Chapter 18

Worried that I might be spotted coming out of the clubhouse, Orion insists that I spend the rest of the afternoon in his office and wait for nightfall to leave. Drake has already moved my Prius behind the building and out of sight, while Kai has instructed every club member, prospect, and employee to keep their mouths shut about me. No one can know.

Normally, I’d mind being kept hidden away like this, but given the circumstances, I have to admit I kind of like the fierceness with which my men are determined to protect me.

It’s quiet as I sit on the couch and treat myself to a burger and fries. “How’s your dad?” Orion asks, breaking the silence. He sits behind his desk, going over some files, while Drake is busy texting his buddies in the DMV. They’re still looking for the driver who plowed into their men. I shudder to think of what they’ll do when they find the guy.

“He’s good, as good as he can be,” I tell them. “Still pissed off that I don’t want to go to work for him.”

“You’re not cut out for that business,” Drake says, absentmindedly. “You like the hospitality industry too much.”

“Drake’s right,” Orion adds with a soft smile as he leans back into his chair. “I saw you working the bar every night. You give off a good kind of energy, Nadia. People are naturally drawn to you. If anything, our sales have gone down since you left.”

“Seriously?” I reply, my cheeks growing warm. “I don’t believe you.”

“Believe it,” he says, then nods back at Drake. “Our numbers man can confirm it.”

Drake gives me a playful wink. “He’s right. It’s a slight dip, but the difference is noticeable, nonetheless. Guys are more eager to drink when you’re around. They buy food so they can spend more time around the bar, too. It gives them a reason to stay without appearing creepy.”

“I never noticed,” I mumble.

“You were too busy doing a great job,” Orion quips. “Besides, you may still be inexperienced at this point, but I see great things in your future if you continue to evolve and develop your skills in the hospitality industry. I’m serious. The idea of you running a bed and breakfast somewhere along the coast doesn’t seem crazy, not one bit.”

I can’t help but let my mind wander back to that. I’ve been thinking about it since the guys started taking me to these lovely places in the middle of seemingly nowhere. Hidden between California’s lush hills, tucked away between layers of orange groves and hydrangea gardens, Spanish-style haciendas have been rising for years to offer luxury accommodations with a deep connection to nature and a way to find absolute peace.

“I’d love a place like that. A big mansion, maybe, two levels, with a sprawling kitchen and dining area, private rooms with terraces and ensuite bathrooms. Five or six of them, tops. I’d focus on the quality of the accommodation experience, not the quantity,” I say to Orion and Drake. “I’d charge a fortune, obviously, but they’d get the full package: luxury bedroom, a private, cozy seating area, terraces that overlook a garden with an infinity pool, to be specific.”

“You’d offer meals, too, right?” Drake asks, a smile testing his lips.

“Oh, yeah. It”s all organic, locally sourced,” I say. They’d have breakfast included and an option for lunch and dinner. I’d bring Napa Valley wines into the bar, only from Napa Valley. You know, I’d like to support the local economy.”

Orion nods slowly. “Yeah, unfortunately, the recent wildfires have taken a toll on that whole area.”

“I’d also offer sightseeing and hiking tours,” I continue, letting my mind wander even farther from the present. They’d have a high-quality shuttle ready to take them on tours of their choice: Hollywood, wine country, the beach. We’d have biking and hiking trails, for sure, and trips to the San Diego Zoo would sell like hotcakes, I bet. And tours of Palomar Mountain, maybe. The possibilities are endless.”

“We live in a part of the country where it’s always sunny and warm,” Orion agrees. He gives me a long, curious look. “I definitely can see you owning a bed and breakfast. You’d probably handle the reception and welcoming services because you’re a stickler for details. You’d want to make sure your customers are treated properly from the get-go.”

I grin coolly. “I’d be extra pretentious about who I hire, mind you. But I would absolutely work with folks from the area: tour guides, waiters and waitresses, housekeeping professionals, chefs … you name it.”

“Look at her, thinking big and ethical at the same time,” Drake chuckles softly, beaming with pride as he gazes at me. I see warmth twinkling in the green pools of his eyes, the kind of warmth that speaks volumes to the heart of a woman who is hiding one hell of a secret. I need all the reassurance I can get. “I think you could pull off a BB franchise, too.”

“Absolutely. I’d conquer Southern California, then I’d move up the coast, maybe to the Pacific Northwest. That whole area is rife with natural parks and incredible views. It’s got that Stephen King vibe, too. It would appeal to a slightly different market segment, but it would also sell insanely well, I might add.”

