Logan: New Crusaders MC (18 page)

“Me and the old lady need to catch up.  You don’t interrupt us unless the clubhouse is on fire.”

Whoops and hollers followed them all the way down the hall and into the back.  Logan flopped down on an old couch and pulled Nicole down with him.  Her head was starting to clear enough to see how awkward his movements were.  He was trying to hide how much pain he was in, but she could see it.  He was still badly bruised and broken.

But he was smiling.

“I missed you,” he murmured.

“I missed you, too,” she said, trying not to cry.

He reached up and brushed his thumb over her cheek, wiping away a tear.  Then he placed his hand behind her head and gently pulled her to him.  This kiss was slower, more intimate.  There was a need behind it.

“I want you to know,” Logan said, “that if I weren’t in such bad shape, you’d already be naked.  It’s been way too long since I’ve had you under me.”

“I understand,” Nicole told him, running her fingers down his chest, over his stomach, all the way to his fly.  “Maybe I can do something to help ease all this sexual tension.”

She kept her eyes on his as she undid the button of his jeans, slipped her hand beneath the fabric to caress him intimately.  Logan’s eyes rolled back as he let out a satisfied groan.

“Yeah,” he said.  “I think maybe you’re onto something there.”

Nicole stroked him gently, enjoying the feeling of him getting hard in her hands.  Logan had his head rested against the back of the couch, his eyes closed.  She slowly slid down off the couch until she was crouched between his legs.  Then she closed her mouth around him, delighting in the sounds of pleasure he made.  He ran his fingers through her hair, caressing her scalp as she sucked and licked. 

It soon became apparent that he was getting close to orgasm.  He was thrusting gently into her mouth, his hands tightening in her hair just a little bit.  Nicole picked up the pace, squeezing and sucking, swirling her tongue around him, until she got what she wanted.  Logan’s whole body tensed as he came, and then he slowly began to relax, his whole body sinking back into the couch. 

Nicole took a moment to step away and clean herself up, then she joined him.

“Thank you,” Logan said, wrapping his arm around her.

“I’d say ‘Anytime,’ but I’m afraid you’d take me up on it,” she joked.

“You’re damn right I would.”

Nicole leaned into his hard chest, running her fingers up and down his leg.  She closed her eyes and breathed in his scent.

“I’m glad to have you back,” she told him.

“Glad to be back.  The drop went fine.  We were only a little late.  Danny was good company, too.  I’m glad he had my back.”

“Danny?” Nicole asked, frowning.

“The prospect.”

Nicole sat up and looked Logan in the eye.  “Danny Trevino?”

“Yeah, you know him?”

“Danny Trevino is
your
prospect?”

Logan sat up straighter.  “What is it?”

Nicole shook her head.  “Logan… three months ago Danny Trevino was at the diner with a bunch of Devil Kings.  He was
their
prospect.”

Logan felt like someone had sucker punched him in the gut.  Nicole’s words were buzzing in his head, but it was like his brain was refusing to process them.  It couldn’t be true.  Not after what they’d been through.

“What…” he began, his voice trailing off.  He tried again.  “How do you know?”

“He was at the diner with the Kings,” Nicole said.  “I only saw him the one time, but I guess the guys he was with had challenged him to try to get a date with me or something.  He tried to chat me up, introduced himself.  I didn’t even realize what had happened until I heard them laughing and talking about it.  I don’t think I even looked at the kid’s face.  Not really.  It was a busy night.”  She reached out and took his hand.  “I’m sorry Logan.  I knew I recognized him, I just couldn’t place the face.”

Logan clenched his free hand into a fist.  He wanted to kill something.  So many pieces were falling into place.  Danny had been the one to discover Zeke’s body.  And he had been involved on the gun run.  That was how the Kings had known about it.

“It was Danny,” Logan said, shaking his head.  He couldn’t believe this was happening.  “Your dad said the Kings never asked for much information about the Crusaders.  They only wanted to know about the Iconoclasts.  It was because they had Danny.  He was spying for them, giving them all the info they wanted.”

“What are you going to do?” Nicole asked.

In that moment, he was sure she was scared of him.  There was a slight tremble in her voice, and her eyes were wide.  Some of it was worry, but there was fear there, too.

“I don’t know,” Logan replied.  “I don’t believe Danny killed Zeke, but… I can’t let this go.  I have to take action.”

“He’s a kid,” Nicole said, trying to be the voice of reason.  “Just… just give him a chance, Logan.  Maybe we don’t have the full story.”

