Chapter Nine
Jacie
I’d set an alarm to vibrate my smart watch last night to make sure I woke up before Nevaeh did. Being careful to not make much noise, I slipped from bed and got dressed before I grabbed my handbag and crept out of our hotel room. I mentally shook my head as I padded down the hallway. This was now two weekends in a row I’d snuck out of a room while someone was sleeping in there. This was getting to be a habit, one I didn’t want.
I’d already been freaking out last night over Trident’s determination to claim me as his old lady. It was way too soon. Being a biker’s old lady was like being his wife, for fuck’s sake. We’d known each other a bloody week. When he’d started preening for Nevaeh, I’d lost it. My temper flared and as per usual, my mouth ran away on me.
Dashing at the moisture in my eyes, I made my way down the hallway toward the elevator. Nevaeh hadn’t said a word after my outburst. She’d gone into the bathroom, came out changed in her PJs, then climbed into bed and, facing away from me, went to sleep. Sparrow and Mirabelle pulled the same. When I tried to talk to them, they’d just shaken their heads and returned to their room. Closing the door behind them.
Some fucking birthday. Seemed I should have taken the bloody hint last weekend that I wasn’t meant to celebrate this year, and canceled this trip. I could be home right now playing with Lolly. And still have my three best friends. Instead, I’d pushed away a man I actually liked, even if he was moving way too fast and was possessive as hell, and hurt my besties to a point I feared I’d lost their friendship. Dashing more tears from my face, I exited onto the ground floor and headed directly for the exit, not bothering to look around the lobby. I had zero desire to chat with other readers or models, or even worse, any SCMC brothers that were no doubt still lurking around this morning.
Pulling my sunglasses from my bag, I slid them on as I left the hotel and made my way down the footpath. Finding a quirky looking cafe, one I was certain no self-respecting biker would ever be seen dead in, I ducked in. Removing my sunglasses, I looked over their menu, happy to see they had one of my favorites. Stepping up to the queue at the counter, I took in the woman serving.
At a guess, she was in her early thirties, and she had her long, straight hair tied back in a ponytail. The lower half was dyed a bold green, while the top half blue; I could imagine how, when it was down, the color underneath would peak through the top one as she moved. Along with the several small hoop earrings in each ear, she had a star shaped silver stud in the left side of her nose and a ring through the center of her lower lip. Her eyes had a splash of green eye shadow that matched her hair, and black winged eyeliner that was so perfectly even, I was in awe of her skill. I didn’t often bother with makeup, so I was far from an expert. I had tried to apply wings a few times so I knew how bloody hard they were to master. I’d gotten so frustrated every time I’d tried, I’d ended up cleaning my attempts off and not even bothering with eyeliner.
If the cafe wasn’t so busy, I might have asked her how she did it but there were already three people lined up behind me so I didn’t take up any more of the woman’s time than I needed to. With a smile, I ordered myself a cappuccino, with almond milk, along with a ham and cheese sourdough sandwich, toasted. With a smile, I took the stand she gave me with a table number on it before I headed to the booth in the back corner I’d spotted when I’d come in. Once I’d gotten comfortable on the bench seat, I pulled out my phone and tapped the screen, out of habit. When it stayed black, I remembered how I’d turned it off last night so Trident couldn’t try to call me after I’d kicked him out. Chewing my lower lip, I stared at the black screen trying to decide if I should turn it on or not. With a mental shake of my head, I decided against it. I was already hanging by a thread, no way could I handle anything else. Whether it came from Trident, one of my girls, Flick or Taz. Tucking it back into my handbag, I pulled out my notepad instead. I was hoping that journaling down my thoughts would help clear my mind; it might even give me some damn clarity on what I should do about it all, or how to at least fix my friendships.
Holding my pen, the page remained blank. I had no idea where to even start. The scent of freshly brewed coffee hit me moments before my order was placed beside me.
“Here you go. Enjoy.”
Before I could respond the waitress was gone, off to collect the next order. Setting my pen down, I wrapped my palms around the warm mug, closing my eyes to inhale the aroma. Hmm, so good. Leaving it to cool down a bit more before I drunk it, I moved to pick up my toasted sandwich. Nearly moaning out loud after I took my first bite, it was that good. Not too hot, with the perfect ratio of ham to cheese to bread.
