Fractured & Formidable: The Sacred Hearts MC Book V (25 page)

“Then this piece of shit makes six.” Duracell put his foot
against The Nord’s cooling body and gave it a shove.

“Right. Let’s get this place cleaned up, this big bastard
buried and go the fuck home.” Dragon’s tone brooked no argument and none of us
were going to give him one anyways. We dug a hole out in Cicada Woods and made
quick work of burying the brute. It was kind of a shame; he’d been a decent
opponent in the ring and had had some promise. Not anymore.

I helped Trigger move the damned body; it was going to be an
exceptionally long fucking night for all of us.

Mandy…

I lay in Zander’s bed in his club room facing Everett, our
hands clasped between us as we spoke in the dark, like when we were children,
sleeping over at one another’s houses. It was comforting in that way that all childhood
things were, but instead of discussing which Disney princess we wanted to be or
what we wanted our Prince Charming to be like, the things that passed between
us tonight carried much more weight.

We had all been with Hayden while the boys held their club
meeting with The Kraken out front. The woman had always been small in a
physical way, but her presence which had always been vibrant and bold was
simply less. It scared me. Made me face the reality that one day, it could be
me lying there staring off into space, despondent, lost… which made me realize
just how much Zander and I connected, how much we went together because the
mere thought of him being gone, just there one moment and gone the next, like
Reaver, like Chandra… Well, not only did it have my heart squeezing down tight
in my chest, it had bile rising in my throat and had sent me running for the
nearest bathroom.

Everett had supported me and held back my hair, and when we
returned to Reaver’s room, Ashton had gone and Hayden was alone for the moment.
Evy and I had resumed our places, curled on the floor, against the wall,
huddled together in our misery while we waited, when Ashton had come back and
said decisively and in a tone brooking
no
argument that we were all
going to Florida.

Evy being Evy had balked, and it was the first time I had
ever seen Ashton not only stand up to anyone and not just cave in but do it
fiercely. She hadn’t minced words. At all. In fact she’d even sworn a few
times. I’d never seen anything like it out of the fragile, small woman, and by
the time she’d finished and collapsed onto her hind end in the middle of the
carpet, gasping and bursting into tears, I think both Everett and I would have
been willing to agree to anything to give Ashton even one small measure of
comfort.

Everett sighed out, her breath rushing across the small
distance between us carrying with it the faint smell of mint. We’d brushed our
teeth before coming to Zander’s room. It was late, so late as to be early and
we’d left Ashton with Hayden, hugging her friend from behind while the woman
broke and fell into more weeping against Cutter.

“I’m no motorcycle club queen Mandy,” Everett said quietly.
“That was Chandra.”

She sniffed and her blue eyes filled up with tears. We’d all
been crying off and on and I suspected it would continue for days to come.

“Out of all of us, you’re the strongest right now. You’ve
always been…” I told her.

“I don’t want to be the strong one this time.”

“I know, but one thing, one day at a time. You and Shelly
paid closest attention when it came to arranging Grinder’s funeral and Shelly…”
I sighed this time, “I think it’s you and me this time, Sis. Hayden needs
Ashton, Shelly isn’t in any shape, so that leaves just you and me.”

“How are we supposed to do all of this and keep the shop
going?” I chewed my bottom lip.

“Shop isn’t going to fall apart without us. We’ll just need
to hire some more help to run the counter and the coffee part of things. I can
do the chocolates from any kitchen. We might be a bit light on cakes and
pastries for a while, but those were never
really
our big sellers… Well
except the Chocolate Croissants but those should ship just fine too.” I went on
and on, figuring this and mapping out that and Everett relaxed marginally after
a while and began planning and thinking with me.

I think all of us were more than a little overwhelmed and
who could blame us? We’d lost three people close to us in the span of a month.
Two of them in less than twenty-four hours, and one of those right in front of
our eyes under threat of having
our
lives taken. I was willing to think
about just about
anything
other than that.

