Extreme Curves (Dangerous Curves Book 7) (3 page)

So if the Fallen Angels End Of Days was finally upon them, then Mirrie knew that the casualty count was going to be high… and the chances of her losing someone that she cared about were so sky-high, that they weren’t even a ‘chance’. They were a damn guarantee.

The only question was: who in her past or present life (or both) wasn’t going to be living and breathing this time next year?

God, please keep Mac and Spider safe. Mom and Dad and Donovan too… they’re assholes, but they’re
my
flesh-and-blood assholes. Wow, this is a bunch of confusing emotions going on here.

Shaking off her thoughts, she returned to the crisis of the moment. She lifted her chin and squared her shoulders, and saw the towering man and petite woman exchange amused glances.
That
pissed her off all over again, and
that
was when Mirrie was OK.

“Fine,” she snapped now. “I’ll wait to find out what’s going on, alright? And in the meantime, you go, Spider. I’ll take care of everything here, I promise.”

“Really?” The relief in his voice was palpable. “You sure?”

“Yep.” Mirrie narrowed her eyes, and her lips thinned into a line. “And you do whatever the hell they tell you, OK? Even if that means no contact with me, you toe the line. Just trust that I got this, and everything is under control. Just – just be safe, OK?”

Spider’s throat tightened suddenly, catching him by surprise. He nodded, then opened his arms to Mirrie for a hug. She stepped into his embrace right away, and they just held on to each other for a minute, just let their touch comfort and strengthen each other. Then she stepped away and back, and he grinned at her, his brown eyes warm and dancing.

“So – you finally get to run this place, huh?” Spider’s voice was gentle and teasing. “You happy to have a free rein to do things the way that you want to at long last?”

Bang on cue, Mirrie rolled her violet eyes. “Uh…
yeah
. You
know
the first thing I’m gonna do is give myself a huge raise, and change the opening hours to noon, and get rid of those repulsive oatmeal-raisin cookies that nobody likes but you.”

Spider laughed. “Carry on, babe. You’re in charge.”

“Be careful.” Mirrie said, very serious and quiet. “Be so damn
careful
, Spider. Whatever’s going on, whoever’s involved, I know that you can’t mess around with
any
of it. If this involves the Fallen Angels and King’s Men, then it’s the real deal. It’s life-and-death… and no joke.”

“I know.” He stared down at her, thinking for about the thousandth time that Mirrie understood better than just about anyone what the MC was capable of, how willing they were to hurt anyone that they decided was in their way. “I hear you.”

“Good,” she said briskly. “Now get out of here. Leave me in the glory of my office, all boss-like and in-charge.”

“Deal!” Spider gestured at the papers on the desk. “You wanna start with the invoices to be paid, boss lady in charge?”

“
Out
,” Mirrie snarled jokingly. “Out
now
.”

And that was how Spider went, at long last.

Went to the place – and the person – that were going to turn his entire life upside-down and inside-out, much to his horror and relief.

Went to face the very thing that he’d fought so hard to avoid having to face, for over seven years now.

Went to finally –
finally, at long last, dear God!
– embrace his fate.

Went to meet his destiny.

Even if he was going to resist doing so, just for a little while.

**

Matt ‘King’ Kingston pulled up to the cabin, killed the SUV engine. Jackson ‘Jack’ Taylor raised his eyebrows at him.

“Jesus Christ,” Jack said. “I do
not
want to do this, King.”

“No?” King unbuckled his seatbelt and took a look around the woods. “Burying a body in the Rockies isn’t your idea of a fun Thursday evening?”

Jack groaned, rolled his blue eyes. “Nah. I kinda wanted to watch the boxing on TV. Order a pizza. Take a night off from murder and mayhem.”

“Yeah, well.” King checked his gun, then opened his door. “You picked the
way
wrong profession if that’s what you want from life, man.”

“No kidding,” Jack muttered, opening his own door. “‘Don’t get into FBI stuff, or anything to do with security or law-enforcement,’ my Mom said. ‘Be a dentist,’ she said to me. ‘Great money, great hours,’ is what she said.”

“Should have listened to your mother, and no doubt about it, but it’s too late now,” King said. “Now, stop whining. Let’s go.”

They had just slammed the SUV doors shut when the cabin door opened, and Ace Cuddy stood there. He was a broad, tall man with dark hair and eyes as black as the farthest corners of hell – but he was good and shaken now, King and Jack knew. He’d just exploded his whole life, and he had a strangely defiant and hopeful look… like he was a man who was contemplating leaping off a cliff, absolutely sure that he’d fly if he did so.

