SHADES: An Evil Dead MC Story (The Outlaw Series Book 3) (35 page)

“Do you remember what happened?”

“Remember goin’ to sleep with you. Remember waking up in the hospital days later.”

“Rusty, please, you have to know I didn’t do it. Why would I do that?”

“You tell me? You needed money, all you had to do was ask, babe.”

She shook her head. “I didn’t take it. Your bag. It was gone when I came back with the coffee. I swear, Rusty.”

“So you just ran. Left me there.”

“I called 911. I was on the phone with them when the club rode up.”

“Why’d you run?”

“Because it was the dagger you’d given me that was sticking out of your chest. I panicked. Do you really think they wouldn’t have thought I did it?” She nodded toward Reno. “I was standing there with your blood on my hands.”

“My blood.”

“Yes. I felt for a pulse. I shook you, calling your name. Your blood was on me. I knew what they’d think, what it would look like to them. I panicked. I was afraid they’d kill me.” She paused to study his eyes, searching for any shred of understanding. “Rusty, I’d die before I’d hurt you.”

Rusty’s eyes flicked to Reno, and then back to her. “Well that was being arranged.”

The door opened, and a head poked in.

“Rusty, there’s a call for you.”

“Not now,” he snapped, not bothering to turn away from Skylar, his eyes still boring into her.

“You’re gonna want to take it.”

Rusty blew out a breath and stormed out the door, slamming it behind him.

Skylar frowned, looking at the floor as she tried to process the fact that Rusty was still alive. All this time she’d thought…

And then her eyes lifted to Reno. “You let me think he was dead. You knew all this time he was alive, and you didn’t tell me. Why?”

“It was entertaining to see how far you’d go with this bullshit story of yours. It’ll be more entertaining to see how Rusty deals with a double crossing bitch like you. Have to admit, you had me goin’ there for a half a second.” He let out a huff of cruel laughter. “Look on your face when he walked in. Priceless, babe.”

A few minutes later, Rusty returned. He stood over her and jammed his hands in his hip pockets, almost as if he didn’t trust himself not to touch her. And then he shocked her by saying, “Well, babe, seems you’ve got friends in the Evil Dead.”

Skylar swallowed. Oh, God. Shades. What had he done?

“That where you ran? To the Dead?”

“No…not exactly.”

“You want to explain that? Explain why they give a shit about you?”

“I…I used to know one of them. Well, more than one of them. My best friend’s brother was a member.”

“Really? That so? Seems you neglected to ever mention that to me.”

“Rusty, it was years ago.”

“And now? Did you hook up with one of ‘em?”

She looked away. Apparently that was all the answer he needed.

“I see. Guess you didn’t grieve long over me.”

“Rusty, please, it wasn’t like that. I swear. I was terrified. I was sure the DKs would hunt me down and kill me. I didn’t know where to go, I-”

“Save it.”

“You don’t understand-”

“Says he’s got proof you didn’t do it.”

“What?”

“Only one explanation for him to be comin’ for you. You must mean something to him.”

Skylar’s chest rose and fell. “I used to mean something to
you
.”

“Yeah, you did.”

Past tense.

His eyes moved over her face and then returned to her eyes. “You love this guy?”

“Rusty-”

“Do. You. Love. This. Guy?”

She was terrified of what he’d do if she spoke the truth, but she couldn’t deny it. Her mouth wouldn’t let her form the word. And besides, he deserved her honesty. “Yes.”

He sucked in a breath and studied her long moments. Then surprised her by asking, “He good to you?”

She frowned, not sure if this was some game he was playing with her or if he was seriously wanting to know. Apparently she hesitated too long.

“Skylar. Asked you a question.”

“Yes. He’s a good man.”

He huffed out a breath. “Guess I’ll be the judge of what kind of man he is when he gets here.”

“What?” Her face filled with shock. Shades was coming? Here? For her? She looked up at Rusty. Oh, God, they would kill him. “Rusty, please, it’s me you’re mad at, not him.”

“Evil Dead lied to us. Hid you out. Got in our business. That’s not something we let slide.”

“And if he has proof I didn’t do it?”

“You better pray he does,” Reno bit out with a curl of his lip from where he stood leaning against the wall, his arms folded.

