“Put on the music.” Jimmy waved his .38 around like it was a Fourth of July flag. “Everyone join us. My ex is gonna dance the last fuckin’ dance of her life. She’s gonna show us the moves she used in the bar, but she’s gonna be doing them for me and without her fucking clothes.”
The bikers cheered. Dawn’s stomach heaved. But Jimmy wasn’t finished. He held up a hand to quiet the crowd.
“When she’s finished dancing, she’s yours for the taking. I’m done with her, and that bitch’s disrespect to me and to our club has gotta be addressed. Everyone can have a taste of what I threw away. No limits.”
This time only a few bikers cheered. The rest frowned or shifted in the seats. Were they Wolf’s supporters? Given their number it looked like Wolf might have won the election if Jimmy hadn’t killed him. Would they help her? She recognized some of their faces, but when she tried to make eye contact they looked away.
“Get to it, Dee-licious, or I’ll start the gang bang now.”
“Hey, Mad Dog…” An old biker, potbellied, grizzled and balding, stood and pointed at Dawn. “I got no problem with her dancin’. Used to watch her at the strip joints long time ago and she was damn good. But what you’re wanting to do to her next, that ain’t us. We’re not into raping and trading and slaving the girls no more, especially not the mother of your kids.”
She remembered Old Mick now, although he’d aged considerably since she’d last seen him. One of the quiet ones, and a good friend of Wolf.
Jimmy whispered to Gail and she giggled. Then he put his arm around her waist, aimed his. 38, and casually shot the biker in the leg. Old Mick howled and staggered back, falling heavily on the ground. Dawn’s hand flew to her mouth. No one moved, and the shock on their faces suggested they were as stunned by Jimmy’s arbitrary ruthlessness as she.
“Anyone else got a problem with the new regime?” Jimmy waved his gun back and forth, pointing it randomly at his brothers. “Old Mick was right. This ain’t how Wolf would run the club. But I’m not Wolf. And he made pussies out of all of you. Viper and the Jacks can help us bring back the Brethren’s legacy. They’re gonna help us take our revenge on the Sinners and wipe them off the face of this fucking earth. Anyone got a problem with that, you know where to find the door. But I’ll tell you now, I got no hesitation about shooting a coward in the back.”
Old Mick groaned and clutched his leg. Another seasoned biker whipped off his bandanna and wrapped it around Mick’s thigh, while a third used this shirt to put pressure on the wound. Dawn fought back wave after wave of nausea. Bloated with power, Jimmy had finally gone off the rails. Did he not realize Viper had no intention of “helping” the Brethren? He needed their numbers and Jimmy’s blind anger to help defeat the Sinners, simply because no other club would stand against them. And when Viper got what he wanted, he would destroy them. Jimmy was a pawn in the game.
Jimmy grinned into the silence. “Excellent. Everyone is on board.” He pointed his weapon at the two bikers helping Old Mick. “Leave him be. He can suffer through the show and think about the meaning of loyalty.”
One of the bikers knelt beside Old Mick and whispered something in his ear, while the other patted him on the shoulder. Then they took some seats.
“Now let’s have some entertainment.”
Dawn stared at Jimmy. There was nothing left of the man who had saved her from the streets. Totally and utterly corrupted in his pursuit of power, he had become the monster she’d always known he could be.
“Dance, love,” he said. “Like your life depends on it. You can finish with a scream.”
*
Cade’s anger was so deep, so fierce, he battered his knuckles bloody on the door. He’d had a bad feeling about Benson, but he’d chalked it up to pure jealousy, blinding himself to the wolf in fucking cop clothing.
He checked his phone again. No signal. No way of getting through the sheet of steel in front of him. Yet. But when he did, he would rain down a terror on the Jacks and Brethren the likes of which had never been seen in the biker world. And the fucking cop would pay in blood.
“Cade? You in there, brother?” Although muffled, he recognized the voice behind the door.
“Jagger?”
“Yeah. I’m with Zane, Gun, and Sparky. We got the prospect with us, too. He finally showed some initiative. He tracked you down with a GPS he put in all the new phones. Now he’s doin’ something with the door panel, hooking it up to his laptop.”
“I’m hacking into their system,” the prospect shouted.
“Hurry the fuck up. We got a rescue operation to perform.”
The door slid up with a smooth whir and then clanged into place. Cade stepped out into the hallway and heaved a sigh of relief.
“You forgot this, brother.” Jagger held up his cut.
Although his hand itched to take it, he didn’t move. “I’m going after Mad Dog.”
“Not without us. We’re a team. Brothers. No one gets left behind and no one goes out alone.”