Behind Blue Eyes (2 page)

“It’s because he blew off two of his fingers with a homemade bottle rocket,” Pipe laughed.

“I know why; I still don’t like it. We should call him Eight-finger or Idiot, anything but Rocket!”

Pipe nodded. Nuke was in a mood, no point in pressing the topic on something that really didn’t matter.

“The man and the woman had to be together. What are the odds of two people with bullet wounds ending up here?” Medic spoke up.

“Actually, the odds are pretty good,” Pipe chuckled again, trying to lighten the mood.

Nuke’s gut was twisting into tight knots now. The war between them and the Grave Walkers MC had settled back down to just an ordinary dislike with no causalities. People were happy and no one had been arrested lately for anything worse than a drunk and disorderly.

“I patched him up; he’ll be alright. I was going to ask Jasmine if she could check him out also but since you sent her home, I guess that’s out of the question now.”

“Yeah, it is out of the question,” Nuke replied in a no-nonsense tone. “I’m not going to draw her into our mess.”

Medic didn’t say else anything until they entered the building and continued to walk down the hallway. “Ice and Vince moved the dead woman into one of the storage compartments. As for the guy, he’s staying tight-lipped. Tech is going over the security cams now. I’m sure he’ll find something on there.”

“So he’s conscious but not talking?” Nuke asked.

“Yes.”

“He didn’t at least say who shot him?” Nuke questioned.

“Nope, he’s not saying anything at all. Didn’t even ask about the woman even though I’m nearly positive that they were together,” Medic replied. “He didn’t even ask for us to call the police or take him to a hospital.”

“That doesn’t sound right,” Pipe added. “There’s some real shadiness going on.”

“Mitch is going to lose his fucking mind when he finds out about this!” Nuke rubbed his hand across his chin stubble. “Was there any ID on the dead body or the guy?”

“Nope, there was nothing on either of them.”

“No tats, nothing to identify her?” Nuke face contorted with angst.

“Nothing,” Medic responded. “Nice clothes though, expensive. She’s dressed in designer swag, same stuff my ex-wife used to wear. She loved those designer labels. When I was in Afghanistan, all of the money I sent home she spent on clothes, shoes and purses. I didn’t have a damn penny of savings when I got back, but she had a closet full of crap. Even took her family on a vacation to Hawaii.” Medic stopped and paused for a moment, letting the anger that he was feeling for his ex-wife die down.

“That’s why I don’t have a wife,” Pipe replied. “They spend all of your money!”

“More reasons than that why you don’t have a wife,” Nuke jested in an attempt to release some of the tension he was feeling.

“Anyhow,” Medic said as he regained his composure. “The dead woman, she’s older, much older than our GSW in there. Women dressed like her and at her age don’t end up dead on the sidewalk by a biker clubhouse.”

“Did the guy at least tell you if he’s 822 loyal?” Nuke asked.

Medic shook his head.

“I’ll make him talk!” Pipe said harshly.

They opened the door and walked into the bedroom. The uninvited guest was on his side facing away from the door. His wavy blonde hair was stained with blood much like his clothes.

Medic closed the door behind them and the wounded guy sprung up with an unmanly scream as he grabbed his side where he was shot.

The first person he locked eyes with was Nuke.

“What the hell are you doing here?” Nuke’s voice and stance reflected his obvious dislike for the injured intruder.

“I take it you know him?” Medic asked. He looked the guy over long and hard to see if he recognized him now, but he still didn’t.

Nuke grunted out a grudging, “Yeah, I know that asshole!”

“I can’t believe you have the balls to show your face up in here,” Pipe scowled. It was apparent that he, too, was familiar with their uninvited guest.

“I need help,” the injured man responded in a raspy voice.

“What’s going on here?” Medic asked. “Who is this guy?”

The man groaned as he flung his legs over the edge of the bed. “I’m Holden. I’m his brother.” The hurt man pointed a shaky, bloodstained finger at Nuke.

