Chapter Seventeen
Ithink I might have died and ended up in some kind of afterlife, but if this was my forever, I wasn’t going to argue.
I lay on the hard floor, wrapped around the woman I wished I’d found decades earlier, and fought to regain my breath.
I honestly felt like we’d fucked for days.
I was aching all over, groggy, exhausted, but sated.
Satisfied. That’s how you feel when you’ve spent god knows how long buried inside the woman you love.
I could taste her, I could feel her, and I could hear her soft breaths as she slept beside me.
Sure the floor was uncomfortable as hell, and I knew both of us would suffer because of it, but I didn’t care.
Ally was my future, and my fucking reason for breathing. She’d brought me back from the brink when we met, and she’d always be my priority. Always be my heart.
The really weird part was not knowing how we got here, or why we were in a room that stank of bourbon, or something like it, and why the floor was sticky with more than sweat and cum.
“Ally?” She groaned, and rolled her head to face me, as I backed up and let her roll fully onto her side.
“Woman?”
“Why’s our bed so uncomfortable, old man?” She groaned again. “Jesus, did we drink ourselves to death?”
I grinned, stroking her hair back from her face. The light in the room was dim, coming from outside somewhere, and leaching in through the gaps around the door, and a tiny window above it. It was enough to see the woman of my dreams, smiling sleepily at me.
“We’re on the floor.”
She giggled softly. “Again? We’re getting too old for this shit, Reacher.”
She wasn’t wrong. A sound outside the door made me force myself to sit up, but my clothes were nowhere near me, and Ally was doing no better.
I didn’t get a chance to call out to whoever was outside, before the door flew open, and three faces peered in, and then the cursing began as they disappeared from view.
“Jesus fuck. I saw his junk. I’mma need so much therapy.”
“It’s worse than that, man. You saw his old lady in the buff. You’ll die first.”
“Yeah? Not if I run faster than you, dickhead.”
“Get some fucking blankets, you pair of idiots. Reacher, I’m coming back in, so can you cover up your bits and her jubblies?”
I grinned and pulled Ally behind me, finally reaching my shirt and draping it around her, while her hand covered my ‘bits’.
“We’re decent,” I called out, and I heard a murmur of ‘chance would be a fine thing’, but the person reappeared, and finally my faculties were getting back online.
“Ryder, you wanna tell me what the fuck’s going on here?”
He looked exhausted, bloody, and frustrated, as he gestured behind him.
“Tonight’s been a real shit-show, Pres, but we’re finally under control. Are you uh… compos mentis again?”
I glanced at Ally, who was peering around my shoulders, and scratched at my jaw as I tried casting my mind back. All I saw was the best slideshow of pornographic depravity, with my lady love as the main star, and despite my confusion, I grinned.
“Jesus fuck. Never tell me. We were all drugged, or I guess, most of you were. Is your brain firing on all cylinders yet, or you wanna spend a few more hours shut in this crappy little room?”
I had to admit, the temptation was strong. Staying in here, and plundering my woman a few more times, because who the fuck cares about chafing anyway, was definitely an idea I was considering, but I wouldn’t be a good club president if I didn’t give a crap about anyone but me.
“Everyone okay?”
Ryder grimaced, slumping against the doorway, and shielding us a little from what I now realised was the compound’s floodlights, rather than sunshine.
How fucking long had I been out of it? I realised the dull rumbling sound I’d heard in the background, for the last half hour or so, was a portable generator, which was only necessary if we’d lost power in the compound.
“We have some casualties, but nobody we care about is dead.” That didn’t tell me much. There were people he might not care about, but they still mattered.
“Stitch? The old ladies?”
He grinned suddenly, looking less like he’d had a house dropped on him, at least for a few seconds.
“Cammy went into labour, and they left here in a fucking helicopter.”
Jesus Christ. It sounded to me like someone was still high as a kite, if that story was even fucking true, which meant it was time for me step up and take over. I caught hold of Ally’s clothes and tossed them behind me for her, while we both started to dress.
“Ry, fuck off and sober up, and send someone in here who’s got their brain switched on.”
“Charming, that is. Here I am, braving the sight of you two in your fucking birthday suits, and giving you the sit-rep you requested, and you’re being a prick.”
“Helicopters? Come on. Seriously. Who’s sober? Ice. Ice’ll be sober, send him in.”
