Hinder (Midnight Saints MC Book 3) Page 4

  “I can’t sleep. I’m going to go see if Reagen is awake.”

  “Kara, she’s asleep, don’t bother her.”

  “Seth said the baby keeps her up most nights. I’m sure she wouldn’t mind some company, and besides I think baby snuggles is just what I need right now. Babies are calming.”

  “Except when they are crying.”

  “She’ll have it under control by now, besides, it’ll stop crying once I hold it.”

  “What about making our own baby?” He raised his eyebrow at me, and I stopped dead in my tracks. Then, I grinned.

  “Oh, haven’t you noticed? It’s too late for that.”

  “What?”

  I dodged out of the room before he could get an explanation out of me. It was fun keeping secrets, but it also wasn’t the time.

  Maxum needed to be handled before I could look to the future.

  I made my way to Reagen’s room. Just as I suspected, she was up with the baby.

  “Seth filled me in on what’s been going on. I can’t believe you guys captured Maxum. Does that mean the war is finally over?” she said quietly, tapping the baby on the butt.

  “Unfortunately, no, but I didn’t come here to talk about Maxum or the war. Can I hold him?”

  “Of course, you can.”

  “I can hold him for a while if you want to get some sleep. Seth told me you’ve been up a lot with the baby.”

  “Oh my gosh, you’re a lifesaver. He’s been changed, fed, and burped, so he should be good for a few hours. If he falls asleep, just put him in his crib. Thank you, Kara.”

  “Hey, I need all the practice.” I winked.

  “Are you?”

  “Yeah. I just told Tony. Well, kind of . . . ”

  “How did he take it?” she asked, also starved for conversation as much as sleep, I guessed.

  “I didn’t give him a chance to react. I told him and ran out of the room.”

  “That’s wicked, Kara.” She sounded more amused than appalled. That’s why we worked as friends.

  “Go get some sleep, I got this.”

  “Thank you! Thank you! Oh my gosh, thank you.”

  “You’re welcome, sleep well.” She headed back to her room. I settled myself in the rocking chair and found a book to read to him. I was right, baby time was just what I needed.

  After a few hours, Seth came in.

  “Oh, Kara!”

  “Sorry, I came to spend time with the baby so that Reagen could get some sleep.”

  “That was nice of you.”

  “I’m fine, go get some sleep. I don’t mind, I’ll be here for a while.”

  “Okay, well if he falls asleep, just put him in the crib and slip out, we can take it from there.”

  I stayed with the baby ‘til dawn no matter what they said. I never thought I would be a baby person. With my tats, my attitude, and my experience with parents, I didn’t exactly fit the mommy mold. I didn’t even know I would like it until I saw Reagen’s little one. How that baby was so soft, sweet, and smelled so good. How it was so simple as loving and caring for its needs to have it love you back.

  I would be so much better than Maxum.

  Then Reagen got up and took over.

  “Thank you, I needed that.”

  “Anytime.”

  “Go get some sleep.”

  “I will.”

  “Goodnight.”

  I slipped out and slipped back into my room and snuggled up next to Tony. He rolled over and put his arm around me and pulled me close. “You can’t drop a bomb like that and then run out on me,” he mumbled in a sleepy voice.

  “Don’t worry, I’m not that far along; we have plenty of time to discuss it.”

  “It’s mine, right?”

  “Of course, it’s yours.” I gave him a look like I was ready to slug him, but then he smiled.

  “Just checking.” He pulled me closer and put his hand on my belly, both of us going to sleep.

  Chapter 9

  Jed

  In the morning, I left her to sleep in. I left a note for her. Then I walked the twenty minutes to get my bike. It was a beautiful day. I loved walking in the woods. It was so peaceful and pleasant.

  You could hear the birds chirping and the squirrels and chipmunks running across the fallen pine needles. At last, I made it to the bar, and found my bike right where I had left it. I had to go inside to get my helmet, which Elle had put behind the bar. “Where’s the girl?”

  “Back at my house. Don’t worry, we didn’t have sex. I’m not that kind of guy, and while she was conscience, she said she’s not that kind of girl.”

