Summer Storm: A Satan's Fury MC Novella (4 page)

Allie

‡

M
y drive home
was a total blur. My mind was spinning, reeling from that kiss… that unexpected, perfect kiss. I brought the tips of my fingers to my mouth and smiled as I touched my swollen lips. I could still feel the sensation of his mouth against mine. I’d never been kissed like that before, and it had left me longing for more. But he’d stopped, and I just couldn’t understand why. There was obviously something bothering him, and I had to think that it was me. Maybe I had misread everything. I thought back to all of our conversations, and up until he pulled away, I had really thought he was interested in me. I knew I wasn’t imagining the sexual chemistry I felt when we kissed. Damn. I really liked him, and I’d thought he felt the same way about me. I couldn’t help but feel a little disappointed that I might have been wrong.

When I thought about it, I realized that Kane looked nothing like the men I had dated in the past. His dark hair was pulled back in a ponytail, and he had several cryptic tattoos trailing down his arm. In any other situation, I would have thought his large build and huge biceps were intimidating, but all I could do was fantasize about being wrapped in his arms. I found him to be incredibly attractive, and as I’d walked towards him, I could feel my entire body physically reacting to him with every single step I took. The man had enchanted me with his bluish gray eyes that pierced straight through to my heart. With just one look, I felt him claim me in every way I could ever imagine.

From the very beginning, I’d known things were going to be different with him. Until now, I’d never really had the desire to get to know the men I was dating on a deeper level. It seemed too intimate. It was just safer to keep my walls up and play along with them and whatever made them happy. I guarded my heart and kept them at a distance. It wasn’t like that with Kane, though. I wanted to get to know him, and until that kiss, I thought he felt the same way about me. Now I was confused. The look on his face left me doubting everything, and I didn’t know what to think anymore.

Instead of going back to work, I decided to drive straight home. I needed to decompress. I wanted a long hot bath and a strong drink. After I’d soaked in the tub for almost an hour, my mind was still reeling from everything that had happened throughout the day. I desperately needed to escape for a bit. I decided to put on my favorite shorts and t-shirt and search for a good, funny movie. I needed a good laugh, so I settled on
Crazy, Stupid, Love
. Unfortunately, just as Ryan Gosling threw Steve Carrell’s 407s over the rail, my phone chimed with a new message from Tony.

I can’t wait til Sunday. Need to see you now. Lancaster’s – 30 minutes

T

His timing sucked, but there was no way I could tell him no. I replied back, telling him that I would be there and quickly began to change my clothes. As I made my way up to Lancaster’s, I couldn’t help but wonder what was going on with him this time. I knew something had to be horribly wrong, or he wouldn’t have been so eager to see me. All of the worst-case scenarios ran through my head. The fear for his wellbeing consumed me.

I tried to prepare myself for what lay ahead, but as I walked into the rundown, almost condemned, bar my anxiety only intensified. The whole place gave me the creeps. All of the customers seemed shady and from the rough side of town. The lights were dim, and the cigarette smoke made it difficult to even see. With burning eyes, I made my way to the back of the bar where Tony was waiting for me.

When I approached, he barked, “It’s about time you got here.”

“Tony, I got here as fast as I could. I’m not even late.” His knees were bouncing under the table, and I could tell that he was on edge. I’d never seen him look so upset. “What’s going on with you?” I asked. “Is something wrong?”

“Sit down, sis,” he said firmly.

“That bad, huh?” I asked as I threw my purse down in the booth and sat down. I watched as he glanced around the room like he was expecting someone to jump out and get him. He was obviously freaked out, and it was starting to scare me.

“I need your help, Allie. And I need it now. I’ve run out of time,” he said desperately.

“Why? What’s going on, Tony? Just tell me. Be honest!”

“I need money, Allie. Serious money, and I need it now,” he said as he glanced around the bar yet again, making sure no one was watching us. “You gotta give me twenty-five thousand dollars… now.”

“Twenty-five thousand dollars! Are you insane?” I shouted.

“I know you’ve got savings. It’s not like you’ve got kids or family or anything. I am your family. Can’t you get an emergency loan against your condo? It’s only twenty-five thousand dollars… you could even get your bank to give you a signature loan for a car in twenty-four hours. Why don’t you try that? They’ll hand you a check. If I don’t get it soon, they’re going to kill me. You have to help me, sis. Please,” he pleaded.

“Tony, seriously… there’s no way I can get my hands on that kind of money,” I told him. “I want to help, Tony. I love you. You know I do. You’re my brother. I just don’t know if it’s possible for me to get that much money.”

“What about the Youth Center? Didn’t you rake in all kinds of money with all those fundraisers and shit?” he snapped.

“Are you kidding me? Are you really asking me to steal?” I asked, completely stunned. “You know I can’t do that!”

I was in shock. I couldn’t believe that he even considered asking me to do something like that. He knew how I felt about my job, about helping those kids. There was no way I would ever do anything to jeopardize my career.

“Allie… they’re going to kill me! Hell, they’ll probably come after you, too, if I don’t get them this money. These guys don’t fuck around. They will come after us. I promise you that.”

