Chapter 15

Chapter 15

Smoke

Last night I made dreams come true for both of us. I have never been so into a woman in my whole life. I’ve dated a lot of women, even thought I was in love a time or two. However, being with Serena puts them all to shame. This is going to be the gold standard I spend the rest of my life measuring relationships by. And unfortunately, they’re all going to be epic fails after being with Serena.

She clearly considers me a cool way to pass the time until she decides what to do with her life. Only now, I realize I want more than a few weeks of some kind of friends with benefits hook ups. Knowing she doesn’t feel the same way about me that I do her, is hard on the ego. This situation is like heaven and hell at the same time.

I feel as though I’m caught in some kind of feedback loop where the more I touch her, the more I want her. My brain is scheming in the background, trying to figure out how to get her interested in a real relationship with me, more than having me as some kind of fuck buddy. I think we could be good together.

I go out to the front porch to grab the bag our prospects dropped off. I called earlier and asked Cleo to throw some of her stuff into a bag for her. She had refused to promise not to tell Siege, saying they didn’t keep secrets from each other. Nonetheless, I had tried to impress upon her how far off the rails he’d go if he found out one of the brothers was hooking up with his kid sister.

That’s why I’m not too surprised when I open my front door and find Siege standing there with his sister’s bag instead of a prospect. “So, you brought my sister home with you last night, amiright?”

Fucking hell. I rub one hand down my face knowing full well that I am going to end up having a confrontation with my club president over this.

“Look, it’s not what you think, boss.”

One hand comes up and he shoves me aside. “Did you sleep with her?”

I sigh and drop my head. “Maybe it is a little like what it seems.”

“Great,” he states, before punching me on the jaw with his free hand.

He hits me so hard I go staggering to the side. Serena is so fucking worth getting a beat down from her brother, I remind myself. Siege storms through my house and knocks on my bedroom door.

If I had my way, I’d pick up his hefty ass and fucking throw him out of my place. Unfortunately, that would do nothing to endear me to Serena. I hear her answer the door, they scream at each other for a few minutes, and he comes back out. “I brought her car. You’re coming with me. We have club business to sort out today.”

I cram my feet into my boots, pretty pissed that my day with Serena has been ruined by Siege. God only knows if I’ll get another chance to be with her. She might not want to be with me anymore if it’s going to enrage her brother this way. Siege clearly does not understand what he’s done. I want to argue that she’s no longer sixteen years old, she’s a grown woman who’s able to make her own decisions. But I know better than to open my mouth when he’s in this kind of mood. I might be a smooth-talking lawyer, but here I’m nothing but a huge pain in my club president’s ass. “What the hell kind of business do we have today?”

“The Hellfire Hounds are headed out to our lakeside cabin. We’re all meeting up out there to kick some ass. You should thank them, because before finding out they were up to no good, my plan was to spend the morning kicking your ass.”

I opened my safe and took out two handguns and extra clips and got my bulletproof vest from the closet. “Look, you don’t have to act like a crazy controlling asshole. This is a choice you’re making. A shitty one apparently designed to drive your sweet sister away. The thing is, she just got here and I kind of like her.”

“Too damn bad. She’s not for you, or any other club brother,” he spat out with more vehemence than I ever thought he’d use with me.

I strap on my vest, pulled a t-shirt over it and then my cut before speaking. “You sound like you’re channeling your old man. Claw was the one who thought none of us were good enough for her. You always said she’d be lucky to end up with a brother.” We stepped outside. “What the fuck changed?”

“I decided she needs a life free of the club. Our old ladies get targeted all the time for the shit we do. I want better for my sister than that, especially after what happened with Nicole.” He storms off to get on his bike and I follow suit.

Personally, I think my club president is being ridiculous. Everybody in this town knows Serena Sommers is associated with the Savage Legion. She’s the founder’s daughter and the current president’s sister. To my way of thinking, she is already at risk. The thing that would mitigate that risk was being with a strong brother who could offer her the protection she needs. Why couldn’t Siege see that?

***

Siege races out to the cabin like a bat out of hell, and I stay close behind him. I’m more than ready for whatever goes down. When we arrive, I realize that Siege has almost every brother in our club out this morning. There are at least a dozen of us at the rendezvous point and probably more on the way. A mist is hanging heavy near the ground because it’s early morning and it rained all night, and dew is still clinging to the undergrowth as we tromp over the waterlogged soil.

Tank steps out to meet us. “As near as we can tell there are at least eight members of the Hellfire Hounds MC on the premises. They’ve broken into the cabin, rifled through our belonging and even threw shit out into the yard.”

