Thirty-Four
S o the reason Torch was injured when he came off his bike was because he didn’t bother wearing a helmet. He’s normally pretty careful, but I guess today he felt like living on the edge, and what a fucking day to not wear it. Luckily he hadn’t been moving too fast, and when the brakes failed on the bike, he was able to lose enough momentum before the accident, which was unavoidable, became impossible to survive.
A cut on his head was the worst injury, apart from potential concussion and some minor scrapes, plus a whole lot of bruises he’d see later. I was so fucking thankful that he was an experienced enough biker to realise the issue, and take action before it was too late.
The reason we didn’t know until Micro came barrelling into the clubhouse? Our paranoia over the person working against the club meant that Reacher and Stitch had taken to keeping their phones in his office, and away from any conversations we had about the killer. Ice had mine, but nobody had tried to call me.
Reacher and Stitch both had several missed calls on their phones from Micro though. He’d passed the crash site, seen Torch being loaded into an ambulance, and raced back to the clubhouse when he couldn’t reach them. The weird thing was that he never showed at the hospital before we got Torch out of there. A prospect had whisked Torch away in the van to check on his bike, before Micro even showed up.
“He okay? Fuck. I got delayed by a fucking asshole.” He ran his hands over his buzz cut hair and cursed again. His knuckles looked scraped or bruised, and he was agitated.
“What happened, man?” Ryder grabbed his wrist and lifted his hand to check the damage, and Micro grimaced and pulled his arm away.
“It’s nothing. I got pissed when that bastard cut me up, so I might have got a little physical, that’s all.” We exchanged a worried look, because more trouble wasn’t what we needed right now.
“You got into a fight with someone?”
“Yeah, some dick in a fucking minivan cut me up, and I nearly ended up on the tarmac too. People need to be more fucking careful of motorbikes on the road.” He was checking his bike when I turned back to Ryder.
“You think he left the guy alive?”
Micro laughed suddenly. “Don’t worry, I’m not a killer, dickhead. He’s fine. He’s a bit bloody, but he’ll live, and nobody saw. It’s all good. Mighta kicked a nice dent into the side of his crappy van too, but whatever. I’m guessing he’ll look both ways before he pulls out of a road now.”
Ryder frowned as he leaned over to check a scratch on the side of Micro’s bike. Fuck, that was the custom job I’d done for him.
“It’s okay, brother, I can… yeah, I can touch this up, it’ll be fine.”
“Thought you said he cut you up?”
Micro was fussing over the scratch but he finally lifted his head, and turned to look at Ryder.
“Huh?”
“You said the guy cut you up, but now you’re saying he pulled out on you.”
Micro rolled his eyes as he straightened up.
“Gee, sorry mum, guess I misspoke. Look, I’m gonna get back, but I’ll head past where Torch came off, just in case they need help with his bike.”
We watched him head off again like a bat out of hell.
“Lucky it wasn’t his bike tampered with, because he rides like he wants to fucking die.”
I nodded as I followed Ryder to our bikes.
“Yeah, he’s always had a bit of a crazy streak. So uh, what now? Is there a plan for when we get back?”
Ryder smirked, straddling his bike.
“You mean, is there some way you can sneak back to your forbidden girlfriend?”
Fuck me. They were just never going to accept us, were they?
“It’s not like some fucking fling, Ry. I’m in love with her, and I thought you’d understand that.”
He reached out and caught my arm as I lifted my helmet.
“Brother, I’m just messing with ya. I know, okay? I get it, and for the record, I was always rooting for you guys. She couldn’t ask for a better fucking man. Stitch will see that eventually, when he stops trying to be her protector, and realises that’s your job now.”
My shoulders dropped, and I lowered the helmet again.
“Do you think so? I feel like at some point he’s just gonna drag me off and kill me, and I guess I can’t really blame him. The one thing he wanted was for all of us to stay away from his sister. I can’t undo what I did, and I’d never want to, but he’s my VP. This could be the end for me.”
Ryder shook his head, grabbing his own helmet and fastening it on.
“Fuck that. He’ll get it eventually, or he’ll lose both of you. Maybe even more of us, because he’s not the only one we love, yeah? Even Ice seems to quite like you now, which I never thought I’d ever fucking live to see.”
Yeah, I was still surprised that we’d finally, somehow, resolved our shit after all these years. It was definitely easier being on the same side as him, especially as he’d had my back through all of this too.
“Yeah, he’s okay. Kinda bitchy at times.” I started my bike, and we headed back to the clubhouse, where I could only hope to see my fucking girl as soon as possible. I needed her in my arms like I couldn’t believe.
It was only because I was so distracted by my thoughts of her, that I didn’t see that there was even a problem with Ryder’s bike until he dropped it on a bend, and I nearly went straight into it. He was lying on the road a few feet away, and he wasn’t moving, and it was only as I tried to pull over to check on him, that I realised my brakes weren’t working. Fuck!
Elise
L issa actually thought it was sweet that I was feeling so territorial about Has, and his unwilling porn videos.
“I’ve only seen them because I’m in the tech room with Ice sometimes, when we… uh… when I bring him snacks, and keep him company. He gets pissed if they come up and I see them, but it can’t be helped. The program he uses to track them flashes them up on the screen for him to remove.”
