Trusting Bull: Savage Brothers MC (53 page)

I trail off in my thoughts as I notice Torch coming in from the back office. Torch is a new face around here. Striker and Gunner decided to re-up with Uncle Sam. It wasn’t a big surprise, both men have wanderlust in them. I personally think they’d make better nomads than patched in members. The lure of the open road always called to them more than the rest of us. So we slowly moved Hawk up the ranks more and patched in Frog. Nailer and Six are still prospects, though we are going to have to remedy that soon. Both men have proven their loyalty to the club in spades, especially during everything with Dancer. Still, the mess with Dancer and how an enemy managed to catch us with our pants down, pisses me the hell off. I don’t care if the man did have the power to disappear for months on end, without a trace. It doesn’t matter if he had a degree in electronics and connections in the underground. I will not fucking let my men be caught unaware again. So, I did something I thought I would never do. I talked to Skull about it.

Skull and I have shit in common, even if I don’t want to admit it. Plus, being a President of a MC is not a fucking walk in the park. You carry a heavy weight on your shoulders. You make decisions that mean life and death to men and women you care about—your family. So, despite the motherfucker’s preoccupation with my woman, he and I have struck up a strange kind of truce.

Torch isn’t a member of the Savage crew. He actually is a patched in member of Skull’s crew. He is a fucking genius at making state of the art security systems. It helped that he and Freak seemed to just immediately gel. So I asked him to come in and help beef up our defenses. I can handle a lot of shit. I have no problem when it comes to guns, ammo and man power. Yet, this new age shit and the computers and high tech gadgetry are beyond me. Savage MC is a club that needs all its bases covered. I will not allow one more fucking person to take me or my men by the balls.

It’s essential I make a statement. I need to make sure I have men around me that understand that and are willing to make some big ass moves towards becoming the major power, not only in my town, but in the state. So, with the alliance between Savage MC and Devil’s Fire solid, Torch, Gavel and some hulk called Beast have all become regular fixtures at my damn club. Sadly, even Skull is here more often than not—which is okay as long as he doesn’t speak to my woman.

“Yo! Dragon. We got problems, man. Freak and I need to see you in the back.”

My easy going mood vanishes immediately. Damn it, we’ve barely recovered from the drama with Dance and motherfucking
Francis.
I need quiet. I do
not
need more fucking drama. I get up and walk towards Torch, making note that Crusher falls in step behind me with a muttered curse.

I find myself hoping my day isn’t about to be shot all to hell.

Nicole

F
ear grabs me
when I hear Torch’s words. Has Michael done something else? I see the color bleed out of Dani’s face and I know she fears the same thing. I grab hold of her hand and try to reassure her. Dani comes off all badass and attitude, but she’s very delicate since Michael. He changed her. If I have enjoyed anything about the heartbreaking journey she’s taken over the last few years, it has been watching her stretch her wings again. I might not agree with the things she does and the choices she makes, but I know she makes them because she needs to prove she doesn’t answer to anyone. In some small way it helps her gain independence. You had to see how broken and empty she was at one point to clearly understand.

“You bitches about ready to head out?” Lips asks, as her and Nikki walk over. We are so deep in thought over Michael, neither of us noticed them. Both of us jump in reaction. Luckily neither woman seems to notice it—or at least they don’t bring it up.

“Go?” I ask and I know my voice is squeaky and strained.

“Yeah bitch, it’s our last fitting? Those damn pink dresses you’re making us squeeze our asses into?” Nikki complains.

Oh shit, I completely forgot about it.

“Yeah, give me a minute to tell Dragon bye and we’ll head out.” I try to smile reassuringly at Dani and walk down the hall to Dragon’s office.

I don’t knock on the door immediately, I stand outside and try to listen. Is that not messed up? Trying to listen to what my man is saying? I hate the feeling it gives me. I hate Michael all over again. I thought we were done with him. What kind of mad man doesn’t give up after years… hell, almost five fucking years? Oh yeah, a lunatic, that’s who!

I can’t hear a damn thing through the heavy door. My hand goes to the doorknob. What would happen if I open it slightly, just to hear? Would Dragon notice? I start to do it, when the door opens and Dragon is standing in front of me. My heart beats in triple time. Does he know what I’m thinking? Does he know what is happening?

