Chapter Five
One Week Later
“You know, I’m starting to feel like you’re stalking me,” Dinah said. She arrived home after a grueling day of helping young women prepare for what they consider to be the biggest night of their lives. Also, she had booked a bride for three weeks away as well.
She was tired, but that was no different than most days. Her feet hurt, she had a slight headache, and she was hungry.
“What if I am stalking you?” Road asked.
Every night for the past week, he’d either been at the salon where she worked, or he was at her home. Each night, he made her food. Last night, he even brought ingredients he knew she didn’t have, just so he could make her something different.
She didn’t have to worry about going shopping, as he helped there as well. He didn’t take the ingredients home with him.
“Well, we’ve already established that I can’t call the cops as they are useless,” Dinah said. “So, I guess I better ask if you’re planning to kill me.”
“Nope.”
“Okay, not kill. What are your intentions?” she asked, moving toward her front door. There was no point in arguing with him. He seemed to have all the answers he wanted to give.
“How about friends?”
She stepped over the threshold and spun around. “Friends, you want to be friends?” she asked.
“Why not, it makes sense?”
“Nah, it doesn’t make sense as you and I don’t have anything in common.”
“I can argue that point,” he said.
This made her chuckle.
“Go on then, Road, list all of our many common interests.” She was starting to like him and that was scary. Even though they had agreed to put their first meeting behind them, she wasn’t going to forget that he did attempt to strangle her. There was no way she was going to blindly trust a man who would do that. After what happened to her mother, she hadn’t trusted any man.
“We love good food.”
Dinah couldn’t help but laugh. “Everyone loves good food.”
“Ah, but we love home-cooked food.”
She rolled her eyes. “Carry on.”
“We both agree your friend is a bitch.”
“I never said that.”
“No, but I haven’t seen your friend around.”
Dinah shrugged. “She’ll be back when she wants a haircut.”
“Please, tell me you won’t be giving her one.”
“Not this time. Before, I might have, but not anymore.”
“That’s good, see, another thing we have in common. I mean, I can talk about our common interests when it comes to Golubev, but I think it goes without saying that we both hate him.”
“Okay, that’s a couple of things so many people can have in common. That doesn’t make us friends.”
They walked into the kitchen, and Dinah went straight for her bottle of water.
“Fine, fine. What is your favorite kind of movie?” he asked.
“Romance.”
“See, the same.”
She glared at him. “I don’t believe that.”
“Test me.”
She took a deep breath and then shook her head. “I won’t test you. While we eat dinner tonight, we can watch a movie together. Your choice, and it must be one you have already seen,” she said.
“You’re on. Prepare to have your world romanced,” he said.
“Fine, what else?”
“What is your favorite music?” he asked.
“I don’t listen to music. I’m not a big fan of it. You?”
“I honestly don’t listen to it.” Road looked at her. “I’m starting to think we can be besties.”
She giggled. She just couldn’t help it.
“Another shocker, I have to have perfect hair.” He pointed at his head.
Now this did make her smile. “Really?”
“Yeah, I have a certain shampoo, conditioner, and I have a hair care routine, that includes putting heat protection in my hair to protect against UV rays.”
“Wow,” Dinah said, laughing. “It is official, you are my bestie.”
“That’s not all, this skin does not take care of itself. I moisturize.”
“You know, the whole bad boy deadly image is being torn apart right now. Yeah, this isn’t good.” She wrinkled her nose.
“But I smell good.”
She rolled her eyes, but against all odds, she was enjoying his company.
“Do you get a manicure and a pedicure?” she asked, tilting her head to the side.
“Nah, I skip on that, but I do use hand cream.”
She pressed the tips of her fingers to her chest. “Be still my heart.”
He chuckled and she liked the sound.
“Also, you don’t flinch,” Road said.
Dinah stopped laughing and looked at him, because she didn’t need him to elaborate.
“The brothers at the club don’t flinch, but they’ve all seen hell. You’re the first person, an outsider, who didn’t flinch. You didn’t look at me with disgust as if I was a monster, and you didn’t scream.”
She put her bottle of water down and took a deep breath.
“Did you do it to your mom?” he asked.
“No, she was worried she would scare me, but I was there to replace the bandages and take care of her. I helped her heal.” She pressed her lips together. “I was never disgusted with my mom, I just wanted to kill the son of a bitch who did it. I don’t know, maybe I am weird that I don’t find you scary. I mean, after all, you did try to kill me.”
He winced. “You’re not ever going to let me live that down, are you?”
“Nope.”
Road grabbed a knife and pointed toward her. “One day, you’re going to.”