As I continued to eat, I let my thoughts wander, and paused to jot down some notes as I did, that was until I spotted Animal coming my way. Having just finished my food, I tidied up, putting away my notebook while making it look like I was just clearing things off to enjoy my coffee. I didn’t want anyone reading my private thoughts and notes, especially not Animal.
By the time he approached my table, I had my mug between both my palms and had lifted it to begin taking sips of the delicious drink. With how pale and sickly he looked, and the way he flexed and tapped his fingers against his thigh as he walked between tables, I had to agree with Trident’s guess that the man was hooked on something, and it looked like he hadn’t had a fix yet this morning. He held my gaze as he moved around to the side of my table, his eyes were red rimmed, and his pupils didn’t look right. I frowned when he slid into the seat beside me as though we were good friends. He sniffled then cleared his throat as he shuffled in the seat to face me. My temper flared at his brazenness, and I set my drink down to help resist the urge I had to pour it over his head.
“Ah, what do you think you’re doing?”
He gave me a sleazy grin he no doubt thought was sexy.
“Saw you in here and figured I’d stop in for a little chat, hot stuff.”
Oh jeez, and to think I complained about Trident calling me girlie. I’d take that any day over ‘hot stuff’.
“And what exactly would we have to talk about, Animal? Last I heard, you’d put a bet out on my demise.”
He huffed a half laugh and reached for my drink, picking it up and drinking half of it on one gulp.
Sitting up straighter, I glared daggers his way. “What the fuck? Get your own damn drink if you want one.”
Ignoring my comment, he banged the mug down with a grimace. “What the fuck did they do to your coffee? Whatever the fuck that shit is, it should be illegal.”
I rolled my eyes, not giving two shits that he didn’t like my choice in beverage.
“It’s got almond milk in it. I like how it tastes. Now, why the fuck are you here bothering me? Wouldn’t have thought you’d be an early riser, especially not on a Saturday.”
He shrugged a shoulder, and I expected him to spout off some bullshit, but instead he winced and hunched to his right, an arm banded across his middle, his hand going under his cut.
Frowning, some of my anger dissipated to be replaced with concern. No matter how much of a douchebag the guy was, if he was unwell, I’d try to help him. It just wasn’t in my nature to let anyone suffer.
“Animal? You okay? If you’re not feeling great, we can go to the hospital, or I could ring Trident. Your club has a doctor, right? We can get you help.”
At least I’d heard of a SCMC brother called Doc. While it was one helluva assumption that the bloke had medical skills, considering Animal was most likely just strung out with withdrawals, it wasn’t like he needed some top notch specialist. More like rehab, but I doubted that would go over well if I suggested it. The guy clearly had one hell of a male ego going on.
With another sniff, he straightened and gave me a forced smile. “Nah, last thing we need is your guard dog to roll up on us. But if you could help me out to my bike, I’d appreciate it.”
Drumming my fingers on my thigh under the table for a moment, I tried to puzzle out what he was up to. No way did he need my help to get outside. And why’d he come in here in the first place if he wanted to leave already? Nope. He was up to something.
“Considering we’re not exactly friends, Animal, and you’ve been talking enough shit about what you wanna do to me that I’ve heard about it, I think I’ll just stay here. Don’t mistake my wanting to get you help for stupidity. Clearly you’re craving whatever poison you’ve gotten hooked on, so, I’ll call in your club brothers, or a cab to take you to the hospital. But that’s it. I’m not—”
Shock had me stilling when, with a low growl, he slid over until he was pressed against me, suddenly full of rage. A moment later, he’d pulled out the gun that had been holstered on his belt and jammed the muzzle into my ribs, keeping it all hidden behind the table from the rest of the cafe. Why had I thought being in the back corner was a good idea? My blood ran cold as a shiver tripped down my spine as I looked him in the eye. Keeping my gaze steady, I refused to let him see the fear that was churning inside me.
“What—“
He shoved the gun harder into me, until I grunted with a wince. “Shut the fuck up and listen, you little bitch. You don’t gotta worry about nothing but doing what you’re told, understand?”
Tears pricked my eyes as I nodded.