Eventually, as the sky began to lighten outside, Everett and
I both fell asleep out of just sheer exhaustion. I jolted awake, the blinds and
curtains drawn over the high window turning the room to cool twilight.  I
frowned, unsure of what had awoken me but then I felt it again, the press of
lips to the back of my shoulder where my nightgown didn’t cover with its thin
spaghetti straps. I turned my head, Zander placed his hand on the same shoulder
and smoothed it down my arm.

“Shh, just me,” he said softly. He had stripped down to just
his boxer shorts and lay on his side, his front to my back, head propped on his
right arm.

“How long have you been back?” I asked quietly. The club had
that stillness to it, the kind that any building got when most, if not all of its
inhabitants were still fast asleep.

“About a half hour ago.”

He leaned over me gently and captured my mouth with his, the
warmth and strength of his body enveloping me. I sank gratefully into the kiss
and couldn’t help the tears that welled in my eyes as once again my mind
drifted, carried on a wave of fear and ‘what if’, borne to that dark place in
the far reaches of my mind that whispered
it could happen to you.

“Hey, hey, hey…” he cupped my cheek with his hand and
smoothed his thumb through the wet track left behind by my tears.

“I apologize,” I said, but it came out warbled and piteous. Zander
groaned and kissed me deeply, as if he were bent on kissing away my pain, bent
on reassuring me with his body rather than his words. I couldn’t deny that
being close to him right now, as improper as my upbringing would have it, appealed
so strongly to me that I simply didn’t care. I needed him, I needed to be close
to him to have him hold me, kiss me and caress me. To reassure me that it was
okay, even if things were so terribly uncertain in so many areas of our lives
right now.

Our kiss heated, hands smoothing over skin, gathering
material, him pulling and me pushing, all in a bid to get more skin on skin
contact. We were rushed but not feverish, the intensity somewhere along the
lines of a gentle but still rolling boil. Zander pressed me back into the
mattress and kissed every bit of me he could reach before gliding inside me. He
looked down into my eyes from inches away and we met in the middle, my neck
craning so that we could kiss again. He rolled his hips, withdrawing gently to
surge forward again, deliberately, with strength but without being rough.

He made love to me. Both of us taking our time, kissing,
touching, intertwined and intimate for far longer than I could have imagined
possible. He murmured between kisses how much he loved me and I felt a surge of
joy despite the heavy burden of sorrow on both of our souls. When I came, it
was different than all the other times I’d been with Zander. Rather than a wild
passionate explosion, this time, it was a sweeping, gentle thing that was so
much more profound than any other time before. He kissed me as I shuddered
beneath him and cried out into my mouth with his own release.

I held him to me, and we lay together like that for a long
time, breaths coming at an uneven cadence as we slowly came down. I felt muzzy,
incredibly satisfied, fluid and as relaxed as I’d ever been. I was positively
drugged on his love and it was the most incredible and exquisite feeling I had
ever known, made even more so by what he blurted out next…

“Marry me. I know, it’s shitty of me to ask like this, but I
mean it, I love you and I need you and I just…” he let out a harsh breath, “Just
say you’ll marry me, agree and I promise I will ask you with a ring and on
bended knee with everyone around to give you that experience, but I just need
you to know how much I love you. How
in
love with you I am.” He pushed
up, bracing himself on his arms to look down into my eyes.

I was speechless but I wanted so desperately to say yes to
him that I found myself nodding emphatically, pulling him down over the top of
me. My body jerked with silent sobs but I welcomed the tears this time. Didn’t
want to contain them. I was simply just so
happy,
my tears of sorrow
turned to ones of purest joy.

Revelator…

Despite everything going on,
life
went on, and so I
found myself standing inside our new tattoo shop which was pretty much ready to
go, ready to open. I put the finishing touches on a piercing tray and went back
out front meeting Trig, Dis and Sunshine in the lobby. We were supposed to have
our grand opening today, but instead we were having a wake. Tomorrow we would
be laying Reaver to rest for good.

