Her Valentine (4 page)

XXXX

Nick rode in an old pickup with Chester before the sun set.  He was nervous.  He couldn’t find the calm that he was known for having in stressful situations.  It wasn’t helping that he had spent the night with this man’s daughter last night. 

“Boy if you don’t calm down you will get us both killed.”  Chester spoke from the driver’s seat.  “Tell me about this little girl and stop thinking about mine before I forget we are supposed to be friends.”

Nick closed his eyes.  “Her name is Daisy.  I fucked her mama to get her out of my cousin’s life and, well, it was good enough to hit on occasion after that.  She got pregnant…”

“You sure the kid is yours?”  Chester seemed to need to know the answer.

“She looks like me.”  Nick shrugged.  To be honest, he wasn’t sure if he cared one way or the other.

“Would you be doing this if you knew she wasn’t your kid?”  Chester asked as he scratched his whiskered jaw.

“Yeah.  It wouldn’t matter.”  It was true.  He had wondered.  He had worried that he wouldn’t go to this much trouble if he knew for sure, but right in that moment he knew.

“That takes balls.  Raising a kid that ain’t yours.”  He nodded.  “I don’t think it could be any more rewarding though.  Blood matters, but sometimes we make choices that matter too.  This life is too hard for Storm.  I appreciate you getting her out of it.”

“I didn’t have much of a choice.”  Nick said as he studied the parched landscape through the dusty window.

“That’s true.  I didn’t give you much choice, but I don’t think you’d have done things differently if it was your own.”  He glanced at Nick.  “I don’t expect you to treat her like your whore either and not like your kid’s mama.  Preach assures me that won’t happen, but I want it from your mouth.  Treat her with respect.”

Nick let those words settle in the truck for a few moments. 

“I have no intention of making her anything.  Anything that happens is her choice.”

“That will do I guess.”

He nodded to a warehouse ahead.  “Here we go.”

Nick looked out the windshield at the light blue structure.  There were at least ten men patrolling the area.  Three long black cars sat out front along with two black SUVs.

“Looks like a lot of firepower.”

Chester nodded.  “One of those SUVs belongs to the Kings.  They have been known to buy a little product from Flores here and there.  Several of the men outside are theirs.  That is good for us as long as the alliance is as strong as Preach believes.”

“So we have men on the inside?”

Nick hated not knowing everything, but so much of this fell into the realm of club business so he was cut out.

Chester laughed.  “A few.”

Chester pulled up to the building and started to unload boxes of booze.  Nick followed and helped.  This felt too easy.

“Who the fuck is he?”  A man pointed a gun at Nick.

“Friend.  Came to help unload.  I figured you had your hands full with your guests.”

“We don’t let strangers in our place man.  Where’s that sweet little daughter of yours?  She was supposed to be coming in with the booze.”  The man spoke with a heavy accent.

“Sick.  Came down with some kind of bug last night.  Sick as shit.”  Chester shrugged.  “Next time.”

“Damn right old man.  Next time.  She’s going to be mine when Flores gets his fill and there ain’t nothing your sick old ass can do about it.”

“Storm can take care of herself.”  Chester said.

“I love a woman with spirit.  Love to break them and make them whimper.  She will crawl for me.”

Nick watched the muscle in Chester’s jaw harden.

“Where can we put this shit down?”  Nick asked before Chester could lose his cool.

“In here.  Try anything and I’ll blow your head off.  Maybe I will anyway.”  He let out a laugh that made Nick’s skin crawl.  The man was obviously high and reckless.

“Yeah, let us unload first.”

They followed the man into a room where Nick saw several familiar faces and a few little girls, but no Daisy.  He wanted to retch at how these men were looking these kids over like they were livestock.  Little faces streaked with tears as they stood there being stared at and talked about in a language they couldn’t understand.

“See something you like motherfucker?  You got the cash and you might score a little taste.”

Nick’s blood ran cold.  The relief he had felt over Daisy not being in this room vanished. 

“What does that mean?”

The man grinned.  “You pay, you play.  Nobody wants to buy shit without a little test drive, but no fucking, the cherry goes to the highest bidder.”

Chester grabbed his arm.  “Let’s get the rest of the load and get out of here.”

Nick nodded.  He wanted to kill every man in this room.  He saw Lawless standing against one wall talking to a girl who couldn’t be more than sixteen.  He reached out and pinched her nipple and the girl giggled.  Nick wanted to retch, but Law caught his eye and shook his head.  Nick understood.  They had to be ready and they had to get Daisy. 

Nick helped unload the last of the booze.  In the boxes they had hidden an explosive.  Just enough to cause panic, but they had to give Preach time to find Daisy. 

Shadow had the trigger and Nick had to wait.  He had to trust these men that hated him.

