Death Ride (Blue Bandits MC Book 5) (7 page)

“Why are you following her with such an unhappy look? Did something happen with Death Rider? Cause I told you not to force her to go in there with him, that it was bad enough that you made her drug him. This is all your fault,” Lissa snapped at Evert.

“Hey, you know why I let her go to that bar. I knew she’d be safe with him or I never would have sent her in there,” he muttered, his face contorting with a dark scowl.

Jamie set the tray down on the counter beside the sink and let out a sigh. This was the argument they’d been having since the night she’d drugged Death over a week ago.

“You couldn’t know for sure that he wouldn’t figure it out and hurt her. Just because he doesn’t hurt women in general unless they’re fucking with his club didn’t mean he wouldn’t figure it out,” Lissa said, slamming the dish she had just rinsed into the dish drainer with more force than was necessary. She turned with her hands on her hips to glare hotly at Evert. Jamie sighed and began helping her clean up by starting to wash the plates she’d just brought from Death’s room.

“You two should both just chill. I’m fine and what’s done is done, Lissa. It worked and now we have a chance to change his mind about the club. Just leave it,” Jamie told her as she washed the first plate. Lissa grumbled under her breath, never having been one to let things go quickly. She was a grudge holder and she wasn’t ready to stop being angry over it yet. 

“I’m telling you, I didn’t put her into danger. She was safe as long as he didn’t know who she was and he didn’t,” Evert muttered, coming to stand next to them at the counter. “How long are you going to punish me for this?” he asked, his voice a little weary.

Jamie would bet things had been a little cold in the bedroom since the night she’d kidnapped Death. Shit, maybe longer. Her brother didn’t like that, she was sure. He was used to having Lissa on his side but she was angry about the plan and she wasn’t giving it up anytime soon Jamie would bet. Lissa glared at Evert, letting her know she was correct on that score at least. It sent a little bit of sly satisfaction racing through her because after he’d sent her to deal with those little monsters today, he deserved a little payback.

“Until you realize why I’m mad, Blade,” Lissa answered, rinsing the dish Jamie had handed her, and Jamie snickered a little.

“You’re both enjoying my pain, aren’t you?” he demanded.

Jamie looked at Lissa and when their eyes met they were both grinning.

“Yep,” they said at the same time, earning a loud groan of dismay from Evert. Throwing his hands into the air, he growled, “Well that’s just great” before he stormed out and they couldn’t help laughing as they watched the big baby leave.

Jamie entered Death’s room the next morning with his breakfast tray, her mind on the nightmare she’d had last night. It was an old one that she hadn’t had in a really long time about Bam rescuing her from Slither, only it had ended very differently in her nightmare. The dream always made for a bad start to the day. It was likely because she woke up screaming and crying hysterically and it always took almost an hour for her to get herself calmed down. Fear was irrational when it was instinctive and telling herself it was just a dream didn’t help. Even remembering what really happened that night didn’t help because her body remembered the trauma, not the rescue.

Jamie moved towards the bed, seeing Death watching her as the door was closed behind her by Lake, who was apparently the one watching out for her today.

“You’re late,” he muttered as she set the tray in front of him.

“I didn’t realize I had to be here at a certain time,” Jamie said, sitting down in the chair near the bed to wait on him to finish.

“I guess you don’t, but it’s usually nine when you bring me food.” Death eyed her for a moment seemingly assessing her. She shrugged, feeling a little uneasy under the intense scrutiny, and shifted in the chair trying not to show her nerves.

“You do something different with your hair?” he asked, his head tilting.

“No, I just didn’t feel like straightening it today and it is kind of wavy,” Jamie explained, remembering why she hadn’t. After the rocky start to her morning she hadn’t wanted to mess with it because after the thirty-minute crying jag she’d experienced she hadn’t cared what it looked like.

“Huh, I like it better,” he murmured.

“Thanks.”

“What’s wrong? Did something happen? You seem off today. Did someone hurt you?” Death asked, a dark frown appearing on his face as his brows drew together. Jamie almost laughed at his fierce appearance.

