WOLF: An Evil Dead MC Story (The Evil Dead MC Series Book 4) (9 page)

“Where is she?” he asked her.

Cole looked back at his wife, and they both waited for her response.

Her eyes moved between them, and then she told Wolf softly, “I don’t know.”

Wolf clenched his jaw. He didn’t buy it. She knew. She had to know. “Angel, please. I know she was here.”

She nodded. “Yes, she was here.”

“I know how tight you girls are, there’s no way you’d let her leave like that, without knowing shit about her plans. She had to have told you where she was going.”

She shook her head. “No, I’m sorry, she didn’t.”

“Bullshit.” He took a step toward her, but Cole brought him up short. He slammed a hand into Wolf’s chest, grabbing a fistful of his shirt and shoving him back.

“Back off, Brother. She told you she doesn’t know.”

Wolf’s jaw tightened as he stared down his VP. Then his eyes moved back to Angel, and he shook his head. “I can’t believe you just let her go.”

With that, Cole tightened his fist in Wolf’s shirt and shook him, growling in his face, “Don’t you dare put this on Angel. It’s your fucking fault she’s gone.
You’re
the one that never made her your ol’ lady.
You’re
the one that strung her along all this fucking time, so don’t think you can come here and put the guilt on Angel or anyone else. It’s nobody’s fault but yours.”

“She didn’t talk to you before she left?” Angel asked quietly, and there was something in the way she said it that had a bad feeling snaking down his spine. Was there something he was missing? He searched Cole’s face. Did his VP know something he wasn’t saying? Brothers didn’t lie to one another. Not if he straight up asked. “Cole?”

He shook his head. “I got shit to tell you, Wolf.”

His eyes moved to Angel for one final appeal. “Please, Angel. She didn’t even say goodbye. I can’t just let her go like this.”

“But you did let her go in every other sense of the word, didn’t you?” she asked him, slicing another piece of him.

Fuck, he hated to be confronted with the truth. With his own inadequacies.

Expectations. Fucking expectations. They’d been the bane of his existence. Why? He didn’t fucking know, but he was sure it had to do with a father that never thought he was good enough, no matter what he did. So, instead of continuing to beat his head against the wall in a futile attempt to convince a man who would never be convinced, instead of continuing to try to prove himself, what did he do? He joined an MC and became exactly what his father always expected of him. A big nothing in his father’s eyes. The disappointment he’d always told him he was.

No, Wolf didn’t do well with living up to other’s expectations.

So he supposed he’d never tried with Crystal. Ran like hell from anything resembling a commitment. And where had that gotten him?

He met Angel’s eyes, seeing the contempt in them, but also a tiny bit of sympathy. He wished he could explain. “You don’t understand.”

“I think she does,” Cole corrected him, then twisted to say over his shoulder, “Go back inside, Angel.”

Like any good ol’ lady, she didn’t hesitate or question. The sliding door slid shut.

“Sit down,” Cole ordered, pushing him down into a chair next to a patio table on the deck.

Wolf collapsed back onto it and leaned forward, his elbows on his knees. His VP sat in the chair next to him and leaned forward as well. Wolf looked over at him. “Tell me the truth. Did Mack run her off?”

Cole shook his head. “No, Wolf, he didn’t. I was here when she came by. Her leaving? That was her choice.”

Wolf looked at his hands, shaking his head.

“She sold her ‘vette two days ago.”

Wolf looked up at him startled. “What?”

“Some guy gave her eighteen for it.”

“Shit.”

“So if you’re worried about her, that’ll tide her over, help her start a new life.”

Wolf cradled his face in his hands wondering what in the hell he’d done. He could feel Cole’s eyes on him, watching his reaction.

“You could have made her your ol’ lady anytime you wanted, but you didn’t. And I get that.” Cole glanced back at the house. “Relationships are hard work under the best of circumstances. The life we lead? Takes a special kind of woman to put up with it. Shit, Wolf, the burdens I walk through that door with some nights, I can’t even tell you how Angel deals with me. But she does. And I thank God every day she does.”

Wolf nodded. “You’re a lucky man.”

“You’re right. And I don’t need you to tell me that, because I know it.” He bumped his fist on Wolf’s knee. “There’s a lot to be said for having an ol’ lady, Wolf.”

When Wolf remained silent, Cole huffed out a sigh. “I told you to either step up or cut her loose. What’d you do? Neither.”

“Cole—I”

“You gonna tell me you weren’t still seeing her? You gonna look me in the fucking eye and lie to your brother?”

