Chapter 12
TWELVE
Oro
Lobo and I run like the devil himself is chasing us.
He slows up just as he gets to the front door of Seda, but I won’t do any such thing.
I keep going, ready to burst through, until Lobo sticks his arm out and grabs me before I can push through.
I hear screaming and glass crashing. No more gunshots though.
“What the fuck!” I try to pull out of Lobo’s grip, but he holds me steady.
“Calma. Just wait. Are you carrying?” he questions me.
It’s only then that I look down and realize that I’m in a pair of flannel-printed pajama pants and a wife beater. He’s got on a similar outfit. Neither of us is prepared for whatever it is we are about to walk in on.
“Shit. I didn’t. Everything is back at the clubhouse.” I shoot a look over my shoulder.
“Me too,” Lobo whispers.
More screaming and crashing. “We can’t waste time going back,” I hiss at him.
“I know.” He steps in front of me. “I’m going to tackle the first fucker I see. You come in right behind me and get whoever else is there. Hopefully, with the surprise, they won’t have a chance to get another shot off.”
He doesn’t have to say it out loud. I know exactly why he’s opting to go in first. He’s protecting me. If they shoot, he’ll get hit first.
I don’t have time to argue the plan with him. He’s already reaching for the door.
Shit happens all at once. Lobo yanks the door open and does exactly what he said he was going to do. He roars and tackles the first asshole in the reception area who doesn’t belong there.
I only have a chance to do a brief scan of the room.
There are two other motherfuckers in here, both of them with black masks covering their entire faces.
One of them is on the ground, holding pressure against a bullet wound in his lower abdomen.
The other one freezes when he sees me come in.
I don’t wait for him to come to grips with what’s happening.
Instead, I lunge for him, grab his shirt with one hand, and bring my other fist against his face as hard as I can.
I punch him over and over until I’m pretty sure he’s begging me to stop.
I can’t hear him. I don’t want to hear him.
These bastards had the nerve to come into our establishment and try to hurt the women who trusted us. They need to die for that.
Seconds later, the door to Seda bursts open and I drop the man to turn toward the new threat. I breathe a sigh of relief when I see it’s not a threat but the rest of my brothers, armed and ready to do some fucking damage.
“What the fuck is happening?” Vado growls at us.
“I don’t know. We got a page and we came running. We haven’t been able to get any information.”
AZ steps forward and grabs the man Lobo tackled when he first rushed in and heaves him to his feet.
AZ yanks the mask off his face and we can all see the number Lobo did on him.
“That’s okay. I’m sure he’ll have a lot to talk to me about.
” The jerk is barely conscious, but the fear is definitely there in his half-swollen eyes.
Digger turns to look at me. “I swore I heard gunshots.”
I look at all three men and can see none of them have guns, but one of them is clearly shot. I turn to look at Coca, who looks a little roughed up but nothing that will leave permanent damage.
“Where’s the gun?” I question.
She doesn’t answer, just raises a shaky hand in the opposite direction where a small group of the girls are all huddled together. Right in the center is Estrella. Her eyes are locked on the man still on the floor bleeding out. In her hand is a gun. A .22 LR pistol. Small but deadly.
“Starlight, look at me,” I whisper and take a step in her direction. It’s almost as if she can’t see me. She can’t see anyone besides the man on the floor.
I position myself so I’m in her line of sight and she can’t see him anymore. She whimpers, and I watch the gun in her hand tremble.
“Coca, what happened?” Vado questions.
“We thought they were clients. I didn’t check. I didn’t…”
I don’t focus on those words. She shouldn’t have to check. This is going to fall on me. I should have been around to make sure the influx of people that we attracted today knew that this wasn’t the kind of place to test their luck.
Prissy is the next one to speak up. “The three of them came in together with the masks on already. That one grabbed Coca as she went for the panic button. He had a knife to Coca’s neck.
Estrella was here, saw what was going on, and just reacted.
She knew where we kept the gun. She probably saved Coca’s life. She didn’t have a choice.”
I smirk. “That’s my girl,” I hear myself say, and it scares me. I don’t know where the sentiment comes from, but somehow I’m proud of Estrella for doing what needed to be done.
Her eyes finally flick up to mine. I can still see the shock and the fear, but at least she’s looking at me now.
“I need that gun, Starlight.” I take another step in her direction, but she makes no move to hand me the gun.
“Oro, careful. She’s in shock,” Lobo says from where he is.
“I got her,” I say back without looking at him. It’s true that if I make any sudden movements there’s a good chance she could shoot me. “We’re going to be fine.” I continue, and those words are the ones that get through to her.
Estrella’s face crumbles and her body folds forward slightly, the gun in her hand wobbling from side to side. I lunge forward and grab it from her before it can mistakenly go off.
Making sure the gun is safe, I tuck it in my waistband at the same time that I wrap my arms around Estrella, who is breaking to pieces.
“Lobo, the girls…” Before I can get another word out, he’s already ushering the girls out of the room so I can have some private time with Estrella.
