Fractured & Formidable: The Sacred Hearts MC Book V (15 page)

Revelator…

Taking the long road, doing the right thing, and using your
words and actions that didn’t involve letting fists fly, was harder and way
more time consuming than just punching a dude in the face a few times and going
out for a beer after. Still, I couldn’t argue the result in this case. My Red
had fuckin’
glowed
with happiness as she’d moved around first the church
basement, then her parent’s kitchen.

Her dad had pulled the church folks aside and asked if they
wanted his resignation. They’d said no, but had put some decent stipulations on
his staying. I guess one of their deacons was a retired cop. He had a good head
on him and had suggested some anger management classes, said they’d helped him
some years back when his temper had got him in hot water. Red’s dad had agreed
and when they all came downstairs, the deacon-cop had wandered on over to our
Pres. and they’d started talking. There seemed to be some history there. Small
world.

It was just me, Dray, Ev and my Red at dinner. The rest of
the guys had split off at the church after all was said and done and gone on to
do their own thing. Not before I’d caught Zeb taking my girl aside though. I’d
shamelessly listened in while he’d told her that he was happy for her, but that
he was sorry he’d missed the bus when it came to getting with her. He was a
stand-up brother. He’d kissed my girl on her cheek and said they’d be friends
forever, and when he’d caught me lookin’ and listenin’, said to take care of
her.I could fuckin’ respect that. At the same time, I found myself sending out
a little something or other into the ether, thanking my lucky stars I’d pulled
my head out of my ass when I did. Everett sure wasn’t lying about other guys
taking interest.

“You ain’t going to be expecting me to go with you
every
Sunday now are you?” I asked.

We were laying on the couch at my place, fire burning
brightly in the hearth. The wind and rain sweeping violently outside. It’d
gotten downright stormy out there, but then again, it was the time of year for
it. I’d ridden home in the rain and the wet while she’d taken Everett home. It
surprised me when she’d shown up at my place. I’d answered the door fresh out
of a hot shower and she’d fallen on me, kissing me with this wild abandon that
I was all fucking for. I’d made love to her right there on the entryway floor.
Classy, I know, but when it was right it was right and it was
right fucking
then
, so…

Red giggled and answered my question, “No. It was so
amazing, what you guys did for me today.” She snuggled against my chest and I
tucked the comforter from the top of my bed closer down around us. I’d gotten
it after we were through, pulling Mandy down on top of me as we lay in front of
the fire on my couch. If only she realized how amazing
she
was.

“Anything for you, Sugar,” I kissed the top of her head and
felt her smile against my chest. She kissed me, over my heart and laid her head
back down.

“What happens now?” she asked softly.

“Now, we get into some kind of new routine. Trig and I keep
lookin’ for a place to set up shop, I keep training, we figure out how to fit
into each other’s lives.” I shrugged and she laughed.

“Listen to you! Deep thinker. I mean what happens right now!
Do you want me to stay tonight or..?” I laughed.

“You got tomorrow off?” she nodded. “Sweet. Then yeah, you
stay here tonight. Tomorrow, well shit, we’ll figure that out when we get
there, sound good?” she nodded again and settled against me, more relaxed, more
at ease.

“Don’t gotta plan everything down to the nth degree, Sugar,”
I murmured gently.

“I’m just so used to that being the way things are,” she
said gently.

“I know,” I smoothed my hands up and down her body beneath
the comforter.

“I wasn’t sure before,” she said suddenly, out of nowhere
after some time had gone by with nothing other than the wind and the rain in
the eaves and the warm crackle and hiss of the fire in the fireplace to fill
the comfortable silence.

“Before what?” I asked when she trailed off, I looked down
my chest where she stared off into space, her autumn colored eyes staring fixed
into the leaping flames. She blinked slowly as if hypnotized by the fire and
propped her chin on her hand which rested flat and warm against my skin. God, I
couldn’t get enough of her skin on skin!

“When you showed up with everyone today… what you said in
front of the whole church… I think I love you.” I gave her a squeeze and smiled
as I bolted forward and kissed her nose.

“You think?” I said, teasingly. She smiled.

“I’ve never been in love with anyone before, but if this is
what it’s like then I’m happy it’s you.” I chuckled and felt suffused with
warmth.

“I love you, Red. Never told any woman that. Not a one, so
you’re pretty fuckin’ special.”

She reared up and wiggled so she could kiss me on the mouth,
which turned from a quick kiss to something much deeper and laced with some
serious emotion. The kiss we shared had weight and when I’d kissed her damn
near breathless and let her go gently, she leaned back from me and searched my
eyes with hers.

“I love you,” she said, and I could see plain as day that it
frightened her a little what she was feeling for me, and that made me hold her
tight and tighter.

