Merrick: Harlequins MC (37 page)

CHAPTER
NINE

Before leaving the clubhouse, he'd stopped by Breaker's office and grabbed the kid's dog, a white pit bull named Max. Cassie had formed a pretty good bond with Max while she'd been there and Damon was hoping he had some ability to track her.

Putting Max on a leash, Damon headed out onto the main road and headed north. He was gambling that Cassie had followed the same path since there was an easy track to the creek bed about half a mile up and she wouldn't need to stumble along in the dark to get there. Once she found the creek bed, she would be able to walk alongside it a lot easier back toward town.

Max was pulling hard against him, urging Damon to walk faster. He wasn't an expert in dogs – he barely knew anything about them – but he was hoping the dog's eagerness to follow the road was a good sign that he'd picked up Cassie's scent and was following it. She didn't have too big of a head start so he was hoping he could catch up with her.

When he reached the path that would take them down to the creek bed, Damon's blood ran cold and a knot formed in the pit of his stomach. Parked on the side of the road near the path was Andy's car. Damon touched the hood and found it was still warm. Max growled low in his throat. “Shit,” he muttered.

Max pulled at his leash, trying to drag Damon down toward the creek. They started off down the path the dog setting a quick pace. He just hoped they'd get to Cassie in time – and that Andy hadn't found her first.

***

Cassie walked along the bed of the creek, tears streaming down her face, and her mind a maelstrom of emotions. Being turned out like that had hurt her deeper than she would have believed a week ago. In her short time at the clubhouse, she had grown fond of some of the members and had really started to feel safe. She started to think of it as a home and some of the bikers as her family.

And then there was Damon. Her feelings for him were…complicated. To say the least.

But that was all over now. She had no idea where she was going to go or what she was going to do. Her only hope was that her friends, the ones Andy had made her abandon, still cared enough for her to help her in her time of need. If they didn't, she didn't know what was going to happen to her. But first things first. And the first thing was to get back to Kingston and figure out the rest of it from there.

The path along the creek bed was soft and easy to walk on, but the trees pressed close to her. The moonlight over her head sparkled like silver off of the water in the Esopus and cast the path in front of her in a well-lit but monochromatic light. But the overhead canopy in the forest beside her was so thick. It obscured the light and cast it in a pool of shadow darker than ink. It was creepier than hell and Cassie was fighting to keep her heart under control.

The sound of a twig snapping drew her up short. She stopped and looked around, trying to peer through the gloom of the forest next to her. The sound came again and she was positive it was the sound of somebody walking through the undergrowth, snapping the small twigs and branches that littered the forest floor.

“H – hello?” she called out.

The only answer was the sound of another twig snapping. Somebody was walking out there amongst the trees. Following her. She wanted to deny it, but in the pit of her stomach, she knew it was Andy. He'd followed her from the clubhouse and was now out there. Stalking her. She didn't know how she knew it, but she knew it all the same. Knew it as well as she knew her own name. He'd found her and he was closing in on her.

Cassie picked up her pace and started to walk faster. She knew she was exposed. Too far from the clubhouse to go back and probably not close enough to Kingston to make it before being overtaken by Andy. Her heart thundered within her breast and she felt her body begin to tremble.

As she jogged along the path, she was watching behind her, expecting to see Andy step out of the shadows of the forest. It wasn't until it was too late that she realized her mistake. Cassie stopped dead in her tracks, but not before Andy – who had gotten ahead of her and had come out onto the creek bed path in front of her – grabbed her by the arm.

“Well hello, my love,” he said.

Andy delivered a vicious backhand that knocked her onto her butt and left her head spinning. The coppery taste of blood filled her mouth and Cassie felt it trickling down her chin. She looked up at Andy who was staring down at her with naked hatred and rage.

“Andy, I'm sorry, I – ”

He reached down, grabbed a handful of her hair and hauled her to her feet, standing nose to nose with her. “Oh, you're sorry, huh?”

“I am,” she cried. “I'm so sorry. I'm ready to come home now. Please forgive me, Andy.”

