Chapter 14 Sacrifice the Pawn
Chapter fourteen
Sacrifice the Pawn
Cactus
Throwing my leg over my bike, I pretended I wasn’t waiting for her to close her door.
The lock clicked loudly, and that was when I finally allowed myself to stare.
She’d been right there, leaning against the doorframe, but I’d refused to allow myself to turn around.
My feet had felt heavy, like I wore a pair of concrete shoes.
She wouldn’t have denied me if I had stayed, but the carnage wouldn’t have been worth it.
Starting my bike, I revved the engine, peeling out of the parking lot.
I didn’t have anywhere to go. It was too late to head back to Angelica’s.
She wouldn’t care if I slept on her couch, but she’d ask too many questions I wouldn’t answer.
I was by myself, and while I could have stopped at some bar, I didn’t want to risk breaking some fucking drunk’s jaw when he didn’t know when to quit.
Driving around, I stuck to the side streets, knowing where I was going but not having any desire to get somewhere. I rode around, but when several pigs went past me with their lights on, I figured my joyriding was over. I didn’t need to be caught up in whatever mess they were chasing by myself.
Heading to the clubhouse seemed like my only answer, and while I didn’t hate it, I wasn’t interested. The main room probably sounded like an orgy, and while I normally banged my fair share, a random fuck had lost its appeal.
The muscles between my shoulders tightened each mile closer to the clubhouse. It settled into my joints, stiffening until I thought they would break. Rolling my neck to release the tension didn’t help. I was going to have to suck it up.
Pulling through the main gates reminded me of better times.
When I’d been a prospect, this place had felt like home.
There had been camaraderie. Now, it felt like every man for himself.
Backing my bike into my spot, I took a few deep breaths.
It wouldn’t do anyone any good if I walked in there ready to fight.
“Where have you been, brother?” It was low and slow—Eights.
I swung my leg over my bike before unclipping my helmet and laying it on my seat. Eights must have been sitting on the porch because he appeared in front of my bike.
“Walk with me,” he said, leaving no room for argument.
I fell in step with him, but when he headed towards the fence, I was suspicious. We had cameras in the front near the gate, but we were far enough not to be heard.
Eights turned around and crossed his arms. “You need to know what’s going on, and everyone else is busy with their dicks,” he drawled. “Seriously, where have you been?”
“Do you know about the video from the other day?” I asked him, not giving anything away I didn’t want public knowledge. This was the first time we’d ever talked outside of a few sentences.
“I’ve seen it.” He nodded.
“I was checking on loose ends.”
“Yeah, everyone figured that’s where you went.” Eights puffed out a breath. “I didn’t patch in as a Saint to jump down another brother’s ass. I won’t do that now.” He shifted, crossing his arms over his chest. “They were drinking before the girls showed up, you know how it is.”
I nodded, wanting Eights to talk faster and knowing I’d have to wait him out.
“Scorpion joked about Roxy, and he didn’t let up.
By the time the girls came, they were so drunk, they thought it would be hilarious to save you the raven-haired chick for the night.
Some brothers figured if you’d walk through the main door, they’d throw her at you.
If you turned her down, they’d get their laugh, but truthfully, we’re all waiting for you to explode. ”
“Does this chick know?” I asked, rubbing my eyes, hoping the headache that had been forming would ease for a second.
I wasn’t in the mood for another one of Scorpion’s mind games, knowing I had never given him a reason to send me back on the road.
Now, he thought he’d found a weakness with Roxy, and in his mind, he’d exploit her until she cracked. If that happened, I’d snap.
“No. They fed her a line of bullshit, but she’s four times Roxy’s size. There’s no way in fucking hell you’re going to take her to your room. She’s pretty enough, but your head isn’t in it. If you go through the back, no one will know you’re here.”
My jaw clicked, my back molars gritting hard, which didn’t help my headache. “Yeah, I’ll take care of it,” I said. It was another problem I had to solve, but at least the solution was easy. I was walking off when he reached out and grabbed my arm.
“Is there anything we need to worry about?” He didn’t mention the video, but I knew what he was really asking. “Roxy’s recognizable if you know her, but the mother tagged the saloon.”
“Have you ever been up north? There’s a bar in Williams that’s Bear Canyon Disciples territory. Mesquite used to be friendly with them,” I asked Eights.
“Can’t say I’ve had the pleasure. I was still a prospect, but I’ve heard most of the stories.”
“Roxy worked their bar.”
“No fucking shit.” Eights blinked hard as his jaw ticked. “I mean, I knew she was tough, but how the fuck did she survive that place?”
“No clue. The first time I went, some club slut was so dirty, I ran. I didn’t want to catch anything, so I slept sitting on my bike,” I answered honestly. “Roxy’s boyfriend prospected with them, and when the president wanted free use, she took off. Landed here.”
“Now, the video is going to bring them here,” Eights speculated.
“We don’t know that, but it could.” It was a lie, and we both knew it.
I should have put a little faith in him.
He’d done me a solid, but I’d become such a lone wolf that I was used to withholding information until necessary.
The lie had rolled off my tongue naturally, and I’d never deny it.
I said nothing else, but we both knew they were going to come.
They would need to make an example of her, and it was only a matter of time.
Eights nodded his head, knowing that I wouldn’t give him anything else. “One more thing, and don’t shoot the messenger. There’s another couple of days’ worth of runs. You head out with Tumbleweed tomorrow night.”
