Hell on Wheels (Four Horsemen MC Book 6) (8 page)

So life had been about survival. Every day, she had to cover the essentials, like food and a place to sleep. There hadn’t been any time leftover for learning. Other than losing her father, it was her biggest regret. Charlie would’ve liked to have graduated and then gone to college.

Lexi shrugged off the compliment. “Thanks.”

“You know, you both have something in common,” Dani said.

“What’s that?” Charlie asked.

“Lexi has a thing for one of the brothers, too,” Dani stated, as she started working on the car again.

Lexi’s lips flattened into a thin line. “Were you raised by wolves?”

“No, by Sailor,” Dani deadpanned.

“Same thing.” Lexi glanced at Charlie. “And who are you crushing on?”

“I don’t like anyone,” Charlie responded quickly.
Especially Dani. Especially right now.

“I can feel you glaring at me,” Dani told her as she adjusted another thingamawatchet
on the car. “And don’t be fooled. She wants Axel real bad.”

Lexi wrinkled her nose.

Yuck
and
a disgust face…that’s how they felt about hooking up with Axel? These girls were blind. Charlie was polite enough to respect Lexi’s privacy, but Dani had earned the teasing. “And what about you?” Charlie asked Dani. “Do you have a thing for a Horseman?”

“Nope,” Dani said.

Hmmm. Maybe not one of the Horsemen, but someone else? Someone outside the club?  Charlie would get it out of her eventually. After all, she had the time. While she hadn’t formulated a plan yet, Charlie knew robbing Beauregard would be a long-term con. This wasn’t a typical smash-and-grab. It’d take a lot of patience, planning, and finesse to pull off.

It could take weeks, maybe even months.

Charlie watched as Dani and Lexi continued to banter back and forth. She couldn’t help but smile at their antics. Staying in one place usually made her nervous, but somehow the idea of working with the club didn’t seem like such an awful prospect.

I might even like Hell. For a while, at least.

Chapter Six

Axel pulled into the parking lot outside Perdition, the clubhouse and bar run by his brother, Ryker, and his mother, Eddie Rollins. Axel nodded to some of his brothers who sat at the bar as he walked in the clubhouse. At this early hour, they were drinking coffee and sodas instead of the hard stuff. Axel wanted something a bit stronger, but he needed to keep a clear head.

Perdition looked exactly like a biker bar should. The building used to be a warehouse, and it still had an industrial feel. The vaulted ceiling sported two large, exposed-steel beams, and his brothers had suspended a pair of antique Harleys from them on chains.

He hadn’t been lying to Charlie about the club underwear tradition. A long, lacy string of ladies’ panties wrapped around the walls as a testament to the custom. Axel didn’t know what had possessed him to ask for hers in the first place. Somehow, it
felt
right. Even though he had Charlie’s panties in his back pocket, he wasn’t sure if he’d actually tack them up for the world to see.

Or maybe he’d wanted them for himself…

Axel shook his head to clear it. No time for that right now.

Think on your Sins
, the club motto, was painted in blood red across the surface of one large wall. Those words had new meaning for him, especially considering what Beauregard was blackmailing them into. When the club had reformed following the RICO fiasco, they’d worked hard to do some good in the world. And now, they’d be smuggling heroin.

Axel made his way down the back hallway to the boardroom through the steel doors. They’d been stamped with the image of a stallion’s head, along with the club’s name. A quote from the book of Revelation had been carved into the long oak table dominating the room:
Behold a pale horse. And his name that sat on him was Death. And Hell followed with him
.

To match it, another Bible quote in a frame hung on the wall:
And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who would attempt to poison and destroy my brothers.

Words to live by. Words to die by.

He was reminded of the beginning of that particular passage:
The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the inequities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men. Blessed is he, who in the name of charity and good will, shepherds the weak through the valley
of darkness,
for he is truly his brother's keeper and the finder of lost children.

The club was at the mercy of a truly evil man. And Axel was the one who had to shepherd this club through a dark and tumultuous time. He hoped he could find the wisdom to do this without any of them paying the ultimate price.

He sat down at the head of the table and watched as his brothers filed in, one by one. The new Horsemen–Pretty Boy, Fetch, Crash, and Dash—now had seats around the table. Axel was proud of them. They’d all survived Revelation and come out the other side intact. He was sorry they had to start their time as brothers in the middle of this mess.