“Half-brother,” Nuke corrected him immediately. “Does your family know you’re here?” There was no hiding the anger Nuke was feeling.

“It’s your family, too!” Holden found a bit of strength in his voice to reply.

“You got a brother?” The shock was obvious on Medic’s face as he looked back and forth between the two men. There was a slight resemblance but Nuke was taller by at least four inches. His hair was more blonde, he had sharper features, and he was staring at his brother with deadly cobalt-blue eyes. Brown-eyed Holden, on the other hand, looked like a poster boy for the Gap. Medic eyeballed Nuke. “How many more of you is there?”

“We have a sister,” Holden responded.

“No love lost here I take it?” Medic alleged.

“You got that right!” Nuke responded.

“Did you do something low down and dirty to your brother?” Medic addressed his question to Holden.

“Half-brother,” Holden quickly snapped with sarcasm.

“Oh you got jokes now, motherfucker?” Nuke countered.

“Where the fuck do we begin with the shit he’s done to Nuke. Tell you what; I’ll tell you the last thing he did. A-hole here had some gutter glitter on him. He stashed it on Nuke and Nuke ended up with a possessions charge. What kind of brother does that?” His own hatred of Holden was obvious in Pipe’s voice.

Holden let out a deep sigh. A lot had gone down between him and Nuke over the years. If he was being honest with himself, he was jealous. Nuke did what he wanted when he wanted and damn anyone who didn’t like it. That kind of audacity didn’t come to Holden until recently.

Everything Pipe said was true. He and Nuke had gone out bar hopping. They were sitting in his truck, passing in and out of a drunken state of consciousness. Nuke was in the passenger seat.

The red spinning light of the police vehicle appeared in Holden’s rearview mirror. His blurry eyes sent a signal to his brain that things were about to go south. He was carrying half a gram of coke in his front pocket. He placed it on Nuke, who was still passed out.

Nuke got arrested, did 180 days and had to pay a hefty fine. When Nuke was released from jail, Holden got the worst beat-down of his life. Nuke put him in the intensive care unit. Holden told their family that crazy Nuke had just snapped one day, beating him to a pulp for no reason. That was five years ago and the last time they had spoken.

The incident drove an already huge wedge even further between Nuke and the rest of the family. Coming here was his last resort, but desperate men do desperate things, he told himself. Now Holden needed his big brother to get him out of a jam one last time.

Medic arched an eyebrow as he turned to Nuke. “So what you want me to do about him?”

Nuke exhaled. “I don’t know. We certainly can’t have two dead people on the compound.” Nuke was serious as he paused for a moment. “Call Fincher. Have him come over and deal with the body. I’ll handle my brother.”

Medic nodded and left the room.

“I really need your help,” Holden repeated. “I know I have no right to ask, but I’m in over my head. I don’t know what else to do.”

Nuke stomped toward the bed, and Holden painfully scooted back. He started talking fast before Nuke could reach him. “A man that goes by the name of Nick Kordell wants me dead!”

Nuke stopped and looked over at Pipe, then back to Holden.

“Why does he want you dead?” Pipe and Nuke asked at the same time.

“Because he thinks I stole money from him and he wants it back.”

“Who’s the dead woman?” Nuke could read the apprehension in Holden’s brown eyes.

“She was my girlfriend. Her name was Gracie Kordell.”

“Kordell? Is she related to him?” Pipe asked.

Holden nodded.

There was dead silence for a moment. “Jesus! You were banging his wife, weren’t you?” Nuke asked. He already knew the answer because he knew his brother.

Holden swallowed hard. “I was having some financial trouble around the same time Kordell had some money come up missing. I worked for him, as his accountant. He owns a kiosk at the mall and a used car lot.”

“You’re avoiding my question!” Nuke yelled.

“Yes, she was his wife!”

“Now get to the good stuff like who shot the two of you?” Pipe questioned.

“I’m not sure. Kordell maybe.”

