Banished Souls MC (12 page)

"Yeah?" Devlin yelled. "Then what is she then?"

"She's the Banished Souls' newest dancer."

Chapter 13

Cherish

Cherish beamed at Devlin. If she was ever going to gloat, now was the perfect opportunity.

Devlin glared at all of them. But now he had nothing to bargain with. No shield. He was just an interloper in a rival Club's backyard.

"You can keep her," Devlin said to Caine. "I don't care. She's not worth it."

Caine just watched him squirm. "Okay," was all he said.

Everyone seemed to be waiting for something to happen. Cherish suspected Caine wanted to make Devlin sweat it out. She found herself enjoying the spectacle.

"You can't touch me," Devlin finally said. "Anything happens to me, the Klowns will raise holy hell!"

Cherish was genuinely stunned at Devlin's stupidity. Why make things worse?

Caine took a deep breath, as if keeping himself from just shooting the rival biker out of annoyance. "Get in you shit box, and leave town. Now. You come back, and it will be the last thing you do."

Devlin glared at Caine. Glared at Cherish. Then he pointed at his Mustang. "It's not a shit box!"

Everyone laughed at this. Everyone except Devlin.

Cherish could not comprehend Devlin's behaviour. Was he that unhinged? Or maybe he just couldn't handle that he lost Cherish at his moment of ultimate triumph.

"Go," Caine said.

As if finally coming to his senses about the situation he was in, Devlin got into his mustang and started up the engine.

T-Bone walked over to Caine. "What's the deal? We let him walk?"

"Yup," Caine said, watching Devlin pull around the truck, then out of the parking lot. "We can't let some hot-head create a headline for us, here on the side of the road in broad daylight."

Devlin peeled out of the parking lot and zoomed down the street. His version of indignation.

"Follow him," Caine said to Pacer, who had been driving the car. "Make sure he leaves town. But don't mess with him."

Pacer nodded, hurriedly jumped into the car and drove off to catch up with Devlin.

Caine hugged Cherish a little closer. Cherish was all putty, smiling up at him. She had never felt happier than she did right then and there. She had actually been rescued, like from a scene in a movie.

"You okay," Caine asked her.

"I am now," she said. She buried her face into his chest.

T-Bone said, "So, what next?"

Caine smiled for the first time, "I think we need a break. I know she does. It's been a hell of a long day."

T-Bone laughed. "Okay, we'll talk later." He and the remaining men jumped into the van and drove off.

"What do we do now?" Cherish asked. She didn't care what it was, as long as it was with him.

"Want to go to your motel room? Chill out for a bit?"

She was amazed at how cool he was at that moment. He had faced down Devlin. Devlin! And it was like nothing to him. Bad ass biker.

"No," she said. "Let's go to your place. That okay?"

Caine nodded. "Whatever our new dancer wants."

They both laughed as they climbed into the truck.

As they drove Cherish allowed herself a moment of concern. "What about Devlin?"

Caine shrugged, "What about him?"

"He's not the kind of guy to let this go. He's going to get the Krimson Klowns involved. He maybe a loud mouth at times, but he's got pull in the Club."

Caine seemed to mull this over. "If something comes up, it will be dealt with. You don't have to worry about him." He looked at her. "Not any more. I promise."

The relief she felt was like a tremendous weight lifted from her chest. She could breath again. She suddenly burst into tears.

Caine put one arm around her shoulders, pulled her closer. "Hey, don't worry. It'll will be okay."

"I know," she said between sobs. "But, I thought it was you."

"Thought it was me, what?"

"Someone had to have told Devlin where I was. And I thought... Oh, I'm so stupid." She kept crying.

"You thought I told that idiot where you were?" Caine sounded more amused then angry.

She nodded. "I've only told you about where I'm from. I thought... I don't know what I thought. When I saw Devlin at the audition I could only think he found me because of you." She couldn't stop crying. "I'm sorry I doubted you. I was wrong."

Caine chuckled softly. He wasn't the least bit angry. "Well, I think it's obvious I said nothing to no one. But you know the Biker scene, babe. A lot of gossip. A lot of big mouths. People in our type of life use information about others like a weapon, to get what they want." He shrugged. "It could have been anyone who told him about you. Someone passing by in a car recognized you on the street or something."

If his intent was to make her feel better, it was working. She stopped crying and wiped the tears on her face.

