SAVAGE LOVE (A Back Down Devil MC Romance Novel) (32 page)

"Well, you two assholes
cleared me a lot of cash tonight," Blaine said. He had his arm back around
Rachel and he pulled her close and kissed her. 

Gaige put his t-shirt on and it
instantly clung to his body. The sweat showed. When he turned, Emily saw the
blood seeping through.

"Who's this?" he asked.

"I don't know," Nate
said. "Friend of Blaine's."

"Really?" Gaige asked.

"No," Emily managed to
say. "I'm with my friend. She's..."

Blaine had Rachel lifted and her
legs were wrapped tight around him. They were kissing like they hadn't seen
each other in years.

"She looks just his
type," Gaige said. "Hope she knows what she's in store for with
Blaine."

"What's that?" Emily
asked.

Gaige leaned close. Emily could
taste his breath. She was so turned on.

"He's a sick fuck," Gaige
said. "A real sick fuck."

Blaine snapped his fingers and
broke the kiss with Rachel. "Hey, cool it, bro. Don't scare her away. I'm
working something here."

"Working something?"
Emily asked.

"Yeah," Blaine said.
"I can fit both of you on my motorcycle. We'll ditch these fights and go
for a ride."

"Yeah, right," Emily
said.

"No, I don't think so,"
Gaige said.

To Emily's shock, Gaige put his
hand to Emily's. She gasped and then whimpered.

"I think I'll keep this one
right here," Gaige said and smiled.

"Fair enough, bro,"
Blaine said.

"Look at this," Nate
said.

The fight in the circle started but
nobody had thrown a punch yet. Nate pointed someone out as they pushed through
the crowd.

"Hey, that was the guy from
before," Emily said.

Gaige squeezed her hand tight.
"Better stay close to me, beautiful."

five.

From the second Gaige saw the
woman's eyes he knew he would talk to her. Hell, talking would just be the
first step in a long, enjoyable night. But he first had to take care of
business with that big asshole. Gaige could have ended the fight when he had
the guy on his back, but out of respect, he let the guy back up. The asshole
should have just stayed down.

Now Gaige stood holding the woman's
hand, watching a pathetic fight in the circle.

"What's your name,
beautiful?" he asked.

"Emily."

"I like that."

"I like your name too.
Gaige."

"Thanks," Gaige said.

"Your cut is bleeding,"
Emily said. She reached up and touched above Gaige's eyes. She showed him the
blood.

"Little blood never killed
anyone," Gaige said.

"I guess not."

Fuck, her brown eyes really were
beautiful. Gaige reminded himself to give Blaine a pat on the back for actually
bringing something worth enjoying for once. Normally he brought the craziest
shit around. Most of it was hired help though, women who were paid to enact
some of the sickest fantasies Blaine could think of.

Gaige looked at Blaine kissing
Emily's friend. His tongue was everywhere. It was nasty and sloppy.

"Just for the record,
beautiful," Gaige said, "I don't kiss like that."

"No?" Emily asked.
"Then how do you kiss?"

Gaige touched Emily's chin with his
free hand. He watched her bite her lip for a second. Yeah, she wanted it.

"I'm trouble," Gaige
said. "Just so you know."

"Maybe I like trouble,"
Emily said.

"I don't like chicks hanging
around though. You come home with me tonight, you go home tomorrow
morning."

"I may not even be here all
night."

Gaige smiled. "You think
you're tough, don't you?"

"What about you?"

"Beautiful, I'm the toughest
guy you'll ever meet. I'll fucking fight anyone here to get to you. How's that
sound?"

"I'd rather you just kiss
me."

Gaige had to hand it to Emily. She
knew how to handle herself. Most women would be swooned. Their knees bent.
Flustered. Not sure what to say. Gaige was curious about what was really hiding
behind her pretty brown eyes.

Gaige lowered his mouth to Emily's.
He was just a short centimeter away when he felt a hand clamp down on his
shoulder.

"Fuck, we've got a
problem."

It was Nate.

"What's wrong?" Gaige
asked.

He turned, looked, and knew trouble
was about to explode right in the middle of the fight. The guy pushing through
the crowd made it to the circle. He pulled a gun out and the entire crowd
started to try and get away. Two pulls of the trigger and the two men fell.

All hell broke loose.

"We gotta go," Nate said.
"Fuck."

Blaine stopped kissing Emily's
friend and stared at the scene.

Gaige shook his head in disbelief
and anger as a small crew took to the circle, all holding guns. When they
spotted Gaige and Nate, they pointed and one of the men shouted something in
another language.