“’Bout fucking time. No clue how Trident stands all the chatter. Now, you’re going to stick real close to me as we head out the back door. Try anything and I’ll shoot you. Gut shot is a nasty way to die, but that’s what you’ll be choosing if you pull any sorta stunt. And don’t think that because we’re in public that’ll stop me. It won’t. The SCMC hold enough power in Dallas and I’ll be long gone before any cop can make it here.”
With that, he pulled back, tucking his hand holding the gun under the leather of his cut, out of sight. Although, I didn’t need to be able to see it to know he still had it aimed my way, he wasn’t joking when he said he’d shoot me. Grabbing my handbag, I scooted across the bench seat until I could stand, then I walked with him as he’d instructed, toward the hallway that was opposite where I’d been sitting. The sign above the entrance announced that the bathrooms along with the exit to the rear parking lot were this way. Since it was an area customers were allowed to use, it meant that, unfortunately, no one even glanced our way as we headed in that direction.
Once we’d left the main cafe area and were alone in the narrow hall, he stopped bothering to hide his weapon. Instead, he kept the muzzle pressed to my lower back as I led the way toward the exit. My mind spun, trying to think of a way I could to break away from him without coming up with much. I just hoped that once we were outside in the open, I’d get an opportunity to escape.
That hope died a fast death when I pushed through the door to see Animal had help. Shock had me stumbling to a stop when I realized who it was.
“No fucking way.”
Terrence Milani should be back in Melbourne where the bastard belonged. Well, he really should be rotting in prison for all he’d done, but since he was a well-connected arsehole, I’d accepted that him being on the other side of the planet far away from me was as good as I was going to get when it came to him.
Animal digging that gun muzzle into my spine had me wincing. “Keep moving. Don’t have all day.”
Walking toward the man I hadn’t seen since I was a toddler, rather felt like I was being led toward the devil. I’d never liked Uncle Terrence, neither had Mum, but Dad basically hero worshiped his older brother and would do any damn thing the man told him to do.
My uncle looked basically the same as I remembered; stylish, wearing tailored dress pants, shirt with no tie and the top few buttons undone, all black, including his shoes. Although, he had some silver at his temples now that hadn’t been there when I’d been a kid.
As we approached he straightened from where he’d been leaning against a big black SUV. “Well, as I live and breathe, if it isn’t my precious little niece, back from the dead.”
I clenched my fists, wanting to punch him in his smug face so badly, it was hard to resist taking a swing at him. While my dad had been the one to murder my mother, it was Uncle Terrence who was the reason I’d been placed into witness protection, not allowed to contact my brother. They’d forced me to change my name from Grace Milani to Jacie Lewis. To move so far away from where I’d grown up that I’d never even been able to visit my mum’s grave.
“What the fuck do you want? Why all this cloak and dagger bullshit?”
He frowned with a shake of his head. “Such language, Grace. You’ll need to stop cussing like that. He won’t like it, and keeping him happy is going to be your new life’s purpose.”
I faked a nonchalance I definitely was not feeling and rolled my eyes. “All you’re gonna give me is ‘He’, really? More fucking vague bullshit. Not that it matters, because it’ll be a cold day in hell before I willingly go anywhere with you.”
Holding my glare with a raised eyebrow, he grinned, a big toothy shark’s smile that had my heart rate pounding as I wondered what the fuck he was about to do. After watching me squirm for a few moments, his expression grew serious and his focus shifted to my left. “You took her phone like I ordered you to?”
Animal grunted, “Yeah, tossed it in the trash can inside. You want me to go get it?”
Keeping my expression exactly the same, I kept my gaze on my uncle, the biggest threat here, while I wondered what Animal was playing at with his lie. Terrence frowned with a huff before shaking his head.
“No, leave it where it is, and if you want your precious pills, you need to complete the job.”
Too late I realized I should have been watching Animal, not my uncle. I managed to turn far enough to see the gun butt coming toward me, but had no time to avoid it. Pain flared like fire through me as Animal slammed the weapon against the top of my head. As I crumpled to the ground my uncle growled out an order, but I couldn’t make out any words before darkness took me.