Her eyes flicked to him, and then came back to Rusty. He stayed silent, his eyes boring into hers, and then he walked out, slamming the door.

“Rusty, wait!” she called after him.

Reno pushed off the wall and squatted down in front of her and advised, “Wouldn’t be counting on any last minute reprieve if I were you, darlin’. Even if this guy does have the balls to show up, doesn’t mean Rusty’s lettin’ you go. And as for the Dead—we’ll kill every last rat-bastard one of ‘em.”

Skylar swallowed.

He stood and grinned down at her. “Just something to mull over. While you sit here waiting, pretty girl.” Then he strode out.

Her eyes fell to the floor, her mind searching. The recording. The camera. It was the only ‘proof’ he could have. But it was at Rusty’s condo. Had he gone to get it? She’d told him about it. Apparently, he’d paid attention. Or was he bluffing? Her eyes slid closed. Either way, he’d be walking into the enemy’s camp. Alone.

****

Shades pulled his cell away from his face and looked over at Ghost who looked back at him with a ‘what-the-fuck’ expression on his face.

“Shades, what the hell are you doing? You just promised to deliver proof she didn’t do it! Proof we don’t have yet.”

“We’re going to get it.”

“Get it where?”

“Atlanta.”

“Atlanta?”

“Scene of the crime.”

“You have got to be shitting me.”

CHAPTER THIRTY SEVEN

“Let’s go,” Shades said starting to rise from the dumpster they were crouched behind. Shades and Ghost had found the place that Skylar had told him about. Maple Hill Condominiums, unit 246. They’d scoped the place out. The first streaks of dawn were just breaking on the horizon, and there were no lights on in the place.

“Whoa, Captain America. What the hell’s the plan here?”

“We bust the door in and get it.”

“Okay, what’s plan B? There is a plan B, right?”

“Ghost, the place is dark. Let’s go.”

“How about we scope it out first. Maybe I grab a red shirt and ball cap and pretend I’m delivering a pizza,” Ghost strategized, pulling an empty pizza box off the top of the dumpster. “At least see if anybody is in there. And if there are, how many we’re up against.”

‘Didn’t you hear what I just said?”

“Yeah, but I think my idea is the less likely to get us killed.”

“I don’t have time for that shit, Ghost. They’ve got Skylar. Right now she’s scared out of her mind. Locked up, tied up, fuck, who knows?”

“Okay, Brother. Calm down. Take a breath. We’re gonna get her back.”

“This has to work, Ghost, because failure isn’t something I can live with. I need to get her back. I just…I need her, Ghost.”

“Okay.”

Shades pulled his piece from the small of his back where it was shoved in his waist band. He pulled back the slide, loading a round in the chamber and took a breath. “Okay, Ghost. I’m gonna tell you the plan one more time, and you’d better be fucking on board with it.” Shades glared at him. “We’re goin’ in together, and we’re comin’ out together.”

Ghost blew out a breath, giving in to Shades’ insanity, knowing the man wasn’t going to quit until he had Skylar back. So, he did the only thing he could. He nodded, agreeing, “Good plan. I like it.”

They moved toward the back of the building and climbed the back exterior stairs to the second floor unit. They pressed their backs to either side of the door. Ghost bent down and peered into the darkened kitchen window and shook his head at Shades.

Shades tried the doorknob. It was locked. Ghost noticed the latch was not locked on the window. He dug his knife out and jimmied the screen off, setting it quietly on the porch. Shades glanced around, keeping lookout. Ghost slid the window up an inch and listened. There were no sounds coming from the inside. He pushed it the rest of the way up and threw his leg over, ducking inside. A moment later, he opened the back door for Shades.

The two men crept quietly to the hall and glanced around. The place was dark. Shades flicked on a tiny flashlight and headed down the hall locating the bedroom. Shades eyes moved to the bookcase on the wall opposite the bed. It didn’t look like anyone had messed with it. A line of books sat on the top shelf, the one on the end propped at a slight angle. He moved it, and there was the tiny camera.

“Got it, let’s go.”

