Hinder (Midnight Saints MC Book 3) Read online

“Oh, you’re still here. Tony went to bed. He said he’ll leave the door unlocked if you decide to join him.”

  “I will, in a little bit. I’ll wait ‘til he’s actually asleep.”

  “He told me and Austin everything.”

  “You mean my plan?”

  “Yeah.”

  “It’s risky, but we both agree, if anyone has a right to decide Maxum’s fate, it should be you. Just don’t get kicked out, so we can help you. You shouldn’t do this alone.”

  “But that’s the thing, I have to do this alone. It’s the only way it’s going to work. I also have to piss off Tony and get publicly banished from the club. It has to go down this way. There is no other way to do it to make sure that the club remains safe from the retribution of the Shadow Order. The moment they get wind I did this on my own, they will leave the MC alone, and that is what matters most. I’ll have the Crypt Keepers to back me up, so I’m not really doing it alone. I already talked to Eric about it behind Tony’s back; it’s a done deal.”

  On the inside, I was shaking. But I felt like this was my burden to bear and that if the Shadow

  Order came, Tony would die this time.

  Chapter 17

  Jed

  I made Sophie breakfast before she hit the road. I was sad to see her go, but I understood her life was elsewhere. “You’ll always have a place to crash here, if you want it.”

  “Thanks, you’ve been a real friend, Jed, I won’t forget it.”

  “It’s been my pleasure.” I winked at her, hoping to remind her of the one night we had, a night I secretly hoped we could repeat someday. The Midnight Saints and I weren’t done with Sophie yet; I could feel it.

  “Will you let me know when they decide that I can see him again, when I can actually take him to rehab?”

  “You haven’t given up on that idea yet?”

  “No, why would I? Kara and the MC can only do so much for him, he needs professional help at a clinic. He can beat this demon, I know he can. He can and will be the preacher and the man he once was. He just has to beat the alcohol and drugs addiction that has a hold on him, but I’ve seen people who have come out of rehab, I’ve seen the people they become. I know he can be a good person. I know it in my heart, Jed. Please, help me when the time comes.”

  “I’ll see what I can do.” As soon as she left, I decided to go back to the MC, but I knew I couldn’t ignore what she had asked me to do. Some would call me whipped and say she had me by the fucking balls.

  And so what if she did?

  She was a pretty fucking amazing woman to have holding my jewels.

  “What do you want?” Seth asked, standing in front of the door when I arrived. “I came to speak to Kara and Tony.”

  “Yeah, you’re not someone they want to talk to.”

  “Am I being kicked from the club?”

  “Are you really even in the club? You come and go; you haven’t been there for any of the battles.”

  “No, but I’m in charge of all the money.”

  “Just keep your distance from Tony and Kara, and you’ll be fine. Speaking of money, how much is in the treasury anyway?”

  “Not sure I’m at liberty to tell a low rank like you,” I teased him, though there was a little malice in my voice.

  “Low rank?”

  “Knock it off Seth, let him in,” Tony said. “Kara wants to know where Sophie is.”

  “I sent her back to law school. She has classes and an exam to finish. She asked me to find out what’s going on with Maxum.”

  “We told you, he’s detoxing.”

  “She’s still determined to get him to rehab.” I shook my head so Tony knew I didn’t agree even if I wanted to help her.

  “He’ll never agree to that. She’s naive if she thinks she’ll ever get him there.”

  “She also thinks he’ll be a good man when he comes out,” I added to see his reaction.

  “That man is pure evil. He hid it well, but he’s never been anything but pure evil, using everyone to his advantage. He’s been using and manipulating her, and she doesn’t even realize it. She’s going to learn sooner or later, and it’s not going to be pretty when she does.”

  “I just hope it’s not too late.”

  “You care about her. What, did you sleep with her over the weekend?” Seth asked, raising an eyebrow at me. Like he was one to talk, sleeping with a former Diablo and knocking her up. At least Sophie was neutral.

  “As if it’s any of your business.”

