Six
Grayson
After a fifteen minute drive out to the countryside, we stopped at the crossroads of Homestead and Fallow and pulled the trucks along the side of the road.
A moment later, two more trucks pulled in behind us.
We hopped out and met the guys from Pyro Devils on the grassy area that led into a smattering of trees.
Just enough to conceal us for a little while during our trek up to the farmhouse.
Nodding my head at Pip, I gestured to his entourage.
Twist, Badger, and what looked like two prospects since I didn’t recognize them accompanied him.
“We’re not sure how many if any are stationed in the building.
We appreciate you backing us up.
I can’t imagine we’ll be outnumbered. If anything we believe it’s only a storehouse; we’re unaware of any formal clubhouse. I’m assuming you guys haven’t heard any differently.”
Pip ran his hand through his dirty blond hair and studied me with his unusual yellow eyes.
"From what we can gather, they don’t have anything permanent here.
It looks like they run in small amounts of supplies and men weekly; moving out before they are detected other than the few times one of our clubs nabbed them.
It’s like they are scoping out where the best areas to hide or blend in are and how to best stay under the radar.
Almost as if they are in their planning stage.”
“Your thoughts make sense.
We get the same vibe.
So hopefully we can keep intercepting them so that they don’t get a chance to settle their own chapter here.
Or even better; remove enough of them so there isn’t a sufficient number for a club.
Let’s go see what we got.”
Our two groups trudged through the copse of trees.
When we reached the clearing about thirty yards from the farmhouse, a battered structure left decaying from the weather and absent upkeep, we split into singles and partners to lessen our chance of detection or rouse suspicion.
But we also shifted to a jog knowing if there was anyone stationed at the farmhouse, we wouldn’t remain undetected for long.
Giving a passing glance to the Anderson’s stable off in the distance but close enough to hear gunfire should it erupt, I positioned myself just to the right of the entrance to the building, Ryder at my side.
“Do you think I gave everyone enough time to get positioned around the perimeter?”
“Yeah, the guys all seemed to be moving at a quick clip.”
Ryder slipped his gun from the back of his waistband.
Releasing a loud whistle, I copied his action before slamming my weight into the front door.
The hinges gave way without much protest and Ryder and I burst inside.
Eyes searching the expanse of the room as best we could in the dim light – the windows had been boarded up but a well-placed kick could remove those obstacles – nothing seemed out of place.
The inside was as decrepit as the outside.
We stood in what was once an open layout to the living space and kitchen area, but no furniture or appliances remained.
Dust and dirt covered the floor, windowsills, arch ways, and staircase that led to the bedrooms upstairs.
The interior walls were crumbling and holes had been punched into the boards allowing a bit of light and heat into the place.
It was quiet – a quiet that made the hairs on the back of your neck stand on end.
Giving Ryder a nod, I stepped along the perimeter of the right side of the room while he took the opposite, both of us moving toward the stairs.
As I passed one of the covered windows, I knocked twice on the wooden panel to signal we were inside.
When I was about half way around the room, a bullet buzzed by the side of my head before a second one grazed my upper arm.
A split second later, pounding feet down the stairs filled the silence before four guys opened fire on us.
With nothing to use as a shield, I crouched down as low as I could and shot at our attackers.
In less than a minute, the four rival members lay in various sprawls at the bottom of the steps and off to the right.
Shaking off our brief burst of excitement, I stood.
“You okay, Grayson? Did the bullet go clean through?”
Ryder stepped in front of me.
Twisting my arm so that the two of us could get a better look, I shrugged.
“I might need a couple stitches since the bullet just grazed me.
Let’s make sure there aren’t any more upstairs waiting to pounce.
And I’m willing to bet my left nut sac there is something stored here.”
Movement at the front door drew our gaze to Pip and Twist standing at the entrance.
“Badger and Skip grabbed one scaling down the outside from a room upstairs.
We’ll follow you guys up there in case there are any more.
You okay?”
Pip nodded to my arm.
“Yeah.
Might need a Band-Aid though.”
After securing the hands of our unconscious adversaries with zip ties, the four of us crept upstairs with me in the lead.
At the top, the four of us broke off to search the rooms.
doorways were spaced along the hallway, leading to possible bedrooms and closets and I was sure a bathroom.
Inside the first room I ducked into, I didn’t encounter any more foes, but instead a huge heap of guns of various makes and boxes of ammunition were stacked along the far wall.
If the police hadn’t already been alerted to the confrontation taking place at this farmhouse, we’d have to call it in to get this merchandise removed.