"Fuck," Gaige said.
"Retaliation."

Nate took out his gun and shot. The
men then began to unload their guns.

Gaige grabbed Emily and pushed her
to the ground. She flew back and crashed to her ass. Gaige drew his gun and
started to shoot. No way in fucking hell some assholes were going to start shit
like this and not get anything in return.

A bullet hit one of the guys and he
stumbled back.

"We have to get out of here,
bro," Gaige said. "This is going to..."

The bullets came from everywhere.
Gaige jumped off the table, Nate by his side. There was no telling who was
actually shooting right now or what their target was. This was turning into
chaos.

Motorcycle engines started to fire
up as crews tried to get the fuck out of there.

Emily screamed and Gaige looked up.
Blaine was still standing on the table holding Emily's friend. He was shooting
his gun. Gaige grabbed his leg.

"Blaine! We have to go!"

"I got this," Blaine
yelled. "Fucking assholes."

The gunfire continued and Gaige
heard the familiar sound of bullets piercing flesh. Blaine started to jump back
and then fell from the table.

"Blaine," Nate said.

Blaine's eye were wide. He looked
at Gaige and smiled. "I'm alive, bro."

Then Gaige saw at least a dozen
bullet holes through Emily's friend's back. He turned toward Emily as a look of
horror spread across her face. Her mouth was open, her bottom lip quivering.

"Fuck," Gaige said. He
grabbed Emily by the arm. "Come on, Emily, we have to go right now. This
is going to get worse before it ends."

"Rachel," Emily said.
"Rachel... she's shot..."

Nate stepped behind Emily.
"Right now, brother. Make your choice with her."

"Come on," Gaige commanded.
"Now."

Emily looked at Gaige and nodded.
He lifted her to her feet. She looked at Rachel and Blaine again.

"Go guys," Blaine called
out. "I'll be fine."

"Blaine...," Gaige said.

"No, just go." Blaine
hugged the dead woman on top of him.

It made Gaige cringe wondering what
kind of insane thoughts were running through Blaine's mind right then.

"She's so warm," Blaine
said.

"Oh, fuck," Nate said.
"Come on."

Gaige started to move, but Emily
kept looking back at her dead friend and felt like dead weight.

"Hey," Gaige called out.
He shook Emily. "If you don't start fucking walking, I'm going to leave
you here."

"Okay," Emily said.
"Sorry."

Gaige hurried to his motorcycle and
handed Emily his helmet. "Put this on and hold tight."

Gunfire continued.

Gaige started his bike and looked
back to the table. He saw the men from the circle standing there, machine gun
like rifles resting on their shoulders. He feared for Blaine, who was still on
the ground with the dead woman on top of him.

Nate took the lead and Gaige peeled
out behind him.

The men on the table started to
shoot but the bullets missed Gaige and Nate.

They sped down the alley and cut
out into traffic in a blur of dangerous moves. Car tires squealed, horns
honked, and Gaige and Nate both maneuvered through the evening traffic.

Once far enough from the junkyard,
Gaige and Nate ended up next to each other, riding off into the night. The open
road in front of them and a destruction of hell behind them.

Welcome to the life of the Back
Down Devil Motorcycle Club.

six.

Emily closed her eyes, put her head
against Gaige
’
s back, and
wished everything she had just seen would all go away. The body of her best
friend, her back riddled with bullets. That scummy biker guy -
Blaine
-
holding her tight on the ground, acting like he didn
’
t give a shit about her. Of course he didn
’
t give a shit about her. Bikers
didn
’
t give a shit about
anything except themselves and their clubs.

Which made Emily wonder why Gaige
was offering her a ride out of the junkyard. The sick cuts left and right on
the motorcycle were enough to make Emily want to vomit. At any given second she
thought the bike was going to drop and they would slide under a car or truck.
It didn
’
t surprise Emily
that Gaige could handle the motorcycle as well as he did, but that didn
’
t mean she wasn
’
t afraid the entire time.

When she didn
’
t think of the two wheeled beast
moving at an obscene high rate of speed she could only then think about Rachel.
The more she thought about Rachel the more she had to face the fact that her
best friend was dead for no reason. Bullets took her life and she did nothing
to deserve those bullets.

Emily finally lifted her head just
in time to see the see the motorcycle in front of her hang a right as a gate
opened. They rode into another compound, this one with a long line of
motorcycles and a collection of cars. There was a garage and an old building
that read BDD EXPORTS.