  “I’m the Prez, it concerns my club or its members, so it’s my business,” Tony barked.

  “Then, yeah, I did.”

  “Do you have feelings for her?”

  “Yeah, I think I might.”

  “Alright, well, listen, we’re trying to get information about the Shadow Order, then maybe we’ll . . . maybe we’ll negotiate what to do next.” I didn’t like what I heard, but Tony was actually telling me the truth and throwing me a bone, so to speak.

  “So, you are beating him up for info,” I clarified. I was young and rich but not naïve.

  “I didn’t say that.”

  “I saw Seth’s hands; I know when the enforcer has been beating someone’s face in.”

  “If you tell Sophie, all bets are off.”

  “Don’t worry, I won’t tell her, mostly because it would hurt her, and she might try to do something stupid. I’ll keep her away for a while, but Sophie isn’t the one you should be worried about if word gets out you’re torturing Maxum.”

  “Let me worry about that, you just keep track of our money. We still in the red?”

  “No, we’re in the black, thanks to my generous contribution.”

  “Thanks, buddy, we owe you.”

  It was an odd bit of respect I wasn’t going to take lightly. ”Hey, it was just sitting there doing nothing but collecting interest, so happy to contribute. Besides, the money isn’t even mine, it’s my old man’s.”

  “He doesn’t care if you give his money away?”

  “He’s not around to care. He’s in prison.”

  “Oh!”

  “He’s been in prison for years now.”

  “I see,” Tony said. “Kid, we haven’t given you a fair shot, and I shouldn’t have jumped your case. You are a decent guy, Jed. Our club is lucky to have someone like you, and so is Sophie. Be good to her, she’s going to need it. But also, don’t tell Kara about Sophie right now.”

  “You changed your tune.”

  “What can I say? I’m the man in love!” He grinned. “Love makes a man soft, but it can also make a man tough, because he has someone else to protect.”

  I waited until the evening to call Sophie. I told myself I was calling her so soon to give news, but who was I fooling? ”No news yet. I think it would be best for you to wait until after your finals and Tony might come around by that point. Don’t worry about Kara.”

  “Okay. Whatever, I have my exam to worry about, and if I pass that then my internship.”

  “Cool. How was your day?”

  “Fine. I had classes, now I’m studying. What did you do?”

  I hated feeling like she was clipping me short. Like I was bothering her. She didn’t seem to be like a one-night-stand girl, even if she had been throwing caution to the wind. Had I been wrong? Or was it that she felt weird about what she did? “ I went to the club, made up with Tony, and hung out with the other officers. I may not fit in with the regular bikers, but the officers know my status.”

  “I see. I still don’t understand why you want to be one of them. You have money, you can do anything. Why waste your time with them?”

  “I’m not wasting my time. I love being in the MC, and even Tony acknowledged that the club is better off with me in it.”

  “He did?”

  “Yeah.”

  “I didn’t know that guy knew how to give compliments.” She sniffed.  ”If I had money like you,

  I would leave this shit city and I would never look back.”

&n
bsp; “It’s not that bad.”

  “Yeah it is.”

  “You want money to leave, just say so. I’ll take you anywhere you want to go. We can jump on a jet and take off, just say when.”

  “I can’t just take off, I have a life.” She sighed. “ Yeah, it’s not my dream life, but it’s a life, and it’s a good one. I should be more grateful. A good girl is grateful for what she is given. She does not covet other people’s lives.”

  “Maybe you’re not a good girl anymore, Sophie.”

  “What? How dare you say that.”

  “I’m not insulting you. I’m helping you think. What has being a good girl really gotten you?”

  “I have to go study.” She hung up without answering.

  Kara of all people knocked and then came into my office, Tony right behind her. “What the fuck, what if I was naked and beating one off?”

  “Then, I would have gotten a show.” Kara grinned, though I knew she was joking just to get at me. “Who were you on the phone with?”

  “It’s rude to eavesdrop,” I scolded her.