I realised I could really talk to her because she knew everything now, right?
“I liked seeing the things he did in those videos, and I want to feel them for myself. I just didn’t expect to suddenly hate the sight of them now he’s mine. Like now I want to gut every bitch he’s ever fucked, because he’s mine.”
Lissa looked taken aback.
“Okay… you’re definitely feistier than any of us realised. From what I’ve seen though, Has only has eyes for you, oh wow, that’s getting confusing, isn’t it? He couldn’t have had an easier name? I mean, the name makes perfect sense, but still-”
“Oh my god, how can you say that!? He’s not a ‘has-been’, he’s… he’s… I don’t know what the opposite of that is right now, but he’s not.”
Lissa lifted her mug, and sighed at the fact that she’d run out.
“I’ll make us another. So, he never told you the reason for his name?”
The reason for it? I couldn’t believe I’d never wondered where it came from, just that it seemed so inappropriate for a man like him. I followed her to the kitchen, and rummaged for some biscuits to go with our coffee.
“We’ve never really talked about that stuff. Do you know why he’s called that?”
Lissa fussed with our mugs for a moment.
“I’m not sure if it’s my place to tell you. It refers to who he was before he joined the club though. He was better known by his real name, and I guess this is his rebirth. His attempt to rebuild himself, and get over all of the horrors of his past.”
“Oh my god, you can’t just say that, and not tell me more. That’s like waving the answer in front of me, and then burning it!”
Lissa giggled, and then both of our phones buzzed in sync with each other, and we frowned. Who would message both of us at the exact same time?
Lissa dug out her phone as I ran for mine.
CallToArms: STAY OFF YOUR BIKES. Return to clubhouse urgently by other means .
I had no idea who the hell this ‘CallToArms’ was, but Lissa clearly knew something I didn’t. She looked panicked, lifting her phone to her ear as I dimly heard it ringing in the background.
“Ice, what’s going on? I’ve never received the call to arms before.”
He muttered something and she told him where she was. Mere moments later, he was banging on the door, so we let him in, and he looked panicked.
“Call to arms is the message channel we use to reach all brothers at once. We expanded it to add old ladies and Elise, because this is fucking vital. Someone tampered with some of the bikes, and we don’t know which ones are safe. We’ve had four members suffer incidents out on their bikes today.” He turned to me then, his face softening.
“One of them was Has-Been. He’s on his way to the hospital along with Ryder, who also came off.”
What the hell? I felt my legs starting to tremble, and Lissa guided me to a chair.
“Breathe, babe. Ice, is Has okay?”
He scrubbed at his buzzcut hair, a clear sign of his agitation.
“All I know is that Ryder and Has-Been were sent out to check on Torch, after his brakes failed and he was taken off in an ambulance. They messaged to say he was released, and I’ve since found out that they both had an accident on the way back, but I don’t have any news on injuries yet. The fourth was Micro, and I don’t know more than that either, except that he was elsewhere. We’re calling everyone back, and locking them down.”
“I need to see him.”
He nodded, reaching out and squeezing my shoulder lightly.
“They’re just checking that the vans are safe, then we’re taking one to go check on them.”
“Don’t let Seth leave me behind, Ice. Has-Been is mine. I love him, and I’m not going to be kept away from him like I’m some child.”
He groaned, kissing Lissa’s head and turning to go to the door.
“I’ll shout as soon as we’re leaving. Lissa, babe, please don’t leave the clubhouse. I need to know you’re safe. Lock yourself in here while we’re gone, because it’s the safest room. I’m gonna get the other old ladies to wait here with you.”
I tried sending a text to Has, but there was no sign that he’d even seen it, no tick to say it was received, and no bouncing bubbles telling me he was replying. I was out of my mind with worry.
Lissa let my brother into the room then, and he crouched in front of me, taking my phone away and squeezing my hands.
“Hey, he’s probably fine, sweets. They’re waiting in A&E, which suggests they’re not that seriously hurt. Come on, we’re going to see them now. Lissa? The other old ladies are on their way down, except Tori. She’s coming with, obviously.” She nodded, standing back as Seth hauled me to my feet and led me to the door.
“As of right now, the club’s on lockdown, and we have to suspect everyone, Lissa. Don’t trust anyone except the other old ladies, okay?” She took a deep breath, maybe seeking strength she didn’t feel without Ice staying with her.
“You’ll keep Ice safe?” Seth stopped before he closed the door.
“Lissa, I’ve got his back, okay?”
As we listened to her locking up, I grabbed Seth’s hand, urgency in my tone.
“You have Has’ back too, right? You know he’s not behind any of this, and he’s not a bad guy. Please. I need to know you’re going to keep him safe too.”
Seth grimaced, tugging me down the hall to the stairs.
“Sweets, I can promise not to kill him, but that’s all I can focus on right now. Just because several of our guys were injured today, it doesn’t rule any of them out. What if they deliberately did this to make us overlook them?”
We reached the bottom of the stairs as he finished speaking, and I turned and slapped him hard across his face. He was my big brother and neither of us had ever struck the other before, but I was too angry to hold back.
“If anything happens to Has-Been, I’m holding you personally responsible, Seth, and I’ll never speak to you again.”