Daredevil
D are’s phone rang when he walked out of his apartment, and he knew that he had overstayed his time with Vixen. Although, no amount of time was going to be enough time with her. Leaving her nearly tore his heart out and that was more than he could stand with everything else going on around them. He had a finite amount of time before the baby was going to be there, and he needed to be with Vixen when that happened—if she’d still have him.
“There you are,” Wyatt said into the other end of the phone before Dare even got to speak. “I’ve been texting you all evening. You want to tell me where you’ve been?” Shit, shit, shit—this was what he worried about happening. Wyatt kept a tight leash on him when it came to knowing his whereabouts. Dare had only given Wyatt half-truths and information that he knew wouldn’t hurt him or Vixen. If he knew that Dare was with Vixen, they’d all be in trouble—Wyatt included, and the guy had a knack for protecting his own ass. Dare wouldn’t put it past him to turn him and Demon into their boss if it meant saving himself. He just needed to stick to the plan that he and Demon came up with earlier.
“I’m making a run with Demon,” Dare lied.
“Oh, and why would you be working with Demon?” Wyatt asked.
“Because he asked me to, and I was pretty sure that telling him no wasn’t an option. Is there a problem, Wyatt?” Dare asked. “Demon is right here and can verify that I’m with him.” He hoped that Wyatt was as afraid of Demon as the other guys seemed to be.
“No,” he breathed, “that won’t be necessary, Dare. I’ll just see you both when you get back. Just make it fast. It’s for Vixen’s safety, remember?” He wanted to reach through the phone and strangle the prick for what sounded like a threat against his woman again. Wyatt liked to bring up the fact that he was trying to help Dare keep Vixen safe, but he was starting to think that the guy was just bullshitting him. He needed to keep his cool of he was going to finish what he started with the Ghosts and keep Vixen safe.
“No need to go back on your word now, Wyatt,” Dare insisted. “We wouldn’t want to make a liar out of you now, would we?” He knew that he was taunting Wyatt, but he also needed to buy himself just a bit more time. Dare was hoping to beat him back to the Ghost’s warehouse.
“I’ll see you soon, Dare,” Wyatt promised. “I have a few more stops to make and then, we’re going to sit down and have a little talk about who you can and can’t work within the organization.” Dare wasn’t so sure that Wyatt was on the up and up with him about anything, anymore. Dare worried that he had gotten a taste of power that the boss had given him and that Wyatt wasn’t going to keep up his end of the bargain. Wyatt loved tossing around his weight when it came to the Ghosts. Apparently, he had been with them long enough to garner their trust, and that made him a dangerous man if he wasn’t being truthful with Dare.
“Sounds good,” Dare lied. “I’ll see you later.” He ended the call and shot off a quick text to Demon, typing in the secret code—0957. It was what they had come up with to signify that one of them was in trouble and the other would need to get his ass back to the Ghost’s warehouse. Hopefully, Demon would get the message and meet up with Dare at the place that they had agreed upon, but that wasn’t something that he’d know for sure until he got back to the warehouse.
Dare pulled into the side lot and quickly cut his engine. He looked around the parking lot, making sure that Wyatt hadn’t beaten him back, but he had gotten lucky and seemed to be there first. As soon as he walked into the building and turned the corner, he found Demon standing with his back up against the wall, waiting for him.
“Problem?” Demon casually asked.
“Yeah, I got an unwanted phone call,” Dare grumbled.
“Who called you?” Demon asked.
“Wyatt and you were in the truck with me if he asks. I told him that you asked me to go on a job with you and that you didn’t seem to want to take no for an answer,” Dare said.
“Perfect,” Demon agreed. “You stuck with the cover.”
“Yeah, and I wasn’t sure if he could tell that I was lying or not,” Dare insisted.
“Wyatt is clueless,” Demon growled. “I know that he said that he’s trying to help you and Vixen, but I don’t believe a word that comes out of that guy’s mouth. I never have. And why Savage hasn’t kicked him out of the Royal Bastards yet, is beyond me. The guy is bad news, and he’s not hiding the fact that he’s working for the Ghosts. Hell, he even went and recruited you into the fold. What’s stopping him from trying to pilfer more of the Bastards?” Demon asked.