  “I’m the fucking Prez.”

  “Sophie,” I told her with a growl.

  “Sophie?”

  “They slept together,” Tony told her.

  “Really, Tony?” Hadn’t he been the one to tell me not to say anything to Kara?

  “What? Jed, she was—was she a virgin?”

  “No, actually, she wasn’t.”

  “Well, looks like Miss Goody Two Shoes isn’t such a goody, goody after all, maybe we could get along. Maybe,” Kara said, “Though, I don’t expect to ever have a reason to call her sister.”

  “Did your dad actually adopt her?”

  “She came to live with us, but I don’t think he ever made it official. I don’t remember him going to court.” She became quiet, and her eyes moved as she thought about it. Then, she shrugged, and her eyes went still.

  “Well, maybe I should give her a chance to say goodbye first. I’ll have him call her,” Kara offered. I didn’t like the sound of ‘goodbye’, but I knew better than to press it right now.

  “Okay, but there will be a gun to his head, and if he tries to tell her what we did, I’m taking the phone away and knocking him out with it,” Tony said.

  “Call her, tell her to expect his call,” Kara ordered.

  “Okay.” I pulled out my cell phone and called Sophie even though she had hung up on me and then gave them a look that said to get the fuck out of my room. “Hey!”

  “Hi.”

  The silence was awkward, but it had to be a good sign she picked up.

  “I was going to give you some space, but I have good news.”

  “They’re finally releasing him?” I hated how her tone perked up at that. I realized now that it didn’t matter whose side I took in this or what I believed, Sophie was going to get hurt with her idealistic view of Maxum. Even if he came through rehab, the guy would never be the same again. I didn’t know if that or his death would hurt more.

  “No, but they are going to let him call you.”

  “Well, that’s something, I guess.” She paused. “When?”

  “Soon, which is why I didn’t wait to call. But I’m sorry for how I came off earlier. I just thought

  I was helping you see things in a new light.”

  “Okay, thanks for letting me know.”

  “That’s all you have to say? After what happened between us?” I shouldn’t be pushing her like that, but it was upsetting me. I had never allowed myself to be vulnerable with a woman before. Sure, I wasn’t a pretend hard ass like the other MC guys, but that didn’t mean I was going around professing my undying love to women I slept with either. I waited until I felt it and kept it simple with paying for women when and how I needed them until now.

  Until Sophie.

  The one woman I couldn’t buy.

  I heard her shifting the phone around as if she were preparing to say something hard and didn’t want to at all. It felt a little high school, which was both excruciating and exciting. This was what things should always feel like. A giddiness and newness I was chasing by being with the MC all

  these years.

  “It’s not that I didn’t like it . . . or you, Jed. And I still am not a one-night-stand kind of girl. I just don’t know how we would fit into each other’s lives. You’re in an MC, and like you said, I don’t belong in that life. I belong helping people and doing great things. I belong in an office. And I’m so busy all the time and will be even more if I get the internship. And if you’re with me, the MC may never accept it. May never accept you.”

  As right as she was, it made me even more determined to prove her wrong. What bigger of an

  adventure was there than chasing someone like her to the ends of the Earth.

  “There may not be a good way or time right now, but I will prove it to you, Sophie. That one day we can find a way to give this a real shot.”

  “We’ll see.”

  Chapter 18

  Kara

  “Maxum, we’re going to let you talk to Sophie.”

  “Why would I want to talk to her? She’s the reason I’m in this mess,” he growled. “Tell that little tart she can go to hell; she’s no different than the rest of you.”

  I walked up and slapped him. “She didn’t bring you here for this; she thought I was going to help her take you to rehab. Instead, we betrayed her and dragged you down here and tortured you. But you’re not going to tell her any of that. She’s expecting your call.”

  “Good, then she can tell me where the fuck my money is.”

  “Change of plans, you’re not calling her,” I said, hitting him again. He was my own personal punching bag right now. It was my turn. Long past. But also, my hormones were getting the best of me.

