Glory (32 page)

She coughed. “Yeah?”

“How about you try not to be superwoman right now and let me handle this?”

She cracked a smile but her words were sharp. “Get off me.”

Several more shots missed me by a couple of inches. “Get under that car!” I yelled. Hopefully, it would shield her from any stray bullets.

I watched as Indy dropped on all fours, flattening herself to the ground as she army crawled beneath the vehicle. Once there was comfort knowing that she was safe, I popped up like a bad guy in a video game and let off a handful of shots in the direction where the bullets came from.

A rain of returned fire caused me to take cover. My opponent was on the move, using the cars in the parking lot as shields. Waiting for that perfect moment, I fired off shots as he bolted across the lot. His cry of pain signaled that at least one of them had hit home.

But I wasn’t a fool to think it was over yet though. By now, I was breathing hard, the humidity in the air making it feel like I was breathing in sludge. With the back of my hand, I mopped my brow of sweat and waited.

The sounds of heavy footsteps confirmed what I had guessed. There was another one. Phantoms rarely worked alone. I popped up once again, aiming and firing as the dirt kicked up around me. As some of the dust cleared, I could make out a face. Recognized him as the man Indy had described.

Holy shit. Anthony Cavezza was here?

It was why Indy hadn’t realized she was in trouble. Anthony had gotten someone else to approach her.

Only about ten feet separated us. Possibly the closest anyone had ever been to the Phantoms in recent history. And to top it all off, Glory MC didn’t need to hunt him out; Cavezza had come to us.

A mistake on his part. Because not only did he bring war to our door, but he also messed with the wrong woman.

My pulse pounded in my head. He had to be hiding between some cars. I picked up a pebble off the ground, whipping it far across the lot so that it hit the side of a vehicle. The ping that echoed in the yard sounded like a bell going off.

The shot was instantaneous.

There!
He was closer than I expected. As he fired at the place he thought I was, I let my own bullets rip. Cavezza’s body jerked and as he went down, I closed the last few feet between us, hovering over him as blood began to seep from his bullet wounds. One had hit him in the arm, the other in the neck. The first was likely painful, but the second was lethal.

I kicked his pistol away, never taking my eyes off him. “You picked the wrong girl to give flowers to, motherfucker.”

Cavezza grinned down at the end of my pistol. The bloody show of teeth was the perfect distraction for his next move. I didn’t see it coming until he had pressed down on the trigger and the vehicle Indy had been hiding under blew to high heaven.

TWENTY-SEVEN

Glory Forever

Hastie

T
he parking lot looked like a warzone, fires sprouting all around me. By the time I got my head working again, I couldn’t find the motherfucker anywhere.

The flames were relentless, burning through my leathers like thin paper. Smoke made visibility nearly impossible and the bandana covering my face did nothing but make me feel more suffocated. All around me I could see charred pieces of metal and other things I couldn’t identify. “No,” I muttered before falling into a coughing fit. Where the hell was Indy? She had been right there!

When hands clamped over my shoulder, I jerked, startled. “It’s me, brother,” Kitt said, his own red bandana covering his face. “We need to get you out of here.”

“No!” I jerked out of his hold. “Indy’s still here somewhere! We have to find her!” My voice sounded panicked even to my own ears.

“Listen, asshole,” Kitt growled when I fought against him. “Let me get you out of here and then I’ll come back for her.”

“My girl’s in there.” Maybe he didn’t understand but I
loved
her. I couldn’t just leave her!

Kitt clamped his hands on my cut, forcing me to look him in the eye when I tried to turn away from him. “She’s gone, man. I’m sorry.”

Gone? No, she couldn’t be gone! “She’s here,” I ground out, pushing him off me with more force than necessary. “And I’m going to find her.”

“Hastie!” he yelled after me. “You’ll die out here!”

Fuck if I cared now. I moved through the flames, avoiding the sparks that sprang to life like fireflies in the dark. My head swiveled from left to right, trying to find any sign of Indy.

I heard Kitt calling after me but I ignored him as my eyes landed on the blackened crater where the car used to be. I slumped to my knees. Distantly, heavy footsteps sounded from behind me. “You may hate me for this, but it’s the only way,” Kitt said before his fist came crashing down on the side of my head.

Then, blackness.

