AN OUTLAW MONSTER (A Back Down Devil MC Romance Novel) (27 page)

“
Okay,
son,
”
his father
said.

Trent then looked back at me. The
sight I didn
’
t like.
I knew Trent was lying to his father. Saying anything he needed to protect me.

I knew at the end of this
…
Trent would come back to
get me.

And then he
’
d get rid of his
father for good.

thirty-three.

(trent)

We cruised up the dirt road, a
massive cloud of dust all around us. Austin was at the tail end of the group,
driving a little stolen car. We were going to ditch the car at the meet and
have the numbers scratched off and leave it to rot. Shit, even if someone found
the car, there was no tying it to us. It was a beater car registered to someone
who passed away three years ago.

Garvan and Bryant were waiting for
us, along with a black van. Inside that van was what held the future of the MC.
It would set forth a tone and purpose in the new reign of Back Down Devil MC. I
knew every single patched in member who voted on the deal was uncomfortable and
they had every right to feel that way.

Trev and Jasper climbed off their
rides. I followed suit. I was
the enforcer
and my personal life was tied
to this deal.

Trev and Garvan shook hands.

“
Aye,
”
Garvan said.
“
We ready?
”

“
As
ever,
”
Trev said.

“
This
can
’
t go wrong,
”
Bryant said.
“
We need this off our
backs. You know that.
”

“
Nothing
will go wrong,
”
Jasper said.
“
We have
our end under control. This is about moving forward and beyond what Ripper did.
After today, all this shit is laid to rest.
”

“
Aye,
”
Garvan said. He then
looked right at me.
“
Speaking
of laid to rest. Your father
”
- (sounding like
fadder) -
“
is
still breathing
”
-
(sounding like
breeding
).

“
Yeah,
”
I said.
“
For the moment. Everything
is fucked up here, okay? We are doing what is right to protect our club and our
families.
”

Bryant nodded.
“
Takes big balls to call us
out and ask for a favor.
”

“
It
wasn
’
t a favor,
”
Trev said.
“
It was the only way to fix
all this. Now, we
’
re
just wasting time. We gave you the cash, you have what we need. Now it
’
s time to end this
conversation and all of us move forward.
”

“
Agreed,
”
Garvan said.

Bryant stepped toward me. He put a
finger to my chest.
“
But
you mark my goddamn words, lad. If that old man of yours ain
’
t dead when I want him to
be dead, I
’
m coming
for you. I
’
m coming
for everything you have and will ever have.
”

I grabbed Bryant
’
s finger and twisted it.
It made a loud pop sound. He tore his hand away and went for his gun.

Jasper sprung to life and got
between us.
“
Okay,
men. Trent, go back to your ride.
”
He then whistled and waved for Austin.
“
Get
up here and drive the van, Austin. We
’
re
out of here right now.
”

I walked back to the motorcycle and
sat there, waiting. There were a few more words exchanged and then we were all
in gear. Somewhere in my dumb heart, I had let too much in. Bad enough letting
Harlee creep inside and twist me up, I thought for a second I could maybe save
my father. Hell, maybe I still could. Maybe we could all turn something like a
new fucking leaf and end all this.

Back down the dirt road we went and
in the cloud of dust, I knew anything new was bullshit. Not with what we had in
the van.

This wasn
’
t going to end the
war
…
this was only going to ignite it even more.

**

The first thing I didn
’
t like about the meeting
was that both Rocco and Gunner weren
’
t
there. They were trying to be defiant about the meeting. It was a blatant sign
of disrespect to us because they didn
’
t
feel they needed to meet with us. Instead, they had seven patched in members,
none of them the regulars we
’
ve
dealt with. That meant the Night Soul MC clubhouse had all their table members
waiting for someone to call and tell them the meeting was over.

That was not how Back Down Devil MC
operated. Our meetings were always face to face, and judging by the way Trev
had taken over in a storm, he was always going to show up and be on the front
line of it all. Even if he ended up dead, he
’
d
at least die with honor.

Trev and Jasper were next to each
other, enough space for another motorcycle. Trev looked at me and gave the nod.
That was a real sign of trust and respect. Behind us, the rest of the guys were
broken up into two groups, leaving a path for the van. Austin backed the van up
and got out. He walked to the backdoors and stood there.

“
Where
’
s your President?
”
Trev asked.

A tough guy stepped forward,
wearing sunglasses and tattoos like he was the coolest kid in school.
“
He don
’
t have time for you punks.
You give us what
’
s
ours and we ride on. This is bullshit. You fucking steal from us? Fuck that.
”

Trev gave the guy the time of day
for about five seconds before the guy walked right up to Trev and bumped chests
with him.

That
’
s
where I drew the line. I knew Ripper caused this mess. I knew we were in fault
of this. But goddammit, nobody just walked up to my Prez and bumped into him.

I got off my ride and stepped
forward.

The cocky asshole turned toward me.
He opened his mouth to say something smart but he never got the chance. I swung
my right fist like it was a boulder. I hit the guy and sent him off his feet.
When he hit the ground, he was on his back, hands up, trying to reach for
someone.

“
Anyone
else want to run their mouth to my Prez?
”
I asked.

Two other guys stepped forward.
They at least took their sunglasses off.

“
Conor,
”
one said and offered his
hand to Trev.

Trev didn
’
t shake it.

“
Fair
enough,
”
Conor said.
“
I
’
m in charge of the meet.
”

“
Because
your MC has no guts,
”
Jasper said.

