His Bold Heart (Death Lords MC 7)

He whispers how much he loves me, how he’ll never leave me, how I belong to him forever and ever and ever.

It’s the words that push me over the edge as much as anything. My sex clamps down hard on his shaft, spasming as I come. The tight grip of my walls sucks his own orgasm from him. He moans my name in my ear. A chant of desire, love and passion as he fills me with his hot seed and I’m delirious with joy.

“God, Grant, yes,” I cry.

His hand releases my wrists so that he can grasp my hips, holding me down against the mattress so that he can wring every last bit of pleasure from both our bodies. My eyes water from the power of my orgasm. I shake and shudder for endless minutes while he holds me in his arms. His hands caress every inch of my skin, pulling me back to earth.

“It’s going to be all right, you know.” He whispers against my cheek. His cock is still inside me, still hard and hot and pulsing.

“I don’t care if it is,” I say honestly. “I’d rather have these few moments with you than none at all. I don’t know what will happen tomorrow night. I don’t know what will happen next week. I only know that I want to spend all my tomorrows with you.”

His lips curve against my skin. “Same.”

And so that’s it. Yes, the life I live with Grant has violence and danger but it is full of love and I’ll never regret being his old lady, not even one second of a day.

25

WRECKER

Easy arrives with the drugs and extra guns the next evening.

“Judge says howdy,” Easy tells me as he tosses me the plastic bag. “What’s the plan?”

He takes a chair and spins it around, straddling it. Abel and I lay it out for him as Chelsea spoons up some beef stew she cooked in the crock pot all day. The duplex smells awesome.

“Moose thinks that there’ll be about four to eight Henchmen. Junior and Moose are going to the exchange. The outliers we’ll take out one by one. The goal is to position it so that it looks like it’s a drug deal gone wrong.”

“How are you going to make that happen?”

I open the basement door and gesture for him to follow us. In the concrete basement, we have two men bound and gagged. I pull off the hood of the first one.

“We’re not just offering meth; we’re offering the cook too. Trainor meet Easy. Easy, David Trainor. He is an accountant by day and a cooker of meth by night.”

“Nice to meet you.” Easy reaches out and cuffs Trainor lightly on the crown of his head.

Trainor jerks back so hard he nearly tips his chair over. He makes some muffled threats or pleas but we ignore him.

“Who’s your other guest?” Easy tips his head toward the second hooded figure.

“Officer Paulsen. He’s going to the exchange too.”

“Nice,” Easy says agreeably. “What do you want me to do?”

I gesture for Abel to take over while I draw the hood back over Trainor’s head.

Abel explains. “You and I are in charge of securing the perimeter. We don’t want any Henchmen in the woods taking potshots at our guys during the exchange.”

“We using knives then? Because any gun is going to make noise.”

“That’s my preference. I’ve got a Cold Steel Warcraft Tanto.” Abel pulls up his jeans and slips a knife out of his boot. It’s matte black. “US steel with a carbon coating.”

Easy takes it and turns it over in his hand. “Nice. It’s got a good feel to it. I prefer the ESEE knives myself.”

The two start discussing different steel and shaft lengths so I go upstairs to see Chelsea.

“You okay, baby?” I ask. She’s been quiet all day.

“I want to go with you,” she blurts out.

“No.” There’s no way.

“I’ll stay in the truck.”

“No.”

“I can’t stay home tonight. It’s one thing if I was back in Fortune and I could sit in the clubhouse or hang out with Pippa and Annie but I’ve got no one here. Plus you’ll all be at the site and I’ll be home alone. I don’t feel safe here.” Those last words kill me and she sees she’s made a direct hit. Before I can open my mouth, she presses on. “Mia will need a woman to help her, particularly if she’s not been taken care of. She won’t want to be surrounded by a bunch of men.”

“It’s too dangerous,” I argue although I don’t know that to be completely true. It could be dangerous but it could also be bad for her to be alone. I hate leaving her alone. She’s right in that there isn’t anyone in the cities I can trust her with. All the members of the Misery MC are going to the exchange. I wish Judge would’ve sent someone else along with Easy but maybe this is all he can spare at the moment.

The truth is we don’t know what the Eighty-Eight Henchmen know. Are they watching us? If they are, tonight would be the perfect time to snatch Chelsea. Chief Schmidt could take her too. I don’t doubt he knows our address given that he’d have access to my parole records.

In the end she wins out. I don’t feel comfortable leaving her home and when I suggest bringing her along, no one objects—not even Easy. If Easy thinks she’s safer with us, then I can’t leave her home.

The west side of Wirth Lake borders a gravel road with run down houses and a dense thicket of brush and trees. A body could get lost in here and not be found for years. Chelsea stops the truck about a quarter mile down that road. When she cuts the lights of the truck, it’s hard to see my hand in front of my face—it’s that dark.

No streetlights and no traffic means that it’s pitch black. The Eighty-Eight Henchmen knew exactly what they were doing by picking this place. The cover of night works in our favor as well. Easy, Abel and I pull the two hostages out of the bed of the truck.

We pull their hoods off and remove the ankle restraints but the duct tape on their mouth and the zip ties around their wrists remain. I knock twice on the tailgate which is Chelsea’s sign to take off. She’s going to swing around to the park side of Wirth Lake where she’ll wait until she gets a text from us.

It’s more densely populated over there and there should be some law enforcement there which Chelsea can keep track of for us.

We work a path through the brush until we reach the edge of the lake. According to the coord

inates on the paper, the exchange site is down about four hundred feet. When Junior and Moose show up, Abel and Easy disappear to check the perimeter.

“Is everyone in place?” I ask in a low tone.

Junior nods. “Yeah, we’re ready.”

I hand him the rope for Paulson and Trainor and then melt into the woods to watch the show.

We hear the Henchmen arrive before we see them. They sound like a herd of elephants crashing through the shoreline. Branches crack and dead leaves are crunched under their feet.

When they reach the clearing I count four people. Two have guns out already, the steel glints in the faint moonlight. One of the individuals is about half the size as the others. That must be the girl.

“You bring the goods?” The figure holding the girl’s arm calls out.

“I want to see my sister first,” Moose says stepping out into the clearing near the water. His arms are raised over his head.

The figure pushes the girl forward. She stumbles and nearly falls but rights herself at the last minute. Moose jumps forward and gathers her in his arms. The three remaining men laugh.

Mia clutches Moose and sobs into his jacket.

“Where’s my stuff?” The main figure asks. He’s dressed in a dark puffy coat that makes a swishing sound when he moves.

“Right here.” With his free arm, he holds up the large plastic bag of drugs. One of the reaches for it, but he swings it away pushing Mia behind him. “No. I want your promise you’re going to leave my family alone. ”

“You’re not in a position to bargain,” the Henchman says. “The only reason we’re giving you your sister back is because we can take her again.”

“I want to make a trade. A permanent one.” He gestures to Junior who moves out to join him, dragging Trainor with him. Junior shoves Trainor forward and Trainor, unlike Moose’s sister, can’t catch his balance and he falls to his knees. “This is the cook. The guy who made all your drugs. You killed his wife; he blew up his lab in response. You take him in exchange for leaving my family alone.”