That was a good question and one that Dare didn’t have an answer to. “I’m guessing that Savage will have to get involved then,” Dare said. “Savage knows the plan, right?” he asked Demon. “Did you tell him what’s going down?” Having Savage and the rest of the Bastards backing them gave him a sense of peace that he shouldn’t have.
“I did, and not only will the Bastards be behind us, but you’ll also have the backing of the Harlots. They have all been filled in, and they are willing to go to war to get you out of here and back to Vixen,” Demon said.
“If I’ve learned anything while being with Vixen, it’s that the Harlots are as fierce as our brothers. They make a good addition to our clubhouse. It’s a shame that they are planning on building their own place.” He was going to miss having them around—especially Vixen. He liked marking her as his territory in front of the rest of the guys. There was no way that any of them would make a move on her knowing that she belonged to him.
The side door opened, and Demon held his finger up to his lips, telling Dare to be quiet. They stood there waiting and listening and when Wyatt appeared around the corner, Dare felt the pit of his stomach drop. Really, there was no reason for such dramatics, but there was nothing that he could do about that.
“Well, there you two are,” Wyatt drawled. “I think that we need to talk about you using my guys, Demon,” he said. Wyatt had no clue that Demon was working undercover to bring down the Ghosts. He was a government agent, and that wasn’t something that many of the Bastards knew.
Demon puffed himself up and took two menacing steps toward Wyatt. Dare had to give it to the guy, he didn’t back down from Demon. “I don’t have to talk to you about anything,” Demon insisted. “In case you’re forgetting who I am, let me refresh your memory. I have seniority and if I want to use one of your guys, I will.”
“Not Dare,” Wyatt challenged. “I need him here for me.”
“Listen, I’m not trying to get in the middle of your little bromance, Wyatt, but I won’t let you tell me what I can and can’t do around here. If you have a problem with that, we can go up and talk to the boss about all this.” He pointed at the small office that sat on the second floor. None of the guys wanted to go up there because it usually meant that they were losing their jobs, or worse—their lives.
“No, that won’t be necessary,” Wyatt said. “My bad for overstepping, but I will need to borrow your new best friend here for a bit.”
Demon rolled his eyes and nodded, “Go for it.”
“Great, let’s go, Dare. You and I have something that we need to take care of before heading home tonight,” Wyatt said. “Plus, I have a little surprise for you.”
“A surprise,” Dare grumbled, not liking the sound of it. “What kind of surprise?”
“Well, it wouldn’t be a surprise if I told you ahead of time, right? Plus, I think that you’re going to like this one,” Wyatt assured. From his tone, Dare was positive that he wasn’t going to like anything about the surprise, but he had no choice other than to follow Wyatt back out into the parking lot. He knew that Demon would be closely following them, but he also knew that if Wyatt tried something, he'd have no way of stopping him right now.
“Are we going somewhere?” Dare asked, not sure if he wanted to know the answer to his question.
“Yep, out to my truck. That’s where your surprise is waiting for you,” Wyatt promised.
“Seriously, wouldn’t it be easier to just tell me what it is and get this game over with?” Dare questioned. He hated surprises in general, but right now, his nerves were on edge and the idea of being caught off guard by Wyatt scared the shit out of him.
“Oh, what would the fun be in that, Dare?” Wyatt asked. “Are you always this grumpy, or do you save all this up for me?”
“I—” Dare started, and Wyatt held up his hand, effectively stopping him from finishing his sentence.
“You know what, don’t bother answering that. I just don’t care,” Wyatt insisted. He stopped at the passenger side of his truck and quickly pulled the door open to reveal Vixen sitting there, tears still streaming down her face, just as Dare had left her earlier.
“Shit,” Dare grumbled.
“Surprise,” Wyatt said, pointing in at Vixen as though Dare couldn’t see her sitting there.
“I thought that you said you’d leave her alone if I helped you by working for the Ghosts,” Dare reminded.
“I did leave her alone. She’s the one who tracked me down. Vixen called me and asked to talk and well, I stopped and picked her up on my way back here.” Vixen must have been one of the extra stops that Wyatt had to make on his way back to the warehouse. Dare wanted to shout at Vixen that she had promised him to stay put. She said that she’d behave, but she hadn’t. As soon as he left her, Vixen must have called Wyatt to set up a meeting.
