Masked & Miserable: A Novella of the Sacred Hearts MC (Book 3.5) (9 page)

Disney…

I was shaken awake by Aaron on one side and a kneeling Rev
on the other, a glass of water thrust into my hand.

“Hey Puddin’! Drink up man, you gotta stay hydrated.” I
blinked blearily at Rev and brought the glass to my lips, greedily drinking it
down in great draughts. I glared at Rev over the glass while I did it. He’d
been mockingly calling me ‘Puddin’ for years and it still grated on my nerves
every time he did it. He grinned at me impishly. Damn bastard knew it too.

“What time is it?” I asked.

“A little after three,” Aaron answered softly and I winced.
Judging by the dark and the electric perimeter light shining through the room’s
high window, it was three in the morning not the afternoon which means I hadn’t
slept as much as I had hoped.

“Cuncussion watch, remember?” Rev gave me a look like he was
trying to discern something by my response.

“I got blown up. I’m tired and I just want sleep…” I said
grouchily, which was only partially the truth. I wanted sleep, and I wanted
Aaron. I looked him over, his dark eyes glittering in the close dark and I
handed the empty glass to Rev. I laid my head on Aaron’s shoulder, turning my
back on my boss and friend and held my boyfriend close.

“Yeah. I get you,” Rev said and stood and I could hear the
smile in his voice, “People in Hell want ice water too though Squi-Disney. I’ll
be back to wake you up again in an hour and then you’re going to have to get
your ass up. We got Church,” he left the room and shut the door behind him and
I was suddenly and gratefully alone with Aaron.

“Hey,” I said, listening to the steady thrum of his heart
beat through his trim chest.

“Hey,” he said back, his long hands smoothing over my naked
back. I was warm, almost too warm from sleep and the comforter we had thrown
over us. It was a bit stuffy in the room but I didn’t care. All I cared about
right now was that Aaron was here with me and that he was holding me back. The
weight of things unspoken, questions unasked, heavy on both of us. A silent
crushing weight.

“What
can
you tell me?” he asked quietly and I could
hear the distress in his voice. I sighed. I was torn. I wanted to tell him
everything, keep no secrets. I was sure that the guys told their women more
than they were supposed to. I mean shit, Irish wouldn’t take anything less out
of Dray than the total truth but then again, she knew better than to speak on
it to anyone else. I worried the ring in my lip with my tongue and sighed. I
guess it really boiled down to if I could trust Aaron or not and truth was…
truth was this was all so damned new! I’d never had anything like this before
in my life and I wanted so badly to be able to tell him everything but my past
encounters dictated so damned much that trusting anyone was just pure fucking
idiocy. Trust had to be earned and that took time but it was a two way street
and so I decided to give a little.
Just
a little. The trick was telling
him what would be common knowledge within a few weeks of him being here
anyways.

“About a year ago, Everett was working this coffee stand.
The early morning shift. Dray had just dropped her off and this guy walks up to
the window and sticks a gun in her face. Starts screaming at her to open the
safe. Problem was, she didn’t have the combination. Only her boss did.” Aaron
was utterly silent, eyes locked on mine in the dark, listening with rapt
attention.

“Everett told him but he wasn’t hearing any of it and so he
shot her, in the leg. She was lucky, he was only packing a .22, so it didn’t
permanently damage anything but still, he shot her. Dray had gone back for
something. I don’t know what, they don’t talk about that part, but anyways, he
pulls up just as the douchebag pulls the trigger and Dray, he went ape shit on
the guy and beat the fuck out of him. The kid was one of The Suicide Kings,
this biker gang that set up shop just across the county line.”

Aaron’s eyes went wide, “What happened?” he asked.

“Dragon and Dray, they brokered a deal with the President
and Vice President of The Suicide Kings. The Sacred Hearts are good guys,
upstanding guys but they weren’t always. Long before I joined they were into
heavy shit. Drug and money running but not anymore. They haven’t been for a
long time but they still have that reputation and they used it to broker a deal
with The Suicide Kings. If they threw the kid that shot Evy out of their club,
The Sacred Hearts would shake hands with The Suicide Kings and all would be
forgiven, they didn’t… then the Sacred Hearts and Suicide Kings were officially
at war.”

Aaron swallowed hard, “I thought Ashton said you guys had
been friends,” he observed.

