Chapter 9 ZiggyIggy #2
She turned to the mirror and patted her neck with a baby wipe.
“They’re bikers, Ava. If Prime had something to do with you being attacked…
hell, he might have had something to do with Lucy getting robbed a few months back.
” She looked at me again. “Believe me, they’re gonna take care of this themselves, and do it far better than the JSO. ”
I stared at her for a shade too long.
“Girl… don’t tell me you don’t know.”
My eyes slid to the side because I didn’t know what she was hinting at and my stomach suddenly felt like an empty pit. “What are you talking about?”
She scooted closer to me and lowered her voice. “The Riot brothers are outlaws.” She frowned a little and scrunched her nose. “Actually, they’d tell you they’ve cleaned up their act, and they have… but at the same time, they don’t always turn to the cops like someone else would.”
I lifted my chin and nodded slowly. “All right.”
Desiree tilted her head. “If it’s all right, then why do you look like you lost your best friend?”
Those words hit home. I hadn’t lost my best friend, just my best friend’s brother. And my gut had been right. I was on my way to following in Mom’s footsteps, hooking up with a criminal.
As much as I wanted to keep everything private, I found myself sharing with Desiree. “Punc’s sister is my best friend. She and I have been friends since middle school, and I guess I’d have never expected him to be part of a group like that.”
Heaven bustled into the dressing room before Desiree could respond. “I hope you’re ready to go, Ava. I’m on a tight schedule to pick up my little girl.”
There was a heavy knock on the wall. “Everyone decent?” Punc asked.
“Yes,” Desiree called.
Punc stood outside the doorway wearing his cut, a t-shirt, and faded jeans. “You can go on without her, Heaven. I’m taking her home.”
Heaven’s eyes narrowed for a split second, then she smiled at Punc. “It’s on the way to pick up my kid, Punc. I’d hate for you to make a special trip.”
If I hadn’t known Punc for so long, I’d have thought he gave Heaven a patient smile, but I knew he was hiding his irritation. “That’s all right, Heaven. Drive safe. Ava, you ready to go?”
I shook my head. “You really don’t need to do that, Punc. Heaven’s my ride, like she said, it’s on the way.”
Punc dipped his chin, and a muscle in his cheek twitched. “Tundra is here to walk Heaven to her car, and I’m taking you home.”
My eyes darted to Desiree and back to Punc. “Are you on your motorcycle? Because I can’t—”
He shook his head. “I know you can’t be on a bike. I’m in a cage to take you home.”
Heaven zipped up her bag. “Isn’t that fraternization?”
Punc stood taller. “We don’t know if the attack was random or if they might make another attempt. We’re being cautious.”
For the first time I didn’t want to spend time with Punc, and I tried to stall. “Do we have to go now? I didn’t get much time to work with Desiree this afternoon.”
Desiree swatted a hand at me. “Oh, we can work on that some more tomorrow. You get home.”
Punc
Out in the parking lot, Ava turned her head side to side and shuffled her feet in those sexy-as-hell teal sandals while she waited for him to unlock her door. “This seems like overkill, but thanks for spending the night, and taking my safety so seriously, Punc.”
“You’re welcome.”
He closed the door for her after she got in and hurried to the driver’s side. From the tone of her voice, he couldn’t tell if she suspected something was up or if something else was wrong. The problem was, he wasn’t entirely certain what was going down.
“What’s going on here, Punc?” Ava asked after he buckled his seatbelt.
He started the vehicle and motored toward Blanding Boulevard. “Could ask you the same thing. Why were you trying to catch a ride with Heaven?”
She sighed and looked out the passenger window. “I didn’t want you to have to go out of your way.”
That sounded like bullshit. Before he could call her on it, she spoke.
“Why are you so determined to drive me?”
“Just want to get you home safe, Ava.”
“Mm-hmm,” she said. “Anybody else, you could get away with that, but you’re lying.”
Normally, he’d love that she could read him, now not so much. He shook his head and focused on the road. “Not lying, but Turk wanted to get you out of the club.”