“Ace,” Jack said, his profiler eyes not missing anything. “Doing OK?”

Ace nodded, then stepped aside. “In the kitchen.”

King and Jack entered the cabin, took a cursory look around. They weren’t there to admire the décor or do an inspection. They were there to cover up a murder, and they all knew it.

Kirk Jensen’s body was lying face-down on the blood-splattered floor. King and Jack stood above it, their heads cocked to the side.

“Chest shot?” King said.

“Yeah.” Ace rubbed his own chest absently. “Dead center, actually.”

“Nice.”

Jack stared at Ace more closely, saw the lines of pain and strain around his mouth and eyes. “You hurt?”

“Not really.” Ace grimaced. “Took one to the kevlar.”

“Where?” King snapped.

“Chest. Just above my ribs.”

“Broken?”

“No.”

“Fuck,” King snarled. “And you didn’t tell me on the phone because…”

Ace shrugged. “Because it’s not the most important thing going on here, is it? And I’m fine.”

“Mmm-hmmm,” King said, keeping his glare firmly fixed on Ace. “You sure?”

“Totally,” Ace said, his tone so dismissive that the other men dropped the matter. “Now… let’s get to taking out the trash.”

“You got any ideas where?” Jack asked him. “Any favorite Fallen Angels burial spots up here?”

“Oh, yeah,” Ace said. “There are a few, and when you put out word that I’ve killed Jensen and hidden the body and taken off out of Denver, the boys’ll be up here within minutes, looking for Kirk. All’s we have to do is leave some earth disturbed, clear some snow, and they’ll know right away where to find the body.”

“And they’ll know that it was you,” Jack said quietly. “They’ll have no doubts.”

“None,” Ace said, aiming for uncaring, but not quite pulling it off. “And isn’t that what we’re going for here? That I killed Kirk and Warren Kane and Shay Alcott, and have hidden them all in different locations, some here and some outside of the city? Turn all the heat on me, and keep everyone else out of this part of it? Have my MC blame me for everything, and I stay under the protection of King’s Men until we can get me out of the country?”

“Yeah,” King said slowly. “Yeah, it was.”

“Right,” Ace said. “So… let’s get to it.”

“Hold up, Cuddy,” King said, and something in his tone made the two other men look up in surprise. “Just – just hold up a sec.”

“OK,” Ace said. “What for?”

King crossed his arms, leaned back against the kitchen counter, pinned Ace with his gray gaze. Automatically and without any thought, Ace and Jack mimicked his stance, though they leaned against the wall.

“Well…” King paused, and Jack saw the wheels in that razor-sharp brain turning and turning. “What if – what if we changed things a bit? Didn’t blame you for killing Jensen?”

“Uh.” Ace blinked. “Uh… what difference would
that
make, Kingston? The Fallen Angels will still want my head on a stake because Kirk told them that I’m the rat. They’re gonna want my
dick
skewered on that same stake when they find that pen drive of pictures of me and Liam. I mean, it’s not like I can waltz into the clubhouse and say, ‘Hey, guys, I’ve killed Warren and Shay but not Kirk, and by the way, I’m gay,’ and expect them to welcome me back.”

“No, I know,” King said. “But… this isn’t about waltzing into the clubhouse, alright? This is about… minimizing the coming storm.”

“There
is
no minimizing it,” Ace said flatly. “I betrayed my brothers. The penalty is blood.”

“That’s it, though,” King said. “I’d lay money that even though you ratted out Jensen’s operations to us and the police, the Fallen Angels are going to want to handle this internally. In-house. You were
their
Prez, and you… well. You didn’t really level with them about who you are, did you? Lied to them for years? That’s going to feel
really
personal to them, isn’t it?” He didn’t wait for an answer. “So, yeah, Kirk’s contacts will be pissed at you, but I
know
they’ll bow out and let Nails and Joker and the rest of the MC take care of killing you. Right?”

“Yeah,” Ace said slowly. “It’ll be a point of honor for my own family to take me down.”

“But if word gets out that you killed Kirk?” King said. “
No way
his people would let the MC handle things alone. They’d want their pound of your flesh, and Nails Paxton may be the new Prez, but he won’t have the weight of authority
or
leadership history to turn them away. Will he?”

“No. Nails has been in charge there for five minutes.”

