Paladin's Hell Read online

  “If I do, would a goodnight kiss be out of the question?” I ask eagerly, already anticipating the touch of her lips, while thinking I may have pushed my luck.

  Slick looks around, shrugs, smirks then leans forward, puckering his lips. “If you insist, Brother.”

  I stand abruptly, waving him back, grinning like a loon. He may have deliberately misunderstood me, but he hadn’t shot me down.

  As she sees me walking over, Jayden’s got the balls set up, and at my nod, takes the first shot. She’s learned quickly, it’s fifty-fifty whether I’ll beat her or not. Me? I just enjoy watching her stretched out over the pool table, her breasts, small but perfectly adequate, hanging low over her cue. My cock twitches as I think on the benefits of Colorado. If we ended up there, in a few months I could make her mine. Yeah, that’s a definite plus.

  At last I get a turn. As I line up the cue, I ask casually, “Wanna go on a date, Jay?”

  Her squeal makes me miss my shot. Chuckling, I look back over my shoulder. “Is that a yes?”

  She pouts. “Slick wouldn’t allow it.”

  Moving away from the table, I stand, leaning on my cue, indicating that she should take her turn, then explain. “He actually suggested it. Thing is, Jay, you, me. We made promises for the future. I like you, you seem to like spending time with me, but we need space to explore if there could be anything between us.”

  She seems to have forgotten the game. For a second her face is unreadable. I feel my heart skip a beat. Having expected her to leap at the chance, her non-reaction is worrying. But then, she lights up with a smile. “I thought Slick was going to make us wait the full time before you were allowed to take me anywhere.” Now she’s beginning to get excited. “Can we go on your bike, Pal? Always wanted to ride on the back.”

  “Whoa, slow down.” I’m laughing at her enthusiasm. “Nah, I know what you girls are like. You’ll want to get dressed up all fancy. Don’t think the bike goes with that.” And while I want her, I’ll need to know a relationship will be for keeps before I have her on the back of my bike. I’m nowhere prepared for that level of commitment, and there’s practicalities to consider first. I’ll need to get a pillion pad.

  Whether Ella’s so content with her life at the moment, she wants everybody to be as happy as her; not only does she agree to Slick’s suggestion, but she helps Jayden to get organised with clothes and makeup. On the following Saturday evening when Jayden appears, she completely blows me away. I have never seen anything so fucking gorgeous in my life. That includes my Harley.

  I think my mouth drops open. For a moment, I stand and stare. That’s until the smile she’s wearing starts to slip from her face. That’s when I step up. “Doll,” I can barely get the words out. “You’re fuckin’ beautiful.” She also looks at least five years older, definitely not jailbait.

  I want to reach out, to hold her, hug her close. But Ella’s standing behind her with her arms crossed, a brow raised as though in challenge. It’s probably one of the most stupid fucking things I’ve ever done, but I reach for her hand, bring it to my lips and kiss it.

  I hadn’t noticed Slick coming up behind me. He barks a loud laugh. “Chivalry’s not dead, eh? Knew there was a reason we named you after a knight.”

  Jayden seems as confused as myself. She giggles awkwardly at my gesture and Slick’s words and takes her hand away quickly. I notice she’s softly caressing the place my lips touched with her fingers.

  How do we do this? How do we go from friends forbidden to be anything else, to a couple who are courting? I don’t want to fuck this up. Apart from how Jayden feels, I’ve got to do right in front of Slick and Ella.

  “Shall we go?” I want to take her hand, put my arm around her shoulders, but what does she expect? And is that too far for her brother-in-law and sister?

  “I’m ready.” Her eyes sparkle, letting me know she has expectations of this evening. I just hope I don’t disappoint.

  We walk down to where the club’s SUV is parked behind the garage. Gentleman like, I open the passenger door, and help her in. Then, leaning over her body, I fasten the seat belt. Doing so, my hand brushes against her breast. At her sharply inhaled breath, I apologise. “Sorry.” Smartly I step around to the driver’s side and get in.

  “Have you ever been to the Wheel Inn before?” I ask her as we wait for the gate to be opened.

  “No.” Her response is stilted.

