Chapter 31
Hound Dog
N othing was ever too good to be true. When a night was clear and safe it turned into a man hunt. And it came at the worst time. I truly wanted to strangle someone. The look on Otis’ face when he had to give me a look to sign that we had to go. Leaving her wasn’t the solution.
Seeing her on stage should have warmed my heart, should have been beaming with pride. But one look and a few strums later, her mind wouldn’t shut off. Seeing her like that broke me.
Let it be known, I didn’t want to leave her nor did I think she was completely ready, but only she could tell me that she was and I listened to her.
After Sadie found her, I knew whatever was happening, it must have been damn trouble if I got pulled away and no one else could handle it.
“Someone start talking now,” I ordered, looking around at the guys.
“Blue called, he noticed something weird at Grunge,” B.B said before putting on his helmet and starting up his bike.
“Explain something weird.” My anger started to flame.
“Cameras went out and Blaze can’t explain why.” That was all I needed to get out of there.
If the kid couldn’t understand why the cameras were out, then we were screwed and someone was going to pay. I had enough of this cat and mouse game. If they wanted a fight they were going to get one. It took a coward to keep hiding behind antics. If they were so fucking smart now, they knew how to find us.
I whipped the truck in and out of traffic, didn’t care if there was a trooper or not. One way or another I was going to end everything. Bury people in the Mississippi if I had to.
Tell me you’ll come back to me.
I would come back to her, even if I had blood on my hands. I’d shelter the burden of my sins to keep her close and the club safe.
Grunge was one of the most hole in the wall places that we owned. It had been one of the oldest, an institution if you will. One of the places that gave me the ideas for the places we had now. B.B and Otis weren’t too far behind as I pulled up, halting the truck to a stop. I slammed the door, reaching for the piece that was strapped to my side. I had half a mind to get Greene down here, but he had reassured me that cases were closing and arrests were being made.
It was the aftershocks that apparently we had to worry about.
Blue had emptied the place, airing at the side of caution. He stood there waiting for us. The street we were on wasn’t occupied, like a ghost town waiting for a showdown.
“Boss,” he acknowledged.
“Blue, now would be the time to tell me we didn’t waste our time.” I warned him.
“Kid is trying to recover any video from before the cameras went out, but I don’t like this feeling,” Blue said. Blue was one of the older members, I could trust him as much as anyone else. But if he was saying that he wasn’t getting a good feeling about something, I wasn’t going to negate that.
There was something in the air, other than the cool breeze that caresses the goosebumps on the back of my neck. It was as if my senses were on higher alert. An eeriness spread across the area. Like something or someone was hiding. I signaled for no one to make a sound as I pulled my gun from the holster.
I stayed along the sides of the business, staying out of the street lamp that was flickering. I heard the clanking of Otis and B.B’s guns following me into the darkness.
I walked past the business next door to find the alleyway, crowded by the dumpsters. I kept low to cover me. Across the alley was another street, filled with businesses, but streetlights weren’t as bright.
The wind whipped back and forth, but there was nothing but the sound like scraping across rubble that broke my attention. I turned the corner of a trash pile and saw nothing, but felt a blow to my head that made me crash down to the ground. My gun was knocked out of my hands, clattering to the ground.
Shots started to fire from someone else because my attacker threw himself on me, pinning me down further to the ground. The fucker’s weight was heavier than expected. Shots kept firing as my men started to yell out. I tried to buck the person off of me, then found a knife at my throat.
“We’ll make this quick,” the voice bellowed out like it was a game or a prize from a hunt.
I thrust my head back, which made me a bit dizzy. The man staggered back, I finally was able to stabilize myself and turn to get a look at my attacker. I couldn’t make out a certain face but I knew those patches anywhere.
It was what I expected for them to do, a sneak attack. And what’s worse was that they wanted to butcher us, more like butcher me. A slower, painful death.
The flash of the metal from the knife gleamed in the dim light. I grasped the fucker’s hand, attempting to pull the knife away from my throat. The knife flung from the man’s grip and went as far as it could and I rushed the man before he could make another move. I didn’t need a weapon, just needed them out of his reach. Shots kept ringing around me, and soon cops would be surrounding us if we weren’t careful.
If anything, they would find dead bodies near the business, still wouldn’t be a good look on us. I didn’t know how much Otis would be able to get us out of this mess legally.
I had the man pinned underneath me, he squirmed trying to break free of the weight that was crushing him. My fists started to connect to his face. Shots kept firing behind me, I wondered how long it took for them to finally knock the other attacker off their feet.
I shouldn’t have turned my head to look at the scene behind me, but when I did I ended up back on my back, with his fists connecting to my face. My head was thrown back, the pain starting to radiate like a thumping heart beat.
My attacker’s hands wrapped around my throat, squeezing it tight.
My hands searched for his face to push him off, I went to pry his hands off my throat, wanting to find some way to get off of me. The shots stopped, a thud hit the floor. Suddenly my body was moving alongside my attacker’s movement as Otis and B.B’s hands pried him off. Air returned to my lungs as I coughed, gasping for air.
