Asunder (Iron Bulls MC #1) (15 page)

Tears sting my eyes. While that’s probably true, it hurts to hear it. Especially from Logan.

He rests his hands on my shoulders and stares into my eyes. Maybe he senses his harsh words hurt my feelings, because his tone is much gentler. “Come on. Go grab enough stuff to get you through to Monday. Dante’s going to meet us up there.”

“Maybe I should call him and see if he wants me to bring anything for him?”

“Can’t. He’s in a meeting with Romeo. Won’t answer his phone. Go on, hurry up.”

Something’s wrong. But I’m not sure what to do. As soon as I get upstairs, I lock myself in the bathroom and try to call Dante. It goes straight to voicemail. In the past, Dante has explained all the guys hand over their cell phones before sitting down for “church”.

Maybe Logan is telling the truth.

I speak as softly as possible, in case Logan followed me inside. “Dante, it’s me. Logan’s here. He says you sent him to take me to a safe house because the club is on lockdown? Are you sure you want me to go with him? I don’t know—”

“Karina! Let’s go!” Logan shouts from downstairs.

“If you get this in the next few minutes, text me and let me know it’s okay to go with him,” I say in a rush and hit end.

I stare at my phone for a few seconds. Something doesn’t feel right. There are probably twenty other people Dante would choose to come get me before going to Logan. But what if he did send him because something so bad is going down? He had no choice?

Without realizing it, my hand’s squeezing my phone so tight, my fingers press the volume button down and the phone buzzes in my hand, startling me. I stare at it again, willing it to ring.

Banging on the bathroom door rattles me so hard I drop the phone. “Karina, stop fucking around, we gotta go. What are you doing?”

“I’m going to the bathroom. Jeez, give me a minute!” I shout back.

Jamming my phone into my pocket, I hustle over and flush the toilet. While running the water, I grab a few things I think I’ll need. My birth control pills for sure. Vitamins, face wash, toothbrush, toothpaste, shampoo, conditioner, soap. I glance at Dante’s side of the vanity. He’d probably like some of his stuff too, right? I grab shaving cream, a razor, his toothbrush…and that’s all I can think of. I shove everything into a couple cosmetic bags and exit the bathroom.

Logan’s standing in the middle of the room staring at the bed.

“What are you doing in here?” I ask.

“I can’t believe you really fucking sleep with him, Karina.”

Brushing past him, I dump my armload on the bed. “That’s none of your business.”

“Come on, hurry up.”

“I’m hurrying.” Snatching my backpack off the floor, I stuff some clothes in. Logan finally wanders out and I scurry over to Dante’s nightstand. Yanking open the drawer, I grab the small bottle of lube and the jeweled anal plug. No reason we can’t have fun while we’re hiding out—or whatever this is about. I can’t wait to see the look on his face when he sees what I brought.

I pull out my phone and check it one last time. Nothing from Dante. This time I shoot him a quick text.

Leaving house w/Logan now. See u soon.

For some reason, I mute the phone before sticking it back in my pocket.

Logan’s waiting on the front porch, and takes my backpack when I step outside. He holds out his hand. “Give me your phone, and I’ll let Dante know we’re leaving.”

No way am I handing over my phone to him.

“Oh, shoot, I forgot it.” I turn to go back inside, but he stops me.

“Don’t worry about it. I got mine. Just need to charge it.”

“Okay.”

His gaze darts back and forth between his bike and my car. “We’ll take your car.”

“Okay.”

He seems indecisive. “I’ll drive.”

“Fine.” I tug the keys out of my pocket and hand them over.

All hell broke loose on Hemi’s Mexican run. The fucker got out of jail and made it over the border. But he’s been MIA since.

Romeo’s fuckin’ livid.

We’re all sittin’ around the table trying to figure out what to do. Little fucker was supposed to be bringin’ a package back with him and no one knows if it was confiscated when he got picked up.

“All right, let’s set that aside,” Romeo orders, taking control of the meeting once again. He points at me. “How’d it go?”

“In and out.”

“Any witnesses?”

“Fuck no.” I pull out the envelope of cash I collected after the job and toss it on the table.

Romeo hands it off to our treasurer, Savage. I know I’ll get my cut before I leave this room, so I ain’t too worried.

I flick my wrist over to see the time—something that doesn’t go unnoticed by Romeo. Karina should be home from school by now. Missed my girl and want to get home to see her. Hemi goin’ missing is fuckin’ up my afternoon plans.

Romeo dismisses everyone except our VP—Wolf, road captain—Whip, Savage, Viper, Luck, and me.

Romeo points at Savage and jerks his head at me. Savage hands over my envelope of cash, which I stuff into an inside pocket of my cut.

“What’re we gonna do ‘bout Hemi?” Luck asks.

Romeo shakes his head, and then nods at Wolf.

“Boy was shook up, but we made it across the border fine. He fuckin’ split when we stopped for a refuel.”

“Could he have been grabbed?” Whip asks.

Wolf shrugs. “I guess. But his bike was gone, too. I wasn’t in the store but a minute.”

Savage glances my way. “He think we’re gonna be mad he got picked up?”

“How the fuck should I know?” I growl. “Ain’t no reason to take off like a pussy. We’ve all done our time. Kinda a given in our line of work.”

