Havok: A Bad Boy Mafia Romance (28 page)

I
slid
my hands up her back, over her shoulders, and my fingers meshed with her soft, thick hair. I held the back of her head in my hands as if were precious gold. And then, I kissed her deeply. My Holly.

My old lady.

The intensity of the kiss left my lips feeling napalmed. God, she set every part of my being on fire. I wanted her so fucking bad.

But I was also terrified of corrupting her. The shit I said to her made sense to me, and I knew it was true in the club lifestyle. But shit, to be honest with myself, I didn't know if it was true for a good girl like her. I didn't know if a person could just go from college student one day to killer the next, and not be eaten alive by it.

All I knew was that I was willing to do anything it took to make sure she never had to spill another drop of blood again. That shit was for people like me, who were already ruined. Not for a spring chicken like her.

When our lips parted, she was breathing heavily. "Axl," she said, "I need you right now."

Just hearing those words nearly made my cock tear through my Kevlar jeans. I fucking wanted to, worse than anything. If she'd said it ten minutes ago, I'd have been all over her. But after this conversation, I had to focus. Had to stay alert. If I was gonna hit Vargas, I had to do it fast before the situation evolved.

"Babe," I said, "I wanna tear you apart right now, but it ain't the time. We gotta get you somewhere safe while I handle this."

The lust in her eyes almost brought me to my knees. That look could destroy a man.

And if I got soft, I knew it would destroy me.

We packed our shit back into the car, fast, and left Devil's Canyon behind us.

As we rolled down the highway, she pulled her phone out from her backpack and turned it on. "I've gotta say something to my parents. With me being gone and what happened on my street, they probably already filed a missing person report."

I cringed at the thought. Despite the reassurance I'd given to her earlier, the cops could fucking take us down right now. Yeah, this shit would eventually blow over like I said, but right now, we were in their crosshairs. More attention was the last thing we needed.

"Yeah," I said. "Fuck. You better make up a good story."

"No signal," she said.

We kept driving and she kept trying her phone. I headed toward a border town near Cali, where the NOMAD compound was. NOMADs were guys without a club affiliation. And those guys owed me. They would keep her safe while I fucked up Vargas.

After twenty or thirty minutes, she said, "Signal's back." And almost at that exact same time, I felt my phone going off in my pocket, buzzing again and again, as it caught up with a huge backlog of missed texts.

I jammed one hand in my pocket and pulled it out. I handed it to Holly. "Read the messages to me," I said, keeping my eyes on the road.

She took my phone from me and started poking and swiping through it.

Then she gasped. "Oh my god," she said. The tone of her voice sent a shiver down my spine.

"What?" I said, forcefully.

"It says, 'Demon hit inside job. Watch your back.'"

I felt like a sledgehammer had gone off, ricocheting through my chest and head. I wrenched the wheel to the right, and the car careened into the dirt shoulder. We were buffeted by the road's roughness. My head struck the ceiling hard as the car screeched and skidded to a halt in the dirt. The cars that had been following us swung out wide, and the drivers gawked at us through their windows.

"Gimme that fuckin' thing," I said, snatching the phone from Holly's hands. I looked down at it, and it said exactly what she'd read to me. The "Sender" field said: Dash.

I roared. "Shit!" I slammed my hands down, snapping a piece of plastic off the center console of the car. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Holly flinch.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck!!" I screamed. I was losing control, and the only thing that stopped me going utterly fucking nuts was Holly's calming touch on my arm. I breathed hard, grinding my teeth together, trying to wrap my head around what I was reading. An inside job against one of your own guys was the biggest "Fuck you," the ultimate, unforgivable crime. If, for whatever godawful reason, a club had to take out one of its own guys, it was done by a Mayhem vote. Legit. Honorably.

And although I knew I might face a Mayhem vote when I went back to the club—
if
I went back to the club—that ain't what this was.

This was something else, and I knew right away what was happening.

Lynch. That dirty, rotten fuckin' dog carcass had to be at the core of this. Wasn't anybody else in the club who woulda had a reason, or the balls, to do this.

"Fucking Lynch," I said.

"The bald guy? The guy who tried to grab me back at the junkyard?"

