Jase (40 page)

Lifting his head, he looked at Slate and glanced over to where Bear was standing in the doorway behind him. “It’s gotta
go down
this way?” He startled at the question, sure for a moment it had come from his lips, but he saw Slate and Bear
turn
to look at Pinto, who was shaking his head. “Never mind, I know. It’s a fucking shame. Birdy
coulda
been
a good brother.” With that, he and Hoss turned and walked out of the room, shutting the door behind them.

Struggling wildly, rocking the chair side-to-side on its legs, Birdy’s shaking voice came from underneath the hood. “Wait. Wait. I can tell you routes and schedules. Manzino has plans. I know his plans, his routines,
who
his lieutenants are.
Hold on.
”

“He
tell
you anything up to now?” Slate’s voice was flat and cold, and Jase shivered as it lashed through the air in the room directed at him.

“Nothing. I don’t think he has anything, Prez.” Jase shook his head, knowing he probably had sentenced the man to death.

“All right.” Bear stepped forward, pulling a gun from the back waistband of his pants. “Cutting isn’t enough, Prez.” His voice was as cold as Slate’s, and Jase watched his eyes as he stepped up behind Birdy, reaching out a hand to grasp the hood. “Betrayal of a brother, a chapter, is treachery that can’t be set aside.” He looked into Jase’s face searchingly. “He brought shit back to town, shit that cost
us
brothers in order to run it out the first time. Good men, Rebels all. That sets him against the club.”

Jase nodded and stepped to the side. Bear continued, eyes still on his face. “He knew the score.” Jase nodded
again,
but then took a single step closer.

“Let me try once more,” he said softly, leaning close to Bear. The big man looked at him
carefully
, then nodded slowly. Jase glanced down as his arm flexed, his hand tightening on the hood and pulling it up and off Birdy’s head, uncovering his face. There was a look of stark fear embedded there, but then he focused on Jase and it shifted quickly to fury and loathing. Jase shivered; he had never been the recipient of so much hatred, and he couldn’t figure out what he had done to earn it.

“Talk about Manzino,” he prompted, and was surprised with the vehement shake of the head from Birdy that met his request.

“No, dammit. Just no. Fuck you. Fuck you and your goddamned club. Goddamn Mason lets bitches run his club now. I don’t want no fucking part of it anyway. Knew that shit years ago when I met that motherfucker Slate for the first time, him and Tug. Fucking
lesbo
bitches were on the Rebel lot, and they protected them.
Beat me and my brothers
to protect fucking lesbo bitches.” He drew in a ragged breath and laughed harshly.

“Ain’t no mistaking you bought my fucking bike,” he spat at Jase, who sidestepped the blood-flecked phlegm, staring at him in confusion.

“I didn’t buy your bike, Birdy,” he said, stopping when the man laughed again.

“Fucking bitch with her head all up in my business all the time. Hands off the fucking girls decreed by her, then she wouldn’t sell me the
fucking
bike. Put it up for goddamn auction, where a fucking citizen bought it,” he spat at Jase again. “Fucking waxer.” He sneered. “Fucking weak-ass prospects, can’t keep a
fucking
prisoner secure,
never shoulda
let me in the fucking room.”

“Winger’s bike?” There were a dozen revelations that needed attention, but Jase was focusing and slowly putting things together on just one of them, remembering conversations with Tug and Mason about DeeDee’s position being somewhat precarious at times.

“Shoulda killed the fucking bitch when I had the chance. Had plenty of chances, you’re always leaving her the fuck alone. Kill the bitch, take the bike, fucking go back home to Mor—my real brothers.” Birdy tipped his head back, blood trailing down his cheek and neck. “If I killed the bitch, you wouldn’t be standing here right fucking now.”