Romeo smirks at that. “I got feelers out to our supports and other charters from here to the border.”

Viper finally decides to add his two cents. “Maybe he met up with a hot piece of ass and wanted to get laid instead of comin’ and gettin’ bitched out here. He spent lots of time bitching about the lack of pussy on our last run.”

“That better be it,” Romeo says.

Because nothing else makes sense. Unless he decided to turn on us.

Romeo releases us with an order to stay close.

“Yeah, I’ll be at my cabin,” I answer.

His mouth twists into a filthy grin. “Yeah, figure you’ll be balls deep in jailbait pussy.”

“Fuck you.”

Luck claps me on the back as we walk out and collect our cell phones from the basket outside the door.

“How’s your girl? She okay with you bein’ away?” Luck asks.

I know he ain’t askin’ to be a dick. “Think so. Her dad wasn’t home much, so I think she’s used to it. Still want to get home and see her though.”

The corners of his mouth curl up in a genuine smile. “Yeah, don’t blame you.”

He says something else, but I’m distracted by my phone goin’ off as soon as I turn it back on. Got a voicemail and text from Karina.

The text comes up first. Sent almost an hour ago.

Leaving house w/Logan now. See u soon.

What the actual fuck?

My vision clouds red.

Murder must be written on my face. “What’s wrong, brother?” Luck asks.

I put my finger up and dial into my voicemail. Hitting speaker so we can both listen, I hold the phone out. Romeo walks out as soon as the message starts playing.

Karina’s hushed voice is hard to make out at first, but I get the gist of what’s going on.

“Dante, it’s me. Logan’s here. He says you sent him to take me to a safe house because the club is on lockdown. Are you sure you want me to go with him? I don’t know—”

She stops for some reason. A muffled shout sounds from somewhere in the background. Motherfuckin’ Hemi, no doubt.

“If you get this in the next few minutes, text me and let me know it’s okay to go with him.”

“Motherfucker!” I jab my finger at Romeo. “He’s dead. That motherfucker is dead. He laid a fuckin’ hand on my woman. It’s grounds and you fuckin’ know it.”

Romeo holds up his hands. “I hear you. Let’s get the whole story—”

“What fuckin’ whole story? He fuckin’ tricked her—”

Luck puts his hand on my arm to stop me. Much calmer than I am, he says, “Prez, you heard the girl. Hemi told her a fuckin’ lie to get her to go with him. That can’t stand.”

“He fuckin’ touches her, he’s not out bad, Prez, he’s fuckin’ dead.” I ain’t makin’ idle threats either. Whatever Hemi’s doin’ goes beyond disrespectin’ a brother. He’s outright breaking our code.

I’m shaking with rage. Proud of my fuckin’ girl though. She did good. Knew something was wrong and called me first. I need to get to her. Need to touch her. Make sure she’s okay. Hemi’s obviously lost his fuckin’ mind. I’m scared shitless he’ll do something to hurt her.

Fear ain’t something I’ve felt in a long time. I mete out justice with my fists for the club. Fucking
kill
for my club. So no, there ain’t much I fear in this world.

Losing Karina? Fucking terrifies me.

A small voice inside me says
this is why
. This is why I shouldn’t ever have gotten involved with a bitch.

We’re not in the car very long before I conclude I’m in trouble. Logan won’t give me any details about where we’re going. He won’t talk to me at all.

We head southeast out of the city and I pay close attention so I’ll be able to tell Dante.

After driving for an hour and a half, I start squirming in my seat.

“Logan, I need to go to the bathroom.”

“Can’t you wait?”

“Uh, no.”

“We’ve got maybe another hour.”

I twist and make a show out of crossing my legs. “Definitely not.”

He blows out a breath. “Fine. There’s a rest stop coming up.”

He pulls up to the curb. “Hurry back,” he instructs as I jump out of the car.

It must be a busy traveling day or something because the bathroom is jammed and I have to wait. When a stall finally opens, I lock myself in it and whip out my phone. I’ve got at least ten missed calls from Dante and one text.

Don’t go with Hemi.

Shit! I knew it.

As I tap out Dante’s number, my fingers are shaking so much I almost drop the phone in the toilet.

“Karina!” he shouts. “Where are you, baby girl? Are you okay?”

“We’re at the San Silas rest stop.”

Someone bangs on the stall door. “Hurry up. There’s people waitin’.”

“Fuck. Dante, hold on.” Holding my phone at my side, I step out. A mom with two kids gives me a bitchy look, but I ignore her and walk into the food court. Even above the noise of the rest stop, I hear Dante’s voice yelling from my phone. Huddling facing the wall, out of the way of traffic, I put the phone up to my ear.

“Sorry, Dante. I needed to—”

“Karina. Stay where you are. Luck and I are on our way.”

“Okay—”

Something hard presses into my back. Warm breath skates over my ear and down my neck. “Thought you forgot your phone, sprite?” Logan whispers. “Don’t fuckin’ move.”

“Karina? What’s wrong, baby girl?”

Logan slips my phone out of my hand and ends the call without a word. My phone disappears into his pocket. “Move,” he growls in my ear. “Signal anyone and I’ll shoot you.”