“So.” King took a deep breath. “So – who do you want coming for you, Ace? Your own brothers? Or your own brothers
and
Kirk’s people? They’re both fucking bad and make no mistake – but only one is all-out war. ”

Ace and Jack both nodded, finally seeing King’s point.

“You want a war, Ace?” King asked him. “You want the storm to come for you, in all its unforgiving rage? Your call, man.”

Ace was silent for a few seconds, then he sighed.

“I’ll face the storm,” he said. “I made my choices, King, and I made them to save my own skin. I wish… I wish that Liam wasn’t involved, but I also thought that I had more time to cover my tracks and hide things. To – to protect him. I guess I just – I didn’t expect the shit to hit the fan this soon. That was my mistake.”

“So.” Jack spoke now. “War?”

“Yes.” Ace uncrossed his arms, let his whole body face the other men, open and strong, and all Jack saw in that gesture was determination and dedication. “
War
.”

Chapter Two

“
What
?” Spider hollered, not even bothering to make an attempt at staying cool. “Just – just
what
?”

Tex sighed, rolled his massive shoulders. “Ace will be staying here too.”

“
What
?”

“Ace –” Tex began again, but stopped abruptly when he saw Spider bolting for the door of the safe house. Tex threw out one bulging arm, easily blocking the other man’s escape route. “And you’re going
where
, son?”

“Anywhere but here,” Spider choked out through his rage. “I’m not staying here.”

“Oh, but you are,” Honey said, all silken tones. “If you want to live through the next week, you sure as
hell
are.”

“Nuh-uh,” Spider said, all defiant and dumb. “I’d rather be fully eviscerated than stay here with
that
man for five minutes.”

“Well, I’m sure that the Fallen Angels will oblige you,” Honey said. “And I’m sure they’ll happily use a rusty spoon to drag your insides outside. Sounds good to you?”

“Uh,” Spider stalled. “No. Not really. But –”

“No ‘buts’, “ Honey said, all sweetness and light long gone, and Spider knew that she wasn’t even slightly adverse to taking him down with a well-placed drop-kick. “Sit your skinny ass down over there, cutie-pie.
Now
.”

Muttering under his breath, tired of being bossed around by the women in his life that day, Spider flung himself into the closest armchair. He crossed his arms; so did Tex and Honey. They all stared grimly at each other, practically
daring
each other to actually go on ahead and say something stupid.

It was a almost a relief, therefore, when the door opened and King stalked in, closely followed by Jack. Well, it was
almost
a relief until Spider saw who was walking in behind Jack. His brown eyes met Ace’s black ones, and he looked away before he fell in and drowned in those depths.

Fuck. Here we go.

“King,” Tex said, putting his gun back in its shoulder holster as Honey returned hers to her lower back. “All dandy on the mountainside?”

King nodded, his hard gray eyes taking in the room at a glance. Yeah, things had gone dandy up there in the Rockies… if you thought that burying that piece of human waste Kirk Jensen in a secret location, never to be found ever again, was ‘dandy’. Personally, King would have preferred to have been home with his fiancée Naomi Abbott instead of dragging a dead body to its final resting place. But hell – Jensen was dead and buried, gone forever and thank
Christ
for that. The world was nothing but better off without him, and that was the truth.

Besides, King had had to protect Ace Cuddy. As much as he disliked the man – and Lord above, did he
ever
– the fact was that Ace had been King’s personal informant and it had been nothing but a risk. King was stunned that Ace had managed to get away with it for as long as he had, to be honest, and that alone showed King that the other man had a keen intelligence and an amazing ability to stay cool under pressure. Jack, one of King’s Men and a former FBI profiler, had been Ace’s contact person with the Men, and he’d been nothing
but
impressed by Cuddy’s smarts and calm.

It had all detonated that day, though. Ace had blown Kirk Jensen away and had helped Warren and Shay escape… and in doing so, he’d signed his own death warrant and thrown a grenade smack into the middle of his own life.

King respected that kind of sacrifice, no matter who the hell had made it, and so when Ace had called and explained what had gone down, King and Jack had hauled ass up the Rockies to help. There had been no hesitation to do so, and there was no hesitation now that it was time to hide Ace. The man had played fair and he’d done his part – now King and his people had to do theirs. Even if King, Jack, Tex, Honey, and all the other Men would have cheerfully put a bullet between Ace Cuddy’s damn deadpool eyes, for all the shit that he’d done in his life.