“Who? What have you done? What have you gotten yourself into? Why would they come after me? How do they even know about me? You hide your whole life from me. I don’t even know any of the people you associate with. You’re scaring me, Tony,” I told him. I tried to fight back my tears, but there was no use. The thought of someone hurting him made my chest ache. I couldn’t even process the fact that I had been drawn into his mess. All I could feel was my heart pounding, each beat striking harder than the last. What was I going to do? He was the only family I had left, and I couldn’t lose him.

“You should be scared, sis. Hell, I’m scared. I’m scared to death. I’ve gotta get this money fast, or we’re dead,” he stressed.

I was completely overwhelmed, but I knew I had no other choice. I had to try and help him. “I’ll see what I can do,” I told him.

“Thank you, Allie. You’re my last hope,” he said as he reached over and squeezed my hand.

“Can’t promise you anything, Tony,” I told him. “I have no idea if I can pull this thing off, but I’ll do everything I can. You can’t expect me to steal from my work, though. That’s not an option, but I’ll do what I can. I love you. You’re not alone in this,” I promised. “I’ll contact you as soon as I know something.”

He quickly stood up and towered over me, his eyes glowing in urgency. “You have to, Allie. You have to!” He slammed his fist against the table, causing everyone in the bar to look in our direction. When he saw them looking, he lowered his voice to a strained whisper and said, “I’ve gotta get out of here. I’ll be in touch… and Allie?”

“Yeah?”

“Hurry!” he pleaded before he turned and walked out of the bar.

Shit…. it was so much worse than I thought.

*     *     *

Guardrail

‡

A
s soon as
I left Allie, I headed straight to the clubhouse. I had to get to Big Mike. After hearing that Tony had contacted Allie, it was on. Even though she told me he didn’t plan to meet up with her until Sunday, I wasn’t leaving this in the prospects’ hands. Tony was desperate and could turn up at any time. I wanted to know the minute he showed up, and Big Mike was the best man for the job. In addition to being one of the bigger guys in the club, he was also our best hacker. He could get into any computer system in just a matter of seconds, so I knew he wouldn’t have any trouble getting into her phone messages. Luckily, he wasn’t hard to find. After pounding on his door, I walked into his room and found him hacking away at his computer.

“Hey, Big Mike. Tony contacted Allie. It’s time to move on this. I need you to hack into her phone and monitor all of her calls and texts from this point on.”

“You got it, brother. I’m on it,” he reassured me. “I’ve got this.” He patted me on the shoulder. “You don’t have to worry about me monitoring it. Here’s a shadow phone. I’ll have it up and running in less than an hour. You’ll be able to monitor her yourself directly. It will automatically ring when hers does. Every phone call or message she gets will come through this phone as she gets it, instantaneously. You can answer, and she won’t even know you’re listening.”

“Perfect. Let me know if anything else comes up,” I told him.

“Will do,” Big Mike nodded. “I’ll check every angle and go through the numbers that Tony used to contact her and see if we can get a lead from them, too,” he said.

“Good. I need a beer. I’ll check back in thirty,” I told him as I left his room and headed to the bar.

I needed a minute to clear my head and was relieved to find that the bar was fairly empty. Most of the brothers were still at work, so it was quiet. Cassidy was behind the counter and smiled when she saw me walking in her direction. There was a time when I would’ve been interested in that smile. Not anymore.

“Hey there, Guardrail. Want a beer? Or something stronger?” she asked.

“Just a beer. Give me my usual,” I told her as I sat down.

“You look like you have something on your mind, hun. You want to talk about it?” she asked. Of all the sweet butts, she was the only one with an actual heart. I wouldn’t have wasted my time on most of the club girls around there. They were only interested in getting their hands on a property patch, and you can’t make a hooker a housewife. Cassidy was different, though. She seemed to really care about the club, and I liked that about her.

“Always got something on my mind, Cass. Today isn’t any different,” I told her as I took the beer from her hand. That wasn’t exactly true. I’d never had my every thought wrapped up in a woman like this before, and I could feel the tightness growing in my chest when I thought about something happening to her.

“Well, I’m here if you want to talk about it,” she offered.

“Thanks. Just want to drink my beer.”

“Let me know if you change your mind,” she said as she turned and headed over to finish cleaning the bar top.

I’d just finished off my beer when Big Mike stormed up to me with an anxious look on his face. “Tony made contact about thirty minutes ago. He’s meeting her at Lancaster’s right now.”

“Fuck!” I shouted.

“Want me to head over there?” he asked.

“We’ll both go… and get a few of the others to come along. If he’s still there, we don’t want to risk him getting away,” I ordered. “And tell the prospects to stay at her place. I want to know when she gets back.”

“I’ll meet you out front in five minutes,” Big Mike told me.

True to his word, five minutes later Big Mike met me out front with three brothers and four prospects. We headed straight for Lancaster’s, but by the time we got there, Tony was gone. There was no sign of anyone. When I described Allie and Tony to the bartender, he said that we’d only missed them by a few minutes.

“Want me to head over to her place?” Big Mike asked.

“I’ll go. Be on call. If something comes up, I need you to be ready,” I told him.

“You know I will,” he told me as he followed me out to my bike. “You think Tony will turn up there?”

“No idea, but I’ll be there in case he does,” I told him as I started up the engine. He nodded and turned to leave as I pulled out of the lot. I needed to get to Allie. I had to find out if she was okay. The thought of something happening to her was killing me. Fuck. The woman had her hands wrapped around my heart. I was a goner, and there wasn’t a damn thing I could do about it.