Jalisa Chapter 3
My pleasure in watching Dutton finally spill what he knew evaporated when he indicated who was behind this.
What I told Wrath was true. We thought no one knew about Dylan and would never come looking for me here.
We’d been fools. Christ, where could I go to be safe until Dad’s club dealt with them?
He insisted that I had to be safe so the Fiends could concentrate and do what needed to be done.
I’d begged to remain with them. Finally, after a lot of debate, he agreed to send me to stay with my favorite cousin.
We hadn’t seen Dylan since he started prospecting for the Pagans.
I understood why, but I missed him. We stayed in contact via phone and video chats, but it wasn’t the same.
When we talked, he was careful not to reveal anything about his club, and we did the same with ours.
When Dad asked if I could stay a few days, Dylan agreed.
We’d honestly thought it would be over in less than a week. Wrath cut off all my musing about that.
“Which club? Why is he after you?” he demanded.
“Can we talk about this somewhere private?” I asked. I detested how weak and girly my voice sounded. Wrath didn’t answer me right away. When he did, it was to the point.
“No, right here, right now,” he demanded.
Dylan had moved closer. “Tell him, or I will, Jae,” he said.
Fuck, I didn’t want to talk about this period of my life, let alone in front of a room full of strange men and Dutton.
It was humiliating. I should’ve been wiser.
Usually, I was. The self-recriminations wouldn’t stop.
I brought this trouble to the Fiends’ doorstep and now to the Pagans’.
That was the last thing I wanted. Since it happened, they deserved to know what they were up against and why.
I moved away from Dutton. The Pagans shifted to surround me.
Instead of feeling claustrophobic, I felt secure and shielded from Dutton’s smirking gaze.
“I need to give you some background first. I told you his real name is Morgan Carter. When I met him, that was how he introduced himself. We met in a coffee shop I frequent in Athens, which is not far from my place. He ran into me, spilling my coffee. He apologized and insisted on buying me a new one. Luckily, it wasn’t hot, I wasn’t burned, and my clothes weren’t ruined.
“Before you say it, I know that’s a classic way to insert yourself into someone’s life, typically only for nefarious reasons.
He was so sincere and sweet that my radar didn’t alert me that this was what he was doing.
I honestly thought he’d accidentally run into me.
” I grimaced as I confessed. The guys were all standing there, not saying a word.
“We talked for a while, and when we parted, he asked for my number. I gave it to him. He told me he wanted to apologize more by taking me to dinner. I told him it wasn’t necessary, but he insisted.
Two days later, he called, and we set up a date.
Things progressed from there. He was charming and seemed to have interests that aligned with mine.
I was beginning to get excited that I might’ve found someone.
“My dad is rather protective, so I kept Morgan a secret. Psycho has run off more than a few guys over the years. Anyway, we’d been seeing each other for a month. Everything was great. I was thinking of telling Dad about him. Before I could, I got a reality check.”
I paused to swallow the lump in my throat. I truly hated this next part. “I ended up going to visit a friend in Greensboro. We’d gone to school together, and she had her first baby. I went to see them and to take her some baby gifts I had bought.
“While I was there, we talked, and she asked me if I was seeing anyone. I was bursting to tell someone about Morgan, so I told her and showed her a picture of him. Tammi got this weird look on her face, and she asked me if he was a biker. I told her no. He had some tattoos on his arms, but so did a lot of people. Plus, I asked him if he rode, and he said he didn’t.
“Tammi studied his picture for a long time, and then she got up to get something. When she came back, she had her phone. On it was a news feed from a few months prior. There had been an altercation at a business in town between some citizens and a local biker club. The police got involved, and some of the bikers were arrested. The news article describing it had a photo of the bikers. Standing toward the front was a man who could’ve been Morgan’s twin. There was no mistaking it was him.”
I had to take a deep breath before continuing.
“I didn’t want to believe it was him, but I’d asked if he had siblings, and he said no.
I excused myself not long after that and went home.