“You okay?” he asked her. Vixen pressed her lips together and nodded. “Good, then how about you tell me what the hell you were thinking by calling Wyatt?”
“I wanted to tell him that you don’t need to work for the Ghosts. I think that our news will change his mind about recruiting you into the organization.” There was no way that he wanted Wyatt to know that Vixen was pregnant with his baby.
“Don’t,” Dare shouted. She looked over at him and shook her head. He knew right then and there that she wasn’t going to keep their secret.
“I have to Dare. Wyatt isn’t an unreasonable person. He’ll understand that we’re in love and plan to get married. He can convince the Ghosts that I’m not his woman. Everything can go back to normal.”
“Married,” Wyatt shouted. “How will that change anything?”
“I’m also pregnant, and I’ve taken out a restraining order against you. This is the last time that you’ll be able to get within five hundred feet of me or my baby.”
“Is the baby mine?” Wyatt had the nerve to ask.
“Oh, God, no,” Vixen said, making a face as though she had smelled something bad. “No, this baby is Dare’s and if you don’t let him out of the stupid deal you two idiots came up with, I’m going to go to Savage and tell him everything.”
“I’ll be kicked out of the Bastards,” Wyatt challenged, as though that would change Vixen’s mind.
Dare could hear two trucks pulling up the road and he was sure that the guys were headed back into the warehouse. The last thing he wanted was them catching his woman there. “You need to go,” he said to Vixen.
“When I get Wyatt’s agreement to let you go with me, I’ll leave,” she insisted. This was not the time for her to dig her heals in, but there was no arguing with her. Maybe Wyatt would listen to reason.
“They are on their way back and if they find her here, you’ll be in more trouble than you’ll be able to handle,” Dare explained.
Demon stormed out of the warehouse and pulled Vixen from the truck. “What the fuck, guys?” he asked. “She can’t be here. I’ll take her home, and you two figure out what story to tell the boss. He won’t like finding her here, and we’ll all pay the price.” Dare was thankful to Demon for trying to get Vixen out of there. He knew his brother, and Dare was sure that he’d keep her and his baby safe.
“No, I won’t go,” Vixen said. She crossed her arms over her chest and stared the three of them down. “I need to talk to Wyatt, and then, I’ll leave.” Dare could tell that she wasn’t going to budge on the point, so he came up with the next best alternative. Wyatt wouldn’t want to get caught with Vixen at the warehouse anymore than Dare would. He knew that if push came to shove, Wyatt would get her out of there and hopefully, he’d keep her safe.
“Where’s your truck?” Dare asked Wyatt.
“Over there,” he said, nodding to the corner of the lot.
“Great, let’s go, honey,” Dare said. He hoisted her over his shoulder, as she kicked and screamed at him to put her down. There was no way that he’d do that—not now that their time was almost up.
“Next time, do as I ask,” he spat, sitting her in the passenger side of Wyatt’s truck. He shut the door and found both Demon and Wyatt hot on his heels. “Get her someplace safe and then, get your ass back here,” he said to Wyatt.
“I think that you’re forgetting that you’re not the one in charge here, Dare,” Wyatt countered. “She’s really pregnant with your kid?” Wyatt asked, seeming to lose a little bit of his heat.
“Yes, and I do want to marry her, but not while all of this is going on. I understand why you wanted her, man. She’s the best person I’ve ever met, but don’t throw away your whole life over a woman who’s in love with another man,” Dare said. “Tell the Ghosts that she’s not yours anymore. If not for my sake, then for hers.” Wyatt looked to be considering Dare’s words as the boss pulled into the parking lot with about twelve other men in tow. “Go,” Dare breathed. Wyatt nodded, jumped into the driver’s seat, and was gone before Dare could even blink. He just hoped like hell that none of the Ghosts saw her in the front of the pickup truck. Otherwise, they’d all be dead—Vixen included.
“Worry about all that later,” Demon whispered to him before walking over to the boss’s pickup truck. “Hey, boss,” Demon said.
“What the hell are you doing here, Demon? I thought that you were taking some time off to lay low after your arrest,” his boss said. Demon had told the Bastards that he had been arrested to keep his cover. His case had been blown, and he needed to get the Ghosts off his back for a while.
