The Devil in Her Soul (Heartless Devils Motorcycle Club Book 3)

This is a work of fiction. Any names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons--living or dead--is entirely coincidental.

The Devil in Her Soul copyright @ 2015 by Kathryn Thomas. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embedded in critical articles or reviews.

Book 3 of the
Heartless Devils Motorcycle Club
trilogy

Prologue

Hiero and Mikio Hamasaki sat in the great room of the house, the room overlooking Biscayne Bay through large, two story windows. As much as they enjoyed sitting outside to enjoy the sun and sea breeze, having the Carter girl sneak up on them had made them take their business discussions inside. They were relatively sure she hadn’t been able to understand what they were saying, but it was still an unacceptable risk.

“I understand, father,” the younger of the two men, Mikio, said. “But the Heartless Devils have been a much larger problem that we expected. I am uncertain how, but they found out that members of Demonios de Sangre killed their leader’s spouse. They have more resources than we gave them credit for.”

If an outsider had been listening they may have recognized the language was from Asia, and possibly even as Japanese, but only someone who could speak Japanese fluently would recognize the rare Hachijōjima dialect they shared.

“Perhaps we should approach the problem another way,” the older man, Hiero, said. “We always knew that we would have to be patient to implement our plans.”

“I understand, father, but with the Devils moving against us, we have to give up our subterfuge and attack the problem more openly.”

The older man grunted in acknowledgement. When they had ordered Melissa Carter killed, they had attempted to pin the murder on the Trifectas to start a war between the two largest clubs in Miami. The Heartless Devils hadn’t taken the bait and the war hadn’t started as planned. They had tried again with Jennifer Carter to increase the pressure on the Devils, but that plan also failed when the Devils arrived in the nick of time to save her. Hiero had wanted to throw her overboard and drag her behind the boat until she drowned and then dump her body on the beach in the Heartless Devils’ territory. He wanted the Heartless Devils unsure if her death was accidental or deliberate to keep them uncertain and confused, but that subtlety had cost them. Hiero acknowledged to himself that he should have listened to his son’s advice and simply had her throat slit and left her for dead in her apartment.

Mikio had continued to play his part as their contact with the Buccaneers, Demonios de Sangre, and the Trifecta clubs while Hiero had stonewalled the Heartless Devils. But, somehow, the Devils had put two and two together and knew that Mikio was connected to both the brewing club war and Jenny’s near death. It was only logical to assume they had made the connection to his father, as well, when Jenny Carter had spotted them together.

“We should use the Demonios,” Mikio suggested. “I no longer trust the Buccaneers or the Trifectas.”

Hamasaki senior grunted again. “Why?”

“It’s a feeling. They haven’t openly defied us, but they no longer seem as eager to do our bidding as they once did."

“Do you think they have joined the Heartless Devils against us?”

“I don’t know. I don’t believe so. A few weeks ago the Heartless Devils hit our distribution warehouse. The Trifectas defended our supply of weapons and didn’t appear to try to hide what happened.”

“And the Buccaneers?” Hiero asked.

“They have fulfilled all our requests as they agreed to, but, like the Trifectas, they no longer seem…hungry. Not as they once were.”

“But you trust the Demonios de Sangre?”

“Yes. They were very upset about one of their members being killed. Two others were wounded. It was Jennifer Carter and a member of the Heartless Devils, Asher Lowe, who did it. The Buccaneers say that this Asher Lowe has gone rogue.”

“This Asher, is he a big man with blond hair?” Hiero asked.

“Yes. Do you know him?”

“Yes, I think so. I believe he was the one who paid me a visit and was the one who saved Jennifer. You said he has gone rogue? As in no longer part of the Heartless Devils?”

“That’s correct, father,” Mikio said. “The Demonios de Sangre have decided to not strike at the Heartless Devils for the actions of Asher and Jennifer. It seems the Americans do have a certain honor among themselves.”

Hiero thought for a moment. They had come far and he didn’t want to abandon his goal now that it was in sight. It always came back to the Heartless Devils. They were keystone that was thwarting his plans to unite the underground clubs of Miami under his control.

“Perhaps you are right,” Hiero growled in annoyance. “We approached the Heartless Devils with our hand extended in friendship, and they rebuffed us. Now, they are working against us. This cannot be tolerated. Contact the head of the Demonios. It’s time for more direct action. Tell them we will back them with our resources and we wish them to engage the Heartless Devils. Once the Heartless Devils fall, the rest will support us or join the Heartless Devils in their fate. Also, put a bounty, say fifty-thousand dollars, on Asher Lowe. I want him alive. He has caused us much trouble and I will enjoy dealing with him personally.”

“Yes, father, but do you think that is wise? The Heartless Devils may rally to support Asher if we attack him directly.”

“Wise? Perhaps not. Necessary? Yes. I suspect the Heartless Devils, Trifectas, and Buccaneers have combined their forces against us. With only the Demonios de Sangre as our agents, we have little hope of completing what we have started. We must strike now, before their bond becomes too strong to overcome. The bounty will allow us to see if the Heartless Devils have truly declared Asher rogue or it is merely another gambit. I have underestimated the Devils. I won’t make that mistake again.”