“Nicole? What’s going on, Mama?”

Fear, intense and real, and I haven’t even done anything yet! Still, that’s the feeling that swamps me. I try to swallow it down.

“I…I wanted to say goodbye to you. We’re headed out to the fitting.” Does he notice how I’m not looking him in the eye? I can’t do this. I’m going to talk to Dani. I can’t keep things from Dragon. Besides, Michael is dangerous. Dragon needs to know, to be prepared.

His finger reaches under my chin and pulls my face up so that our eyes meet.

“You okay, Mama? Camera showed you were out here for a while. You’re not sick are you? Do you need me?”

“I…I’m good,” I say swallowing down the guilt as I take in the concern on his face. “I love you, Dragon.”

He smiles, and like always, his smile and the way it makes those deep brown eyes of his light up, warms me. God, this man is beautiful.

“What do you say I make you late for your fitting?” He asks, his fingers gently stroking the side of my face.

“How late?” I whisper, not really caring.

He grabs the cheeks of my ass and pulls me up on his body. Because of my pregnancy it takes some work but I semi-wrap my legs around him and lock my arms around his neck. I bury my face into the side of his neck and just breathe him in. Dragon is home. The only home I’ve ever known or wanted.

“We’ll send your girls on and they can do it without you.”

It’s so tempting and I really want to, but I feel guilty. I should stick close to Dani. Dragon’s kissing along the side of my neck. He bites the lobe of my ear and flicks his tongue over it and I lose focus. We walk back through the front room of the club. The club members instantly start their hollering and ribbing. You would think they would get accustomed to Dragon and me by now. I can’t even count how many times he’s run people out of the room so he could bend me over the bar. Apparently, today, he’d rather take me back to our room. I’m totally okay with that.

“Woman! We’re going to be late!” I hear Lips yell in the background.

“I need you riding my cock, Mama. I can’t wait to feel that greedy pussy of yours sinking down on me.” Dragon whispers in my ear to distract me. I love that my man has such a filthy mouth. Sometimes, I think I can come from his words alone.

“Give me ten minutes!” I holler back in the direction of my girls. Wishing my stomach was just a little smaller because I can’t bend down and torture his nipples like I want. I miss the days when I was more flexible, especially when it comes to our lovemaking.

Dragon’s hands bite into the cheeks of my ass.

“Fuck, Mama, I’m going to need more than ten minutes.”

“Make that thirty minutes,” I call back and somehow I can hear Dragon’s soft laugh over the hard beating of my heart and the yelling by the club members.

“Mama, thirty minutes will barely get us started.”

I smile against his throat and then lean to whisper in his ear.

“I think you can do it if you try really hard.”

“I get much harder and you won’t be able to walk when we’re done.”

“Promises, promises.”

“Nicole, you’re always busting my ass,” he says laughing as we cross the threshold to our room and he uses his body and foot to close the door to our room.

He lays me on the bed and, for just this one minute, I forget all about Dani and the problems coming our way and just enjoy being with my man—my soon-to-be-husband.

“Have I told you today how much I love you, Dragon?”

He stands over me, his eyes on mine and I know in that moment there has never been a time when I have loved him more.

“Are you okay, Mama?” He asks.

“When I’m with you, I’m perfect,” I answer truthfully.

“This pregnancy is making my woman emotional,” he says using his thumb to wipe away a tear that falls from my eye.

I can’t help the tears. I should be telling Dragon everything that’s going on, and I
really
shouldn’t be hiding things from him. I really shouldn’t be spying on him. If he knew, it would hurt him; destroy him. Just the thought brings another tear. I’ll tell Dani this evening. I have to let Dragon know, I can’t keep secrets from him.

“Make love to me, Dragon,” I beg needing his touch to wipe the rest of the world away—at least for now.

Dragon

I
watch as
my woman piles into the SUV that Crusher is driving. She’s riding in the back with Dani and Nikki. Lips is riding up front. Something is off and I’m not sure what it is. It’s weighing my woman down heavily and I don’t like it. I couldn’t get her to talk to me about it, but I haven’t given up; I’ll get it out of her eventually. It’s probably just wedding stuff. Lord knows it’s stressing me out, and I don’t even give a fuck about it. Hell, long as my ring ends up on Nicole’s finger, I’m good.