He reared back and punched her square in the face. Cassie felt an explosion of pain around her eye as she was sent sprawling backward. She hit the ground with a thud and was left staring at the nighttime sky with blurred vision. Tears mixed with the blood that ran down her face. She knew she needed to get up. Needed to run. She knew the longer she laid there, the closer to death she was.

Cassie tensed her muscles and started to rise but then Andy's weight was on top of her. He straddled her chest and delivered a series of slaps that left her head ringing and her face stinging worse and worse with each successive blow. She tried to cry out, but every time she opened her mouth, Andy's hand smacked it shut again.

“You ungrateful bitch,” he roared. “You fucking whore! Letting yourself get passed around by a bunch of greasy bikers like a common street whore.”

“A – Andy please – ” she started to scream

“Disgusting fucking whore!”

And then his hands were around her throat. She felt his thumbs dig into her windpipe painfully. With him straddling her chest, her arms were pinned down and she couldn't move. She felt Andy squeezing harder as she choked and gasped, fighting for breath.

“Now you're going to pay for what you've done,” Andy laughed.

He kept squeezing harder and darkness began to creep in at the corners of her vision. The already blurry sky above her grew even blurrier, and as she continued to be deprived of oxygen, it grew darker as well. Cassie couldn't move. Couldn't breathe. She couldn't do anything but sit there and wait for a death that was just moments away. She heard the sound of a dog barking, but it was muted, sounding as if it came from miles away. She lay there dying, but even so, it sounded odd to her.

“Get the fuck off of her right now,” she heard a voice call out sounding as fuzzy and far away as the dog barking.

The grip Andy had on her throat loosened and suddenly sweet oxygen began flowing into her lungs once more. She gasped, inhaling as much air as she could.

“I said, get the fuck off of her,” came the voice again.

It sounded much closer this time as did the barking of the dog. She was still pinned to the ground, but she was positive it was Damon's voice. He'd come to save her. A million feelings washed through her, but the overwhelming emotion was relief.

“This isn't your concern,” Andy said.

“Actually, it is my concern,” Damon replied.

“She's my wife!”

“And you're trying to kill her. So stand up and back off,” Damon said, his voice ice cold. “Now.”

The dog, which she was sure was Breaker's pit bull Max, barked and growled viciously, desperate to get to Andy. Cassie turned her head, stretching her neck, desperate to see what was happening. But she was able to see nothing except for Andy sitting astride her, his attention focused on Damon.

“Back off. This is my wife. You have no say in this.”

Cassie heard the familiar sound of somebody – Damon, presumably – chambering a round in a gun. She wanted to laugh, figuring it was the same gun Damon had taken off of Andy earlier in the day.

“Woah, woah, woah,” Andy yelled, putting his hands up. “Let's not escalate this any further than it already is.”

“Too late for that,” Damon replied.

“So what's your plan here, then?” Andy yelled. “You just gonna shoot me?”

“It's not my first preference. But I won't hesitate to put you down,” he said. “Don't think for a moment I won't. Now get off of her and step away.”

Andy didn't move. He looked at Damon and then down at her. And what she saw chilled her to the bone. It was the look of a man who knew he was beaten but was determined to go out in a blaze of glory. He either thought he had nothing to lose or he didn't really think Damon had the guts or wherewithal to pull the trigger.

He looked up at Damon one last time before leaning down and wrapping his hands around Cassie's throat. He squeezed has hard as he possibly could, trying to take her out with him. The sound of the shot was like a booming cannon. She felt Andy's body jerk and then suddenly, his hands fell away from her throat. And then his body fell off of hers, slumping limply to the dirt beside her, a hole in his head oozing a crimson stream of blood.

Cassie's heart was like a trip hammer in her chest as she turned over and got to her knees. She looked down at Andy, looked into his wide, unseeing eyes. Then she looked to Damon who stood there with the gun at his side in one hand, Max's leash in the other. When the dog saw her, his tail began to wag and his tongue lolled out the side of his mouth. Cassie slowly climbed to her feet, looked down at the body of her husband and spat on him.

