Wild: Tiger's Blood MC (3 page)

“What is it?” I sat up in bed and blinked. “What’s going on?”

Vero strode into the room with an angry expression on her face. “Get dressed,” she said sharply. “You’re not going to like this.”

Ten minutes later, I was standing by Lydia’s bedside. She was awake, and although less drunk than she had been earlier, she was still pretty out of it. There was blood on the sheets and she was sporting a bloody nose and a black eye.

“What the hell happened?” I crouched down by Lydia’s side of the bed. “What was it?”

“Some asshole assaulted her,” Vero said in a deadly calm voice. “She’s been hurt, and she needs to go to the hospital.”

I sighed. I hated involving medical professionals in our work. We often had a lot of injuries to account for that we couldn’t necessarily explain—bullet wounds, for one. The MC had a doctor on call who performed a lot of favors for us, and I pulled out my phone to call her.

Vero frowned. “What the fuck are you doing? We need to get her to a hospital, now.”

I glared. “This is my MC,” I said in a calm voice. “And I make the decisions here. Have you forgotten that?”

Lydia whimpered and rolled around in the bed.

When the doctor answered, her voice was clogged with sleep and groggy. “Hello?”

“It’s Persephone,” I said instantly. “We need you here at the clubhouse. There’s been an attack on one of my girls.”

“She needs a hospital,” Vero cut in.

“Shut up,” I snapped as I hung up the phone and slipped it back into my pocket. “I decide what she needs, and right now what she needs is for you to stop arguing with me.” Vero glared but she didn’t reply. “And I want to know exactly what happened.”

Lydia opened her eyes and looked at me pathetically. She looked almost like a child; her blonde hair was spread out on the pillows and her eyes were wet with tears.
“I don’t know what happened,” she said softly. “I was just lying here and someone came in and hurt me.” She gasped as she rolled onto her side. 

“Who was it?” I demanded sharply. “A man? A woman?”

Lydia shook her head. “I don’t know,” she replied. “I couldn’t see. It was too dark.”

Beside me, Vero was practically quaking with rage. “It was one of them Tiger’s Blood assholes,” she hissed in my ear. “I saw one of their jackets sneaking out of the back into the parking lot.”

I gaped at her. “Are you sure?”

Vero nodded. “One hundred percent sure,” she said in the same cocksure voice that I despised about the men we’d seen earlier. “I know who did this. And we need to get revenge.”

I held up my hands. “We ain’t doing shit until the doctor gets here and finds out what happened to Lydia,” I replied. “And then we’re deciding as a group.”

Vero bristled beside me. I could tell that she didn’t like being ordered around, but tough shit. She wasn’t the president of the Amazons; I was. And this was my fucking club.

“You need to obey me,” I hissed to Vero. Just then, there was a knock on the door.

“The doctor’s here,” Vero said. She pushed past me and opened the door.

The doctor, a mousy little woman named Michelle, slipped inside the room. She was clad in scrubs and carrying a beaten up leather bag which she dropped on the floor. As she pulled on a pair of latex gloves, she looked down at Lydia and frowned.

“What happened?”

“We don’t know,” I said quickly, before Vero could cut in. “We were all asleep and someone broke in and assaulted Lydia.”

“Someone broke in?” Michelle looked at me with big, scared brown eyes. “Are you sure?”

“I’ll look around,” I said warily. I went back to my room and grabbed my gun, shoving it in the back of my pants. Actually, I wasn’t sure. I wasn’t sure about anything, and I wanted to check it out before I told anyone else what happened. A mix of anger, frustration, and adrenaline was coursing through my veins. It wasn’t right of Vero to assume responsibility the way that she had, but at least she wasn’t fighting with me now.

With my gun cocked and loaded, I slowly made my way through the halls. The clubhouse was dark, the recreation area was a complete mess. Beer bottles and sticky puddles littered the floor and I could smell the sour smell of stale alcohol.
Damn
, I thought to myself.
We know how to throw a fuckin’ party
.

The front door was locked and bolted and I could tell that none of the windows had been broken. The place looked virtually untouched from earlier, and I wondered how the man had broken in. As much as I hated how she’d reacted, I had to trust Vero. It probably
was
one of the men from Tiger’s Blood. And now I was going to have to deal with all of it myself.

When I got back to the bedroom, Lydia was sitting up and crying. Michelle gave her a shot of something clear and advised she stay in bed for a few days. Then, she pulled me aside.

“Stay with her,” I told Vero. “I’ll be right outside with the doctor.”