Jase looked at the man now sitting silent, and his blood ran cold as he finally put a name to what he had been seeing all along.
Hatred.
Birdy held an unmitigated hatred for the Rebel
club,
because his loyalties lay elsewhere. That hatred bled through from the club to
DeeDee,
and then to him. He was a threat to everything Jase held dear; there was no coming back for him. He never had ties with the
club
, with them. If they let Birdy go, there was no doubt in his mind that he would circle back around…come find him—
find DeeDee
—and take revenge for every slight, real or imagined. His stomach clenched as the realization of what had to happen here became
apparent
.

As he stared wordlessly at the man tied to the chair, face twisted
into
an ugly mask of impotent rage and disgust…
in
hatred,
something Mason had told him once
rose to the surface of his mind. Mason had said that as people, we are hardwired to protect the ones we love,
our
families. His family had expanded over the past few months to include DeeDee, and further, to pull the Rebel club into the circle that he wanted to protect. The
club
meant everything to him. He would die for them…he would kill
to keep them safe
.

Reaching out, he took the hood from Bear’s hand, tossing it to the floor as he leaned down into Birdy’s face. Locking their gazes, he got near enough to feel the heat radiating from the man. Speaking quietly, he said, “Just signed your own fucking death warrant, motherfucker. God forgives, Rebels don’t.” He held out his hand and accepted the burden of the cold metal willingly.

***

He held DeeDee in his arms, watching her sleep. He, Slate, and Bear had walked out of the basement room of the clubhouse to find out Gunny had called from a location downstate. He and Sharon had been released, and Jase shook his head, because the part of the story about what had happened to them was muddy.

Why had Elkins been in their house? How was he hooked up with the people who had taken them away? Why had they been taken, and why were they released? Was there a connection between the shit with Birdy and Manzino, and what happened to them? So many questions and no answers; at least, not right now. Gunny had gone into the office with Mason, Slate, and Bear, coming out several hours later. He refused to talk, striding away with hardly a word to where Sharon waited, picking her up and cradling her gently to his chest as he walked up the staircase.

He and Sharon were in a room here, and Jase suspected he would see his sister at
breakfast
. He hoped he could get more out of her than he was able to find out from Gunny.

His mind turned back again to the scene with Birdy, rolling things over again and again in his head, trying to find a better solution. Why would Birdy have done it? Why would he voluntarily fuck up so badly? Why would he work to become part of a club that he so obviously hated?

It didn’t matter which way he looked at it, what angle he came at it from, the outcome was always the same. If Birdy’s actions didn’t change, then things had to shake out the way they did. Because the club was a brotherhood, it depended on adherence to specific rules of conduct. Betrayal of your brothers was the worst thing you could do and, as a result, had the highest cost in response.

Look what had happened to Bear in Des Moines last year. He was working with Slate and Mason, uncovering issues with the chapter out
there. When it was evident he found problems,
several of the local members had taken him and beaten him nearly to death. Some members might feel badly about what happened to the men who’d done that to Bear, but Jase understood why, just like he understood what had to go down tonight. Didn’t mean he liked it, but he had agreed to it.

DeeDee stirred in his arms, and he stroked down her back, feeling her naked skin slipping like silk beneath his palms.
I’d do anything to keep you safe. Pay the cost from tonight a dozen times,
he thought. He took a deep breath, nuzzling the side of her head and kissing her softly. “I love you, baby,” he said. “
Je t’aime,
bebe
. Je t’aime
.” Angling his body to pull her closer, he whispered, “Everything changed tonight. But for the first time in my life, I don’t feel alone. You and me, baby, we’re permanent; we’re family.
Rester
avec
moi
pour
toujours
, baby. Stay with me forever.”

***

Hoss looked up at her as she walked into the main room of the clubhouse. She knew his gaze held a
question,
because there had been some terrible club business last night, and she hadn’t missed her man’s part in everything that happened after the club went
into
lockdown. She walked over to him and he handed her a mug of hot coffee, which she accepted with a wry smile of thanks. Leaning against the bar, she waited for him to ask.

