Breaking The Biker (The Biker Series) - An MC Gold Vipers Motorcycle Club Biker Romance Novel (13 page)

“Bullshit. I’m not letting him get away with this!” hollered Joanna. She began running toward my car, as if there was still a chance in hell that they could be stopped.

But then a miracle happened – an old pickup truck pulled out of the woods and slammed into the front of Slether’s vehicle, halting it.

I gasped in surprise. 

A blonde guy jumped out of the truck, pointing a shotgun toward the SUV.

“Don’t fire!” I screamed, horrified. I got to my feet and limped toward them. “My son is in there!”

“Get your hands in the air and get out of the truck or I’ll blow your fucking head off!” ordered the man, his gun trained on the driver’s side window.

Instead of obeying, Slether tried starting the SUV, but the engine wouldn’t turn over.

Pissed off, the stranger shot his gun, hitting the side-mirror. “Don’t fuck with me, asshole. Get out, now!”

I breathed a sigh of relief when I saw the door open and Slether get out, his arms in the air.

Another guy ran past me, coming from God knows where. “Stay back, Raina,” he called over his shoulder.

Recognizing the patch on the back of his cut, I didn’t know whether to be grateful or pissed off.

“Who are those guys?” asked Joanna, jogging back to me.

“They belong to a biker club. The Gold Vipers,” I mumbled, wondering what they were doing there.

“Are they on our side?” she asked as we watched them get Slether out of the SUV.

“I guess we’re going to find out soon enough,” I said, limping toward them.

I drove like a bat out of hell on my bike, reaching Waterloo around six p.m. When I finally made it to the cabin, the cops were there. One of them was interviewing Tail on the porch, who nodded when he saw me. I nodded back.

“Hey,” said Raptor, walking over to me. “Some crazy shit, huh?”

“Sounds like it. Where’s Raina?” I asked, looking around.

“She’s already gone. They took her to the hospital.”

“Is she okay?” I asked. I knew she’d been shot and was worried about her.

“Sounds like she’ll be fine. The bullet only grazed the outside of her thigh,” he replied. “She’ll be sore for a while, but nothing major to worry about.”

“What about her boy? Billy?” I asked, still in shock that he was alive.

“Joanna took him to the hospital, to be with his mother. There’s an APB out for the guy responsible for kidnapping him. Phillip Davis.”

“The brother-in-law?”

“Yep.”

“Is that Dr. Frankenstein?” I asked, nodding toward one of the squad cars. There was a man in the back, watching us.

“Yes. There was also an older woman involved. Apparently, Slether pushed her down the steps. He’s denying it, but both women swear he did it.”

I rubbed the back of my neck. “You think that’s the truth?”

“Honestly, I don’t know.”

“Which hospital did they take her?”

“Saint Rose’s.”

I pulled my phone out to get directions. “I’m going to head over there. Are you going to need a ride back to Jensen?” I asked, glancing at pickup. “We could call a couple of the prospects to drive out here and pick you up.”

“Adriana is already on her way.”

“Okay.”

Tail walked over a few seconds later.

“How’d that go?” I asked.

“Fine. Seemed like they had more questions about our club than anything else. Don’t worry, Tank. I didn’t make it worth their time.”

“I wasn’t worried,” I replied. Tail, although sometimes rash in his decisions, was already proving to be loyal. Everyone seemed to like him, especially the club whores. They were already fighting over him.

“By the way, Adriana is picking us up,” Raptor said to him.

“That’s good. My truck is toast,” replied Tail.

We all turned to look at it. The front corner was smashed and it was leaking something.

“Sorry, brother,” I said. “We’ll take care of you.”

“It’s okay,” he replied. “I was thinking about buying a new one anyway. I need it for work.”

Tail, and another member of the club, J.T., had recently started a small roofing company.

“Good. At least let me help you with the down payment on a new one. It’s the least I can do.”

He grinned. “Well, fuck, I can’t say ‘no’ to that.”

I put my hand on his shoulder. “That was quick thinking on your part. I’m proud of you.”

Looking pleased, he waved his thumb toward the SUV. “I saw him taking off with the kid and knew something was cagy. I could have chased him down, but something told me that it would have ended badly.”

“You made the right choice,” I replied, as my phone began to ring. When I looked who was calling me, I swore.

“Are you on your way?” Frannie asked when I answered.

“Something came up,” I told her. “I had to leave town.”

She sighed. “Jessica worked hard on this meatloaf. She wanted to see your reaction.”

