Chapter 15 Cage
CAGE
I didn’t know what time it was when I woke up.
There were no windows in the room. Only the sounds of the wind howling outside.
It sounded like a storm. Thunder rolled in the distance, and I knew if we did have a window, there would have been lightning outside.
I felt rested. I felt better than I had since I left Nevada.
And as my eyes slowly peeled open, they fell onto the most beautiful sight I could have ever imagined.
“Mmm, hm.”
Sutton murmured softly in her sleep as she laid there on her stomach.
Sprawled out on the bed, with the sheet covering nothing but her luscious ass cheeks.
Her hands slid underneath the pillow and her face was turned away from me, and the sounds of her soft snores made me smile.
I slipped my hand over to where she was and let it fall into the small of her back.
I rubbed her skin softly, watching as she shifted.
As she turned her head toward me with her hair falling into her face.
“Feels good,” Sutton murmured.
“Good. I’m glad,” I whispered.
She sighed before slipping right back into those soft snores of hers.
I moved closer to her, sliding my arm around her waist. I tossed my leg over hers as it thrust out away from her body, bent at the knee and opening herself up to the world.
I held her as closely as I could for someone who sprawled out over the bed the way she did.
I’d never get tired of waking up to the feeling of her next to me.
The sound of motorcycles rumbling in the distance pulled me out of bed.
My shoulder ached, but it wasn’t the shooting pain I remembered from yesterday.
Just a dull ache waiting to be abated with medication.
I stood from the bed, walking my naked ass over to some clothes.
I eased myself into a new set, slipped on my boots, then cracked my neck before I headed out of the bedroom.
And the second I closed the bedroom door, lightning flashed in the sky.
“Miserable riding weather,” I murmured.
As the motorcycles grew closer in the rain, I headed for the kitchen.
The least I could do was put on some damn coffee for these guys.
I looked at the clock and grinned. It was nine in the morning, on the nose.
Sutton wouldn't be up for another couple of hours, at least. While me? Well, I’d slept in an hour.
Nice.
I put on a massive pot of coffee and put some toast in the toaster.
Wasn’t much, but it would do. I snagged myself a pain pill and took it with some water, chasing it back with an apple from the fruit basket on the kitchen table.
The motorcycles roared, and I hoped they wouldn't wake Sutton while she slept.
No one understood the wrath that would come down onto their shoulders if that woman woke up without enough sleep.
If they thought Lars was frightening…
Lightning flickered and thunder rolled. I pulled out all the pieces of toast as the motorcycles grew ever closer. I was able to toast up half the damn loaf of bread and put it on the table before the door slammed open, with Diesel at the helm.
Except when they all started coming in, there were new men in tow.
I narrowed my eyes as all the men funneled into the lodge.
Diesel was in front, with Grave and Knox behind him.
Brewer and Rock brought up the back, followed by one, two, three, four men I hadn’t met yet.
Young men. With leather on their backs that weren’t quite worn nor filled out with the patches the jackets of the other men had.
Prospects.
Rock shut the door. “Shitty ass weather.”
“Please tell me this is for us,” Brewer said.
I nodded. “Have at it. Though, we might need another pot of coffee.”
I flickered my eyes over toward the guys I hadn’t met yet and found them grinning at me.
“Quick introductions. Cage, these are the Dead Souls prospects. They’ll introduce themselves. Guys, this is Cage, my brother. The man I briefed you on last night,” Diesel said.
“Bear,” one of them said.
“I’m Saint.”
“You can call me Ryker.”
“Toxin.”
I rose my eyebrows as each of them jutted out their hands for me to shake.
Bear was a very apt name for the young man who first introduced himself.
He was massive. And hairy. A thick head of black hair and stoic brown eyes with a face full of beard.
If I thought Rock was big, then I had been sorely mistaken.
This man was a miniature mountain, with a shadow on his face from his protruding brow and a permanent grin on his cheeks.
Then, there was Saint. A man who looked like he walked around with a chip on his damn shoulder.
Even though Bear had a permanent grin, he had a permanent scowl.
And features that gave him a baby face. Blonde hair.
Icy blue eyes. The kind of eyes someone might find on a psychopath.
He was just as lean as Bear was big, and the edges of tattoos poked out beyond the low-dipping V-neck of his t-shirt.
“Is your name really Ryker?” I asked.
He rolled his eyes. “Yes, but I’m not an absolute asshole.”
“Only a small bit of an asshole,” Toxin said, grinning.
“Your parents named you after a villain?” I asked.
“Long story,” Ryker murmured.
The young man looked like he had lived through some shit.
Had a scar across his face, staring from the top right side of his head and crossing down to the left side of his jaw.
The man had what looked like red hair, though it was very dark.
And his hazel eyes coupled with the freckles I saw peppering his body made him look much younger than he obviously was.