No way in hell were we moving it for them. Chief Wolfe was already looking to use any excuse to put the hammer down on us.
When I stepped back out into the hallway, I met up with the other three guys.
“A nice stash of drugs in the closet in that bedroom.”
Ryder gestured with his head to the room beside the one I had just exited.
“But I’m not touching anything.
And I didn’t find anything else or anyone else.”
“The other rooms are clear as well of goods or people.”
Pip answered.
“I guess it’s time to alert the police.
Cuz I’m with Ryder, not touching anything.”
He jerked his hands up in a mock surrender.
“We did enough of their dirty work already.”
Sirens sounded in the distance.
“Guess someone already called in our little incident.
Let’s go greet our friends.”
Hopefully we could give our statements quickly and be out of here before any more shit went down.
And I wasn’t talking about another fight with enemy club members – I itched for that type of shit.
I was referring to an argument with the chief or interference from his daughter or both.
At the bottom of the stairs, Axel stood in the middle of the room surveying our handiwork.
“Did you even break a sweat? Looks like you didn’t even give them a chance to come at you.
Where’s the fun in that?”
He shoved a mass of his dark blond hair out of his face, his brown eyes amused.
“Couldn’t you at least give them a second to think they had the upper hand?”
Then his gaze caught on the bright red dripping down my upper arm.
“I take that back.
You gave them a little satisfaction before you wiped out their asses.”
Shaking my head, I released a chuckle.
“Why don’t we head out and join the others? That should make it easier to take off then once we briefly converse with the police.”
At least I hoped our interaction was swift.
Outside, the others were gathered in two groups – Pyro Devil members and Twisted Flame members – but at least the huddles were near one another.
And someone had dragged the one botched escapee around and had his bound unconscious body lying in front of the house.
“No one else attempted to flee?”
Twisting my head toward the end of the driveway, I tracked the two police cars driving up, lights flashing but the siren silenced.
“Nope.
Just this unlucky bastard.”
Axel chuckled.
When Chief Wolfe hopped out of his cruiser with Jimmy at his side, I sucked in a deep breath.
Just tell him what your club had heard and what you found here and then be on your way.
“What the hell were you guys thinking? You should’ve waited for back up.”
The chief stormed up to our group, his expression seething with irritation.
Great.
This wasn’t going to be a brief interaction.
I spared a glance over my shoulder in the direction of the neighboring stable.
“What if they’d have run and taken a neighbor hostage or something?”
Chief was still in the middle of his rant.
“Or if the gun fight had moved outside and an innocent got caught in the crossfire?”
“We had it under control.
We have a decent team here.
And we had the building surrounded before we entered.”
I gestured to the members from the two clubs.
“And it’s not our first rodeo.
By the way; you’re welcome.”
I probably shouldn’t have added that little jab, but he pissed me the fuck off.
The look he shot me was nothing short of murderous.
And I caught his gaze slide over the red staining my upper arm.
“I’m fine.
Thanks for asking.”
My tone dripped with much warranted sarcasm.
Ignoring my retort, he gestured with his head to the two officers who had hopped out of the second cruiser.
“Make a sweep of the interior.
Make sure there aren’t any others hiding.”
Since there wasn’t any sense in arguing the fact we knew how to handle incidents like this, I merely informed him of our discoveries.
“One of the rooms upstairs is storing weapons and the closet of another room has a nice stash of drugs.
We left everything untouched so as to not interfere in your investigation.”
He grumbled something under his breath that I was sure was accusatory and no doubt offensive, but didn’t address us.
He was well aware he wouldn’t find any stolen merchandise on our persons.
We didn’t deal in illegal stock.
“Hey, what’s all of the excitement here? We heard gun shots.”
Turning to face the newcomers, I released a huge groan.
Of course the neighbor would come investigate the commotion erupting within hearing distance.
And naturally he’d bring along the vet who had made a house call and the sexy receptionist who had assisted him.
Another frustrated groan slipped from my lips.
“Some trespassers were using this abandoned house, but we’ll be taking them into custody.
Everything is okay now.”
Chief Wolfe’s tone had returned to his customary polite police voice reassuring civilians there wasn’t any danger.
The farmer shifted his brown gaze to me.
“Thank you guys for taking care of things here.”
Then he ran his hand over his messy brown hair.
“Out here it is easy for bad stuff to go unnoticed.”
The other man’s white lab coat gave away the fact he was the veterinarian.
He was older than the farmer gauging by the graying of his brown hair at the temples.
His shrewd blue eyes traveled over the group as he scrutinized the club members.
“Thankfully, your gunfire didn’t spook the horse we had in labor.