“We’ll see. So, what are we having for dinner tonight?” she asked. He never failed to surprise her. Road kept his promise in proving he loved romance movies. He’d actually come with several suggestions, some had even been Hallmark Christmas movies, which Dinah hated to admit were some of her favorites.
It did seem they had a lot in common.
“You’re in for a very special treat as I’m going to be making curried chicken and rice, and trust me, it is delicious.”
She rubbed her hands together. “Sounds delicious already. Are you good if I go and take a shower? It has been a long day, and I stink.”
“Go ahead.”
She thanked him and headed to her bedroom.
Picking up her bag on the way, she headed upstairs. This wasn’t the first time she’d left him alone in her home so she could go and freshen up. One glance in the mirror, and everything was still in place even after a grueling day at work.
She loved creating styles and seeing the joy in young women’s faces, but prom was particularly stressful, and to her, it had only ever been a dance. A dance she did in fact miss, so she could spend time with her mom. She’d spent the night with her mother teaching her the best way to wash and blow-dry hair.
It had also been her first night of cutting her mother’s hair. They spent the whole day making finger food to pick at the whole night, enjoyed bottles of water, and they even used champagne glasses to drink from. She’d loved the night and hadn’t regretted not going to prom. Sometimes, as she did others’ hair for prom night, she did wonder if her life might have turned out differently.
That was all in the past.
Removing the pin from her hair, she made her way into the bathroom, stripping out of her clothes, and stepping under the warm water.
She didn’t want to admit it, but being around Road was nice. He didn’t give her any other name. His name was simply Road. She just didn’t get how she could enjoy his company. Yes, he’d apologized, and she accepted it, but he’d been different with her this past week.
He’d not lied to her. Road did genuinely love romance movies, and he didn’t mind talking about hair, or music, or anything else. Before his scars, he had described himself as a charming guy, and she saw it.
Why did she like him? She hadn’t had anything to do with men, ever. Dinah knew it was because of what happened to her mother. Angela had been kind to a man, a stranger, and because she wouldn’t be with him, he’d hurt her. To Dinah, all that had done was send alarm bells.
Road was different, though. He was fun and didn’t make her want to run away.
What does it even matter? she asked herself.
Seeing Road every night had started to become one of the fun parts of her day, and she wasn’t going to stop doing it.
Humming to herself, she tilted her head back and relished the spray of the water, soothing out her tired bones.
****
Several Days Later
Road sat on his bike, waiting for the right moment. A quick glance down at his watch and he saw it was a little after nine. Everything was set in place, all he had to do was make sure it went exactly how Brute said it would. Hail and Krill were already in position.
Counting down on his watch, he smiled as the fire alarm went off right on time, and now, at a safe distance, he watched the chaos ensue.
There had been a little auction downtown at one of the old, crumbling warehouses. A shipment of girls had been taken there just two days ago, and from what their sources said, they’d been identified as virgins, which made them very profitable. Men would pay a fortune for the right to fuck a virgin.
Road watched the panic, just as the cops arrived, and he waited. Sure enough, none of the men that arrived were in the pockets of the traffickers. Brute had started to learn his way around the police force, and he knew who to contact when, and at the right time, to make sure Sergey kept getting hit.
This had gone down perfectly.
The men were arrested. Road had a feeling they wouldn’t remain that way, but most importantly, there were men and women rounding up the young virginal girls and taking care of them.
He’d follow them up tomorrow, but so far, just another big royal “fuck you” to Sergey Golubev. The bastard should have stayed away from them and stopped using kids to do his dirty work.
Road knew it was only a matter of time before Sergey lost his shit and attacked them. He was more than ready. He knew Tank was getting close to being ready as well. The other club brother hadn’t ridden yet, but the time would come. He’d get his day back on his bike, riding with the club, and then they could focus on him getting his revenge.
That was a day Road was looking forward to. Until that day arose, they were just going to have to deal with the shit going on.
Tank was still having nightmares, and it seemed only Faith and Brute were able to quiet him.
Everything that had happened just made Road hate Sergey Golubev even more. What was worse, there was a time he considered him a friend and ally. Road knew he was a fucking idiot for even thinking that.
Sergey, from the moment they met, had been using him to keep his power, to gain more. Road had fallen for it, believing Sergey would be loyal, but in the cutthroat business of the Bratva, there was no such thing as loyalty. Not between them. No. He was foolish to think so.
There was only one king, as Sergey had told him repeatedly. The irony of it all was simpl e— Road didn’t want to be king. He just wanted to keep his king on top, and now, his loyalty was to the Evil Fallen Bratva MC, and it was his mission to see the Golubev empire fall.
Riding away, he arrived back at the club with Hail and Krill in tow. They climbed off their bikes, and like two children, high-fived one another.
