The Devil's Due Read online

  His jaw clenched and jumped, the relaxation that had been there a moment ago gone entirely. For a moment, his face contorted with the most unutterable grief, a sorrow like I had never seen before. But just as quickly as it flickered it was gone, replaced with the same anger he had shown me when he had looked at me at the bar when he had tried to warn me away.

  His growl started low in his belly, like a dog’s, then ripped from his throat.

  “I warned you, didn’t I?!” he shouted. He sat up quickly and hunched over, planting his elbows on his knees and studiously avoiding my gaze. He took a breath and seemed to gain mastery over his rage. In a steely voice, he continued: “I told you. I told you what you’d have to do to ride with us.”

  Hot shame flooded my belly, and suddenly I was pissed. What the hell had I gone through all that for if it wasn’t enough?

  “I did it already!” I shouted. All those eyes on me. I punched the mattress at the memory. They had taken me, used me, made me vulnerable and what’s worse, I had loved it. The uncontrollable orgasms, over and over again—they were the worst part of it.

  What did it say about me that I’d came like I did, while three men fucked me as the rest of the club watched? What did that make me? I was a slut, just like Darryl had insisted.

  I brought my knees to my chest and hugged them close. Cade was still looking away from me but the rage had gone out of his stance. His shoulders hung, and once again this proud, strong man looked defeated. The voice that rumbled back at me was gentle and resigned.

  “That was just our chapter, Lainey-girl,” he said softly, speaking my name for the very first time. “Now you have to be approved by the president of our whole club.”

  The way he said those last words made me shudder instinctively. “Who’s he?”

  “Moloch.” He spat out the word like a curse.

  A small memory stirred in the back of my brain. It was a distant memory, from Cora and her Bible study classes. “Like... like the demon?”

  Cade nodded. “We give him his due,” he recited mechanically. His eyes went dead as he said the words, like someone else controlled his voice

  The words of his tattoo were facing me, a bright, blaring warning right there in front of my face. And I was too blind to see them for what they were. They were a promise of danger and suffering. They were the price you paid for freedom.

  And true freedom comes from having nothing to lose.

  I couldn’t go back. I wouldn’t go back to Flint Springs and Darryl’s trailer and a life of being beaten around by a miserable drunk. I was moving forward. If this was the path I was on, so be it. I squared my shoulders.

  “What’s he like?”

  Cade turned at the new note in my voice. He looked at me searchingly. “You’re going through with this?”

  “I’ve got nothing else.” My fingers touched the bruise on my cheek again. It wasn’t nearly as painful now, more of a memory than a bruise. Like my old life, it was fading quickly.

  Cade nodded. “I understand that,” he said darkly. Once more, that unutterable sorrow clouded his face.

  I hesitated again, then decided it was okay to press. “Where are you from?”

  “Where we’re headed. Puerta de Fuego.”

  I gasped. “The big city?” I squealed before I could help myself.

  He looked at me sharply and laughed. “I guess compared to Shit Springs, yeah, it’s pretty big.”

  I laughed too and leaned back dreamily on the bed, kicking my legs back and forth.

  “The pastor in our town—he was always warning us that Puerta de Fuego was an ‘evil’ place.” I lowered my voice to match the sonorous boom I’d heard whenever I went to church with Cora. “The name will tell you, my children. "The door of fire," it’s the door to Hell!”

  I expected Cade to laugh again. Instead he turned from me, his fists clenched at his sides. “He’s not far off,” he muttered.

  “Cade?”

  He looked back up at me and his eyes softened. “I haven’t been back in months, It’s been nice being away.”

  “Where have you been?”

  His expression softened further and he perched at the edge of the bed. “Got a place all my own up in the mountains. Gives me space to think.”

  I leaned forward, captivated by the sudden change in him. “I’ve never been to the mountains,” I breathed. “I’d really like to go.”

  “You’ve never been to the mountains?”

  “Never even seen ‘em.”

  He chuckled and smoothed back my hair. “Where have you been, Lainey-girl?”