“I’m sure it’s fabulous. Tell her I’m sorry and will make it up to her.”

“How about
you
tell her?”

Before I could argue, Jessica was on the phone with me.

“What’s your excuse this time?” she teased.

Fortunately, my stepsister was too sweet to be a much of a bitch. “This time? What are you talking about?” I asked, lightheartedly.

“Seems like you’re avoiding us, Tank,” she said. “Especially my cooking.”

“Believe me, I’d rather be seated at the table, eating your meatloaf, than what I’m doing now.”

“Which is?”

“Let’s just say that the club had to rescue a kid and reunite him with his mother.”

She inhaled. “Really? You guys did that?”

“Well, Tail and Raptor did. Anyway, to make a long story short, I had to leave town, to join them. I won’t be back until late tonight, I’m sure. Can I get a raincheck on dinner?”

“Of course. How about next Sunday? I’ve got a lot to do in the next few days, otherwise I’d make something else sooner.”

“That would be great. Have you heard from the Judge lately?” I asked, still wondering what exactly was going on between the two of them.

“We’ve spoken on the phone a few times,” she replied. “He has some things to take care of and then is supposed to return to Jensen.”

“You two seemed pretty tight the other night.”

“Yeah. I know,” replied Jessica, a smile in her voice.

“What’s going on?”

“To be honest, I’m not exactly sure,” she replied. “But once I find out, you’ll be the first to know.”

“He’d better not be playin’ my baby sister,” I said, teasing her. “I’ll have to hunt his ass down and take care of business.”

“Don’t worry. I’m pretty sure Jordan is not just out for sex. At least, I hope.”

I heard Frannie gasp in the background.

“Mom, go away. Stop listening to our conversation,” Jessica said, laughing. “What you don’t know won’t hurt you.”

I heard some mumbling in the background, but wasn’t sure what Frannie was saying.

“I gotta go,” I said, looking back at Raptor who was watching me curiously. “I’ll be at the dinner table on Sunday. You have my word.”

“Okay. Hope you like fish, because I’m making salmon.”

“Love salmon.”

“Good. Talk to you later.”

“Definitely.”

“What was that about the Judge?” asked Raptor after I hung up.

“Oh, yeah… I’m surprised you didn’t know. Your brother has been getting busy with Jessica.”

He looked surprised. “Really? I’d heard that something had happened between them in Alaska, but wasn’t sure.”

“They’ve been talking on the phone, so it might be serious. From what you told me, he’s not much of a conversationalist.”

“No. He’s not,” Raptor said, looking amused.

“I don’t know what he’s been saying to her, but she sounds like she’s on cloud-nine, the way she talks about him. Anyway, I’m outta here. You guys need anything, give me a call.”

“Will do,” said Raptor.

“See you back in Jensen,” Tail said.

I walked back to my bike, got on, and headed toward the hospital.

“Mommy, I wanna go home,” pouted Billy. He was sitting on Joanna’s lap while we waited for the doctor to return. Fortunately, my wound wasn’t as bad as I’d thought and had only required stitches. The bullet had barely grazed my leg.

“I know. We’re almost done here,” I said, squeezing his knee. “Then we’ll go home.”

“Did you bwing Bunny?”

Bunny, a brown floppy-eared rabbit, was his favorite stuffed animal and he’d dragged it around everywhere. I’d slept with it ever since the night Billy had been pronounced dead. “No. I’m sorry. But, he’s waiting for you at home.”

“I want him now,” he demanded.

“Soon,” I replied. “We’re waiting for the doctor to write a prescription to help your ear.” I’d already given him children’s pain reliever medicine. Apparently, he really had been shot, but from what the doctor said, it looked like it was healing fairly well. As far as his temperature being high, the doctor had found that Billy had an ear infection and was going to prescribe medication for it.

“Daddy gave me some aweady,” he said. “Last night.”

“Honey, Uncle Phillip is not your daddy,” I said, wanting to kill the son-of-a-bitch with my bare hands.

“He tole me to,” Billy said.

“You have just one daddy. His name is Mark,” I said, trying not to show how angry I really was.

“He’s in Heaven,” said Billy, repeating something he’d heard quite a few times.

“Yes, baby,” I replied, touching his cheek. “Your daddy is there. Someday you’ll see him again.”

He grinned. “Okay.”

There was a knock at the door.

“Come in,” I called, thinking it was the doctor returning.

A head peeked around the corner and I almost choked on my own saliva.

