Vicious Heart (Desert Kings MC #2)

11. Cam

eleven

Cam

I brushed the dust from the front of my cut and shoved the zip ties into the inner pocket. The adrenaline rush of the fight, of slinging people around, used to be more exciting. I’d be amped up for hours after. Since I’d had Riley, it wasn’t. Touching her, tasting her, fucking her was a surge of adrenaline unlike any other.

But the exhilaration still ran white hot and electric. The rowdy crowd dissipated as Jester shoved the last of the would-be badasses into the back of a sheriff’s van and slammed the door.

“Whoo!” He tossed his head back and shouted into the night air. He reminded me of a famous 80s’ pro wrestler in yellow spandex.

If I told him that, he’d probably do it even more, so I kept my mouth shut.

Blowing the hair from my face, I looked around the area in front of the stage. The party was back in full swing, like we hadn’t just broken up a mini-riot.

“I live for this shit, man.” Jester smacked me on the shoulder.

I snorted. Wading off into a fight that had nothing to do with me wasn’t as exciting as it had been when I was a teenager. Not since I’d beat a man to death. I blinked that memory away. “Save some for Fight Night.”

“Oh, I got plenty.” He winked.

“I bet you do, crazy fucking bastard.” Ivan’s voice cut in.

Ivan was president of the Reno charter and a longtime friend. About ten years older than me, could party harder than anyone I knew, and had a nasty right hook. The best part of these big events was that we called the other charters in. Shit like this was often the only time we got to hang out with some of these guys.

The strobing lights flickered off his bald head and reflected in his toothy smile. “And I know who I’m putting my money on.” He snickered.

He was easier, more amiable than the last time I’d seen him. We all were. Archer’s funeral hadn’t been but a few weeks ago, and I could barely remember the man I’d been then. The man I’d been before Riley.

I whipped my head around to the first aid tent. I’d left her there, but she hadn’t stayed in one spot for longer than a few minutes since she’d taken the molly. MDMA would do that.

It was worth it because damn, she was sexy as fuck dancing around in those tight ass little shorts and that wispy excuse for a top, rubbing against me, damn near molesting me in front of everyone.

She wasn’t at the tent when I stuck my head in.

“They left with some young guy,” the nurse there called to me over her shoulder.

Panic, jealousy, and anger seized my chest and brought me to a complete halt as I checked my phone. Sensing my shift in mood, Ivan doubled back to me, pulling Jester and a few of his guys with him.

If I’d been amped up before, I blew right past all control when I saw her texts—ten minutes too late.

On my way.

I snagged Merc as soon as I shot off my response. “Go find Ghost, tell him his ole lady went rogue and he needs to fix this shit. Now .” Puck had told me about the fight. If the little fucker wanted the patch, he had to earn it. So far, he hadn’t.

“Problem?” Merc eyed me as I gestured across the crowd for Puck to come with me.

“She took mine with her.”

Jester peeled off toward the security hub, Merc slipped into the crowd, and Ivan fell in step beside me.

“Get AP to bring the next shift out early,” I shouted to Jester before he was out of earshot.

He tossed up two fingers, already on it.

I paused at the gate long enough to pull out a cigarette, light it, and take a drag. It didn’t do shit to calm me down.

I wasn’t waiting for anyone’s permission to start toward my bike. I was back on the move again; Desert Lights be damned. The only thing that mattered was Riley. Anxiety ramped up in my chest, like a mob of angry crows pecking at my ribcage. Their clicking beaks drummed a steady beat, telling me to hurry.

Urgency, unlike anything I’d ever known, gripped me and shook those crows up to a frantic tempo.

I opened the GPS on my phone. A blinking little dot told me Riley had turned her location on, and I knew exactly where she was. Thank fucking God. When it finally stopped, I would be headed back to Dry Valley. Where we were Kings.

The bikes were parked in a sandy lot behind one of the stages. Several of Ivan’s guys stood watch. I nodded to one of them before tossing my leg over my Harley and putting on the clear safety glasses.

Ivan himself was strapping on a shiny chrome helmet to my left. “Let’s go get your girl, brother.” He swung his hand in a circle in the air, and a couple of his guys left their group to jump on their bikes and ride with us.

I cranked mine and pulled from the row as Puck, Jester, and Dekes followed; the roar of their engines melding with mine.

After that, I didn’t look back. My only focus was getting to that house as quickly as I could. Last I knew, it was a party house some fraternity from UNLV rented.

Bunch of preppy fuckers. If any of them had laid a finger on her, I’d burn the whole mother fucking thing to the ground with all their bitch asses inside.

The part of me I’d shelved, the one that had laid dormant in the days since I’d met Riley, was chomping at the chrome-coated bit. This is who I was. I was the bastard that would fuck their whole world up. Whatever I felt for Riley hadn’t chained the monster. She’d set it free. For her, I didn’t need a reason to kill. She was the reason.

My phone buzzed in my pocket. I plucked it out with my left hand and read the text, never taking my right from the throttle.

Hurry, they are taking our phones.

The hell they were. The beast inside me swallowed up all the flapping murder birds. It roared to life, spitting feathers, and so did my throttle.

I flew down familiar roads, passing cars, and blowing stop signs. My heartbeat in time with the broken yellow line in the middle of the pavement.

Behind me, everyone kept up.

It wasn’t a possessive energy that flowed through me. This was deeper than that. Something I hadn’t felt since that day I’d walked in and found my mom—eyes wide and vacant—blood leaking from the corner of her mouth.

The cold fear made me feel weak, the angry churn of guilt, weaker. I should never have let her run off tripping with Kenna. Big mistake. My mistake.

The beast inside me reacted, sucking away all those emotions until the only thing left was a violent swirl of rage.

I could kill a man like this. I already had.

Almost there, I slowed and a flexed my throttle hand to keep from trembling.

I was off my bike before anyone else parked. There were several young guys, kids barely, standing outside. They were fucked up. It was obvious by the way they swayed and how loud they talked.

They shut up when confronted with a pissed off Desert King, then scattered like the roaches they were.

“How hot we going in?” Ivan asked as he jogged up beside me.

“Burning this mother fucker down.”