  “It’s got quite a good menu.” Why the fuck did I say that? Conversation that usually flows easily between us feels awkward.

  “Ella’s excited about the baby.”

  I already know that, you couldn’t be in the clubhouse and not see for yourself. Seems Jayden’s struggling for things to say as well.

  I’m relieved when we draw up to the restaurant that the Satan’s Devils own, driving into the rear parking lot. She reaches for the door, I tell her to wait, and again, acting the gentleman, go around and help her out.

  As I start for the entrance, she gently rests her fingers on my arm. I turn around to see her lips curving.

  “If I don’t tell you later, I had a good time tonight.”

  My fist softly makes contact with her bicep. “You watch that darn film too much.” And I’ve watched it with her, many times. Sometimes worried she’s reading some of her situation into Pretty Woman, how a whore can find redemption. She isn’t a whore. Far from it. Not for the first time, I’d love to know what’s going on inside her head.

  I’ve booked a table, and I’m glad I did. The restaurant is full, in the bar area it’s standing room only. With my hand gently resting on her back, I lead her over to the table. There’s only one other table empty, and that’s the one closest. My eyes are focused on seeking out the location I’d reserved, and nodding to the bartender who knows me. When I go to pull out her chair, I freeze. The prez and his old lady are seated behind us. Coincidence? It’s unlikely. I can’t do anything except acknowledge Drummer’s raised chin lift, though I don’t fail to notice the way his lips quirk.

  Martha, the assistant manager, comes over and hands us menus. “Can I get you a drink?”

  I look at Jayden. She smiles. “A coke, please.”

  “I’ll have a beer.”

  I want to say something that shows my brain’s not tied up in knots, but all I can stammer out is, “See anything you’d like to try?” The menu’s got a number of gourmet dishes on it, things she might not have come across before. As well as a good variety of simpler fare.

  Her brow creases a little as she reads. “I think I’ll just have the fried chicken. What are you having?”

  I’m not here for the food. “The T-Bone steak.” It’s a quick decision with no thought behind it.

  “Good evening.” The familiar voice startles me. Looking up I see Sandy, Viper’s old lady, and the manager of the restaurant delivering our drinks. I didn’t think she worked in the evenings. Just when I’m about to ask her, I hear the chair being pulled out at what was the empty table next to us. Oh fuck no. I feel like putting my head in my hands. This can’t be happening to me. Slick and Ella are taking their seats.

  A laugh from behind me gets me turning, in time to see a glass being raised as if in toast toward me. It’s fucking Bullet and Carmen. That’s not all. Blade’s standing at the bar, half paying attention to something Beef is telling him. Just behind are Joker and fucking Lady.

  Now I do place my elbows on the table and sink my head down into my hands. Every word we speak will be overheard. Any hopes I’d had of covering her hand romantically with mine, playing footsie under the table, have been dashed. I don’t have a chance.

  “Pal? What’s up?”

  I look up to see Jayden’s concerned eyes watching me.

  “Did you know about this?” I hiss softly.

  Her focus has been on the menu. As I jerk my head to one side, her eyes widen when she spies Slick and Ella. I then nod to something over her shoulder. She turns, when she looks back having seen Prez and Sam, she’s shaking
her head, her eyes wide with disappointment. “Of course I didn’t know.”

  My first inclination is to get up, throw enough cash on the table to cover the drinks and get out of here. But Jayden deserves a night out, I’ll just have to be on my best behaviour.

  The food, when it arrives, tastes like cardboard in my mouth. I can see Jayden’s uneasy, her eyes flicking around to our audience which is watching us like hawks. I’m finding it hard to start any topic of conversation. All the things I’d wanted to say to her go unsaid. My anger begins to rise. She’s sixteen, almost seventeen. She should be allowed to date. Fine, send one brother or two to provide protection. But half the fucking club?

  “Can I show you the dessert menu?”

  “No.” I say fast. Then want to withdraw my sharp reply. “Jayden?”

  “Not for me.” She leans forward. “Can we go, Pal?”

  I ask for the tab, pay it, then stand, seeing brothers at the bar hurriedly finishing their drinks, then following us out of the restaurant.