He looked down at her, this beautiful woman who cared about him and believed there was good in him.  Her worried, loving expression pierced through him, helped calm the raging anger that was welling up and threatening to boil over.  He put his arm back around her, held her tight.

“We’ll figure something out,” he promised her.  “He saved my life.  Sam’s, too, now that I think about it.  He also killed one of the Kings.  He might be a rat, but maybe… maybe there’s hope for him.  Like you said.”

Nicole looked relieved to hear him say that.  Logan pushed himself to his feet.  He was still sore, of course, but it was time to take care of business.  This couldn’t wait.

“Stay here, okay?” he told Nicole.  “Keep my boys company.  Don’t let them go to crazy.”

“I’ll do what I can,” she said weakly.

He could tell she wanted to ask more questions, but she didn’t.  She just got up and left the room.  Logan watched her go, taking a moment to appreciate how lucky he was to have her at his side.  Then he followed her out.

The prospect was chewing on a slice of pizza by the pool table, rehashing the details of the ambush with some of the guys.

“Prospect,” Logan said, trying to keep his voice calm and neutral.  “Why don’t you, me, and Cork take a ride?”

“Sure, Logan,” Danny said, frowning a little at the request.

Cork didn’t ask any questions.  He said nothing at all.  He simply appeared by Logan’s side, ready to go.

Without offering any explanation to the club, Logan walked outside and straddled his bike.  He waited for Danny and Cork to do the same, then he drove off toward the highway.

They rode for a long time, making it way outside of the Castillo city limits.  Logan pointed them toward and open patch of desert, far away from civilization.  They’d gone south of Castillo, so they were nowhere near Devil King territory.  They pulled off the road and parked.  Logan immediately began walking away from the bikes, trekking into the desert.  Cork and Danny followed.

Once Logan was sure they were far enough from the road, he pulled out his gun and leveled it at Danny.  In one swift movement, he tore off the kid’s kutte and handed it to Cork.

“Watch and listen,” he said to Cork.  “You’re my judge.”

Cork nodded wordlessly.

Danny fell to his knees, whimpering and begging forgiveness.  He wasn’t even trying to pretend he didn’t know what this was about.  Logan pistol whipped Danny, splitting his lip and cutting open his cheek.  The kid kept apologizing, even as blood poured from his nose.

“Tell me
everything
,” Logan seethed.  “Every last little detail.  No lies.”

Danny nodded, gulping down air.  “Alex promised to patch me in early if I spied for him,” he said, keeping his eyes on the ground.  “He told me… he told me he wanted Castillo.  All of it.  I was supposed to get into your club, gain your trust.  Twice a week, I met him at the King clubhouse to tell him everything.  Once he was sure I was in with you guys, he killed Zeke.  He told me I’d get a text one day when he was ready for me to ‘find’ Zeke’s body.  He… he wanted it to confuse you.  Make you nervous and… and uncertain, you know?”

“You told the Kings about the gun sale,” Logan stated.

It wasn’t a question, but Danny said, “Yeah.  But… but a couple days ago I started having trouble with my loyalty to the Kings.  Ruiz never treated me like you did, Logan.  I didn’t know club life could be like it is with the Crusaders.  I thought… I thought maybe I could find a way to tell you the truth, get you to help me become a Crusader for real.”

“You didn’t tell them about the mutual protection deal with the Iconoclasts.  You didn’t warn him when we decided to bring extra muscle on the run.”

Danny shook his head.  “He’ll kill me for it, but I couldn’t betray you anymore.”

“That’s why you saved my life.  Killed one of the Kings.”

Danny risked a look at Logan’s face, though he kept his hands raised in a gesture of surrender.

“I like you, Logan,” Danny whispered.  “I couldn’t let them kill you.  I… I got a text from Ruiz this morning.  He wants to see me tonight.  He’s probably not happy with me.”

“Was it Ruiz who pulled the trigger on Zeke?”

“Yeah,” Danny said.  “I wasn’t there when it happened, but Ruiz was talking about how he wanted the privilege.”

Logan sighed and looked at Cork.  There was a moment of silence, then Cork gave Logan a small nod.

“Okay,” Logan said.  He took the kutte back from Cork and tossed it at the prospect.  “You wanna make it up to us, prospect?”

Danny looked stunned to be holding his kutte again.  He held it gingerly, as if he couldn’t believe it was real.  Then he looked back at Logan.

“I’ll do anything,” he said.  “I swear on the life of every last one of my army buddies, Logan.  I will do what I can to make this right.  I’m with you.”