“You could be featured on a travel podcast,” Drake replies, almost laughing. “I know that whole area is a constant source of mystery and drama podcasts. I used to listen to them while driving up and down the coast shortly after we got back from the service.”

Orion can’t help but smile. “Ah, yes, your wandering days.”

“Wandering days?” I ask.

“There was a short time when I didn’t really know what to do with myself after we retired from the Navy,” Drake sighs. “Orion and Kai came down here right away and took over the club. But I went out for a while, just driving before I switched to a motorcycle. And then I was riding, hopping from one Airbnb to another … aimless, really.”

“How’d you come back from that? What made you choose the club in the end?” I ask.

Drake and Orion look at each other for what feels like a rather long and intense second. “My duty, I guess. My whole childhood and all the way into my late teens, my father never brought the club business home. But he did prepare me for my role. He had his methods.”

“Old man Ellis was the Blackthorn Riders’ enforcer. One of the hardest men I’ve ever met,” Orion says. “Even as a young adult, I swear that man scared the shit out of me.”

Drake chuckles. “Yet he was a total teddy bear at home.”

“Yeah, it’s why you were raised away from the club for the most part.”

“Unlike you and Kai,” I chime in, my gaze fixed on Orion’s slowly shifting expression. His painful memories are starting to come to the surface, but he shakes them away and smiles instead.

“Yeah. Our fathers practically raised us in this clubhouse and out on the road. Drake got to go to prep school. He wore a bow tie and everything.”

“Never got bullied for it, though,” Drake shoots back.

“That’s because everyone knew your daddy. They knew not to fuck with an Ellis because they’d have the whole MC coming down on them hard,” Orion laughs.

“Fair enough,” Drake says.

Noises in the hallway make me sit up straight, boots thudding, hushed voices. Kai bursts through the door with a dark look on his face, and it sends my heart racing in the worst possible way.

“We’ve got company,” he says. “Prospects spotted them a half mile away.”

“Are we sure they’re headed this way?” Orion asks. Kai gives him a brief nod. Orion then looks at me. “Stay here; don’t leave under any circumstances. I mean it, Nadia. Lock the door behind us and hide in the closet if you have to.”

“What’s happening?” I ask in a trembling voice.

But they’re already out the door, bolting like flashes of light.

I’m left on my own in an eerie kind of silence while the whole clubhouse comes to life somewhere below. I should do as I’m told. My instincts are screaming at me, though. I’m nervous and restless. Something is about to happen, and I can’t bring myself not to bear witness. My mind moves in strange directions, memories bubbling up to the surface. Yes, the closet is a good hiding place. I’ll use it if I have to, and I know that Orion keeps a gun in the desk drawer.

Slowly, I get up from the couch and head straight for said drawer. To my surprise, it’s unlocked. Orion left in a hurry. He didn’t even register this particular detail. I stare at the gun for a while. A Colt revolver. It’s his emergency weapon. He keeps a semiautomatic pistol on him at all times. I hate guns with the fire of a thousand suns, but I was exposed to them from a young age—my father was an avid hunter before my mom got sick.

I decide to leave the gun in the drawer, content to know it’s there if I need it. Heading over to the window, I hear the rumbling of approaching motorcycles. I count ten of them, along with a pickup truck following behind. My pulse races as my body somehow takes over what my mind knows I shouldn’t do. I go downstairs, itching to find a way out. I can’t stay here. I can’t expose my baby to what’s coming. My car is out back; I could get to it before—

“What the fuck are you doing down here?” Paddy snarls and pulls me aside just as I reach the bottom of the steps.

I freeze, only now realizing what I’ve just walked into.

The clubhouse is closed for the day. Every single member is armed and geared up, hands meticulously checking and loading weapons. My blood curdles at the sight of them.

“I need to leave,” I tell Paddy. “I can’t stay here.”

“You walk out the door, and those fuckers will come for you,” he says.

“What the fuck are you thinking, Nadia?” Orion snaps, stalking toward me with the darkest, meanest look I’ve ever seen. He makes me feel small and suddenly helpless as he waves me away. “Go back upstairs, for fuck’s sake!”

“I can go; I can just leave right now,” I manage, but it’s too late.

Projectiles start flying, piercing the clubhouse windows.

POP. POP. POP.

I hear myself scream as Paddy throws his arm around me and pulls me out of their range. I’m crammed behind the jukebox and forced to stay down as the old biker takes his gun out and starts firing. The ten riders I saw mere moments ago are gradually approaching the front door and unloading entire clips into the building.

