Viper (Hell's Handlers MC 9)

The plan was risky. Seriously fucking risky. Fox wouldn’t just let his son’s death go unretaliated. Even if he told the rest of the world his son died in some tragic bike accident, he’d bring war to the Scoundrels’ door. At some point, hopefully later rather than sooner, it’d come out that none of the Scoundrels actually burned up in a fire. The jig would be up, and Viper and Sarge would be enemy number one as far as the club was concerned. There’d be a manhunt. The club’s reach was far and wide. The only shot they had was to get away far enough and fast enough before all that happened.

“I take the girl to the motel in Oregon. No stops along the way.”

“Right,” Sarge said. “And I’ll meet you there.”

The trickiest part would be getting out of town without being seen. They planned to stay at a motel a few hours south, out of the state, and lay low for the next couple of days before riding east together.

“And this place we’re heading, what’s it called again?” Viper asked.

“Townsend. It’s in Tennessee. At the base of the Smoky Mountains.”

“How’d you hear about it?”

“Guy I did boot camp with was from there. They’ve got a club. He planned to prospect after his tour. Introduced me to a few of the guys.”

“He there now?”

When Sarge didn’t answer right away, Viper finally took his focus off the shack. A frown had Sarge looking genuinely sad. “Nah. IED took him out about halfway through our first deployment.”

“Shit.”

With a shrug, Sarge nodded. That was his way. He kept his personal shit locked up tight. After more than a year of knowing the guy, Viper barely knew more of Sarge’s story than he did the first day. “I’ve stayed in touch with the guys I met over the years. They’re one percenters, but not into this kinda shit,” he said pointing toward the shack.

Easy to assume, but he’d have said the same about his own club two days ago. Never again would he walk into a situation blind and stupid. “So you say.”

Sarge grunted. “True. When I was getting out of the army, I almost prospected there. Came here instead to be closer to my roots.” He shook his head.

“All right, brother, let’s do this shit.” Viper held his fist out.

When Sarge bumped his knuckles against Viper’s, their gazes collided. Neither was comfortable with the decision to flee the club, but they’d come up with no other viable option. Viper couldn’t remain loyal to a club involved in the kidnapping and selling of women. That was the bottom line.

The fact that he’d be leaving his family, leaving the only life he’d know hadn’t exactly sunk in yet. His entire life, he’d been preached to about loyalty, brotherhood, club family above all. He still believed in all those things even if he’d be labeled a traitor. A disloyal deserter who the club wouldn’t hesitate to kill.

Legacy or not.

Thing of it was, he saw the situation differently. He and Sarge weren’t the disloyal ones. The rest of the club earned that title. They’d kept secrets, tricked their prospects, and pulled Viper into the one thing Fox had known his son would object to.

Fox knew Vanessa’s rape and death had torn Viper up like nothing else. He’d been there when Viper heard the news of her rape and completely lost his shit. Fox had a front row seat to her downward spiral as she tried to deal with the aftermath of being violated. And he’d been there when Vanessa’s parents called to tell Viper she’d been found dead in the bathtub. Wrists slit.

He’d never forget the devastating shock of that call. The way the phone had slipped through his finger as he crumbled to his knees in his father’s driveway with a scream so full of agony, neighbors poked their heads out of their homes to see what the commotion was about. Fox had retrieved the phone, spoken a few words to Vanessa’s mother, then dropped down right beside his son to hold him as he raged and grieved.

And the fucker had been hurting young, defenseless women like Vanessa all along.

“Eyes open, watch your six the whole time,” Sarge said as they started toward the shack. Viper would be the one to try to convince the woman they meant her no harm. He had the monumental task of getting her to leave with him. He felt he’d connected with the woman last night, and probably had the highest chance of talking her into leaving with them. Worse came to worst, he’d knock her out, but he hoped it wouldn’t come to that.

He’d watch his six all right. Especially once there was a gorgeous woman nestled against it on his bike.

CHAPTER SIX

PRESENT DAY - TENNESSEE

“Oh, my God,” Cassie said on a gasp as she entered the clubhouse. Her steps faltered and her knees weakened at the sight before her. “Copper…”