Empire of Savages (Savage Hunt MC #1)

25. Nick

Chapter 25

Nick

My blood was pumping hot and frantic in my veins as I flicked the lit match to the ground. That small flame grew, morphing from something tiny and fragile into a monstrous force that had the ability to cause so much destruction. And it would. It would take down this entire warehouse of acetone and lithium batteries that belonged to the Devils. It would fuck up their puppet club’s production of meth, and it would be another strike against us once La Croix found out.

But even with all the savage mayhem around me, Alex still took up most of my headspace. Wondering if she was okay. Wondering if she left the garage at midday like she said she would. Wondering if I’d pressed a little harder, then maybe she wouldn’t have gotten hurt.

Maddox was another problem I hadn’t anticipated. Whoever he was, he knew a little too much about me to be comfortable. Did he have contacts inside Rookwood? Had he seen me with Alex before and decided to do a little digging? Whatever the circumstances were, it was clear that he was a problem I needed to take care of.

Gunnar let out a triumphant whoop beside me and slapped me on the shoulder a little too hard. “Did you see how fast that went up?”

I couldn’t share his enthusiasm when all I wanted to do was be back with Alex. Digging inside my pocket, I pulled out my phone when it started to vibrate with an incoming message.

Silas: We need backup at the abandoned school in The Eye. Got some Devils cornered.

Me: On our way.

I relayed the message to Gunnar, who grinned with maniacal glee. “We’re going to fill up our fucking Dead Wall.”

Back in his Mustang, he accelerated away from the curb, the backend fishtailing out of control for a moment before reining in all that power. As we moved through traffic, I could feel Gunnar’s eyes on me.

“You got something to say?” I asked, turning to him.

“Just wondering how that piece of ass you’re tapping is going.”

My shoulders tightened. “I don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about.”

“Come on, Nick. I know she was the reason you left the DC run in Ohio. Eli had brought in some top-tier coke for the party as well as fresh pussy from their strip joint, and it was all for us.”

“There is no girl,” I reiterated. I saw his smile from the corner of my eye.

“What about La Croix’s daughter?”

My hands balled into fists on my thighs. “I told you. The lead was a bust.”

One of his brows winged up. “My guy doesn’t usually miss with things like this. Are you sure?”

I looked back out the window, counting inside my head until my anger subsided enough not to come out in my voice. “She wasn’t there. We don’t need her anyway. We have La Croix right where we want him.”

Gunnar shrugged, finally dropping it. “Whatever you say, brother.”

The rest of the car ride was silent until we made it to The Eye—a small nine-block by seven-block suburb just south-west of Detroit. We were deep in Devils’ territory now. Usually, we only traveled into this part of Detroit under the cover of darkness, so being out in the open in the middle of the day would bring its own problems.

“Yo, Nick, check it,” Gunnar suddenly said, sitting forward in his seat.

Ahead of us, a member of the Devils was on his Harley, ducking and weaving through the traffic.

“He looks like he’s in a fucking hurry.”

“He does, doesn’t he?” Gunnar shot back with a frenzied grin. He hit the gas, edging us closer to the motorcycle and rider. When we pulled alongside him, Gunnar pulled out his gun and reached over me. The Devil glanced over just before Gunnar pulled the trigger and tried to swerve in an evasive move. But Gunnar only shifted his aim from the body to the gas tank on his bike.

The thunk, thunk of two bullets hitting metal were the last thing I heard before a massive fireball erupted.

As Gunnar sped off, he yelled, “Did you see how fucking fast that guy went up?”

With my eyes on the side mirror, I watched as the bike slammed into a parked car, sending the rider over the handlebars and onto the road. He didn’t get up.

“Too bad we couldn’t strip him of his cut,” Gunnar added, still high off the kill.

“The order is to agitate, not fucking kill, when there are witnesses everywhere. It’s broad daylight and we don’t control the cops over this side of the city.”

Gunnar threw a smile my way. “I agitated his gas tank with my bullets. I technically didn’t go after the Devil.”

“That’s fucking semantics, and you know it,” I growled at him. “Keep your fucking trigger finger away from the gun from now on until I give you a direct order to the contrary.”