***
Trident
Rising just after sunup, I rushed to shower then propped open my door so I’d be able to hear when Jacie, or any of the girls, came out of their rooms while I finished getting ready. I was drinking the last mouthful of my first cup of coffee for the day when my cell phone rang. Seeing it was Stone, I accepted the call, frowning when, before I had the thing to my ear, I could hear him yelling at me.
“Where the fuck are you?”
I had no clue what was going on, but the sirens I could hear in the background had me worried. “I’m at the hotel, waiting for Jacie to wake up. Why? And where the hell are you?”
“She ain’t there, brother. Some suit just snatched her from a parking lot two blocks down from the hotel.”
In seconds I was at Jacie’s room, pounding my fist on the door as I responded to Stone.
“What the fuck do you mean she was snatched?”
Nevaeh opened the door before I finished speaking, her expression filling with fear as she silently stepped aside to let me pass. I rushed in, hoping somehow Stone was wrong but Jacie’s empty bed dashed that hope.
Stone’s tone was harsh, like he was blaming me for this shit. “I mean, I just saw her get pistol-whipped and tossed into the back of a SUV, brother.”
The sirens in the background got louder, forcing me to yell to make sure he’d hear me.
“Tell me you’re following them.”
He growled back at me, fury clear in his tone. “I couldn’t fucking follow her because I’m busy trying to keep enough of Animal’s blood inside his body so the dumb fuck doesn’t die on us. Why the fuck weren’t you with her? Thought you were meant to be on her ass twenty-four/seven.”
Nothing about this was making sense. Why would Jacie have gotten up at the crack of dawn? Because that’s how early she’d have to have left for me to have not seen or heard her go. The sirens finally cut out.
“I gotta go. Call Viper and get after her, Trident. I’ll handle Animal.”
Nevaeh lowered her phone and tears tracked down her cheeks as she stared at Sparrow. “Her phone’s off. How are we gonna find her?”
Sparrow’s jaw clenched and she got a determined look in her gaze that I could appreciate. That girl had a core of steel and would not hesitate to do whatever was needed to help find her friend. “I’ve got an idea.”
After dialing her cell she lifted it to her ear and looked me in the eye as she spoke into it. “Hey Keys. Jacie’s been taken and her phone’s off. Can you track her?”
She lowered her gaze with a wince, and I could just hear his voice so I knew he was yelling.
“I don’t know what happened, Keys! All I know is she’s gone and I have Trident here up in my grill.”
Just as someone started knocking on the door she strode up to me. “He wants to talk to you.”
“Hey Keys. Just a sec.” Pulling the phone from my mouth I called out to Sparrow who’d headed to the entrance of the room. “Don’t open the fucking door!”
Keys pulled my attention back to him. “It’s fine Trident, it’s a couple of our guys. Jazz and Gypsy, good guys. Solid. They’ve been tailing the girls since they left. Tell me what happened.”
Good thing they were friendlies because Sparrow had ignored me and opened the door to let in two men. When I saw they were both indeed wearing Charon MC colors, I focused back on Keys.
“Not one hundred percent sure. I was in the room across from the girls. Been up since the sun rose waiting for them to leave their rooms, but somehow missed Jacie leaving. Stone just called me, told me a suit snatched her from a parking lot two blocks down from the hotel. Only other details were that she was pistol-whipped and tossed into a black SUV, and he’s still there trying to stop Animal from bleeding out. He ended the call when the ambulance arrived. That’s all I got.”
“Damn. Fuck. Okay, her phone is off, so I can’t get her location right away. So long as it doesn’t have a flat battery, I’ll work on seeing if I can get around that to get the location, but I can’t promise it’ll work. That’s assuming she still has it with her. I’ve got Arrow here looking through the CCTV cameras outside the hotel to track her that way. Any idea on a time she would have left?”
“More than half hour ago if she left before I was up, which she must have been or I would have heard her leave.”
“Right. I normally do a little something else to keep our women and kids safe, but Jacie’s too fucking smart for her own good. Didn’t take her long to find and ditch them. I’ll keep you posted when we know anything. You do the same, yeah?”
“Definitely. Talk soon.”