“Yeah they threw the kid out. Shot him in the leg with a .38
and declared him out bad, that’s out of the club on bad terms which means he
comes across one of them he’s likely to get his ass beat. True to our word The
Sacred Hearts declared satisfaction and even did some joint rallies and events
with The Suicide Kings. As soon as spring hit we did a charity ride with them
and raised something like eighteen grand for the Wounded Warrior Project. We
invited them to join us on our Summer Lake Run which we held early this year.
Usually we do it Labor Day weekend but this year in recognition for our success
with the fundraiser we did it Fourth of July weekend.”

Aaron looked thoughtful, his hands smoothing up and down my
back and arms in senseless patterns with no rhyme or reason to them.  I closed
my eyes and lost myself in the sensation for a minute and must have started to
drift because his hands stopped and he shook me lightly.

“What happened Andy?” he asked me. I let out a huge sigh.

“It was us, The Suicide Kings and this outfit from down in
Florida that Reaver and Hayden had met when Reaver took Hayden on her honeymoon.”
Aaron frowned and I grinned, “She got dumped at the alter by her douchebag ex,
they didn’t get married ‘til last month.” Aaron’s eyes got wide.

“Oh this I
have
to hear, but not right now. Who were
they?” he asked. I nodded. He had a lot to catch up on if he were going to hang
with this crowd but not all of it was my story to tell.

“The ‘they’ you’re asking about being the crew from
Florida?” I asked just to be sure, he nodded.

“They’re an MC known as The Kraken. It was a good thing too,
we never would have been able to handle what went down without their numbers
backing ours. The Suicide Kings have about three or four times our numbers, or
did before Dragon and Dray started recruiting,” I explained. Aaron’s eyes
widened.

“What happened that was so bad that you were willing to take
on those kinds of odds?” he asked and I smiled to myself. I loved that he was
so smart.

“Shelly happened,” I said somberly.

“What did they do?” he asked dubiously. He’d met Shelly, or
rather the version of who she was now. Shelly used to be this spitfire, a total
fire cracker who lived free, didn’t take shit from anyone and was forever
laughing and causing some kind of mischief. Now she was sullen. Angry, sad and
irritable on a good day and lashing out and a total bitch on a bad one. There
had been a lot more bad days than good lately.

“The President of The Suicide Kings took her, hauled her out
into the woods and…” I didn’t like saying it out loud. Saying it out loud made
it real, made it ugly and made me and just about every other guy in the club
feel guilty and dirty as Hell for not protecting her better. For not looking
out for her.

“He raped her?” Aaron asked quietly.

“And knocked the shit out of her,” I affirmed.

“What did you do?” he asked me. I pursed my lips.

“I did what my President told me to do. I stayed at the
cabin and watched over the girls while he and the rest of my brothers handled
it.” I took a deep breath and let it out slowly.

“And that’s why they’re mad?” he asked quietly.

“Yeah,” my voice was soft while I said it and I prayed Aaron
wouldn’t make me elaborate further.

“He hurt her, you guys beat him up I don’t understand…” I
made a frustrated noise and sat up. I cupped Aaron’s face in my hands.

“I can’t talk about what was or was not done baby, but
please understand me when I say that Shelly is Reaver’s cousin,” I stared into
his eyes and willed him to get it but Aaron didn’t have that street smart
self-preserving instinct like so many of us had. Aaron had a good life, with
loving parents and good schools and the kind of upbringing the rest of us had
only dreamed of or thought was made for TV. He just blinked at me, confusion
clouding his liquid dark eyes and I suddenly felt hopeless and all wrong for
him. I closed my eyes and felt a wave of defeat come over me.

“I don’t understand,” he searched my face, his crumpled into
lines of confusion, “Reaver is a nice guy, a happy go lucky kind of dude. I
feel really bad about what happened to his cousin, Shelly is a pretty girl from
what I can tell. What am I missing?” he asked. I sighed.

“I think I’ve said all I can for now,” I chewed my bottom
lip. Aaron swallowed and nodded but he didn’t look happy.

“The less I know the better?” he asked and I nodded
solemnly.

“Yeah. That about covers it.” I held his hands in mine in
our laps.

