Forever - Book 3 (Star Crossed MC Lovers) (10 page)

Chapter 13

Selene

Elec stormed the room and pushed Dante off of me. I was almost grateful, except the look on his scary-ass face left me far more terrified than anything Dante would do.

“We gotta go. Shit’s going down.” He nodded to Dante. “I’ll get her.”

Dante held up the wire. “She’s working for the damn Feds.”

He gasped. “What the fuck?”

The hurt look in my father’s eyes about tore me up. “Butterfly. Is this true? Please tell me this is a huge misunderstanding.”

Dante held up the wire. “Misunderstanding? She was fucking wearing it!”

My father came over and slapped me hard. Pain exploded in my cheek.

“We’ve got trouble outside,” Elec said. “We’ll deal with her later!”

“Fine,” Dante barked and glared at me for a moment before storming out of the room.

I didn’t get a word out before my cousin had his hand tightly around my wrist, pulling me into the foyer. My father walked out with Mateo tucked in beside him, like a fucking lap dog.

“What the hell was that?!” Rafael Delgado demanded to know as he shot Mateo a look of antagonism.

“Sounded like shots from outside...”

“No shit... I mean, who the hell is shooting outside of our club?” My father beat a path to the front door with several of my cousins at his heels, and me and Elec in back of him.

We moved out into the chilly night air, but stayed on the porch. Elec moved behind me and wrapped me in a tight hug.

“Don’t think about going anywhere,
meja
. That would not end well for you.” He locked his strong, albeit skinny arms around me.

My father walked out into the middle of the yard, and stopped suddenly. Mateo almost ran into the back of him, and where I couldn’t figure out what the hell was going on, I was grateful for the momentary reprieve.

"Hello?" Raphael yelled in a furious tone of voice. "HELLO?" he repeated at the top of his lungs. "Who's out here?"

My father could demand as much as he'd like. No one answered his questions and everything on Poinsettia Drive looked peaceful from what I could tell.

“What the hell?” I glanced back at Elec.

“Gun shots. Four of them, a few minutes ago. Nothing to concern yourself with.” He snorted.

I started to shoot back with a nasty remark, but decided to leave it be. I wasn’t in a position to do anything but try and get free. That was my focus. The rest of the shit swirling around me could jump on the back burner.

Raphael’s head turned from side to side, as if he were trying to see if there was anything out of place... Anything unusual.

“See anything, boss?” Mateo asked.

“Just that fucking white Friedman Floral Truck parked outside of my damn clubhouse. I hate that son of a bitch.” He growled and moved down the path to the edge of our yard.

I let my eyes follow him, and knew that something was without a doubt about to go down. My father’s dress shoes hit hard against the cobblestone tile that lined the way and by the tightness of his shoulders, someone was in for a serious ass chewing.

Nervousness rose in the pit of my stomach. Dane was in that flower truck.
Shit.

“Dad?” I called out, and pulled from Elec, only to be tugged back.

“Not now, pumpkin,” he called over his shoulder, his words a little slurred from his high.

I held my breath as he made a beeline for the van. At the last moment, he veered left, rushing across the dirt road to Friedman's Floral Shop which had the misfortune of being located directly across the street from Pleasant Valley's most notorious address.

It was sad to think that everyone in town knew the Black Hearts were the ones that you needed to watch out for, the bad guys. I’d been no exception to that taint, although I’d never do anything to hurt anyone. Guilty by association.

While the Stone Wolves weren't to be messed with, it was largely thought that the Wolves would at least look out for their own. They did what they could to protect the community. Pride welled up inside of me, knowing that Lucky was one of the good guys. It wouldn’t be too long, and I’d be joining him. His brothers would most likely never accept me as their own, but I knew Lucky good and well. We’d just pack up and leave. Start a new life somewhere.

Wonder if he’ll let me take Grandma with me.
There was no way in hell I was leaving without her.

I focused on the scene in front of me, a little unnerved by the fact that my father would attack the florist over supposed gun shots, and why the hell hadn’t I heard them?

Raphael, dressed in a black suit and tie, handsome leather dress shoes and his hair neatly coifed, darted across Poinsettia Drive as he held the front door of the flower shop in his sights.

Tom Friedman must have seen my father coming because the open door to the shop slammed shut, and the blinds closed as I watched.

"Open up, you coward!" Raphael screamed. When Tom didn't respond, Raphael held up his arm and waved twice, signaling for two of his men to circle the building. I half expected us to join them, but Elec murmured ‘no’ and kept me on the porch.

"What did I say about parking in front of my building?!" Raphael screamed. "Huh?! What did I say?! I don't want your shitty flower van corrupting my view! I didn't renovate my whole club house to have that lemon of a delivery van fuckin' up the view!" Suddenly, he shifted his words at me. “Selene, is this where the Feds are?”

Yell as he might, though, Friedman wasn't coming outside. Little did Raphael Delgado know, Tom Friedman wasn't even remotely scared of him. Tom was part of the sting operation from what Dane and Lucky had told me.