The explosion rocked the ground before Nick got back in the truck.  He pulled his gun and raced inside, but the room was in chaos.  Kids were crying.  Men were lying dead on the ground.  Nick fired at a man as he grabbed a young boy and tried to run for the exit.  He fired and fired until his gun was empty and he had to reload.  He just stood there and fired at every one of those sick bastards.  Pain burned down his leg, but he just shifted his weight and kept firing.

“That’s enough son.”  Chester spoke from his side.  “You got them all.  Preach has Daisy and she’s just fine.”

Nick was shaking.  The gun clattered from his hand and he stood in the carnage and stared at the blood that ran in rivers over the floor.

“She’s alright?”

“He had her.  She was with Preach.  She was with him the whole time.  She’s safe.”

Nick turned and ran from the building.  The sun seemed overly bright when he stepped out of the warehouse, but he didn’t slow his strides even if his leg burned like fire.

There she was.  She was sitting on Preach’s knee like a little doll.  She had a big, black leather jacket wrapped around her and she was shivering.  He looked in her eyes and could see the shock setting in.  She had been crying, but her pretty blue eyes were dry now.  She looked up at Nick with the same eyes that he looked down at her with.  Her little fingers traced the tattoo on Preach’s arms.  She traced the cross’s intricate lines as if they somehow held her to the world.

“Are you my daddy?  Mommy said my daddy would come get me.  You look like the picture she gave me.  Are you him?”

Nick nodded.  “I’m him.”

Her little arms reached up to him and he fell to his knees and held her as the men around him set to work on the warehouse.  Nothing mattered right in that moment.  Nothing but his little girl.

“I was so scared.  Those men were mean.  They said they would hurt me.  They hurt mommy.  They said nobody loved me enough to look for me.”  Her sniffles broke up her words.

“I know Daisy.  I know.  You’re alright now.  Everything is alright now.  Nobody is going to hurt you, not ever, not ever.  I love you baby, I love you and I would never have stopped looking for you, not ever.”

“They said they killed Mommy.”  Fat tears rolled down her face.  “Are you really my daddy?  Why did you let them take my mommy?”

“Yes baby, I am and we are going home where you will be safe.  I’m so sorry they took mommy, I’m so sorry I wasn’t there.”

He looked up at Preach and found the man’s eyes misted with tears.  He squatted by Nick in the dust.

“Daisy.  Look at me little darlin’.”  He reached back and pulled Shadow over to stand near them.  “Look at him.  This is my son.  His name is Shadow.  Will you look at him so you remember?”

“He looks sort of scary Mr. Preacher.”  Daisy shivered and Nick held her closer.

Nick looked up at the dark haired man that everyone feared and saw a single tear roll down his face.  His eyes were black and filled with fury only a second ago, but now he looked almost like a broken child himself.

“There are scary people in the world little darlin’, but that don’t mean we are all bad.  Sometimes we need to be just as scary as the bad guys to be the good guys.  You don’t understand this right now, but if you ever need us, we will be right there for you.  Me and Shadow.”  Preach nodded and his jaw went hard.

Shadow reached out and ran his hand over her dark curls and then turned and walked away.

“Hey Preach, he alright?”

Preach shook his head.  What they had seen in that place had shaken them all.  These men were what most people thought of as the boogey men, but what was in that warehouse had torn them apart.  There were few things that mattered to men like the Defenders, but family was one of them and these men had ripped apart families for their sick pleasures. 

“Let him go.  He needs to get things done.  Quiet his demons before he can let this go.  He will find his way back.”

Nick had heard about SHadow and the things the man had done.  He was a phantom.  He killed without mercy and without remorse and Nick almost felt sorry for the rest of the Flores cartel.

Nick climbed into the truck with Daisy on his lap as the warehouse was lit.

“Flores wasn’t there.”  Chester said as he drove toward his bar.

Nick felt dread settle in the pit of his stomach.  Storm.

XXX

Nick held on for dear life as Chester drove hell for leather toward the bar.  Black smoke billowed into the sky and they saw it miles before they saw the cause, but they knew.

“She’s not there Chester.  She’s not in there.”  Nick kept saying.

“She could have been.  She could be gone.  I should have gotten her clear of this place years ago.” 

Chester looked like death as he pulled to a stop in front of the blazing building.

“I’m such a fool for keeping her in a place like this.”

The smoke smelled like death.  Nick knew without looking that there had been someone in that bar before it was torched.  It wrenched at his heart.

Daisy was wrapped in his jacket, against his chest.  She hadn’t made a sound since they’d left the warehouse.  He was worried about her, but Chester looked like he had one foot in the grave.

“Chester listen to me.  If there is a chance Flores traced her to the safe house then we need to go now.  We aren’t far behind him.  She could be in danger.”

Chester was coughing.  His skin was the color of day old oatmeal and he was sweating like a whore in church.