“Put on the kutte,” Logan said.  “You’re going double agent.  You meet with Ruiz tonight, tell him you were kept out of the loop about the Iconoclasts coming tonight.  You were just as surprised as they were.  He asks you about the dead Devil King, you say you panicked, thought you had to maintain your cover at all costs.”

“Okay,” Danny said, slipping his arms through the kutte.

“You keep a low profile,” Logan warned.  “Get his forgiveness, take your punishment, and then stay out of sight.  Just see what you can pick up about the Kings’ movements from whispers around their club.  Two days from now, you meet me and Cork right here to tell us what you know.”

“How do I get Ruiz to let me stay with the Kings instead of going back to the Crusaders?” Danny asked.

Logan held up his gun.  “Easy.  You’ve been discovered.  I’m going to shoot you.”

Danny went pale.

“Don’t worry,” Logan reassured him.  “I’m a good shot.  I’m going to shoot your arm from behind, just to graze it.  You tell Ruiz we shot at you while you ran away, got it?”

“Got it,” Danny said, his voice weak.

“Turn around.”

The kid turned and held his arms out.  Logan took a couple steps back, took aim, and fired.  Danny cried out in pain, clutching his arm.

“Get out of here, kid,” Logan commanded.

Danny ran back to his bike.  A couple minutes later, Logan heard the distant roar of an engine as their prospect rode away.  Neither Logan nor Cork moved right away.  Logan was still holding his gun, his hand shaking a little from anger and adrenaline.  Cork walked over and clapped him on the shoulder.

“I’m president now,” Logan said, as if he’d only just realized it.

“You are.”

“Gonna need a VP, Cork.  Before you say anything, please just think about it.  I don’t trust anyone more than you.  I know you turned down higher positions before, but I’m hoping you’ll reconsider for me.  I’ll pull the ‘Do it for my dad’ card if I have to.”

Cork’s lips twitched beneath his beard.  His approximation of a smile.

“Emotional blackmail?”

Logan shrugged.  “I do what I gotta do.”

“Alright.  Club okays it, I’ll take the patch.”

Logan pulled his friend into a hug.  Cork returned the embrace, pounding Logan on the back for good measure.

“With you to the end, kid,” Cork said.

“Glad to hear it, brother.  Let’s go vote you in, and tell the club about our little spy.”

“They won’t be too happy.”

“No, but they’ll trust our judgement.  Yours more than mine.  That’s why I need you around.”

They walked back to the bikes and strapped on their helmets.  Logan put his gun away and looked down the road.  He was sure the prospect would be alright.  Danny had already proven he was a capable liar.  Still, Logan had a feeling in the pit of his stomach like he’d just sent a lamb into the wolves’ lair.

Back at the clubhouse, Logan called a meeting.  Nicole smiled at him from the bar, raised a glass to him in a salute.  He understood the gesture.  She’d be there waiting for him when he was done.

They went into the meeting room and shut the door.  Logan didn’t know how to break the news, so he started from the beginning, reminding everyone that Danny had saved his life.

“Yeah, where
is
the prospect?” Sam asked.  “He didn’t come back with you guys.”

Logan wished he had a better way to say what he had to say.  He told everyone the truth, about how Nicole had seen Danny with the Devil Kings, how the prospect had broken down out there in the desert, spilled everything.  How he was going back to Ruiz to play double agent.  There were cries of outrage and murmurs of disbelief and disappointment.

“Cork and I trust him,” Logan said.  “Even now.  I wanted to take care of it quietly, in case he was still on the Kings’ side.  No need to have the whole club involved.  But Cork made the call.  Kid’s with us.”

“And if he isn’t?” Yancey asked.

“Then he’s dead,” Logan said.  “If Ruiz doesn’t kill him, I will.”

The guys seemed to agree with this.

“You trust Cork, and so do I,” Logan said.  “Which brings me to my next order of business.  Cork as my vice president.  Yea or nay?”

Once again, everyone was shocked.  But this surprise was a good one.  There was no hesitation.  The vote was unanimous.  Logan made it official, hugged his new vice president to a round of cheers.

“I’m putting a hiatus on gun deals for the next week or so,” Logan said, once the cheering had died down.  “Just ‘til we can figure out where we stand.  We’re doing fine financially, so we can afford a few days off.  The prospect comes through with good info, we can go from there.  I’ll probably set up another meeting with Wiseman to fill him in on what happened.  Everyone good with that?”