"After what we shared yesterday I just couldn't handle thinking the worst about you. I kind of feel ridiculous now." How could she have been so dumb? She thought.

Caine pulled into an apartment complex and parked. "Here, let's get you inside."

He led her through the lot and up a set of stairs. She followed him in a daze. She still could not believe she had escaped Devlin. It seemed like such a sure thing just a short while ago. And now here she was, with Caine.

Caine! She was awash in guilt and happiness all at the same time.

He let her into a corner apartment. It was large, but austere. There was almost no furniture, except for a couch, a chair, and a bed.

"So you're a hoarder," Cherish said, and they both laughed. It was good to laugh now. She had thought she would never laugh again.

Caine took off his jacket and threw it across the chair. "You want to just relax and maybe..." He didn't get to finish.

She was on him. Leaping up into his arms, wrapping herself around him. They kissed and their was a frantic hunger to it that wasn't there before. A deeper passion.

For several long, passionate hours, Cherish showed him how happy she was. It was even more intense and gratifying than the night before. It was wonderful.

After, they lay naked, sweaty and entangled with each other on the bed. Cherish finally said, "Well, that was nice."

Caine chuckled and kissed her on the forehead. "Very nice," he said.

After a few quiet moments moments of bliss Cherish said, "I can't express how happy I feel right now."

"I think you just did," Caine said. They laughed.

"No, I mean I thought I was really done for. Doomed, even. Devlin... he could be a real asshole, you know."

"I know the kind."

"But now I don't have to worry," she said looking up at him. "Because of you." She smiled. "You know rescuing me from assholes has become a bad habit for you."

"I like bad habit's," he said.

He smiled at her and they kissed again. Just as things started to get hot again, his phone rang.

Gently, he pulled away from her. "Sorry, I got to take this." He got out of bed and walked over to his jacket on the chair. She enjoyed watching his sweaty naked form as he walked.

God, damn, she thought. He is magnificent.

Caine answered, and listened intently. Cherish realized that it could be about what just happened with Devlin, or maybe something to do with the Krimson Klowns.

To add to her frustration, Caine's entire side of the conversation was just, "Yup. Yup. Yup."

He hung up, and tossed the phone onto the couch. He didn't appear to be agitated at all.

"Everything okay?" she asked. She was really concerned now.

He walked back to the bed. His body was like that of a Greek god. "Nothing to worry about. That dick-head left town as he was told. Pacer made sure of that."

He crawled back into bed with her, and she wrapped herself around him.

"But what if he does?" she asked. She knew Devlin. He would never let this slide.

"Then he's a dead man," Caine said emphatically.

Cherish found that such a thought didn't bother her. Not in the least.

Then Caine said, "There is stuff going on right now. In the Club. That is real high priority stuff. I just happen to be in the middle of it. So if I come off as a little cold, just take that into consideration."

She nodded against his bare chest. She massaged his flat stomach. "Yeah, I understand." Then she thought she read something into what he was saying. She looked at him, suddenly serious. "Have I created a problem for you? With the Club."

He smiled. "Babe, everyone has got a problem within the Club. Every member, every hang around, every deal we make, every woman. The whole thing is like one giant soap opera. So maybe there will be a little grief for me over you. Big deal. It will be dealt with and everyone will move on to the next drama. It will ever end. But don't worry. Everything is cool."

Knowing this didn't really make her feel any better. The last things she wanted was to cause a situation for him with the Club. But he was right. If it wasn't this, then it would just be something else that would have everyone all riled up. It never did end.

She pulled closer to Caine. "Stay with me tonight. I don't want you to leave again. Not now."

Caine said, "Well, since all the excitement of the day appears to be over, I think I will. If there is any business to attend to I'll try and keep it cellular. I swear the only thing that could tear me away right now is if Lloyd called looking for another beating. Okay?"

She grinned at him. "You know, I want to properly thank you, again."

"For what?"

"For your bad habit."

He chuckled. "Well, I'm sure you'll think of some proper way."

"I already have," she said, and over the next several hours she thanked him properly many times.

Chapter 14

Caine

Caine woke in the morning to the sound of his cell phone vibrating.

He blinked his eyes, and felt something heavy pressing against his side. It was Cherish. She was sound asleep with a slight smile on her face.

Based on the events of yesterday he could understand the smile.

The cell phone kept vibrating.

Gently, he untangled himself from his beautiful lover and padded quietly over to the couch. He checked the phone's display. It was Uncle.