“Hi,” said Justin. “Can I come in?”

“Uh, sure,” I replied, raising my hand to my hair, which I knew was probably a mess.

Justin entered the room carrying a bundle of roses and a stuffed German Shepherd puppy. He grinned when he saw Billy sitting on Joanna’s lap.

“Hey there, little guy. How are you doing?” he asked him.

“Okay. Whose puppy is dat?” Billy asked, pointing to the toy.

“I don’t know. He followed me down the hallway, insisting that I find someone named Billy. I figured he was yours.”

Billy shook his head. His eyes were wide. “No.”

Justin walked over to the side of my bed and held the stuffed animal up to his ear. “What’s that you say?” he asked the toy. “I think you should say it louder.”

Billy giggled as Justin turned the stuffed animal toward him and began talking in a high-pitched voice. 

“Woofy… woof… woof. I want to go home with you, Billy.”

“You do?” Billy asked, surprised.

“Yes. Woof.”

My son looked at me. “Can he, mommy? Pease?”

Laughing, I nodded. “Yes. How can I say ‘no’ to either of those faces?” I replied, meaning Justin’s, too. He looked so sweet, trying to make Billy smile.

“Here you go,” said Justin, handing him the stuffed animal.

“What’s his name?” Billy asked, hugging it against his chest.

“He didn’t say. I think you’d better come up with one,” he replied.

“Tuffy. I’m naming him that because he’s stwong. Wike you,” said Billy, pointing at Justin’s thick arms.

“Now
that
is a good name,” said Justin, fluffing his curly hair. “Good choice, kiddo.”

“Thanks.”

“Who are the flowers for?” asked Joanna, also amused at watching the exchange between the rough-looking biker and my small son.

Justin looked at the flowers. “Oh, yeah. Sorry. These are for you,” he said, holding them out to me.

“Thank you,” I replied, staring up at him. The pain medicine they’d given me must have been doing some strange things, because I was actually happy to see him.

“You’re welcome.”

I grabbed the roses, brought them to my nose, and inhaled. It had been so long since I’d gotten flowers. “They’re lovely.”

He grinned.

Joanna cleared her throat.

“Um, this is my sister-in-law, Joanna. Joanna, this is Justin.”

“Nice to meet you,” he said, holding out his hand.

She shook it. “Nice to meet you,” Joanna replied, a funny smile on her face. “Don’t they also call you Tank?”

“Yes.”

“You’re the new gang leader,” she said, nodding toward his cut.

“I’m the new club president,” he corrected.

“Oh. Of course,” said Joanna. “You probably don’t remember me, but I defended one of your members a few years ago, when he was charged with arson. Stephen Fey.”

“That’s right. I recall a little bit about the case. It was a bogus charge, obviously.”

“Oh, of course,” she replied, smiling again. “And I got him off.”

Justin’s eyes twinkled. “Yeah, I do remember him talking about you getting him off.”

Joanna’s face turned bright red. “Is that right?”

He smiled. “He told all of us that it turned out to be a very happy ending.”

I bit back a smile.

Laughing nervously, Joanna stood up. “Well, if you ever see him around, tell him I said hello.”

“Will do,” he replied.

Joanna tapped Billy on the shoulder. “How about we go and find something to eat? I bet you’re hungry.”

He looked up at her. “Can I get some ice cweam?”

“I don’t know. Mom, what do you think?” she replied.

“I think that sounds like a great dessert to eat,” I said. “
After
you eat some soup. The doctor said that it’s pretty good here.”

“I don’t wike soup,” said Billy, looking grumpy again. I knew he was exhausted and wondered what was taking the doctor so long.

“What are you talking about?” said Justin. He flexed his muscles. “If you want to grow big and strong, you have to eat lots of soup.”

His eyes widened. “Soup made you gwow big muskles like that?”

“Yes. Soup has lots of vitamins and minerals. Especially chicken noodle,” Justin said. “Which is my favorite.”

Billy looked at Joanna. “I want chicken noodle soup.”

I smiled. “I have a feeling they might offer that in the cafeteria.”

She took his hand. “Good choice.”

“Bye, Mommy,” he said, looking over at me.

I waved. “Bye, sweetie.”

A worried expression spread across his face.

“It’s okay. I’m not going anywhere and Joanna will be with you,” I reassured him.

Nodding, he allowed her to lead him out of the room.

Justin sat down next to me, in the chair. “That’s quite a kid you’ve got there. How old is he?”

