Page 39 of Cinder (MC Fables #2)

L ars

Ella flees my room.

I try to stop her, but she makes it crystal clear she wants to be left alone.

But I’m not ready to let her walk off and think the worst. That somehow, she isn’t the perfection she is just because some battle-tired biker doesn’t want to take something so precious from someone so beautiful.

I start after her. But in the worst timing in the world, Beast calls me. Bear, Axe and Ryder have pulled over a truck, and I need to get there ASAP.

Fuck.

I run down to my bike and tear out of the clubhouse grounds, roaring into the dark night.

I need to get focused. Think about what I am riding into. But during the ride, all I can think about is Ella. About the look of hurt on her face and the humiliation burning brightly in her eyes.

And it guts me.

I want to tell her why I choose the club over having a relationship.

Why I will only ever touch a woman with the sole purpose of making us both come and nothing more.

Because this club is everything to me, and loving someone else would mean I can’t be the enforcer the Knights need me to be.

Focused and available, and putting the club before all others.

And Ella deserves to be put before everything else.

But I can’t give her that.

My fingers tighten around the handlebars of my bike to the point of pain.

I grit my teeth and push on through the darkness, increasing my speed and trying to force Ella out of my head.

Up ahead in my headlight, I see a truck pulled over to the side of the road. Across from it, parked on the grass, is the sheriff’s cruiser and three parked Harleys.

I pull in behind them and climb off my bike.

Walking toward the truck, I glance over and see three men on their knees with their hands behind their heads.

Beast walks over to me .

“What’s this?” I gesture to the truck. “More guns?”

Beast’s face is grim. “You need to take a look.”

My guts churn, knowing I’m not going to like what I’m about to see.

I follow Beast around to the back of the truck. The door is open, and inside, peering out from the darkness are a group of barely dressed, frightened young women.

“Sheriff has organized a couple of EMTs. They’re enroute but still twenty minutes away.”

“Who fucking did this?” I ask.

“They’re not talking, they’re too afraid,” Beast says.

I climb onto the back of the truck and walk over to one of the girls. She shrinks away from me with a whimper.

“It’s okay, sweetheart. We’re not here to hurt you. We’re here to help.”

“We think Viktor brought them in via a port he’s got covered by corrupt ATF agents,” Beast says behind me.

Hearing Viktor’s name, the girl whimpers again and steps further away from me.

“Did Viktor Olicheckoff do this to you?” I ask her gently.

Frightened, she nods. “Viktor.”

White hot rage washes over me.

The bruising on her face tells me about the violence she’s endured .

“He did that to your face?” I ask.

She hesitates. But then says, “The men outside. They hurt us.”

“Elina, don’t say a word,” another girl begs in a hushed voice.

But Elina ignores her. “They like to punch. Like to take what is not theirs to take.”

I grind my teeth. Curl my hands into fists. “I’m sorry, sweetheart.”

“Especially the one with the beard. He likes to inflict pain when he’s taking.”

“Not anymore. They won’t touch you again. You have my word.” I take her hand. No sudden movement. Just a gentle reassurance. “You are safe now.”

I know my words do little to help.

But right now, they’re all I have.

A promise that it’s over.

I jump off the truck and pull my gun from the back of my jeans.

Arm outstretched, I walk past the sheriff and over to where the three men are on their knees, and I shoot the first one in the face.

The one with the beard who likes to inflict pain.

"Jesus, Lars. You remember I’m a cop, right?” the sheriff complains. “Couldn’t you have at least warned me to turn around before you made me a witness to murder?"

“Look me in the eye and tell me he didn’t deserve it. ”

"That might be so. But there’s a process. It’s not a great one, but it’s still a process."

"If that process worked, then you wouldn’t need men like me."

The sheriff shakes his head as he looks down at the dead man. "You ever think about a warning shot? Or are we skipping foreplay nowadays?"

“Assholes like him don’t deserve a warning.”

“Makes it hard for me to clean up. How am I supposed to explain why he’s missing half his face?”

"If anyone asks, say he slipped."

“Yeah, face-first into a hollow point. Very fucking funny.”

I think about the women inside the truck.

Young women who should never know the depravity of what happened to them.

I crouch in front of the second man lined up with his hands behind his head.