King looked at Spider now, saw the tension and anger in the man’s body, and he sighed internally. Then there was
this
part of the whole fucking mess, as if this disaster area needed any more problems or bullshit. He glanced over his shoulder at Ace, who was hovering around the front door like he was considering bolting. And hell, King was sure that if he wasn’t a man with a target on his back, he’d be out of there without a backwards look.

Maybe not, though. King recalled how Ace had told him on the phone that he was thinking about this time with Spider – forced though it was – as an opportunity to talk to his ex-boyfriend. Make things right. Maybe even open the door to a second chance.

But as he looked at Spider’s simmering rage, and Ace’s expression of sheepish defiance, King had serious doubts that these two could even breathe the same
air
, let alone make any moves towards reconciliation. He sighed aloud this time, trying to get up the energy to cross a romantic minefield on top of everything else that he had to worry about.

At his sigh, every eye in the room turned to him, and King pulled himself up to his full and scarily-impressive height. He turned on his trademark glower with barely an effort, and watched in satisfaction as Ace and Spider looked appropriately terrified and alert. Tex and Honey had seen The Glower for years, of course, and so their reactions more closely resembled ‘amusement’ than ‘freaked-out’.

“So.” King’s voice rumbled out of his broad chest. “Here we all are.”

“Yep,” Tex piped up. “Let the good times roll.”

King’s glare reached laser-beam intensity, and Tex actually had the good sense to look abashed.

“Sorry, boss,” he said, and seemed to mean it for once. “Smart mouth and all that.”

“Mmmmm-hmmmm.” King met Ace’s eyes, jerked his head at the sofa. “Sit.”

Ace sauntered across the room; Spider sank deeper into his chair and studiously avoided so much as a glance at the other man. He kept his eyes nailed to the floor, as if he found the pattern in the wood fascinating beyond measure. But nobody was fooled: it was crystal clear that Spider was hurting, hurting badly, and more than anything else,
that’s
what King had to address.

If only he were better at this whole emotional relating thing. But he kinda sucked at it, so in he plunged with his usual tact.

“You two have some history,” King said abruptly. “You can figure it out or not, but frankly, it changes nothing from our side. Me and my team? We’re looking to keep you alive and that’s it, fucking full-stop. Your soap opera shit is nothing but a distraction, and in our business, distractions get people dead. That’s not acceptable to me.”

Spider and Ace blinked, taken aback at his totally unsympathetic tone.

“You’re staying here,” King carried on relentlessly. “Together. You’re going to make it work between you. No arguments. No games. No involving my team. I don’t care
what the hell
happened between you, and I don’t care what happens next, if anything. You will do as you’re told, and you will help us help you. Am I being clear?”

Spider and Ace nodded.

“Good.” King stuck his massive hands in his jeans pockets. “Now, I want to talk to my people, so go to your rooms upstairs and settle in. You’ll find everything you need – clothes and towels and toiletries and even two laptops. No internet connection without a password, and the password changes every day and is given at our discretion, so deal with it. Spider, you’re the first door on the right at the top of the stairs. Ace, you’re at the end of the hall, first door on the left after the bathroom.” He lifted his chin. “Go.”

“Yeah, but –” Spider began, then quailed under King’s ferocious glower. “I mean… could I ask a question? Please?”

“Yeah. Shoot.”

“How long?” Spider asked, and the words were almost defeated in their smallness. “Am I looking at weeks here, King? Months? Have you got a timeline to fix this mess with the MC? Or is it… is this something that you have no plan of action for? Maybe the truth is that it’s impossible
to
do anything, and now I need to just – just put my life on hold for an undetermined time.” He swallowed hard. “I don’t want that, but I think if that’s what I’m looking at, the fair thing is to tell me.”

King gazed at Spider steadily, but not unkindly. He was well aware that this whole situation sucked donkey balls, and sucked them
big
-time, but it was what it was, and everyone had to sort out a way to cope. It wasn’t going to be anything like easy, but then again, when had
anything
to do with Jensen and his MC goon squad
ever
been a cake-walk?

“OK,” King said, more gently. “I know we just upended your whole life, man. I do. We’re doing it with your best interests at heart, but still… your life has just ground to a halt. I’m sorry for that.”

Spider nodded, unbending a little bit.

“To answer your question about if we have a plan: the short and sweet answer is ‘yes’. We’ve seen this coming for a long while, Spider, and even though we didn’t anticipate
how
it would all come about…” Here King threw Ace a look; a part of him
still
couldn’t believe that Ace had blown Jensen away. “… we
did
know that it was inevitable. We knew that Jensen was going to end up dead, and Ace’s informant status was going to be compromised one way or the other… and when it was, he’d be exposed and in danger from his own MC.”

