Taking a Dare - A Hellion MC Novel (30 page)

At his nod, I moved to the door but was stopped from
opening it by his hand on my arm. I looked up only to see him
frowning.

"Just don't want you hurt again, Ryley," he mumbled,
his eyes soft, so very soft as my father looked at me. "Couldn't
stand to go through that shit again."

Then he did something he hadn't done and I'd missed
for freaking years.

He bent and placed a careful kiss on my forehead.

"Thanks, Pop," I whispered with a wonky grin and got
the same in return.

Chapter Twenty Eight

Dare had known that he was expected to attend the
sit-down in Deer Lodge. His presence was a given as one of Trey's
council members. But he hadn't realized that some of the Spokane
brothers would have a beef with him being a part of it and them
not.

He'd heard their mutterings as he'd left the
clubhouse after Trey had called an emergency meeting to let the
members of both chapters know of what was going to go down. There
were little bits of grumbles, the narrowed eyes as he'd pushed his
way through the lingering men in order to get to the HC conference
room to hear the full strategy.

He hadn't been the one who compiled the roster of
those-that-would-attend and those-that-wouldn't but from the vibes,
he knew were directed towards him, that fact didn't seem to fuckin'
matter in the least. Or the reaction could've been from the
brothers under Gus's influence. The man had been glaring at him
throughout most of the meeting.

Did he fuckin' care?

Not at fuckin' all. Those fuckers could mutter and
shoot him the evil eye until the fuckin' cows came home and it
wouldn't bother him in the least.

He was riding a high that was so high,
nothing
was gonna bring him down.

Ryley had agreed to be his wife.

His
wife.

He and Ryley were getting married and would never
fuckin' have to be apart again.

Ever.

He was gonna have her in his bed when he laid down at
night and she would still damn-well be there when he woke up. She
would be there to share in his laughter and hold him during the bad
times just as he would do with her.

That
was all that mattered.

Everything else, he decided, was complete and utter
bullshit.

"Then Dare is with Leif," Trey announced as his
finger slid over the list he and Gus had spent an hour putting
together of who was to ride next to whom as the group traveled to
Deer Lodge.

Dare let his gaze take in all twenty men in the
conference room, some in chairs with the others, like him, pressed
against the walls. Everyone's eyes were on Trey as he gave out the
assignments.

It had to do with ranking and with respect within the
group so Dare was surprised that Gus would allow him to ride next
to Leif (his future bro'-in-law, his heart sang). Unless, of
course, Trey had insisted.

One thing that Dare had seen since his and Gus's
tussle was that the older man was now beginning to defer to Trey on
things. Maybe it was that Gus still carried the cane showing his
aging body's frailty or that Leif seemed to seek out Trey's
leadership in matters even doing with the Spokane club, but the old
man seemed…down. Beaten somehow. Even though he tried to cover it
with that bad-ass temper he wore so proudly.

"That's it," Trey said, tapping the clipboard in his
hands. "Any questions?"

"So if this shit goes south, how we gonna play it?"
Pagan asked. Only twenty Hellions were going and their ranks
included only the brothers that held 'CC', the license to carry
concealed weapons.

"We're sitting with five total Chaos members inside.
Five Hellions go in and there will be the same amount outside in
plain view with the other ten scattered but within twenty yards out
and around the building," Trey explained. "If shit goes south,
Pagan, then it's all hands in play. You get me?"

Every head in the room nodded at the president's
explanation.

"And should it go that way, take your brother's back,
do whatever shit needs doing then get your ass back on Hellion
property as fast as fuckin' possible." Bishop was always the one to
do the add-on instructions and never hesitated to do it then.

"We ain't lookin' for no trouble," Gus began. "But
we're Hellions so we don't back our asses down from it, either.
Have a care, keep an eye out and protect one another."

There were another round of head nods before Trey
spoke again in a refrain that he'd used before and that Dare knew
he'd use again as the occasion warranted.