The motorcycle in front, ridden by
the tall, thick guy, Nate, stopped and he backed into his spot. Gaige got in
front of Nate and performed the same action. The motorcycles then stopped. Nate
climbed off his bike and stood with his hands in fists, obviously waiting for
Gaige to make a move. When Gaige tilted the bike, Emily had no choice but to
get off or else she would have fallen.

Gaige walked to the front of his
motorcycle and stood for a second. He ran a hand through his hair and then
looked back at the building.

“
We
need a meeting,
”
he said.

“
Yeah,
”
Nate said.
“
Want me to call Miller?
”

“
You
fucking better,
”
Gaige
said.
“
He
’
s on a run, but we need him back
to the table. This shit can
’
t
go without something happening. That was a fucking ambush.
”

“
I
was there, brother,
”
Nate
said.
“
What about
…”

Nate nodded toward Emily. When she
had both sets of eyes upon her, she grew worried. Would they kill her? She was
a witness to something very serious, wasn
’
t
she? Not only had she seen illegal fights and gambling, she had been the
witness to a shootout and a murder.

“
Let
me talk to her,
”
Gaige
said. He grabbed Nate by the shoulder.
“
I
’
ll be okay. Go in the office and
call Miller. Head up to the clubhouse and see who
’
s
there. We need to round this up fast and make a decision. I don
’
t want these fuckers to think
they got to us.
”

“
They
think Blaine is dead,
”
Nate
said.

“
Hopefully,
”
Gaige said.

Emily
’
s
lips quivered. Blaine survived because Rachel had been used a human shield,
taking all those bullets to her back. Without warning. Without need.

“
It
’
s not fair,
”
Emily finally said. Her entire
body started to shake.
“
It
’
s not fair
…”

“
You
better get to that,
”
Nate
said.

He hugged Gaige and then walked
away, the leather chains dangling from his jeans clanking together.

Emily saw Gaige turn to face her.
His eyes and face looked sympathetic, but she knew this part. It was part of
the life. The life that Emily didn
’
t
want. The life that she ran from before. The life that Rachel never knew
anything about.

“
Beautiful,
I need you to look at me,
”
Gaige said.

“
It
’
s not fair,
”
Emily said again.

“
Emily
…”

“
She
didn
’
t get it. She wouldn
’
t listen to me. She thought it
was a game. She thought it was fun.
”

“
Listen
to me,
”
Gaige said.
“
I
’
m
sorry for what happened back there. That was retaliation on the club. That will
never happen again.
”

Gaige put his hand out Emily stared
at it. She noted the size of his hand. She wondered how many people he had hurt
with that hand. How many times that hand hit other people
’
s faces or pulled a trigger.

She slowly lifted her gaze to
Gaige.

“
Look,
I
’
m not here to play
fucking games, beautiful,
”
Gaige said.
“
I took you to
save you. I could have left you back there in that fucking mess. I
’
m doing you a favor and trying
to help you.
”

“
Fuck
you,
”
Emily said.

“
Yeah?
Is that what you want to say to me right now?
”

“
Fuck
…
you
…
”

Gaige took his hand away, but then
came at Emily. She didn
’
t
even flinch as her body was still in shock from what had happened. Gaige had
her by the waist and lifted her onto a metal railing. When she turned her head,
she saw a massive drop off above more garage bays. If Gaige let her go, she would
crack her skull open and probably break her neck.

But Gaige didn
’
t let her go. He held her tight
at her waist and he shook her.

“
Fuck,
beautiful, snap out of it,
”
Gaige commanded.
“
If you
’
re going to act like this, I
’
m taking you somewhere. I
’
ll take you the fuck home. I
’
ll take you to the fucking
police station. I
’
ll take
you to the fucking hospital. Is that what you want?
”

Emily shook her head. She looked in
Gaige
’
s eyes again and in
the darkness she swore she could see them glowing at her.

“
This
is where we need to start some kind of trust, Emily,
”
Gaige said.

Emily put her hands to the railing
and gripped it. It was cool. Her hands were sweating and when she moved her
hands she could feel small slivers of paint chipping away.

“
Can
we do that?
”
Gaige asked.

Emily wasn
’
t sure what to do. Could she trust this man? This
biker?
This really sexy biker?

“
I
will help you,
”
Gaige said.
“
I promise, Emily. I will
find the man who did this and I will
…
take care of it.
”

“
Will
you kill him?
”
Emily asked.
The question made her stomach queasy, but strangely it turned her on.