“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.” I was furious. I wanted to head into the main room and start swinging, but they’d only take it out on some chick who thought she was going to get lucky. Taking a few deep breaths, I nodded to Eights. He didn’t have to stick his ass out on the line.
I’d never asked for anything before, and as I tried to form the words, they stuck to the roof of my mouth. I coughed. Tried again. There was no way I could be in two places at once. “If they show… can you make sure he doesn’t throw her into the fire? I won’t be here.”
“Don’t worry about it, brother.” He held out his fist for a bump, and I extended mine. I left him standing in the yard, entering the clubhouse from the back. If I had known I was just going to have to hide, I would have stayed at the shitty motel.
Scorpion had the board set. I was the pawn he needed gone.
Getting me out of the picture wasn’t about safety—it was about hero worship.
When it hit the fan, he’d be the one standing in front of Angelica and Bri, holding a shield like he’d bled for this family.
Meanwhile, Roxy would bleed as collateral damage.
My fists clenched. He wouldn’t lose a minute of sleep over it, unless he was fucking some new chick.
It was only a matter of time before the club showed up to claim her, and I wouldn’t be there.
***
No one informed me of the three-day run schedule. They had wanted me to find out two seconds before the run left, so that I would scramble to pack a bag. I could have done it, but I didn’t want to be the butt of anyone’s jokes, especially when this was a test.
Scorpion banged his fist on my door ten minutes before the run was supposed to pull out of the yard, but the joke was on him.
I walked out with a packed saddlebag, not saying a word.
My middle finger itched, but I refrained from flicking them all off as I strolled towards my bike.
They wanted a reaction, but I delivered the punchline when I didn’t give them anything.
Tumbleweed was on my left as we drove through the gates, and the select brothers on this run didn’t annoy me like some others. It was bad timing, but this could have been worse.
The first run was a repeat cargo security for El Sombra Roja.
We met three cargo trucks in the middle of the desert, driving with them to the warehouse near the New Mexico border.
No surprises this time, but the cartel didn’t schedule cargo deliveries this close together.
I suspected El Filo Negro had news for me—the kind he didn’t want to deliver over the phone.
The trucks stopped in the middle of the road before they made the turn into the warehouse’s driveway.
We circled around them, parking our bikes in the paved area that housed visitors.
Bike after bike filled the lot, and I waited with the rest of the brothers as the first truck backed up into an overhead door to be unloaded.
The other drivers turned off their trucks to wait.
As long as they were in the driveway, we were in the clear.
No one would challenge the cartel out here, assuming they even knew where to look.
“I hope that one brunette is here,” a brother said, smacking his lips.
“It’ll take you an hour to get it up, so what good will that do her?” someone else retorted.
I wasn’t paying attention to the brothers’ antics.
This was our only run for the night before we stayed at a nearby campground.
Unloading the three-truck delivery would take the cartel a couple of hours, and afterward, they would expect us to get the fuck out.
Until then, we had carte blanche access to the girls upstairs.
I’d been up there enough to know why they were excited. El Filo Negro always delivered.
There was a stack of crates near the back wall, and I made my way over there to sit. The brothers were turning the corner of the stairs when I heard loafers clicking on the cement floor behind me.
“Amigo.” El Filo Negro perched on the corner of a crate. It was like we’d been here before, neither with good news. We weren’t friends, but each faction had its own set of rules that we each respected. There was a difference. “You’re not partaking in my gifts again. I’m getting offended.”
A laugh bubbled out of my chest, not expecting him to crack a joke. “You’re not offended. Whatever those boneheads don’t wear out will be more for you and your men later tonight. A man of your position would only feel insulted if I asked you to prospect for the club.”
“You’re right. I’d get dirty if I had to ride around on a hog all day, amigo. Not my thing. I’d rather get dirty after a workout upstairs.”
“How’s the pool boy?” I asked, still chuckling. A smirk danced at the corner of my lips.
“Alive. For now. When I get my marching orders, someone will tell my wife.” He shrugged. “I’m more concerned about the Lopezes.”
We didn’t do any business with them, so I wasn’t familiar with the name. Shifting on the crate, I crossed my arms over my chest, waiting for him to continue.
“El Sombra Roja has been trying to expand his legit business in America, so he set up an arranged marriage with the Lopez cartel.” His hand came up, rubbing at his lip as his foot dangled.
“My cousin isn’t having a simple time of it, and if she can’t produce a child, the marriage falls apart. War is coming.”
“You know we won’t pick a side.” This wasn’t our fight, and as long as the money was flowing, we would take our cut and promptly sit this one out.
“The biker gang—they’re working with the Lopez cartel to interrupt our cargo lanes.”
My poker face remained in place as I processed what he was telling me.
It sounded like the biker gang I had asked him to look into had nothing to do with us, but it could all change in a second.
If the cartel or those bikers showed up in Tombstone, they would force us into their war.
While the club didn’t include women, if they wanted revenge, the saloon would be fair game for whomever could hit it first.
Before I could say anything, my phone dinged with an incoming text. I didn’t automatically reach for it, in case it was actually club news I needed to hide from the cartel.
“If you head out those doors,”—the Black Blade pointed—“no one will interrupt your conversation. It was good to see you, amigo. I just wish it were under better circumstances.” He walked away, heading towards a couple of offices near the back of the warehouse.
Taking his advice, I snuck out the door, walking away from the building until I could barely hear the workers unloading inside. Sweat dripped into my eyes as I pulled out my phone. Wiping the moisture away, I froze.
Eights
We got a visitor at the saloon today.