OWNED: BLAZING DEVILS MC (6 page)

I sipped my water
slowly and glanced at where Trigger was talking to one of his brothers in a
hushed tone on the other side of the bar. He had been hesitant to leave me when
he came over, but after a second agreed to go with him. Whatever they were
talking about looked intense and weird as hell.

I took the chance
to check my phone.

To my surprise
when I sprung it to life, I had dozens of missed calls and text messages. My
heart started racing. There was only one reason so many people would try to get
in touch with you so late at night and that was because they were delivering
tragic news.

My mind
immediately went to my mom and sisters, but it’s about the club that my girls
had gone to tonight, the one I was supposed to go to. There had been a shooting
there.

I glanced at
Trigger again. He was shaking his head now and spitting out orders. Realization
washed over me. Trigger knew there was going to be a shooting there
tonight, that
was why he hadn’t wanted to let me go to the club
because he was somehow involved in it.

He had murdered
someone.

My pulse started
racing, the same fuzzy feeling that had come over me earlier in the day
returned and I felt myself turning into full on panic mode. I dropped the water
on the bar, grabbed my purse, and make a run for it as fast as I could out the
front door of the club.

When I reached the
street I took off running. Not sure where I was going or how I was going to get
there. I just knew I had to get away from Trigger Ford and his crazy life.
His crime-filled life.

But something told
me it was going to be easier said than done.

PART THREE

LACEY

I had to be the
stupidest girl in the entire city to get myself in the situation I was in. I
kneeled down further behind the shelf of supplies in the closet, being careful
to not make any noise. I should have just let Lloyd come back here and get the
extra napkins and silverware for the rush at lunch hour, but no. I always had
to be the one in control, I always had to be the one who took care of things
and fixed things.

It had started
when I was younger. My dad had been murdered when I was younger; he had
borrowed a bunch of money from some loan shark across town, and couldn’t
deliver when it came time to pay up. They found him thrown off the top of a
building two streets over from where the said loan shark lived. There had been
no witnesses.

My mom was an
alcoholic who had shot out two other babies with no intention of taking care of
them. My baby brother and sister were 5 and 7. I had been more like their
mother than sister for as long as I’d known. I had dreamed about making it
after high school then coming back to pull them out of the life. As soon as I
graduated from high school and our mom went missing, I knew that dream was just
that: a dream.

My mom was held up
with some low life somewhere; turning tricks to pay him and to get her next
fix. She hadn’t been home but a handful of times in the last five years, each
time stumbling in drunk and screaming nonsense. I had gotten two jobs out of
high school. At first, it was to save for college but after my mom had her
second baby and left her alone in front of me for hours I knew raising them was
on me now and I hadn’t looked back since.

That was five
years ago when I was 20. I was 25 now and still living the same life. But it
was worth it, giving up my freedom for theirs. Being with me was better than
being in the system, better than ending up separated. I had taken over the
bills and responsibility of teaching them right from wrong.

It was all I had
known. It was what I was used to. Part of why I always had to do things myself,
why I always had to stay in control, never leaving my fate in anyone else’s
hands, even when it came to simple things. Like getting the fucking napkins
from the supply closet.

Stupid, Lacey, so
stupid, I silently cursed myself.

I peeked out
around the big metal shelf that I was kneeling behind. The men were still
standing there, ushered in a tight circle, talking intently. There were three
of them, all big, and all scary. I was overhearing things I wasn’t supposed to,
things that no one outside of their small circle was supposed to hear. Things
they would kill to protect.

But I was the most
worried about one of them.

Link Ford.

Link Ford and his
brothers were notorious for running things in our city and for being the
gruesome leaders behind the most powerful MC there was
;
The Blazing Devils. They were personal about their business, never showing much
emotion in the light, but the few stories I had heard about what went on in the
darkness was enough to make the fear in me intensify at just the sight of any
of them.

He was around the
restaurant enough. Link. After all, he did own it. He didn’t talk to any of the
employees that much besides simple small talk. He really only bothered with
management. Word on the street was that the restaurant was just a front for
their illegal activity.

But I had never
seen anything sketchy when I had been working besides hushed conversations. I
mean up until now. Plus, the restaurant paid me well, giving me as many hours
as I wanted. It really helped me with the kids. I wasn’t about to start asking
questions and screw up a good thing.