They went out the way they came and got back to their bikes. They rode a couple of blocks and parked behind a church. Ghost pulled a laptop out of his saddlebag and booted it up. Shades pulled the SD card out of the camera and inserted it in the laptop. A few moments later they had video pulled up and were scrolling quickly through it.

Rusty stumbling drunk and passing out in bed. Skylar leaving in the morning. Two figures in hooded jackets entering the room. One hits Rusty in the head with something, a big flashlight maybe, or a pipe, it was hard to tell. They look in the bag on the nightstand and pick it up. Taking it, they both leave the room. A moment later, one of them comes back in and stabs the dagger into Rusty’s chest. As the man turns, he practically looks right at the camera.

Shades froze the video and turned to Ghost. “You recognize him?”

“Nope.”

Shades played the rest.

Skylar comes back in, dropping the coffee, she slowly approaches the bed, obviously shaking.

“Fuck,” Ghost murmured. “This is hard to watch. It’s like watching her whole world fall apart.”

They watched the rest of the video.

The DKs coming in, the paramedics and police arriving, them taking Rusty out.

“Wait a minute. Back up.”

Ghost backed the video up.

“If the guy’s dead, why didn’t they pull the sheet over his head?”

“You’re right. Check out the IV. Last I heard they don’t hook up an IV to a dead guy.”

“Fuck. He wasn’t dead.”

“At least not then.”

“And maybe not now.”

Twenty minutes later, Ghost and Shades quietly approached the DK clubhouse, staying out of sight. They crouched behind some bushes.

“What’s the plan here?” Ghost asked.

“I go in and I get her,” Shades replied, studying the clubhouse, a rundown warehouse in a sketchy side of town.

“You can’t go in there alone,” Ghost protested. “Wait for the guys. They’re not that far out.”

“I need to get to her. I need her to know I’m here. I just need to get inside, Ghost.”

“Yeah, that’s half the battle. Of course it’s the getting out part that’s the really dangerous bloody part.”

“If I don’t come out, if
we
don’t come out…call the brothers and light this motherfucking place up.”

“Shades, Christ, you don’t know what you’re up against.”

“I am getting her back, if it’s my last fucking act on this earth.”

“Shades—”

“No matter how this ends, it ends today.” He stood and began walking toward the gate. He wasn’t waiting. Not one more minute. Not another minute of knowing Skylar was trapped inside with those monsters. Not another minute of wondering what she’d already endured because Shades hadn’t fucking dealt with the fucking DKs weeks ago. Going in with an army took too long. He couldn’t wait.

Ghost pulled his cell out and punched in some numbers, muttering, “Jesus H Christ. You stubborn motherfucker.”

****

Rusty stared down at Skylar. “Your life means something to me, Skylar. But if I don’t start getting the truth, that’s gonna cease to be the case.”

She’d given up trying to convince him and stubbornly stayed mute.

Rusty caught her chin and tipped her head back, but before he could say another word, there was a pounding at the door. His brow furrowed as he swiveled his head to glare behind him. “Go the fuck away!”

A low voice drifted through the door. “You’re gonna want to see this.”

“Fucking see what?” he snapped.

One of his brothers stuck his head in the door.

“We got a visitor.”

Rusty lifted his chin to Reno. “Give me a few minutes and then bring her.” With that he headed out the door.

Reno pulled a wicked looking blade and knelt behind her. A moment later, her wrists were cut free. She felt the blood returning to her hands and moaned. Her shoulders ached from being pulled behind her all this time. She rotated her shoulders, trying to get feeling back in her arms. A bottle of water was pressed to her lips, and she drank thirstily.

She looked up at Reno as he capped the bottle. He’d been almost gentle with her this time.

“Thank you.”

Reno’s big hand closed over her upper arm and pulled her from the chair. She stumbled against him, her legs stiff from sitting for so long.

“Can you walk or do I need to carry you?”

“Please, just give me a minute.”

Surprisingly, he hesitated, giving her time. But it only lasted a few moments before he was pulling her out the door. She stumbled along. They came out into a dimly lit hallway, all very industrial in feel. He pulled her down to the left, and then down another hall to the right, finally coming out in a big open room. Skylar’s eyes flashed around her. They must be in some kind of warehouse, just like she’d suspected. But there were DK symbols up on the walls, so maybe this
was
their clubhouse.