  “Good for you, but when she wakes up, do everyone a favor and send her home. She’s bad blood, if you know what I mean.”

  “But she’s not, though. Kara has his blood, not her.”

  “Okay, but Kara is one of us, and I would defend her with my life. She’s the Prez’s ol’ lady and the Prez in her own right, but Sophie, she turned her back on us. She turned her nose up to us. She chose him over us, so yeah, Sophie is bad blood.”

  “Look, I just came here to get my helmet. I’ll keep Sophie away from the clubhouse and the bar, how about that?”

  “Fine, whatever, but don’t be surprised if people start calling you a traitor if you keep her around.”

  “I can deal with that, I just have to remind them who put the money in the MC’s bank account.”

  “Uh, I wouldn’t say that shit, if I were you. Be smart, Jed. I thought you wanted us to like you.”

  “I do.”

  “Get out of here.” She tossed me my helmet, and I left for the clubhouse.

  “Jed, where is Sophie? Elle said you left with her.” Kara pounced when I arrived.

  “She’s at my place sleeping. I came to check on Maxum.”

  “He’s not your concern.” She crossed her arms over her chest, and I got the feeling it was code for more was going on than I was supposed to know—or more than Sophie was meant to know.

  “I’m not checking for myself, Kara. I’m checking for Sophie.”

  “She’s got you by your balls already, doesn’t she?”

  “No,” I protested. “I just want to help; it’s the right thing to do.”

  “The right thing to do?” Kara scoffed. “The right thing to do, Jed, is to stay out of family business and to do what your fucking Prez says.”

  “Yeah, well, I can’t do that, and who are you to talk about the right thing? You didn’t handle that well last night. Your decision to betray Sophie like that was wrong. You should have helped her. I’m talking as a fellow human being, not an MC member. No matter how much of a bitch you pretend to be, Kara, I think you’ll regret this because you do have a heart.”

  “What? You think he would be better off in rehab? Do you really think Maxum would go to rehab and stay there? He’d be out the moment we turned our backs, and then Sophie would be in trouble. Is that what you want? He’ll come after her. At least now he thinks she was betrayed, so he won’t go after her if somehow he gets out. Which he won’t.”

  I could see both sides and had nothing to say to that. What Kara did was shit, but she was right. Drugs weren’t even half Maxum’s problems. No way could he have hidden drug usage for so long. ”What do I tell her?”

  “Tell her we didn’t beat him up. Most of them wanted to, but we didn’t. He’s sleeping downstairs. He needs to detox, and he needs to do it here so we can control it and maybe end this war. Or at least get ahead of it before more of our members die.”

  She was in my face now. ”You’re playing with fire. If the Shadow Order or the Blue Diablos find out he’s here, they’re going to attack again anyway.”

  “They aren’t going to find out,” she snapped.

  “Fine, I’ll tell her. Now, what’s the real story?” I wasn’t dumb enough to believe Seth hadn’t been down there to do his job.

  “We’re pissed as hell at him, so of course we tortured him. He owes us answers, and he isn’t willing to talk, s
o we’re going to force the answers out of him one way or another.”

  “You’re becoming exactly what Sophie and Maxum hated about you, if you don’t give him a chance.”

  “I’m giving him a chance to come clean about the shit he did to us, to all of us, and I’m helping him detox, like I said. He’s not getting drugs in here, so I’m not lying about that.”

  “You’re still lying to Sophie. I won’t tell her the truth, which makes me a liar, thank you very much, but you have to tell her the truth. She deserves the truth. You’re a bitch if you don’t tell her the truth.”

  “Hey!” Tony shouted from across the room. “Who the hell are you to talk to my girl like that?” Tony marched over, grabbed me by the shirt, and shoved me against the wall. “Listen here you piss ant, you have no right to talk to her like that. What is going on between Sophie, Kara, and Maxum is between them, and you need to stay out of it, or you’ll find yourself out of this club so fast your head will spin.”

