Chapter 10
Chapter Ten
Sometimes You Wake Up in the Back of a Van
I t takes balls of steel to walk up to a patched in table member of Sins of Fire Real Anarchy West and throw a punch the way Nelle did. Or maybe instead of balls of steel Nelle had ovaries of ice . Either way, Nelle’s fist connected with Slade’s mouth. Slade’s head snapped back.
Pain shot through Nelle’s hand, causing her to cry out. To say her emotions were fucked would be an understatement. The dream she had. The feeling she had. Not being able to fall back asleep. Then getting a call…
Another fucking call!
Before Nelle could grab and try to comfort her hand, she was being placed under arrest. She thrashed her arms and threw an elbow, hitting the cop in the stomach. It all felt like an out-of-body experience as she knew better than to do something stupid like this.
She saw the handcuffs and felt the tears rush to her eyes. She screamed at herself in her mind not to be a woman that breaks down crying when handcuffed. That’s when Slade stepped in. The biker grabbed the handcuffs right from the cop’s hands!
“No,” Slade said.
He was ordering the cop around?
“She just attacked you,” the cop said. “And she—”
“Her sister is the one who got shot,” Slade said. “And her sister is the one who was shot at the pizza place. Get your fucking hands off her right now, Chief.”
Chief?
Slade is talking to the Chief of Police like this?
Nelle caught herself swallowing hard. And maybe tightening her inner thighs a little. It was hard to deny that it was a little bit sexy to see a biker overthrowing a man of the law like this…
“Take your cuffs and walk away,” Slade said. “I’ll handle her. She’s been through enough.”
“If you’re the only surviving sister, then you and I need to have a talk soon,” Chief said to Nelle.
“Back the fuck off, Dick,” Slade said in a deeper voice.
His commands worked. But now Nelle had to face Slade. Aside from that quick little bad boy show there… Slade touched his jaw and the left corner of his mouth. There was a little bit of blood on his fingertips.
“She’s dead,” Nelle whispered. “And you’re here again. That’s twice.”
“Correction, sweetheart,” Slade growled. “I wasn’t around when your first sister got popped.”
Nelle growled and swung again. Slade caught her fist in midair. It was like some cheap fight scene in a movie. Slade’s massive, bear paw style hand swallowed Nelle’s fist up with ease.
“The first one I’ll let go,” Slade said. “Do not hit me again, Nelle.”
“Fuck you,” Nelle said. “Fuck you and all your biker friends.”
“You think we had anything to do with this?” Slade asked.
Nelle opened her mouth, ready to spit acid-like fire at the biker in front of her. The world kept collapsing around her though. She had learned a long time ago how to harness adrenaline and use it properly.
The adrenaline allowed her to get out of bed, get changed, get her car keys, and drive sanely back to town. The adrenaline allowed her to find a police officer, tell him who she was and then get information about Calista’s death. The adrenaline allowed her to see Slade and walk up to the gigantic biker and punch him in the face.
But now… the adrenaline suddenly hit zero. The tank was empty. The gut punch realization of life settled in. Hard. Fast.
Thalia? Shot to death.
Calista? Shot to death.
Were these bikers killing her sisters one by one? Nelle knew the answer to that. Because Nelle already knew the truth… in a way… It wasn’t the bikers that killed her sisters.
‘They’ killed her sisters.
The same ones who made Nelle’s childhood terrifying.
Nelle sort of remembered passing out. She remembered staring into Slade’s eyes. And then it felt like she was falling into his eyes. His eyes kept getting bigger and she kept getting smaller. Then it was darkness.
Even when she opened her eyes, it was still darkness. Well, sort of. She woke to movement. Her body rocked side to side, gently. Her eyes adjusted a little. For some reason she expected to be tied up or chained up.
They found me and took me!
She touched her chest, looking for a heartbeat. It was there. Thumping hard and fast. Nelle sat up and realized she was in the back of a van. Unsecured. An empty van too. No tools or seats or anything like that. Just a hard floor that made her neck now hurt.
“Hey,” she said to the person driving the van.
“Oh, fuck, you scared me, girl,” a man’s voice said. He looked back at her. “I guess you’re not dead.”