“
I
’
m wearing the cut,
”
Conor said.
“
This guy next to me is
Bullet. He
’
s muscle.
He
’
s fully armed and
will shoot. We are under orders from Rocco to kill if anything goes wrong. I
’
m just going to be upfront
about it. We just want what
’
s
ours and we want to leave.
”

“
The
guns you paid for,
”
Trev said.
“
You paid
a previous President of this club. A President who turned his back on this
club. A President who was put down by his own members.
”

“
Doesn
’
t matter,
”
Conor said.
“
A deal was made. Things
have been in motion since then. You want peace?
”

“
Fuck
you,
”
Jasper said.
“
We
’
re going to arm our enemy and expect peace
from that?
”

Bullet opened his leather cut and
showed that he was packing two sawed off shotguns.

Yeah, shit was serious.

And it was only going to get
worse.

thirty-four.

(harlee)

He handed me a glass of water and
there were black dirt specs in the water. I was thirsty but not that thirsty.
So I put the glass down and just sat there in the chair. Tom was on his second
can of beer and sat on the edge of the couch with a bottle of whiskey on the
coffee table. Every few seconds he looked to the window, gritted his teeth, and
then gently rocked back and forth.

He was scared.

Maybe he knew or had an idea of
what Trent had to do to him.

It was a very unsettling feeling
being with a man who was supposed to be killed.

Tom looked at me and half smiled.
“
You okay?
”

“
Fine.
”

“
So
you and my boy
…
that
’
s serious?
”

I held up my left hand and showed
the diamond ring.
“
You
tell me.
”

“
Oh,
wow. Damn. That
’
s a
nice ring.
”
He leaned
toward me and stared at the diamond.
“
That
’
s a good cut. A good
diamond. Worth a few pennies, huh?
”

Tom then laughed. It was almost a
maniacal kind of laugh.

I hid my hand then, fearing Tom was
going to try and swindle me out of my ring. He had that sense about him, that
he was always looking for an escape. Maybe that
’
s
why he was so nervous. He was waiting for Trent to get back so he could ask for
more money or protection or something.

“
So
…
uh
…
where
’
s
my son now? What
’
s he
doing?
”

“
I
can
’
t answer that,
”
I said.
“
You know that.
”

“
Just
trying to kill time here,
”
Tom said.
“
You know
that.
”

He grabbed the whiskey bottle and
poured another shot. He threw it back. He was so nervous that some of the
whiskey dribbled from his mouth and ran down his chin and dripped to his jeans.

Tom then put the shot glass down
and he jumped up. He wiped his hands on his jeans and he started to pace. He
walked to the front door, stood up on his toes to look out the top window on
the door, and then he turned and darted away.

Finally, after a couple minutes of
him seeming like he was going fucking crazy, his cellphone started to ring. He
lunged for it and squeezed it tight with a look a jubilation on his face. He
looked at me and his face started to drop.

He swallowed hard and said,
“
Hey, I have to take this
call. It
’
s really
important. I
’
ll be in
the bedroom.
”

Tom turned and trotted away.

I heard the door shut and I stood
up.

Something was wrong. Something was
very off with the situation. He wasn
’
t
supposed to leave me unprotected. And if he was going to get himself into
trouble with me around I would need to call Trent.

I slowly walked toward the bedroom
and heard Tom
’
s
voice.

“
We
’
re settled on it, right?
”
he asked.

Then there was silence.

“
I
’
m telling you, man. Right
here, right now. You want a picture or something? I could send that.
”

I inched even closer to the door.

What the hell was he doing? Was he
selling something? Was he that desperate for money?

“
Okay,
okay. You have nothing to worry about, man. I
’
m
easy. I just want a chance in all of this. You know? I had a bad run. I can
admit that now. I had a really bad run. But I
’
m
good to go now. Nothing to worry about with me. Everything is in place. I told
you it would be. Right? I didn
’
t
lie.
”

I backed away from the door and put
distance between me and the bedroom, but not enough that I couldn
’
t hear what he was saying.

“
Hey,
we both know what
’
s
right here. This is good for everyone. It
’
ll
take care of a lot. Okay. Right. See you later. Yeah. Bye.
”

I hurried and moved toward the
living room again.

Tom came out of the bedroom and
looked happy as anything when he grabbed the whiskey bottle. He threw it back
and took a big drink, skipping the shot glass. The whiskey swished in the
bottle and he held it to me.

“
Have
a drink.
”

“
No,
”
I said.

“
Trust
me, you want a drink.
”

“
No,
I don
’
t.
”

“
Okay
then. Don
’
t say I
didn
’
t try to make
everything easier.
”

Tom laughed that maniacal laugh
again.

I had a sudden sense of terror and
my body reacted. I grabbed the full glass of water and stood up. I threw the
water at Tom. He dropped the whiskey bottle and let out a yell. I then threw
the actual glass right at his forehead. It hit him but didn
’
t break. The glass did
break when it hit the coffee table.

I darted around the table and took
off but Tom was right there. His hands lumbered toward me like he was a zombie
in a cheap horror movie. I didn
’
t
know what to do so I side kicked at him. The side of my foot connected with his
lower stomach and I dropped him to his knees.

Holy shit
…

I knew leaving was probably a
mistake. But I didn
’
t
trust this guy. Something was happening behind my back. I needed to get freedom
and call Trent. He
’
d
know what to do.

I rushed to the front door and tore
it open. Behind me, I heard Tom let out a bellowing yell for me.

But that voice quickly faded as I
stared at the man in the doorway.

The man Tom had been on the phone
with.

I shook my head and told myself to
attack.

Attack him, right now!

I was frozen.

His hand shot out and grabbed my
throat, walking me back into the apartment.

I couldn
’
t speak his name because his grip was
stealing my air.

So I said it in my mind. And I knew
I was all but dead.

Daxton
…