“It’s nothing. I’m fine.” Jamie looked down at her hands trying not to remember the way she’d been covered in sweat and crying like a mad woman only an hour or two ago. She hated the dreams and even though they were happening less frequently, they still snuck up on her when she least expected it, making her feel crazy.

“It isn’t nothing if someone hurt you, Becky.”

Jamie didn’t know why being called Becky suddenly bothered her. Maybe it was that she actually felt like he cared if she was all right or not and she felt like a fraud being called by a fake name. She looked up at him while mentally debating telling him her real name. What was the likelihood that he would know Jamie was the name of his rival’s sister? Hadn’t Evert once told her that he never talked about her outside of the men he’d brought into the house because he didn’t want anyone going after her to try and get at him? She wasn’t sure but she decided to tell him. He was chained to the wall, after all, so what was he going to do? She opened her mouth to speak but he spoke before she could.

“Look, I know the Headhunters are all bastards. Blade might be fairly decent but he’s just as bad as the rest of the lot. Not doing something to stop those crazy sons of bitches means he’s almost as bad as they are. You know they think beating women is a sport and most of them are juice junkies. If you’re afraid of one of them because they’re hurting you, I can help,” he told her.

Jamie felt anger stir in her stomach. Why did he keep lumping them all together as monsters? She’d already told him that they weren’t going to hurt her. She leaned forward, her eyes narrowing as she spat out her reply.

“How many times do I have to tell you, they aren’t all those types of assholes. Yes, some of them are but not all. Before your club started slaughtering them, there were more of the assholes than the good guys but it’s starting to level out thanks to you and your club,” Jamie growled, her hands resting on the side of the bed.

Death and his club had taken out some of her brother’s men too and they still mourned their losses. Hawk—her former lover—was one of the men they’d lost a few years ago because of an unannounced raid on the Headhunters. Their relationship had already ended because she’d never loved him but she had still cared for him and it had hurt when he died. If Evert had known about the raid, he would have warned him to get out before they struck but he’d found out too late. Hawk had been one of the men Evert sent in to get information to send to the Blue Bandits and he’d died because of it. That was why Death’s refusal to accept there might be a group of Headhunters who weren’t terrible made her angry. She felt it tingle on the inside making her whole body begin to shake as anger ripped through her setting her teeth on edge.

How did he think Evert got all the information to feed him? One man couldn’t do that and he should know that because he understood how a club as big as his worked. Did he know what the club on the far side of his territory did on a day-to-day basis? No, he didn’t but he thought that his informant was able to know everything with him being only one man. It was maddening.

“Is that what they’ve told you? Because they’re lying to you if it is,” Death muttered, his hands pushing the tray over his legs back. Jamie stood to grab the tray but was stopped by Death’s hands covering hers. She tried to jerk them away but his grip only tightened and she found herself glaring at him.

“Let me go.”

“Not until you listen to me. I’ve seen firsthand what these men can do to an innocent woman and you won’t be an exception. You need to help me get out of here so I can help you. I know they’ve convinced you somehow that they’re good men but trust me when I say as soon as they’re done using you they will show their true colors.” Death’s eyes were dark resting solemnly on hers and she saw a flicker of some hidden pain that almost tore her heart out. Something had happened to cause him to hate the Headhunters so much. Seeing that pain in his eyes made the anger at his hard-headedness slip away.

“What did they do to make you hurt so much?” she asked, her heart squeezing in her chest as she stared into his eyes.

Death let go of her hands suddenly and his eyes clouded before he turned to look at the window, one hand rubbing his head. Jamie heard the clank of the chain as he did so and she realized her question wasn’t the right one to ask because he was just as macho as her brother and his men. They never admitted to feeling pain to anyone and Death, it appeared, was not any different. She almost snorted because if they could only see how alike they were, then they would likely get along like two peas in a pod.

“They didn’t. Just go. I can see I’m not going to convince you that they’re evil but if you stay with them long enough you’ll learn,” Death grumbled.

Jamie watched him stare out the window ignoring her for a long moment before she sighed and picked up the tray before walking towards the door. Just before she got to it, she turned to look at him.