“Real nice to say to someone who just had their two sisters murdered.”
“Fuck. Right. Sorry. I’m Virus.”
“Virus? That’s your name.”
“That’s me, girl.”
“Stop calling me girl . Who the fuck are you for real? Do you work for them ?”
“Work for…” Virus shook his head. “Shit, you’re out of it. I’m with the club. SOFRAW ?”
“Who?”
“The motorcycle club, girl. Shit. Sorry. Didn’t mean to call you girl . That slipped out.”
“Wait,” Nelle said. “The motorcycle club… the bikers… where’s Slade?”
“Right behind us,” Virus said.
Nelle carefully moved, crawling toward the back of the van. There was one single small window on the left door. It was heavily tinted but through the dark haze she saw a single bright light right behind the van.
A motorcycle. A biker.
“Slade,” she whispered.
“He figured it was best to get you out of there,” Virus called out. “Smart idea. What a fucking disaster tonight. Hey, I’m really sorry about your sister. That’s just awful. Really awful.”
“Tell me about it,” Nelle said. “Mind if I sit up front with you, Viral ?”
“Virus,” he corrected.
“Oh. Right. Yeah. Virus . How did you get that name?”
Nelle eased her way to the front of the van and sat in an old, ripped seat. The left side of the seat was cushioned. The right side felt like someone was jabbing a dull knife into her right butt cheek.
“That’s what everyone always called me,” Virus said. “On account of the way I acted as a kid.”
“Troublemaker?”
“I set my elementary school on fire,” Virus said with a smile.
“Oh. Okay.”
Virus shrugged his shoulders. “Don’t worry. Slade told me to guard you with my life.”
“And, what, he’s the boss?”
“I’m an enforcer, girl. Shit. Sorry. I’m an enforcer.”
“I have no idea what that means.”
“That’s okay,” Virus said. “Just know if came down to my life or yours ending, mine would end to save yours. Orders from Slade. That’s how it goes.”
“Great,” Nelle said.
She looked out the window. She wasn’t an idiot when it came to certain aspects of life beyond the realm of the law. Nothing happened for free, or cheap. Nothing was ever a favor, but rather a reminder. Whatever the hell Slade was up to…
The van took a sudden right. Nelle gasped.
“Sorry,” Virus said.
The headlights poured all over a large gate. When the gate began to open, Nelle felt her chest tighten some more. She was scared half to death. Of everything.
Virus parked the van and insisted on opening Nelle’s door for her. He even offered her a hand to help her out of the van. By the time her feet hit the pavement, Slade had parked his motorcycle and was on his way over to check up on Nelle.
When push came to shove in the situation, Slade hadn’t had much of a choice. Nelle passed right out and fell into his arms. Her eyes went completely blank and she whispered something about them and she was gone. Leaving her there near the backstage area where her sister had been murdered felt cruel. As did just handing her off to some paramedics.
It didn’t take a genius to realize something bad was happening to Nelle’s family. Twice now someone was shot to death near the club. And because of that it put a bad spotlight on the club.
Nelle made eye contact with Slade and she didn’t know what to feel. He closed in on her like he was going to hurt her. She stood her ground, feet planted firmly, just in case.
“You’ll be safe here for tonight, sweetheart,” Slade said.
“Safe? With a bunch of bikers? You realize how fucked up my life must be for that to be true?”
“I’ve seen how fucked up your life is,” Slade said. “And something tells me this is just the tip of the giant iceberg.”
Nelle wanted to cry. She didn’t. “Whatever. I can use a stiff drink right now anyway.”
She turned, wanting to be as rough as high grit sandpaper. Slade grabbed her arm and pulled her back toward him.
“You’re not just going to walk in there and act like you belong, sweetheart,” Slade growled. “There’s a price for admission.”
“Well, I’m not my sister,” Nelle said. “I’m not some groupie whore. So go find somewhere else to stick your dick.”
“Your sister is dead,” Slade said. “You’re not. Want to keep it that way? Then you play by my rules. Right fucking now, sweetheart.”
Nelle’s throat tightened and she felt like she was going to pass out again. That left her with no other option but to nod. To agree with Slade.
She just wanted to survive the night… was that so much to ask?