There might just be some justice somewhere in the events to come. Doubtful, but one can always hope.

Chapter 14

Dane

“Get in here,” Caroline Wren opened the door and tugged me in before giving me a ‘what the fuck’ look.

“We have to do something. Now.” I moved back and pulled out my phone, trying to get a hold of Lucky again. I glanced up at the sound of Raphael Delgado screaming just outside the building.

Good. The gunshots worked. Now to get Selene out.

"We've got activity," Dennis Leech said as he peered through the peep hole in the flower shop door. His voice almost held a touch of excitement, which I understood all too well. I’d been working on the case of the last year legally, but far longer than that. I’d lived in Pleasant Valley all my life. Any man with a sense of right in their bones wanted to rid the town of the darkness that was the Delgados. Well, almost all of them. Selene didn’t belong in the bunch. Shitty situation, but hopefully that was all about to change.

The man that Raphael Delgado knew as Tom Friedman was really Dennis Leach, Special Agent for the DEA - The Drug Enforcement Administration for the United States of America.

"Yeah, but which kind remains to be seen!" Caroline Wren spat as she moved up beside Dennis and lifted a pair of binoculars to her face. I had to smile. Carline didn't even bother concealing her identity. She wore her navy blue ATF jacket on her back. She was borderline cocky, and not well liked, but the bitch got stuff done. Quickly.

"Maybe we'll both get lucky," Andy said optimistically.

"Morrison's got nothing to do with this..." Caroline murmured as she continued to peer out the window.

"No, I mean luck. Like dumb luck, good luck, bad luck..." Andy said as he rambled on, but when it became apparent that Caroline wasn't listening to him, he griped, "Ah, never mind..."

Caroline turned back and smiled at me. "Nice work, Dane. You drew him out. Now what the fuck are we going to do about Selene? What’s the next part of your lovely ad hoc plan?"

“Oh fuck. Some of them are on the move.” Dennis moved back from the door and turned. “We need to move out. Raphael is still out front, losing his shit, but the others are headed back into the house. I don’t like it. Doesn’t feel right.”

I turned and opened the back door of the shop and stepped out into the chilly night just in time to watch a black Porsche Cayenne rip out of the driveway of the Black Heart Motorcycle Club.

Caroline yelled from inside the shop, catching all of our attention. "Shit! Mateo Delgado is on the move. Don’t lose him!"

Chapter 15

Lucky

“What was that?” Viper asked as he heard the shots ring out into the night sky as we all pulled over to the side of the road just outside of town.

I looked into the distance darkly as I replied, “I don’t know, but I sure as hell am going to find out.”

I revved my vintage Harley to life as his brothers in arms followed me out of Pritchard Lane in a hurry. Leaving the worried father back at his trailer sucked like hell, but there wasn’t much else we could do. Something was going down, and the Stone Wolves were the only ones who were brave enough to figure out what the hell was happening in the middle of our town.

Every club in town had their own share of shady dealings but for the most part, but the Stone Wolves tried to protect Pleasant Valley, Pennsylvania. Even if the gun shots were not a direct threat on one of their own, the shots disrupted the peace in the tiny mountain town, and we took that very personally.

While the other men were annoyed at the disturbance, I carried a heavy weight in my heart. There was something wrong. I just knew it. I couldn’t get my damn phone to work due to letting the battery drain out, but I knew I’d have a text message from my girl telling me that she needed me. I cursed myself and prayed like hell that everything was okay with her. I didn’t just want her in my life, I needed her.

Winding the curves of Potomac Glenn Pass, we roamed from the deep forest and into the streets of Pleasant Valley as we chased after the gun shots that had cried out over our town. I hoped that no one was injured, but if someone was,
at least let it be a Black Heart
.
Any of them but Selene.

Shit, Lena. Please be okay, baby.

My heart hammered in my chest, and dread filled every part of me. I sped ahead of the other members of my MC, trying to chase down the reason for the gunfire moments before. It had to be near Rafael’s place, which only meant one thing. Someone was probably dead.

***

Us Stone Wolves roared in a neatly lined pack as we swerved through the streets. I could hear a lot of commotion occurring on Poinsettia Road, and it was no surprise. It was where I’d assumed the shots had rang out from in the first place.

"C'mon... Trouble's a brewin!" Rusty Grier yelled out.

"Big fucking surprise there," Knife complained with a stern look on his face.

"Shut up and let's go. Let's handle this," I responded and let my angst fuel my resolve to see the situation through to the end. Raphael needed to be brought down. Dane’s people were taking too fucking long, and I was done playing games. Selene was soon to be my wife, and she lived in constant danger due to her damn dad. It was time to bring closure to everything. She might hate me for it, but in the long run, it would be well worth it.

Turning the corner on the Poinsettia Road, we found Raphael Delgado standing in the middle of the street with a rabid look in his eyes. He was yelling like a mad man at the closed up flower shop, which caused my lip to turn up in a smirk. The old bastard was losing it. Plain and simple.

I turned my attention to the garage as a black car raced past us like it was being chased by the cops.