"So there is an issue," Uncle said in way of greeting.

Caine sat on the couch, furthest from Cherish so as to not wake her. He tried to rub the sleep from his eyes. "There always is," he said. He knew the Devlin confrontation would have a price.

"Or friend from yesterday needs assurances now," Uncle said.

Caine sat up and blinked. "Friend? You mean the new one?"

"Yeah, who else?" Uncle said. He sounded like mornings didn't suit him either.

Okay, no Devlin. At least not at the moment. Caine thought. Just the Dark Ones.

"He shook on it," Caine said, feeling a little pissed off.

"Yeah, well, that don't mean anything until his upper management gives the green light anyway. Just preamble."

Caine sighed. Nothing was easy in this business. "What kind of assurances? Should we send some girls over, make him feel better?"

"Funny, but no. I guess that little show outside Bumps has him hesitant."

Ah, crap, Caine thought. So this is the price.

"Yeah, well that had nothing to do with him at all. What's his problem?"

"I dunno. Maybe he was never gonna sign off on a deal. Maybe he was just sniffing around to see what was up with us. He could be using that little drama as a reason to snuff it all out, just to mess with the Club. Regardless, he wants another sit down."

"Okay, at Booty Bumps again?"

"Nah, over at Maggie's Diner. Tell him what he wants to hear. We need this thing moved up the chain of command to get things going again. Understand?"

"Yeah, I got it."

"Be there in twenty minutes," Uncle said and hung up.

Caine couldn't really read Uncle. Was he pissed off because the deal was at risk over Caine's antics, or was he just plain grumpy over the whole situation with the Club?

Caine could only shrug.

He looked over at Cherish. Sweet Lord she was beautiful. Being with her made him feel different than when he was with other women. By a long way, too. Cherish was nothing like Addison, or anyone else. When he watched her leave with Devlin before, he was at complete odds with himself. But to discover it wasn't what she really wanted, that it was him she wanted, not Devlin, it made him feel a lot better.

Caine shook his head. Keep your head in the game, fool, he thought to himself. Right now, he had business to tend to.

He quickly got ready, grabbed his car keys, but paused at the door. He looked at Cherish.

I could get use to seeing that every morning, he thought, watching her snooze away. It was right then, at that very moment, he realized she could be his Old Lady. His one and only woman.

Such a thought made him happy.

He quietly closed the door behind him.

He pulled into Maggie's Diner a short while later. Only after he parked and was walking to the entrance did he notice a sedan pulled over across the road. He couldn't quite tell at this distance who it was, but he was certain they were wearing suits and sunglasses. They appeared to be watching him.

Oh, wonderful, he thought. I gotta tale. He decided to just ignore them. There was nothing to worry about. For the moment.

Inside, he located the Dark One, who was practically elbow deep in some pancakes, and guzzling coffee.

Caine sat across from him. "They don't have breakfasts in your town?" he said, a little amused at the other biker's gusto.

"Yeah," Jay said. "But I knew you'd be picking up the tab for this, so I wanted eat as much as I could."

Caine smirked. Funny guy.

After watching Jay shovel food into his mouth for a few minutes he finally decided to ask, "Well, I understand you have a problem with our deal, now?" He didn't try to hide his annoyance.

Jay seemed unperturbed. "Well, not a problem really. The deal is good, at least from my point of view. Others need their say first." He then managed to jam an entire pancake into his maw.

Caine was nonplussed. "Okay," he said. "So, why did you want to meet if the deal was cool?"

Jay chewed for a few moments then swallowed. He chased the pancake down with coffee. "It's about that guy from yesterday."

Uh oh, Caine thought. Here it comes.

"See, I know who he is," said Jay.

"Yeah, so do I. So?"

"So, I know he's got problems. With his own Club. Like really serious ones." The Dark One munched on some bacon.

"Really?" Caine said, now very interested. "Don't we all have those in one way or the other?"

Jay shook his head. "Not like this. Guess he's a real hot head. Can't be controlled, or at least, kept in line. Doing stupid things that gets the Klowns' name in the newspapers, and not in a good way."

Caine thought on this. It wasn't uncommon for Biker Clubs to take issue with members, or anyone in their inner circle for that matter, who give them bad press. Bad press leads to scrutiny. Scrutiny leads to investigations. Investigations can land members into jail. If John Q Public is unaware of the nefarious dealings of a Club, all the better. But if they were aware, John Q Public might demand something is done.