  I swung my legs back around so that I was sitting next to him. “Well, I’ve been to my stepdad’s store. I’ve been down in the dry stream-bed that runs outside town. I’ve been to my friend Cora’s house.” Cade laughed again as I continued, ticking off the places on my fingers. “I’ve been to Cora’s church. I’ve been to school a bunch of times. And I went to the bar... once.”

  He smoothed my hair again and looked at me, his eyes darting back and forth like he was trying to read me. “That’s it?”

  I nodded. “That’s it. This is as far as I’ve ever been from Flint Springs... .and I don’t even know where we are.”

  Cade motioned to the darkened window. “We only made it over the county line before your... episode,” he smirked at me. “Place called Dry Gulch. It’s even smaller than your little shit town, but it has a good diner.”

  “Where is everyone else?”

  He lay back on the bed and closed his eyes. “A few brothers stayed back with us... for protection.”

  “Protection?”

  “You never leave a man behind. You never know.”

  I opened my mouth and then closed it. “Where is everyone else?”

  “We’ll ride out early and catch up with them in Porter Crossing.”

  “Porter Crossing?” I jumped. “Isn’t that where that awful hold-up was?”

  His face, so open and happy a moment ago, snapped shut like a book. “We have to get up early. Shut up and go to sleep now.”

  I opened my mouth, ready to strike back with a witty response when I saw the thunder in his eyes. Chastened, I slid over to the side of the bed and slipped under the sheets.

  I held perfectly still as he grunted and shifted his massive frame onto the too-small mattress. He finally settled with his back to me, broad and strong like a wall between us.

  Chapter 11

  I listened in the darkness, hoping he’d say more.

  The hold-up at the bank in Porter Crossing had been in the news for weeks. Two men had stormed into the branch, guns blazing, killing two customers instantly. The only teller on duty was a woman who had tried to hit the alarm, but one of the men had grabbed her and hauled her into the back office at gunpoint.

  She and the rest of the customers ended up being held hostage for four days, during which time there were several intense shootouts with the police. I couldn’t remember how it had finally ended, only that the name “Porter Crossing” quickly became synonymous with “dangerous” in Flint Springs.

  Cora’s pastor had spoken at length about the dangers of the big city and the perils of godless heathens who knew no laws. Cora had recited these dire warnings to me wide-eyed, completely unaware of how much they had excited me.

  But instead of sating my curiosity, Cade fell asleep. The low sound of his even breathing lulled me, and I started to drift. The exhaustion of this wild day took hold and I sank into sleep.

  The whirling faces of the men of the Devil’s Due M.C. swirled in front of me, mixing as they did with the snarling face of Darryl as he stood on our front lawn in his underwear. The last thought I had before I succumbed to slumber was how angry he must be right now. And who would he take it out on, now that I was gone forever?

  It felt like only seconds had passed when the first roar of the engines startled me from my sleep.

  I made to sit up, but found that I was pinned. During the night, Cade had rolled over and flung his a
rm over my body. I lay perfectly still, listening to the sound of his breathing in the sudden silence left in the wake of the engine’s roar.

  Cade’s chest was like a boulder under my shoulder blade. I squirmed slightly, trying to find a comfortable place in his crushing embrace.

  He stirred and pulled me closer with a long exhale. His breath was in my ear, brushing across the skin of my shoulder. It changed in tone and I could tell he was waking.

  He stretched his arm over his head and I gasped in a quick full breath, grateful to not be squashed anymore, but missing his arm around me. I didn’t have to miss him for long.

  “How did you sleep?” he rumbled, his lips brushing the sensitive skin of my earlobe. A little thrill went down to my core at that soft touch.

  I struggled and kicked my way to roll onto my other side, working my way under his heavy arm so that I could face him. I ducked my head into his chest, aware that my breath may not be entirely pleasant.

  “I think I was in a coma,” I murmured into his skin, inhaling his scent.

  He smoothed my hair and cupped my face to his. “Not funny,” he murmured, but the quirk of a smile at the corner of his mouth told me he wasn’t serious.

