Consumed: A Devil Chaser's MC Romance (10 page)

“I’ll go, just let me get my bag,” I told them. I turned back to Renegade and asked, “Mind giving me a hand?”

He nodded and followed me back to the truck. “You sure about this?” he asked with concern.

“The Black Diamonds knew we’d be here waiting for them today. There has to be something that we’re missing here, Renegade. Maybe I can find out what it is,” I replied.

“Watch your back, Crack Nut,” he told me as he grabbed my bag from his truck. “Right now, we don’t know who we can trust.”

Chapter 13

Courtney

You know that feeling you get in the pit of your stomach when you know something is wrong, but you just can’t figure out what it is. It’s like something you’ve done is about to catch up with you, and you know that it isn’t going to be good. I’d had that feeling all freaking day, and it was about to drive me out of my mind.

At first I’d thought it had something to do with school -- maybe a mad parent, or an evaluation that didn’t go very well, but that wasn’t it. Even long after the school day had ended, that gnawing feeling continued to worry me. I just couldn’t put my finger on what was wrong.

When I got home from work, Maverick didn’t make it any better. He was all “Mr. Serious” and wouldn’t even talk to me. It was obvious that something was bothering him, but as usual, I had no idea what it was. I could only assume that it had to do with the club. You would’ve thought they’d have been able to tell me something. I hated being left out of the loop. There was nothing I could do to change it, though, so I had to let it go. Hopefully whatever was bothering him would pass soon, and things would get back to normal. I would have to just try and be patient.

It was getting late, and the tension in the house was growing by the minute. I needed to get my mind off of things for a bit, so I decided to check in with my mother. That was a huge mistake. Our conversation had been going fine, until I mentioned that Bobby and I were back together. To say the least, she wasn’t happy. After a ten-minute lecture on “needing to do what was best for me”, I made an excuse to get off the phone. Deep down, I knew she just wanted me to be happy, but she was wasting her breath. Nothing she could’ve said was going to change my mind about being with Bobby.

When the phone call didn’t work out, I tried to keep myself busy by cleaning the house. As I made my way back to my bedroom, I was surprised to see a familiar box lying on the bed. I walked over to read the note that was resting on top.

You’re mine, baby.

      
Then. Now. Always.

            
Bobby

I smiled as I read the card again. I considered trying it on to see how I looked in it, but I wanted to wait until Bobby was there with me. I wanted to share that moment with him, so I put the box away and hoped that I could try it on for him soon. I prayed that I wouldn’t have to wait long to show him. I began to wonder if he was my source of worry. My stomach was still tied into knots, and I knew something had to be wrong.

I fixed a nice dinner for Maverick and me, but neither of us had much of an appetite. We were lost in our own thoughts and barely said a word to each other. As we were putting our dishes away, Maverick’s phone rang. He grabbed it and headed into the living room.
      

His voice was too low for me to hear what he was saying, so I silently eased my way into the room with him.

“How the fuck did they know?” he whispered. There was a long pause before he continued, “Was anybody hurt?”

I could hear the concern in his voice, and it made my heart race with worry. His question replayed over and over in my head.
Was anybody hurt
? I knew in my heart that that was the moment that had been haunting me all day. Deep down, I’d known it was coming.

“Why are they taking him there?” he asked. He looked anxious as he paced back and forth across the living room floor. “What do you need me to do?” He stopped and turned in my direction. He didn’t look happy to see me standing there listening to him, but he continued talking. “You got it. Call me if you need me.” He hung up the phone and dropped it on the sofa.

“What did they say? Was it about Bobby? Is he okay?” I asked frantically.

He ran his fingers through his hair, trying to find the right words to say to me. I felt like my heart actually stopped beating as I waited for him to say
something
. I held my breath, at once dreading the news but needing it all the same.

“Things didn’t go so well tonight.”

“And?” I asked, feeling the pressure building in my chest. Every breath I took was pure agony. I was consumed with doubt and worry as I waited for him to explain.

“The less you know the better, Courtney, but Bobby is going to be okay. I really can’t tell you more than that.”

“Going to be okay? What the hell does that mean?” I asked angrily. It infuriated me that he wasn’t willing to give me any more than that. I didn’t give him a chance to respond before I said, “Maverick, you have to tell me what’s going on with Bobby! You can’t seriously expect….”

“He was shot, Courtney. It was a clean shot to the arm, and they said he’s going to be fine. They’re taking him back to Snake’s clubhouse, so they can check him out,” Maverick confessed.

“He was shot?! I can’t believe you weren’t going to tell me that!” I screamed. “And why isn’t he coming home? Why would they take him to
Snake’s
clubhouse? That doesn’t make any fucking sense!”

“Getting upset isn’t going to help anything, Courtney. Snake’s place was closer. It was the right thing to do. He’ll call you when he can, but it’s going to be a while. For now, you’ve got to be patient.”

“How the hell am I supposed to be patient?” I said as the tears began to stream down my face. I felt so helpless. I wanted to see Bobby and make sure he was okay. I couldn’t even talk to him. I threw my hands in the air and said, “I don’t think I can handle this!”

Maverick walked over to me and calmly said, “You
can
handle it. You’ve gotten through worse things than this. Everything will work out. Just give it time.”

“How much time, Maverick? Just tell me how long he’s going to be gone,” I pleaded.

“I really don’t know,” he said as he walked over to me. He rested his hands on my shoulders and said, “Sometimes we just have to live on faith, Courtney. You have to believe in Bobby the way he believes in you.”

