Wild: Tiger's Blood MC (20 page)

“He’s safe,” Dima said with the same cold, calculated smile as he’d worn before he’d seen the money. “We get money first. Then you get your Calvin.”

I shifted my weight from one foot to the other and shook my head. “No,” I said sharply. “At the same time. We agreed on that. Come on, Dima. Don’t be unfair.”

Dima grinned. “You know, for someone who’s so dumb, you are awfully brave,” he said in a thick accent. “You don’t even know what’s happening, you don’t even get what those bitches are doing behind your back.”

A trickle of fear ran down my spine.

“Hey, Elliot, what the fuck is he talking about?” Tony walked closer, still clutching onto the suitcase. His face was strained and his eyes were narrowed. “What bitches? What the fuck is going on?”

“I have no idea,” I lied. “Come on, Dima. Stop fucking around and hand over the guns. And Calvin,” I added. “We don’t have time for this bullshit and I have a feeling you don’t have time for it either.”

Dima stood and gave me an odd, twisted little grin. He cocked an ear to the wind. “I hear something,” he mused. “But what is that? What is it that I’m hearing?”

My breath caught in my throat.
Sirens! Those are definitely sirens!
“Oh shit,” I muttered. “What the fuck is this!”

Nero’s hands grabbed my arm. The metal suitcase dropped down into the dirt and before I could even begin to reprimand him for being so sloppy, Dima snapped his fingers and two of his henchmen ran out of the cars and dove for the suitcase. I shoved Nero down in the dirt and he wrapped his arms around the metal, clinging on fiercely.

“Give us the fucking guns,” I snarled, leaning down close and staring Dima right in his rotten, long face. “Give us the fucking guns or I’ll kill you. If I’m already going to prison, it doesn’t matter what it’s for,” I bluffed, pulling the gun from my waistband and shoving it in Dima’s face. “I don’t give a shit if I kill you. If I go to prison, I don’t need to buy your guns anymore.”

Dima’s face registered obvious shock and horror.

“What the fuck, man?” Nero hissed behind me. I held up my hand to make him stay quiet.

“You do what I said,” I said cockily, keeping my gun trained on Dima’s fat head. “You do it
now
.”

Dima let out a sigh. He backed away towards the cars and I followed him, advancing step by step until we were standing next to the truck. With a shaking hand, Dima pulled out a key and unlocked the trunk, sending it open to the sky. Inside, four large cases of guns lay stacked on top of each other.

“These are for you,” Dima said. He gestured towards the cases. “Get your men to come take them.” He smiled at me, having lost all traces of his obvious fear. “Now give me the money,” Dima added. He held his hands out, beckoning me. “Come on,” Dima said. “Hurry up and take the guns, you fool, before the cops get here.”

Adrenaline kicked in. I grabbed two of the cases and struggled with them towards the van. They were astoundingly heavy—each one had to be over one hundred pounds—and I felt my knees ache with the strain as I finally shoved them into the back of the van.

“Nero! Tony!” I yelled loudly. “Give him the fucking money and get Calvin!”

By the time I got back to the Russians’ car, Dima was rifling through the cash. He was counting it rapidly, his eyes green with greed. He stared at the money in a riveting way, like he’d never seen anything so beautiful in his life.

The sirens were getting louder and louder and I felt my anxiety spike again. Grabbing Dima by the shoulders, I shoved my face against his.

“Give us Calvin,” I ordered in a low voice. “Right now, you fuck. Or I’ll shoot you and leave your body for the buzzards.”

Dima trembled in my strong grip. He raised one of his arms and snapped his fingers loudly in the air. His hands were so sweaty that it took three tries. Even though the sirens were advancing, I watched him struggle and shake with immense satisfaction.

At the sound of Dima’s fingers snapping loudly, one of his stooges opened the trunk of the other car. I heard a muffled shout and a scream and looked over to see Calvin. He was hogtied with a blindfold on and something crammed in his mouth, but for the most part, he looked fine.

“Grab him,” I hissed.

Nero and Tony ran towards the car and scooped Calvin up, carrying him back to the van and tossing him in the backseat. Dima and his men climbed into their cars and took off.

Bolting over to the driver’s side of the van, I shoved the key in the ignition and pressed my foot hard on the gas pedal.
Come on, start
, I thought desperately as the sirens became louder and louder.
Come on, you motherfucker
.

Persephone

After leaving Elliot and the Tiger’s Blood bar behind, I could barely focus on what I had to do next. Somehow, I was going to have to stop Vero from calling the cops on Elliot and his guys. I had to make her see that Elliot wasn’t responsible.

Lydia!
I thought suddenly.
Lydia’s smart. She doesn’t want revenge unless it’s really against her attacker.
She won’t let Vero do this if she knows the guys are innocent
.

I was amazed to find the scene calm and relatively undisturbed when I arrived. Lydia and Brienne were playing cards, Anya was standing behind the bar and gazing down at her phone. The other girls were lounging around and drinking, but I didn’t see Vero anywhere. The bad feeling in the pit of my stomach grew even worse as I stepped closer, wiping my sweaty palms off on my jeans.