“Oh, fuck!” one of the men growls. He’s bleeding on the floor while one of the prospects ducks more incoming bullets and struggles to apply pressure to the wound with a clean towel.

Chaos is unraveling so quickly yet so slowly that I can barely make out the course of events. Paddy protects me with his whole body, his burly figure keeping me out of sight while Orion, Kai, and Drake take the lead.

They grab their weapons and start firing back.

“Holy shit, they’ve got a Gatling in the back of the pickup truck!” a prospect shouts.

Glasses and bottles explode all over the bar. I freeze, cold sweat pouring down my face as I hold my breath. My ears ring. and my muscles twitch with every bullet that misses us. My heart thuds faster than the rambling of Kai’s semiautomatic.

One by one, the Black Devils fall.

One by one, the Blackthorn Riders rise and gain momentum, some reloading while others cover them. It’s an organized defense, and I have to wonder what the hell Colton is thinking, sending his men in here like this. It’s a damn suicide mission.

Six are left standing, two of them hiding behind Blackthorn Riders’ motorcycles parked just outside. The clubhouse no longer has windows. They just keep firing, bullets dashing back and forth. The destruction is horrendous, yet I barely have a second to register any of it.

“Drake, cover me!” Kai snaps.

Drake obliges and empties a clip into the incoming Devils as Kai runs directly toward them, shooting one point blank in the chest and then taking a knife to another guy’s throat.

“Fuck!” I hear a Devil say when Orion reaches him. My man moves like a panther, incredibly agile and fast, using his whole body to deliver a most painful tackle before he puts a bullet in the guy.

“Two left,” Kai says once he’s done with the fourth guy.

“And the pickup!” Paddy shouts.

Orion darts across the parking lot, dodging the last of the Gatling’s bone-shattering bullets just as they struggle to reload and put a fresh belt into that horrifying weapon. Kai and Drake handle the last two Devils, aided by other club members.

I continue to hold my breath as Orion jumps into the back of the pickup truck and kills the assailants with remarkably swift and devastating blows.

So much violence.

“Are you okay?” Paddy asks me, but I can barely hear him through the ringing in my ears.

I’m shaking like a leaf, paralyzed to the core, and scared out of my mind as I struggle to register what’s happened. Sirens wail somewhere in the distance. I’ve got splinters from the bar furniture stuck in my hair, scratches all over my arms, and glass shards at my feet.

“Nadia!” Kai calls out as he rushes back in.

The smell of death fills my nostrils: burnt gunpowder and the coppery tinge of blood on the clubhouse floor.

This was calculated, and it wasn’t meant to result in a victory. Even I can tell that much. There are over twenty club members here and a shitload of weapons handy. The Black Devils only sent twelve guys and a Gatling?

“We got the Gatling,” one of the prospects says.

Orion gets out of the truck. Kai is in front of me, but as soon as I look at him, my vision gets blurry.

“Nadia, talk to me,” Kai breathlessly says. “Are you okay? Were you hit?”

“I don’t know.”

“I covered her,” Paddy says.

Kai notices blood seeping through his shirt. “Paddy, your shoulder.”

“It’s a flesh wound,” the old biker hisses. “Don’t worry about me.”

“Nadia!” Orion shouts as he comes through the doorway, pale faced as soon as he sees me on the floor, unable to pull myself back onto my own two feet.

“She wasn’t hit,” Paddy says.

Drake joins us, equally concerned. “Are you okay?” he asks me.

I can’t even nod. I can’t speak. I can’t do anything other than look at them, look through them. The clubhouse’s parking lot is littered with corpses. Bullet casings cover the floor. So much death and so much violence. For what? For Colton Harrow to feel like a big man? What was the whole fucking point? A show of force, maybe. One last brutal attempt to intimidate.

Kai checks me from head to toe, fingers gingerly touching me to make sure I’m okay. Heat expands from my chest and spreads through my limbs. My eyes feel droopy all of a sudden.

“Nadia,” he says as he tries to help me to my feet.

“I’m okay,” I mumble, but my lips feel numb. My hands, too.

The burger and fries I had eaten moments ago threaten to come back up with a bitter vengeance, but I take a deep breath and try to regain my focus. Why the hell can’t I move? What’s wrong with me?

“I’m not okay,” I say as I feel the earth slipping out from under me.

“Catch her,” Paddy gasps.

I hit the floor hard. Limp as a noodle, I have no choice but to let this cold darkness take me over. My breath is uneven. My heart beats in my ears with a loud echo. My skin feels ice cold, yet my insides burn as I try to ascertain what’s happening.

But the darkness wins.