“Try again and tell the truth this time.” Nuke was losing what patience he had for his spoiled brother.

Holden took a painful, deep breath. “He thinks I stole his money and her. I’m not sure who shot at both of us. She was leaving him for me. My car broke down on the highway. We were heading to Michigan. When the car died, I could only think of coming here for help. I thought maybe the garage could send out a tow truck. We were walking here. It could have been random for all I know, street gangs. The shots came out of nowhere.”

“Neither one of you owned a cell phone?” Pipe asked.

“We didn’t want to use them in case Kordell was trying to track us.”

Nuke folded his arms across his chest. “You need to keep your dick out of pussy that belongs to someone else. Asshole here was sixteen when he tried to bang my ex-wife. Not that I gave a fuck but he could have asked first. That was the only time that woman did keep her legs closed.”

“I love Gracie!”

“You love her? You left her body outside on the street like she was trash!” Nuke shot back at him. “There’s no way in hell I would do something like that to Jasmine. You don’t disrespect the woman you love like that.”

“Who’s Jasmine?”

“She’s my wife!”

Holden scrunched up his eyebrows. “I didn’t know you got married again.”

“Why would I tell you?”

“I guess you wouldn’t,” he said softly as he looked down at the floor. “Did you tell Mom, or…” He glanced up at Nuke.

“Yeah, Mom and Megan know.”

“When did you get married?”

Nuke’s face was blank as he stared at Holden.

Pipe’s jawline tensed. “Holden, you need to go!”

“Can you please just hear me out for one second longer?”

“No!” Nuke angrily shook his head. “I don’t care about your problems.”  He hauled Holden up by his left elbow. “Bad enough you left your deceased girlfriend right outside our fence! Do you have any idea the kind of problems that could bring to the club?”

Holden staggered as Nuke dragged him toward the door. Blood began to seep through his bandages and onto his already soiled, tan button-down shirt.

“Nuke, come on man, PLEASE! If you don’t help me, he’ll kill me.”

“What the fuck you think I’ll do to you if you stay here?” Nuke shouted as he pulled him down the hallway and into the main lounge area.

Pipe followed behind them with his bottled-up anger toward Holden ready to boil over. Nothing was worse than having a dishonest relative.

“Get him out of here!” Nuke called over to one of the prospects standing near the bar. He shoved Holden forward. He was caught by the arm, spun around and thrown up against a wall. He came face to face with another full patch member of the Hells Vipers.

The dark-haired biker was muscular and tattooed; in fact, the tats started at his shoulders and went all the way down both arms and onto his hands. The ones on his neck were creeping their way up onto his face. He also had a bridge piercing, a left cheek piercing and a black goatee.  His hair was cut so short you could see his scalp and he looked almost unrecognizable. He had changed tremendously since Holden had seen him last.

The biker glanced over at Nuke, then back to him. “Holden,” Kevin said. “Long time no see, motherfucker! What the hell are you doing here?” He looked him up and down.

“I need help,” Holden quickly responded.

Kevin made a face as he took a step back, then he walked over to stand by Nuke. “We got problems, huh?”

“That’s an understatement!” Nuke responded. “Do you want your position back? I could talk with Mitch.” Nuke was serious.

“Nope, I don’t!” Kevin honestly answered with a grin.

Holden held onto his bleeding side as he sluggishly moved forward. “Nuke, I know you hate me, but I’m your brother. I’m blood. If you don’t help me, Kordell might go after our family. You might despise me, but you don’t hate them, especially Mom. Please, I swear I’ll never ask you again for another favor. You’ll never see me again if that’s what you want but please just this one time, HELP ME!”

“You did not just play the mom card?” Pipe jumped in.

“Yeah he did. That’s low.” Kevin wanted to punch him in the face.

“I’m not playing the mom card!” Holden defended himself. “I’m telling him what’s going to happen if he doesn’t help me!”

“No,” Nuke calmly replied.

“Nuke, I’m sorry!” Tears began to stream down Holden’s face.