“Sephy,” Anya said with a grin. “Do you have any news? Did you talk to them? Is Calvin okay?”

“I need to talk to you,” I said sharply. “Come on. Come with me, right now,” I added when Anya kept staring at me. “Hurry!” I barked when she still didn’t move. “This is fucking important!”

Lydia and Brienne stared. “Sephy, can I get you anything?” Lydia stood up with her hands clasped in front of her. I stared at her; I couldn’t help myself, every time I saw her, she looked even more virginal and innocent than she had before.

“No,” I said sharply. “Actually, yeah,” I added. “Two beers. Bring them to the back room. Now. Then, the rest of you need to get out. Go look for Vero and call me once you’ve found her. Don’t let her go anywhere,” I added sharply. “We have business we need to discuss before she does anything.”

“Right,” Lydia said softly. She quickly ran over to the bar and grabbed the beer bottles, shoving them at me and then darting out of the clubhouse. I smiled. Even in the face of crisis, I loved that she was one of the strongest members of the club. She may not have had tons of ink like Brienne, or a wise-ass mouth like Vero, but Lydia was turning out to be one of the most valuable members of the Amazons.

Anya gave me a sulky look once we were alone together. She stared at me as I passed her a bottle of beer after cracking my own open and taking a long swig.

“You’re drinking a lot lately,” Anya said cautiously. “Are you sure that’s smart? In the face of all this?”

“Shut up,” I snapped at her. “You’re the reason why we’re in so much trouble right now. Did you ever think about that?”

“What?” Anya narrowed her eyes and crossed her skinny arms over her torso. “What the fuck are you talking about? I didn’t do anything.”

I glared at her and took another long drink of beer. “Yes, you did,” I said calmly. Pointing to a chair, I ordered Anya, “Sit!”

Anya lowered herself down into the chair, looking up at me with big, reproachful eyes. “I didn’t do anything,” she insisted loudly. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Bullshit,” I scoffed, sitting down across the table. Anya’s eyes were darting around nervously and I could tell that she was shaking. “You fucked up,” I said solemnly. “I’m gonna give you one more chance to tell me the truth, or I’m kicking you out of the Amazons.”

Anya held up her hands. Her eyes looked fearful. “I swear, Sephy, I didn’t do anything. I swear I’d never do anything to hurt the club.”

I laughed. “You should have thought about that before you started fucking a Tiger’s Blood,” I said, shaking my head in disdain. “And before you lied to me about it, too.”

Anya colored. “I lied because I knew you’d be mad,” she said softly. “Doesn’t that count for anything?”

I rolled my eyes. “Anya, that logic only applies when you steal the last beer or take my food,” I said. “This was something that endangered the club. And you know what it is, and you’ve known it since it happened. Why don’t you tell me?”

Anya licked her lips. She blinked her eyes again and gave a tight little shake of the head. “Sephy, honestly, I don’t—”

“Shut up,” I said loudly. Anya jumped but she closed her lips. “Remember the night of the party?” I asked in a soft, dangerous voice. “Remember how Vero said she saw a Tiger’s Blood sneaking off the premises after Lydia was attacked?”

Anya nodded. I could tell she wanted to speak but she kept her lips clamped tightly together.

“Well, Anya, why do you think she would have done that?” I asked softly. “Surely not because she saw
Calvin
sneaking away, am I right?”

Anya’s eyes widened and her shoulders slumped. I could practically read the look on her face. “Shit,” she mumbled. “You…um, you weren’t supposed to find out about that.”

I laughed. The balls these girls had on them! Anya looked alarmed at my laughter, then almost relaxed when she saw the grin on my face. Stupid girl.

“You bitch,” I said softly. “And here’s the thing: you know that it wasn’t Calvin, because Calvin was never sneaking away! He spent the whole goddamn night with you in the clubhouse, am I right?”

Anya nodded fiercely. “Oh god, Sephy,” she babbled quickly. “Calvin would never do anything to hurt anyone! He’d never have done anything to Lydia! I swear!”

“I bet,” I said, raising my eyebrows. “But he spent the night here with you, and Vero found out about it, and then I’m guessing you begged her to keep quiet.” I folded my hands in front of my chest and let them rest in my lap. “And then, when Vero said something the next day about seeing a Tiger’s Blood sneak away, you knew that you had to keep silent or else we’d blame Calvin. Is that right?”

Anya swallowed a lump in her throat and nodded miserably. “That’s right,” she said, glancing down. “That’s exactly what happened?”

I shook my head in disbelief. “I was really hoping that I’d be wrong about that,” I admitted. “This hurts, Anya. Knowing that my own girls want to betray me really hurts.” I stared at her. “Do you know what that feels like?”

“Oh god, Sephy, I feel so guilty,” Anya cried loudly. She put her face in her hands and began to cry. “I feel so horrible! I couldn’t believe that Vero would lie about that, but I couldn’t say anything because she threatened me! She told me that she had her reasons for doing this, and that if I didn’t go along with her, she’d kill me!”