  I stretched my arms up around his neck and peered into his eyes. They were relaxed again, the furious glint snuffed out. I hoped it was because of me.

  “How about you?” I asked him. “How did you sleep?”

  He squeezed his eyes shut and looked pained. I looked back and forth, trying to read him.

  “Do you want to talk about it?” I ventured.

  “I get nightmares sometimes,” he explained. “Last night, they were bad.”

  “I didn’t hear anything.” Darryl would cry out in his sleep sometimes, usually when he was blasted drunk, and wake not only me but our neighbors too.

  Cade opened his eyes. “Good,” he said softly, smoothing my hair again. “You don’t need to worry about them.”

  He rolled to the side, treating me to another view of his broad back and taut buttocks. His hair was knotted at the end, the tawny gold strands tousled with sleep. I ached to run my fingers through them and smooth the tangles.

  I was just reaching for him to do that very thing when a thunderous banging shook the flimsy door to our room.

  Cade moved like lightning, swiftly pressing his back to the wall. With the slightest of movements he lifted the ugly curtains and peered outside, letting in the watery-blue, pre-dawn light.

  I pulled the sheets up to my chin and my knees up under myself. I was poised to leap for the bathroom if necessary. But when Cade got a view of who was at the door, his shoulders relaxed.

  I sat up and watched him curiously as he grabbed his jeans from where they lay in a puddle on the floor. He hitched them over his narrow hips, not even bothering with the boxers that lay bunched and wadded in the corner. When he put his hand on the doorknob and unlocked the bolt, I wrapped the sheet around my bare breasts.

  I was grateful to be covered when Wyatt entered the room. The sight of his smirking face sent a wave of shame through me. He let his eyes wander lasciviously up and down my body and I found myself both grateful for the sheet and painfully aware that it left very little to the imagination.

  “Can’t get enough of the Devils, can you, girl?” His smile was wide and evil. I remembered that mocking voice in my ear, laughing as he thrust himself roughly inside of me.

  My pussy clenched at the memory too, reluctant wetness that made me suddenly angry. I didn’t want to like what he had done to me. With a sudden boldness, I lifted my chin at him.

  “ I just needed a real man inside of me after that piss-poor fucking you gave me,” I spat recklessly.

  Cade sucked in his breath. Wyatt’s eyes darkened in fury and my sudden boldness fizzled as I spied the dangerous vein bulging from his forehead.

  “Mouthy bitch, ain’t you?” He moved towards me and his hands were already at the zipper of his jeans. “Maybe I’d better find some way to shut you up, huh?”

  I panicked and made a desperate gamble. With a carefree smile, I tossed my hair and mimicked his rough way of speaking,

  “Ain’t no cock big enough in the world can shut me up!” I sang out gaily, letting the sheet fall lower on my chest to treat him to a view of my naked cleavage.

  He froze as if I had slapped him. Slowly, the broad, twisted grin returned to his face. He stood back up off of the bed and barked out a loud, hyena-like laugh.

  “You got balls, girl,” he said as he shook his head at me. “We gonna have to teach you some respect.”

  Cade made a low warning noise and Wyatt turned away from leering at me to face him. Cade’s mouth was pressed into a thin line of disapproval, but his eyes twinkled in amusement.

  “I’ll be doing the teaching, Wyatt,” he rumbled sternly.

  Wyatt’s shaved head gave me a clear view of his temple as he clenched his jaw. He was almost as tall as Cade, but he was thin and wiry with muscles like coiled springs. He was no match for Cade’s massive, cut-from-marble physique, and you could tell by the tense fury in his eyes that he was weighing his options.

  “She ain’t your old lady yet, big guy,” he sneered, voice dripping with menace. He was turned away from me, giving me a perfect view of the grinning skull tattoo that covered his bald scalp like a hood. “She’s still just some slut wanna play with bikes.”

  Cade took a quick step forward, startling Wyatt and forcing him back on his heels. “Get the fuck out,” he snarled, drawing up to his full imposing height.

