Creed stayed up later than everyone else as he read through the information his dad and granddad put together. There was something he was missing and he couldn’t quite put his finger on what.
Page after page outlined not only suspected activity but also observed activity. Who Bandit met with and who Snake met with over the months after he was sent to prison. Seems Dan Murray was also a factor in the equation as he was a witness to more than one of the illicit meetings. They also had photos of the meetings but some of the photos had no names included.
When he got to the police report, he frowned as he stared at it. The report had his name and address on it but that was about all the info that was true. When he read the alcohol level on it, he read plain as day .09 but Creed knew that wasn’t true. It couldn’t be. He hadn’t even finished that beer.
He flipped through the pages again and again, looking for the autopsy report on the victim who died in the accident. But it wasn’t there. Creed frowned and went through the papers again. The autopsy report wasn’t here in these files. But why? He had no clue.
He pushed back his chair and stomped out through the back door. Stepping outside, he reached into his pocket and drew out a cigarette. He hadn’t smoked in about ten years but right now, he felt the need to light one up. He’d known this trip would be stressful and when they stopped for gas, he’d bought a pack of Marlboros.
He looked down at the row of filters in his hand and shook his head. His fingers went to crush the pack when he saw something move from the corner of his eye. He was instantly on alert and stepping back into the shadows, he saw someone move toward the back of his grandfather’s truck.
Carefully and slowly, he reached to his back and took out his old weapon that was shoved into the waist of his jeans. Bear had given it back to him today. They had kept all his things after he went inside the joint knowing that someday, he would want them back. Right now, he felt grateful they had. He didn’t know if it was friend or foe out there but he wasn’t taking any chances either.
He slipped closer and moved soundlessly toward the truck. He wouldn’t put it past Bandit or Snake to have him followed. He knew Bandit was worried now that he was out of prison. He smiled a cold grin. And yes, Bandit should be very worried.
As Creed got closer to the truck, he heard someone grunting and moving the ramps off the vehicle. Frowning, he watched as the first ramp was hooked in place. Then the shadowy figure went to the front of the truck and began pushing his old Indian Chief toward the back.
Creed growled softly and moved into position. Whoever was trying to steal his ride wasn’t looking at anything but his bike. When Creed walked up the ramp and stopped the bike from going any further, he watched as the woman looked up at him and paled.
Creed frowned when he saw her face. She was wearing a ridiculously large sweatshirt and jeans two sizes too big. Her hair was peeking out from under a baseball cap and its color was a deep black cherry. Her face was pale her eyes were huge in her face and the deepest violet color he’d ever seen.
“What the fuck you think you’re doing?” he growled.
“Oh god, I’m so sorry…” She backed away from the bike. “Please don’t hurt me. I was desperate!”
“Desperate for what? A jail cell?”
“Oh, god no…” She paled even more. “Please don’t call the police. I have to get out of here before they find me.”
“Before who finds you?” Creed demanded.
“I’m sorry but I gotto go.” She tried to slip over the side of the truck.
Creed grabbed the back of her sweatshirt and held her in place. “You aren’t going anywhere until you answer my fucking questions.” He growled.
“But I can’t,” she wailed softly. “I’ve got to get out of here. Don’t you understand that?”
“What you’re going to do is come in the house with me and answer some questions first off, then we’ll decide what to do with you.”
They both heard the sound very familiar to any biker in the world and she swayed with terror as the roar of bikes echoed along the street. Hunkering down to hide herself, Creed frowned as he looked at the road. Three bikers passed him slowly but kept moving as he watched them until they turned the corner and disappeared.
“Are they gone?” her tiny voice asked in a barely heard whisper.
“Yeah, they’re gone for now but I have a feeling they’ll be back,” he grumbled as he turned to find her in the dark. “Come on we have to talk.” He grabbed her by the sweatshirt again and hauled her into the house.
Sitting her in a chair at the table, he glared at her. Her face was hidden from sight by the baseball cap she was wearing, and he wanted to see her so he grabbed it and tore it off her head. Then he felt stunned as a curtain of red hair floated down around her body. It was the red color of black cherries and so beautiful. Now he knew why the cap looked so odd on her. She had stuffed it full with hair that reached almost to her waist.