"Yeah," I fucking growled. "That fuckin' piece of shit. We gotta get you to the safe house. Then I'm gonna fuckin' rumble. It's gonna be a bloodbath."

Holly's expression was solemn. But she didn't protest like I thought she might. Instead, she nodded.

"I understand," she said. "You gotta do what you gotta do." She was starting to understand how this worked.

I nodded, heat rising off my body in waves.

Nobody double-crossed me and lived to tell the tale.

Nobody.

T
he air conditioning
had burned out in the shitty little Honda we'd stolen, so we rode with the windows down. The evening air was hot and humid, and although it whipped through my hair, it provided no relief from the scorching heat.

Axl's knuckles blanched against the hard plastic steering wheel. He was squeezing it hard, and I could tell that wires of tension were tightening throughout his body. I felt the same way. My whole body was uncomfortable, my mind anxious.

"Axl," I said, "This isn't about the video anymore, is it?"

"No," he answered, staring straight ahead as he hit the accelerator and passed a car on the left. "Never was."

"They're using me as a pawn in their game." I was starting to understand how the game worked.

Axl nodded. "A Reaper came by the club. Said they were after you. Hardly even gave a shit about the tape. The tape incriminated both our clubs, it gave us no leverage on them. But you gave them leverage on us."

"Because they saw you protecting me."

"Yeah. They find your weak spots. Pick at the scabs until they bleed. Anything your enemy cares about is a weak spot."

I hesitated for a moment but then spoke. "Why did you care about me?"

"Told myself it was about protecting an innocent. Sons code says to protect 'em. But…" he trailed off.

"But what?"

"You made me feel somethin' I hadn't felt before."

I reached over to the steering wheel and placed my hand on his.

"What happens if they find out I'm your old lady now?"

Axl took his eyes off the road for the first time in at least an hour, and looked right at me. "What do you think?"

Shit. To the Reapers, I was just a button to be pressed, a weak point to exploit. That made me mad. A club that'd use a woman to manipulate a rival club couldn't have any honor. I'd pretty much thought of all bike clubs as criminal enterprises up until now. But now I was starting to see the shades of grey. How there was a code of honor even on the streets, among criminals.

"Where're you taking me?" I asked.

"Cali border hideout. NOMAD compound."

"What the hell does that mean?"

"Unaffiliated bike chapter. They're good guys. I trust 'em."

"You're sure?"

Axl looked at me again. "Would I lie to you?"

I nodded slowly, giving him my trust. He hadn't let me down and I didn't feel like he was going to.

We got to the NOMAD compound after dark. Somehow, lady luck had been on our side, and we made it halfway across the state without any cops picking up on our plate, which had to be reported stolen by now.

The compound looked like a bunker. A long, flat, nondescript concrete building that looked like it was made to withstand a direct assault. As we pulled up, the lights were down and the place looked deserted. But as soon as our front tires hit the property line, huge spotlights came on and flooded the car like day. I shielded my eyes, and saw that five or six guys with huge black rifles had come out of nowhere and were checking us out. When they saw it was Axl in the driver's seat, the floodlights went down and they waved us in.

Axl took us around the perimeter of the compound, toward the opposite end of the complex. "Entrance is on the other side," I said.

"Yeah. If you wanna get in, you gotta go all the fuckin' way around. Safer that way. If you ain't supposed to be here, they just light you up before you have a chance. Look," he said, pointing to the compound roof. In the moonlight, I could make out a shadowy figure on the rooftop, holding the same type of assault rifle. "Reapers ain't gonna touch you here."

I believed it.

As we slowed to a stop on the opposite end of the compound, an unmarked, un-windowed door swung open and a big burly, older guy with a white beard emerged. He looked like a big biker Santa.

Next to me, I noticed Axl's face light up. It was the first time he'd cracked a smile since seeing me topless in Devil's Canyon. He swung the door open excitedly and practically leapt out of the car. I swung my door open, too, and stretched my muscles as I got out.

"Big Mikey!" said Axl, his voice warm and excited. The two men swung their arms wide, and embraced each other in a massive bear hug. I couldn't help smiling to myself. After the endless piles of shit we'd sifted through in the last week, it was really nice to see Axl in a moment of pure happiness. I walked around the car, toward the two men.

