Broken (Soldiers of Darkness MC Book 1) (5 page)

‘Maybe I don’t
need
your help.’

I watch as she turns on her heels and opens the door, but she ain’t going nowhere. I’m not done with her yet, not by a long shot. And now I know what she’s here for, no way am I letting her loose out there in my town. She ain’t safe, no matter how tough she thinks she is.

I grab her arm and pull her back into the room, elbowing the door shut behind me.

‘Let go of me!’ She hisses the words out, her blue eyes dark as they stare me down. But she won’t win this one. She came to me, she asked for my help, and now I know
why
she’s here it’s my duty to keep her safe. From herself. Because she don’t know what the fuck she could be getting herself into. And I don’t need the shit her messing with crap she don’t understand could create. I’ve enough to deal with keeping this club on its feet.

‘You promise me you ain’t gonna run off and go all Lara Croft on me?’

‘Don’t patronize me, Mack.’

I look at her, and I allow a slow smirk to spread across my face. She knows my name. She does know who I am. So, to some extent, she must know what she’s doing. ‘I ain’t being patronizing, darlin’. I’m just tryin’ to keep you alive.’

I loosen my grip on her, which allows her to wrench her arm free and step back from me. But she doesn’t attempt to make a second run for it. Instead, she leans back against the wall, her expression beginning to soften as she looks at me. ‘I’m sorry.’

An apology. I have to say, I wasn’t expecting that.

‘I came here to ask for your help, but beyond that…’

I cock my head slightly as I wait for her to finish that sentence. But she doesn’t. She starts a whole new one.

‘I need them dead, Mack. The people who killed my dad and Aiden, I need them dead.’

All of a sudden I realize the kinda help she really came here to ask me for. And I don’t know what to tell her. I really don’t…

Izzi

Am I scared? Yeah. I’m scared. I’m fucking terrified! But at the same time I’m more determined than ever that what I came here to do, it’s going to happen. With or without Mack Slayer’s help. But, for now, I need to keep him on side. He’s the only one who can help me find out who killed Dad and Aiden. Whether he can help me finish the job, I guess I’ll have to wait and see what happens on that score.

‘You want
me
to help you kill them?’

I look at him, and as he asks that question his disbelieving tone is evident. ‘I just want them dead.’ My voice is little more than a whisper. I’m tired now. Exhaustion I haven’t allowed to take hold since I arrived in this town is threatening to sweep over me, but I need to keep it at bay, just for a little while longer.

‘Baby, you have no idea…’

‘You’re patronizing me again.’ And he is. I know he thinks I don’t belong in his world, and maybe I didn’t, before. A year ago I wouldn’t have
wanted
to be a part of his world, but now I am. And I need to be here. I’ve done my research, changed who I was so I could fit in; be that person I needed to be in order to live the life I needed to live. It’s the only way I can get close to the people whose lives I intend to end in as brutal a way as I can. Right now, I belong here. And he better start believing that; better start believing I’m serious. He might think I’m weak, but I’m not. The things I’ve had to learn to make sure I can do what I’ve come here to do; the lengths I’ve had to go to, the people I’ve had to seek out – he better believe I’m serious.

‘I gotta be somewhere in a bit, sweetheart. But we ain’t done yet.’

He got that right. We are so far from done.

‘I need you to stay here, you got that?’

I narrow my eyes as I look at him. I’ve got every intention of going home, of curling up in my huge, comfortable bed and sleeping for at least a couple of days. I need my energy back, and then I can really get to work. ‘I’m going home.’ He shakes his head and laughs and I feel a frisson of anger well up inside me. ‘You can’t keep me prisoner here.’

‘Believe me, darlin’ there is nothing I’d like more than to keep you prisoner.’ He moves closer to me, so close I can smell the stale cigarettes and traces of alcohol on his breath. ‘But you’re right. I can’t
make
you stay here. But I can at least try to keep you safe. You’re a visitor in my town. Keeping you safe is the least I can do. Now, I don’t know who you’ve been talking to, but believe me, sweetheart, word spreads fast around here. Small town and all that. And if word
has
got out about the real reason for our pretty stranger’s visit; if even the smallest and vaguest of rumors is already circulating, then I can’t guarantee that somebody connected to the death of your daddy and your fiancé – I can’t guarantee that somebody ain’t gonna come after you. You
made
this my business, Izzi. I didn’t ask for it, and Christ knows I can do without it, but you made it my business by coming to me. So, from now on, you want my help, we do things
my
way. You got that?’

