CRASH: An Evil Dead MC Story (The Outlaw Series) (16 page)

“Nope.
I think he’s gonna have
you
‘drag her
through the gutter’, brother.”

Crash
closed his eyes. “Motherfucker.”

A
prospect walked up to the bar. “Crash, a couple of guys just rode up. They’re
askin’ to see you.”

Cole
looked over his shoulder at the prospect. “What do they want?”

The
prospect shrugged. “Said they knew his brother.”

Cole
and Crash exchanged a look. It had been almost nine months since his brother
had died, but he still had a hard time talking about him. Even the mention of
him still got to him. He was sure it was written all over his face. He got
confirmation of that when Cole offered, “You want me to deal with ‘em,
brother?”

Crash
pushed off the bar. “Naw. I got it.” He strolled outside, in time to see two
guys climbing off their bikes. Crash took in their appearance. As they pulled
off their helmets, he could see they both still had short military style
haircuts. Probably some of his brother’s battle buddies then.

He
walked up to them. “I’m Crash. You lookin’ for me?”

One
of the two extended his hand. “Yeah, man. I’m Jake Webber.” He nodded over his
shoulder at his friend. “This is Shane Murphy.”

Crash
shook his hand. The other man extended his hand, and Crash shook it as well.
“You boys knew my brother?”

“Yes,
sir. 82
^nd
Airborne. We were in his unit,” Jake confirmed. “He talked
a lot about you and the club. We were out this way and thought we’d come look
you up. Pay our respects.” He nodded around at the activities. “Sorry, didn’t
know we’d be interrupting a party.”

“Don’t
worry about it. Glad to have you. Come on inside, and have a beer.”

“Sounds
good,” Shane replied.

Crash
paused with his hand on the clubhouse door and warned them, “This is not the
place you want to find out you have a drinking problem, understand?”

They
both nodded.

Crash
led them inside. He sat at a table with them and motioned to Crystal. A few
moments later, she brought them each a beer.

Shane
smiled up at her, “Thank you, ma’am.”

“Ooh,
I love a man with manners.” Crystal smiled down at him.

Shane’s
smile crinkled the corners of his eyes. “Yes, ma’am. I’ll remember that.”

“So,
you knew Trevor?” Crash asked Jake.

Jake
nodded. “Well, we called him Shaw. Well, to tell the truth we called him
Face-Plant.”

“Face-Plant?”

“Yeah,
he got that nickname
by the platoon
in airborne school after his first jump. Kind of self-explanatory.”

Crash
smiled. “Really? Face-Plant, huh? I think he neglected to mention that little
piece of info.”

Shane
grinned, “I’m sure that was because he hated that nickname. Didn’t matter,
though. He was stuck with it.”

Crash
nodded with a laugh. “Yeah. That’s kind of how it goes around here, too.” He took
a pull off his beer. “You boys on leave?”

“Naw,”
Jake replied. “Our deployment was up in February. We got shipped back.” He
nodded to Shane. “Both our enlistments were up at the same time, and we chose
to get out.”

“Had
enough, huh?”

“Not
really. It wasn’t that. We both loved the action. We’re trained soldiers and
damn good at it. Loved when we got to actually see action. There’s nothing
better than doing what you’re trained for and what you’re good at.”

Shane
picked up on that. “Things over there are winding down now, though, and if we’d
re-upped we’d end up stateside on garrison duty. And that blows. After being in
the thick of it over there? To have to pull a boring duty like that? Fuck no.”

Crash
nodded. “I can understand that. So, you’re just traveling around the country?”

Jake
shrugged. “Kind of struggling to readjust, man. You know? What I miss, well,
what both of us found out we missed most was the brotherhood. You know what I
mean?”

Crash
could understand that. “Well, if it’s brotherhood you want, we got
that
right here. We’re always lookin’
for new members.”

“We
were hoping you’d say that. We were both kind of interested to see what the MC
life had to offer.”

“You
guys got a place to stay?”

“Naw.
Just hit town,” Shane replied.

“Well,
you got a place to stay. You’re welcome to stay with me for a while, if you
want.”

“That’d
be great, man,” Jake said, smiling. “We’ve got some photos and stuff in our
packs we wanted to give you. Some stuff I think your brother would want you to
have.”

Crash
nodded, not sure he was ready for all that. “Yeah, okay.”

Shannon
walked back downstairs with Angel and followed her to the bar where Cole was
sitting. When she didn’t spot Crash, she turned to Cole and asked him where he
was. He nodded toward the table across the room.

“A
couple of guys from his brother’s unit came by to see him. Maybe it’d be best
if you gave them some time alone. Sit here with Angel and me.”

She
nodded. Of course. The last thing she wanted to do was interrupt them. He
patted the seat next to him, indicating he wanted her to sit between them. She
couldn’t help but wonder if that was his way of protecting her from any more of
his brothers hitting on her. She sat, and Angel sat on her other side.

Cole
looked over her head at his wife. “Mack wants Crash to bring her to the party
Friday night.”

Shannon
looked between them, trying to understand the subtext of the looks they were
giving each other.

“Why
would he do that?” Angel’s head reared back subtly as she looked at Cole like
he’d just said something horrible.

Cole
shrugged, tapping his cigarette in the ashtray.

“Why
are you smoking?”

“Babe,
it’s only my second of the day.”

“Uh-huh.”

“Swear
to God.”

“What
kind of party Friday night?” Shannon asked Cole.

He
blew out a pissed off stream of smoke. “The kind you don’t need to be at,
darlin’.”

“Then
I won’t go.”

“You
don’t have a choice.”