  “Tony! Let him go,” Austin said as he pulled him off of me. He dragged Tony off to the side to talk to him. “Tony, you are the Prez, you can’t attack your men. He didn’t say anything to Kara that wasn’t true. He didn’t call her a bitch, he said she is if she doesn’t tell Sophie the truth, and yeah, he’s right about that,” Austin scolded him. “Also, you can’t throw Jed out just because he’s concerned for Sophie. We need all the men we got, and Jed has our money.”

  I gave them both a wry smile. Always down to the damn money, wasn’t it? The exact same money that made them think I didn’t belong. ”Get the fuck out of my sight.”

  “He’s barely a man.” Tony said to Austin.

  “He is a man, and he’s one of us, has been for a while now. Jed, go on, get out of here, Tony just needs time to cool off. Just be scarce for a while, we don’t need our treasurer around right now.”

  “Keep Sophie away from here, the last thing we need is her lurking around,” Seth added.

  “Yeah, I will.”

  Chapter 10

  Kara

  We waited to make sure Jed was gone before we went down to wake our prisoner. Why were so many damn people trying to stick up for Maxum? They all wanted him dead before I came here. Was it all about me? Maybe I had been stupid to think the things he’d said to everyone about me wouldn’t sink in somehow and stay there forever. “Rise and shine!”

  “I’m awake,” Maxum growled.

  “Oh, good. Because today, you’re going to answer our questions,” Tony informed him. I was getting exhausted with all of it, and if we didn’t need something from him, then I would have killed him already. Consequences be damned.

  “Go to hell, Tony,” he hissed, though it wasn’t as belligerent as the day before. It was a weak tone, his body covered in sweat despite the cold.

  “Get him up and get him in the chair. Tie him down,” I ordered. It took Austin and Seth to drag Maxum up off the bed and back to the chair, as I dragged the light over.

  “You can do this the easy way, Maxum, or the hard way. Makes no difference to me.” Tony was taking the lead, and that was probably for the best lest I accidentally kill him.

  “Go to hell.” He spat at me, so I nodded to Seth, who hit him.

  “You wanted me dead, so consider this me going soft on you, for your daughters’ sakes. You killed Devon, leaving another girl an orphan. You stole from us.” Tony began listing grievances. If Sophie ever asked, I could say we were fair.

  “I didn’t steal anything that didn’t belong to me, and you can’t prove it.”

  “You stashed drugs in our warehouse. We don’t like drugs, we don’t deal with drugs, so for you to stash that in our warehouse, goes against what we believe in. I thought it went against what you believed in, but I guess it doesn’t. I don’t know what you believe in anymore. You’re no preacher. You’re not a God fearing man. You are scum. The kind of scum you used to like to wipe out. You turned into everything you hate, why? Was it the money? What lured you from God? What made you turn on your own club? Answer me, damnit.” Tony said.

  He wouldn’t answer, so I nodded to Seth who hit him again.

  “You want Seth to stop hitting you? Answer my fucking questions.”

  I nodded to Seth again who hit him again. Tony and I working like a well-oiled machine. While he did the talking, I gave the silent orders.

  “Alright, time to break some fingers. Take the wrappings off his right hand and start with that middle finger.”

  “You’ll burn in hell for this,” he warned.

  “Yeah, well you’ll be right there with me.” I scoffed, knowing Tony was right. How could he bring Heaven and Hell into this now?

  I stood back as Seth unwrapped Maxum’s hand and then pulled his middle finger back ‘til it snapped. Maxum screamed in agony.

  “Want the pain to stop? Tell me what I want to know,” Tony demanded, the requirements clear.

  “You ain’t getting shit from me, you fucking piece of shit!” He spat blood at Tony, likely the dumbest shit he could have done.

  “Break another one,” I told Seth. He pulled back on Maxum’s pointer finger ‘til it snapped. Maxum screamed bloody murder and cursed us all, but I wasn’t worried about his words. He wasn’t a magic user or anything, so his words had no meaning.

  “Just tell me you fucking fool, before I have him break every fucking finger.”

  Tony paused and waited for a response, but Maxum had gone quiet.

  “Alright, break the ring finger, then we’ll give him a break.” I laughed at my own joke. Seth cracked a smile, but Maxum just glared at me.

  “You brought this on yourself, Maxum.” Seth bent the ring finger ‘til it snapped. Then, we left Maxum tied up, and we went to join Austin in the war room.