I knew I had to determine the truth. If he was who it said he was, there was no way I’d be involved with him.
In order to find the truth, I had to tell Dad. God, I dreaded that.
“Suffice it to say he wasn’t happy, but he was very familiar with that club, and he identified the man I knew as Morgan as their enforcer, Killer.
There had been scrimmages with them at times.
As if that wasn’t bad enough, the bastard had been cozying up to me while he had a woman who was pregnant.
I discovered that from one of the bunnies who had a friend who went to their clubhouse to party.
She didn’t know if the woman was his old lady, but it was acknowledged openly that the baby was his.
” I stopped again. I tried to see if I felt recriminations coming off them.
“I know this isn’t easy for you, Jalisa, but we need to know the club’s name,” Wrath said.
“And I’ll tell you, but you need to know why I’m hiding here.
Fast forward, I contacted Killer, and when he answered, I informed him that I would no longer see him.
I told him not to contact me again. He kept asking why and got very upset.
I hung up on him and blocked his ass. We’d decided not to tell him I knew his real identity.
“Dad and the Fiends are trying to determine why he targeted me. What does Killer’s club want with ours?
There’s no way it’s merely an interest in me.
Are they looking for an in? Am I to be used to get concessions on territories?
Or would I have been taken and used as a bargaining chip in other ways? We didn’t know.
“For the next week, I stayed pretty much at the compound. Dad didn’t want me at my place.
However, I did have to work. One day, as I was leaving work, Killer cornered me.
He demanded to know why I dumped him. I refused to say more than I felt we weren’t a match.
He grew angry and shouted that I was his, and he wasn’t giving me up.
He tried to snatch me right off the street.
Who knows what Killer would’ve done if several men in my company hadn’t come to my rescue?
As he rode off, he yelled that this wasn’t the end. ”
“There’s more. The bastard stopped hiding who he was and came roaring up to the gate of the Fiends’ compound, demanding that he be given Jae the following day.
He was told she wasn’t there, but they wouldn’t give her to him even if she were.
They gave my uncle’s club a week to produce her, or it meant war.
Killer was talking crazy shit about how he wouldn’t allow anyone to keep his old lady away from him and how the two clubs would merge to become a mega club that no one could beat.
That’s when my uncle called and asked if she could come here.
I’d been off the radar, and no one knew where I was besides the members and Jae.
We thought it was safe, and the Fiends could take care of Killer and his club one way or another.
Obviously, we were wrong,” Dylan finished for me.
There was muttering. I couldn’t blame them. No one said anything other than Wrath. “Jalisa, the club’s name.”
“It’s a club in Greensboro called the Black Outlaws. Have you heard of them?” I asked.
This caused several to swear and scowl.
“What’s wrong?” I asked. The guys were moving around me in agitation.
“The Black Outlaws were involved in a human trafficking ring about a year and a half ago. One of our good friends in another Pagan chapter, his old lady, was one of their victims. She was able to get away and hide herself in their gas station restroom. The Outlaws, their backer, and anyone in the pipeline were eliminated. This isn’t the first time a chapter of the Black Outlaws has had issues with one of our friends over the past several years.
Christ, we need to talk to the other clubs.
We’ve left the Black Outlaws alone, only taking out the chapters that got in our way and were involved in horrible things.
That might not be the answer anymore,” Wrath muttered.
Panic hit me. There was no way I’d let them do this.
“Wait! There’s no reason for your club to get involved in this, Wrath.
I’ll go away and ensure I’m seen leaving so they leave your club alone.
Dad will have to accept my return. I never wanted to run and hide anyway.
He was the one to insist I do it. This isn’t your fight. Stay out of it.”
Suddenly, I was backed up to the wall. A towering Wrath stood over me.
His gaze was intense. I didn’t know if I should shiver in fear or moan in arousal.
That look, which would scare most people to death, made my whole body light up like a Christmas tree.
I had to bite my tongue not to beg him to touch me.