased the more time I spent holding my woman.

She truly is a balm to my soul.

The Prospect at the gate is tense when I pull up and I’m glad to see that he’s extra cautious and didn’t open the gate as he saw me approach. It’s only when he can look into my eyes and see who I am without question that he gives me a chin lift and opens the compound up for me.

When I walk into the clubhouse after parking and climbing off my bike, I know that I should head right into Lucifer’s office, but I need to grab a bottle of water first. I’m hot as fuck after being on the site and then riding through the city quickly. It might be spring in New Orleans, but it’s already warm.

Heather, who used to be a club angel, but is now a claimed old lady by three of our newest brothers—Bedlam, Viper, and Scope—is standing behind the bar. She gives me a bright smile when she sees me approaching.

I glance down at her very pregnant belly and grunt, “You should get off your feet before you go into labor.”

Heather rolls her eyes at me before sighing. “I just got up to grab some water right before you came in. I promise, I’ve been resting. Like my men would let me do anything else,” she mumbles the last part, but I hear her.

I’m sure her men, especially since there are three of them, have been making her feel smothered and on the edge of going batty. I would be hovering like a fucking mother hen if my Firefly was pregnant and I’m sure my three brothers are just as bad.

I hold up my hands in surrender before I grin. “I won’t say anything about you being up and exerting yourself if you grab me a bottle of water when you get one for yourself.”

She huffs out a laugh and hands the bottle she’s holding across the bar toward me. I start to shake my head, but she gives me a death glare. “I haven’t opened that one yet. I’ll grab on for myself and then go back to the couch.”

“Good, keep your feet up,” I tell her, a slight command in my voice which has her looking at me with affection in her eyes.

Even when Heather was a club angel, the only guys she was with were the three men who ended up claiming her. All three were Prospects at the time which is why they couldn’t claim her right away. First, they had to earn their cuts.

None of the brothers were even tempted to go there with Heather and we could all see the way her men looked at her. They tried to hide it, but they were shit at it.

Surprising everyone, Heather left the club one day. None of us knew why and her men couldn’t go after her. Not all three of them at least and if they were going to claim her together, they had to do it at the same time.

After Scope was patched, the last one out of the three, they all went after their woman. When they brought her back and we saw that she was pregnant, it was clear why she left. I could have punched my newly patched-in brothers because she should have never doubted their plans for her. Her leaving, with their child, screamed that she wasn’t sure what their future together held.

It’s all good now and Heather settled into her role as old lady with ease except for some friction between her and the angels. Becoming an old lady is something a lot of angels, both past and present, think is going to happen to them. The fact is it never happens.

Heather is an exception.

I’m damn glad she’s happy and glowing. If she weren’t then I would have to kick my brother’s asses. Since Bedlam works at Sinner’s Construction, I would start with him and then work my way down the list.

When I turn to head toward Lucifer’s office I almost slam into Connie, one of the angels. I’ve made myself clear to her many times that I’m off the market. Still, whenever I’m alone she tries to talk and flirt with me.

I’m fucking over it.

“I’m busy, Connie,” I grit out through my teeth, trying to keep my shit under control.

She reaches toward me, but I step to the side, evading her hand and making her pout. “You look so tense, Apostle,” she purrs.

Logically I know she’s trying to sound seductive, but it’s not working on me. All her actions do is fill me with disgust.

I might have been willing to blow off some steam with her in the past, but that was before Sioux walked into my life. Now the only woman I long to touch or hold is my woman.

And I would never do anything to betray Sioux’s trust. It’s already fragile enough; she just started giving me a chance.

Some pussy is not worth throwing that away for.

“I will not continue to repeat myself to you Connie. You best remember what happened to Brandi when she tried to start shit between a brother and his old lady,” the warning is clear in my voice.

Connie pales slightly and I know I’ve hit the mark. The threat has so many layers to it and I could be referring to any of them.

Brandi was kicked out of the DSMC and banned. Permanently. Not only that, but her choices both while with us and then after she was gone led to her death.

While I won’t put a hand on a woman in anger, there are people out there who will. The RRMC is proof of that.

“Respect what you have here and don’t approach me again to flirt or offer yourself. I’m not interested,” there’s a finality in my words.

From the look on Connie’s face, the reality of what I’m saying seems to be sinking in. Fucking finally.

I ignore her and the tears in her eyes as I walk around her and head toward Lucifer’s office. I sure as fuck don’t look back over my shoulder at her.

She better not start some shit with Heather either. That’ll get her ass thrown out immediately. Heather’s men won’t stand for it, and neither would the rest of us and that is not only because she’s carrying the next generation of the DSMC in her belly.

When I get to Lucifer’s office, the door is open, and I walk in to find everyone waiting for me. Again.

“Sorry,” I offer up an apology this time because I can feel Lucifer’s fury even though it’s not directed at me, “I was all the way across the city on site.”

Lucifer nods in my direction before pointing to the door. I close us inside the room and lean back against the wall before cracking the water bottle open and drinking down half of it. My shirt is clinging to my back underneath my cut and it’s not even summer yet.

Our Prez scrubs a hand down his face while closing his eyes and taking a deep breath. When he opens his eyes and regards us, there is exhausted wariness in his gaze as well as a fury that has me itching to shed blood.

“My contact with the force reached out to me not long ago,” he begins.

We all nod, knowing that Lucifer has eyes throughout the city, including those who serve the city by wearing a badge. There are a lot of people on the force who see us only as dirty bikers who stir up trouble, but there are others who know about the good we do and aren’t afraid of us. They also know that we don’t have the same red tape to go through that they do when something needs to be dealt with.

“They found a body this morning. A fourteen-year-old girl who died of an overdose.”

I hold my breath, knowing that Lucifer isn’t done giving us the bad news. I’m not the only one who does either. As Lucifer takes another deep breath, the tension mounts as the seconds tick by.

“When he sent me her picture, I recognized her as someone who the RRMC had gotten hooked, before putting her in their brothel,” he spits out the word like the evil that it is.

I want to roar out my anger. A fourteen-year-old. Fucking hell.

Lucifer clears his throat, sorrow lining his words, “It was clear she hadn’t only been using, but was also sexually active. She was underage and we all know she couldn’t have really consented while being strung out.”

Fists clench and men shift in the room around me. We’re barely contained, and our Prez knows it. He looks me in the eyes and then meets Scythe’s gaze. “We need to come up with a plan. We can’t let any more children be hurt. We’re going to put an end to it. Tonight.”

Fuck.

Even though I’m more than willing to go and take care of a problem that has tarnished far too many lives already, the knowledge that I won’t be able to see Sioux tonight is a weight on my shoulders that is almost too much to bear.

But she would want me to do my job and help the lost souls who have been ensnared and used by the RRMC. That’s the thought that has me squaring my shoulders as determination fills me. I might be able to see my woman tonight, but the next time I see her I’ll be able to look her in the eyes and know I helped people who needed us to be there for them.

Now, to come up with a plan and make the RRMC pay for the way they have marred our city.