Wolf met his look. “No. I won’t lie to you, Cole. I was. I couldn’t stay away.”

“And how’s that gonna play out now?”

Wolf lifted his hands in a helpless gesture as if he’d given up. “I don’t fucking know. I can’t believe she’s gone.”

“Crystal wanted more, Wolf. You can’t blame her for that.”

Wolf nodded. No, he couldn’t blame her for that. She’d wanted more, and maybe that’s what had scared the hell out of him.

“You don’t want an ol’ lady, I get that. If all you want is to get laid, fine, go find you one of Sonny’s girls. But don’t think for a minute you’ll ever find the caliber of woman it takes to be an ol’ lady in that crop, because it’s just not gonna fuckin’ happen, Wolf.”

Wolf stayed quiet.

“You had something with Crystal. Maybe more than you want to admit. You don’t want to talk about this, fine. You do, I’m here for you. But, I ain’t Dear Abby. You’re a grown ass man, make a fucking decision. You either want her or you don’t. You either step up or shut up. Got it?

“Got it.”

They were quiet for a minute and then Cole asked, “You try calling her?”

“Called her. Texted her. She’s not answering.”

“Maybe you just need to give her some time and space.”

“Yeah.” Wolf nodded, but hell it was tearing him up.

“What happened to your face?”

Wolf absently touched his cheek. “Dog.”

A grin tugged at Cole’s mouth. “He always had a soft spot for Crystal.”

Wolf nodded back. “Yeah.”

“You may get the same thing from Crash when he sees you.”

“Fuck.”

Cole chuckled. “Go home, Brother. We’re meeting tomorrow. You’re gonna give us the low down on what’s goin’ on down at the Temecula Chapter.”

Wolf nodded again, but stayed seated.

They sat quietly for a moment.

“Cole?”

“Yeah?”

“I need to ask you something. And I need you to not be a dick about it.”

Cole grinned. “Not making any promises on that one, bro.”

“Did I fuck up?” he asked in all seriousness and watched the grin fade from his VP’s face.

“Only one that can answer that is you, Wolf. You tell me. Did you?”

Wolf didn’t answer, he just dropped his eyes to stare unseeing at the deck.

Cole stood. “Go home, Wolf. Drink a bottle of Jack and sleep it off. Either you shake her off or you don’t. Only time is gonna tell.”

Wolf got to his feet. Cole pulled him close in a bear hug and pounded on his back. “Love you, Brother.”

“Love you, too, man.”

When they broke apart, Cole smacked him open-handed in the face, right where Dog had decked him.

“Ow. Fuck, man.”

Cole grinned. “I’m letting you off easy. That should have been a punch.”

CHAPTER FIVE

Wolf sat at the table in the clubhouse’s meeting room. Mack had called an emergency meeting just after he’d pulled away from Cole’s house.

They all sat there, staring at Mack. Wondering what this was about.

“Just got word. Lost two men from the Temecula Chapter.” Then he looked right at Wolf. “Digger and Weed.”

There were shocked murmurs throughout the room.

“What?” Wolf barked. “How?”

“They were found shot dead at the drop. Thirty-year old bartender along with them.”

“Jesus Christ,” he whispered.

The eyes of every brother in the room swung to him. Wolf’s gaze moved from Mack to Cole, who sat at his President’s left.

“The Heroin was long gone.” Mack drew his attention back with that statement. “You want to tell me what happened?”

Wolf frowned. “What happened? I don’t know what the fuck happened. They were all alive when I left.”

“Humor me. Let’s go over it.”

Wolf grit his teeth. He didn’t like being questioned, not about his loyalty to this club. Not about two brothers being murdered. But he understood Mack’s need as President to get to the bottom of what happened. “I met them at the bar. Place was empty except for the two of them and the bartender. Santos’ men came in, we made the deal. They left. I left a couple minutes later. Weed was hitting on the bartender, wanted to finish a beer he’d just ordered. I walked out, got on my bike and rode away. End of story.”

Mack and Cole studied him.

Finally, Cole nodded and looked at Mack.

“You saw no one else? No one pulling in? No one pass you on the road?” Mack drilled him.

He shook his head. “No one. Didn’t pass another soul headed back that way for at least half a mile. Place is out in the sticks.”

Cole looked to Mack, asking, “We got a plan? Any suspects?”

Mack shook his head. “Santos got his money. It’s possible his men came back to get the drugs back, but it would fuck-up a long standing relationship, and for what? No,” Mack shook his head again. “Doesn’t make sense.”

“Random hit?”

“Who knew about it?”