"Hellion Rule and Justice!"
Trey roared and
shoved his fist out. There was a flurry of movement and the creak
as many asses left many chairs in order for the others to bring
their fists to their President's.

And the very air rang with their echo of his cry.

"Hellion Rule and Justice!"

All those that were taking the meeting in Deer Lodge
piled out into the forecourt and as they did, the clubhouse emptied
to see the group off. Dare was happy to see his Ryley (his fiancée,
his heart sang) was one of them.

While his original trajectory was for his bike, his
steps veered away in order to get to her, his girl, who began to
move toward him as well.

"Come see me off, gorgeous," he said, tagging her
hand and bringing her close to his side without changing his pace.
He tilted his head down and caught the look of love her face held.
A look that sent his heartbeat soaring and caused his mouth to
again move without thought. "Love you, Ryley."

"Love you, Dare," came her reply as he guided them to
his ride. Glancing at the other brothers who were already
straddling their machines, he quickly threw a leg over and used his
key.

"You spend the day planning our shit all out, sugar."
He was yelling to be heard over the sounds of many pipes filling
the space between the two buildings with their deep, rumbling
roars. "I'll be back and then we get to start our lives."

He caught her nod, the eye flare before she leaned in
and down, pressing her lips against his but he wasn't leaving
without being able to have the taste of her on his tongue. He used
a hand to hold her head to his as he slanted his mouth and savored.
And their kiss would've lasted a
fuck
of a lot longer if
Trey hadn't revved his own ride to signal they were moving out.

"Later, cowboy. Stay safe," she whispered against his
mouth.

"Late, gorgeous," he whispered back and realized he
was throbbing with only the bit of mouth play they'd shared. "See
you when I get back."

"You can count on it," she yelled before stepping
back and out of the way.

Dare used his feet to walk his machine into place
next to Leif and saw March sneer from the sidelines. Ryley's ex
hadn't been one of the men chosen to go, which Dare considered a
good thing since the man was already swaying on his feet. Not even
noon and the man was bombed.

Yeah
,
motherfucker
, Dare thought as he
directed a huge smile March's way when he passed.
I'm higher up
in the club and I got the girl. Eat my shit, you drunk-ass
fuckwad!

Leif was glaring and shaking his head as he pulled on
a pair of fingerless gloves when Dare slid into place beside him.
Dare directed a full-watt smile to the other man as well as a
chin-lift. But out of the corner of his eye, he saw Trey raise a
fist and they were off.

Deer Lodge was only an hour and fifteen away from
their clubhouse, just long enough to break the cobwebs from a
biker's mind and allow him to concentrate and prepare for the
meeting ahead. A sit-down that would determine the future of the
Hellions, both by club and by business.

It was some serious shit they were going in to
negotiate.

By the strategy Trey had laid out, Dare wouldn't be
going inside to participate but would be one of the brothers that
would be immediately outside of the bar the Czar's had suggested.
Bishop had run the particulars on the business and found, as the
shithead had said, the place was neutral. The bar owner rode but
wasn't affiliated with any club and was only acting as host. The
rules as the Czar president had laid out was that any damages to
the bar would be paid by whichever club inflicted said destruction
which everyone agreed to abide by.

The bitch of it was, under Montana laws, the brothers
going into the bar had to go in bare. The way the law read, the bar
owner could have a weapon but anyone entering the premises (where
liquor was being sold, dispensed or consumed) could not. This
included both guns and knives that had a blade over four inches
long.

So if shit did go south, then all his fuckin'
brothers could legally do were to use their fists or something
along the lines of defending themselves and their men with a
fuckin' pocket knife. Dare knew Trey wouldn't fuckin' put up with
that shit which meant the men were packing weapons in boots and
hidden pockets. No brother that carried and attended a meet would
ever go in naked.

Especially not if the meet was with a rival club that
had more balls than sense.

At Trey's signal, they exited the 94 to take the 90
and led them into Deer Lodge's only hospital's parking lot. A place
that had a helluva lot more parking spaces than cars. And a
complement of twenty huge machines pulling into the driveway had
more than one civilian rubber-necking in a slack-jawed fashion.