Michelle glanced at me nervously. She bit her thin lip and raked a hand through mousy brown hair. “She was assaulted with a blunt object,” she said in a low, quiet voice. I could barely hear her even though I was only standing a few feet away. “And whoever was doing it was very careful. There was no evidence, no semen. No sign that she’d been touched with a human body. There are contusions on her head and neck, like she was struggling and someone tried to fight with her. And her legs are bruised very badly. Lydia tried to fight, but someone must have knocked her out. And she wasn’t drugged,” Michelle said. “I ran a quick blood test and everything came out normal. She simply had too much to drink.”

I pursed my lips. This was getting stranger by the moment, and I had no idea what to really think. “Thank you,” I said softly. “You’ve been a big help tonight.”

Present Day

It was the first time that my girls and I were back at the clubhouse since Lydia’s attack. Lydia had spent a few nights at home recuperating, and in that time I’d been fighting viciously with Vero. She kept trying to convince me that the best thing to do would be to take immediate action against Lydia’s attacker, but I wanted to wait until everyone was informed. Now, the twelve of us were sitting around a table. Lydia still had bruises on her face but overall she’d recovered quite well. I was proud of her. Aside from the night of the attack, she hadn’t cried at all. Even Vero had admitted with a grudging respect that Lydia was tougher than she looked.

“So,” I began in a solemn tone. “I know it’s been a while, and I wanted to talk to you all and see what you think.”

“I want him dead,” Anya said in an equally serious tone. “I ain’t joking, Sephy. I want him dead and gone.”

“I know,” I said, nodding my head. “You guys want to take a vote?”

Vero and Brienne, another old member, exchanged glanced. Brienne opened her mouth. “Vero said it was someone from Tiger’s Blood,” she said. “Shouldn’t we try to destroy the whole MC? They can’t go around raping people like this,” she added.

“Lydia wasn’t raped, she was assaulted,” I replied. The other women glared at me. “There’s a difference,” I said. “This person was very careful not to leave any evidence. Don’t you think that means something?”

“I don’t care what it means, that fucker’s going down,” Vero said. She slammed her fist against the table and the other girls cheered loudly. “We gonna kill him!”

“Wait,” I said. “We still need to vote on this. And we don’t know who it is, either.”

“So?” Vero glared at me. “You used to know that asshole, Elliot, right? You can go sweet-talk him into confessing.”

“I don’t think he’ll work like that,” I murmured. “He’s the kind of guy to give his life for a club member, especially if he doesn’t know who was involved.”

“I bet it was that jerk, Nero,” Anya said loudly. She leaned forward in her chair and cracked her knuckles. “I should have kicked him when he was down, so he couldn’t have raped Lydia!”

There was a cheering cry from the rest of the women and I started to feel a little helpless, like I was losing my own club. Vero was leading the cheer and soon, everyone began beating their hands on the table in unison, staring at me.

“Okay,” I said. “Come to order! Order!” I slammed my gavel down on the table with a hard thunk. “Listen to me!”

The cheering stopped. “Whatchu want?” Vero said, rolling her eyes. “You wanna tell me I’m being too much again?”

I swallowed hard. Lately, I’d been feeling so much resentment towards Vero that I wanted to take her out back and knock her lights out with my fist. But the rest of the club seemed cheered by what she had to say, and I knew it would be a bad idea to start some shit right here.

“We’re going to vote now,” I said. “For taking revenge on the Tiger’s Blood.”

When the vote went around the table, it passed unanimously.

“I saw him,” Vero claimed again. “I saw that fucker with my own two eyes!” She yelled loudly and clapped her hands together, rousing all of the other women. “And he’s going
down
!”

“Booooooo!”

“He’s doing down!” Vero repeated, standing up and looking around fiercely like she was planning to kill him herself. “And I’m gonna make sure he does!”

I banged the gavel against the table once more. “Order!” I shouted loudly. “Come on! Order!”

The girls glanced up at me with wary expressions. “Why don’t you want us to get revenge on this asshole who hurt Lydia?” Anya asked loudly.

The room was so silent that I could have heard crickets chirping.

“It’s not that I don’t want revenge,” I said. “Come on, you guys, you know me better than that. But we don’t
know
anything for sure! The clubhouse hadn’t even been broken into! It could be
anyone
. And once we start a war with the Tiger’s Blood, we’re in that shit until it’s over. We might all be dead before it’s over!”

“Then I’m dead,” Vero said. “I’m out. See you.”

The other girls glared at me as the door slammed behind Vero. “Come on,” Anya said. “What’s the big fucking deal? Just go find one of the guys and talk to him. Maybe he knows something. We’re not acting right now; we just want you to do
something
.”

“Fine,” I snapped. “I’ll go talk to Elliot.”