  The bikes surrounding the SUV as we drive back may have been an escort to ensure Jayden’s safety. That Blade, instead of me, escorts Jayden back to her suite is not. Unless it’s me, he’s protecting her from.

  This can’t go on. Watching him walk my date away makes my body tense with frustration. I’ve been offered a chance, only to have it snapped away.

  Chapter 2

  Hellfire

  “What?”

  Moira’s clipped tone conveys her annoyance that she’s caught me staring. I shrug. Nowadays I’m not certain whether it’s better to keep quiet or change the subject. Commenting or making an observation, is likely to get my head snapped off. Deciding the sensible option is probably to keep my mouth shut, I grab a sweater that’s hanging on the back of one of the chairs in the kitchen. Saying nothing, hoping not to draw attention to what I’m doing, I casually slip it on over my head. It’s mid-February, and while I admit it’s not the coldest it has been, it’s still too chilly to have windows open all over the house. It seems, though, even actions have consequences.

  “I can’t fucking help it,” she snarls, as if I’d replied using words. With a loud huff, she leaves what she was doing and walks out of the room.

  After closing the wide-open window, I follow her. Moira’s now in the living room, idly flicking through a magazine. Her face red and glowing. How can I make her realise I hate to see her going through this?

  “What do you want, Hell?” she sighs, tiredly.

  To right the world for her if I could. But some things are beyond me. I go and sit on the armchair, she’s taken the couch. Right now, she won’t want me near her. It’s as though the thermostat of her body is faulty, one moment she’s feeling normal, the next she can be out in the snow wearing just her nightie. It embarrasses her, I know it. So, pulling the sweater more firmly around me, I ignore the temperature in the house.

  “Had word from Drummer.”

  “The National Prez?”

  I nod to confirm it, while thinking it’s probably better we’re here in Pueblo, Colorado, rather than Tucson where the mother chapter of the Satan’s Devils is based. At least Moira can get cool here if she wants to.

  Closing her magazine, she tilts her head to one side. “What does he want? You going to be making a trip down to Tucson? They got trouble again?”

  Quickly I reassure her. “Nah, nothing like that.” My lips curve briefly as I recall the conversation I’d had with Drummer. “He was feeling me out as to my views on something.”

  Her eyes narrowing, she states, “You don’t usually discuss club business with me, Hell.”

  She’s right, I don’t. I’ve been the prez of the Colorado chapter of the Satan’s Devils for twenty years now, VP ten years before that. Moira’s been mine since I got my patch, a few years before I started to work my way up the ranks. She’s known the score for a very long time. What the club does remains secret from old ladies and anyone who isn’t a patched member.

  I sit forward and place my elbows on my knees, clasping my hands together. “Think I need a woman’s advice on this one, and it’s possible that I’ll need you to get involved.”

  Getting up she, thank fuck, closes the window, shivers, then comes back and sits down. I keep my face impassive, but she gives a sheepish grin, then a look full of apology. I wave it off.

  “What’s going on, partner?”

  Yeah, she’s my partner. Always has been, constantly having my back. I raise my chin. “Bit of a long story…”

  Another curve of her lips. “I’ve got time.” She has. Now that our youngest has gone to college, she’s often at a loss for things to do.

  I acknowledge her statement with a nod and take a breath. “Trouble is, where do I start?”

  “At the beginning?” Moira suggests as she settles back to make herself comfortable.

  Another raise and dip of my head. “Okay, the way I understand it, he’s got a member wanting to transfer… Nah.” I break off. “It doesn’t start with him; it begins with what happened to Jayden.” As Moira’s eyebrow rises, I resume. “Jayden’s the young sister of one of the brothers, Slick’s, old lady. Couple of years ago she got caught up in a child-grooming ring. Can’t put this any other way but to say it as it is. She was drugged, raped, forced to have sex with multiple men, and on more than one occasion.” My eyes go to hers to see how she’s taking it. If I’m to do what Drummer has requested, I need Moira on my side, but I’m wary of throwing her back into her own painful memories.

  Moira’s hand is covering her mouth; her pupils look large on her face. Of anyone, I know how much she’ll understand what happened to Jayden and will be sympathetic. “How old was she then?”