“He’ll be three soon,” I said, wondering why he was there.

“I can’t believe what those assholes did to you. I heard about it from Raptor. Joanna told him all about it.”

“I know. I’m just happy they didn’t get away with it. If it wasn’t for your guys, I don’t know what might have happened.”

“I’m glad they were able to help. Do you have any idea of where Phillip is?”

“All I know is that Betty called to warn him and then, of course, the police have been trying to get ahold of him.”

“He’s probably on the run,” said Justin.

I nodded. “He caused a lot of heartache. Well, so did I.” Our eyes met. I licked my lips. “I can’t actually blame anyone for what I did, Justin, I’m so sorry.” My eyes filled with tears again. “I feel so… disgusted with myself.”

He grabbed my hand, surprising me. “I know you do, Raina. You don’t have to say anything more about it.”

“Yes, I do,” I said, wiping my eyes with the back of my other hand. “I want you to know that after Phillip is caught and sentenced, I’m turning myself in for killing your father.”

Justin frowned. “No. You don’t have to do that.”

“I broke the law and did something so despicable. I have to face the repercussions of what I’ve done.”

“No. I won’t let you.”

I pulled my hand away from his. “You have no choice. This isn’t up to you.”

He pointed toward the doorway. “You have a son who has been through so much shit in the last couple of weeks, you can’t dump more on him. He needs his mother. Christ, Raina, what’s he going to do if you’re in jail? Live with
Cole
?”

“I know what you’re saying,” I said, trying to keep my composure. The thought of leaving Billy was killing me. “But I need to do the right thing.”

He leaned forward. “The right thing is to let this go. For your son.”

“Can’t you see, I’m doing this
for
my son? Someday he’s going to find out what I did and I want him to know that I stepped forward and did the right thing afterward. I need to do this. ”

He closed his eyes and groaned. “Woman, you are so damn stubborn that you won’t even listen to reason.”

“Reason? I’m well beyond reason, so don’t waste your breath,” I replied, grabbing a tissue from the nightstand next to the bed. “Anyway, it’s the decent thing to do and for once, I’m going to go that route.”

“Decent? Come on, darlin’. You have got to be the most decent person I’ve ever met.”

I laughed harshly. “I guess you really don’t know me then.”

“Bullshit. I know what I see. From looking at your son and seeing how much he loves you, I can tell that you are a caring and decent mother.”

I laughed bitterly. “Right now, I feel like I’m some kind of joke. Trying to be a good mother to my son when I went and shot another son’s father.”

“You weren’t in your right mind. You know that the defense lawyer I’d hire would get you off anyway. They would say it was a crime of passion. Temporary insanity.”

I raised my eyebrows. “Did you just offer to pay for my attorney?” I asked incredulously.

“Yes. And… lady, I don’t know about you, but I’d rather not spend thousands of dollars on an obvious outcome.”

“How do you know what that would be?”

“Because I’m not going to testify against you. If I do or say anything, it would be speaking on your behalf.”

Stunned, I didn’t know what to say. I would have never have guessed that he’d take my side.

Justin went on. “So, whether you like it or not, you’ll get off, and you should. Nobody is going to want to send a woman, who’s been through so much, off to jail.”

“But –”

“I’m not finished,” he said firmly. “If you decide to do this, which is a damn mistake, the lawyers will ultimately get the case dropped and collect their big fat paychecks, which are all they really care about. Knowing this, I’d advise that you save all of us money, time, and anguish. Not to mention that your son doesn’t have to ever find out about what happened.”

“I don’t see how he could
not
find out.”

“Who’s going to tell him? Not me. The cops don’t know anything about it either.”

“Cole knows,” I replied.

“I can keep him quiet,” he said, his lip twitching. “I’ll slice off his tongue if he tries giving you up.”

I snorted. “He’d never give me up.”

“Maybe not to the cops, but he’ll open up about it someday. Maybe to one of his club members. Or a guy at a bar.”

“You don’t know Cole. He only wants to protect me.”

“If he’s riding with those kinds of fuckers, then I know more about him than you probably do.”

I sighed. “To be honest, I was hoping to talk him out of joining their club.”

“If you don’t, he’s going to end up dead one day, and,” he raised his hands in the air, “I’m not threatening him by no means. The Devil’s Rangers have a lot of enemies. Joining their club is like playing Russian Roulette. One day the gun is going to go off and it’s going to be messy.”

I frowned.

“Speaking of your brother, have you spoken to him lately?”