It had been Chandra’s daughter’s wish that they have a
closed, family only funeral. She was hurt, bad, and wouldn’t let Doc attend.
Blaming him and the MC for her mother’s death. It was BS and hurt like a son of
a bitch, but none of us could argue. We were chosen family, not biological but
still, no matter how much I kept telling myself that, it didn’t take the burn
out of what Misty was doing to Doc and the club.

“Next week?” Trig asked. Disney and I nodded. We would be
opening next week, but it still wasn’t the same because after tomorrow,
Sunshine and the girls would be in the Sunshine State. Ashton looked grim. She
wound her arms around Trigger’s hips and tucked herself tightly to his side.

“I feel so badly that I’m going to miss it. That things have
to be this way,” she murmured.

“Us too, Baby, believe me.”

He drew her in tighter to his side and we all stood in the
brightly colored lobby to our new shop. So new it still smelled like paint, and
wallboard, and construction, over the smell of antiseptic, which was just
beginning to seep in before it overpowered.

The lay out was much different than the old shop had been,
but some things we’d tried to keep the same. The linoleum on the lobby floor
was still black and white checkered tile. Disney’s area was a riot of
new-school art and color. The walls of the front of the shop were decorated in
neatly framed, freshly drawn flash, though the walls beneath the black frames
were a deep eggplant purple this time.

The front counter was mostly glass cases now instead of
particle board. Body jewelry of every type proudly and professionally
displayed. From earrings to gauges, to nipple rings, to belly button piercings…
Hell, you name it; I had it at my disposal which was nice and would hopefully
help the piercing side of business pick up. Before, we’d had the stock in the
back and a binder full of pictures due to a lack of space.

The new shop was big enough that we could probably hire one
or two more piercers or artists if business was good, and we were kind of
counting on it to be. Not only did Open Road Ink have a damned fine reputation
from before. Dis, Trig and I all had a pretty solid client base, but where we
were located now? We had bars, and with lowered inhibitions came customers, and
we weren’t about to turn that down. In fact we were probably the best guys to
be in place to have them walking through the door because we were professionals
at our craft. That meant we wouldn’t be sending anyone home with a shitty looking
or stupid tattoo. If we thought they were too piss drunk we’d send them away.
Being near the bars could prove to be a double edged sword but between me, Trig
and Dis we knew we could handle it. Ashton had grown over these last couple of
years, she knew we would come to her aid if anyone freaked her out or
disrespected her and she wouldn’t hesitate to call out.

We were a family. A good team… and for the next few months
we were going to be missing our heart. Disney went to her first, and crushed
the little woman between his lanky frame and Trig’s as the first tears stood
out in her golden eyes, making them shine just so damned bright.

“C’mon man, suck it up and bring it in,” Disney grinned at
me over the top of her head and I grinned right back.

“I knew you loved me Puddin’,” I said and went to them and we
all group hugged, for Ashton’s benefit, for a long minute in our lobby. The
bell above our door chimed.

“Thought this was a shop run by bikers not a bunch of
hippies with their freaky love fest bullshit,” Duracell commented dryly.

“You sure do know how to ruin a moment asshole,” Trig said
but he was grinning. We broke apart and Duracell looked surprised.

“Shit, Sunshine! Didn’t even see you there!” he exclaimed.
Ashton laughed and wiped her eyes with a Kleenex, which she tucked back into
the sleeve of the cardigan she was wearing over one of her 40’s style dresses.

“Sorry, just a little emotional.”

Duracell’s expression softened marginally, “No, hey I get
it. I liked Reave too but I didn’t know him even half as long as you guys did.”

“Whatcha here for man?” Trig asked and held Ashton against
him, her back to his front; an arm across her chest. She brought both her small
hands up and hung them off his forearm, leaning back and cuddling into his
embrace. He smiled down at her and she smiled up at him and you could just see
that they were each other’s entire fucking world. I felt something in my chest
loosen in gratitude because fuck, I’d finally found that too with my Red and I
wouldn’t trade it for the fucking world.