Gunnar’s eyes flashed with defiance before his expression shuttered. He gave an apathetic shrug, navigating his way through the streets until we reached Hillcrest Middle School. There had been a shooting there eight years ago that had left 35 percent of the student population dead or severely injured. The parents of the surviving children had removed their kids immediately, leaving the head of the Detroit Public Schools Community District no choice but to shut Hillcrest down.

Before I went away, the abandoned building was rumored to have been claimed by the Devils.

Gunnar pulled his car in through the opened chain-link gate, easing up beside Easton, Jaxon, Karter, and Silas. Ryker was twenty feet away with a roll of tools at his side as he stripped the trapped Devils’ motorcycles for parts.

“What’s the plan?” I asked Silas, pulling out my tobacco pouch and rolling a cigarette. I was still on fucking edge about the Devil Gunnar had killed on the way over. All it would take was one witness to come forward and we’d be fucked. “How many?”

“We saw four go in. We’ve had them penned in for an hour.”

“How much firepower?”

“Don’t know.”

I jerked my chin at Gunnar, sealing the cigarette shut , then sliding it behind my ear. With a satisfied smirk, he rounded the car and opened the trunk, unzipping the duffel bag of AKs stashed inside. Like a fucked-up Santa Claus, he handed them out along with an extra cartridge, all the while whistling a happy tune.

“Jaxon. Karter, stand watch. Make sure a random cop doesn’t come sniffing around.” I checked over my weapon before joining Gunnar, Silas, Easton, and Ryker.

“Leave one breathing,” I replied, looking at the building. “Strip them of their cuts.” I took point, leading my brothers into the building, where we methodically cleared each old classroom and faculty lounge until we found four Devils waiting for us in the old cafeteria. As soon as we entered, they turned, brought up their guns, and started shooting as one unit. I dove underneath one of the steel tables, trusting that my brothers would follow suit. Bullets flew through the air, the thunderous volley of bullets coming from the AKs deafening inside the room.

Gunnar took cover beside me, that wicked grin on his face once more. “How long do you want to play with them?”

I didn’t want to be here. The sooner we took care of this little problem, the sooner I could get back to Alex.

With a sneer, I shot one of the Devils in the kneecap, then blew a hole in his head when he fell. Silas took out another guy, felling him with a gut shot. Easton got another, hitting him between the eyes. That left one more. The bastard had the good sense not to keep shooting. He laid down his weapon, looking all of us over with a mixture of disdain and fear.

“Easton,” I said, pulling the cigarette from behind my ear and balancing it between my lips.

Easton moved forward, slinging his AK over his shoulder, while we kept our sights trained on the Devil. He was an ugly motherfucker. Facial tattoos. Pockmarked skin. Missing teeth. Silas collected their guns while Easton crouched down and started stripping the cuts off the dead men’s bodies. From my pocket, I got my lighter, rasping the flint over the wheel until a flame jumped to life. I could feel the Devil’s eyes on me as he waited for me to pass judgement.

Gunnar walked up to the Devil and shoved the muzzle of the AK right into his face. “Strip.”

“The fuck?” the other man spat. “Fuck you.”

Gunnar aimed his gun to the left and fired. The guy who had gotten shot in the stomach stopped writhing and fell quiet. “Did I stutter?” he snarled. “I said strip.”

The guy only gaped at him.

“I’m waiting,” Gunnar sing-songed, wagging the AK in front of his face.

The Devil stripped out of his pants, cut, shirt, and boxers, leaving him as naked as the day he was born. Gunnar smiled. “Now run along back to La Croix and tell him the Savage Hunt is coming for him.”

Silas hammered the last nail in place, securing the final bloody cut that had belonged to the Devil’s Chaos upside down onto the Dead Wall. The Hunt let out a cheer, and I took a long pull of my beer, staring at the bullet-hole-ridden pieces of leather. Collectively, we’d hit three warehouses that belonged to the Devils, hijacked a truck that was carrying five thousand units of e-cigarettes, stripped four bikes, and taken four cuts in our morning of mayhem.

And now, we celebrated, even if it was the last thing I wanted to do.

Molly’s funeral was tomorrow. Rixon had barely left his office, and I was worried he was spiraling into a place so dark he’d never be able to find his way out again. I took another sip of my beer, knowing that once I was finished with it, I would be going to my room and getting into bed with Alex. She told me she was happy to stay in there while the party was happening, and after Gunnar’s questions about her this morning, I wanted her to stay away from the prying eyes of the club.