That would have made for a precarious situation. But both horse and fawn are doing fine.”
“I’m glad to hear things went well.”
Then the chief eyed his daughter.
“And you shouldn’t be up here.
See, hanging around these corrupt club members drags you into danger.”
Throwing her hands on her hips, she shot a fiery look at her father.
“As was just mentioned, the danger is under control.
And . . . ”
She drew out the word as her voice grew more annoyed.
“I came up with the vet I’m working with to check out things not because I was hanging around a club member.
So you can’t go blaming anything – ”
Her eyes widened when her gaze drifted over the red stains on my arm before she rushed over to stand before me.
“Oh my God.
Are you okay, Grayson? They’re here giving you shit when you’re injured.”
Lifting her hand, she reached up to lightly trace around the outer ring of the bullet graze.
Her gentle touch lessened the anger that had been boiling through me ever since the cops had shown up.
So despite my irritation with her father, my lips curled into a smile.
“I’m okay, Princess.
I’ll get our Doc to take a look at it and get it cleaned and probably a couple stitches, but it’s no big deal.
Thank you for being worried about me.”
Leaning down, I pressed a quick kiss to her forehead.
Might as well earn his wrath.
“Brooke, I think you should be heading back to work.
I don’t believe the good doctor pays you to stand around hanging out with your . . . ”
When his voice trailed off, Brooke filled in the missing noun.
“Boyfriend, Dad.
Boyfriend.
And when he and the farmer head back, I’ll follow.”
The vet gave her dad an interesting look that I could only suspect was mild curiosity over his intense reaction to who Brooke was dating mixed with something else I couldn’t identify.
I schooled my features to stop the cocky grin that wanted to spread across my face.
Yeah my girlfriend is a beautiful girl who is out of my league and it irritates the hell out of her cop father because I’m a club member.
Life’s funny that way.
“Thanks again for taking care of things.
We really should get someone to tear down the building.
It’s only going to cause more harm than good.
I’ll talk to some of the other neighbors and see if they have any ideas.”
Giving us a nod, the farmer turned and strolled back down to his place.
“I’ll see you tonight after work, Grayson.”
Brooke stood on her tip toes and pressed a brief kiss to my lips before trailing off after the farmer and her boss.
“We’ll need a few words with those who were inside the building, separately of course, before you take off.”
The chief’s clipped words sparked my anger again.
Of course.
Treating us like suspects.
But I shouldn’t have expected any better.
He stormed over to Pip and the two of them rounded the corner of the house.
I was surprised he didn’t march him inside to sit on the bottom step – since there wasn’t any furniture inside – to act out “bad cop bad cop”
since it was doubtful any of the present officers liked either of our clubs.
Although maybe he was saving that for me.
“You know the police were never overly thrilled to have our assistance, just accepted it as a necessary evil, but I guess it’s going to be worse now since you’re banging the chief’s daughter.”
Axel shot me a devilish grin.
“Shut up, dickhead.
I’m not banging her.”
I leveled a heated glare at him.
He studied me for a long moment, his expression pensive “Sorry, Bro.
I had no idea you were serious.
I’m happy for you, Grayson.
She looks like quite the catch.”
Sucking in a much needed breath, I waved away his apology.
“It’s okay.
I get it.
No one expected me to settle down, but she’s it for me.
She’s the whole damn package. And I don’t give a fuck what her dad thinks of me, but I know it’s causing Brooke issues. And I don’t want that.”
After we each gave our statement to the chief, we hiked down to our trucks and then headed back to the garage.
At the auto shop, I stopped in briefly to let the guys know I’d be back to finish up the car I had been working on when we had gotten called out to the farmhouse.
As I crossed our lot to my Hog, I sent a quick text to Blooms before mounting my bike and riding over to the clinic.
Deciding it would be a good idea to not go through the main lobby with a gunshot wound, I steered around to the rear lot.
We normally used this entrance anyway since ninety nine percent of the time we weren’t coming here for a physical. At the back door, I knocked three times really hard.
A moment later, Blooms popped her head out and gave me a tired smile.
“Come on in, Grayson.”
She held the door open for me.
“I’ll get you settled into a room and then give me like five minutes and I’ll be in.”
“It’s okay, Blooms.”
I followed her down the hallway before we ducked into the third room on the right.
“I know you have other patients and I have a little bit of time.
And it’s not an emergency.
You know we really appreciate all you do for us.”
“Well, it’s not like you guys don’t pay me really well for it either.
And I really appreciate that.
That money helps me keep my clinic running.”
She held up her hand, fingers spread out.