Ryder cursed, reaching a hand out to help me up as soon as I was mostly decent.
“Ice is being treated for injuries, dammit. Reacher, stop being a shit. I’m sober. I’ve been sober all fucking night, unlike some people, who were trying to fuck everyone, because they thought they were Ally. Sound familiar?”
Ally started giggling behind me, and I turned to pull her up, now she was covered up and Ryder wouldn’t have to lose both eyes.
“You weren’t drugged, but others were?”
Ryder rolled his eyes at Ally. “See how he conveniently skates right over his abhorrent behaviour, and focuses on literally anything else?”
“Ry, answer my fucking question.”
He sighed, backing outside as he spoke, while we followed, stepping warily out into the chaos of the compound and grounds, and that oppressive glare from the floodlights.
“Most people were off their faces, seeing fairies, taking nosedives off buildings, and trying to fucking destroy the place. The office building was burned down, and Grease, Ice, Stitch, Micro, and several others were injured, badly or otherwise. You know, gunshots or whatever, oh and Cammy and Stitch DID leave in a fucking chopper, courtesy of the Don, and no I didn’t fucking imagine that. Prick.”
Jesus fuck. The place looked like it’d had a tornado ripping through it, and there were multiple bikers sitting around looking dazed, many with their hands ziptied in front of them.
Several guys in black, armed with fucking handguns and rifles, were patrolling the place, and the sound of sirens filled the air, as I turned a horrified glare in Ryder’s direction.
“You called the fucking cops? Are you stupid? We’ll all end up banged up. We can’t hide anything right now!”
Ryder flipped me off, and started limping away from me, yelling stuff to the guys with guns, but he turned back as he left.
“I didn’t call anyone, but guess what, with multiple gunshots, and fucking smoke from the fire, which would have been visible for miles, not to mention an incoming helicopter? I’m guessing someone called them on us. Get your game face on, Pres. We need to do damage control.”
The guys with guns started removing zipties from the subdued men, and tidying up started happening around us, but nobody really seemed to be with it, and that building Ryder mentioned?
Yeah, the smoke billowing from that, even though it seemed to be no longer burning, would have been exactly the kind of fucking smoke signal calling the cops to our location.
“Who’s behind it?”
I was following Ryder, because half the story wasn’t exactly helpful right now, especially if we were about to face off with cops.
“Former Rogues, Pres. They’re dealt with.” That was Micro, who was sitting on a upturned crate, while someone patched up what looked like a bullet wound in his shoulder, just below his collarbone.
“You good? Your old lady?” Micro nodded, pointing to a mass of old ladies huddled around the firepit, sipping from steaming mugs.
“Uh… I got a lot of gaps in my memory right now,” I admitted, trying to find some order in the chaos around me, even as blue lights started to light up the darkness outside the compound.
“It’s alright, we’ve got it under control. We can debrief when you’re ready, Reacher. You want me to deal with the pigs?”
Grease suddenly appeared, sporting a bandaged head, and a savage grin.
“I’ve got this, Pres… uh… Pressess… Jesus, yeah, just leave it with me.”
Micro cursed, and glared at the guy patching him up, who I definitely didn’t recognise.
“You wanna move faster? He’s about to go get himself arrested again.”
Tesio / Grease
If you wanted to ask me what my favourite part of this night was, I could cover that in four words, real easy for you. PC-Pain-In-My-Ass. Wait... that’s five. Never mind. Head injuries weren’t conducive to the whole mathing thing.
I already knew it’d be her, because who else would tear ass into the fucking compound in the dead of night, right?
As luck would have it, as it always happened when she showed up, the fucking gates were wide open, this time because Rossi’s men had just legged it, to avoid being seen by her and whoever she’d brought with her.
There were two cars this time, so that meant more fucking eyes we didn’t need on us.
“Well, well, well… if it isn’t my favourite cop, how’s it hanging, PC Pain?”
She stormed right up to me, her glare faltering as she took in the bandage on my head, before she pasted her usual feisty face back on.
“Looks to me like someone’s already in pain.”
“Wanna make it worse? I’ll let you spank me.” I heard someone sniggering, but her glare just intensified, and fuck me, it never stopped being hot.