I looked Link up
and down, he looked just as good as he did in high school, just a little more
grown up and with more ink. He was dressed well, like him and his brothers
always are. His deep skin was smooth and flawless, his dark hair thick but
styled perfectly. He hadn’t changed much over the
years,
the same confidence and power followed him.

He hadn’t even
known who I was in high school, but I knew who he was. Just like every other
girl in our school. Plus he had hooked up with a bunch of my girls at different
times throughout my high school career. Why hadn’t he hooked up with me? I
wasn’t Link Ford’s type. Not even a little. Plus, I preferred relationships to
hookups. (Call me old fashioned.) And everyone new the Ford brothers didn’t do
relationships.

If you wanted to
be with any of the Ford brothers you better be okay with the fact that it was
only going to be for the night, and if you were lucky enough, maybe some other
nights.

“The most
important thing,” Link was saying now, “is to make sure no one else get’s hurt
in the crossfire. I want a clean shot, no bystanders should be involved, only
one body bag should be getting rolled out of that club tonight.”

“Right, but if it
happens, it happens.” I peeked out and saw Jay shaking his head back and forth.
“We can’t be worried about some idiot being in the crossfire and have TJ miss a
good shot. Wasted opportunity.”

I felt myself
starting to sweat. I was listening in on a murder plot with some of the most
feared men in our entire state. I could get shot just for being here. People
had probably gotten shot for way less.

Jay was a few
years younger in school, but I had heard stories about him. Stories about
people never coming home after they had gotten involved with him, it occurred
to me if I wasn’t careful I could be one of those stories.

“No,” Link said,
sounding like he meant it. “No one else gets hurt. We aren’t in the business of
murdering just to murder.”

Jay huffed and
Link reached out and put his hand on his shoulder. “Do you understand me?” The
threat was evident under the service. Don’t disobey him or there would be a
problem.

Jay looked into
Link’s eyes for a second and then nodded. “Yeah, I got it.”

Link’s phone
started ringing then. He ignored it for a second, keeping his eyes on Jay.
Finally, he grabbed it out of his pocket and glanced at the caller ID. He shook
his head. “Give me a second,” he said, disappearing into the hallway and
shutting the door behind him.

Jay waited a few
seconds then kicked a stray box of ketchup packets that was on the floor. Red
pouches went flying everywhere. “Do you believe that? Pass up a shot. Miss an
opportunity to take this rat out just because he’s standing too close to
someone? It’s a fucking club, how does he think we’re gonna be able to get off
a clean shot in a fucking club?”

The other guy that
was with him was on his phone now, too, looking bored.

“Silk? My
brother!” Jay said now, trying to get the other guy’s attention.

Silk looked up
from his phone, still looking uninterested. “I don’t know why you’re getting
all bitchy and worked up. The rules haven’t changed since the first time we did
this, bro. Same rules, different target.”

Jay kicked another
box. This time, a bunch of plastic silverware went everywhere, a few landing
right next to my feet. “Maybe I’m sick of the rules. What’s the point of
running the streets if every bitch and every pussy don’t run when they see you coming?
Link thinks he’s the president of the United States or some shit. Being kind to
some and brutal to others. Real men have no empathy for any bitch, I don’t care
how many kids she has or how hard she has it. Like that bitch’s mom, he took
pity on across town. What was her name? Jennifer? Yeah, Jennifer’s momma didn’t
have to pay us that money she owed us because she got clean and a real job. So
fucking soft, if that was
me
…” he pointed his finger
in the air. “Bang, bang. Point and shoot, my brother, point, and shoot.”

Silk shook his
head. “There’s a reason no one on our club has been locked up in years, Jay.
Because of the rules that are put in place, because of the way Link and his
brothers do things.”

Jay kicked the
shelf that I was hiding behind hard, sending it bouncing back and forth. I
jumped back a little, scared it was going to tumble over on top of me, and
stepped on a plastic fork in the process.

Fuck. I froze.

“Shh,” Jay said
now, looking around the closet. “Did you hear that?”

“I didn’t hear
anything,” Silk said, looking down at his phone again.

“I did,” Jay said,
his voice low. “Someone’s in here.”

“You’re always so
paranoid, man. You know what they say about people that are paranoid, don’t
you? They guilty as fuck,” Silk said, laughing.

“Shh,” Jay said,
getting closer and closer to where I was kneeling behind the shelf.

I squeezed my eyes
shut. Please go away, please go away,
please
go away.

“Gotcha.”

I opened my eyes
to the barrel of a gun pointed at my face.