 And the old standbys were there, too: Voo, Shep, Ransom, Ryker, Ace, Jagger, Steele, Coyote, Cowboy, Duke, Justice, Wild, Renegade, Breaker, and Goat. Captain, the former president, was still in Corpus Christi with Eddie. Things were awkward as ass between him and Captain since Axel had deposed him when he took on the role of president. As soon as Cap got back to town, Axel intended to sit down with him. He wanted to clear the air and he hated to admit it, but he needed the man’s advice, as well.

But he had to get this shindig started.

He didn’t want to draw it out any longer than he had to, so he got straight down to business. “We got somethin’ real important to discuss. I met with Beauregard this morning.”

There were some curses and muffled groans from the room. Beauregard had blackmailed Axel’s mother–her fingerprints were on a gun used to murder a fed. Beauregard had the gun in his vault, and he’d also stashed the body. It would be more than enough to get her the death penalty in Texas. They’d tried to steal it back, but it’d been a miserable failure.

“Yeah, and it gets better,” Axel continued. “He wants us to smuggle some heroin over the border.”

Another round of cursing and shouts.

“I don’t like it any better than you, but he has us by the short hairs. We’re fucked on this one.”

There was a lengthy, tense silence. They brothers nodded, getting it.
They’d made a deal with the devil to protect Eddie.

Axel surveyed his brothers.  “So, we can’t call this to a vote. It’s happening, and there’s no way around it. But I’m not gonna make anybody do this run. Volunteers only. And let me be clear, this is a first-degree felony on wheels. Texas doesn’t fuck around with hard drugs. If we get busted, we could get life sentences.”

Axel paused a moment to let that sink in. His brothers nodded grimly.

Then he spoke again. “I’m leading this run. I’m the one who got us into this mess, so I’m in charge.” And if they got caught, he’d be the one sentenced to the most time for masterminding the plot.

“It wasn’t your fault, brother,” Shepherd said. “Everyone at the table has a share of the blame.”

Shep was still healing from the beating the Raptors had given him, but besides the bruises, he looked better than he had in years. Shep wasn’t having beer for breakfast anymore, and he looked like he’d gotten his eight hours last night. Like a weight had been lifted.

Shep’s partner, Pretty Boy, wrapped an arm around him.

The club had been going through a series of shocks lately. And when the pair had come out as a couple, it’d caused an uproar. Axel was ashamed that’d he’d been pissed at first. Mostly because Shep, his cousin and friend, had been lying to him for years—to
all
of them. Captain, Shepherd, and Joker…all of them liars, and for different reasons. And Axel was fucking sick of the lies and the impact it had on the club.

 In the aftermath of his coming-out party, Shep had stepped down as the club’s VP, and no amount of persuasion could make him take on the role again. Axel had practically begged. Not that he blamed Shep. He’d been through hell the past few weeks, and he’d earned the downtime.

Axel nodded at Shep, but it still felt like his responsibility. “If it makes it any better, we’re only smuggling it into the country and making sure the drugs get to their destination. We won’t be distributing.”

No one said anything, and they didn’t have to. It didn’t make it better. They were about to become the kinds of bastards they used to punish, something Axel had promised himself he would never be. Look at him now, his father’s son.

Axel sighed. “Let’s not drag it out. Who’s going?”

Shep spoke up first. “I can’t, brother.”

“I didn’t expect you to,” Axel said quickly. Shep’s mom had died of a heroin overdose, and Beauregard’s thugs had beaten the snot out of Pretty Boy.

Ryker’s hand shot up and Axel sliced his head to the side. “Not you. You’re about to get hitched. You’re needed at home.”

Ryker opened his mouth to protest and Axel raised a hand. “Don’t even bother. That was the president talking.” They were related by blood as well as brotherhood.

 “When I voted your ass in, I had no idea you’d pull rank on me,” Ryker growled.

“Yeah? Deal with it. You’ve had lots of practice.”

He’d been bossing around Ryker most of his life. When their dad went to jail and their mother went to work, a lot of the household duties had fallen to him. He’d been the one who’d gone grocery shopping, made lunches, started dinner, and did the laundry.