“Where are you taking the girls? And who are you taking them to?”

He screws up his face. He’s not going to play nice. “Fuck you.”

I sigh. “Are you going to tell me who your boss is?”

We already know Viktor is involved.

But I want to know if there is another shark in the fishpond .

Get a clearer picture of what we’re dealing with.

But number two doesn’t want to help. Because he curls his sweaty lip and grits his yellow teeth. “I said, fuck you.”

I nod and then sigh. “Do you know who I am?”

“I don’t give a fuck.”

“Well, that’s rude. But okay. I’ll tell you.

I’m the enforcer for this club. Meaning it’s my job to make you tell me who your boss is.

” I lean in. “And you’re making me look bad in front of my boss.

He’s the big ugly one standing behind me wearing the president’s badge.

So let me try one more time. Who is your boss? ”

“Go. Fuck. Yourself.”

He doesn’t get another warning.

I shoot him in the face.

And when he slumps to the ground, I turn to the third man.

The last one with a pulse.

“Are you going to tell me to fuck myself too?” I ask.

He shakes his head quickly. “No, I will tell you what you want to know.”

I smile. “Thank the Lord.”

He tells us everything.

How Viktor traffics girls and sells them to low-life criminal syndicates around the country. How this truck was heading to a vile criminal called Big Willy in Miami. How the other two liked to hurt the girls, but he was just the driver and never touched them.

The desperate lies of a man facing a terrible fate.

But I don’t kill him.

Because Sheriff Coulter is going to want someone to arrest.

“I’m going to let Hammer know there’s some fun to be had in Miami,” Beast says, removing his phone from his cut pocket and moving away to make a phone call.

I rise to my feet and turn to the sheriff. “He’s all yours.”

But Sheriff Coulter doesn’t bring out his handcuffs. Instead he removes his gun from his holster and shoots the third man dead.

I give him a questioning look.

He shrugs. “Fucking paperwork would be a bitch.”

Impressed, I nod. Fair enough.

Beast rejoins us. “Just spoke to Hammer. He’s going to pay Big Willy a visit.”

“You spare some of your boys to help me clean up this mess?” the sheriff asks, gesturing to the three dead assholes lying in pools of blood on the ground.

Beast nods. “We’ll stay behind to help. What about the girls?”

“Once the EMTs arrive, they’ll be processed. Given the care they need. The support they deserve. Returned home to their families or given a fresh start here.” He looks as affected by this as I feel. “I’ll say the driver fled the scene. ”

“Will the feds get Olicheckoff for this?” I ask.

The sheriff’s grim expression deepens. “Probably not. He’s slimy enough to slip through the fingers of justice. He’ll let the smaller fish go down for it.”

Meaning we need to make him pay.

Zac arrives in the clubhouse van, and we load the bodies into the back. Once we’re back in St. Bon, we’ll make them disappear into Devil’s Mouth, a part of the cliffs where the rocks meet the ocean, and a high tide will wash away everything and everyone.

Just as Zac leaves in the van, the EMTs arrive to take care of the women.

We watch as they’re loaded into the ambulances, and I catch Elina’s haunted gaze. I nod and she nods back and then disappears into the ambulance.

I walk back to the bikes with Beast.

“What’s up with you?” he asks. “Your mean streak is on the loose tonight.”

“It always comes off the leash when dealing with pieces of shit who like to traffic humans.”

“I know, but tonight is different. You’re more brutal.”

I’m not in the mood to talk about it. “Are you complaining?”

Beast shakes his head. “Just when I think I’ve got you figured out, you throw in some extra-crazy shit to keep me guessing. ”

We climb onto our bikes and ride off, Bear, Axe and Ryder following.

Dawn is breaking across the horizon when we return to the clubhouse, and when I make my way up the long driveway to the underground garage, I start to imagine what it would be like to slide into bed and feel the warmth of Ella beside me.

To feel her wrap her arms around me and press her luscious body against mine.

After nights like this, I need her.

My body aches for her.

And the thought of her warming someone else’s bed makes me want to spill their blood.

Bone tired, I fall into bed.

Ella will be back here in a few hours for her shift.

And all I can think about is finding her and telling her that I’ve changed my mind.