"Axl, my boy, it's been too long!" Big Mikey broke their embrace and held Axl at arm's length, looking him up and down, pride on his face. "You ain't changed a fuckin' bit!"

I interrupted the reunion. "Are you his dad?" I asked.

Big Mikey and Axl both looked at me and burst into laughter. "I ain't his dad, darlin', but he's as good as my son." He smiled one of the most genuine smiles I'd ever seen. "And you are?"

"Holly," I said. "I'm Axl's… old lady."

Big Mikey looked at Axl, an expression of amazement on his face. "Never thought I'd see the day."

Axl shrugged, a cocky smile on his face, and turned his palms up in the air. "I know a good one when I see one," he said, winking at me.

Big Mikey turned toward me, and started making a sound like a combination of "awww" and "ohhhh," cocking his head and holding his arms out. He smothered me in a bear hug and planted a kiss on my cheek, his beard scratching my face. "You got a good man right here," he said, releasing me. "Axl's never let me down. And any old lady of his is a welcome guest here—always."

"Thanks," I said, a big dumb smile on my face. Big Mikey seemed to beam constantly, and it was impossible not to smile back at him. I liked him already, and I felt like I could trust him.

His expression did turn solemn, though, as he looked back at Axl. His eyes darkened, and for some reason it made me sad to see.

"Axl, my boy," he said. "We've heard rumblings of war between the Sons and Reapers." Axl nodded, his smile tapering off as well. "Yeah," he said. "Shit's a mess right now, Mikey. I need a favor."

"
A
nything for you
, brother," Big Mikey said. I fuckin' hated to see him so concerned. Mikey was always the sunshine that lit darkness.

But I pushed the thought outta my mind. Behind his jovial eyes and friendly exterior, there was one of the toughest motherfuckers I knew. A man who could handle anything. I trusted the man with my own life, and I trusted him to keep Holly safe while I dealt with Lynch and did what I shoulda done a long time ago. With Lynch to deal with now, Vargas was gonna have to fuckin' wait a little longer for his turn.

"We'll talk," I said, "First, let's get her a room." Big Mikey nodded, not questioning me. There was a solid trust between us that I seldom found in this fucked-up world.

We dropped off Holly in a guest room that was spartan but clean. Then me and Big Mikey walked and talked, and I filled him in on the shitstorm. "I need you to watch my old lady, keep her close, while I take care of this shit," I said. But, I kept my mouth shut about Lynch. Didn't say a word to Mikey about what I planned to do. That was a secret that I couldn't share with anyone. Not even Mikey.

Big Mikey nodded at me when I finished talking, no longer smiling. "Aye," he said. "We'll keep 'er safe, boy. Go to her now, stay the night. You look like hell. Ain't gonna be good to the Sons if you fall asleep at the wheel."

I still felt wired, and I was jonesing to get back on the road, despite my exhaustion and still-injured shoulder. Probably would've, too, if anyone else had told me to sleep it off. But coming from Big Mikey, the suggestion carried more weight, seemed smarter in my mind. "Yeah," I said, "You're right. I leave bright and early."

Bike Mikey nodded. "Come here, my boy," he said. I gave him a crushing hug, man-to-man. I turned and walked out of the room without saying another word to him.

Jesus Christ, I needed a fuckin' shower like nobody's business. I beelined straight for the dorms, caught up with a couple NOMAD brothers from back in the day, and borrowed a towel and some garb. Then, I hit the showers and washed away all the blood, sweat, and grime that had accumulated on me in the hot, dusty desert. My shoulder was healing up nicely and hurting less. Thank fuck for that. I couldn't afford to waste any time getting' patched up in an ER.

When I was finally clean, I toweled off, put on the borrowed clothes, and headed back to Holly's room.

When I entered, she was lying on top of the bed, one towel wrapped around her body and another around her wet hair.

"Same idea, eh," I said, grinning at her and shutting the door behind me. Holly smiled, but instead of answering me, she stood up and let her towels fall to the floor.

Blood rushed into my cock, and I felt lightheaded. The effect this girl had on me was just fucking unbelievable.