  “Fourteen,” I tell her.

  My old lady settles back on the couch, drawing her legs up under her. I take a second to admire the way she’s still as supple as she was when she was seventeen. “Poor kid. Sad story. What’s it got to do with us?”

  “Drummer and his brothers broke up the child-grooming ring. But it had been run by members of the local crime family, the Herreras. The fuckers who were molesting kids were all taken out, but the Herreras still seem to have the Tucson Devils in their sights. If it hadn’t been for Jayden, the lucrative business might still have gone on, and those responsible, their family, still alive.”

  “After all this time, they still want her?”

  It’s hard discussing this shit with her, knowing what to say and what to hold back. This is new territory for me. “There’s been changes with the Herreras at the top, Drummer might be being overcautious, but he knows enough to be worried. He wants to be prepared.”

  Her head tilts as she examines me. “I don’t understand where we come in, or what you want from me? You know, Hell, if there’s some way I, or we, can help, you don’t have to ask.” Creases appear on her brow. “You mentioned someone wanting to transfer.”

  This is the bit where she might get upset. Our personal history is all water under the bridge now. But it’s not as easy to dismiss as that. Though years might have passed, my old lady still dwells on what had left a permanent scar. “Paladin. He was just a prospect at the time, but he carried that young, drugged girl out of the house. When she came around, she remembered it was him, latched onto him. Paladin, well, he was taken by the kid. Seems a mutual attraction developed between them.”

  Quickly she sits forward. “I know Satan’s Devils don’t do everything legal, but shit, Hell. Drummer shouldn’t have allowed…”

  My hand slashes through the air. “He didn’t.” I snipe. “Let me fuckin’ finish, woman. Paladin was nineteen, Jayden fourteen. At the risk of losing his patch, Paladin had to promise to keep his hands off her until she reached the age of consent. Which in Arizona, is eighteen.”

  “In Colorado it’s seventeen.” She purses her lips, and I can see her mind whirling. “How old is the girl now?”

  “Sixteen, approaching seventeen, Drummer said.” I’d asked to estimate how much supervision she’d
need. Knowing Mo, though, I can see why she’d think it significant, that’s confirmed by her next words.

  “Paladin wants to bring her here so they can have sex.”

  “No, Mo. Drummer wants Jayden to come here for protection. Paladin wants to come with her so she isn’t alone.” My hand sweeps back through my grey/white hair. “Fuck, Moira, I don’t know much more than what I’ve told you. But there’s more to this shit than a boy wanting to get into a girl’s pants. Don’t forget the need to hide her. Reckon Paladin just wants to get her away from Tucson and somewhere she’d be safe.”

  “They could have gone to Vegas if they just needed to get out of Arizona.” Moira stands and goes to open the window again, sweat glistening on her face. “I reckon the legal age limit has a lot to do with it.”

  “Nah,” I contradict. “It’s because of us. You and me. San Diego is too close so that’s out of the question. Neither Utah or Las Vegas are anything approaching family clubs…”

  “And we are?” she scoffs, incredulously.

  “Not the club. Us,” I emphasise again. “We’ve raised a family. We’ve got experience with teenagers. That’s the way Drummer’s thinking.”

  Again, her lips press together, clearly unconvinced. Yeah, Drummer had walked me through his reasoning. But I have to wonder if my old lady’s on track as to what’s in those youngsters’ heads. There’s not a lot I can do about it. I’ve had a request from the National Prez, I need to get my woman, and my brothers, on board with it. Hard to say no to Drummer.

  Standing, I approach, laying my hand on her shoulder. “They’re still assessing the risk in Tucson, don’t want to upend a kid’s life if there’s no real reason. If they come here, and at this point, it’s still a big if, my suggestion is that they stay with us where we can keep an eye on them, and not at the club.”

  Moira stares outside, there’s a squirrel searching for something to eat in the yard. Suddenly she turns around to face me. “She can,” she agrees. “But not him. Not until I know what the score is, Hell. I won’t be complicit in a young girl being forced to do anything she doesn’t want, or she’s not ready for.”