“
Captain
still in bed?” The tone was casual, but
everything this man did
was calculated.

“Yeah, he’s snoozing. Was late when he came to bed. Later yet when he went to sleep.” She blew across the top of the coffee in her mug, knowing the conversation wasn’t yet over.

“He okay, DeeDee?” The question was quiet, and she doubted anyone else heard him. So, she took that to mean it was serious.

“He is.” She lifted her chin when she answered him, attempting to convey the depth of her belief in Jase’s wellbeing.

“Yesterday was a cluster.” He sipped at his own coffee, watching her over the rim of the mug. “We’ll be off lockdown by this afternoon, but there will be ripples for a long fucking time.” He sighed, eyes shifting to the room, his gaze sweeping side-to-side, cataloging the members present. “Mason’s gonna need us all, DeeDee. Birdy hadn’t been a member long, but he came with a
recommendation
from someone Mason trusted.”

She nodded, taking a drink of her own coffee. “You thinking someone wanted to sink a mole in the chapter? Wasn’t he Chicago first? If he’s snooping for another club, why would he leave the mother chapter to come to the Fort?”

“Good fucking questions, woman,” a voice said from behind her, and she turned, seeing Tug standing there. “We’re going to need you to see if you can get some answers from the dancer he fucked up. She is the most likely person to have any insight into his motives.”

She had known from Jase’s mood when he came to bed that things had gone badly sideways, and from Tug’s statement, she knew Birdy hadn’t survived the night.

Last night, she met Jase’s demands with eagerness, giving as much back to him as he would accept, following his lead, knowing it was a
life-affirming
action for
him at
that moment. They had rocked against each other for long moments, his hands roaming her body, his mouth slanting across hers possessively. When he pulled out, reaching down to tug at her hip, she turned to her stomach, arching her back and lifting her ass into his hands as he took her from behind. Moving together like that, she met each thrust of his hips with her own, letting him control the pace of their lovemaking, allowing him to cover her protectively with his body.

Now she would wait to see how things stood when he awoke. The raw and hard side of club life could turn a man
against
things, and she prayed that wouldn’t be the case with Jase.

***

Tug watched her walk away and he sighed without looking away. “Prez, last night was not a
well-done
thing.” Turning, he looked up into Mason’s face, expecting to see remorse, but instead was met with a steely, cold gaze.

“That’s where you’d be wrong, Tugboat. It was very well done,” Mason said assertively. “Our brother stepped
up like
we needed, and the club became what he’s
needed
for a long time.” Nodding at the prospect behind the bar for a mug of coffee, Mason looked back at Tug and Hoss. “He’s been a team player all his life. All his fucking life, he gave everything he had to his team. Transient players, called up, pushed in and out,
long-time
team members, franchise players, there for the haul…they all got the best of what he had to offer. You saw him play; man gave a hundred and fifty percent, every fucking game. Not a
damn
thing to show for it in the end but a love of the
game
. Man’s been looking for something that’s worthy to be a part of for a long time. He found it in the
club,
and circled the edges looking for a way
in
, and now he’s found that in, he ain’t gonna be going back anytime soon.”

Taking a drink of his coffee, he settled back into the bar, leaning one elbow on the top. “He came in when he accepted the colors, and he fucking knew the score that day. I made for-fucking-sure of it. I don’t recruit many people, and you both goddamn well know that, but I pursued him,
recruited
him. We need him as much as he needs us.”

He took another drink. “Last night, he closed the door on his past life, became a Rebel. We patch him today. He’s found something worth fighting for now. We’ll have the best of what he has to offer, from here on, brothers. Rebels forever,” he said, Tug and Hoss echoing his next words. “Forever Rebels.”

Jase softly kissed her temple, struggling hard to catch his breath, hands smoothing up and down her back as she lay draped across his chest. Lifting DeeDee’s hair off her shoulder, he twisted it into a loose knot and out of his way, wanting his hands
on
more of her.