"Goddamn girl," I said, stepping toward her, "Where'd you get this body? It just drives me fuckin' wild." I crossed the room and put my arms around her waist, pulling her in close. I felt her breasts press against my hard abs through my shirt, her nipples pebbled. My cock throbbed in my pants, and I pulled her into it. She gently ground her hips against me, feeling my hardness.

All she said was, "Show your old lady how much you want her." Oh lord, was I going to show her. I couldn't fucking believe that we'd only fucked once. I needed to be inside her again.

I grabbed the collar of my t-shirt with both hands and pulled it over my head, revealing my hard, muscled physique. Holly ran her hands over my forearms, bulging with muscle and hard veins developed by years of riding and violence.

I was gonna fuck her harder than she'd ever been fucked. I wanted her to be fuckin' shellshocked and think of nothin' but me 'til I got back.

I pushed her away, toward the bed, and she fell back with a giggle. "Show me how strong you are, mister," she said with a gleam in her eye.

I grabbed her by the shoulders, sparing her none of my strength, but using the utmost caution to not hurt her. I turned her around, so she faced away from me, toward the bed. "I'm gonna take you from behind," I said, my voice a low, deep growl.

She twisted her head and looked back at me. "Yes, sir," she said with a shy smile. I pushed my head forward, driving my lips into hers. I kissed her ferociously, pressing my hard, thick cock into her ass and running my hands up her sides. They found her breasts instinctually, and I cupped them in my hands, letting her femininity flood through my senses. I couldn't wait another goddamn second to be inside her.

I put one hand around the back of her neck, and pushed her head down into the mattress. She arched her back, her animal instincts perfectly complementing mine. Her ass pressed against my cock, and I felt my heart pound as my eyes hungrily took in the sight of her most private parts. Still pressing her head and neck down into the mattress, I brought my other hand to her clit and began to rub it softly. She moaned, crying out in muffled pleasure as I circled the nub with my fingers. She was so fucking wet and ready for my cock, and nothing on Earth could've prevented me from giving it to her.

I used my fingers to open her folds, and pressed the tip of my cock against her opening. I felt her hot wetness slide over my cock as I pressed myself deep inside her.

The sensation was unparalleled. No fucking drug, no fucking booze, no fucking money, no fucking other woman in the world held a fucking candle to the sheer pleasure she gave me. I thrust in and out of her hard and unprotected, her tightness squeezing hard against me, dripping wet with desire.

"Fuck yeah, baby," I grunted, slamming my cock hard and deep into her. I put one hand around her hip, using it to pull her into my cock even harder, even faster.

"Oh Axl," she moaned, "Fucking take me, I'm yours."

"Fucking right you are," I said, my voice husky. I kept my rhythm steady, but increased my pace as I felt my orgasm building inside me. "You're the only woman I need in this goddamn world."

"Fill me up," she begged, her voice on the verge of a plea.

"When I'm good and fucking ready," I said, breathing hard. Her pussy was so fucking good for my cock. It felt like it was made just to pleasure me, just as tight and wet as I needed it to be.

She brought one hand up to her clit, and started rubbing it hard. As she did, I felt her muscles tighten and contract against my cock, her body doing everything in nature's power to get me to explode inside her.

"Oh fuck," she said, "I'm gonna come."

Those words pushed me over the edge. "Me too, babe," I said.

She whimpered, and cried out, "Oh, God!" as her orgasm shook her body.

My cock exploded inside her at the same time, pulsing in sync with her, draining my virile seed into her tight little body. "Fuck," I grunted. I needed my cock as deep in that pussy as it would fit, needed to fill her with every drop I could muster.

As our simultaneous orgasms subsided, I pressed her to the bed hard, collapsing on her back, my cock still hard inside her.

"Holly," I said, breathing hard, "You are sexiest fuckin' thing I've ever laid my eyes on." I let my cock slide out of her, covered in my cum and her wetness.

I laid my head against a pillow, and pulled her in close, nestling her body against mine.

She turned her head around and planted a kiss on my lips. "You do me so good," she said. "And you protect me so good. I didn't think guys like you were real."

I chuckled under my breath. "A hundred percent real, darlin'."

She yawned. "Are you gonna stay here tonight?"

"Yeah," I said. "Leaving in the morning. But tonight I'm all yours."