“Why?”
“Don’t know.”
“I find that hard to believe, Puncture.”
He fought a smile. For some reason, he liked hearing her use his full road name. “It’s the truth. Turk pulled me from the floor and told me to take you home.”
From the corner of his eye, he saw her eyes narrow. “Did it have something to do with me upsetting Yak… or Volt?”
He shot her a curious glance before watching the road again. “What are you talking about? Why would you have upset either one of them?”
She hesitated for a moment. “I told them about some things I remembered about my attack. Prime and Ghost were talking about someone named Iggy, or maybe Ziggy. Yak and Volt didn’t seem upset at the time, but as soon as I left the office, I heard something bang against the wall.
Turk stormed up there, and… now he’s ordered you to get me home. ”
Punc’s lungs froze, and he gripped the steering wheel so tight his knuckles went white. “You’re saying, Prime was in on it with… did you say, ‘Ghost’?”
“That’s the name he used. I’m very clear on that, it’s the other two names that I think my brain’s just messing with me.”
He forced himself to exhale slowly. “No, sweetheart. That isn’t a mind trick. For a while, Yak’s suspected we’ve had a rogue brother, so that would upset him. Shit. No wonder Turk wanted to get you out of the building.”
She shook her head. “But Prime wasn’t there today.”
His chin dipped as he turned into her quiet neighborhood. “No, we know where he’s at most of the time. We don’t know where Ghost is though, since he’s with the Devil Lancers.”
“Who are the Devil Lancers?”
He sighed as he pulled into her drive. Sharing that with her hadn’t been his intention. “You don’t need to worry about that.”
“I kinda do, Punc. Cat and I don’t need another problem to sneak up on us.”
He put the car in park and turned to Savannah. “Another problem?”
Her head tilted and she sighed. “You know what I mean. Who are the Devil Lancers?”
Seeing her in his vehicle reminded him of how close he came to losing her.
He gave into his urge and wrapped an arm around her shoulders, pulling her closer, and tucking a lock of hair behind her ear.
“They’re a rival MC, and that’s all you need to know.
They don’t know where you live. Brian will definitely be outside the house tonight.
I’d feel better if he were inside on your couch, but it turns out his girlfriend’s got a jealous streak. ”
Her chuckle surprised him. “That’s good, because Catalina thinks he’s hot, even if she’s only seen him in his car.”
He chuckled and shook his head twice. “The two of you are just as crazy as I remember.”
Warmth filled her gaze. “She’s boy-crazy, but I’m really not crazy at all, Punc.”
He stared at her longer than he should have, drawing out the time he could hold her. Then he kissed her temple, careful of the bruising. “I’m glad you think that. Get inside. Now that I know what you told Yak about Prime, I gotta hit the clubhouse. I’ll text you when I’ll be back.”
She reached over and squeezed his bicep. “Be safe, Punc.”
Punc struggled to stick to the speed limit. His jumble of thoughts felt like water circling a drain, they kept coming back around to the same things. He wanted revenge against Prime and Ghost in the worst way.
He’d been with the club for over five years, and this was the first time Punc knew of when the brothers played shit by the book. He wasn’t sure how long he could sit by doing nothing.
Yak and Turk hadn’t come to the hospital to see the damage to Ava. Hell, they’d both barely hidden their flinch when Ava came in with Desiree earlier that afternoon.
Blood had relayed everything back to Volt.
They employed her. She followed their rules.
And the brothers failed her.
This flew in the face of when Punc had been a prospect.
He’d gone with Roll and Cal to get revenge for Trixie.
He’d thought ahead that night and brought his tire knife to puncture a Devil Lancer’s back tire - which inspired the brothers to give him his road name.
Any possible doubts and trepidations about joining the Riot MC fled that night.
He knew to his bones that this was the brotherhood for him because they’d been so damned ruthless in doling out their vengeance.