Trey pushed off his bike and Dare saw him rooting
around in his panniers, the big black leather cases that bracketed
both sides of the rear tire. Pulling out headsets and small
receivers, he went down the line, giving one set to every other
team. After distributing, he stood in the middle of the pack and
raised his voice to be heard over the wicked Montana wind.

"We're doing this military style so fucking set your
receivers to channel fourteen," he instructed. "Need all you
fuckers to communicate with one another. Gus is wired with
something similar, so you'll be able to hear and he'll hear you. No
surprises, yeah?"

Dare could feel the first sizzle of his adrenaline
begin at Trey's words. His body's tension had been revved sky-high
over the doings of the last few days and was finally going to have
an outlet.

Oh fuck to the yeah!

"You see shit, you react and let Gus know of the
fucking doings as the teams resolve it. Keep sharp, focused. But
keep it in all in fucking check," he continued and his laser-like
gaze swept over each and every Hellion in the group. As Trey's eyes
met Dare's, the sizzle flared and went bone deep. "We're here to
get what we want, what the Hellions fucking need. We'll try
nice-nice but if it ain't working, we'll go with Plan B."

"And Plan B is…?" Dare didn't know who asked and
didn't care because no Plan B had been discussed in the conference
room earlier.

Trey's gaze did another sweep of the men before him
before bellowing, "No fucking club owns a fucking freeway! Nor do
they stop a Hellion from getting where he wants to go!"

Oh hell, yeah!

That was all Dare needed.

The Hellions would get exactly what they wanted or
there would be hell to pay.

Plain and simple.

Real and true.

While Trey stormed back to his ride, Dare felt his
blood begin to resonate from someplace deep inside.

As Bishop would say, it was time to dance.

*.*.*.*.*

"Okay, so what are they doing and why are they doing
it?" Lock's whisper was loud enough to carry throughout the kitchen
but not loud enough for the brothers still hanging in the big room
of the clubhouse to overhear.

"I got nothing," Carly admitted. "Huff wouldn't give
up anything and I even tried it with my mouth working him."

"I know, right?" Jilly chimed in. "I kept after Snake
until he finally told me to either ride him hard or to shut the
fuck up."

Reese's eyes came up from the veggies she was
mangling with her knife. "My Brand wouldn't let me near him, saying
he had to 'get his head in the game' which means shit-all to
me."

"Dare would only say it was club business," I added
and then could've bitten my tongue off with what I admitted.
Feeling my face heat, I looked around the room and saw a number of
small smiles on a number of pretty faces but they weren't looking
at me. When my eyes caught Vegas's, I saw the softness in her
visage.

"March said the same, about it being club business,
which I'm taking as code for no-Honeys-allowed," she said, her eyes
still on mine. I couldn't help my smile and got the same in return
giving me hope that things between her and I would eventually be
good.

"And what up with that shit anyway?" Lock groused
from her place at the stove. "Why is it we never get to know
anything in advance?"

"But our asses are supposed to be in the hospital
waiting room when shit goes bad?" Carmi asked, a frown marring her
pretty face. "Sometimes I feel more like a cheerleader than a
Honey."

God, she had
that
right!

"Back in the day, it wasn't like this," Dee explained
in a normal voice. I wasn't even sure if the older Honey
could
whisper. "They used to pull us in, tell us what was
going on. But sure as shit, all it took was one Honey to fuck it
all up."

I glanced at Lock and saw the same question in her
eyes as what I was thinking. Turning to Carly, I saw her frowning.
"Who, how and why?" the tall auburn beauty asked.

"You wanna answer that one, Rye?" Dee asked, turning
her carefully made-up face my way.

"Me? I don't know shit," I sputtered. Why would she
think I knew this crap? I was, as a princess, so out of the loop I
could've been in Denmark, for god's sake.

Dee's eyebrows almost met her hairline, they went up
so far. "Your mom? The shit with the BKC's back in the late
nineties?"