“Because there are no neighbors for miles around, they’re brazen as fuck,” I point out. “They think they can do what the fuck they like.”

“Well, they’re about learn they can’t,” Siege states decisively.

We make quick plans about who will cover what part of the grounds, pull out our weapons and approach the cabin on foot. We hear a large pop over to the right, when we move closer, we see one of the Hounds with a rifle shooting at a transformer near the road.

“Will someone take that fucker out?” Siege whispers into his wireless mic.

Within seconds we see him drop to the ground. He reaches down and pulls a tranquilizer dart from his thigh. By looking at the size of it, I think someone made a mistake. It looks like it’s meant for a fucking rhino, not the type we usually use. The Hound will be lucky if he doesn’t go into cardiac arrest. We need to find out who did that and re-educate them on tranq doses. I shoot Rigs an alarmed look and he nods, clearly thinking the same thing.

Quietly approaching the property, we see one of the Hounds walk out onto the porch and dump a bunch more junk onto the lawn. Seeing that pisses me off because our old ladies went through a lot of trouble to make this a nice getaway for the brothers, and these assholes are ruining it. We creep up on our outbuildings because they are between us and the cabin. The first is a small tool shed. It’s still locked up tight and looks unmolested. It’s the perfect size for someone to take cover behind if they are assigned to be lookouts.

Siege motions for me to scout out if it’s safe to proceed. I enjoy scouting because it proves I’m not just some fancy pants lawyer who doesn’t like to get his hands dirty. I carefully climb onto the top of the shed and see what’s behind it. Turning I show two fingers and give the signal that both are armed, one with a rifle. Tank and Dutch split apart and run around either side. I peer over the edge and silently jump down onto the one with the handgun before he realizes what’s happening, while my brothers tackle his friend. I hit him with the butt of my gun and watch him go down. By this time, my club brothers have disarmed the one with the rifle and are zip tying his hands behind his back and his feet together. I search my guy for any other weapons or communication equipment and zip tie him as well. Can’t have any of these fuckers popping back up for one final scare.

We start moving again but break apart as we get closer to the cabin so we can execute our separate assignments. The bulk of the brothers spread out over the remaining grounds and the rest of us converge on the cabin.

So far no one else had come back out to throw our shit around. We didn’t have to kick the door down because it is still standing wide open. Four of us run into the cabin. Siege and I head through the living room and into the kitchen area. Rider and Dutch headed upstairs.

The kitchen is clear. Siege runs into the mud room and calls out, “It’s clear here too.”

I hear a noise and creep closer to the half bath, next to the mud room. When I kick the door open, there are two Hounds hiding inside. By this point Siege is back at my side.

I shout, “Drop your fucking weapons if you want to live!”

One quickly lays his gun down on the back of the toilet and puts both hands on top of his head. The other tries to get off a shot. I shoot him in the shoulder before he can pull the trigger. Ignorant fuck thought he could draw down on a member of the Legion.

I step forward and kick his gun out of the way and give him a good kick in the ribs for being so damn stupid. I grab the smart one, the one that could follow directions, and haul him out of the bathroom. Siege snatches up the one bleeding all over the damn place.

We zip tie them both and Siege takes a look at the shoulder of our bleeder, he’ll live—I’d only fired a warning shot intended to graze. We haul them outside and sit them in the row with the other Hellfire Hounds that our club brothers have flushed out.

I notice several of our club brothers running with a water hose to put out a fire. Rigs runs out to find out what’s going on and comes back to report, “One of the fuckers set the pump house on fire. He thought it would distract us long enough for him to get away.”

Siege rolls his eyes, “Let me guess, would that have been an asshole by the name of Scrapper.”

Rigs nodded, “Yeah, he’s the only one stupid enough to try something like that.”

“Which one is he,” Siege demanded.

“The one in black ripped jeans with a busted lip.” Rigs grins, “Talon got tired of dealing with him and knocked him the fuck out.”

We look over and find someone that fits his description lying on his side. “That asshole is number one on my list of people to interrogate. He’s the one who thought it was a fucking great idea to break into our bar and terrorize our bartender.”

I didn’t want to say it out loud, but Scrapper was looking an awful lot like someone working hard on earning himself a dirt nap.

Right on time, our prospects bring the vans, and we load all eight of them up, to take them back to the clubhouse. Several of our club brothers stay behind to help the prospects clean up the mess the Hounds left behind. I get on my bike and go with our club officers as they escort the vans back.