  Please leave, please leave, please leave, I chanted silently. If one of the men threw a punch right now, there was nothing I could do to stop it. I wished fervently that I’d kept my mouth shut. The need to mouth off was what always got me in trouble with Darryl, too.

  But Wyatt didn’t look like he would be content with stopping after landing one blow. He looked like he could kill me if I crossed him any further. I was naked and had nowhere to run.

  I could taste panic in the back of my throat when Wyatt stepped right up into Cade’s face. Their noses were practically touching and their teeth were bared like savage dogs. I saw Cade ball up his massive fist and hold it clenched and ready at his side.

  Time stood still, and then something unseen passed between them.

  “Fine,” said Wyatt shortly, agreeing to whatever silent agreement the two men had just reached. Turning from Cade, he headed back to the door. “We ride in fifteen minutes,” he announced, then turned to regard me coldly. “Better close your legs and put some clothes on.”

  He gave one last eye-rolling sneer and then shut the door behind him.

  I let a whoop of breath, suddenly realizing I had been holding it. “I fucked up. I’m sorry!” I started apologizing immediately. Cade’s silently furious face terrified me.

  Cade grabbed his shirt off of the back of the chair and pulled it over his head. “Wyatt’s my brother. He won’t fuck with what’s mine,” he said slowly, in a voice so low I moved closer to hear him. I knelt up in the bed, waiting to be told what I needed to do next.

  “What we gotta do now,” he continued in that same low tone, “is hurry up and make you mine.”

  He touched my chin at those words, tipping it upward. His lips brushed against mine, soft and warm and safe. I kissed him back hungrily, begging him with my lips to stay here, here with me, here in this bed where it was safe. I wanted to stay forever right in this room with his arms around me, making love to me to keep the demons away.

  But when the engines started up outside our window, I knew our peaceful little haven was lost.

  Chapter 12

  I grabbed my clothes from where they lay folded neatly on the bedside table, smiling privately at the sweetness of my massive biker folding my cardigan.

  I stepped out into the cool dawn light and shivered, feeling silly in my little frilly sweater, lacy tank, and floral skirt. I crossed my arms around my chest.

  Cade followed me out of the room. When he saw me stand
ing shivering in my former Sunday best, his eyes softened immediately.

  “I need new clothes,” I told him.

  “I like you this way.”

  “Thought you liked me without my clothes?” I struck a vampy pose.

  His stony face broke out into a wide smile, the stubborn set of his jaw smoothing into genuine happiness. It was intoxicating.

  “What I like,” he said, pulling me close, “is taking your clothes off.”

  I pressed into him and he wrapped me in his strong arms. The parking lot melted away as I lost myself in his kiss. But no sooner had we started than a rough voice cut into the moment.

  “Hey, Romeo! Can we get going here?”

  Cade broke away from our kiss to nod. “Yeah, Jax, we’re ready.”

  I turned to see who had spoiled my moment and froze. It was the other biker from my initiation. But instead of leering at me as Wyatt had, he merely raised his fingers off his handlebars in bored greeting. I hesitantly wiggled my fingers back and he nodded. I think I saw a smile twist briefly at the corner of his mouth.

  We rode. I watched the landscape change as we put the miles behind us. The dusty brown earth of Flint Springs was already gone, changed to a deeper brick red. The morning sun was at our backs as we headed west on the deserted highway, casting long, deep shadows across the red land.

  I watched in wonder at how big the world was, stretched out from horizon to horizon with us at the very center. The sky was rapidly changing from pale pink to deep blue, and off to the west I could see a faint line of hills rising to meet us.

  The first sign of civilization was the steel gray bridge that rose into view. Behind it, low buildings grew out of the red earth and became a city.

  Porter Crossing was slung low against a lazy brown river that we crossed just as the morning traffic was beginning to stir. I saw more cars than I had ever seen in my life, shiny and new, nothing like the dusty pickups driven by the men in my hometown. These cars looked like money. I swiveled my head from side to side, mouth hanging open in wonder.

  We roared to a stop in front of a concrete building just over a set of train tracks. Cade swung his long legs over the bike and extended his hand to me.