“Five minutes; at the most ten, I promise.”
Then she slipped out into the hallway.
My phone buzzed with a text, so I pulled it out of my pocket and grinned.
Princess: Did you get your arm looked at yet?
Me: Doing that now.
Thanks for checking up on me.
Does this mean you are going to take care of me tonight since I’m wounded? ;)
Princess: Of course.
See you later ;)
A few minutes later, a knock sounded on the door right before Blooms stepped inside.
“Only about five minutes.”
She walked over to the sink and washed her hands before gesturing to me.
“Up on the exam table big guy.”
Her eyes lit up with amusement and she shot me a smirk.
“Fine.”
Grumbling, I strode over toward her and hopped up on the paper covered bench.
“Every one of my patients has to sit on here.”
Her fingers lightly prodded and probed before she cleaned out the gash.
“No fragments and you probably only need a few stitches.”
Efficiently and effortlessly, she numbed the area and added a few stitches.
The entire process didn’t take long at all.
“I don’t like seeing you guys hurt at all, but I know it comes with the territory.
But I’m always thankful when it is something really minor.
You remember the recommendations for showering with stitches, right? Not for at least twelve hours and then don’t let it get soaked. It will only be for a few days. I can remove the stitches in four days.”
She twisted and reached up into a cabinet to get ointment and a bandage.
“Can you give me a waterproof bandage or something? I want to shower tonight.
I’ll be sharing my bed with a beautiful girl tonight and I feel really grungy after our incident today.”
Turning around, she raised an eyebrow at me.
“I don’t think the skanks you take to bed will mind if you don’t shower.
She probably wouldn’t even notice.”
It was my turn to raise my brow at her.
She shrugged.
“I don’t hear you denying it.”
“Your comment is true, but I’m not taking a skank to bed.
I actually have a girlfriend now.
Cop’s daughter and nowhere near a skank.”
“I’m happy for you.
First Ryder, now you.
I’m impressed.
That’s great.”
She paused and her expression grew thoughtful.
“Not Chief Nolan’s daughter?”
“The one and only.”
She blew out a low whistle.
“Well you must be in love to venture into that.
Great girl.
I met her once at Community Days.
She stopped by my booth and gave a really nice donation. She’s really friendly and has a beautiful heart. But he’s a hard man. Especially after he lost his wife. I can’t imagine he’s too thrilled about the two of you.”
My brain was still processing her words about love and it took me a long minute to respond.
Did I love Brooke? The thought didn’t freak me out and when I considered how she made me feel, how much I wanted her in my life, and how insane I grew when she was in danger, it made sense that the answer was yes.
I loved Brooke.
But I wasn’t about to dive into that little revelation here.
“He hates me. Although hate might not be a strong enough word to describe the contempt he feels for me. But I’ll figure something out. I don’t plan on letting her go.”
I was sure Doc picked up on the words I wasn’t saying.
And I was relieved when she didn’t comment.
Instead, she twisted once again to grab different bandages out of her cabinet.
Then she covered my wound.
“You can shower tonight.
I agree.
I don’t want you offending your girlfriend either. I’m sure she will appreciate your dedication to hygiene.”
Her lips curled into a teasing grin.
“Good luck.
But I think he will eventually see that you’re a pretty great guy.
I’m assuming I still don’t need to give you after care instructions.”
“Nope.
I’ve had enough injuries I know the drill.
And I’ll come back in if it gets infected before I need the stitches removed.”
“You mean you’ll actually return to have me take them out?”
“Maybe.”
I gave her my own teasing smirk.
“I don’t want to keep you any longer.
Thanks for squeezing me in.
Hope I don’t see you for a while.”
“Likewise, Grayson.
You can see yourself out.”
With that, she slipped out the door.
I immediately followed and walked down the hallway to the rear entrance and on out to my bike.
Stopping at a little café, I grabbed a quick sandwich and drink before continuing to the garage.
And less than fifteen minutes later, I was back under the hood of the car I had been working on earlier.
Thankfully, no more interruptions and I was able to finish the car and get out of work on time.
During my ride home, I spun the concept of loving Brooke around in my head. Should I tell her tonight? Did I just blurt it out? Fuck, I was new at this. Maybe I’d just wait for the perfect moment and hope I recognized it.
When I pulled in at my house, Brooke’s Civic was parked in the driveway, so I maneuvered around her car and into the garage.
Stepping in through the side door, I entered the kitchen.
Brooke had been sitting on the couch, but leapt from her seat like the cushion had caught on fire the moment her eyes landed on me.