My vision started
blurring a little, the room spinning in and out around me at a rapid pace. I
looked past the gun and up into Jay’s eyes. There was nothing but coldness
there.

“Get the fuck up,”
Jay ordered me, a growl in his voice. “GET UP.”

I did slowly,
stumbling a little as I do.

“Ah, shit,” Silk
said, shaking his head back and forth.

“Paranoid, huh?”
Jay said. “This little bitch has been here the whole time, listening to
everything we said.”

“No,” I said,
pleading. “I didn’t… I didn’t hear anything…I…”

“Shut up, you
stupid cunt. Don’t waste your last words, your life is already over.” Jay
smiled as he said it; like the realization made him happy. “Stupid bitch thinks
she has the right to listen to anything I say. Like you’re special.”

Silk sighed
loudly, running his fingers over his shaved down hair. “This is a problem.”

“Of course, it’s a
problem. This bitch heard a bunch of things she shouldn’t have.” Jay pointed
the gun at my head again. “She needs to be shut up.”

“I’m not going to
tell anyone, I’m not-“

“I thought you
didn’t hear anything?” Jay challenged me. “Exactly. Lying ass bitch. That’s all
bitches are good at; lying and fucking,” he laughed loudly.

“Put the gun down,
Jay,” Silk said. “She’s not going anywhere and we need to figure this shit
out.”

“The only thing we
need to figure out is where to dispose of the body.” He looked me up and down
slowly. “Don’t tell me you’re about to cry.”

I could feel the
wetness starting to form behind my eyes. I was trying to keep it together but I
couldn’t help it. All I could think about was what would happen to my little
brother and sister if anything were to happen to me.
If I
just never came home if I never came back to them without a word.

“Oh, god. Go out
like a real bitch. No tears.”

“That’s enough,”
Silk said.

Jay ignored him.
“Of course, maybe I should have a little fun with you before you go.” My heart
started racing as Jay took a few steps closer to me. He took the gun and pushed
my hair out of my face with the barrel. “Yeah, you look like you’d be a real
good time.”

“What the fuck is
going on in here?”

Jay and me both
turned to see
who
the voice belongs to.

Link. And he
looked pissed.

Jay took a step
away from me and I couldn’t control myself any longer.

I burst into
tears.

“What the fuck did
you do to her?” Link slammed the door shut behind him.

Jay rolled his
eyes.
 
“I didn’t do anything. She
started freaking out for no reason.”

“Put the gun
away,” Link said, walking closer to us.

“I can’t. She’s
been in here the whole time, hiding behind that shelf, she fucking heard
everything.”

Link’s eyes grew
wide and he looked at me in shock and confusion. He stared at me for a few more
seconds and I tried to get my tears under control, but it was easier said than
done.

“I’m not going to
tell anybody anything. I swear I won’t say a word. Please, I…” I trailed off. I
knew I sounded pathetic, like a little girl who wanted her mother. But I didn’t
care. If there was ever a time to beg, it was when my life was on the line.

Link kept looking
at me. “Stop crying,” he shook his head. “Jay put the gun down.”

“Are you kidding?”
Jay looked like he couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “We let her walk out
of here she’s going to run straight to the cops or tip someone off on what’s
going to happen.”

“No one’s walking
out of anywhere but she doesn’t need a gun pointed at her head, either.” Link
ran his hand back and forth over his hair and for the first time, I saw the
wear of stress in his eyes.

“Just let me take
her out the back exit, I’ll take care of her. She’ll be swimming with the
fishes in no time,” he winked at me.

Link walked over
to Jay and grabbed the gun out of his hand in one swift motion. Once he had a
good grip he pulled it up and hit him in the face with it hard, red liquid
started flowing all over the place. “When I tell to do something, you fucking
do it the first time.”

Jay didn’t say
anything, putting his hands around his head to cover the blood from falling all
over the floor.

“Go clean
yourself
up,” Link said calmly, all anger from his voice
gone.

Jay took off out
of the supply closet, slamming the door behind him.

Link looked at
Silk. “He’s starting to become a problem.”

Silk nodded,
looking at me out of the corner of my eye. “How do you wanna play this?”

Link looked at me
slowly then back at Silk like he was playing the options out in his mind. “I
don’t know, I can’t think about this right now. I have enough on my mind with
tonight going down. Not to mention I just got word Trigger was spotted pulling
a gun on someone at a stop light across town.”