Devil’s Vengeance (Devil’s Disciples MC #6)

Chapter 30

CHAPTER 30

CHASE

I couldn’t hear the deliberations of the officers. Church and Croy’s office were soundproof. Honestly, I didn’t want to know. I accepted what was coming. I didn't want to get my hopes up about someone standing up for me. I fucked up. I’d face the consequences. As long as Nevada kept his word, I’d take whatever they had to give me.

A part of me wanted to call Mariah, to hear her voice one last time. But that was selfish. I wasn’t going to drag this out for her. I had done enough damage. I’d be lucky if she ever had a normal life after all this. All because I was too much of a coward to tell my crew that Trick had come looking for me before I even had a chance to go after him.

I sat outside church, ignoring the looks I got from my crew. They didn’t know the full story. All they knew was that I screwed up and put my crew at risk. That was all they needed to know. They gave me dirty looks, glared at me, and just overall wrote me off before I could even explain myself. Whatever. It didn’t matter. I was the idiot who didn’t handle my Trick problem when we were kids. He’d always fought dirty. I thought having a crew to back me would make it harder for him to get the jump on me. To have the same backing he had when I came for him. I shouldn’t have waited. He was even cockier now. Willing to start a war just to get back at me.

“I know that look. ”

My head came up, taking in Neo’s appearance. He always looked tired now. He was working himself to the bone to get back in the club’s good graces. At least his fuck up was for a good reason. He was trying to protect his family. His little brothers’ lives were on the line. I was just an idiot.

“You need something?”

He motioned to the tablet in his hand. “The name of the crew who’s targeting you. I’ve got movement on the edge of town, but I don’t know if they’re passing through or not.”

Pushing to my feet, I came to look at the tablet screen. “Where?”

“Near Outpost. I sent an alert to Aero, he’s in the area, but he hasn’t gotten back to me yet. I saw a partial on a logo though. Something Horsemen?”

My gut tightened at the possibility, and when I looked at the screen, I felt the defeat settle in my shoulders. If they were on the fence about it before, they wouldn’t be anymore. There was the goddamn proof that I screwed up. I recognized the logo. That was Trick’s crew.

“You need to tell Croy.”

He looked sympathetic when he asked, “It’s them, huh?”

“Yeah. Hurry up. If there was a reason to interrupt, this would be it.”

Trick had been quiet for a week. If he was coming back, he was looking to make a move. I dropped back into my seat and scrubbed my hands over my face. What were the chances that Croy would let me go with them to face him?

Neo knocked on the door and waited, stepping in when Brewer opened the door to report to Croy on what was happening. It didn’t take long before they came back out. Croy snapped his fingers and pointed at me.

“Go with Nevada. We’ll deal with you when we get back.”

I opened my mouth to argue, but choked on the word when he fisted my shirt and shoved me against the wall, his fury written all over his face. “Not a fuckin’ word. You’re lucky to still be breathing. You’re going with Nevada while I clean up your mess. Depending on how this goes will determine if you live or not.”

He stormed past with the rest of the officers, leaving just Nevada and Neo standing beside me. Nevada looked grim as he tipped his head toward the door .

“Come on. Your girl is with Riley. We’ll wait there.”

My brow furrowed. “I thought she went home with Lacey.”

“Apparently, she wasn’t done fightin’ for you. She went to the one person who had any sway with Croy. Not sure if it worked in your favor or not.”

Jesus. I knew Mariah and I were spending time together, and I would put my life on the line to protect her, but I hadn’t realized it went both ways. She was picking a fight with Croy and putting herself at risk by continuing to argue with him. She got away with it before because she gave him the answers I couldn’t stomach giving him. But going behind his back to Riley to save me from him was asking for trouble. If I came out of this alive, I’d need to move her somewhere safe from him too.

Or claim her to keep her safe.

Not even the president of the club could hurt another man’s old lady and get away with it.

During the drive back, I took a second to appreciate the wind on my face and the rumble of the engine beneath me. Aside from when we escaped from the confrontation with Trick, I never got to take Mariah on a ride. I would bet good money she’d love it. She was more adventurous than I’d originally thought. If I hadn’t had my head so far up my ass, I could’ve taken her out and really shown her what it was like to be with a biker. Reading about being on a bike was nothing like having one beneath you. I used to think it was better than sex.