She looked up at him with tears in her eyes. “Please don’t hurt me,” she begged.
Frowning, Creed asked, “Why would I hurt you?”
She didn’t say a word just hung her head so her hair hid her face.
Creed squatted down and tried to peek through the cloud of hair hiding her face. “What’s you name child?”
She raised her violet gaze and glared at him. “I am not a child.”
He hid his smile that wanted to appear as he studied her. “Ok then, tell me your name.”
“My name doesn’t matter. I’m not going to be here long enough for you to worry about me,” she gritted out through her teeth.
“Oh, why do I doubt that?” Creed snipped. “Now we can do this the easy way or the hard way. Personally, I prefer the easy way, where you cooperate and we know where we both stand but if you insist… we can do this the hard way.”
“What exactly is the hard way?” she asked. At his words, her face had turned an ashen color.
“I’m not going to hurt you.” Creed growled. “Just tell me your fucking name and what’s going on here.”
“What is going on here Creed? What’s with all the screaming and yelling in the middle of the fuckin night?” Silas’s voice called out.
Creed turned to see his grandfather standing in the doorway leading to the living room.
Silas was barefoot and shirtless. He looked like he’d just been woken up. He had his usual scowl on his face.
Now the girl looked frightened. She kept looking from one to the other of the two men she was now facing.
“I stepped outside for a few minutes and caught this girl trying to steal my ride. Just after I stopped her, three bikes rolled by real slow, like they were looking for someone. They didn’t exactly look like the friendly type.” Creed filled his grandfather in. “Now she’s givin’ me lip.”
Silas walked over to the table and sat down. Studying the young girl in front of him, he reached out his hand and held it there. “Darlin, my name is Silas Young and this cretin browbeating you is my grandson Creed. You’ll have to forgive him for being so rude. I know he was taught better as a child but he’s older now and you can’t always smack him upside the head, especially when he’s bigger than you are.”
She looked from one to the other of them both and smiled slightly.
“Now baby girl, who are you and what kind of trouble are you in that you would steal a man’s ride?” Silas asked her softly.
She thought for a moment looking between them again and finally she looked at Silas and seemed to make up her mind about something. “I don’t want to involve you in my problems. Those three men tonight? They are looking for me and they wouldn’t hesitate to cause trouble if they even thought you knew where I was. It’s best I just leave.”
“Best for who?” Silas shook his head. “Certainly not best for you. If they caught you, you wouldn’t stand a chance against the three of them. For us? No way… We wouldn’t be able to call ourselves men if we didn’t help. We Youngs are weird that way, we protect our women and children, we don’t tear them down or leave them to others. Life isn’t always perfect darlin’ but we protect what’s ours.”
“But I don’t belong to you,” she whispered softly.
Silas smiled. “We found you and I have a feeling we’re gonna keep you.” He chuckled. ‘ And just so you know, we don’t back down for nothing anymore. Now girl, who are you and what’s your story? Who are those other men and why are they looking for you for?”
She swallowed hard and hung her head.
Silas reached out and laid his huge hand over her much smaller hand. He didn’t say a word, just held it there.
She looked up and him and Creed. “My name is Lolannie James, my friends call me Lola. Those guys on the bikes are the Steele brothers from Port Arthur. They run a club over there called Silver Snakes. I waitress there but I hate the place. It’s mostly a strip club but a lot of unsavory people hang out there. The three brothers are Lonnie, Jacob and Trey.”
“And why are they after you?” Creed wanted to know.
Lola swallowed hard. “They deal drugs and guns for the Mexican cartel out of the club. It’s one of those secrets that no one can prove but just is… If you know what I mean?”
Creed and Silas nodded but stayed silent so she could finish her story.
“Anyway, for the last four months their stash has been coming up short so they began looking at the staff. I swear on my mother’s grave if I knew where that was that I had nothing to do with that or anything else that goes on in that place. I showed up for my shift, did what I was told to do and I got the hell out of there every night. I didn’t hang around for any of the extras like some of the girls did to make more money, nor did I want to. I got my tips then collected a check every week and that is all.”
“Then why are they looking for you?” Creed asked.