Cole shrugged. “Someone could have been following Santos’ men. Decided the two in the bar were a better target than the four in the car.”

“Possibly.”

“You got any other possible scenarios?”

“No, VP. I don’t. Do you?” Mack snapped in an irritated voice.

Cole shook his head. “What’d Temecula have to say?”

“They’ve got two dead brothers and a couple hundred grand in product missing. They’re a little upset,” Mack replied in a sarcastic voice.

“They have any ideas?”

He shook his head, his eyes again meeting Wolf’s.

“I got nothin’ to do with this, Prez. I swear to you.”

Mack nodded. “I know you don’t. I wasn’t questioning you killin’ two brothers, just needed to know what you saw.” Then his eyes moved around the table. “We got two brothers to bury. Dog, make the arrangements for the trip down there. Notify every Chapter. Everybody in the fucking state attends. Mandatory.”

His order broke the five-hundred mile rule, where only Chapters within five-hundred miles were mandatory to attend a funeral, but no one in the room was going to bring that to his attention.

“You got it, boss,” Red Dog nodded solemnly.

****

A month after the club buried two of its brothers, they still had no idea who was to blame. Temecula wanted heads on a platter, and they were growing more and more frustrated that they had none.

The police had no more on the murders than they did.

Tensions between the club and the cartel were at an all-time high, and the club was contemplating pulling back from the drug trade all together. Many feared this was the work of a rival cartel, a Mexican drug war that none of the Chapters wanted to get in the middle of.

The money, always a strong draw, was becoming less and less worth the risk. A pile of money wasn’t worth shit, if you weren’t around to spend it. It didn’t take a genius to figure that out.

It was becoming a long tense period as winter gave way to spring.

****

The man stood off in the distant desert scrub land, a hundred yards out from The Pony. From his position, he had a perfect view of the brothel that stood about fifteen miles east of Reno, just two miles on the other side of the Truckee River from Interstate 80. This late at night it was dark out in that stretch of Nevada desert, except for the lights of The Pony.

A large illuminated sign stood on a pole by the road, marking the entrance into a well-lit gravel parking lot large enough to accommodate a dozen tractor-trailers and four times as many cars. There was a large brick ranch house that looked from the outside like any ordinary house except for the two large modular add-on wings attached to the back. The front of the lot was well lit for customers. The back was shadowy darkness broken up here and there by dim security lighting, half of which were not in working order, which had made his task that much easier.

Taking a drag off his cigarette, he watched as the flames licked up the walls of the building. Thick black smoke bellowed out of the roof as the insulation, drywall and cheap modular units quickly succumbed to the fire he’d set with the powerful accelerant.

He looked down the road back toward the Interstate. Off in the distance, over the slight rise he could make out the sound of the train and the sirens of the fire engine stuck on the other side of the tracks as the midnight freight train came through like it did every Thursday night, like clockwork.

He’d timed the setting of the blaze perfectly. The place would be totally engulfed before they ever pulled up.

A total lost cause.

He chuckled as he dropped his cigarette to the dirt and ground it out with his boot.

****

Crash lay in bed with Shannon cuddled up against him when his cell went off. He reached over and grabbed it off the nightstand, squinting at the time on the readout. 3a.m. Shit. No good news was ever delivered in a middle of the night phone call. But with life in an MC, they unfortunately weren’t all that rare. He put the cell to his ear.

“Yeah.”

Cole’s voice came on the line. “Just got word. The Pony burned to the ground.”

“You’re shittin’ me. When?”

“Jason said it started around midnight. Place went up quick. By the time the fire trucks pulled up it was fully engulfed.”

“Anybody hurt? Are all the girls okay?”

“Yeah, they’re fine. Jason and Dolly got everyone out as soon as the smoke detectors went off.”

“Thank God.” Crash blew out a breath taking it all in. “Well, guess you made a good decision when you picked Jason to manage that place.”

“Yeah, we’re damn lucky to have him. Him and Dolly, both.”

“So, what’s the plan?”

“We’re meeting at the clubhouse in the morning. Heading out at first light.”

“All right. I’ll be there.”

“We got a shit-ton of stuff to deal with. Jason said they didn’t have time to get the money out of the office safe. The girls are all a wreck, and we need to set up something temporary for them.”

“Christ. Do they know what started it?”

“Jason said the inspectors will be out in the morning, but he heard rumblings among the firemen tonight that an accelerant was probably used.”

“Great. How many enemies do we have
this
week?”

“Too many to count, Brother.”

“You think it’s somehow connected with the hit in Temecula?”