Elliot and the rest of the Tiger’s Blood usually held court above a bar in downtown LA. I’d been there a handful of times, most recently to drive by and check whether their bikes were there. I knew the MC pulled in a decent amount of cash, but I was wondering when they’d finally get their own clubhouse. For a gunrunning MC, the Tigers didn’t seem to be as wealthy as I would have guessed.

The bar was hopping. It was a Friday night and I’d dressed in a nondescript black tank top and black jeans with boots. I rode my bike up to the club, expecting to see it full of Elliot and his cronies. But there was a live band and people were dancing, and I was relieved to note that I was likely going to get away with hanging under the radar until I spotted Elliot.

I sat down at the lone empty stool that I saw. On the other side of me, a burly guy was hugging his girlfriend close and whispering in her ear as he fondled her ass. Part of me thought again of Elliot, and I felt a sharp pain in my chest. It had been five years since I’d left him, and I could have gone another ten without thinking about him again. But here I was, right in the tiger’s den.

“What can I get you, honey?” the bartender asked. She was a buxom blonde woman with a low-cut top and red lipstick. “Beer? Wine? Vodka?”

“Whiskey, neat,” I said as I slid over a wad of cash. “You seen Elliot tonight?”

The woman laughed. “Oh, honey, you’re only the third broad to ask me that,” she said, rolling her eyes. “He’s real popular tonight.” She turned away before I could ask her anything else. I scowled. It would be just like Elliot to fuck everything in sight. I couldn’t believe that he was still running around like the big stud on campus. Elliot was the kind of sneaky guy to keep three girlfriends on a string at the same time.

When she handed me my glass of whiskey, I knocked the whole thing back without a second thought. If I was going to talk to Elliot, I needed to be a lot drunker than I currently felt.

“Is this seat taken?” I almost gasped as Elliot slid onto the stool next to me. He was still as gorgeous as ever—blond and scruffy with bright green eyes—and I felt my breath catch in my throat.
Easy, Sephy
, I told myself.
This doesn’t have to be a nightmare. Just stay calm. This is for Lydia, and for your other girls.

“No,” I said, batting my eyelashes. “Except by you, that is.”

Elliot grinned an easy grin. I could tell he didn’t recognize me. I didn’t blame him—in five years, I’d changed a lot. I dyed my naturally blonde hair a dark shade of black and my blue eyes looked harder than they had when I was a teenager. Plus, I was a lot leaner and tanner from being in the sun. Leading an MC came with a lot of sweat and grease, and I was more than proud to say I’d experienced my fair share of it all.

“Can I buy you a drink?” Elliot finished his beer and slid it across the counter.

“Sure,” I said, making my voice sound a little higher than it was naturally. “I’d like that. Whiskey sour, please.”

Elliot blinked. Back in the day of our underage drinking, that had been his favorite thing. He liked it because it was whiskey, so he still felt like a man, but it was sweet, so he could still drink it without cringing. I hadn’t had one in years, and I wondered whether or not it would bring back even more bitter memories.

“Two whiskey sours,” Elliot said to the bartender. She winked at me but thankfully, Elliot didn’t notice. When she slipped the drinks onto the counter, I grabbed one and discreetly dropped a pill inside.

“This is for you,” I said, sliding the drink across the bar towards Elliot. “I shouldn’t have grabbed it first.”

Elliot wrapped his fingers around the glass and lifted it to his wide, sensual lips. He swallowed some of the whiskey and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. When he looked at me again, I saw the same familiar fire in those green eyes. A shiver of lust went through me and for a moment, it took everything inside of me to not lean across the space and plant my mouth against his. Just being around Elliot again was doing dangerous things to my libido, and I couldn’t wait for this whole damn thing to be over.

“So,” Elliot slurred lightly. “What brings you out here on a night like this?”

I knew exactly how I had to play my cards: innocent but sexy and determined. “Well, I was lonely,” I said, looking down as I took a sip of my drink. It tasted exactly like I remembered and a small thrill went through me. “I wanted to go out and talk to some people.”

“I don’t love talking,” Elliot said. “But here I am.” He drained his glass and set it on the bar, snapping his fingers for another. He seemed more relaxed than I would have guessed, like he was completely at ease with the situation.

“So, are you in a motorcycle club?” I ran my finger down the side of Elliot’s sleeve. His jacket was emblazoned with tiger stripes. This close, I thought I could catch a whiff of his scent—leather and tobacco—and I had to take a deep breath and focus.

“Yeah.” Elliot grinned, cocky and stupid as ever. “I’m the president of the Tiger’s Blood.”