  Seth went to wash his hands and then go check in on his wife and baby. I secretly envied him.

  “How’s it going in there? Is he talking about anything?” Austin questioned.

  “He’s talking, but he’s not saying anything I need to hear. So, Seth had to start breaking fingers. Thumb and pinky go next, if he still doesn’t want to talk. After that, I may just have to have Seth smash his hand with a mallet. Break all those little bones in his hand. Then, I might have to have Seth pull his arm out of his socket and maybe crush some bones. We’ll work the right arm ‘til it’s absolutely useless.” I looked at Tony, suddenly feeling a little sick to my stomach.

  That shit didn’t usually bother me, so I had to blame it on my little passenger.

  I placed my hand over my mouth, and stood up to pace the room, hoping no one would see this as a weakness. I was still Kara. Still Prez.

  “What are you going to do when he does talk?” Austin wondered.

  “He’s never going to tell me what I want to know, so there’s no reason to plan for what will happen when he does talk, because he won’t talk. He’s just a stubborn piece of shit, and soon he’s going to be a broken, stubborn piece of shit. Or should I say smashed?” I tried not to gag while I piped in, knowing it was true. He would take it to the grave to make sure whatever plan he had to get rid of me and the Saints would work.

  “Tell me again why we’re not just going to kill him?” Austin asked, looking at Tony.

  “Yeah, I’m good with killing him,” I said.

  “The sooner we kill him, the sooner this whole mess ends,” Austin said. “Aren’t you sick of this

  mess? I sure am.”

  “If we kill him, the Blue Diablos and the Shadow Order will swoop down on us, and there will be a bloody massacre.” There would likely be one either way, but I didn’t say anything else. He had other reasons he didn’t want to share with anyone but me. So, I let it go.

  “And what happens if he escapes?”

  “He won’t escape,” Tony reassured through gritted teeth.

  “Tony, sooner or later, the Blue Diablos and the Shadow Order are going to come; we can’t prevent that as long as he is here.”

  “Austin has a point,” Kara said. “I have
an idea. You’re not going to like it, so shut up and listen. What if I take Maxum somewhere where no one will ever find him. I won’t even tell you where, so that when they come asking, they can’t use you to get the information. Then to make sure they know you had nothing to do with it, we’ll stage a fight, a public fight where you will disgrace me and rip off my kutte and then banish me from the club.”

  “What? That’s insane, Kara.”

  “Shut up and listen, I’m still talking. I’ll bring my ex to the bar, that will give you a reason to get angry with me. You and Eric can throw a few punches, I’ll break it up, and kiss him and then . . . ”

  “I hate this plan. You’re insane, and it’s too dangerous, Kara, no, I’m going in on this. Fuck that.”

  “Tony! It will get the heat off the MC, and I’ll be safe with the Crypt Keepers. No one will ever find Maxum, dead or alive. I promise. I’m going to take him somewhere where no one will ever think to look. I’ll put him in his grave and leave him there.”

  “You’re going to kill your father? Kara, that will kill you, if the Shadow Order and Blue Diablos don’t kill you first. You’re not thinking. Absolutely not. It’s not happening.”

  I could tell revealing our secret was on the tip of his tongue. Being with me had turned Tony afraid. I loved him for it behind closed doors, but this was war.

  “Maxum stays where he is.”

  Chapter 11

  Sophie

  I woke to find myself in a strange place, I didn’t recognize. My head pounded from the hangover. I tried to remember what had happened the night before. Then, it hit me. I tried to remember the guy’s name.

  He had left a note, so that made it easy. Jed, his name had been Jed. What kind of name was Jed anyway? Was it a nickname?

  Sophie- make yourself at home, there’s coffee above the machine, mugs above the sink. I’ll be back soon, feel free to stay. -Jed

  Feel free to stay? Why would I want to stay with a Midnight Saint? I hated them, remember? No, I’d be gone as soon as I found my keys, my car, and Maxum, I couldn’t leave Maxum., I had to figure out a way to get him out of the MC and get him to rehab. Maybe if I played my cards right with Jed, he would be able to help me.