I stared at her. This was bad. This was much worse than I’d thought when Elliot and I figured out what happened. I wasn’t sure what exactly I’d thought about Vero then, but now I was starting to realize just how dangerous my former best friend was turning out to be.

“What?” I asked softly. “Anya, you need to tell me exactly how she threatened you.”

Anya swallowed again. “She just…” Her voice cracked and she wiped at her red, wet face with the back of her hand. “She told me that if I said anything about Calvin being there, well, that she’d ruin me. She told me that she’d tell Calvin I was fucking around on him, and the whole Tiger’s Blood MC would want me dead.” Anya was shaking, and for the first time, I realized that her fear was genuine instead of a mere act for my sympathy. “She told me that bad, indescribable things would happen to me,” Anya added, lowering her eyes. “And she told me that the Russians would kill Calvin before Elliot and the other guys could save him. She told me that he’d die and it would all be my fault.”

“Because she wanted to get the cops involved before Elliot even met up with the Russians,” I said, feeling a chill in my stomach. “Did you know about this before that night? Or did she spring the whole thing on you then?”

Anya looked around and I saw that she was nervous once again. “It wasn’t like that,” she said softly. “Vero came to me, and, um, well, she
told
me to invite Calvin and some of the other guys. She said that you wanted some kind of peace treaty with Tiger’s Blood, and that they should all come to the party.”

The realization hit me like a ton of bricks. “Jesus Christ,” I mumbled. “This is fucking awful. She told you that you could bring Calvin and then she blackmailed you about it later?”

“Yeah,” Anya said. Her cheeks flushed a bright pink shade. “She told me that if I said
anything
, she’d kill me. When I asked why she changed her mind, she acted like we’d never even
had
the conversation about inviting the guys to the party.”

I nodded. My anger towards Anya was fleeing my body but I still didn’t feel very good about the whole situation. Vero was the most dangerous villain I’d ever faced, and I hadn’t even figured out her end game!

“Did you tell anyone else about this?” I leaned in close and stared at Anya’s trembling face. “Did you even breathe a word of it?”

Anya shook her head. “No,” she said softly. “I didn’t. Vero was the only person who knew I was dating Calvin.”

“What about Lydia?” I frowned. “Did she notice anything?” I knew it was wrong, but part of me was worried that this shit would traumatize Lydia. After all, she was the baby of the club, she was the one who needed protecting. I couldn’t let this get her down, not in light of her recent brutal assault.

“No,” Anya said. “She doesn’t seem to notice much, actually.”

I frowned again. I was sick of all of my girls treating Lydia like a moron just because she was young and pretty. “Fine,” I said. I got to my feet and finished the last of my beer. Instead of feeling relaxed, I just felt keyed up and faintly nauseous from the alcohol. “Don’t speak a word about this,” I told Anya in a low voice. “Don’t tell
anyone
. And don’t tell Vero anything else. I’ll have to deal with her as soon as the others track her down.”

There was a knock on the door. “Boss!” Brienne yelled. “Vero’s back!”

My stomach flipped in my body as Anya glanced up to meet my eyes. A look passed between us—a silent look of recognition, as hot as a brand—but she didn’t say anything. I watched as she slipped between me and Brienne, darting down the hall and into the main part of the clubhouse.

“Great,” I muttered under my breath. “Thanks, Brienne.”

Vero was standing in the center of the room, taking her jacket off and tossing on a table when I walked up to her. When she turned to face me, she had a big grin on her dark face. “Sephy, my girl, today’s almost the day!” Vero said loudly, reaching out for a hug.

I stopped where I was, just a few feet shy of Vero. “No,” I said sharply. “Not right now. Vero,” I added. “We need to talk.”

Vero crossed her arms over her chest. “Fine,” she snapped. She sat down and cracked her gum, grinning at me sarcastically. “Let’s talk, Persephone.” She pulled out a chair and held it up to me, batting her eyelashes. Anger and disdain were radiating off Vero’s frame in waves and I shuddered as I sat down and glared at her black eyes.

“This is serious, Vero,” I said sharply. “We need to call off the operation. We can’t call the cops right now.”

“Girl,” Vero said dramatically. She rolled her eyes and sucked her teeth loudly. “What the fuck are you talking about? We have to call the cops, honey. That was the
plan
.” She emphasized the last word, leaning down and glaring at me until I felt like shrinking away from her evil, awful gaze. “You agreed, Persephone. You knew this was all going down today.”

I shook my head.
Yeah, that was before I found out that you’re a fucking liar
, I thought bitterly. “Vero, call it off,” I said sharply. “We ain’t dealing with this today. We gotta figure out how to do it on our own, not delegating to the police.”

Vero laughed loudly. “And just what on earth makes you think I’m going to listen to you?” She laughed again and shook her head. “Don’t be an idiot. You forget, you’re leading a group of girls here. Don’t fucking forget your responsibilities, Persephone.”

“You are a group of
women
,” I hissed. “And we should all be smarter about what we have to do, and you know that, Vero. It doesn’t matter what you think. I’m the president, and I say we’re done with this today.”