“Never heard of you,” I said casually, taking a small amount of pleasure in the way Elliot’s face fell. “Are you local?”

“This is our bar,” Elliot said, rapping the dark wood of the bar with his hand. “You like it?”

“I love it,” I purred. “I love the band; you know those guys?”

Elliot nodded. “They always pull in a big crowd,” he said with a grin. “Can I get you another drink?”

I bit my lip. This was where I knew I really had to start acting. If I didn’t work quickly, the drug would, and Elliot would be asleep on the floor of the bar. Impulsively, I leaned over and pretended like I’d dropped my purse.

“Oh my god,” I squealed. “I just dropped my bag! Can you help me look for it?”

Elliot put a hand against his forehead. “I don’t feel so good,” he said. “I think I should actually go.”

“Come on,” I said, grabbing Elliot’s arm and tugging his sleeve. “It won’t take long! I don’t want to lose my wallet!”

We got down on our hands and knees and began scouting around the floor for the contents of my purse. I hadn’t brought any identification with me, and Elliot clumsily grabbed a handful of keys and mints and handed them over.

“There,” he said, breathing heavily. For a moment, his lids fluttered closed.

Yes.
I wrapped an arm around Elliot and pulled him to his feet. “I’ll help you lie down,” I said sweetly. “Just help me out of this bar.”

Elliot staggered towards a dark staircase and I walked with him, supporting his weight. He seemed like he was going to lose consciousness at any second and I grinned to myself as I began helping him up the stairs.

“There’s a bedroom up here,” Elliot slurred. “Come on.” I half carried, half dragged him up the stairs until we were at the top. There was a door with a knob and I pushed it open, dragging Elliot inside and throwing him on the bed. With all of my might, I swung hard and hit him in the stomach until he was doubled over with pain.

“Who’s supplying your weapons?” I growled, straddling Elliot and pressing the blade of a knife into his throat. “You tell me, or I’ll kill you right here and now.”

Elliot’s eyes opened wide. Despite the effects of the drug, I could tell that I’d mostly caught him unaware. He blinked at me and then tried to reach his arms up and push me away from him. Even though on a normal day, Elliot would be much stronger than I was, I knew that he wouldn’t be able to get rid of me. Not yet.

“Who are they?” I demanded again, leaning over and staring into his face.

Elliot’s eyes met my own and I could feel some of my resolve melting away. “The Russians,” he managed to croak before his lids closed and his body went limp.

I stared down at him, feeling satisfied. Even though I knew I had to get out of there as quickly as I could manage, part of me wanted to stay behind and stare at Elliot. He was different than he’d been years ago—bulkier, heavier somehow. He wasn’t fat, but his body wasn’t as sleek as he’d been before. He was all muscle and bulk, all man. I shivered as I felt his weight slightly shift underneath of me.

Crawling off of Elliot, I pulled the collar of my jacket around my neck and hunched down, trying to hide. Now he was snoring evenly and I knew that he’d be knocked out for hours, just long enough for me to escape and head back to the girls.

The Russians
. My heart hardened in my chest as I thought about what doing business with those crooked fucks meant. If Elliot and Tiger’s Blood were really working with them, they were some of the most corrupt gunslingers in history. The Russians were brutal Eastern European thugs who would sometimes shoot you even if they liked what you had to say. Tiger’s Blood had a lot of balls to deal with those men.

I shivered. I knew that when I brought the news back to the girls, they’d want to go in immediately. But we’d have to think of a plan; unless we wanted to be dead and buried by the morning, we couldn’t just go charging in and expect the Russians to give us everything that we wanted. No, in order to truly bring down Tiger’s Blood, we were going to have work very slowly and calculate every move.

I left the room and quietly closed the door behind me. The bar was still raging and the band was still playing, everyone was dancing with a drink in their hand, looking drunk. As I slipped down the staircase, the music got louder and louder until I couldn’t believe that I’d heard Elliot at all. The room seemed twice as packed as it had been before, and I marveled at my good fortune. Elliot had sat down right next to me, I hadn’t even had to look!

The bartender didn’t even notice me as I slipped out of the bar and darted away into the night. After being inside, the cool night air felt like a blessed kiss on my face. I loved LA at night; it was gritty and it smelled of gasoline, but it gave me hope. It reminded me of how many people had come to this city to realize their dreams, and how lucky I was to be at the top of my game. When I got back to the rest of the Amazons, I’d tell them everything but I didn’t think any of them, not even Vero, would understand the way that this city got under my skin and made me feel alive.

I grinned to myself. At least
one
thing had gone right tonight. And now, my girls and I were going to start ripping Tiger’s Blood apart piece by piece.