Mikio nodded. He didn’t smile, but the news delighted him. He had always thought the most effective way to control was through terror and blood. All this maneuvering behind the scenes left him restless and fidgety. They had tried it his father’s way. Now they were going to try it his way.

“I will see to it immediately,” Mikio said as he nodded in respect and turned away to attend to his duties, a smile forming on his lips. He could feel his manhood stiffening at the thought of the coming conflict. Yoshiko had better be ready because he was going to fuck her into submission later, after he had put his plans into motion.

Chapter 1

Jennifer Carter and Asher Lowe were sitting in a small restaurant in the Little Haiti area of Miami, part of the Trifecta’s territory, trying to enjoy their lunch. They were living day to day, moving every few days to a new motel. Jenny’s father, the president of the Heartless Devils Motorcycle Club, was looking for them, and they knew it was only a matter of time before he found them.

Asher still had friends in the club, friends who had kept them apprised of developments. He had been declared rogue and they were urging him to come in and tell his side of the story. But being branded as rogue, a member intentionally working against the best interest of the club, was serious business. If he failed to sway the club, he would be leaving the clubhouse in a body bag. With everything he and Jenny were involved in, he couldn’t take that chance and leave her unprotected. Not until the Hamasaki problem was resolved, the same problem that John Carter, Jenny’s father and President of the club, seemed intent on ignoring. Once that problem was resolved, then he could take his chances with the club.

A loud motorcycle roared past outside and Asher’s eyes flicked to the window. Jenny saw him stiffen and then relax when he realized it wasn’t a member of his club. She felt terrible for him. He had given up so much for her—his club and his life in it—all so she could exact revenge for her mother’s death. Less than a week ago she had paid that debt. When she was unable to pull the trigger herself, Asher had completed the task for her. Immediately afterwards she had felt like a great weight had been lifted from her shoulders, but since that time, a weight of a different kind had fallen on her. The weight of guilt. She was a murderer as sure as if she had pulled the trigger herself.

He had tried to comfort her, but her mood swung wildly from deep guilt to flaming passion. Last night she had cried in great heaving sobs over what she had done, then she and Asher had violent, passionate, sex as she tried to forget what she had done and burn it from her memory with white-hot desire.

Asher placed his sandwich in the basket and reached across the table to take Jenny’s hand, giving it a gentle squeeze. “You okay?”

She shook herself and returned from the dark recesses of her thoughts. “Yeah. Sorry. Every day it gets a little easier.”

He squeezed her hand a bit harder then released her. “You need to let it go. You didn’t do anything. Nothing! It was all me. I—” he looked around to make sure no one was listening but lowered his voice all the same, “—shot those men, not you.”

“That doesn’t absolve me of the guilt, Asher. You did it for me.”

“I did it for your mother,” he said firmly. This was the same ground they had covered several times already. Jenny was hearing but she wasn’t listening.

She stared at her half-eaten sandwich. “So you say.”

“Because it’s the truth.”

“Yeah,” she murmured. There was little difference in the law in accessory to murder and murder itself.

“Any man who would kill a woman in cold blood like that, without even questioning the order, deserves everything they get.”

“Yeah. I know. But…”

“But, nothing! The world is a better place for what I did.”

Jenny looked up and met his eyes. Once again the calm assurance she saw there comforted her. “You believe that?”

“I wouldn’t have done it if I didn’t.”

Her lips quirked into a small smile. Once again the gloom was lifting because of him. “I love you,” she said as reached for him.

He snorted and smiled as he took both her tiny hands in his own. He was the luckiest son-of-a-bitch on the face of the earth to have the love of a woman like Jenny. “I love you, too. More than you will ever know.”

And just like that, the sun came out in her world. Having the love of someone like Asher, a man who knew himself and never doubted he was doing the right thing, a man who could be incredibly gentle when he wanted to be, and hard as nails when he had to be, a man who had given up so much for her and yet never doubted his path, was enough to push any doubts from her mind. For a while, anyway.

“Asher, what the fuck is going on with the Devils?” the leader of the Trifectas asked.

Asher looked between the two men. William Hampton, President of the Buccaneers, and Thomas Nakagawa, leader of the Trifectas. The two men had asked for this meeting.

“What do you mean?”

“Something is going down. There is too much activity and word on the street is they are looking for you,” Will said. “The question is, why?”

Asher thought for a moment then decided to come clean. “I have been declared rogue.”

Thomas and Will looked at each other. “That’s the story or have you really been declared rogue?” Thomas asked.

“It’s not just a story,” Asher said.

Once again Thomas and Will looked at each other. “Goddamnit, Asher, you said the HDs were onboard with this! Now you tell us you’ve gone rogue!” Thomas spat.

“What the fuck, Asher?” Will chimed in. “Did you kill the Demonios without it being sanctioned by the HDs?”

“Yes.”

“Holy shit! What have you done, Asher?” Will asked, his voice becoming hard.

“What had to be done. John has lost his way. He is so torn up by his old lady’s death, and the near death of his daughter, he’s not thinking straight.”