“Y’know, I used to know this dude, he was a part of the club
a long time ago. They called him Unkind, because he was a surly bastard if ever
there was one,” Mandy tipped her head to the side, her look considering. “He
said to me once, ‘It doesn’t matter who hurt you or broke you down. What
does
matter is who made you smile again.’ Of course he was drunk as fuck when he
said it, but it stuck with me.” I could feel the smile on my face fade as I
stared into Mandy’s too serious one.

“Why are you telling me this?” she asked softly.

“Because in some ways you were that girl for me. I was
working so damned much, busy as all get out…” I sighed, “You made me want to
stop… and after Open Road Ink and a bunch of the other shit, you made me smile
again and I just hope that in some way, big or small, that I’m that guy for you
too.” My Red climbed my body and straddled my hips, kissing me deeply. I sat up
and she squealed, laughing as I took her along for the ride.

“If we’re gonna do this, I’m taking you to bed,” I said and
nipped her shoulder.

“Oh we are most definitely going to do this,” she murmured,
and damned if it wasn’t the most seductive thing I’d ever heard her say, her
voice low and husky and yeah. We were definitely going to do this.

I stood up and set her on her feet. I picked up the
comforter and threw it over my shoulder and followed her down the hall to my
room. God she had the most gorgeous heart shaped ass and no matter how much I
told myself I could get used to this, I knew I never would. And you know what?
I was totally cool with that. Like completely cool.

Mandy turned, her arms winding around my shoulders and my
body met hers eagerly. I threw the comforter behind her onto the bed and pulled
her silky warm flesh against mine. She giggled into my mouth as I gripped her
ass with my palms and kneaded, I brought my head back and considered her a
moment. God I wanted to take her hard, just bend her the fuck over and pound
her into next week!

She turned trusting eyes up to me and the wild, primal urge
died down to something tolerable. I enjoyed some seriously rough sex from time
to time but I didn’t think my virgin girl was ready for the rough stuff. Not
yet. Maybe someday but not today. I wasn’t entirely sure how to even bring it
up to her, so for now I simply walked her back into the bed and made hot,
sweet, passionate love to her. We had plenty of time for all of the rest.

Mandy…

Finding a new sort of routine that included Zander wasn’t
difficult. At all. What was difficult was adjusting to going out and being
active, and just plain around more people, more often. I still enjoyed my
solitude and my evenings in on any given Friday or Saturday night. For the most
part I gave in and would go to the club with Zander or with Everett and meet
Zander there, but every once in a while I needed a slow and quiet night spent
in, either at my place or his and I was surprised to find that Zander was okay
with that. Surprised even more when he showed up with a book or books of his
own… it was one of my favorite things in the world now, curling up with him,
head on his shoulder or chest as we each read our own book. The quiet nights
spent inside grew more frequent the closer and closer we drew to the fight
Zander was supposed to be in.

We’d talked about it and I’d told him truthfully that I
worried about it. That I was afraid he was going to be hurt, especially knowing
that his opponent was from the rival motorcycle gang, The Suicide Kings.

The weekend after the club had come to my father’s church,
one of the men from The Suicide Kings had attacked Shelly in Ghost’s house.
She’d had to do something awful to save herself, but in some way, I think that
it healed her a little bit from what had happened to her before. Still, I felt
a keen sense of dread wherever I went, even when the men of The Sacred Hearts
were near, watching over us, which was
all the time
now, even after both
sides had met and agreed to a temporary cease-fire. Well, at least until the
outcome of Zander’s fight with their man in what he called ‘the underground
circuit’. I wasn’t stupid. I knew that was a polite way of saying ‘illegal
fight’ but I followed Everett’s lead, for the most part, and stayed quiet.

The questions I did have, I asked of Zander and only when we
were alone. Some he answered and other’s he wouldn’t… well, that wasn’t fair.
Some he
couldn’t
answer as they fell under the ubiquitous umbrella of
‘club business.’ When it came to that, our relationship was wholly based on
love and trust and a bit of blind faith, which I had in Zander and so it was
okay.

Now it was just after Christmas, but still before the New
Year and I stood in front of the full length mirror on the inside of my closet
door with Everett behind me. I was wearing some of her clothes and with the
snow on the ground, I was pretty sure I was going to lose
something
to
frostbite but I had to admit, I looked like a whole different person. I wasn’t
wholesome Mandy, the preacher’s daughter. No, I was Red. Zander’s buxom
girlfriend and someone who looked like they belonged on a fighter’s arm. I
tugged at the skin tight top of the dress and shifted in my heels.

“I’m afraid I am going to pop out of this and flash the
entire crowd,” I complained. Everett laughed. She looked just as tarted up as I
did, except on her it looked
good.
She had this sexy confidence while
me… I just looked freaked out and like I was wearing way too much eye makeup.

“Relax Mandy. You look amazing.” She rolled her steely blue
eyes at me when I fidgeted one more time. “You aren’t going to fall out either.
Welcome to looking like a modern
woman
and not a…” she trailed off.

