Levi thanked Rex for finding his property and directed one of the Wolverines to hand over several packages of neatly stacked bills to Bones. “American dollars,” Levi said. “They’re worth more than your plastic play money.”
While Bones counted the money, James motioned Kickstand over and leaned down to whisper in his ear. “Something happens to me, I need you to give Roxie a message. Go grab a pen and get back here quick.”
Kickstand dashed away and Levi announced an affiliation between the Wolverines and Hades, and the establishing of a new drug-trading route between the two clubs. James’s heart pounded. He was having a hard time concentrating. All he could think about was getting free of the goddamn handcuffs and getting Lana out of Hades. Once they were on his bike, he would drive until he ran out of road. And then he would keep her safe until the last breath left his body.
A breathless Kickstand returned with a pen, his face twisted by remorse. James dictated the message letter by letter and Kickstand wrote it on the underside of his arm.
“I’ll make sure she gets it. You can count on me, Ice.”
“I know I can. And if you have any sense, after you deliver the message you’ll get the hell out of town and away from Hades.”
Business concluded, Levi yanked Lana to her feet. “Say goodbye to your Iceman, Roxie. You’ll never be seeing him again. It’s time to go home.”
“No.” With a shriek, Lana suddenly spun, breaking Levi’s grip on her hair. She shoved her hands hard into his groin, and when he doubled over, she kneed him in the chin. Levi’s head snapped back; he groaned and staggered to the side. But before Lana could run, the Wolverines descended on her, pinning her arms and forcing her to her knees in front of an enraged Levi.
“Fucking bitch,” Levi screamed. “You know better than that. Looks like we’ll have to teach you to behave all over again.” He drew his leg back for a kick and a white blur shot across the room and forced itself between them.
Kickstand.
“Don’t touch her,” he shouted. And then to Lana, “I’m sorry. So sorry.”
James roared and threw himself forward. The ropes around his legs caught and he fell to his knees. Ryder yanked him up, murmuring in his ear that he would have the cuffs off in less than a minute.
Levi laughed and plowed his boot into Kickstand’s side, over and over again. Despite James’s exhortations to get out of the way, Kickstand stayed between Levi and Lana, taking the blows that surely would have broken her ribs.
Grumbles in the clubhouse turned to yells and shouts. Although they couldn’t defend Lana because she was marked as Wolverine property, Hades couldn’t allow the disrespect done to their prospect. Within seconds, a full-scale brawl erupted. The clubhouse filled with the sounds of breaking glass and splitting wood, shouts, grunts and moans. Sharp and tangy, blood scented the air.
Anxiety ratcheted through James. He couldn’t see Lana. Or Levi. Or even Kickstand. He howled Ryder’s name just as the lock clicked. The cuffs fell to floor and within seconds he’d untied his feet.
Fury wiped everything from his mind but the instinctive need to find Lana. He forged a path through the crowd, pounding on anyone who dared get in his way. He didn’t ask himself how they would escape two gangs of bloodthirsty bikers. He had no plan. He knew only that Levi intended to take her away. And damned if he would let that happen.
“Quickly. My bike’s over there.”
Kickstand half pulled, half dragged Lana across the parking lot, clutching his side as they wove their way through the neat rows of motorcycles.
Thunder boomed in the distance and a cool breeze sliced through Lana’s thin cotton shirt, sending a wave of goose bumps over her skin. Thick black clouds choked even the light of the moon and they had only the dim orange glow of the perimeter lights to guide them to Kickstand’s bike at the far end of the parking lot.
“You’re hurt.” Lana gently touched the side of his shirt as he pulled out his key. He hissed and pulled away.
“No worse than you. But we have to hurry. It won’t take them long to realize you’re missing.”
He slid an arm around her waist to help her up and pain sliced through her ribs. Dazed, exhausted, her body bruised and broken, she could barely walk, much less hold on to Kickstand if he planned to drive any faster than a slow crawl.