“Hell, something like this, it might not even be club-related. Could be someone out to shut down legal prostitution in the state of Nevada. Could be a jealous boyfriend of one of the girls, or a customer’s wife. Could be a disgruntled ex-employee, or a religious fanatic. The list is endless.”

“Shit.”

“Yeah. Get a couple hours sleep, we got a long ride in the morning.”

“Right.” After he disconnected, Crash pulled Shannon’s sleeping body close, spooning her from behind.

“Everything okay?” she murmured in a sleepy voice.

He kissed her behind the ear. “Everything’s fine, sweetheart. Go back to sleep.”

****

Shannon stood in front of the bathroom sink, still dressed in her nightgown, looking down at the pee stick in her hand and its little minus sign. She felt like crying, like bursting into tears. But then she looked in the mirror and saw Crash come through the doorway, shirtless in a pair of sweatpants hanging low on his hips. His hands closed over her upper arms, and the heat of his body pressed against her back.

His voice murmured in her ear, soft and comforting, “Babe, it’ll happen.”

She nodded, so overwhelmed with sadness, she couldn’t speak. Crash took the stick from her hand and tossed it into the wastebasket, then he pulled her around, taking her face in his hands and forcing her to look at him.

“Princess, it hasn’t been that long.”

Her eyes dropped. “It’s been six months, Crash.”

A tear rolled down her cheek, and his thumb came up to brush it away. “Baby.”

She knew her reaction was breaking his heart, so she tried to smile and brush it off with a shrug, putting on a brave face. Her hands came up and closed over his wrists, pulling his hands from her face. “I’m okay. We’ll just keep trying.”

Crash smiled down at her. “I’m not complaining about that part, am I?”

She tried to laugh at his teasing, but her heart wasn’t in it.

“Aw, sweetheart—”

“I’m fine,” she tried to cut him off.

“No, you’re not,” he whispered pressing a kiss to her forehead.

“I will be. I’ll be fine. You have to leave. The club is probably waiting for you.”

“They can wait a couple minutes.”

Suddenly, taking her by surprise, he bent, wrapped his arms around her thighs and lifted her. She squealed as he walked her backwards out of the bathroom and straight to their big four-poster bed. Dropping her to the bed, he came down on top of her. His palm came up, and he brushed the hair back from her face as he stared down at her.

“I love you, you know,” he murmured.

“I love you, too.”

“You gonna miss me while I’m gone?”

“You know I am. When will you be back?”

“Not sure. There’s some trouble up at The Pony we have to take care of. It’ll probably be a couple of days.”

“So you’re going to Reno?” She asked, remembering the place he was talking about.

“Yeah. Probably shouldn’t have told you that, but I don’t want you worrying.”

She frowned. “Is everything okay?”

“Everything’s fine, Princess. Just got some logistics to work out. That’s all.”

She studied his eyes. She knew he wouldn’t tell her even if there was trouble. He’d never want to worry her. And she loved him for wanting to protect her like that, but still she wished she could be for him the rock he was for her. “I’m not that fragile, Crash. Not like I used to be.”

He brushed soft kisses all around her face. “I know you’re not.”

“I’ll be a good mother.”

He lifted his head then, frowning at her sudden change in topic. “Of course you will. I don’t have any doubts about that. Did you think I did?”

She looked away, lifting one shoulder in a slight shrug. “I just thought, you know, maybe you were worried about the panic attacks, and maybe you weren’t as excited about trying to have a baby.”

“You haven’t had a panic attack in months. I thought you felt safe now. Don’t you?”

“Yes I do. You make me feel safe, Crash, you do. I just wasn’t sure if it still worried you.” She shrugged again.

“I’m not worried about what kind of mother you’ll make. You’ll be a beautiful mother, Shannon. And as far as me not being excited about all this baby-making, I guess I have to admit, I am kind of liking our time alone, just the two of us.”

“Will you miss it?”

A smile pulled at his mouth, and his brows rose. “Hell, yeah, I’m gonna miss it. But you give me a beautiful daughter, and I’ll forgive you.”

Shannon’s brows rose at that one. “Oh, really? And if it’s a boy?”

“Guess we keep tryin’.”

“And if we keep having boys.”

“Sucks for you then, ‘cause we keep tryin, babe. I want a girl.” He kissed the tip of her nose. “One just like her mama.”

“I love you,” she whispered, filled with emotion for this man who could always tease her out of a melancholy mood.

Crash got a mischievous look on his face and rolled over, settling Shannon on top to straddle him as he taunted, “Prove it, Princess.”