“Yo! Boss, we got that information you asked for,” Torch calls, claiming my attention. With one last glance at my woman, I turn around.

I have this damn feeling in the pit of my stomach. I can’t explain what it is, but it feels like I’m a bundle of nerves and my skin is crawling, like I’m being watched. It’s instinct. A skill honed in blood and death when I served overseas. It’s never let me down, so I know there is shit about to hit the fan. It fucking pisses me off. Ever since Irish’s betrayal it’s been one thing after another—like the motherfucker put a damned curse on the club. It’s made worse, because I miss the fucking traitor. Every-fucking-day, I miss him. What kind of screwed up shit is that? I’ve never admitted that to anyone, not even Nicole. What man leads others and misses a traitor, like he was still a brother? It wars in my brain. There are days I want to shed tears for the fucker. His screams haunt me, and then there are other days I want him back here, so I can fucking kill him again.

I look around at the sour faces in my office and hell, I know my day is only going to get worse. Earlier, the boys had found footage of a stranger prowling around the outside of the fence surrounding the club. The man seemed to be taking pictures. He stayed in the shadows and used a zoom lens, so he never got close enough for us to get a good picture of him. I was hoping when Torch told me he had information for me, we had somehow managed to find out who the fucker was. From the look on the faces around me, I’m thinking that’s not happening.

“Spill it.”

Frog, Freak, Torch, and Hawk are sitting around the table and not a damned one of them looks happy. Again, I feel sadness. None of my brothers I bled and fought with are here. Bull is back from the rehab, but he’s not the same. Hell, he’s not even here at the meeting. No one has seen him today. He leaves early and doesn’t get back until late in the night. When he is here, he talks to no one. I’m going to have to deal with it soon. I can’t allow it to get to the point it did with Dance…

“Well, one of you motherfuckers start talking. I got shit to do,” I growl, more because I can’t seem to shut my brain down these days.

“Yeah, like finding a monkey suit,” Freak returns.

“Screw you, I didn’t hear you telling Nikki no.”

“Woman sucked my dick like a Hoover, didn’t have the brains left to say no,” Freak jokes.

I slap him on the back of the head, not arguing, because that’s pretty much how Nicole gets her way.

“So, what the fuck is going on?”

“Someone was prowling around the Den last night. First we thought it was just a drunk wandering around in the parking lot, but not many drunks in this area that we don’t know.”

“True.”

“Sure aren’t any drunks around here who wear expensive suits,” Freak adds, punching some buttons on his keyboard and the screen zooms in on an older man, maybe in his late forties, with a suit and hat on. His steps are sure, not drunk at all and everything about him screams that he is on alert. He keeps glancing over his back to see if he is being followed. His head is tucked close and aimed at an angle that’s next to impossible to get a good view of his face.
Shit.

“Can you get a look at his face at all?” I ask watching as he walks toward Nicole’s old Mercedes that Dani drives now.

I made Nicole switch to one of the club’s Tahoes. The safety rating is better and it has more room for the baby; plus, it’s four wheel drive. She bitched and moaned, but gave in eventually.

“There’s a sketchy picture of his face, as he walks back to the club. This camera is on the outside light overlooking employee parking,” Freak answers.

“What’s he doing?”

“He’s putting a note on the windshield of Dani’s car, you can’t really see it,” Freak says.

“Maybe he’s just trying to pick her up? Lot of those men get attached to the dancers,” Frog joins in.

“Possible, though Dani’s not mentioned anything happening that was unusual.”

“Bitch wouldn’t,” Torch says, and Freak throws an elbow into him.

I don’t understand it, but Dani and Freak seem to have formed this weird platonic friendship. Or at least I think it is. Hell, as jealous as Nikki is, if it isn’t, we’ll find Dani dead in a ditch somewhere. That bitch is
not
one to mess with.

“I would have gone with the stalker fan theory, but watch what the son of a bitch does here.”

As soon as Freak gets the sentence out, we watch as the man squats down and monkeys under the car.