“Preacher’s daughter?” I asked with a wry grin. She broke
out into a sheepish one of her own.

“Well, yeah…”

“My father was right. You’re a terrible influence!” Everett
gave an indignant shriek and fell out laughing. I laughed with her but quickly
sobered.

“He’s going to be okay, right Evy?” I asked meekly.

She sighed, “Mandy, you’ve never seen Zander throw a punch
or get into a fight but I
have
, at the last Lake Run. He’s going to be
fine. I promise you!” she hugged me. “You worry too much!”

A soft knock fell on the bedroom door.

“You girls ready?” Dray called through the wood. Everett
opened the door for him. He took me in, deep dark eyes roaming me from head to
toe and back again. Everett grinned.

“You look good, Red,” he said cautiously, eyeing Everett.

Everett rolled her eyes, “Just say it! I know I’m the only
one for you,” she teased.

“Fine, if Evy weren’t in the picture and you didn’t belong
to Rev, I’d be fucking you against the wall.” He shrugged laconically and I
scoffed, mostly in surprise.

I took one last look in the mirror. I wore a skin tight
black dress of Everett’s with these long sleeves, but there were these cut outs
that left like a ladder effect from shoulder to wrist along the outsides of my
arms. The neckline plunged low and the short skirt rode high, barely covering
the garter holding my stockings up. Also borrowed from Everett. The only thing
I wore that
was
mine were the black high heeled boots that came above
the knee and of course, my own bra and panties. A matching set that she and I
had bought just for this occasion.

It was still weird to look into the mirror and not see
curls. Everett had spent well over an hour, painstakingly straightening my
fiery red hair with a flat iron. Her careful work would be completely undone as
soon as it got wet, but for now it hung straight and beautiful down past my
waist. No one had ever seen me with my hair straight, I wondered vaguely what
Zander would think, but I wouldn’t see him until
after
the fight. I
hadn’t seen him since the day before yesterday. We’d both hated it, but the
guys seemed to think that it would help him focus… Well, it was what his
trainer had always insisted upon and Trigger and Reaver had just reminded him
of it. He’d wanted to ignore them but I’d been the one to insist upon it. I
didn’t want to be one to mess with a tried and true method.

Dray appeared behind me in the mirror and held up my coat for
me to slip into which I did, obediently. I didn’t know what to expect when it
came to this fight, but the men had assured us that the venue would be safe. As
far as Sacred Heart women went, it would just be me and Everett. Ashton and
Hayden had skipped on the notion of attending, preferring to spend girl time
with one another. Chandra wanted to spend some time with her grandchildren,
though Doc would be there to tend to the fighters. Shelly had said not only no,
but Hell no. She didn’t want to be anywhere near anyone even remotely related
to The Suicide Kings, and who could blame her? Ghost would be there though.
Shelly preferring to stay home and work on numbers for both Soul Fuel and
Pauley’s Towing, her man’s business.

We left the house, Trigger waiting at the curb in his and
Ashton’s garnet red Jeep. Dray opened the front door for me and stood to the
side. I blinked. He was a gentleman to Everett only. I climbed up inside the
vehicle and Trigger gave a low whistle eyes roaming me appreciatively. He’d just
proposed to Ashton last weekend so I knew he was just being polite. The large
man only had eyes for the petite auburn-haired beauty that was his woman.
Still, he made me blush which made him laugh.

Dray and Evy settled into the back seat, my best friend
cuddling into her man’s arms and I felt faintly jealous. I was surprised at how
much I missed Zander and it had only been a couple of days! What surprised me
even more was when Trigger pulled into a parking lot for a high school.

I frowned. Somehow I didn’t picture an illegal fight venue
as a high school gymnasium, but sure enough that was where we were headed.
Trigger offered me his arm to steady me. High heels weren’t usually a trick for
me to walk in but with the hearty layer of snow and ice on the ground, well
that was a different story.

It was hot in the gym and Trigger took my coat. I felt
self-conscious when it came to my attire but decided that showing as much would
be a
really
bad idea. There weren’t many women in attendance and the men
who were… Well let’s just say there were some rough characters streaming into
the gym around us. Trigger mean mugged a few of the more enterprising men that
tried to approach me, and Dray did the same for Ev. They took us over to some
ringside seats, folding metal chairs close to the ring which was encased in
chain link fence, almost like you would see at a construction site, but
modified. I swallowed hard and jumped when a hand fell onto my shoulder.

“Easy Mandy-girl! Just me,” Zeb’s familiar accent sounded
from close by. I smiled up at him. Familiar was good.

“I have to go in back, Zeb you look after her, man,” Trig
said. Zeb gave Trigger a little salute and with a lingering kiss, Dray left Evy
in the care of Duracell. We sat bracketed by the men who stood to the side and a
little behind our seats, looking rather imposing.