Walking over to Damon, she wrapped her arms around him and sobbed. Damon hesitated, uncertain that he should be doing it, but he dropped the gun on the ground at their feet and pulled her close, embracing her tightly as Max leaned against her legs, whining with happiness. She wheezed and gasped, still trying to draw breath.

“I'm so sorry,” he whispered.

“You saved me,” she said, her voice incredibly hoarse. “You came and you saved me.”

Damon gave her a kiss on the top of the head. “Take Max and head back to the club.”

“Where are you going?”

“I have to do something,” he replied. “About him. But I'll catch up with you.”

Cassie nodded and shot one last glance back at her now ex-husband before giving Damon a kiss on the cheek.

“What was that for?” he asked.

“For saving me. Again.”

CHAPTER
TEN

Cassie walked through the surprisingly empty garage and back into the clubhouse, her throat raw and sore and her head ringing. She was terrified of walking in there alone after Carl had made it abundantly clear that he wanted her gone. But what else could she do? She was a bruised and battered mess. As she stepped into the clubhouse, she heard a couple of voices and, taking a deep breath, walked down the hallway toward them.

When she entered the kitchen, she found Carl and Breaker sitting at the table. She dropped the leash and Max went bounding over to Breaker, wagging his whole body and planting sloppy kisses on the kid's face. When Carl looked up at her, his eyes grew to the size of dinner plates. Breaker looked up not a moment later and had the same expression on his face.

“Cassie,” Carl said as he stood up. “What in the hell happened?”

“Andy,” she said, her voice choked with sobs. “Andy must have followed me out of here because he caught up to me on the creek path and – ” She was overwhelmed by the emotion and the memory of the attack and broke down. Her body heaved with sobs and tears ran unabated down her cheeks.

Breaker was on his feet and guided her to the chair he'd just vacated, helping her to sit down. He ran off down the hall, leaving her there, sobbing and trying to hide her face from Carl. The older man squatted down beside her and gently took hold of her wrists, removing her hands from her face. When she looked into his eyes, she didn't see anger or recrimination for returning to the clubhouse. She saw compassion and concern in his eyes.

“Are you okay?” Carl asked and then raised his hands while shaking his head. “Stupid question. Of course you're not.”

Breaker returned with a first aid kit and Carl stood up, stepping away from the table. He paced the kitchen, alternating between running his hand through his hair and tugging on the ends of his mustache.

With incredible care and tenderness, Breaker was using the contents of the first aid kit to tend to her physical wounds.
“I'm so sorry, Cassie,” Breaker whispered. “You didn't deserve this.”

Tears rolled down her cheeks and she didn't trust herself to speak yet.

Carl paced the kitchen, his hands clenched into fists and his jaw set. He didn't like abusers any more than Damon did and seeing Cassie show up like that, beat up and bloody enraged him. “Son of a bitch,” Carl muttered as he continued to pace.

Cassie winced as Breaker applied a warm cloth to wipe to a cut on her face. He gently wiped the blood and dirt from the wounds. His already wide eyes grew even wider when he looked at her neck. Cassie couldn't see what he was looking at, but she figured it was bruising from Andy trying to strangle her.

Breaker gently touched her neck with his fingertips. “Sorry,” Breaker said. “I'm so sorry.”

“How'd you get away from him?” Carl asked. “Did Damon catch up to you?”

Fear stole through her body, briefly pushing out the pain. She knew Carl had forbidden Damon of getting rid of the nuisance that was Andy even though he was dangerous to the club – and really dangerous to her personally. “Yeah, he found us. He saved my life. Andy was strangling me when Damon just came out of nowhere.”

“That explains the cuts and bruising on your neck,” Breaker muttered.

Carl stopped pacing and looked at her. “Where is Damon now?”

“I – I don't know,” she admitted.

“You don't know?”

Cassie racked her brain, trying to find a lie that didn't sound like a lie. Andy was dead. She'd seen his body on the ground right next to her. Damon had put a bullet in his head because he was trying to kill her. But would Carl understand that? Would he take that into account not punish Damon for killing him because of the circumstances? It was a gamble Cassie didn't know she was willing to take. “H – he and Andy got into it. He wouldn't stop choking me so Damon grabbed him and they started to fight. Damon told me to run back here. The last I saw, he was chasing Andy the other way.”

