Shane (Mallick Brothers 1)

When she ran to them, it meant something.

“What?” I barked into the speaker in my radio when the call came in.

“We’re guessing we’re ahead of you by at least an hour at this point,” he greeted me. And, sure enough, when we rambled off the nearest towns, they were. “Thing is, we changed our minds. We aren’t going to stop you from what you need to do, what needs to be done. But we are going to make sure you aren’t walking into a death trap.”

I nodded to myself, letting out a breath. If I knew anything about my family, it was that they damn sure could stop me if they wanted to. Five against one was no fight. Even if Pops was older, he was every bit as spry in a fight as the rest of us.

“She can’t come here,” I heard myself saying, knowing she would hate me, would be pissed-as-vinegar at me for making the decision for her.

“We know,” Ryan agreed. “She’s not handling this well. First leg of the trip, she was rocking the whole time.”

“Fuck,” I snapped, cracking my neck to try to release some tension. A big part of me, maybe just as big a part of me that wanted to get my hands on her ex, wanted me to turn around, go meet them somewhere, and take whatever worry she had going on inside her to make a pretty badass bitch go all soft like that. “And the current leg?”

“She’s passed out,” Eli supplied. “Been out for hours now. Sleeps like the dead.”

“She kick any of you yet?” I asked, smiling a little at the idea.

“Only about a dozen times,” Ryan said and it was clear by his tone that he was the one who got kicked.

“So here’s what we’re thinking,” Hunter went on, me obviously being on speaker and none of them overly concerned that she might hear. “We will cross into Cali and drop her in a hotel. That way, she’s close when this is all done so she doesn’t freak too bad. And then we can all come and make sure shit doesn’t get too crazy with you.”

I paused at that, really not fond of the idea of her alone in a hotel room, especially if she got up with no idea of how she got put there. But she was sharp, she would put it together quick enough. And, if I knew Lea at all… and I fucking did, she wouldn’t freak. She would get pissed.

But that was okay. I could handle pissed Lea.

“Sounds good,” I agreed.

“We’ll see you in a couple,” Pops said and the call ended.

As much as it killed me to admit it, I liked that I had backup. Adrenaline having a fair amount of time to get reabsorbed into my system, I could see how storming off on my own to confront a fucking MC president was perhaps not my brightest plan. Granted, this shit was between me and this Ross fuck. But I knew my family would be there to make sure it stayed between me and the Ross fuck and the rest of the chapter didn’t come barreling in and find inventive ways of torturing and killing me.

It wasn’t hard to find the clubhouse of the Satan’s Sinners MC. It was out on a deserted end of a highway, set so far back from the road that it almost looked like it melted into the landscape and that your eyes were playing tricks on you by making you think it was an actual building. But the sunlight flashing off the several dozen Harleys was a pretty big X marks the spot.

I turned back around at the dead end and went back to the nearest parking lot, about a mile and a half down the road. It was a hole in the wall dive bar that looked like it had been built in the fifties and hadn’t seen repairs or upgrades since then. Perfect place for bikers. It was closed in the early morning light, though several cars and trucks were there from the night before from patrons who found other ways home. I jumped out and pulled off my plates, sticking them under the driver’s seat, slipping a piece of paper over the VIN number in my dash, covering all my bases in case someone got suspicious. My thinking was, whoever owned a shit place like that which was likely the watering hole of bikers who not only threw back a few, but handed out heroin to happy customers, wouldn’t be too quick to call the cops about an unknown car in the lot. But I wasn’t taking chances.

When my family pulled in, it was obvious they had the same thinking as their plates were already missing.

“You look like shit,” Mark greeted me.

I didn’t doubt that. I hadn’t gotten more than an hour or two sleep the whole way.