“Oro, find out what she knows,” Vado orders me before he and the rest of the club who are in the reception area walk out. Now it’s only Estrella and me. She sobs against my chest and I hold her, just to make sure she doesn’t fall.
I thought I wanted this. Thought I wanted her to hurt, but with every tear that hits my chest, the more my heart breaks for her. Maybe I’m not as evil as I wanted to think I could be. I don’t know if revenge is in the cards for me. Turns out I don’t have the stomach for it.
“I’m just like him. I tried. We’re the same.” Estrella begins to speak, but she’s still pressed against my chest, so I can’t get all the words that she’s saying.
“What? Just like who? What are you talking about?” I pull her away slightly. She whines and I have to readjust my arms around her waist to help her over to the chairs so we can sit.
“I killed that man. I pulled the trigger and killed him.”
I turn and look at the bloody stain on the floor. Thankfully, someone thought far enough ahead to grab the man who Estrella had to shoot to get away from Coca.
“And? First off, you didn’t kill him. He’s still alive. Second, even if you had, you don’t need to feel bad because of that. He was trying to hurt Coca. You protected her. No one can fault you for that. You didn’t know what he was here for. There’s no telling what he was trying to do.”
“He’s here for me.” Estrella closes her eyes as the words slip through her lips.
“What the hell do you mean he’s here for you? You know him?” I narrow my eyes on her.
“No, I’ve never seen him before, but I’m sure Sina sent him in here. That’s just the way she rolls. It has to be Sina.”
Once again, Estrella is telling me about this woman that she’s trying to stay away from.
“I don’t fucking understand. If you two weren’t in some kind of relationship, why the hell is she so hard up to keep you in her grasp? What the hell do you owe her? Did you steal from her or something?”
“No, I didn’t do anything like that. She just wants me to be someone I’m not. Or at least, someone I’m trying so very hard not to be.”
“What the hell does that mean?” I shake my head and gently push a strand of hair out of her face so I can see her eyes better.
She smiles softly at me. “There’s the sweet Santiago I remember.”
It’s like a shock of electricity going through me and I back off.
“I’m nothing like the little kid you remember, Estrella.
I just need to get some information from you.
” I drop my hands away from her. I don’t need to be getting close to her.
I’m not going to give her the chance to hurt me anymore.
Not this time. My guard is going to stay up.
“I’ll see what these guys know about this Sina woman. If she is the one who sent them here, we’re going to need to talk about you setting up somewhere else. I can’t have you bringing your problems here.”
“You’d send me away? Isn’t that what you guys do? The big bad bikers who protect those that need protecting?”
Usually, that would make me feel good to hear someone describe us like that, but not right now. I don’t want her to know that about us, mostly because I don’t want to be forced to prove her wrong. If she’s here for protection, we really couldn’t get rid of her.
“You don’t need protection. You just need to learn how to pick better friends.” I scoff and stand on my feet. “I’m going back to the clubhouse to figure out what’s going on. I think your shift is over for the night. You need to get home and get some rest.”
“Coca is going to let me stay here with her.”
“What? When the hell did that become the plan? No one ran that by me,” I bark at her and she jerks back, startled.
I almost forgot that she just went through a traumatic event.
I breathe out of my nose hard. “That’s not how shit works.
We don’t have people staying on the premises without everyone in the club knowing. It’s not safe for us.”
She looks down at the ground and nods her head. “You’re right. I didn’t go through the proper protocol. I’ll leave. I just need to get my stuff.”
“Good. Ask Coca if she needs you for tomorrow. She handles the schedule. If it’s not absolutely necessary, maybe you can take tomorrow off. Tell her I said it was okay,” I offer.
After what she just went through, I’m sure she can use a day to get her head on straight.
As for me, I quickly walk out of Seda and make my way to the clubhouse.
I don’t hear anything and it’s dark enough outside that I can’t see much around the clubhouse.
If there are more of these fuckers out there, they could be watching me right now and I’d never know.
I’m just praying that the rest of the club is on edge, that they are just as vigilant as I am.
I push the doors open to the clubhouse and the first thing I see in the middle of the ground is a body with a cloth over their face.
It’s the bastard that Estrella shot. He really did die. I’m not sad about it in the least. That’s what he gets for trying to fuck with us.
I make my way through the main area and walk to the very back of the clubhouse, past church and all the storage rooms. There’s a narrow stairwell that leads underground.
The stairs are stone and the walls are uneven wood planks.
Grooves line the walls. Men clawing with all they had to keep from going down there.
The ones that go down here don’t ever come back up. These steps lead to nothing but pain and death.
I can’t hear anything, but I know that’s thanks to the soundproofing we made sure to do. I push open the door and a scream so loud pierces the air.
“What!” AZ yells at me as I poke my head into the room.
“Sorry. Ask about Sina. If he flinches, dig.”
“Sina? Who the fuck is that?” AZ questions.
“Hopefully no one we need to worry about, but make sure if you would.” I tap the wall once and he nods. There’s no need to give any more direction. If these bastards even know someone named Sina, AZ and Digger will be able to get the information out of them.