Lola looked over at him. “Because the real thief told them she saw me taking something out the main office after hours one night. That was the night some of the drugs went missing. She threw me under the bus to hide her own guilt.”
“Why would she do that?” Silas questioned.
“She’s supposed to be Lonnie’s girl and he’s the real jealous type. She’s not the faithful type exactly and she was very close to him catching her with another man, so to throw him off her trail, she gave me up. She told them I was stealing the drugs and selling them to their rivals. I barely escaped and have been running for the last four days.” She looked over at Creed. “I’m sorry I tried to steal your bike but they almost caught me tonight and I just needed to get out of town in a hurry.”
Creed stared at her wondering how someone could have eyes that color and her lips… He shook these thoughts away.
“Who do they deal for?” Jack asked as he walked into the kitchen slowly to not frighten her.
Lola’s eyes widened as she saw him standing there. These men were big, toned and had something against wearing shirts it seemed. Only Creed was covered and that was a thin t-shirt that barely fit his huge chest and arms. “They deal for Hector Gratis,” she whispered.
Jack grimaced. “Well, holy fuck.”
“Who is this Hector Gratis?” Creed demanded. He’d heard of the man even in prison, as everyone knew who ruled outside those cement walls. He heard the name in whispers but other than that, he didn’t know a thing about him. You never asked questions inside, it could get you shanked.
“Bad news any way you fucking slice it,” Jack assured him. “He’s a new player in the underground. He’s only been around for about five years now but he knows how to strike the fear of God into the people around him. Big shot from the middle of Mexico who just runs over the top of people.” Shaking his head Jack sat down at the table and looked over at Creed. “He works for the Romane Cartel that rule everything south of Mexico City. Some people say Hector came directly from the bowels of Hell itself, he’s that bad. If the Steele brothers are missing the drugs and someone else is taking them and selling them on the streets you know they’re going to catch them and make an example of them. It’s going to be nasty and very public. A message to everyone that you don’t screw with them. They have to in order to show Hector they mean business. It’s either that or Hector does it to them.”
“Do you have any proof it was her taking the drugs or is this only what you think she’s doing?” Creed asked.
Lola kept quiet for a few minutes. She didn’t know how much she could trust these guys and the wrong answer here could get her killed. “I know for a fact because I saw the exchange with my own eyes. I also know who she’s selling them to.” Then she lifted her head. “Then I know she’s sleeping with Hector as well as Lonnie and if either of them knew about the other, they would kill her.”
Jack’s eyes widened in a stunned disbelief. “The girl is living a fine line for fucking sure.”
“She blamed me to hide her own secret. They think once I’m dead, the thefts will stop and maybe they will but if they do, Ginger will have skipped out, never to be seen again.”
“You said you saw who she steals the drugs for,” Silas stated. “Do you know who that is?”
Lola turned her head slowly to stare at the older man. “Yes, I know who he is.”
There was something in her look that gave Silas hint of the real trouble she was in. There was only one man in Port Arthur that could bring that kind of hesitation in anyone. Liam fucking Stoughton. Silas ran his hands over the top of his head. Finally, he looked at her and whispered, “Liam?”
Lola nodded slowly as her huge violet eyes showed her fear. She didn’t need to say a word.
“Holy fucking shit!” Jack swore.
Creed cleared his throat. “Liam Stoughton? The fucking leader of the Irish mob? Why the hell would he need the cartel drugs? He’s got enough on his own.”
“He wants the Mexican cartel out of Port Arthur and he’s looking to start a war,” Lola informed them.
“And you know this how?” Creed asked with a raised brow.
Lola looked at him with fear in her eyes. “That night I was close enough to hear what Ginger and Liam were saying. Ginger is actually Liam’s sister. He sent her in as a spy and she’s been informing him of everything that’s going on, not only with the brothers but the Mexican cartel too.”
Creed groaned as he thought about the ramifications of getting caught up in this kind of mess. Between this mess and the one with Bandit, he might’ve been safer in prison.
Jack’s eyes narrowed as he gave thought to what they had learned tonight. “Did this Ginger know you overheard her and her brother?”
Lola shrugged. “I don’t think she knows for sure but she suspected someone was there and that was why she threw me under the bus. She knows I know something, just not how much or what and she wasn’t taking any chances. She also made it impossible for the brothers to believe anything I might say to them.”