“Hold him back,” I coughed out. Anger wasn’t the emotion I was feeling, whatever I was feeling felt like it needed a new name.
I could feel the warm blood trailing along my cheeks, staining them with the remnants of the fight that happened, a failed attempt to take me out.
My mouth tasted the tang of copper. I hadn’t lost a fight, but I never expected a gutless man to jump me from the side. He truly had a death wish.
I wiped my mouth, the darkness in me swirled with the need to end a life.
My attacker went feral, trying to bust through his hold. Blue came up from behind, yanking his head back. One look at him and I could tell that he had taken some sort of drug that would have gotten him in this rage, all adrenaline rushing toward him.
“I’m not going to waste my time and ask you who sent you because I know. How does it feel that you were just a failed pawn to your president’s plan?” My voice cracked a couple times, but I wasn’t going to stay quiet.
“Pussy whipped for a president.” He laughed.
I threw a punch to his gut and the fucker kept laughing like he was a demented soul with no remorse.
“Go ahead, piss me off some more,” I growled. But the rush to my head was coming, and I could feel the world around me start to become unstable, like my feet could come out from underneath me.
Pull it together.
“I hope that your president knows that you won’t be returning home.” I grinned like a mad man.
“Cowards,” the man spat.
“Funny, we were thinking the same about you.” Otis sneered, gripping the man’s arm tighter.
The man was still bleeding from his mouth from the few shots I was able to land. He grinned showing his bloodied teeth.
“I told Prez we should have gotten your little girl. But he didn’t want to waste time with a weak woman, too easy to kill,” he taunted me. Throwing Melody in my face. She wasn’t weak, she was a fighter.
My blood began to boil, everything inside of me twisting like a whirlwind.
“The easy kill is your fucking throat.” I sneered as Blue handed me one of his knives as I slid the blade across his throat, watching the blood spurt out like a flowing river.
He struggled, but it didn’t matter how much fight he had in him, the light vanished in eyes. Two rats down and more to go, but this wasn’t going to end quietly.
I stood there watching the blood stain the ground, and I thought for a moment. In the past I would have thought that Melody was the problem, not me. But I was going to protect her, even if she decided to run. A threat to her was a threat to the club.
B.B and Otis let go of his arms, throwing the lifeless body on the ground. B.B turned with his phone in hand, probably calling the cleaning crew. I leaned against the wall, my vision started to blur for a moment. Muffled voices came into my blurred vision. All I could remember was total darkness.
Atonement for my own sins and darkness. A twisted punishment.
I didn’t know how much time had passed but the strong scent woke me up, and I thrust myself upright. There was still a pounding in my head, like a throbbing pain. Certain noises made me wince. The fucker gave me a concussion that felt like a migraine.
“Well, I’d joke that the dead has arisen,” That annoying voice that could only be B.B.
“I had Shooter come and take a look at you,” Otis said from somewhere around me.
A bright light came into my eyes, I swatted it. “Easy there, Prez.” Shooter kept going with whatever he was doing. My stomach was in knots like if I were to eat something it would not be good.
“Prez, I need to test something. I need you to tell me what you did this morning,” Shooter ordered as he checked my neck.
He needed my ability to concentrate and recall. Only problem was this morning was a bit more detailed in my memory as flashes of Melody whimpering as her legs were up and over my shoulders. The way her nails scraped across my back. Her soaking wet pussy tightening around my cock, squeezing the life out of me. The way her moans sounded like echoes of a true melody in my head.
That was more detail and privacy than my brothers deserved to hear.
I could lie on the spot, make up a whole new story, but if I was going to be back in one piece to her, then I needed to talk to the good doctor.
“I settled my girl’s nerves this morning. She had rested well, and was making breakfast this morning. French toast from scratch, said it was her grandmother’s recipe she was making. She’s an amazing cook, responsible for a few more pounds on this body. She was babbling about the “what ifs” and what could go wrong. And I may have quieted her mind for an hour or so.”
Well, it wasn’t a complete lie.
Shooter nodded his head. He patted my face. “I think you’ll survive but I’m afraid you won’t be settling anything for a good week or so.”
I scoffed. “You ordering bed rest there, Shooter?”
A few laughs roared. “I think bed rest would be more trouble than good. But your head will be sore for a bit. Might need to have your girl keep you busy differently.”
“Basically keep it in your pants. Distance makes the heart grow fonder,” B.B joked.
“Not if someone makes something else harder,” Otis retorted, hiding his laughter.
“I give it two days, and if anything Melody will make him break,” B.B continued.
“A hundred says five days and he breaks all by himself.” Otis extended his hand, B.B shook it.
Fuckers. All of them.
But I only had one thing on my mind, and that was to go back to Melody.
I wouldn’t break a promise like that. I wondered if she was exactly where I wanted her to be. And when I opened the door, I saw the most beautiful sight. Something that revived this non-existing heart.