As the motorcycle roared to life, she glanced back at the clubhouse. Already bikers were spilling into the parking lot. Her heart skipped a beat when she thought she recognized James, but then she remembered the confusion and pain in his eyes, the shock and anger in the taut lines of his face when Levi told him she was married.
James wouldn’t be coming for her this time. Not after she’d lied to him and betrayed him just as Christine had done. Not after she had kept secret the one thing that meant the most to him.
“There they are.” Shouts from the door. The thud of feet on pavement. The crack of a gun.
“Fuck. I forgot the helmets. Let’s hope we don’t meet a cop.” Kickstand revved the engine and peeled away.
Lana clung to his back and squeezed her eyes shut. “I hope we do.”
“Don’t even think about starting that bike.”
Rex pointed his weapon at James and walked toward him. “Get off nice and slow. I don’t want your blood messing up the parking lot.”
James shot one desperate glance at Kickstand’s disappearing taillights and dismounted his motorcycle. Bones came up behind him and pressed the barrel of his gun to James’s head.
“I shoulda killed you earlier, instead of listening to fucking Ryder,” Rex drawled. “Although, seeing your face in there was almost worth it. Can’t believe you didn’t recognize her tattoo. All the US motorcycle clubs with slaves use the same mark, except they change the club initial. If you’d been a real biker, you would have known that.”
“And if you’d been a real man, you would have walked away when she rejected you, instead of taking your revenge by selling her like a piece of property,” James spat out.
“She
is
property.”
“She’s gone,” James said coolly. “The Wolverines will hold you responsible. If you don’t find her, you’ll pay the price. Personally. Maybe they’ll tattoo their mark on your ass and use you as a replacement.”
“I’m gonna fucking enjoy every second of your death,” Rex snarled.
James caught movement in the shadows behind Rex and then a flash of white teeth when Ryder grinned. Damn Speedy Gonzales. He must have run around the entire building to take up a position behind Rex.
“You fucked up,” James said, stalling for time as Ryder crept up behind Rex. “You can’t handle the Wolverines. Once they find Lana, they’ll rip you to shreds. Maybe they’ll even do it now.”
As if on cue, Ryder slammed the butt of his gun into Rex’s head.
Taking advantage of Bones’s moment of confusion, James knocked the gun from Bones’s hand and spun around to face his assailant.
With a roar, Bones leaped for the gun, but James met him with a full-body slam. Bones reeled backward and into a motorcycle. It tipped to the side and the entire row toppled like dominos.
“Looks like you’ll be taking Kickstand’s place,” James muttered.
Bones jumped to his feet and drove his fist into James’s stomach. “Fucking rat,” he grunted. “We trusted you. Treated you like a brother, and you betrayed us. I knew from the beginning something was off about you, but fucking stupid Rex wouldn’t listen.”
James stepped to the side just in time to avoid another blow. “You’re still pissed I won your bike.”
“Fuck you.”
They traded kicks and punches, hammering, thumping and pounding on each other. Bikes fell, the fence groaned, and a trash can went flying. Finally, James forced Bones against the wall and let loose a one-two punch that snapped Bones’s head to the side and sent him sagging to the ground.
“You know what?” He bent down and grabbed Bones’s hair, yanking his head back until their gazes locked. “You were right. I counted the cards.”
One last punch and Bones was out cold.
A gun clattered across the pavement. James spun around to see a disarmed Ryder drop to one knee under the force of Rex’s blows. Damned Rex must have one hell of a hard head.
“It’s me you want,” James yelled as he stalked across the parking lot. “Come and show me what you’ve got. Let’s have a real fight. I won’t be pulling any punches this time.”
With a roar, Rex turned and rounded on James, closing the distance between them faster than James would have thought possible for a man his size. Rex’s momentum carried him forward and his giant fist slammed James back against the concrete wall, lifting him off the ground. James fought his way free, but just as he dropped to the ground, something whacked against his head. In the split second before he lost consciousness, he thought of Lana.
He’d lost her at the very moment he knew he had to have her. And if she didn’t get his message, he would lose her forever.