“How in the hell did she do that?” Jack asked.
“She told Lonnie she was carrying his baby and then she told him she was afraid of what might happen to their child if this goes to war. She begged him to find me and stop it from exploding in their faces. I barely got out of Port Arthur after they busted into my apartment. I was down the hall visiting a neighbor when they kicked open my door. My friend Gracie wouldn’t let me go back there but we watched as they rampaged my apartment. After they left, she sent her brother down and he told me they wrecked everything.” She hung her head but continued her story, “They broke everything that could be broken, my TV, my laptop, my dishes. They busted out every single window in the apartment and even pulled all the cabinet doors down. They tore all my clothes up and bedding then dumped bleach on everything. They urinated on my mattress and on my couch. They left me with nothing at all.”
“How did you get this far?” Creed asked while feeling anger boiling up inside his chest.
“My friend, Gracie. She could only come so far with me though. She didn’t want them to find out she was helping me, so I asked her to drop me off on some street and that happened to be here, where I saw your bikes. We didn’t know if she was followed or not and I didn’t want them to find her. I figured I could get a ride as far away as I could. For the last few days, I’ve been hiding, trying to find a way out of town. Then tonight I saw them roaming around town looking for me and decided my only way out of here was to just take a ride.” She looked up at Creed. “I’m sorry I was trying to steal your bike, but I didn’t want them to catch me. They aren’t going to stop until I’m dead and I wasn’t going to give them a target.”
“How do you know they were looking for you?” Jack asked.
“I thought I saw Ginger at the shopping center yesterday. I ducked into the bathroom and hid for a while but she came in there looking for me. I had to stand on the toilet when she started looking under the doors of the stalls. She said she knew I was there and passed on a message. She said she would see me dead before I could spill any secrets I might have.” Lola paused and swallowed hard. “Me and anyone who helped me.”
“Why does she hate you so much, little one?” Silas asked.
“I don’t know,” Lola admitted. “She’s everything I’m not.”
“What does that mean?” Creed frowned.
“She’s tall and very beautiful. She’s got friends and money where I have none of that. She’s also brutal and mean and would just as soon slap you than say a kind word. Only when I found out she was Liam’s sister did her behavior make sense to me. She’s just like him. She wants this war to happen and will do everything within her power to make that happen. She won’t care that innocent people will die or the streets will run red with the bloodshed.”
“How has no one caught her out yet, if she’s so vicious?” Jack asked.
Lola shrugged. “She looks so innocent until you actually look into her eyes. They say that if you look into someone’s eyes you can see the soul of a person…well her eyes are as hard as stone. She wants this war, she wants the blood of Lonnie and his brothers and she really wants to see Hector dead. I’ve seen her face curl with rage when he turns and walks away from her, like she’s hiding some deep dark hatred but every once in a while, she can’t quite hide it so well.”
Jack frowned and looked over at his brother and grandfather. “When we get to Harry’s maybe we can ask him to look into Ginger’s background and see what he can find. Maybe there is a secret in there somewhere.”
“I think we should get on the road before the sun comes up. It will be harder to see into the truck if it’s dark outside,” Creed suggested.
Silas frowned and glanced at him. “Why would we need to hide? Who the fuck else are we hiding from?”
Creed nodded at Lola. “If we’re taking her along, we don’t want the Steele brothers to see her with us do we?”
“What?” Lola almost fell off her chair while looking utterly panicked. “I can’t travel with you! I won’t put you or anyone else in danger. This is my mess and I won’t involve your family in my problems.”
Creed scoffed. “You don’t have a choice here, little girl.”
“Oh yes, big man I do have a choice,” she volleyed back.
“Not if you don’t want to die in the streets like a dog after those fucking cowards shoot you in the back while you’re running away, you don’t.” Creed was all but shouting by this time. When he finished his sentence, two more doors opened up and he heard footsteps running toward the kitchen.
Bear was the first body around the corner as he came to a screeching halt with his weapon drawn. He looked wildly around the kitchen while he accessed the situation then frowned deeply when he saw only them standing there arguing. His eyes narrowed at the sight of the red head and he dropped his fighting pose to ask, “Who’s the chick? Friend or foe?”