The bleachers of the school’s gym were filling and Zander
had told me that the people in attendance had paid thirty to fifty dollars apiece
to be here, which I thought was just plain amazing! It’d made me wonder, rather
dubiously, why anyone would want to pay that amount of money just to watch two
men beat each other senseless. It just didn’t make sense to me, but to each
their own I suppose.

A young man, maybe my age, got up into the ring wearing some
very baggy jeans and an oversized white tee shirt, a hat turned sideways on his
head in the typical hip-hop fashion that made about as much sense to me as the
whole fighting thing did. He raised a microphone to his mouth.

“Hey, yo! Yo! Check it!” he cried into the mic and the crowd
went a little wild. Everett laced her fingers with mine and smiled at me
encouragingly.

“Usually, we save the best fight for last and I’m here to
tell you that the main event is gonna blow your mind, but!” the man bucked up
straight and turned in place, “Tonight is gonna play a little different man,
because we got an old friend with a new name coming back to our ring and it’s a
special kind of grudge match tonight!” The crowd cheered and stamped their feet
in the bleachers and I swallowed hard.

“How many of you fools remember Zander!?” the MC asked, and
the gymnasium erupted in cheers so loud my ears began to ring, I almost didn’t
hear the music start, it sounded like an accordion and a male guttural voice
chanted ‘Come with me now… come with me now,’ and the announcer put his mic
back to his mouth and bellowed,

“Let me introduce you to a man who needs no introduction!
Please welcome, John ‘The Revelator’ Alexandeeeeeerrrr!!!” the music swelled
over the screaming,
Come with me now, I’m gonna take you down…

Zander came out of one of the locker rooms at the end of the
gym flanked by Trigger and Dragon, Doc trailing behind them with his big black
medical bag. All of them wore their leather Sacred Hearts vests, Zander over
his bare chest. He had on black satin shorts like boxers wear with white on the
sides and his hands were taped up past the wrist, gleaming white under the
overhead lights. When he leapt up into the ring I could see his feet and ankles
had been similarly taped. They took to their corner of the ring, which seemed
to have more than just four and the music stopped.

The announcer started up again, listing off statistics of
the man that Zander was about to face and the more he went on, height, weight
etc., the more nervous I became. He sounded a lot bigger than Zander did, I
leaned towards Evy…

“I thought opponents were supposed to be of equal size and
weight!”

She looked about as nervous as I felt, “Me too, but look at
the guys Mandy, they don’t seem phased in the slightest and this fight isn’t
exactly legal, maybe those rules don’t matter so much,” I cast my eyes towards
Zander, Trigger was shoving a mouth guard between Zander’s lips but Zander’s
eyes were all for the behemoth coming out of the locker rooms. He was easily a
head and shoulders taller than Zander and looked like a raging bull. He too was
flanked on either side by men wearing Suicide Kings vests and no doctor
followed in their wake.

The announcer introduced the man as Bjorn ‘The Sweeper’
Elmquist and he was positively frightening. Long limbed and broad shouldered,
he had this downright nasty and frightening look on his face. Scowl didn’t even
begin to cover it, his features twisted hard into a mask of pure hatred and
though I couldn’t delineate his eye color from here, there was no mistaking the
intensity with which they burned. His long, light blonde hair was swept into a low
ponytail which had been twisted into a knot at the nape of his neck, something
that couldn’t be grabbed on to. His shorts were yellow with red at the sides
and before he even set foot into the octagonal ring, I found myself praying
hard and harder for Zander.

“The fat guy in the denim vest, with the beard? That’s Griz.
He’s their president. I don’t know who the other guy is,” Evy shouted over the
screeching death metal that had accompanied Zander’s opponent’s arrival.

Dray sat down on the other side of Evy and had evidently
heard what she’d said, “Their fighter goes by the name Nord in their circle.
The guy on his other side, that’s their Sgt. at Arms, calls himself Gordy. You
doing okay, Red?” he asked me. I nodded mutely.

“He’s going to be okay Mandy, I promise!” Everett squeezed
my hand but I was glued to what was happening in the ring. Everyone but the two
fighters and the referee had cleared out; the ref was giving the two men
instructions. An electronic buzzer sounded and the ref backed out of the way as
the two men circled each other.

I bit my lips together, squeezed Everett’s hands and prayed
harder than I ever have in my life, as Zander’s opponent made the first swing.
Zander reared back and the punch went wide, and didn’t even touch him. Zander
gave the man this icy cold grin and lit into the man with a singular fury that
I simply didn’t see coming. Zander punched out and unlike his opponents, his
punches
landed
. The man’s head snapped to the side and came back and
then it was as if all bets were off, and the two of them went at each other
with a brutality that I never in a million years imagined that Zander, with his
loving touches and easy smiles, could ever be capable of.