Chapter 13 #2
I slipped my arms around her waist, pulling her close.
Her soft, delectable lips called out to me, begging to be devoured.
Unable to resist the temptation any longer, I gently pressed my mouth against hers and instantly felt my world rock beneath me.
Feeling the same hunger, a light moan vibrated through her chest as her arms wrapped around my neck, and her hands quickly began tangling in my hair as she pressed her breasts against my chest. My hands roamed down her back and over the curves of her ass as I thought about how unbelievably perfect she felt in my arms.
Remembering we were out in her driveway where anyone could see, I pulled back, but the second I looked down at her lust-filled eyes, I couldn’t stop myself from leaning in for another.
She opened her mouth with a low moan, and I delved deeper, savoring the soft caress of her lips and the quickening of her breath.
This woman had no idea what she was doing to me.
The feelings I had for her scared the hell out of me, but there was no fear great enough for me to walk away from her.
As I released her mouth, I looked down at her and whispered, “You sure don’t make it easy to go. ”
“Good. That means I’m doing something right.” She giggled, then said, “I really am glad you came by. I’m pretty sure you made the boys’ night.”
“Well, they certainly made mine.” I hated to end the night on a bad note, but I didn’t have a choice. I knew things were about to go south with the club. I could feel it in my fucking bones. I needed to let her know that she might not see me for a while. “You may not hear from me for a few days.”
“Why? Is something wrong?”
“Got some stuff going down at the club.”
“But why would...”
Before she could finish her thought, I insisted, “Just promise me you’ll be patient, Frankie.”
“Only if you promise that I will hear from you at some point.”
“Absolutely.”
I leaned down and kissed her once more. The kiss was soft, gentle, and filled with a promise—a promise I intended to keep.
The sun was just starting to set when I eased out of her driveway and started back to the clubhouse.
The feeling of dread I’d felt earlier had returned, only this time it was all-consuming.
I knew we were about to get hit with something bad.
I just didn’t know how bad until I got back to the clubhouse.
I’d gone to Viper’s office to check in with him and Menace, and as soon as I walked in and saw the look on their faces, I knew something was wrong.
“Hawk just called. He and Rafe just found Danny and Badger’s bikes out on Cedar Grove Road. ”
“Their bikes? What about Danny or Badger?”
“No sign of them.”
“They just left their bikes abandoned on the side of the road?”
“Yeah, not sure what the hell happened.” I’d really hoped that there was a good explanation for their disappearance, one where they weren’t in immediate danger, but that clearly wasn’t the case.
Viper ran his hand over his thick beard as he ordered, “We need to get the trailer over there and help ‘em load them up.”
“You got it.”
Menace and I pulled his truck around back, and once we had the trailer hooked up, we all drove over to Cedar Grove.
I knew the old back road well. It was the road that didn’t get much traffic, so we always took it whenever we wanted to make a quick run to the gas station for more beer or cigarettes.
We hadn’t been driving long when we spotted Hawk and Rafe standing on the side of the road.
Menace pulled over on the graveled edge of the road and parked.
It was just starting to get dark, making it difficult to see, so we left the headlights on as we got out and followed Viper and Axel over to Hawk.
Viper looked down at the overturned bikes as he asked, “Any idea what happened?”
“Looks like someone ran them off the road.” Hawk pointed to several black skid marks that swerved towards the middle of the road. “Must’ve forced them off right about here.”
“I’ll be damned.” Viper shook his head as he grumbled curses under his breath. “And there’s still no sign of either of them?”
“There’s nothing, Prez. Someone had to have picked them up.”
I stepped forward as I said, “This has to be about Grant. They must know we got him.”
“It’s certainly looking that way.”
“How do you wanna play this, Prez?” Hawk asked.
“We’re going into lockdown. Get the bikes back to the clubhouse. I’ll talk to Shotgun and see what he’s been able to find out from Grant. Maybe he’ll have something we can use to get these motherfuckers.”
It was hard for us to see our future brothers’ bikes abandoned and in shambles, but it was especially hard for Hawk.