“I was going to lay low, but then I thought, why bother? So, I grabbed Dare here and started back to work,” he lied. Dare had to hand it to the guy, he sure knew his way around a lie, but that was probably due to the fact that he had gotten a lot of practice while working as a federal agent. Dare was sure that Demon had to come up with plenty of lies in his line of work.
“As long as you don’t lead the police to my doorstep, I don’t really give a fuck,” his boss insisted.
“You don’t have to worry about me, boss,” Demon promised. “I’m good at living on the down low.” He looked Demon over as though he was trying to decide if he wanted to believe him or not.
“How about him?” the boss asked, nodding at Dare.
“He’s not a threat either, boss,” Demon assured.
“Great, I’m going to need you both to prove that for me. Since you seem to like hanging around this guy so much, you can help him prove his worth.” Dare didn’t like the sound of that, and he was sure that the sideways glance that Demon gave him only confirmed for him that it wasn’t going to be something that he would like to do.
“I’m only babysitting him for Wyatt while he runs a few errands,” Demon insisted. “He’s the one who brought Dare in, so shouldn’t he be the one to help Dare prove himself?” Dare felt as though he was holding his breath waiting for their boss’s answer. If Demon was insisting that Wyatt work with him instead, he would have a good reason—Dare just wished that he knew what it was.
“You’re right. Tell Wyatt to get his ass back here. I have someone who needs to be taken care of, and I want the new guy to do it for me,” their boss said. He left them standing in the parking lot as he walked into the warehouse, not waiting for either of them to object. They wouldn’t be able to. If he found out that they weren’t on the up and up, both he and Demon would be next on their boss’s list of people who needed to be taken care of.
Wyatt paced the small room that they were waiting in. The boss had decided that he was going to fill them both in at once, but he was keeping them both waiting. Wyatt had promised Dare that he had left Vixen back at his place, safe and sound and that she said she was calling a few of the Harlots to come over to stay with her. All Dare cared about was that his girl was safe—the rest would have to be worked out over time.
“Why don’t we know the boss’s name?” Dare asked.
“Really, that’s the question you’re asking right now, Dare?” Wyatt spat. “I think that we have more to worry about other than the guy’s secrecy about his name.”
Dare shrugged, “Just killing time while trying to figure this all out,” he admitted.
“Have you ever killed a man before?” Wyatt asked.
“Um, no,” Dare said. “Well, yes,” he changed his answer. “I was on the force, and I ended up killing my whole team,” he admitted.
“You’re a cop?” Wyatt asked.
“I was,” Dare said, “but once my team was gone, I quit the force and started working odd jobs.”
“How the hell did you kill your whole team?” Wyatt asked. He really didn’t like talking about any of this, but maybe telling Wyatt would show him that everyone makes mistakes—even him. If Dare wasn’t mistaken, Wyatt had seemed to soften toward him, and he was positive that had everything to do with Vixen.
“I sent them into a warehouse, a lot like this one, and it blew up. They were making meth, and I guess it was unstable. All but one guy died instantly, and the lone survivor died soon after getting to the hospital. It was my fault that they all died.”
“Jesus,” Wyatt breathed. “Did you know that they were making meth in the warehouse?” he asked.
“Of course not,” Dare insisted, “but that doesn’t change the fact that they are all dead.”
“Right, but it wasn’t your fault,” Wyatt insisted.
Dare looked the guy over as though he had lost his mind. “Why are you being nice to me?” he asked.
Wyatt shrugged, “I was able to do some soul-searching after I dropped off Vixen. You made a good point when you asked if I wanted someone who didn’t want me. I guess that seeing the two of you really are together, hit home. I honestly thought that you two were faking it when she showed up at Savage Hell and said you were her boyfriend. I fucked up, and well, I’d like a second chance to make things right.” Dare wasn’t sure if that was even possible, but he was willing to hear the guy out.
“You put Vixen through hell, Wyatt,” he accused. “How the fuck do you plan on making things right?”
“By letting you walk away,” he whispered.
“You’d do that? You’d just let me go?” Dare asked. He wasn’t sure if he should get his hopes up, but he was. If this was a trick, he’d be labeled as a traitor, and the boss wouldn’t tolerate a traitor.
Wyatt nodded, “I think it’s for the best. Vixen and the baby need you, and I can see that now,” he said. His change of heart had Dare worried that something was up, but he didn’t want to look a gift horse in the mouth.