Rushing into the kitchen, she stopped in front of me and peered at the bandage on my arm.
“So you got it all taken care of? Is it okay? Does it hurt when you move your arm?”
“Princess, unfortunately this isn’t my first injury or even first bullet wound and it won’t be my last.”
I released a disheartened sigh.
Maybe her dad was right.
I mentally shook my head.
No, he wasn’t.
We kept the girls out of club business.
Sage was a unique case.
And she wasn’t in club business; she was targeted because of her unintentional involvement with one years ago.
“But I’m okay.
And I don’t want you to worry every time there is an incident.
It’ll make you crazy.
And I know Sage will have similar emotions as well each time we have club business to take care of. But I am always careful and I will always keep you safe.”
“I know you will.
I’m not concerned about that.”
She raised a brow at me.
“You’re allowed to worry about me, but I can’t worry about you?”
“Yup.”
I popped the p at the end of the word.
“Well, I’m going to worry about you too.
And you can’t stop me.
I dare you to try, big bad biker dude.”
She threw her hands onto her hips.
“Fiesty, just how I love you.”
I was deliberate with my words and waited a few beats for them to sink in.
One, two, three, four . . .
Her eyes widened.
“Wait.
Do you mean what I think you mean?”
“That I love you? Yes.”
Her lips curled into a stunning smile.
“I love you too, Grayson.”
“So you think big bad biker dudes can’t fall in love?” I teased.
“I don’t believe that for a second.
I can not only see it between Sage and Ryder, but I can feel it too; it’s incredibly strong.
And I knew you were capable of it too.
I knew you cared a lot about me.
I just didn’t think you’d want the hassle because of my dad.”
Snaking my good arm around her waist, I tugged her to my chest and kissed the top of her head.
“You’re more than worth the grief I know I’m going to get.
But we’ll figure it out.
But how about tonight, you help me shower and I show you just how much I love you.”
Tilting her head back, she gazed up at me, her eyes dancing with lust and a hefty concentration of love, so I pressed my lips to hers.
It was only meant to be a quick taste, but quickly morphed into a devouring.
“Hey, keep the extreme PDA out of the shared living areas until Ryder and I can indulge as well.”
Sage’s amused and annoyed tone preceded her entry into the kitchen.
“I came in for a snack and then I’m going to take a nap before dinner.
You two are making dinner, right?”
She walked over to the refrigerator and stuck her head inside.
“Jade is sleeping now so I’m taking advantage.”
She pulled out a container of mixed fruit and another of yogurt and placed them on the counter, before retrieving a bag of granola from one cupboard and a bowl from another.
“We’re planning to make dinner tonight.
So you eat your snack and take your nap.
We’re going to cuddle on the couch before starting the food.”
I tugged Brooke into the living room and we left Sage to her snack.
After dinner, Brooke joined me in the shower, where we washed one another and indulged in a huge amount of foreplay before I took her to bed to make love, demonstrating how much I loved her thoroughly .
. . twice.
The next morning, while we ate breakfast, I warned her to stay out of trouble so that I would stay out of trouble with her father.
She gave me a less than convincing promise she would do her best.
Then I walked her out to her car and kissed her soundly before she slid into the driver’s seat and backed down the driveway.
The work day at the garage passed by quickly and without any incidents and to my knowledge nothing transpired anywhere that would inadvertently have Brooke involved.
However, after work, when I pulled into our driveway and discovered Brooke’s car not there, an eerie feeling washed over me.
Rushing inside, I jerked to a stop.
Ryder stood at the bar, scowling at a piece of paper in his hand.
He growled.
“Apparently Sage and Brooke went out to do a little shopping before dinner.
She dropped Jade off with Misti and Angel.
I mean she did have Bolt go with them, but I want to have at least two guys with her anytime she is out without me. Until this shit with Brutal Demons is done. Fuck.”
He pulled his phone out of his pocket and tapped on the screen.
“Well fuck.
It went right to voicemail.”
He jabbed his finger on the screen again.
“And her tracker has been disabled.”
He slammed his hand onto the bar.
“Someone broke her phone.
Fucking bastard! Let’s head to the club.
We need to set up and conduct a search and probably rescue.”
I followed Ryder out to the garage to hop back on my bike, my mind a whirl with scenarios.
And none of them good.
My gut churned because something told me we weren’t overreacting and Sage had just dropped her phone and now it wasn’t working properly.
Before I drove in the direction of the club, I called first Brooke’s then Bolt’s phone, but both also went straight to voicemail.
At least the two girls were most likely together and could depend on one another until we got to them. But that didn’t provide me much comfort.