“Just because you keep talking about me not being here long enough to understand who the Headhunters I live with really are, I’ll share a bit of information with you. I’ve lived with them for over ten years so I would bet I’d know more about them than you would.” With that Jamie kicked the door and Lake opened it so she could step out into the hallway, anger still thrumming through her.

Death watched Becky walk out of the room, a little stunned by her revelation. She’d been with them for ten years? How was she still as innocent as she was? The Headhunters were a bunch of drug addicts and psychotics so he didn’t understand how she wasn’t like the countless women he’d rescued from these bastards. Had Blade somehow protected her from it all? Who was she to Blade anyway? His lover?

That thought sent anger sliding down his spine because he didn’t like the idea of Blade’s hands on her, not one damned bit. Her being his lover was the only thing that made any sense though and that didn’t make him very happy. Blade must have gotten a real kick out of him being all protective the other night. Death seethed at the idea of his captor enjoying his threats of retaliation. He needed to get the girl off his mind and start concentrating on getting the fuck out of here. If she’d been here since she was young, she’d be fine if he left her here.

He reached over to the bedside table and snatched up the clock. Using the bed frame to smash it, he dug around trying to find something inside it to make lock picks out of. Finding two thin pieces of metal that ran around the outside of the clock mechanism, he grinned. He’d be out of here by tomorrow night for sure.

Jamie entered the room a little before lunch and let out a gasp because Death wasn’t on the bed. She was about to call out to Crook who was at the door when she was grabbed from behind and her mouth was covered. A hard male body pressed against her and she felt the thick ridge of his cock against her lower back.

“No screaming, sweetness.” Death’s gruff voice sent shivers down her spine. She felt her body shake against his and she couldn’t understand how he’d gotten out of his chains. Her hands shook as she tried to pull his hand away from her mouth but couldn’t. She hit his arm until he trapped her hands with his, somehow managing it fast enough that she couldn’t escape or free her mouth to call out.

Jamie tried to tell him he wasn’t getting away with her mouth covered but all that came out was a garbled, “Yu cnt it umway.”

“Not sure what you’re saying, darling, but I can guess. You’re telling me I won’t get away. Only you’re the reason I will. Your lover wants you alive and that means you are my ticket to freedom,” Death whispered against her ear and Jamie couldn’t breathe as every nerve ending in her body felt overcharged with sexual energy.

She didn’t know what the hell was wrong with her but she did know she had lost her mind. Feeling desire flow through her while she was held by a man who could decide to kill her at any moment shouldn’t make her horny but somehow it did. Jamie was a little shocked at her amorous reaction; usually if she was grabbed unexpectedly like he had just done, she went into panic mode and couldn’t escape the nightmare that reminded her of Slither almost raping her. Perhaps it was the fact that even though he was holding her tightly enough she didn’t have a chance in hell of getting away, he wasn’t hurting her. Even the hand he had over her mouth was gentle and the feeling of his warm breath on her neck was starting to increase the rampant desire flowing through her.

“I will let your mouth go if you promise not to scream. One peep though and things are going to get ugly. Don’t think just because you’re pretty I won’t hurt you, because I will. I’ll also kill anyone who tries to stop me from leaving, including the giant outside the door and your lover,” Death grunted.

Jamie wondered what he meant by her lover because she didn’t have one presently. Did he think Bam was her lover? She didn’t know but she nodded that she understood him and he slowly released her mouth but held onto her, spinning her to face the door with his arm around her waist frog marching her to the wall on that side of the room. He pressed against her and she felt another shiver of desire cascade down her spine as she felt his lips brush the back of her neck while he pressed her against the wall from behind.

“You know even with me in tow you won’t be able to get out of here. Evert won’t let you escape,” Jamie told him, because her brother already had a plan in place for something like this before he’d trapped Death. She almost snorted at the thought because she could already tell that her brother and Death were alike in many ways, one of which was the amount of planning that went into every decision they made.

“Who the fuck is Evert anyway? Fuck, no wait, it doesn’t matter. Whoever he is I can promise that he won’t want you dead so I will be walking out of here,” Death growled against her ear, his voice vibrating through her. “Neither your lover or this Evert you keep talking about will be able to stop me.”