Justice raised his hand. “I’m in, boss.” Like Duke, Justice upped the level of bad-assery in the group. Justice had been a Navy SEAL and his team had helped pave the way for the rest of the military in Afghanistan, but he didn’t talk about it much. Axel knew he’d trained at the naval amphibious base in Little Creek, Virginia, but that’s about it.

“Thanks, brother,” Axel said.

Steele raised his hand next. Steele had short spiked black hair and hazel eyes. Normally, they were filled with mischief, but they were flat and lifeless at the moment. “Count me in, brother.” Steele had been a Marine, ran Inferno Firearms, and was yet another asset to the team. He was a munitions expert, so he could handle some serious firepower if they needed it.

Axel sincerely hoped they didn’t.

“I’m in, brother,” Voodoo spoke up.

Voo’s ability to read people would come in handy, but the club needed leadership. “Appreciate it, brother,” Axel said. “But you gotta be in charge while I’m gone. Anyone else?”

Ace raised a hand. “You’ll need a man on this side of the border to act as a guard. You can’t take the bikes across the border without lookin’ awful suspicious. And if it gets real hairy, I’ll call in a favor and fly your asses into the country.” Ace had been a pilot in the war and still had his license.

“That’s a solid Plan B, brother,” Axel said. Having a backup plan made him feel better.

“I’m joining the Suicide Squad, too,” Coyote said, raising his hand. He had poker-straight black hair that fell to his shoulders and bronzed skin. He was a full-blooded Comanche and their resident tech expert. What he lacked in a gun fight, he more than made up for in technical skills. Axel intended to ask him to help Charlie out, if the club agreed to it.

Coyote had been recruited by both the CIA and NSA at one time but chose the Four Horsemen instead.

He had a thing for all things nerd. He usually spent most of his time behind a keyboard, hacking. He gathered intel on their asshole cases, and poked around something called “the dark web”—which sounded like a spider thing to Axel, but what did he know?

 “No, man. You can sit this one out,” Axel stated.

Coyote’s breath hissed from between his teeth. “Believe me, I want to, but none of you speak Spanish.”

Oh, fuck.
Axel hadn’t even thought about that. What if the drug dealers didn’t speak English? It wasn’t something he should chance.

“Besides, I handled that Raptor thing fine,” Coyote continued, clenching his hands on imaginary handlebars. When the club had rescued Shep, Coyote had burst in the door on Duke’s chopper as a diversion. “I ran over a couple of them, and I kept it together. I figure I could expand my horizons.”

“You mean you want to grow a pair?” Steele asked, slapping Coyote on the back then laughing.

Yo scowled. “I have a pair. Big ones, too.” Then he frowned. “You mean balls, right?”

Axel cleared his throat and laid it out for the man. “While it isn’t quite a suicide mission, it’s going to be rough.”

“That was a figure of speech, man. And I always help my brothers,” Yo said with a nod.

Steele clapped him on the back again and Coyote coughed.

“Welcome to the team, brother,” Axel said sadly. He promised himself that he’d watch Coyote’s back. “If we see any action, you’re the getaway driver. I want you in the truck with the shipment.”

“Deal.”

“Out of curiosity, what did you mean by Suicide Squad?” Axel asked.

Everyone groaned. Axel should have known better.
Don’t feed the nerd.

Yo smiled. “Comic books. This is a full-on Suicide Squad mission. Sadly, without Harley Quinn.”

“What’s that about Harleys?” Steele asked.

 The two of them had a little Laurel and Hardy routine going, like those two old cranky guys on
The Muppet Show
. Coyote worked out of a back office in Inferno and they bullshitted every day. Normally, Axel found their back and forth mildly irritating, but he was grateful for the humor at a time like this.

“No, dude, Harley Quinn. She’s a chick from the DC universe, you know, Joker’s main squeeze? I’m a Marvel man, but I make exceptions for hotties.”

“She’s a fuckin’ cartoon?” Steele asked. “Only you’d get a hard-on for a doodle.”

“Dude,” Coyote said, swatting Steele. “You don’t even know. I’ll show you a picture later on today…then you can apologize.”

Axel held up a hand, bringing the light-heartedness to a close. “Thanks for taking on this burden.” He couldn’t help but be proud of his brothers. They’d stepped up to the plate and hadn’t left him hanging. He worked with some fine men. “Just to be safe, I’m inviting our lawyer down in the next couple days, in case anyone needs to update their wills.”