* * *

The world swam as I cracked an eye open.

Indy? Where was Indy? I needed her. The explosion filtered back into my head and Kitt’s words registered.
She’s gone, man. I’m sorry.

My heart sank, and I let it drag me under.

* * *

Pain spiked through my temples like a lance. I groaned as a warm hand cupped my chin gently, turning it gingerly. “I can’t believe you punched him.”

The answering male voice sounded defensive. “He resisted!”

“You didn’t have to knock him out.”

“It was the only way to get him out of there. He kept fighting to search for you.”

The female’s voice softened. “Oh, Hastie.”

Wait. I knew that voice!

My eyes shot open and blinding light poured in. “Indy?” There were her wide amber eyes. Her heart-shaped mouth. That wild hair. She was here.
Whole.
“I thought you were dead.”

A smile broke across her face. “You almost sound disappointed.”
Jesus, she was joking and I was about to lose my fucking mind!
I thought I had lost her.

“Shh, it’s okay,” she whispered as tears pooled in my eyes. “I’m here.”

She was here. She wasn’t dead.
“Kiss me,” I rasped.

My girl smiled. “Anything you want, babe,” she said before she sealed her lips over mine.

Indy

“Whoa, slow down, cowboy. I don’t think you’ve fully recovered to be able to do
that
.” Hastie’s fingers stalled on my breast where he was copping a feel.

He nipped my earlobe. “You know I have excellent recovery time.” I slapped his clever fingers away even as goose bumps rose on my flesh where he had touched me.

About two weeks had passed since the explosion at Neptune’s. I didn’t know what it was about bikers, but they loved blowing shit up. It was a damn miracle that we both survived it. “How are you feeling?”

“Shouldn’t I be asking you that?”

Hastie shrugged like he hadn’t nearly been killed. “Just a knock on the head. Come on,” he said with a tilt of his chin. “Don’t deflect.”

“I’m okay,” I said, feeling much better now that I knew that he was alive. The explosion had rocked Neptune’s, but luckily only the back part of the dive bar and the parking lot received the brunt of the damage.

After hiding beneath the car, I darted backed into Neptune’s for Hanna, knowing Hastie would work more efficiently without having to worry about me. When backup arrived, Glory MC had immediately rushed straight into the flames. They hadn’t found us across the street until the flames were contained.

Hastie brushed the hair away from my face. “Come on. Talk to me.”

“You scared me,” I admitted. “I heard all those shots and I thought, this is it. This is the end.”

His fingers made a trail down my thigh, nothing too overly sexual but I still felt it between my legs. When his eyes met mine, they were still the intense green that looked down at me with affection. “Do you ever get tired of it?” I whispered.

His brows drew together in confusion. “Of what?”

“Death. Dealing it. Seeing it.” In the short time I’d known Hastie, I’d seen a world of death and violence. How could he stand to see it every day of his life?

Hastie’s eyes were solemn. “It’s tiring, but it’s my life.” When he grew silent, I wondered if that would be the extent of our conversation. But then he cleared his throat and said, “I thought about it, you know? On those nights where the darkness just consumes you and there’s too much blood on your hands. I thought about leaving. But for someone who has been around patched members for most of their life it makes me wonder if it’s even possible for someone like me to step out of Glory MC.”

“Kind of like me,” I said, seeing the similarities of both situations. “I’ve got no escape either.”

His fingers grazed my cheek, soft and caressing. “It doesn’t matter. We’ll deal with it together.” His arms pulled me tighter against him. “I’ve got you, baby.”

“You’ve been calling me baby a lot recently. Why?”

“‘Babe’ is flirty. ‘Baby’ implies you’re mine. And you’re definitely mine, baby.”

I arched a brow at the possessiveness in his voice. “Do I have to wear one of those ‘Property of Glory’ thingies now?”

“What?”

“Those cuts that women wear to let others know I’m yours.”

He gave a shake of his head. “There’s no question of who you belong to. Your heart is mine, India Marie, and no one is gonna take that from me.”

“Wow, Hastie,” I sighed. “That sounded really sexy.”

“Yeah?” He flashed me that panty-melting grin. “I think it’s about time I demonstrate my excellent recovery time.”

I smiled at the ceiling. “I’d like that. I’d like that
a lot.”