“Chasing him away, huh?”

Cassie nodded. “Yeah. He saved my life, Carl.”

The older man leaned against the counter and stared at her. The skepticism on his face was plain. He knew something bad had gone down out in the woods and he knew she was covering for Damon. Cassie could see it in his face plain as day.

“I'd be dead right now if it weren't for Damon.”

Carl looked at her and knew she wasn't telling him something. Knew she was holding something back. There was more than just the fear and trauma of what she'd just gone through in her face. She was protecting Damon. He knew it. And judging by the look on her face, Cassie knew he knew it.

“Is Andy dead, Cassie?”

Her eyes widened slightly and he lower lip began to quiver. “I don't know, Carl. Like I said, I ran when Damon and Andy started to fight. I looked over my shoulder and saw that Andy had turned and was running away. Damon was chasing him. Outside of that, I don't know anything more than you do.”

“Did he kill Andy, Cassie?”

Carl's eyes bored into hers, searching for the truth – or, at least, searching for her deception. She didn't know what Carl would do to Damon if he knew with absolute certainty he'd killed her ex. Especially after Carl had forbidden it. Cassie knew a murder investigation would bring a lot of unwanted attention to the club, which was why Carl had been insisting Damon find a different way of handling Andy. She didn't know exactly what they were doing or what they were into, but it was obviously something that made them not want the cops poking around the clubhouse about.

“You told him not to,” she said evenly. “Which was why when I saw him, he was running Andy off instead of just killing him right there.”

Carl sighed and ran a hand through his hair. He wasn't getting anywhere with her. She was obviously protecting Damon by not telling him what had really happened out in those woods. Which lead Carl to believe the worst had happened. Damon had killed Andy. It was the last thing that the club needed right now. With pressure mounting internally to remove him from office, Carl was concerned a murder investigation would be just the right leverage somebody like Taggert would need to take over the club.

Carl put his heart and soul, his blood, sweat, and tears into the Dragons. The Dragons were his family, his world, and his life. Idiots like Taggert didn't respect the club. Didn't respect the life. They saw it as a means of getting themselves ahead, of getting theirs and enriching themselves. The wellbeing of the club ran secondary to that. Carl had believed that Damon shared his views and respected the club as much as he did. But he had gambled it all on this girl.

Breaker finished up tending to Cassie's wounds and cleaned up the mess on the table. “Nothing seems too serious, injury-wise. I think you're going to be okay physically.”

Cassie gave the kid a grateful smile. “Thank you.”

“You should probably go on upstairs and get some rest,” Carl said.

Cassie looked at him and nodded. She was exhausted and emotionally wrung out. As she headed out of the kitchen and toward the stairs, she turned and gave Carl a meaningful look. “He really did save my life,” she said. “I wouldn't be standing here if not for him.”

Carl nodded. “Go on up, get some rest.”

After she'd gone upstairs, Carl sat back down at the table. Breaker grabbed a couple of beers from the refrigerator and took a seat at the table, as well. Neither man spoke as they drank, each consumed by their own thoughts.

“Damon is a good man,” Breaker said, finally breaking the silence. “He cares about this club as much as you do. And I didn't think that was possible.”

Carl nodded. “Yeah, I know.”

An hour later, Damon walked into the kitchen. His pants were wet and caked with mud. So were his jacket and hands. Carl looked him up and down and gave him a rueful grin. Breaker looked uncomfortable sitting between the two men and simply took a swallow of his beer.

“Rough night?” Carl asked.

Damon nodded. “You could say that.”

“She's upstairs,” he said. “Good thing you got to her when you did.”

“Yeah.”

Carl looked at Damon and locked eyes with him. His gaze was intense and filled with meaning. But Damon didn't back down, meeting his gaze with a determined, defiant look of his own.

“Problem solved?” Carl asked.

“It's solved.”

“That chapter of the book closed?”

Damon nodded. “Yeah.”

Carl nodded. “We good?”

“Yeah, we're good.”

“Good. Now go take a shower. You smell like shit.”

Damon gave him a smile and nodded before heading upstairs.