As soon as I ended the call, Sparrow had her hand out for her phone. Before I handed it over, I texted Keys’ number to myself. As she took it from me, I nodded toward the back corner of the room where one of the Charon’s men were kneeling in front of Mirabelle, who had curled into a ball on the floor, half hidden by the curtains. Her body rocked while she chewed at her thumb-nail. Lost within her mind, she appeared completely oblivious to the man beside her, or anything else. With the vacant look in her eyes, one that I’d seen on my men’s faces who were struggling with flashbacks, I guessed she was having some sort of PTSD episode.
“What’s up with her?”
Sparrow glanced over with a wince. “Not my story to tell. Just know all of this is flipping a whole lot of Mirabelle’s triggers. Gypsy’ll take care of her.” She turned back to me. “What did Keys say? He tracking her?”
I shook my head, “You know her phone is either turned off or flat, that’s assuming she even has it. What makes you think Keys could track her?”
A blush pinkened her cheeks as she cleared her throat, but when she went to speak again, Jazz stepped in close to her. “Sparrow, shut it. You know better than to share club secrets like that.”
The fire that filled her gaze as she turned on the idiot had my heart aching with how it reminded me of Jacie. Fuck, where was my woman right now?
I didn’t bother telling the little Charon bastard that I was SCMC and outranked him, and that he had to tell me whatever the fuck I ordered him to. Keys had told me enough for me to know he obviously somehow low-jacked the club’s women and kids. It was a good fucking idea, and one I’d be bringing up at Church for us to replicate. Plus, I didn’t need to rip the guy a new one because Sparrow was already doing just that. Ignoring the two of them, I paced while I sent a text to Viper. Keeping it brief, I let him know that Stone was with Animal on the way to hospital and that Jacie had been taken. Also told him that Keys was working on getting her location, and I was waiting with the remaining Charon crew until I heard back from him.
Tilting my neck each way to stretch it out, I cursed. I fucking hated the waiting. Knowing my woman needed me, I was willing and able to do just that, but without even a general direction to head in, I was stalled out. And it was fucking killing me. When my phone buzzed I didn’t even check caller ID before I had it to my ear.
“Trident.”
“This is Taz.”
Well, fuck. Like I needed to deal with Jacie’s overprotective brother on top of everything else right now.
“You got any news for me?”
“Yeah, right after you tell me what my sister is to you.”
I growled, and if he’d been in front of me I’d have him pinned to the wall by the throat.
“She’s my fucking old lady and we do not have time for a pissing match right now. Tell me what you know or fuck off.”
He huffed a laugh. “Yeah, that’s the attitude you’ll need with my baby sis.”
I didn’t let him say another word. “You need to cut that shit out already. You know how big a chip on her shoulder she has about her age because everyone keeps fucking calling her your baby sis? She’s a grown ass adult. Now, quit wasting my fucking time. You got a location on her yet?”
He was silent for a moment, like he didn’t appreciate being put in his place, but whatever, I’d deal with his bruised ego later.
“No location yet. Arrow followed her from the hotel to a cafe up the street.” Ice edged his tone. “Got into the cameras in the parking lot, the fucker that took her is her uncle. Terrence Milani, he’s a mid-level mobster in Melbourne, thinks he’s big time, but hasn’t ever quite managed to make it beyond mid-level. Camera showed Animal bringing her out at gunpoint. They spoke for a few minutes before Animal cracked her over the head with the butt of his gun—just like he fucking did to my woman. As his men were grabbing Jacie, Terrence put a bullet into Animal’s shoulder.” He paused and I could hear a muffled conversation before Taz returned to me. “Motherfucking bastard! He took her to a private airfield. I’ll call back when we get the flight plan.”
“I’ll get a crew and be at the airport ready to go as soon as you get that location.”
I hung up before he could bitch me out about how he should be the one to go get her. It made no difference to me if he was going or not, I was gonna get my woman back. Dialing Viper, I turned to see everyone, except Mirabelle, staring my way.
“It was her uncle who snatched her. He took her to a private airstrip. I’ll be flying out after her as soon as I have a fucking location.” I pinned first Jazz then Gypsy with my gaze. “You two need to get these three back to Bridgewater. Doubt they’re in danger now this Terrence Milani bastard has left town, but I don’t want to risk it. Get ‘em home. That’s an order.”
Without giving them a chance to respond, I strode out and across to my room. I tossed the few things I’d pulled from my bag back into it as I called Viper to update him and request he send a couple of brothers to meet me at the airport.