Thomas began shaking his head. “This is some bad shit,
Muhōmono.
You’re going to start a war with the Demonios.”

“No. I’m rogue, remember? The Devils are clear.”

“And us?” Will asked. “If they find out we are working with you, are the HDs going to come at us? What about the Trifectas? You told us you could get the HDs onboard with this!”

“Look! You know this right. We just need to stick to the plan.”

“What fucking plan, Asher?” Thomas snarled. “You said the fucking Heartless Devils would be onboard with this, and now you tell us you’ve been rogue the whole time?”

“They will be!” Asher snapped back. “Once the plan is in motion, the HDs will be there!”

“How do we know? That’s what you said before,” Will pointed out. “The last thing I want is to have to watch my back with Hamasaki, the Demonios,
and
the Devils.”

Thomas stared at Asher with pursed lips. “I thought you were a stand-up guy and that I could work with you. Now I find out you were lying to my face the whole time. What else have you been lying about?”

“Nothing! And I wasn’t lying. I thought the HDs would be onboard with this! They should be!”

“Then why aren’t they?” Will asked.

“Because of me.” Jenny said from the bed. She looked down in shame and spoke quietly as Thomas and Will turned to her. “My father doesn’t approve of me being Asher’s old lady.”

There was a moment of silence. “That’s what this is all about? Pussy?”

“No,” Asher said.

“Yes,” Jenny said at the same moment. “If it weren’t for me sleeping with Asher, this wouldn’t be a problem. But that blinds Dad, at the moment. He can’t see what is good for the club, for all the clubs, because all he can think about is keeping me away from Asher and the club.”

“Jesus Christ…”
Will breathed. “And I thought I was stupid for fucking a Demonios old lady. You’re sleeping with the club
President’s
daughter against his wishes? You are seven kinds of stupid, Asher.”

“No. This is still good and right. The other, that doesn’t matter,” Asher replied firmly.

“The hell it doesn’t,” Thomas replied. “It matters enough to drag us all into the shit.”

“I’ll fix it,” Jenny said. “I will go to Dad and explain it to him. I will
make
him see what he is doing.”

Thomas and Will looked at each other. “You need to get his shit straight, Asher. All of it. No more fucking games, got it?”

“Yeah, I got it,” Asher replied, his eyes narrowing slightly as if he had bit into something sour.

“I want to hear it from John this time,” Thomas continued.

“Yeah, okay.”

“Look,” Will began. “It’s nothing personal, okay? The Devils got the clubs to cooperate and to stop fighting each other. That has been good for us all, okay? We get that. But this, this,
this
shit threatens all of that. We don’t need the Devils coming after us by working with a member who has gone rogue. You can understand that. Would you work with rogue member of the Trifectas, or the Bucs, if the tables were turned?”

“No. I get it, okay? I’m sorry, but I really thought John would come around.”

Thomas shook his head in disgust. “Bros before hos. I get it. But this is his fucking
daughter!
Did you really think this shit wouldn’t come back and bite you in the ass?”

“I thought I could handle it. We thought we could turn it around. But John…he’s changed.”

“You need to handle it. Now. Today. We’re ready to fuck Hamasaki up, but only if the Devils are with us.” Will said firmly.

“I got, okay?” Asher snapped.

“See that you do,” Thomas said as he moved toward the door. He opened it but didn’t step outside. “You need to move. If the HDs come calling, I’ll have to give you up. Better if I don’t know where you are.” With a shake of his head, he walked out.

Will stared at Asher a moment, his eyes full of understanding, before he picked up his helmet and paused at the still open door. “I understand why you did what you did. I know the clubs working together to kick Hamasaki’s ass is the right course of action. But we can’t be working against the Devils with a rogue member. You know that.”

“Yeah. I know.”

Will nodded once then closed the door on the way out.

“Fuck!” Asher snarled, throwing a hard punch at the air. He knew Will and Thomas were right, but that didn’t mean he had to be happy with them being right.

“What are we going to do?” Jenny asked softly from the edge of the bed.

“We have to go in.”

“No! Let’s just get away. Leave Miami. I can transfer to another school. We don’t have to stay here.”

“We can’t do that, and you know it. I have to face the club, sooner or later. Better to do it now, on our terms, rather than later. Now maybe we can still do some good.”

“You heard my Dad! He said he would kill you.”

Asher nodded. “He can try, but that required a unanimous vote. I don’t think he will get it. I think Kenny, at least, will vote against a dispatch.”

“Dispatch? Murder you mean.”

“I knew this going in, Jenny. You did, too. Now it’s time for us to stand up for what we believe in.”

“I’m not the one with my head on the block.”

“Doesn’t matter. I know what we have done is right and I’m will to stand in chapel and defend it.”

Jenny fought her tears of anger and frustration. “If he tries to kill you, he will have to kill me first!”

“No,” he said softly. “I stand alone in judgment. If it goes wrong, I want you clear of it, understand? John won’t hurt you, and I won’t have you hurt on my behalf.”

“I can’t lose you, Asher,” she said as rose from the bed and slipped into his embrace.

“You won’t. We’re in the right here, Jenny. The club will see.”

“I hope you’re right.”