Gaige took a hand from Emily
’
s waist and touched her face.
“
This is where trust begins. I
’
m not going to just start
telling you things. That
’
s
something you have to earn.
”

“
Okay,
”
Emily said.
“
Okay. I trust you then.
”

Emily opened her hands, showing her
trust by not gripping the rail. It was just Gaige holding her steady with one
hand to keep her from falling. The odd part was that she had a sensation
running through her body that she was falling. She slowly lifted her left hand
and placed it over Gaige
’
s
hand. She gripped Gaige
’
s
hand and had the sudden urge to kiss him. The need to feel protected and to be
held ran rampant in her body. Bullets had been flying, bodies falling, and all
Emily wanted to savor some kind of reassurance that it wouldn
’
t be her next to fall dead at
the hands of an angry biker. And the only way to come close to ensuring that
was to have a biker protect her.

Gaige was gorgeous and powerful,
and he could do that for her.

“
What
are you thinking right now?
”
Gaige asked.

“
Nothing
makes sense,
”
Emily said.

“
Welcome
to my world, beautiful.
”

Gaige inched closer. Emily was
taken right back to the scene of the fights. When Gaige was about to kiss her.
Right before all the bullets started flying. And yet here he was, getting very
close again.

For a split second, Emily felt the
touch of Gaige
’
s lips. The
roar of a motorcycle sounded and it stole Gaige
’
s
attention and the kiss he was about to share with Emily.

Emily tensed up even though she
knew the motorcycle racing toward them had to be part of the motorcycle club.
There was no way an enemy would have the opportunity to access the compound so
easily. When the motorcycle came closer, under the spotlights high above the
large lot, she saw the black hair and snake like eyes.

It was Blaine.

Emily couldn
’
t help herself as she looked behind Blaine,
hopelessly hoping that Rachel would be straddling the motorcycle, her hands
tight around his waist.

Emily hung her head and fought back
tears. The reality of it all hadn
’
t
quite settled in yet. It probably wouldn
’
t
for a while. Not with how suddenly everything had changed course.

Blaine put his motorcycle in line
and stepped off his bike. He slid his hands into his pockets and moved slowly
but with enough swagger to make Emily angry. The guy had no care or
consideration for what had just happened.

“
Hey
bro,
”
Blaine said to Gaige.

“
What
’
s it like over there?
”
Gaige asked.

“
It
’
s a mess.
”
Blaine put a hand to Gaige
’
s shoulder. He leaned close but Emily could still
hear him.
“
Most of everyone
cleared out. The two that were fighting were taken away. I don
’
t think there
’
s much blame there on us. But
the shooters
…
man, they
were pissed off. I don
’
t
know how they didn
’
t put a
bullet in my head for good measure.
”

“
How
the hell did you get out of there?
”
Gaige asked.

“
I
can handle myself,
”
Blaine
said. His eyes moved to Emily.
“
About
your friend
…”

“
What
about her?
”
Emily asked.
She jumped from the rail.

“
Wait
a second,
”
Gaige ordered.

Emily refused.
“
What did you do?
”

“
Trying
to give her some respect, that
’
s
all,
”
Blaine said.
“
I took her to her car and put
her in the driver
’
s seat.
It was the best I could do. They
’
ll
find here and start investigating, but there
’
s
nothing else I can do. She
’
s
gone, babe. She
’
s gone.
”

“
Babe?
”
Emily asked.
“
Who the hell
…”

“
Whoa,
”
Blaine said. He put his hands
up.
“
I took care of her,
okay?
”

“
You
held her
…
she was shot
…”

“
Listen,
babe, that first bullet was it. The rest, yeah, that was for my protection.
”

Emily felt her blood boiling over.
She looked at Gaige and saw him cross his arms. Maybe it was some kind of
signal or sign, maybe it wasn
’
t.

“
I
mean, don
’
t get me wrong,
”
Blaine said,
“
if I could have my way with her
…
alive or gone
…”

Emily snapped. She lunged at Blaine,
knowing damn well the risk of trying to attack a biker.

She slapped Blaine across the face.
Her hand stung. He touched his cheek and shook his head, then smiled. He
smiled.
He fucking smiled.
Emily snapped again. She took both hands to
his face, clawing at him, wanting to rip his eyes out. When she scratched him,
Emily felt her nails ache as they pulled back. She was using all her strength,
hell bent on actually hurting Blaine. This was all his fault. He did this. He
flirted with Rachel. He confused her. He invited her to the illegal fights.