Danny was his ol’ lady’s brother, and the two had always been close.
Hawk’s voice was strained as he said, “We gotta find ‘em, Prez. Delilah’s gonna lose her mind if something happens to Danny.”
“We’ll find them, brother.” Viper placed his hand on his shoulder. “I know it’s tough, but you’re gonna have to keep this on the downlow. That isn’t going to be easy with us going into lockdown, but you’re gonna have to put her off—at least until we figure out what we’re dealing with.”
“Understood.”
I needed to figure out what the hell I was going to do about Frankie and the boys.
Going into lockdown was a move I should’ve anticipated, but I hadn’t.
I wasn’t sure how I needed to play it. Frankie and I were just getting started.
Bringing her and the boys in could bring us closer or it could completely rip us apart.
It was something that weighed on me as we got the bikes on the trailer, and once we had them secured, we headed back.
When we arrived at the clubhouse, we pulled around back to the garage.
We were all completely silent, lost in our own heads, as we unloaded Danny and Badger’s bikes from the trailer.
Hawk closed the garage door, securing them inside.
No one said a word as we entered the clubhouse and headed to the conference room.
Viper called the others in to let them know we were going into lockdown.
As soon as he’d made the announcement, the others went to bring their families in while Hawk and I followed Viper down to the holding room where Shotgun was working over Grant.
There were several holding rooms Shotgun used to extract information, each with its own two-way mirror for us to use whenever we needed to check-in with Shotgun.
When I stepped up to the glass, a sense of satisfaction washed over me when I saw Grant.
Shotgun had done a real number on the sonofabitch.
He’d bound Grant’s hands over his head and stripped him of his shirt.
Grant’s bloody, swollen face was hanging low with his chin down on his mutilated chest. The bright, fluorescent lights shone down on him, revealing the deep gashes and various stab wounds that covered his entire body.
The guy was hanging by a thread, and Shotgun wasn’t close to being done with him.
We all watched as Viper talked to Shotgun, informing him of the situation with Badger and Danny.
Shotgun glared back at Grant with an enlivened thirst for revenge.
Viper stepped over to Grant, fisting his hand in his hair, and jerked his head back as he growled, “You and your boys fucked with the wrong MC.”
“He won’t stop.”
“Who?”
“Not my fight.”
Viper tugged at his hair as he roared, “What the fuck are you talking about?”
“I can’t,” Grant mumbled. “I can’t do it.”
“You’re only making this shit harder on yourself.”
Grant didn’t respond. His eyes dropped to the floor, and it looked like he was actually about to start fucking crying. I had no idea what the fuck was going on with this guy, but he was clearly not right in the head. Flustered, Viper released Grant and barked, “Have it your way.”
“I can’t. I just can’t.”
“You can, and you fucking will!” Viper roared, then stormed out of the room.
He came over and stood next to me, panting as he tried to settle the rage that was burning deep inside him.
It took him several moments, but he eventually announced, “Shotgun hasn’t gotten much out of him yet.
Just that there are more of them than just the five that showed up at Stilettos that night. ”
The other brothers were listening as I asked, “Are they part of a gang or an MC?”
“Not sure what they are. Just that they’re some kind of vigilante group who sets out to get folks who’ve wronged them in some way. He keeps going on and on about the main guy being fucked up in the head. Apparently, he’s done some pretty vile shit over the past couple of years.”
“And now they’ve turned their attention to us.”
“Certainly looking that way.” When he saw the expression on my face, he shook his head and said, “This shit isn’t on you, brother.
These motherfuckers came into our house and pulled shit they had no business pulling.
You did right doing what you did to that asshole.
I’m thinking there’s a whole lot more to this shit than that anyway. ”
“He’s right,” Hawk chimed in. “Don’t care how fucking crazy you are. You don’t go starting a war with an MC like ours without good reason.”
“Agreed. Now, we just gotta figure out what that reason is.” Viper turned his attention back to the two-way glass. “Hopefully, Shotgun will break this guy soon, and we can get some answers.”