“I’m serious,” I said, leaning closer, grinning when she didn’t back up. Of course she didn’t. She couldn’t give up power to me, could she?
“I’m sure you think you’d like that, Grease, but I doubt you could handle me that way.”
She moved past me, to cast her eyes over the assorted bikers milling around, and picking up the mess around them.
“Looks like you’ve had one hell of a party here. Any illegal drugs being partaken of?”
Ha. If she only knew.
“We don’t do anything illegal here, officer. We’re just motorcycle enthusiasts, celebrating motorcycle type stuff. You did see all our rides over there, right? This is what we do. We ride, we drink, and then we go to bed, like good little boys, and sleep it off.”
Someone suddenly started chucking their guts up somewhere near us, and I grimaced, because my stomach clenched at the sound. If this night could stop sucking right about now, that’d be great.
“Looks to me like some people had a little too much,” PC Pain said, trying to walk further into the compound, while Micro and Reacher looked about ready to get involved.
I shook my head at them, because right now she was the only one encroaching, but if too many of us approached her, the rest would step up, and that’s when it’d all go to hell.
We had all kinds of illegal shit in this place right now, not least my prized golden Desert Eagle, tucked in the back of my fucking pants right now, and hopefully covered by my cut.
“Uh… nobody’s breaking any laws here, officer, so why don’t you head on home, tuck yourself into bed, and read some prissy fucking romance where everyone’s a good guy?”
She glared at me. “At the very least, there’s been a fire here. That’s dangerous, and if it was set deliberately, that’s a crime.”
I stepped up behind her, letting her feel my body touching hers, and you know what, she didn’t flinch, which told me I was definitely still right up there in her head, living rent free. Maybe in her pants too, who knows.
“Someone left the oven on, love. What’s your beef with us really? You just wanna see if you’ve got what it takes to play with the bad boys? You want a ride? I’m happy to entertain any part of you, but it ain’t happening right now. I’ve got a headache.”
She spun to look at me again. “Have you seen a doctor? Do you need a ride to the hospital?”
I found myself smiling at her, because suddenly that glare was gone, and was that concern in those pretty eyes of hers?
“Aw baby, you’re worried about me? That’s cute. Don’t worry, my other head is just fine, but this isn’t the time for that, unless you want your boys to watch.”
She rolled her eyes and pushed past me, stopping again to look over her shoulder.
“I could force the issue, you know. Insist on us checking everyone out, looking for illegal weapons, drugs, that kind of thing. Get an arson investigator in to check that mess over there. I just know you’re not telling me everything right now.”
I dragged a hand down my face, and cursed under my breath.
Suddenly my head was throbbing too much to try and play nice with her, and I needed those cops gone, so we could finish sorting the guys out here.
The Don had sent two vans full of guys and a few of his personal medical team, to help patch people up, and the vans were hidden around the back of the compound right now, while the guys were mostly scattered in the woods, waiting, and the medics were helping injured bikers.
The longer she lingered with her little boys club there, the greater the chance she’d see something we couldn’t explain away, and then we’d have a huge apocalyptic collision of shit and a fan, and I didn’t have the energy for that.
“Yeah, well thanks for stopping by. I’d like you to get off our property now. As you can see, we’re tidying up after a bit of a party, and we’d all like to get some sleep while the sun’s still out for the count, yeah?”
PC Pain stared at me for long enough that I thought she was about to press her luck, but as her teeth sank into her bottom lip, I started to wonder if she was considering something else involving ‘pressure’, and even though I was barely holding myself up right now, I’d willingly try. Finally she shrugged.
“We’ll be back in the morning, when it’s daylight, and if I’m not satisfied that this is just a party aftermath, we’ll tear this place apart and find all your secrets.” Fuck me. Those are the kind of words that get people killed, mafia-style.
Time to get her the fuck out of here. I strode toward her and practically propelled her off the premises, managing not to touch her with a single part of me, and therefore avoiding yet another arrest. I didn’t mind them normally, but I wasn’t in the fucking mood for all that shit right now.
“Looking forward to it, PC Pain. I’ll get the lube ready.”
Movement from the corner of my eye, of the flesh coloured variety, missed her attention by a split second, and then I was pushing that gate closed behind her, while Torch cursed and dragged his naked lady back to wherever the hell she just appeared from. Hell. Maybe this shit wasn’t quite over yet.