Hastie

The minute I walked into the meeting room, all eyes landed on me. “Hey! Look who is up and moving!” Kitt said with a bright smile. He wouldn’t be smiling in a second. My fist met his face in a deafening crack and he cried out. “
Ow!
What the fuck, man!”

“That’s for knocking me out,” I said as I shook out my fist. “And for making me think Indy was dead.”

“I thought she was at the time!” He shot a betrayed look at Indy who stood in the doorway of the room.

Indy shrugged. “You deserved it.”

The others in the room laughed. “Fuck, your fist is like iron.” Kitt checked his fingers for blood. He’d find none. I hadn’t hit him that hard.

“Every once in a while you need your head bashed in.” I slapped him on the back and felt him flinch. “Besides you’ve got a hard enough head.”

As more laughter echoed, Knuckle’s rough voice cut in through our banter. “We ready to start this meeting?”

With another pat on Kitt’s shoulder, I settled into a chair. Indy sent me a smile before retreating and closing the door behind her. She was getting used to the way Glory MC ran things.

Once settled, all eyes landed on Knuckle. “We’ve handled Brennan, but it looks like another son of a bitch wants a piece of us,” he began. “The Phantoms have made their intent clear. They want to clear us out of Ward Four one by one. The only way this will stop is if we show them we don’t like being dicked around. We need a plan of action, something that will get us face to face with these invisible men. Any ideas?”

Knuckle took a long moment to look at everyone in the room, giving each of them a chance to speak their thoughts. Beck lowered his cigarette from his mouth before speaking. “We could always visit Ward Three. I’m sure someone there still has ties to the Phantoms.”

Kitt was quick to argue. “But they wouldn’t just give that up. Not for anything. I wouldn’t stick my ass out for nobody, especially to act as bait.”

Beck shrugged his broad shoulders and took another drag from his cigarette. “If they need some persuading, we’ve got ways of doing that. After all, who do they think they got their guns from?”

“By now, someone would have already taken Brennan’s place. Whether he’s in line with his predecessor, I don’t have a clue. But we can’t underestimate their numbers or their intentions. We did kill their leader in cold blood.”

“It’s too risky and not a sure bet,” Knuckle concluded. “Who knows if the Phantoms have been in contact with them since Brennan’s death?” The prez glanced around the room at everyone. “Got any better ideas?”

“They’ve got to be involved in the chopper racketeering,” Lucky said. “We could put a GPS on a few bikes and hope to hell it’s snatched up.”

Knuckle glanced at me. “How are the funds?”

As secretary and treasurer of the club, I was in charge of the club’s paperwork. It was my responsibility to collect club fees and pay the bills. “Everything is paid for, but with the recent loss of those bikes that had to be replaced and Neptune’s needing repair, it’s tight.”

“Fuck,” Knuckle cursed. “So that’s a no-go. We can’t afford the GPS, nor can we just sit like fucking ducks waiting for someone to steal it.”

The room got real silent as everyone thought of an alternate plan. I leaned in, resting my elbows on the table. It was impossible to track down the Phantoms. Their secrecy was how they got their name in the first place; they were ghosts. “How about we make them come to us?”

“How?” Kitt asked.

“They like hijacking our delivery trucks. Let’s make a batch that is guaranteed to lure them. That’ll give us the face to face we need.”

“A setup?”

“We can’t just hope he’ll be there,” Lucky countered. There was no question of who the
he
he was referring to. Everyone in the goddamn room knew I was looking for a face to face with Anthony Cavezza so that I could take out a piece of him.

I shrugged. “It’s the best shot we’ve got. We’ll make a load big enough that they’ll think they hit the jackpot.”

“I don’t know.” Beck shook his head. “I’ve got a bad feeling about this.”

Lucky’s voice displayed his skepticism. “I’m with Beck. It’s too risky.”

“Too bad, kid,” Knuckle replied. “It’s the best plan we got. Hard enough to spot a ghost. It’ll be even tougher to catch one. Let’s set it up,” he said to the group. “I want the sweetest pile you can muster and then we’ll dangle it so that wherever they are, they’ll spot it.”

Knuckle directed his next words to me. “Night of, I want you, Beck, Kitt, and Lucky to be ready to rock n’ roll.”