“I’m glad you’re happy with yourselves,” Brute said.
Road had already spotted him, but Hail and Krill were in too good a mood to allow Brute to dampen it.
“We did it, brother. Man, you should have seen the shock on those rich assholes’ faces. I even saw a couple of women.” Hail tilted back his head and howled.
“Come on, time to celebrate. You coming, Road?” Krill asked.
“Not tonight. I’m heading out.” He pointed back toward his bike.
Krill and Hail gave him a strange look, one he wanted to question, but instead they turned back to the clubhouse and headed inside.
He glanced toward Brute.
“I figured you would want to be celebrating,” Brute said.
“I’ll celebrate when Golubev is gone and every single one of the bastards is burnt to the ground.”
“You want us to take out the whole Golubev empire?”
“I want it gone, Brute, or has Nikki made you go soft with his kind of help ?”
Nikki Golubev was Sergey’s oldest son. He also happened to be the father of Faith, Brute’s wife. What they hadn’t realized at the time was that Nikki was also an informant. He hated his father and worked on the inside, feeding them information.
Road wasn’t fooled. Nikki was exactly like his fathe r— cutthroa t— he was just playing a different kind of game. One which Road wasn’t interested in playing. There were no such things as allies.
It had been hard for him to consider joining the Evil Fallen Bratva MC. After what Sergey had done to his face and left him for dead, he didn’t trust anyone. Even in the early days of joining the club, Road hadn’t trusted anyone. He knew the lengths Sergey would go to, and every person was a suspect.
He hadn’t realized what they were. They weren’t soldiers that had been let go, or men that simply hadn’t made the cut. Every one of them had a horror story that ended with Sergey turning his back on each of them. They were all strong men, and now they were banded together in their unity against the Golubev.
Even after he realized that, it did still take him a long time to learn to trust the men. Always expecting to have a knife in the back, but one had never come. Little by little, the men made him realize he’d been living the wrong kind of loyalty. The club brothers gave and took with equal measure. No job was too big or too small. Sure, they all moaned about having to do shit, as they were all lazy fucks, but that was just them. They still got up and did the fucking job, regardless.
“No one has made me go soft. I guess you’ve been gone lately, and I had to wonder if you had gone soft to the cause,” Brute said.
“I’m not soft.”
“You want to tell me where you’re going?”
“No.” Road turned toward him. “Unless this whole leader bullshit has gotten to you, and you’re not better than Golubev. You want me to hang around the right kind of people.”
“Fuck you, Road.”
“No, fuck you.”
Road knew he and Brute were going to have their difficulties. While Road had everything personally taken from him, from his own person, Brute’s whole family had been killed.
In the back of his mind, he knew Brute had the most taken from him. Innocent lives had been taken, which is why Road also knew the only way to end the Golubev empire was to kill everyone associated with it, not excluding innocents.
Everyone had to die, and he was more than ready to see that happen. He simply didn’t give a fuck. Golubev was going to die.
Climbing onto the back of his bike, he revved up the engine, and Brute didn’t head back inside, he imagined, until he was back on the road.
There was only one place he wanted to go tonight, and that was back to Dinah’s place. He loved going to see her. Some days, when work was slow at the club, he wanted to go and visit her during the day, but he wasn’t sure if she would be happy with a leather-clad biker entering her workplace. They hadn’t exactly talked about their friendship past the four walls of her home.
It was already late, and he knew there was a chance she’d be asleep. He often kept her awake, but sometimes when it got too late, she’d end up falling asleep curled up against him. At first, Road hadn’t liked that. Women didn’t curl up against him and go to sleep. They got the hell away from him, and tried to keep a wide berth. That was what he was used to.
Dinah was different. Her trust in him that she kept showing never failed to surprise him. Road knew he was playing a dangerous game, because Dinah was becoming important to him. He knew that, but he also knew he had a secre t— the secret that would make her hate him forever. If she knew what he’d ordered done to her mother, she would never forgive him. Before he could stop himself, he’d arrived at her front door and knocked as well as rang the bell.
Seconds passed.
Road knew he was playing with fire here. He should back away because he and Dinah were never gong to make this work. The odds were already highly stacked against them.
Just as he was about to turn away, the door suddenly opened.
“Road, what are you doing here?” Dinah asked.
He turned to see her wrapping her robe around her. She looked tired, and he knew he must have woken her up.
“Sorry, I, uh, I just got back from a job, and you know how it goes. I didn’t mean to wake you.”
“You want a place to crash?” she asked, sounding adorably sleepy as she did.
“Yeah.”
He expected her to tell him to fuck off. To go back to his clubhouse and sleep it off there.
Instead, she stepped back. “Come on in,” she said.