And that can easily get a Club member killed.

Caine was reminded of what Cherish had said of Devlin, that he had problems with his Club. This more or less confirms it. But that left a question to be asked.

"Why you telling me this? What makes you think it's important to me?"

Jay grinned. "Because everyone knows your with his woman, now. And that kind of slight to a guy like Devlin won't go unanswered. I'm sharing this with you because we've had dealings with the Klowns in the past. And we don't want the stink of your situation getting onto us."

"Okay, I get it now," Caine said. "You don't want any deals you got going on with the Klowns going sideways, because your also got something going on with us? Right?"

Jay shrugged, wiping grease from his mouth. "Hey, it's just business. And the more of it, the better. It's this Devlin idiot who could muck it up for everyone. Understand?"

Caine was now reading between the lines. If he could trust what Jay as telling him, it meant that Devlin was considered a rogue element within the Krimson Klowns. And a bad one, too. One who's antics could be bad for business for multiple clubs.

And element that could be eliminated.

"Is this sanctioned?" Caine asked. He was finding it hard to believe the Klowns would kill one of their own, but it wouldn't be unheard of.

Jay held up his hands. "Hey. I don't know nothing about nothing. We're just a couple of fellas sitting around eating pancakes together." He looked down at his empty plate. "Well, one of us was."

The Dark One stood to leave. But then he spoke in a quieter tone. "But if, say, you needed confirmation of anything we just talked about, then here is a contact I have. Over on the other side."

He handed a folded piece of paper to Caine. As he walked away from the table he called out, "And thanks for breakfast!"

Caine stared down at the paper. He unfolded it, showing a phone number written down with no name or indication of who it was.

But Caine knew. And this could be very good news if he decided to act on it.

Caine paid the bill at the till, then headed for his car. His mind was almost completely on what Jay had told him that he didn't notice the two men in suits standing in front of of his car.

Caine stopped and glared at them.

"Hey, Caine, how's business?" asked the taller of the two.

"Better than yours, Detective Harris."

Harris snorted, then asked, "Well, we know what kind of business you're into. Why don't you tell us what our business is?"

"Proctology," Caine said. "You two are always up someone's ass."

Harris bristled, but his partner, Detective Nelson raised a hand.

"We're not here to fight with you, Caine," Nelson said. "We just need a few minutes of your time to answer some questions."

Caine had dealt with these two before, many times. Murder investigations always overlapped into the Biker world. This was all standard operating procedure. But it didn't mean Caine had to make it easy for them. Beside, he would never really cooperate. It was more fun just to mess with them.

"If you are here to enquire about the food here at Maggie's Diner, I can tell you the pancakes are great, if not a little on the greasy side," Caine said. He wasn't concerned that they would have seen him speaking to a known member of the Dark Ones.  Bikers talk to other bikers all the time.

Nelson held up a photo. Caine recognized it instantly. It was Angus, the dead driver of the stolen van. "You know him?" Nelson asked.

"Of course I do," Caine said, letting a tinge of annoyance into his voice. It would be stupid to deny knowing a known Hang Around of the Club. To much evidence supporting that. It was easier just to say yes and save some hassle.

"Do you know what happened to him?"

"He's got himself killed," Caine said, firmly.

Harris perked up at this. "You know he's dead? How?"

Caine looked at Harris like he was the dumbest human alive. "Because it was in the newspaper," Caine said.

Harris cursed. "You gotta be a real smart ass all the time?"

"Only when I'm being blocked from entering my vehicle," Caine said. "Do you mind."

The detectives moved.

As Caine walked over to get in, Nelson asked, "Do you know who killed Angus, Caine?"

"Someone with a gun, probably."

Harris again took the bait. "Yeah, and how do you know that?"

Caine gave the hapless detective a look of pity. "Because the newspaper said he was shot."

"Very funny," Harris said.

"Not to him," Caine said. He opened his door.

"Okay," Nelson said. "No need to go busting our balls, Caine. You know we gotta ask, right? It's our job."

"You two really got to work on your good cop, bad cop routine," Caine said. "And you can ask all the questions you want but it doesn't mean I have to answer them."

Harris looked over at Nelson. Nelson gave a small shrug.

Harris said, "Do you hear that noise, Detective Nelson?"

"What noise, Detective Harris?"

"That's the sound of a leak. Like something full of hot air deflating."