There were about a dozen leather-clad members gathered around in a circle. They parted, turning to look as Reno pulled her forward. And there, in the middle of the circle stood Shades.

She gasped.

He looked like they’d already beaten the crap out of him, but he was still on his feet.

His eyes found her, and she saw the stricken look flash across his face as he took in her appearance. She knew she must look a sight. Her blouse was torn open revealing the camisole underneath, and it was stained with blood from where Reno had backhanded her mouth, splitting her lip. The side of her face was probably bruised and swollen, her hair hanging in tangles around her, and she was barefoot.

She tried to move toward Shades, but Reno yanked her back, pulling her against his side, his hand clamped tight over her upper arm.

“You okay, baby?” Shades asked her.

She nodded, tears in her eyes. “You shouldn’t have come.”

Rusty glanced back at her, and then back to Shades. “You got something for me?”

Skylar’s eyes roamed over Shades. He’d come. He’d walked right into the Lion’s den. For her.

Shades pulled something small out of his pocket.

Rusty reached out and took it, studying it. “What the fuck is this?”

“You got a laptop? Insert that in it. Pull up the video recorded on it.”

Rusty looked over at Growler, who turned and gave a chin-lift to one of his guys. A moment later, a laptop was brought forward and handed to Rusty. He slid the SD card in and fiddled with it a moment, finally pulling up the video. Growler, Rat and Rusty all gathered around it, watching. Reno tugged Skylar closer, peering over their shoulders. Skylar watched the video as well.

As the image pulled up and Rusty recognized his bedroom, his eyes flicked up to Shades. “What the fuck is this? How the hell did you get this? You bug my place?”

Shades stared him down.

“I put that camera in your room,” Skylar admitted softly.

Rusty’s head swiveled around to her. “You what?”

“You wanted to film us. I was going to give it to you for your birthday.”

One of his brothers snorted with laughter.

Rusty’s head swung around, and he snapped at the man, “Shut the fuck up.”

“Holy fuck!” Growler snapped, drawing everyone’s attention back to the video. Two hooded men were on the screen. One of them hit Rusty in the head. Then they went for the bag and left. A moment later one returned.

Skylar winced and looked away as he plunged the dagger into Rusty’s chest.

Rusty paused the video as the man turned and looked straight into the camera.

“Spawns,” Growler muttered.

“Who the fuck are the Spawns?” Rat asked.

“Eastside street gang. Play the rest.”

Rusty started the video again. It showed Skylar returning and finding him, rushing to his side, feeling for a pulse, shaking him, crying over him. Then leaving the room, returning with her cell, and making the frantic 911 call.

Rusty closed the laptop and passed it to Growler. Then he turned, his eyes searching out Skylar’s.

She met his look, her eyes filled with tears as she’d been forced to relive the entire event through the images in the video. “I told you the truth.”

He nodded. “Yeah.” Then he lifted his chin to Reno. “Let her go.”

She felt Reno’s hand instantly release her, and she ran to Shades, flinging herself at him. He caught her, wincing, one arm wrapping around her to pull her tight against him, but his eyes lifted to Rusty’s.

Skylar could immediately feel his tension. This wasn’t over yet. They still had to get out of here.

One of the DKs came through the door and rushed over to Growler. He said something low in his ear. There was a heated whispered discussion.

Shades took advantage of the opportunity it gave him to speak to Skylar. Dipping his head low to hers, he whispered in her ear, “I’ll get you out of here, I swear. No matter what gets in my way, I promise you.”

“You came for me,” Skylar whispered back brokenly.

“Of course I did, baby. I’d come for you no matter what.”

“How did you find me?”

“Shh, baby.”

They could over hear some of what the DKs where saying to each other, at least some of the words.

“They’re amassed outside the gates. We don’t send these two out, there’s gonna be a bloodbath.”

Growler murmured a low question she couldn’t hear, to which the DK replied, “Dozens of them. Armed to the teeth. We’re outnumbered and outgunned.”

“Is this going to start a war?” Skylar whispered.

“I gotta start a war just to bring you home, I will.”

“I’m afraid, Shades.”

“Baby, as long as there’s still life in me, no one’s touching you again.”