Raphael moved to the side and turned his attention on me. Rabid anger was all I could see. I gave him a cool expression to chew on, which seemed to only piss him off more. His lip lifted in a snarl, but his eyes were only for me. He knew. He had to have known about me and Selene.

Was it an invitation? Or a dare? Whatever it was, I was most certainly up for the challenge.

Just then, Knife revved his motor as he snuck up on Delgado, chasing him back into the Black Heart  clubhouse.

"Fucking chicken shit," Snake complained as he lit up a cigarette. But  just as the ember was lit, a ferocious roar ripped from the yard of the Black Heart MC clubhouse.

"Aww shit... What do we have here?!" Rusty asked with a hungry look in his eyes.

"Trouble," Rigg said as he sucked air through his teeth.

I held back and watched as six bikers pulled out of the parking lot of the clubhouse. Each of them eyeballed my MC with deep hostility before they ripped out of sight on their motorcycles.

"Assholes,” Rigg grumbled.

"C'mon. We're following..." Knife said as he sped after the gang with two of the Stone Wolves riding his ass. The rest of the bikers set up shop at the end of the road, just waiting for something else to happen, but not me.

With the rest of my brethren out of earshot, I hung back, giving the white van a sideways glance. Parking my bike in the middle of the road, I hopped down and banged on the backdoor of the van three times.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Dane’s voice rose up behind me, scaring the shit out of me. “What the fuck are you doing here, and why the fuck didn’t you answer your phone? Shit. Why do you even have one?”

“Sorry, Mother.” I moved back as Dane jerked the door open and crawled inside. “What the fuck are
you
doing here?”

“The sting operation went down tonight.” Dane turned to face me as he lifted a set of headphones to his ear. His complexion was off, and I’d know him long enough to know that he was sick with fear.

“The sting operation? Tonight? What the hell is going on, Dane? Where is Selene?” I demanded to know.

“Fuck man, get in here and shut the damn door,” Dane moved past me and looked down the street. “Good. My team is hidden and Delgado seems to be back in his house. Crazy mother fucker. I hate that guy more than I have ever…”

I cut him off. “Dane. What the hell is going on?” I rolled shoulders as I let my stress roll down my back. “I heard gun shots, and my damn phone is dead. I’m freaking the hell out! Talk. Now.” Panic threatened to consume me. He had seconds to spill it.

“Give me your damn phone.” Dane took it and plugged it in before sitting down. “Look, the DEA was ready to move with this thing. I didn’t have a choice on trying to push it. I texted you ten fucking times and you never answered. Selene was out here and decided to help out by wearing the wire.”

I tried to listen, but the minute my phone let out a short beep to let me know it was back to life, I was frantic.

Pulling up my text messages, I let out a long grown. “Fuck. There’s nothing from her on here. Is she in trouble or am I just making shit up? I feel like something’s wrong. I’m going in there.”

My best friend’s eyes darted to the floor as he swallowed hard. “She's in trouble, Luck. Real deep shit trouble. Her father knows about you and her. From the sounds of it, Dante and her got into it. They’re using her as a pawn to get to you and the other members of the Stone Wolves MC from what I can tell.”

“Got into it... What do you mean got into it?” I asked darkly. I wanted to kill that big mother fucker years back when he started to show up a bit too often around my girl. If he’d touched her or harmed her in any way, I was going to enjoy killing him slowly.

“It sounded like she was being thrown around,” Dane mumbled and let out a long sigh.

“Mother fucker!” I screamed as fury burned through me. “I’ll fucking murder him! Are they still in the house? Can you hear her on the headphones?”

My sanity threatened to run away from me, and I almost felt bad for Dane. Having to deal with me wasn’t going to be easy or pleasant. I wanted my girl by my side. It was the only place I could keep her safe.

Dane answered quickly, his words tumbling out of his mouth, “But it's Selene, man. She fought back. You know she can handle herself.”

“The fact of the mother fucking matter is, she shouldn’t have to! This is her family! They used her to get to me! Raphael Delgado used his own daughter to get ahead in this war. And why didn't you go in there?” Dane looked at me with a look of total shock. “And blow everything? I don't want her getting hurt, but I also know that we have a lot more to lose if they find out what she's been doing!”

“Do they know about the wire?” I tried to calm myself, but it just wasn’t working.

“Yeah, Dante found it,” Dane admitted as a dark look crossed his face.

A heavy sigh escaped me as my vision darkened. “Fuck! That is worse… so much worse! They think she's a rat. They’re gonna kill her, Dane. We’ve gotta get her out!”

Dane had a troubled look on his face, far more than he should. There was something he wasn’t telling me.

“Where is she, Dane? Where is my girl?” I asked in a strained tone of voice. My sanity was slipping out of sight and I needed to know that Selene was okay.

Dane appeared reluctant to answer until I grabbed him by the front of his shirt and got in his face. “Dane! You've been my boy since grade school! Where the fuck is my girl?”

Rubbing his face as the stress of the situation caught up to him, Dane replied, “In the trunk of Elec's car, I believe.”