“Club meeting, Dragon says it’s time to get the whole
officers’ thing straight, before tonight… you know? Archer, Rush and Nox got
back night before last and we’re all here so there’s nothing doing man.” He
looked apologetic and the five of us traded some grim looks.

“Yeah man, we get you.” Trig said softly.

“Sunshine, you good to drive over to Dray’s place? Everett,
Mandy and Shelly are there dealing with food and stuff for tonight. Dragon
wants just the guys at the club for the time being.”

Ashton nodded silently and craned her head back, “I love
you,” she told my partner simply and he smiled, bent and kissed her on the
mouth.

“I love you too, Baby.” He gave her a little shove forward
and she gathered her purse and keys. We locked up and got Ashton settled in the
Jeep. I drove myself and Dis, while Trig opted to ride with Duracell in the
ginger’s beat up old black Jeep Wrangler. We would escort Ashton to Dray’s.

I was unsettled. Not liking the idea of leaving the girls on
their own at our VP’s place, but I didn’t have a damned thing to worry about.
Dray’s driveway was crammed full of bikes when we got there and one of The
Kraken was in his driveway smoking a cigarette and talking on his phone. Ashton
carefully pulled her and Trig’s Jeep Cherokee up to the curb and parked before
carefully getting out. Cutter appeared on the front stoop shutting the door
behind him.

I rolled down my window to ask Ashton to tell Red I loved
her, so I heard Cutter call out, “Hey, hey Li’l’er Bit,” which made me smile.
He’d been calling Reaver’s Doll Li’l Bit since the day he’d seen her. When he’d
finally met Ashton in person and seen that she was even smaller than Hayden
he’d started calling her ‘Li’ler Bit’. It was cute as hell but you’d never hear
me admit it out loud.

“Sunshine!” I called, before her attention was grabbed
completely by The Kraken’s president and no doubt by her best friend, who was
probably inside. Where Cutter was, so too Hayden would be found. Ashton
startled hard and turned around, wide eyed.

“Sorry, just tell Red I’ll see her tonight!” I was suddenly
and stupidly embarrassed to tell her in front of these other dudes to tell my
woman I loved her. Stupid but true. Ashton broke into one of her beautiful
smiles and she winked her understanding, and I couldn’t help but grin. She
mounted the steps and gave Cutter a hug and slipped past him into the house. Once
she’d disappeared from sight, Duracell’s Jeep pulled forward and I followed in
my Chevelle.

The club was immaculate and as somber as I’d ever seen it
when I arrived. Packed with the brotherhood from our chapter, those that had
come from out of town likely making themselves scarce for our benefit and the
benefit of this meeting. No one was about to ignore the elephant in the room
which consisted of Reaver’s casket on the small stage, the black lacquered top
and the silver handles and edging gleaming softly under the overhead lighting,
even with as dim as it was in here.

In the last week, this place had gone through a major
overhaul and it had gone through it
fast
. The fishbowl was a fishbowl
still, but the wall between it and Data’s closet had been knocked out to make
it bigger. Not for meeting purposes, but for a space to monitor the state of
the art surveillance system that’d gone in. Between the computer set up and the
banks of monitors, Data was happier than a pig in shit, which it was nice to
see the reserved brother happy and a little less introverted than he’d been,
locked away in his little command center closet like he’d been.

The curtains were still up and could be drawn during parties
and the like, to hide the new setup, but right now they were drawn back putting
the whole spectacle on display. The black cloth hanging straight at the corners
of the little room where the glass panels met up in their frames. Data pushed
up from the office chair in front of the monitors and stretched, and then he
joined the rest of us in the common room.

Next week or the week after, the new fencing surrounding the
entire property would be going in. So would the new gate across the front
drive. A heavy, no nonsense, big black wrought iron monstrosity to replace the
chain link fencing we’d had before. The black metal bars square and stout and
strong, reminded me of prison bars to a certain extent but they weren’t meant
to keep us in, just any bad guys out. Truthfully, despite the prison
connotations, I liked the new fence, it was burly and badass and made the
property surrounding the club look more like an MC resided here and that the
outside world should fuck with us at their own risk.