Chapter Twenty
“Don’t even think of telling me I can’t come.” Jackie tossed her hastily packed bag of random disguises into the trunk of her car and slammed the lid. “This is my car. Only I drive my car. And since you need a ride, seems to me I’m coming along.”
“What about our business?” Lana winced as she followed Jackie to the front of the vehicle. “Who’s going to look after our clients?”
Jackie gave her a wicked grin. “Derek will keep them happy until we get this sorted out. I fixed your camera and sent the pictures to Angel, so you don’t need to worry about her.”
A smile ghosted Lana’s lips. “I do have to point out I am being pursued by armed and dangerous bikers. You’re putting yourself in a life-threatening situation.”
Jackie’s face softened and she stroked a finger over Lana’s bruised cheek. “You don’t have to tell me, honey. I can see it for myself. But I put up with a hell of lot worse than Levi when I lived on the streets. He doesn’t scare me.”
“Nothing scares you,” Kickstand muttered. “You should’ve been the Hades prospect, not me.”
“Are you coming with us?” Lana still couldn’t believe the risks Kickstand had taken for her. Rex would see his actions as a betrayal. Banishment was the least of the punishments Kickstand would face.
He shook his head. “I’ve got things I gotta do.”
“Why did you help me?” Lana asked softly. “I mean…the repercussions…”
He shrugged. “I owed you. Not just for the time you warned me about the colors, but because it was my fault the Wolverines found you.”
“You were just following orders,” Lana said softly.
“I shoulda thought it through. I mean, why would someone like you associate with the Wolverines? You’re sweet and funny and kind, and you treated me with respect. You aren’t like the other old ladies. When I find an old lady, I want her to be just like you.”
Lana frowned. “You’re staying with Hades? Do you think that’s safe?”
His face fell. “Nah. I’m not staying with them. It’s not what I thought it was—money and glamour and riding kick-ass bikes with the guys. I didn’t sign up for the murder and drug running and selling women as slaves. I don’t want to wind up in jail. You must think I was pretty naive.”
“I think you’re a hero.” She gave him a soft kiss on the cheek.
He swallowed and his cheeks reddened. “I don’t know how you married Levi, knowing what it was like to live the biker life.”
A cold ache seeped into her bones. “I didn’t have a choice. The day after they marked me, Levi found out the mark meant I could be shared around. He didn’t care what they did to me or what they made me do, but that was a line for him. I had been his since I was sixteen. Marrying me was the only way he could keep me for himself. Bikers have a strange code of honor.”
“What?” Jackie jumped out of the car and grabbed Lana by the shoulders. “You married the bastard? Why didn’t you tell me?”
Lana shrugged as the memories rose like bile in her throat. Levi storming into their room at the Wolverine clubhouse and dragging her semiconscious body off the bed. His hands rough on her cut, bruised skin as he hid the rope burns on her wrists and ankles with bandages. A painful truck ride later and they were at the local marriage registry. Dazed from pain, her voice raw from a night of screaming, she couldn’t even call for help.
“The house mama held a gun to my back, concealed in a bouquet of flowers, and his buddy stood between me and the door. Levi had to hold me up because I was in so much pain I couldn’t walk. I couldn’t even say the vows. My wedding clothes were a T-shirt covered in bloodstains and a pair of torn sweats. They paid the registrar a small fortune to look the other way.”
Kickstand scratched his head. “Ice know all this?”
“No. And he never will. Marriage means something to him. He’ll think I made him betray his beliefs. He’ll never forgive me for lying.” Tears welled up in Lana’s eyes as she rounded the car and pulled open the door. She should’ve been honest with him from the beginning, but the temptation of being with him again had proved too strong.
Kickstand grabbed her arm before she could slide into the seat. “I think you’re wrong. He gave me a message for you in case something happened to him. I’m guessing now, with the Wolverines
and
Rex wanting him dead…” He choked on his words and then took a deep breath. “I think you should have the message now. He said to make sure you knew he sent it
after
he found out you were married.”