“What
do you mean?”

“Mack
told Crash to bring you. So he’s bringing you.”

“What
is he, king?”

Cole
cracked a smile. “Pretty much, yeah.”

Shannon
turned to Angel. “You’ll be there, right? At this party he’s talking about.”

Cole
answered for her. “No. She won’t.”

“She
won’t?”

“Nope.”

“Where
is this party?” Shannon asked.

“Here
at the club,” Cole replied.

“What
kind of party is it?”

Cole
stared down at her, then he looked over at Angel. “Maybe you better explain
things to her.”

“Me?
You know more about these parties than I do,” Angel protested.

Shannon
was getting whiplash looking back and forth between them

“Babe,”
Cole said in a voice that said the discussion was over.

“Oh,
all right.”

“Take
her back upstairs. Don’t need everybody hearin’ this shit.”

“Come
on, Shannon.” Angel jumped down off her barstool. She led Shannon back up to
Cole’s room.

As
soon as the door was closed, Shannon whirled on her. “Okay. What gives? What’s
the deal with this party? Why won’t you be there?”

“Friday
night, the boys have church. It’s what they call their weekly meeting.
Afterwards, they cut loose, and it turns into a big party. Ol’ ladies aren’t
ever invited Friday nights.”

“Why?”

“That’s
just the guys.”

“So,
there won’t be any women?”

“They’ll
be women, just no old ladies allowed.”

“What
do you mean?”

“The
guys can bring women they’re seeing or hangers-on, etc. And I’ve even heard
sometimes the girls from Sonny’s show up, and the party gets pretty wild.”

“The
girls from Sonny’s?”

“It’s
a strip club.”

“So,
if the rumors are true about Misty?”

“Yeah,
she may be there.”

“But
not you and not Mary?”

“Nope.”

“Doesn’t
that piss you off?”

“He
needs his time to cut loose without me glued to his hip.”

“Don’t
you worry that he’s…”

“Darlin’,
if I let myself, I’d worry anytime he walks out of the house. Women come on to
him everywhere. Cole knows I’d cut his balls off. Look, he worked so hard to
win me back, I have to believe he’d never hurt me like that.”

“Damn,
you’re a strong woman.”

Angel
smiled. “Shannon, I don’t know what goes on at those parties, and maybe I don’t
want to know. But one thing I do know, those nights when Cole comes home, he’s
all over me the minute he walks in the door. He can’t get enough of me, and
good God, that man is good in bed. So, darlin’, Friday nights are my favorite
night of the week.”

“Really?”

“Absolutely.”

They
both laughed.

Crash
looked up from the table. He’d seen Shannon sitting with Cole earlier, but now
she was gone. Looking around, he didn’t see her anywhere. “Come on, boys. Let
me introduce you to our VP.” He led the men over to Cole and made the
introductions.

“Have
a seat, guys,” Cole indicated the empty barstools.

“Where’s
Shannon?” Crash asked Cole.

Cole
stood up. “Crystal, honey, get these two a fresh beer.”

She
nodded and got right on it.

Cole
pulled Crash off to the side. “I told her about Friday night. Angel’s upstairs
explaining it to her.”

“Angel’s
explaining what?”

Cole
gave him a look.

“No,
Cole. Seriously, what the hell is Angel gonna tell her? I don’t want her
freaked out before I even bring her.”

“Angel’s
not gonna freak her out.”

“What
does she know about what goes on?”

“She
can guess. Pretty accurately, too.”

Crash
clenched his jaw.

Cole
slugged him on the shoulder. “It’s gonna be fine.”

Crash
glanced up and saw the two coming down the stairs. Cole followed his stare,
turning to see them. “She looks fine. No freak out.”

“You
don’t know her.”

“What’s
that supposed to mean?”

“Never
mind.” He moved toward her.

The
girls reached the bottom of the stairs, and he stood waiting at the bottom
step. Searching her eyes, he asked, “You okay?”

“Of
course. Why?” she asked.

His
eyes ran from her to Angel and back. “Because Cole told me what you were up
there talking about.”

“Oh.”
Her eyes moved past him to the bar.

Crash’s
eyes slid to Angel. “Give us a minute, sweetheart.”

“Sure
thing.” Angel moved off toward Cole.

Crash’s
eyes returned to Shannon’s. “We need to talk.”

*****

Nicklaus
Ralston sat behind the desk of his fortieth floor office in downtown San
Francisco. A wall of glass behind him showcasing the bay and the Bay Bridge.
Before him sat the private investigator he’d hired to hunt down Shannon. A task
the man was not having much success with, apparently.

“I’ve
got nothing,” the man sitting in the chair before him stated.

“Mr.
Abbott, you came very highly recommended. I was assured you always
got your man
, as it were, or in this
case, woman. An assurance that came with a very high price tag. I’m sure you’re
not going to disappoint me at this early juncture.”

“Mr.
Ralston, sir, I assure you I’ve turned this town upside down. I haven’t been
able to find a single clue to her whereabouts. She covered her tracks well. I
believe she had to have help.”

“And
I can assure you that none of her friends or family are helping her. I’ve made
sure of that.”

Abbott
lifted his hands and dropped them. “Well, the only thing the least bit unusual
that I’ve been able to uncover, and judging by her wealth, it’s probably not
all that unusual, was a five million dollar transfer out of one of her accounts
several years ago.”

Nicklaus
straightened.

Abbott
noticed his reaction. “Were you aware of that?”

“No.
I was not.”

“Well,
I don’t think even her father was aware of that.” He slid a file folder across
the desk at Nicklaus, who picked it up.