But, that thousand-yard stare in his eyes told me he had endured some serious shit in his life.
Toxin, however, was guarded. His smile didn’t quite reach his dark green eyes.
His jet black hair was long. Covered the tops of his ears and was almost in his eyes.
He had on a long-sleeve shirt underneath his leather jacket.
His shirt collar came all the way up to his neck.
Looked like the damn thing was almost choking him.
Everything about him screamed “walls.” And it made me automatically wonder what the hell he was hiding.
“Already curious, huh?” Toxin said.
“Enough. Cage? You’ve got the floor,” Diesel said.
“What?” I asked.
“I told the guys who you were and that you and your lady friend were on the run. I didn’t tell them anything else because I figured it wasn’t my place.”
I nodded slowly. “Ah. Right.”
“So, what brings you from Nevada to Redding?” Bear asked.
I sighed. “I was pledging a crew down there my fath—our father—was creating. The Night Outlaws. A man by the name of Lars Norden slaughtered my crew, and I’m the only one left.”
I watched the prospect’s faces fall, including that sly grin on Bear’s face.
“Shit, I’m sorry,” Toxin said.
“That’s fucked up,” Bear said.
“The hell happened?” Ryker asked.
“We played some of his poker games and won some cash to get things up and running with our crew. He didn’t like the fact we were winning in the same casinos he was skimming,” I said.
“So, you guys were taking the money he was skimming from casinos. Essentially,” Saint said.
“Yep. Essentially,” I said.
“Probably not the smartest move,” he murmured.
“Maybe not. But we didn’t deserve to be killed over it,” I said.
“So, you need help because this man’s tracking you down now? You know, to finish off the job or something?” Ryker asked.
I peered over at Diesel. “Do they know about…?”
He shook his head. “Again, not my place. I told them what they needed to know about the job at hand. Everything else is personal, and up for you to tell or not.”
“I appreciate that,” I said.
“What are we still out of the loop on?” Bear asked.
I cleared my throat. “The woman that’s with me, her name is Sutton. She’s still sleeping, but she’s someone I got entangled with during my time with the Night Outlaws.”
Toxin grinned. “All right, buddy boy.”
“She’s also Lars’ daughter,” I said.
The room fell silent before Saint exclaimed.
“She’s what!?”
“Cool it,” Diesel said.
“You brought the daughter of the man who’s trying to kill you here,” Ryker said.
“She’s not his daughter anymore. She originally left Nevada to come find me to tell me that, somehow, her father knew where I was headed,” I said.
“Did you not think to cover your damn tracks or something?” Bear asked.
“I did, yes. But Sutton was raised with a man who’s been covering his tracks from the police and the feds for years.
His entire life. She knows things none of us would think to do when it comes to tracking people down.
I knew if she wanted to find me, she would.
No matter what it took. And she did. The issue is, Lars’ men also found me.
Which meant they found us. Together. Running away from them,” I said.
“Wait a second. Are you actually suggesting her own father would kill her or something?” Toxin asked.
“It happens sometimes,” Bear murmured.
The room fell silent and I knew there was a story there. But I also didn’t feel as if it was my place to pry.
“She needs help, just like I do. She’s picked a side, and it isn’t her father’s. Which now makes her a target. Possibly a bigger one, with her father’s rage and her betrayal also in play,” I said.
“Shit,” Bear hissed.
“My thoughts exactly,” I said.
“How many men do you think he’s got at his disposal?” Ryker asked.
I shrugged. “As many as he needs. The man is loaded. Think, Italian mobster loaded. He’s got money funneling in from places we wouldn’t even think to look. If he wants a small army, he’ll get it.”
“Fuck. We’ll need reinforcements,” Bear murmured.
“Yes, we will. Which is why I already have plans to give the Black Hornets a call,” Diesel said.
A loud murmur shot across the room through all the men, and I wondered if that was a good or a bad thing.
“You think they’ll help out?” Grave asked.
“They fucking better, after all we’ve done for them,” Knox said.
“They’ve done just as much. As far as I’m concerned, they’re a friendly crew we can call on for help. And we’ll need it, despite our numbers doubling over the past two years,” Diesel said.
“So, these Black Hornets. I can trust them?” I asked.
The men looked around the room at one another before Rock nodded his head.
“You can trust them with your life,” he said.
“Well, that’s good enough for me at this point,” I said.
“Great. With that settled, I’m gonna leave you be to go give them a call. I’m sure the guys have plenty of other questions to ask you. I suggest you answer them, so we know how best to help you,” Diesel said.
Toxin smirked. “I got a question.”
“Except his questions!” Diesel exclaimed.
“Oh, come on!” Toxin yelled.
And as the men fell apart in laughter, I found myself chuckling along.
Apparently, Diesel had just saved me from a barrage of very inappropriate questions. Judging by how everyone jumped in and were already teasing the man for it.