“Right, looks like we’re all here so let’s get to it,”
Dragon’s voice boomed over all of us assembled and those of us left standing,
we took seats, everyone turning our chairs toward the front where Dragon stood.
It wasn’t lost on any of us that Reaver’s casket was providing the backdrop to
this little discussion.

“We got two leadership positions in the cabinet to secure,
two out of the five council seats are vacant. One was Reave’s as our Treasurer,
and while Doc, our Secretary, has no intention of leaving this club, he just
don’t feel he can hold office no more and I don’t blame him.” Silence, no one
so much as coughed as we waited for our Pres. to go on.

“We’ll deal with Reave’s spot first. Nominations?” Dragon’s
dark eyes swept the room slowly but surely waiting for someone, anyone to speak
up.

“Ghost,” Disney said at last. Everyone turned.

“Reasoning?” Dray asked and his eyes were both calculating
and tempestuous. Disney blushed but the ballsy kid held his ground.

“Seriously? It really ain’t no secret, Reaver couldn’t do
math to save his life; it was pretty much always Shelly crunching the numbers.
Shelly is Ghost’s Old Lady. I think if she lost the ability to keep doing for
this club that it would finish her.” Disney swallowed and waited along with the
rest of us.

It was Archer who spoke up, “That ain’t no reason to make
him a Cabinet member.”

“You’re right, it’s not,” Ghost agreed, “Do you want to do
it?”

Archer shut his trap, Ghost looked from Trig to Dragon to
Dray.

“I’m all in. This club gave me the structure I needed to go
on after the Marines. I run my own business, I know how to keep the books. It
ain’t my favorite thing but I’m qualified and I’ll do my best to serve this
club or die trying. Count me committed if you all decide that’s what you want.”

“Any other nominations?” Dragon asked and swept the room. No
one stepped up or came up with a name.

“You know the rules, it’s in our by-laws. In order for a
cabinet member to be elected into office for any charter or club of The Sacred
Hearts, he must hold at least eighty percent of the vote. So put ‘em up. All in
favor of Ghost for Treasurer?”

I put up my fist, and the vast majority of the room followed
suit, including Archer who was the only reluctant hold out, and he only did it
when Rush scowled at him and Nox gave him a look that clearly communicated to
anyone with half a brain,
Really dude? This is how you want to start our
stay with these guys?

“So entered, so ordered.” Dragon went to Reaver’s cut which
lay atop his casket and sighed heavily. He plucked a knife out of his jeans
pocket and hit the switch, the blade leaping free of one of Reave’s stilettos.
Hayden said Reaver had so many of them that every one of us should have one.
We’d each taken what she’d given us and she still had a shoe box full of them,
and those were
just
his stilettos.

“I’m sorry buddy,” Dragon murmured as he cut the Treasurer’s
flash from Reaver’s cut. He stepped down off the stage and crossed the room.
Ghost rose out of his seat and took the scrap of felt material embroidered with
the position, and I think that’s when it really crashed into a few of us. Some
of the guys sniffed; me included, as our eyes watered. A few heads bowed and
the room became deathly quiet.

Dragon returned to the raised stage and cleared his throat,
“I nominate Data for the position of Secretary.”

“Wait, what?” the lanky man tossed his slightly greasy hair
out of his eyes.

“You heard me.”

“I can’t be Road Captain and Secretary too,” he protested.

“We’ll get to that if you get the spot, one problem at a
time,” Dray grunted.

“Any opposition?” Dragon asked, no one spoke up.

“Any other nominations?” Dray asked, again no one said a
thing.

“Vote it, all in favor?” Every hand went up.

“Congratulations son,” Doc grunted. Data just looked
stunned. Doc swung off his cut and laid it on a table. He flicked out his own
blade and cut the flash off his cut. Data did the same for his Road Captain
flash. He took the Secretary flash from Doc and they hugged, pounding each
other on the back.