‘And if I don’t
want
your help?’ Why did I say that? I can be so stubborn sometimes. It’s a trait my dad always said I’d inherited from him. It’s not that I
want
Mack’s help, God knows if I could do this alone I would. Which is my stubbornness coming through once again. But I can’t do it alone, and I know that. So, I might not
want
Mack’s help, but I need it. So I have to suck it up and do things his way. To a point. If he thinks it’s going to be
all
one way traffic he is so wrong. Over this past year I’ve learned how to turn on the bitch from hell, and I am so ready to be that person.

‘You’re getting my help whether you want it or not, darlin’. So you’re staying here. You can have one of the rooms out back. Take a shower, sleep some of that attitude off. And when I get back we’ll talk. OK?’

I stare into his gun-metal-gray eyes and swallow down another smart remark. I’ve also learned when to keep my mouth shut. So I nod, and he steps back from me, and the fact my stomach dips slightly when he does that, I find it a touch unsettling. But I put it down to tiredness. I’ve waited so long for this moment, when I had to face Mack Slayer and ask for his help. But now I’ve done that it’s almost as though I’ve silently given that exhaustion permission to take hold now.

‘Good girl. I’ll get one of the women to fix you some food, if you’re hungry.’

I’m starving, actually. I’m not sure I’ve eaten a proper meal since I got here. ‘I could murder a burger.’ The word
murder
almost sticks in my throat, and he doesn’t miss the way my voice changes an octave.

‘A burger it is.’ His tone is softer now; kinder. At least, that’s how I’m reading it. And in reality he has every reason to be frustrated. I mean, I’ve just stormed into his clubhouse and demanded he helps me find and kill people who, at this particular moment in time, we have no idea who they are. He doesn’t know me from Adam, and I’ve just dumped a huge pile of crap on his doorstep. So he has every reason to be frustrated.

‘Thank you.’

He moves closer again, smiling as he reaches out and gently touches my cheek with the palm of his hand. His skin is rough against mine, yet I find it strangely comforting. Aiden’s hands had been rough, too, and when he’d touched me like this…

The memory of Aiden causes a fresh wave of grief to wash over me and I bow my head. But Mack tucks a finger under my chin, forcing me to raise my gaze, his eyes meeting mine.

‘I’m gonna help you fix this, Izzi. OK? But you have to let me do it my way. I know this town, I know the people who live and work here. I know what I’m doing.’

I force a small smile, because I need him to know that I
am
grateful for this. More than he’ll ever know. I’ll never forget Aiden. He was the love of my life. He was my world, and I’ll never forget him. But I need to move on. I’m only twenty-six, and I can’t live my life in the past. So if Mack can help me, I need to let him do that. ‘I’ll be here when you get back,’ I say, his eyes still burning into mine. It’s a strange sensation, but one I’m, again, putting down to tiredness. Everything feels slightly unreal right now, but I know that once I’ve eaten and slept my head will be much clearer.

He smiles again and I watch as he makes to leave, his hand closing in around the door handle. ‘Later, darlin’.’

Later. Yeah, later is good.

Right now, all I want to do is sleep.

Chapter Five

Mack

Viper makes his way back over to our table carrying two beers and a bottle of Jim Beam Devil’s Cut. We’re celebrating our new-found business partnership, which I hope is gonna inject some much-needed revenue back into the Soldiers of Darkness MC. But I’ve had a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach ever since Izzi – and I still don’t know her last name, but what the hell – ever since she barged her way into my clubhouse and asked me to help her find the men who killed her boyfriend and her daddy a little over a year ago. And the longer I sit here, the more I think I might know why that bad feeling seems to be intensifying.

All the way over here I kept thinking about that night, about the snippets of information you can’t help but pick up, whether you’re looking for them or not; the things that subliminally worm their way into your head but you don’t think all that much about them, at the time, because you don’t need to. But they stay there, until such a time when you need to pull them forward from the recesses of your mind. And as I rode over here, more and more pieces started to click together, they started to make sense – the reason why nobody was brought to justice; the reason why people shut down and said nothing. It might not have happened on my patch, but I know who did it. Now. It’s so fucking obvious.

‘Here.’ Viper pushes the bottle of Jim Beam towards me as he sits down opposite. We don’t do things as crass as glasses around here. He leans back in his seat and swings his legs up onto the table, pulling a joint from his cut pocket. It’s his bar we’re sitting in, so he can do what the hell he likes.

‘You remember that shoot out that happened last year?’ I take a long swig of whiskey and hand the bottle back to Viper, watching his expression closely.

He takes the bottle from me and downs a good mouthful himself. ‘What you bringing that up for?’

I shrug. I need to be careful here. He’s as wary as I am. He trusts no one, same as me. We’re too alike, me and Viper, and that’s a fucking scary thought. ‘I noticed the bar, where those people were killed – I noticed it was up for sale, is all.’ Which is true. I checked that out before I left to come here. The owner put it on the market a few months back. ‘Just wondered if it had anything to do with what happened there.’