“I don’t know Andy… You tell me your club is just a club
that they don’t do anything illegal and everything is above board but you guys
clearly did
something
bad because you won’t talk about it, I mean what
could be worse than…” he stopped and his dark eyes widened as he finally got it
I think.

“Shhh, don’t say anything,” I put my fingertips to his lips
and he looked at me like he was seeing me for the first time ever.

“What did you do?” he asked and the question was full of
fear and horror.

“Aaron, I swear to you, I did exactly what I told you. I sat
on the front porch of that cabin and watched out for the girls inside. I didn’t
hurt anybody, I didn’t
even have to threaten
anybody. The guys went out,
handled what needed handling and left me with the order to shoot anything that
wasn’t in Sacred Hearts or Kraken colors. I didn’t have to though, no one that
wasn’t supposed to be there came around. It was just me and the girls.” Aaron
gave me a hard look.

“Would you have?” he asked bluntly.

“Would I have what?” I asked.

“Shot one of them if they came around… done what they told
you to do?” he was looking at me as if the answer to this question would decide
a lot of things and I felt totally alone. I took my hands from his and fixed my
gaze on a stray goose feather on top of the comforter.

“If it came down to it, and they were coming to hurt one of
the girls or cause trouble at the cabin, yes. I would have done everything to
warn them off first, but if they were coming to hurt Ashton or Everett or
Shelly or any of them I would have protected my own. This is my
family
Aaron,” I sniffed and felt my shoulders drop as he scooted off the bed.

“I’m not a violent guy Andy,” he said.

“I’m not either Aaron, you gotta believe that, but I didn’t
start this. None of us did, and I can’t and won’t let those animals hurt these
people… or me, or
you.
I love this club and the people in it. At the end
of the day these guys, these women, they’re all I’ve got in the world. I have
no more mother, no more father or sister. They turned their backs on me but you
know what? These guys never will. Never. Not ever, and I won’t turn my back
either.” I was getting angry. I knew it wasn’t at Aaron, just angry seemed like
such a better option right now than hurt and Aaron was fixing to hurt me but
good. I’d let him get under my skin, let him in far too quickly and I was about
to pay the price.

Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.

“I need to think about all of this,” he said quietly. I
nodded, mutely. I didn’t trust myself to speak. The silence stretched between
us. Finally I broke it and it killed me to do it.

“I’ll have Sunshine or Doll drive you home. Thanks for
coming to the shop, for being at the hospital.” I got up a little too quickly
and swayed on my feet. Aaron reached out but I took a step back. I didn’t want
to add to an already shitty enough night. Clean break, like ripping off a Band-Aid;
that was the best way to go with these kinds of things, right?

“Please don’t do that, please no, I don’t quite know what to
do with all of this Andy, this is a lot… You almost died! You got blown up! And
now you’re telling me you’re in the middle of some kind of war with a rival
motorcycle gang and that people have been getting shot and raped and, and, and…
disappeared!? It’s a lot to process and I don’t know what to do or how to deal
and so I just need a little bit of time to think!” he looked like he was about
to cry and I listened to everything he was saying and even though it fucking
hurt like a son of a bitch, he was right.

I was ass deep in trouble and sinking fast and it had the
potential to bleed all over him and I didn’t want that. I didn’t want him
getting hurt. This was all way out of pocket and I didn’t know how it was going
to end up. I mean shit, The Suicide Kings used a fucking
bomb
tonight.
They blew my place of work sky fucking high! I needed Aaron out of this. I
needed him safe and I needed to make sure he stayed that way and so I did that,
the only way I knew how… and it was the biggest dick thing I could do or say
but I said it anyways:

“Sounds to me like you’ve made up your mind already,” I said
and licked my lips. I felt hot and shaky with adrenaline I didn’t want to do
this I didn’t want to lose him but I didn’t want Aaron getting caught up in
this mess.

“Andy that’s not what I meant and you know it,” he said and
his jaw set into stubborn lines.

“Isn’t it? Dude, Aaron it’s cool. It was fun while it lasted
and MC life, it’s not for everyone,” I hung my head and palmed the back of my
neck so he couldn’t see the tears welling in my eyes as I tried to say as
nonchalantly as possible, “It was fun while it lasted right?” I saw his
shoulders drop and the stricken expression on his face through the edge of my
vision and I felt like a grade ‘A’ number one jackass.