Spider shot a look at Ace himself. “You knew that
he’d
be exposed, King. Not
me
.”

“That’s true,” King admitted. “We didn’t expect for you to get dragged in. We thought that you were safe and away, and so you being here is a bit of a surprise.”

“Uh-huh,” Spider said, and now there was an edge to his voice. “But me being here doesn’t come down to
you
, does it? It’s not
your
fault.”

Now every eye in the room went to Ace, sitting there on the sofa and staring at his hands. At the change of mood in the room – because the atmosphere had suddenly gone heavy and electric with accusation – he raised his gaze at last.

His disinterested, disdainful gaze.

Those black eyes met every other eye in the room, and although he didn’t curl his lip or give everyone the finger, he might as well have. The lack of concern or taking of responsibility in his expression was nothing short of breathtaking, and Tex for one suddenly felt that it was a real struggle to not pound Ace Cuddy’s stupid, smug face into the wooden floor.

King, however, wasn’t fooled. Not even a little bit. He’d heard the tremor in Ace’s voice a few hours earlier, when the other man had apologized over and over again for screwing everything up. He’d heard the guilt and shame in Ace’s voice at putting Spider at risk; King had also heard the sheer
terror
in Ace’s voice when he’d begged King to make sure that Spider was safe. Finally, King had heard the soft hope, the surprising sweetness and vulnerability in Ace’s voice when he’d told King that he wanted a second chance with Spider. He’d also seen and heard nothing but relief when Honey had called to say that Spider was in the safe house, and King had told Ace that he was with his Men and was OK.

That
had been Ace’s truth and his true feelings. This mask was nothing but protection, though it was counter-productive. King needed everyone involved to get along, and if Ace was going to be a dickhead about so much as apologizing to his ex, then they were off to a bad, bad start.

He sighed again, shook his dark head. Damn love. It fucked things up faster than anything else that King could think of.

“OK,” King said, his voice gravel. “Go. We have time to talk things through, but right now, I need to brief Honey and Tex on a few things. They’ll be staying here tonight, taking turns standing guard. I’ll be back tomorrow, so you guys get your heads straight and you can ask me anything you want when I come back. Deal?”

“Deal.” Spider got to his feet, gave Ace one more disgusted look. “Thanks, King. Nice to know that
someone
here is looking out for me, and being honest and adult.” He swept out of the room, stomped upstairs. King half-expected him to slam the bedroom door, and was gratified when he didn’t, though Spider was plenty pissed, for all of that.

King’s eyes met Tex and Honey’s. They all shook their heads, all thinking the same thing:

This is going to be one
hell
of a pain-in-the-ass assignment
.

**

Ace had spent the past ten minutes staring at his hands, not able to bring himself to meet Liam’s eyes, even though he knew that he should. The hurt and reproach and betrayal in those gorgeous brown depths would
finish
him, and he knew it. So gazing at the dirt under his nails it was.

He’d honestly thought that he couldn’t possibly feel
more
like shit about Liam getting hauled into his mess, but here he was, wrong about that. For about the eight-thousandth time in about four hours, Ace berated himself for hanging onto that pen drive of pictures. Why had he taken that kind of fucking stupid risk?
Why
?

But even as he asked himself the question – yet again – he knew the answer. Of course he did.

He’d kept those pictures because they were of Liam. That was the start, the middle, and the end of it.

They were of the man that he loved.

Had it been stupid? Yes, it had. Utterly, unbelievably, indefensibly so. But would he do it again, even if he’d known that this was the outcome?

Hell, yes
.

Those pictures had gotten Ace through some rough, hard times over the past seven years, through some of the darkest dark that had ever descended upon his life. Liam’s face, his smile, his belief and trust and love shining through – they had saved Ace from ending his own life, and they’d saved him more than once.

Those pictures had reminded him that Ace Cuddy was a selfish and violent man who knew how to be generous and gentle. He was a heartless, emotionless bastard who did actually have a heart beating under that MC cut, and who did actually know what it was to love, deeply and absolutely and purely. A worthless piece of shit who had – once upon a time and just for a short while – been worth
something
to someone. Those pictures had been the best of Ace, the best that he could ever be, and they consistently and constantly showed him that he’d made the biggest mistake of his life by letting Liam walk out of it.