“Okay, say I believe you and you actually let me go,” Dare said. “What happens to you once the boss realizes what’s happened?”
“I’m not sure, but I know that me caring for Vixen isn’t something that I can stop doing. I still want her and that won’t change, but I understand that she doesn’t want me now. I won’t keep her from her happiness, and apparently, that’s you. I haven’t always been this way, you know. I never imagined that I’d end up stalking a woman who didn’t want anything to do with me, or that I’d force the man that she wanted into working for a drug ring. Hell, I never thought that I’d work for a drug ring.”
“Why did you start?” Dare asked.
“I got hooked on drugs and couldn’t pay for my habit. The boss made me an offer to work off my debt, and I took him up on it because the alternative was unthinkable. I just never realized that when I agreed to work for the Ghosts, there would be no way out,” Wyatt mumbled.
“There has to be a way to get both of us out of here,” Dare said.
“There isn’t. I’m going to tell the boss that you jumped me, and I shot you. I’ll convince him that it was a fatal shot and that we shouldn’t bother with you, but you will need to lay low for a while to make it believable. Can you do that?” he asked. If it meant being with Vixen and their baby, he could do just about anything.
“I can do that,” Dare agreed. “Is there anything that I can do for you in return?”
“All I ask is that you put in a good word for me with Savage. If I ever get out of this mess, I’ll need my club,” Wyatt said.
“I can do that,” Dare agreed. “I’m going to try everything in my power to get you out of here. There are men on the inside of the Ghosts that might be able to help you, Wyatt.”
“I know,” Wyatt admitted, “I figured that out about Demon when you lied and said that you two were working together.”
“Shit, you knew?” Dare asked.
“Yeah, and don’t worry, I won’t blow his cover. In all fairness, I had overheard a few of the guys in the Royal Bastards talking about Demon’s undercover work in the Ghosts. I will keep his secret—don’t worry. Demon is outside of the warehouse, side entrance, waiting to get you out of here,” Wyatt said. “And I appreciate the offer to find me help, but I think that I’m past that point. Either the boss will believe me, or he’ll add me to the list of guys he needs to take care of. After everything I put you and Vixen through, I deserve anything that happens to me. I do need one more favor,” Wyatt said.
“Name it,” Dare insisted.
“I need you to beat the shit out of me. You know—just enough to make your escape look convincing. When you’re done, I’ll fire my gun in the direction of the door, after you leave. I figure you’ll have about three minutes to get out of the warehouse before the Ghosts come looking for you,” Wyatt said.
“You’ve thought this through,” Dare grumbled.
“I told you that I was able to do some soul-searching on my way back here from dropping off Vixen. So, yeah, I’ve given this some thought. You ready?” Wyatt asked.
“As I’ll ever be,” Dare agreed. “Sorry about this.” He pulled back his fist and hit Wyatt in the jaw twice, and for good measure, in the nose once. Blood spilled from the guy’s nostrils, and he almost felt bad about the beating that he was giving Wyatt.
“One or two more in the stomach,” Wyatt groaned.
“I think you’ve had enough,” Dare insisted.
“It needs to look convincing,” Wyatt shouted. Dare sighed and did as Wyatt asked; punched him in the stomach twice and watched as he fell to the ground. “Go,” he whispered, choking on his own blood. He pulled his gun from his hip holster and pointed it at Dare. “Go,” he repeated.
Dare opened the door and ran down the hallway before Wyatt got off his first shot. Two more rang out in the distance and Dare knew that he was almost out of time as he heard men’s voices shouting around him. He slipped out the side door of the warehouse to find Demon waiting for him in his truck.
“Get the fuck in,” Demon spat. Dare didn’t question him, opening the door to slip into the passenger side of the truck.
“Thanks, man,” Dare breathed.
“Don’t thank me yet,” Demon insisted. “We need to find you and Vixen a place to lay low for a bit, and I’m betting that your girl isn’t going to like that at all.” She wasn’t going to like having to pack up and leave town for a while, but Demon was right—it was necessary.
“I’ll convince her,” Dare promised.
“You better, because the boss won’t believe that you’re dead until Savage and I can come up with a way to convince him that you are,” Demon said. Dare wasn’t sure how they’d go about doing that, but he was grateful that they were willing to at least give it a try.