  “Kara, let me do the physical violence,” Seth said, but it didn’t come out with confidence. He fucking knew I wasn’t letting that happen right now.

  “Fuck off, Seth.” I hit him again. “You don’t care about anyone!” I struck him again. “I was going to give you a chance to say goodbye, but you blew it, and now Tony is going to go tell her boyfriend to call her back and tell her that you refused to make the call, and prove to her once and for all what a real fucking jackass you really are. You’re not a father, you’re just a sperm donor.” I hit him one more time before Tony pulled me away, fucking tears burning my eyes.

  Damn hormones.

  “Seth, take over,” Tony ordered as he led me out, now shaking with angry tears. “You need to calm the fuck down, Kara, especially if you want me to allow this plan of yours to happen. It took a whole fucking lot for Seth to convince me.”

  “I’m sorry. It’s the damn hormones. This baby is making me crazy,” I said, wiping at the tears angrily. I let him hold me while we talked.

  “So, you confirmed it then? We’re having a baby?” he asked.

  “Yeah, Reagen had an extra test.”

  “I don’t want you to do this then, Kara. I love you and the baby more than I care about Maxum paying. Just . . . give him some cash and get him the fuck out for good.”

  “You know it won’t work. This is the only way. As long as either one of us are alive, he will haunt me,” I told him. I could see in Tony’s eyes he knew I was telling the truth, even if he hated it. Hated putting me in danger, and hated it even more that he was giving up control.

  “You better bring yourself and that baby back to me.”

  “I wouldn’t dream of doing anything else.”

  I went to get a little rest, something else this baby demanded of me, while Tony probably let Maxum make that damn call to Sophie anyway. He had to have a false sense of security if this was going to work, and it had to be like Tony and I were disagreeing.

  I guess we could start right now.

  The next day, Tony was at the clubhouse with Austin, Seth, and Jed playing cards when I came down to find Maxum drinking coffee at the club’s table. “What the fuck is he doing up here?” I dema
nded. His right arm was bandaged in a sling, both hands had fingers bandaged up, and he still had a busted lip and a black eye from Seth’s fists.

  “It’s been over a week, Kara. He seems to be doing well. I thought it would be okay to give him some time out of his cell. Plus, he finally gave me what I wanted.”

  And so the show began. Only the officers knew what we were up to, so the entire rest of the members would believe this was real, as long as we sold it to them.

  “He’s not a guest, Tony, he’s our fucking prisoner. Or have you forgotten the shit he did to all of us? Seth, get his ass back downstairs before I pour that fucking coffee on both of you.”

  “Is that any way to treat your old man? I was hoping we could have a civil conversation, you and me. I want to show you that I can change, that I can be the father you need,” Maxum said. Well, somehow he was even playing this game and he didn’t even know the rules. Well fucking played, Dad.

  “You can be the father I need? I don’t need you, I have gotten along just fine without you in my life. So, you can go drink coffee in hell, that’s where you belong.”

  “Okay, Kara, you need to calm down. He’s paid his penance,” Seth said, though I could see the sweat on his brow. He didn’t like doing this to me anymore than Tony did. Hopefully, Tony was a better actor.

  “Fuck that, he will never finish paying his penance,” I snarled.

  “Kara, we have other matters to attend to. Short on killing him, what do you want us to do? He’s under Seth’s guard at all times, and when Seth needs his sleep, I take over, or Austin takes over. He has a fucking bark collar on; he makes a move and he gets zapped. What more do you want?” Tony asked, seeming like he was sick of me and my temper.

  Ha! He was the one with a fucking temper. If I wasn’t so crazy from the hormones, it would have been very fucking funny.

  “I don’t want him drinking our coffee or wandering around here freely. I want him downstairs, locked up. Seth, take him back downstairs. And don’t bring him back up,” I

  ordered.

  “Kara, he’s sober, hasn’t had a drink or drugs in his system for a week now,” Seth stressed, showing his loyalty was to Tony and not me.