Viper takes another swig of whiskey, his eyes focused on the pool table in front of us. Two pretty, young girls – probably too young to be in any bar – are bent over it, preparing to take their shots, white panties covering perfect young asses on show beneath the hems of their far-too-short skirts. They’ll know this is a biker bar. So they’ll know exactly what they’re doing. And whereas I’m usually up for some hot new ass, I’m not feeling it all that much this afternoon. Which is a little disconcerting, I can’t lie.

‘What happened there was a mess.’

I turn my attention back to Viper, even though he’s still staring at the blonde girl’s butt cheeks as she widens her stance a little. Yeah. She knows what she’s doing. And I have no doubt Viper will be sticking it to her in less than half an hour. She’ll consider that a victory, but Viper’s like me – he don’t usually go back for seconds, so I hope she makes the most of it.

I don’t react to Viper’s comment. I don’t want it to look like I’m asking too many questions. If he wants to talk about it, he’ll talk about it. If he doesn’t, then I ain’t pushing it. I’ve only got suspicions at the minute, and if those suspicions are unfounded then I don’t want to put me or my club in any unnecessary danger.

‘I didn’t mean to kill no innocents, man.’

My blood runs cold. There was a big part of me that had hoped I was wrong. But I’m right. And this is one fucking mess I wish I knew nothing about.

‘But shit happens, y’know? Sometimes you can’t avoid collateral damage.’ He shrugs and downs one more mouthful of bourbon before handing the bottle back to me. And I’ve never needed an alcohol hit as much as I need this one. ‘We left him and his bar alone after that. We didn’t need to pay him no more visits. He got the message, towed the line; paid the money. But I guess our rates must’ve got a bit too expensive for him. Maybe that’s why he’s selling. I just hope the new owner’s a lot easier to do business with.’

I sit back in my seat and let the warm amber liquid slide down my throat. I need a fucking distraction so bad now, because I sure as hell don’t wanna talk anymore.

‘Hey.’

Viper jerks the bottle of Jim Beam in the direction of the two girls, who’re trying way too hard to pretend they’re not trying to get some attention. Well, they got it.

‘Fancy celebrating with some company?’ Viper’s speaking to me but leering at the girls, who don’t seem to mind. They never do. Viper has a charm even I don’t understand, but whatever it is, it draws women to him like a magnet. Something else we both have in common – neither of us really has to try. I guess our reputation alone makes us irresistible. ‘Which one d’you want, bro?’

He must be in a good mood if he’s offering me first choice. But I don’t really care which one I get. All I’m after is a quick fuck, just a few minutes to forget the potential shit storm I’ve now got to prevent. ‘I’ll take the brunette.’

‘Suits me,’ Viper sighs as he slams the Jim Beam down on the table. ‘Nice doing business with you, Mack.’

I wait until he disappears out back with the blonde before I approach her friend. She ain’t really my type. She’s pretty, for sure, just a touch too young, even for me. She looks old enough – I mean, I ain’t gonna ask for ID or anything – but, to be honest, I just want this over with. I don’t really
want
to fuck her, I need to. There’s a difference. I want to be somewhere else. And once this is done, that’s where I’m going.

‘You OK there, darlin’?’ No reason why I shouldn’t still turn on the charm. I don’t want any woman telling people she didn’t get the full-on Mack Slayer experience.

‘I’m just fine.’ The way she looks at me tells me she really is quite young, and I know I have to ask now. I don’t want to be getting my ass thrown in jail for fucking a minor. That ain’t my style.

‘How old are you, sweetheart?’ Asking that question causes my cock to deflate, and I know this just ain’t happening now. It’s way too risky.

‘Twenty-one.’

Twenty-one my ass! She ain’t nowhere near that. Now I can see her close-up it’s obvious. I’m guessing she ain’t even eighteen. I can only hope her friend is, otherwise Viper could be in deep shit. And for a second I actually find myself wondering if that wouldn’t be such a bad thing. Viper gets his ass thrown in jail, it might prevent this whole shit-storm I seem to have fucking walked into from even starting. But Viper gets his ass thrown in jail, and our brand new revenue stream could end, just like that, and I can’t risk that happening. So I just gotta deal with this mess some other way.

‘Hey. We actually gonna do something or are you just gonna stand there?’ She moves closer to me, reaching out to touch my chest but I take her hand and move it away. Which she doesn’t take too kindly to. Tough shit. This ain’t happening. ‘Jeez! What is
wrong
with you? I’m offering it to you on a plate here and you’re fucking
rejecting
me?’

‘Come back when you’re all grown-up, darlin’.’

I turn and walk away without a backward glance.

There’s somewhere else I need to be.

Something else I need to do.

I’m outta here.