“I’ll drive.  You take care of Daisy.”

Chester just nodded.

Nick drove like a maniac.  He was terrified.  For the first time he realize how much Storm mattered to him.  It had been such a short time and he was already insane without her. 

His phone rang.

“Valentine.”

“We are headed to the safe house.  Maria sent a distress call about ten minutes ago.”  Law said.  “Said Flores put out feelers about a girl that had run away from him.  He has Storm’s picture.”

“Fuuuuck.  We are on the way.  Do you trust that woman?”

“No, but she knows she’s dead if she crosses me.”  Law sounded deadly.  That only made Nick want to get to Storm that much faster.

Storm was a wreck.  The men had pulled out before dawn and she had been given orders to shoot anyone who came into the house.

She paced behind and chewed off her finger nails.  She knew no one would tell her anything until it was all over and she hated it.  She hated being left out of everything, but honestly she was terrified of Flores.  She hoped Maria was trustworthy.

Lawless had been like a very scary big brother through the years.  He had visited more than most of the others and had genuinely seemed to care for her, but things had changed when she was fifteen.

Three men had cornered her in the alley behind the bar when she had gone out for a breath of air.  They had taunted her and made threats, but they hadn’t even touched her.  Lawless had stepped around the corner and his eyes had shined with hatred in the light of the moon.  He had gutted the men and dragged them out into the night and he had taken pleasure in doing it.

After that she had been afraid of him.  It had annoyed him at first and then it had made him angry.  He had taught her to hide her fear, even from him, so she looked less vulnerable, but it was still there.

She was too soft for this life.

She had heard Chester say that into the phone and to Preach more times than she cared to count.  He thought that was something to protect, but Storm wanted to cut that softness from her body so she would be able to stay with him and help him.  She was nothing more to him than a liability and an obligation and it cut her open inside.

She closed her eyes and scrubbed her hands over her face. The bar was the only home she had ever known.  How could she ever fit in anywhere if she couldn’t even fit at home?

Chester’s voice swam into her mind.  “Someday that soft heart will save you sweetheart.  It’s a gift to treasure.”

She had found a  kitten and had tried so hard to take care of it, but it had been too far gone to save and she had been weeping over its still form.

“Loving isn’t a bad thing Storm.  Loving you has given me a reason to settle down and be happy.”

He wasn’t happy though.  Chester had always pined for the days of riding the open road with his brothers, but she had ended that.  Caring for her had taken everything from him.

“Would you stop that before you ruin my rug?”  Maria glared at her.

“I’m sorry.”  She plopped down on the couch, but couldn’t settle down.  Something was wrong, she could feel it in her bones.  “When will they let us know something?”

Maria rolled her eyes.  “They won’t.  You will sit right here until your time is up and then you will be on your own.  You do not put your trust in men like those unless you are a fool.”

Storm wouldn’t believe that, she couldn’t.  The club had always made sure she was taken care of.

“Unless you are one of theirs, are you?”  Maria asked wearing a calculating expression which confused Storm even more.  What was Maria’s angle?

“Yeah, I’m club property.”  She said carefully, trying to figure out what would keep her safest.

“Property how?”  Maria asked carefully.

“Why the fuck do you care?”  Storm pulled in her courage.  Something wasn’t right.

“Just answer the question.”  Maria spat, losing her cool demeanor.

“I’m family and if you betray us Law will kill you.”  Storm hoped she was telling the truth.

Maria laughed.  “I’ve known Law a long time.  He has never mentioned you so no, you are not family and he wouldn’t kill for a worthless little whore.  Pretty sure I’ll be safe.”

“He has killed for me before and he taught me how to handle things just fine so maybe I’ll kill you myself.”

Maria looked unsure.  Maybe she did know Law.

“There’s a rumor of a little whore who slipped away from a powerful man.  He wants her back.  I think that would be you.”

Storm adopted a bland look.  “You’d be wrong.  My dad is a member and I’m just hanging with you while they get some business done.”

Maria lost her mercenary look and instead looked frightened.  Good.

“Is that man your old man?  He’s dangerous.  I know who he is.”

“He isn’t, yet.  What do you know about him?”

Maria curled up in her chair like a satisfied cat.  “Nick Valentine is a murderer for hire or whatever his client wants him to be.  For the right price he will do anything.”

Storm’s heart hit her shoes.

Maria smiled.  “He’s meaner than Law ever thought about being.  He just hides it better.”  Maria stood and turned to leave the room.  “You should always know the men you bed better than they know you.  It’s easier to know when to cut their throats.”

Then she was gone, leaving Storm with a maelstrom of unsettling ideas and questions.  What was she going to do?  How could she put her life in the hands of a man like the one Maria had described?

She shook her head.  That wasn’t the man she knew Nick to be, but she had only just met him.  She had seen Law and the others play a smooth part before too.