Eli walked up to me, tapping the side of his beer bottle against mine and leaning against the edge of the bar. “Sorry we didn’t get to catch up in Columbus,” he said.

“Yeah, me, too,” I lied. “But Rixon needed me back.”

“Sure is rough losing an old lady like that.”

I gave him a nod, placing down my now-empty beer bottle and pulling out my tobacco and rolling papers. I rolled a couple of cigarettes, then handed one to him.

The flame at the end of his lighter danced between his fingers, casting his face half in brilliant orange and the other in sinister shadow. “How did it happen? I heard she was shot outside her door.”

“She was.”

“Think the bullet was meant for Rixon?” he asked, exhaling a long line of smoke before handing me his lighter.

Holding the flame to the end of my cigarette, I asked, “What makes you say that?”

He shrugged. “Going after an old lady is the ultimate declaration of war. Going after the president’s old lady? Well, that’s a whole other level of stupidity.”

“What are you getting at?”

“I’m saying maybe the bullet wasn’t meant for her. Maybe Rixon was the target.”

Or me , I thought darkly. But why the fuck did the Devils want to take me out?

“Even if it was, it doesn’t change anything. Molly is dead. Rixon won’t rest until he’s avenged her.”

He took another drag from his cigarette and moved his head closer to mine. “Rixon told me of his concerns.”

“What concerns?” I replied, playing dumb—waiting until Eli showed his hand first.

“About Kaash.”

“I’m not sure I know what you’re talking about.”

The Columbus chapter president smiled at me. “Yeah, you do, because Rixon called me up to talk about it after your run to DC was organized.”

“He did?”

Eli stubbed out his cigarette on the sole of his boot. “That’s the reason I threw the party for you all. Your crew could’ve driven back home just fine from Columbus, but I was doing Rixon a solid by holding his men overnight. Everyone except you.”

Bringing what was left of my cigarette to my lips, I balanced it there and asked, “And? What did you hear?”

“Me? Nothing. But some of the girls did.”

“The suspense is fucking killing me,” I deadpanned, waiting for the bastard to start talking.

“Rixon knows Kaash is unhappy, but I don’t think he realizes just how unhappy his VP is.”

“Unhappy enough to turn members of the club against him?”

“Yep. Rumor is he’s planning a coup. He just needs the club in a position of weakness before that can happen though.”

A position of weakness.

Was Kaash that determined to manufacture a war between the Hunt and the Devils?

“Think about it Nick. Do you really think Talon La Croix would have the cojones to take a shot at the Hunt in broad daylight? From all accounts, there’s been peace for a long time. Our clubs have been getting on with shit. Making green. Building up member numbers.”

Eli’s words only solidified my own suspicions. Could Molly’s death have been engineered by Kaash? Was that our VPs ultimate fuck you to Rixon? To bring him down? No wonder he approved the hit on the Devils.

“If what you’re saying is true?—”

“It is true, Nick.”

“—then what the hell is Rixon’s next step?”

Eli shrugged, looking around the room. There were members from all five chapters of the Savage Hunt here tonight—men who would die for their club. King, president of the Kentucky chapter, and Mason, the president of the Florida chapter, along with Jack from Cleveland were catching up with interstate members that only usually got to see each other once a year at most. It was just too bad that the reason they were brought together this time was for a funeral.

“Whatever it is, it’s going to make a statement.” Eli’s name was called from across the room, and he jerked his chin at Jack. Before he left, he said, “Be alert, Nick. I know Rixon sees you as a son, and you see him as a father. He’s been the best president the Detroit chapter has had for more than a decade. Profits are good. Incidents are down. I don’t want him to lose his footing here.” With a slap on my shoulder, he walked off, leaving me with a lot to think about.

Stubbing out my cigarette, I down and started making my way down the hall and into my bedroom. Alex was asleep in my bed, her dark hair fanned out around her, her face finally relaxed. She’d slipped one of my t-shirts on to sleep in, the oversized fabric dwarfing her body and making my dick hard, forcing me to face the undeniable truth. Somehow, she had become my ultimate weakness when she was supposed to be my ultimate revenge. The thought of hurting her now was out of the question, and if anyone else tried to hurt her, then they would have to deal with me.

Stripping out of my clothes, I slid between the sheets and pulled her into my body, protecting her in our sleep.