I let out a deep sigh, and without saying another word, I turned away from him. I needed to be alone, so I could pull myself together. I went to my bedroom and searched for the t-shirt Bobby had left there a few weeks ago. When I finally found it, I slipped it on and grabbed my new jacket. I laid it across my lap and brushed my fingers across the embroidery, wishing that Bobby were there with me. I laid it on the bed beside me and got under the covers. I pulled his fleece blanket tight around me. I wanted to be strong, but thinking of Bobby being hurt was more than I could stand. My brain was tormented with thoughts of him being in pain as I tossed and turned in the bed. I couldn’t fight back the tears. There was no use even trying. I pulled my knees up to my chest and finally let the tears fall freely, crying myself to sleep.

Chapter 14

It is during our darkest moments that

we must focus to see the light.

Aristotle Onassis

Bobby

When we pulled into the Red Dragon’s compound, it didn’t look like the same place. They’d made several advancements in their security system, and they’d added more guards to the front gate. I had no doubt that our club had something to do with their changes. It was obvious that they weren’t happy about us breaking into their clubhouse, and they had no intention of letting that happen again.

By the time we walked into the clubhouse, the adrenaline racing through my veins had completely worn off. My shirt was totally soaked in blood, and my arm was killing me. Bones helped me down the long hallway to Mac’s room. Apparently, he was the medic for their club, but he looked more like a serial killer to me. It took him over an hour to stitch up my arm. He told me I was lucky that the bullet didn’t cause more damage than it did. It fractured part of the bone in my arm on its way out, and he warned me that it might cause a problem. He was more concerned about infection. He gave me a shot of strong antibiotics and painkillers before sending me to one of the spare rooms to rest.

It was after midnight before I was finally able to shake off the daze of the medication. The place was quiet so I assumed that everyone had decided to call it a night. It’d been a long day, and it had taken its toll on all of us. I eased myself out of the bed and looked around the room. I was surprised to see how much it resembled our rooms back at home. There was a bed and a flat screen TV, but that room also had a large desk with a laptop computer.

I wasn’t going to be able to go back to sleep with my arm hurting like it was, so I figured it might be a good time to do a little research. I sat down at the desk to turn on the computer. The first thing I noticed was that the green webcam light was on. It could’ve been nothing, but it made me wonder if someone was watching. I did my best to log into the computer without drawing attention to the fact that I knew the webcam was on.

It didn’t take me long to figure out that it was Cage’s old computer. He was Taylor’s ex-boyfriend, and he’d caused all kinds of problems. His road name was Tank, and at one time he was Snake’s Sergeant of Arms. That had all ended when we discovered his plans to take over the Red Dragons. Snake wasn’t expecting to hear that one of his own wanted him dead. He’d killed Cage, and no one blamed him for it. No one would’ve expected anything less from a president like Snake. He was a strong leader, willing to do anything for his club.

After a few minutes of searching the hard drive, I realized that their anti-malware was out of date. There was nothing protecting their system, and anyone could’ve easily hacked into it. I continued digging and quickly found out that the Black Diamonds had gotten into Snake’s server. They were able to get into the system using a virus they’d sent to Cage’s email from a man named Justin Taylor. His club name was Razor, and he was the Black Diamond’s VP. Once Cage opened the email, it corrupted his entire system. Dummy emails were sent to each member of Snake’s club, spreading the virus everywhere. That gave the Black Diamonds full access to everything on their server, including the webcams. They’d pulled the classic Trojan horse.

I had to admit, it was a pretty fucking smart move. By using the webcams, they were able to watch everything that was happening in the club, and the Red Dragons didn’t suspect a thing. Fuck! That’s how they knew we were going to be there waiting for them. I logged off the computer without removing any of the spyware that had been used to corrupt the system. I hoped we might be able to use it to our advantage. I decided it was time to pull our own fucking Trojan horse.

Chapter 15

Courtney

“I’ve gotta get back to Washington,” Maverick said as he closed his laptop.

“Is everything okay?” I asked.

A remorseful look crossed his face as he said, “I shouldn’t have left. I don’t know why I let them talk me into this.”

“I don’t know why you had to leave, Maverick, but I know you wouldn’t have left unless it was something you had to do,” I told him.

“I should be there helping them sort this shit out, not babysitting some girl from another fucking club,” he said angrily.

“Wow, why don’t you tell me how you really feel,” I said, placing my hands on my hips. I wasn’t really angry with him, but his words still hurt. I knew he was only saying that because he was upset.

“Fuck. I didn’t mean that, Courtney. This has nothing to do with you,” he said quietly. “Actually, being with you has been the only thing that kept me sane over the past few weeks.”

“Are you sure that you have to go back?” I asked.

“I should’ve gone back weeks ago. I just hope it isn’t too late,” he said as he put his laptop in his duffle bag. “You need to get some stuff together. I’ve gotta take you over to the clubhouse.”

“What? Why?” I asked.

“The club is still under lockdown, and Bishop doesn’t want you left alone. He wants you to stay in Bobby’s room until this blows over.”

“Have you heard anything from him yet?” I asked.

“No, but I’m sure he’ll call you as soon as he can. Now, go get some things together. I need to get going,” he said as he waved his hand, motioning me out of the room.

I shoved as much as I could into two small bags and headed back into the living room. Maverick was already there, packed and waiting for me. “You ready, Cheeks?” he asked. Damn, I was actually going to miss having him around.

“Ready. But… Maverick?”

“Yeah?” he asked.

“I want to thank you for everything you’ve done over the past few weeks. It meant a lot to me that you were here. You always made me feel safe, and I will never forget that. Please take care of yourself when you get back home,” I told him.