Thinking about the horrible attack Savannah suffered, and Punc felt like he’d been handed a raw deal. The brothers owed her, and he couldn’t stand how distant they were to her.
He tore through the back door to the clubhouse and had one foot on the stairs when Patch’s voice stopped him cold.
“Get back to Platinum’s, Punc.”
He turned to face the club’s treasurer. Patch had his gray hair in a low ponytail, and glasses perched on his nose.
“Why do I need to get back to Platinum’s?”
“It’s all-hands-on-deck. Beast is managing the rest of the night, but Tundra, Evict, and Chains need more back up. Especially since Nora and Suzy have gone missing.”
“The fuck?” he hissed.
“You heard me. Now get your ass back to the strip club in case these Devil Lancer assholes have some other bullshit planned.”
With his phone in hand, he sent Brian a text to head over to Savannah’s place earlier than usual. It killed to send his buddy instead of going over there himself. However, this wasn’t the time to defy an order from a club officer. He’d be defying the brothers soon enough when he claimed Savannah.
His phone rang with Brian’s ring tone as he fastened his seat belt. He took the call. “Yo, man. I’m sorry to lean on you like this.”
“Not a problem, Ted. Why do I need to head over there so early, though?”
His CR-V roared down the road toward Blanding Boulevard. “Shit’s goin’ down. I can’t say much more than that, but I don’t want to leave those two as sitting ducks. I’m sorry this is causing you problems with Darla.”
Brian scoffed. “Don’t be. Shows me her true colors that much faster, man.”
“I definitely owe you after this, bro,” he muttered as he sped up Blanding toward Platinum’s.
“Yeah, you do. A case of Sierra Nevada isn’t going to cut it this time.”
Punc turned into the parking lot and found a spot. “Whatever you need, man. As long as it isn’t free admission to Platinum’s it’s all good.”
“You fuckin’ work there.”
Punc chuckled. “Yeah, and I want to keep working there.”
“Whatever, I’ll text you when I get to their house. Later.”
The parking lot was half-full, but that was typical for a Monday evening. Punc tucked his phone into his back pocket and went in through the front door.
Beast stood behind the counter while Tundra worked the door. Two men had just entered the club. Annoyance shone from Beast’s eyes. “About fuckin’ time you came back. Why’d you have to take Ava home?”
“She just got out of the hospital and can’t drive yet. Seeing as how she’s the last one they attacked, for all we know those fuckers will target her too since they already took Suzy and Nora.”
“What?” Tundra demanded.
Beast pointed a finger at Tundra. “You keep workin’ the door.” He glared at Punc. “You’re manning the register. Both of you need to be focused. Don’t let this shit distract you from any other threats the Devil Lancer’s might have.”
Punc hated working the front of the club. If it was busy, it was a toss-up as to how obnoxious the men would be, but when it was slow, manning the door was worse than watching cement dry.
The night had been excruciatingly long. They didn’t know what was happening to Nora and Suzy, until nine-thirty when Beast shared that they were safe and being questioned by the police.
When his break rolled around, he grabbed a candy bar and went out to his vehicle to call Savannah and check in on her.
At closing, Punc took the cash drawer upstairs to the office where Beast was counting the bar register.
“You can go. I trust this will be cool,” Beast said.
“You told us about Suzy and Nora, but what about Prime? Did the cops get him or are we hunting his ass down?”
Beast’s blue eyes locked with Punc’s. “Why do you sound so angry? I mean, none of us want to see a brother’s woman get taken, but you sound like it happened to your woman.”
Punc widened his eyes. “Ava told me what she said to Yak. Prime was in on her attack, but nobody gives a damn what happened to her. When I joined this club, we were sending a vicious message to the fuckin’ Devil Lancers.
Now, they’re back and up to the same shit but worse, since Prime was in on it with them, and he’s a patched member in our club.
I’m pissed and want to know what we’re doing to that motherfucker. ”
Beast’s expression went flat. “I can’t answer that since I’m not an officer, I’m just filling in for Turk and Yak. But you’ll find out when we have church.”