That wasn’t true anymore.

I was so distracted by thoughts of her, the ride to Prez’s place ended way before I was ready for it to. We pulled up alongside the few bikes that were parked here. Probably security for Riley and a few guys just hanging out looking for a quiet night. I was walking toward the house when I noticed two bikes at the end of the block that I didn’t recognize. No one was on them, but it was strange and it raised red flags.

“Hey, Nevada. Those look familiar to you?”

He looked over his shoulder, following my line of sight to the bikes. He shook his head, but didn’t look too worried about it. “No, but it’s probably nothin’. A few of the guys were talkin’ about getting new rides recently. I think they pissed off Socket and he’s refusing to fix theirs again. ”

That made sense, and I’d accept that if the current situation was a little less tense. But I kept scanning my surroundings on our walk up the sidewalk to the house, looking for something that might tip me off to intruders.

When we came inside, the girls were nowhere to be seen. I wanted to go straight for Mariah, since I knew she was here, but I also didn't want to give her false hope. I wasn’t off the hook yet. If things went poorly for Croy, I’d be in just as shitty a situation as I had been twenty minutes ago. Instead, I headed around the house, checking the locks on the windows and the back door. Nevada didn’t follow me, but he didn't need to. I wasn’t going to run and I think the guys knew it.

I found nothing that seemed suspicious, but it still bugged me. My instincts were what kept me alive since joining this crew, and right now, my instincts said those bikes didn’t belong here. But I was also fucking exhausted, both from the lack of sleep and the beating I took earlier. I could’ve just been imagining things.

“What’s wrong?” Bear demanded as I rejoined them in the living room. I shook my head, frowning, but gave in to the urge to check the lock on the front door. It was always locked, unlike the clubhouse, and you had to be let in by whoever was on security that night, but I couldn’t settle so it made me feel better to check it.

Footsteps on the stairs drew my attention and I looked over my shoulder to see Mariah and Riley standing at the top, their eyes wide.

“Chase?” Mariah’s voice trembled.

“Holy shit, what did they do to you?” Riley demanded at the same time. She got about two steps down before the front window shattered and the shooting started.

“Get to the safe room!” I bellowed, kneeling to pull out my pistol. Just in time, too, because a volley of shots went through the little windows beside the front door, whizzing over my head just as I ducked down. I rolled out of the way, firing back blindly. Thankfully, Riley had been coached for this by literally everyone on the crew. She didn’t hesitate. And she dragged Mariah with her, disappearing back upstairs to the master bedroom where Croy had a safe room installed in the closet. He wasn’t taking any chances with her.

The power cut out, making me wonder if the safe room still functioned without it, but I didn’t have time to go check. I found cover in the formal dining room, which was turned into a game room because Croy couldn’t be bothered with anything using the word ‘formal’. I had a direct shot to the front door while using the pool table as cover. It also gave me a good spot to make sure no one got close to heading up the stairs. On the off chance the safe room didn’t work with the power out, I didn’t want any of these assholes getting close to the girls.

I couldn’t see how many there were. Shots were coming from all directions. One or two tried to get in, but they died trying. The attackers seemed more interested in staying outside and shooting through the windows in hopes that they’d hit their targets. It wasn’t until the back door shattered that I realized they were distracting us so that more could come around the back.

“Fuck. Back door!” I bellowed over the sound of gunfire.

I didn’t see where everyone else had gotten cover, so I didn’t know who was closest, but I was pinned down where I was. I couldn’t move from the room without crossing directly through the line of fire. I saw a dark figure move toward one of the windows and I aimed, pulling the trigger when they tried to step inside. The first shot missed because my head was all fuzzy from the exhaustion, but the second one was a direct hit. He went down with a shout and was quickly dragged out of the way. Shots flew my way and I ducked to avoid them. I was waiting for the break in the volley to aim again when, over the sound of the attack, I heard an equally unwelcome sound in the distance.

Sirens.

The fucking pigs were coming, and they’d use any excuse to put us all behind bars. And there wasn’t a damn thing any of us could do about it. We couldn’t abandon the house to get out of sight because the girls were upstairs. I’d rather live the rest of my life in handcuffs than leave either of them behind.