“That has yet to be decided.” Creed growled as he glared at Lola.
Kimber slid in behind Bear and looked around the kitchen, her eyes finally finding the small red headed woman amongst her brothers. She smiled and held out her hand. “Hi, I’m Kimber, who are you and why is my brother yelling at you in the middle of the night?”
Everyone turned when they heard a baby cry and Kalinda trying unsuccessfully hush it, or trying to anyway.
Jack got off his chair and walked toward the sound, immediately returning with his woman and child. He sat her down in a chair with the baby in her arms while he got busy making his daughter a bottle.
~*~
Lola groaned and tipped her head toward the table at the sight of everyone filling the kitchen at this hour. She’d landed herself in real trouble and now, more people were becoming involved. She couldn’t seem to stop that from happening once Creed had caught her.
She was exhausted, starving and more than a little sore from sleeping in the streets the last few nights. All she really wanted was a place to feel safe, somewhere where the Steele brothers couldn’t touch her.
“As I said, who she is has yet to be decided,” Creed grumbled. “But she’s someone who needs our help. Everyone, this is Lola. Lola, this is Bear, our sister Kimber and Jack’s woman Kalinda and their daughter Rosa.”
Jack came over and handed Kalinda a bottle for Rosa then stood over them protectively while his daughter filled her belly. He looked over at Lola and asked, “Are you hungry?”
Lola hesitated then nodded.
Silas turned and suggested, “Why don’t you put some coffee on and I’ll make up a plate of sandwiches and we can talk this over some more?”
Lola looked around the kitchen at everyone and shook her head. “I can’t involve you guys in my problems.”
“You aren’t involving us in jack shit woman.” Creed growled. “If things turn sour in Port Arthur, how long do you think it will be contained just in that town? Liam Stoughton will spread his fucking evil everywhere. And if the Mexican cartel gets their foot in the door, they will flood Texas with their poison and work their way across the nation. We aren’t going to let that happen, nope, not on our watch.”
She looked around the room. “But one small family can’t stop the bloodshed or the drugs from coming here. That’s just plain silly.”
“See that’s the thing here,” Silas explained. “We aren’t just one small family. We’re a much bigger family. We’re an MC that stands for something and we’re standing up for the right to live here and grow here. Creed’s already told you we protect our own, well we do more than just that. We take back what’s ours from the greedy sons of bitches who took it away from us in the first damn place. We take back what belongs to us and we build it up again with our own blood, sweat and tears. We’ve got more brothers out there waiting for us to come to them. They will join us in our cause and not only will we get our MC back but we’ll stop the threat of the Steele brothers and Liam fuckin Stoughton.”
Lola saw the resolution in the older man’s eyes and it was reflected in his grandsons’ eyes as well. “But why would you risk everything to help me? I’m a stranger to you.”
“Baby girl…” Silas chuckled, “All a stranger is, is someone you haven’t met yet. Seven years ago, Creed went to prison on a trumped up charge, six years ago my son, their father went missing, and I was beaten almost to death. My family was run out of the town we lived in most of my life by a bastard of a man who took the club I started away from me and my family. That man has a lot to answer for and I aim to get those answers from him before I end him. Now that Creed is back, its time we all come together and Bandit faces our wrath. I aim to find what’s left of my son and bury him with the honor and the respect he’s due. Taking back what’s ours is our mission and helping you to keep yourself alive is part of that plan now.”
Lola smiled as tears welled in her eyes. She could only hope she lived long enough to see them get what they were after and the end of her nightmare. She glanced over at Creed and was shocked to find him staring back at her with a hunger in his eyes. Funny, how she didn’t feel afraid of the large man now. You’d think he would be angry about her trying to steal his bike, but he wasn’t. Though in his eyes were many things she couldn’t identify and that bothered her a little. But she could see a hunger that she understood all too well. She only wondered if he would act on it. Did she want him to?
“Okay, let’s eat,” Silas ordered.
Lola broke her gaze lock with Creed and grabbed a sandwich from the huge plate Silas sat down on the table. Hunger in her belly won out. But some odd feeling was settling inside her. It had just now started to grow when she’d gazed into Creed’s green eyes.
