Ruthless (Dark MC Romance) Read online

  * * *

  The heat haze baked the concrete and swirled in the distance. It distorted the air; it even seemed to distort the sounds of ambulance sirens wailing in the distance. I drove my car slowly because the coke addled my brains and I didn’t want to ruin my ride. Spike and Cain rode on either side of the car as we drove around town. It was our day off to unwind, relax, so naturally Cain chose to ride through Tiger territory.

  Of course.

  Suddenly, the car jerked forward and a cloud of black smoke covered the windshield. I slammed my brakes and coughed violently as smoke furled through the ventilation.

  Shit. What the hell is wrong?

  Suddenly the driver’s door flew open and Spike’s anxious face appeared. Ahead, Cain was driving on the sidewalks, spray-painting the buildings red. He hadn’t noticed, but I didn’t think Spike could ever be distracted enough to not notice me.

  He leaned over my body to unhook the seatbelt and for a moment I was overwhelmed by the fact that his torso leaned over my lap. I blushed violently when he took my hand, helping me out of the car. The smoke still attacked my lungs. I doubled over and coughed while he rubbed my back.

  “You all right?” he asked with genuine concern.

  “I—I think so,” I said in a tight voice. I straightened myself and my heart thumped when Spike smiled, brushing a stray strand from my mouth.

  “What the fuck is going on?”

  Cain’s harsh voice made me jump, killing my high. He saw us. I crossed my arms over my chest, away from Spike, but Cain only stared at the car. I blew a shaky sigh of relief. I thought for a moment that—

  Spike stared into the steaming mess as Cain popped the hood and shrugged. “I’ve no idea. I don’t know fuck all about cars.”

  “There’s an auto shop right there.” I pointed down the street. It was lucky I managed the break down so close to one, but we weren’t in our territory.

  “We’re not even supposed to be here. Maybe we should call a tow truck.”

  “Fuck that. Spike, you and I will push the car.”

  He wiped the sweat from his brow and removed his leather cut, followed by his t-shirt. I stared at the muscles rippling his abdomen and started when Spike winked at me. Cain quickly followed suit, discomfort from the heat overriding his need to wear his colors.

  I walked by them, quietly admiring their bodies as I put the still smoking car in neutral. They maneuvered the car down the street, their muscles straining as they pushed the car.

  We pulled into the auto shop at last and Cain fired a few times in the shop to disperse everyone from the place.

  “Take a walk,” he roared at them.

  I leaned against the wall of a derelict building as Cain tinkered with the car he bought me. Spike had the radio turned on way too loud. The bass boomed under my feet and rattled the remaining windows of the derelict building.

  “Are you done yet?”

  Cain's pale skin was red from the sun and his eyes were bloodshot. The heat made the oil on his back slough off. His shirt hung from his back pocket and he dug in the trunk to find tools.

  “I need…something to unscrew the…”

  Spike leaned on the car door and laughed at his VP. “You have no idea what the hell you’re doing.”

  The thinning of Cain's lips and the wrinkling of his eyes was hardly a smile. It was best not to antagonize him while he was on Red. “Any more of your smart mouth and I’ll knock your teeth out.”

  “Like to see you try,” he snorted.

  “Spike!” I shouted.

  A group of locals approached us. A short, broad-shouldered man aimed a pipe towards the car. “Turn the music down!”

  I smiled as Spike wheeled towards the man who spoke. “Sorry, what? The radio is too loud!”

  Red-faced, the man repeated his demand and Spike played dumb, cupping his hand around his ear.

  I reached in my purse and patted the gun inside, ready to defend my car from the pipe-wielding bastards.

  “TURN IT DOWN!”

  One of the men gave Spike a retaliatory shove. Spike stumbled backwards before stepping forward quickly as a slow grin spread across his face.

  Big mistake.

  With a single roundhouse kick, he sent the offender flying. With roars of outrage, the other man raised their pipes and crashed them over Spike’s back. Where the hell is Cain?

  He was still underneath the car, oblivious to everything going on.

  “Cain, get the hell out of there and help Spike!”

  The lanky man gave me an almost wounded look. “I don’t need his damn help.”

  Even though he took two blows to his back from heavy, lead pipes, he sprang upward, dancing around them with infinite energy. Suddenly a loud crack blasted in my ear and I saw one of the men collapse to the ground screaming.

  Spike jumped backwards into the convertible as more shots whizzed out from underneath the car, smashing into ankles. The air was punctuated by cracks of gunshots followed by screams. Finally, everyone was incapacitated or worse.

  The blonde man’s sweat-streaked body emerged from underneath the car. He still held his Colt, eyeing the screaming men with supreme indifference. They rolled on the blistering concrete, clutching their feet and legs where they had been shot.

  Incredibly, the sound of sirens wailed around us, sounding louder and more distorted than usual. My jaw dropped as red and blue flashes of light glimmered. The flashes of light grew larger and the remaining thugs scampered from the parking lot. In the months since I arrived in Victoria, I had never seen a cop.

  “We better split.”

  Cain seemed to barely register Spike’s voice. He aimed the gun at a man screaming profanities at them both.

  “My fucking leg! You pieces of shit are going to pay for this—”

  My heart squeezed suddenly as Cain raised his gun, aimed directly towards his temple.

  We’re not even supposed to be in their territory.

  “Cain, we need to get out of here,” Spike snapped, all the humor gone from his voice. His curly head turned towards the screeching sirens, which grew louder with every second.

  “I don’t need to do anything.”

  A particularly loud wail made me shudder against the wall. “Cain, he’s right.”

  He gave me an icy look that silenced my voice. My arm trembled against my side as Spike looked at me for help. I couldn’t fucking help him. The coke was wearing off and I sunk down the wall as despair swallowed everything.

  He tried again, this time giving Cain a crooked grin. “All right, tough guy. You’ve made your point. The police are almost on top of us and I’d rather not get the shit beaten out of me by Crash for getting arrested.”

  The pale, grey eyes were fixed on the kneeling, prostrate man. “Crash can’t do shit to me, or anyone else I’m with. With all the money I’m bringing in, I should be fucking President.”

  He ground the nozzle between the man’s eyes, as if he had suggested that Cain was not president material.

  Spike and I were careful not to meet each other’s eyes. If Cain had uttered that in the clubhouse, Crash would have been well within his rights to remove him from the VP position.

  Or order a hit on him. Killing brothers was strictly forbidden, but that didn’t stop the less honorable. It was known to happen. If caught, a prolonged, painful death on the offender was the punishment. That alone was enough to deter most people.

  His head jerked as two police cruisers squealed into the parking lot. I swallowed hard as they slammed their brakes. Spike held his arms up as they burst out.

  “Police! Drop your weapon!”

  Slowly, Cain raised his head to gaze at the two policemen threatening him almost as if he was bored. A taut leer stretched across his face and he spread his arms, inviting them to shoot his bare chest. A sickening relief filled me with hope.

  I definitely won’t cry over his corpse.

  “Do you know who I am?”

  The cops screamed for him to dr
op his weapon again as they hid behind their car doors. I hoped that he wasn’t reckless enough to shoot at a cop.

  We could get killed. Spike looked at me over his raised arms, his face was humorless, for once.

  “Don’t be a fucking moron, Cain.”

  I winced at the insult, but Cain looked amused.

  “What happened to your sense of adventure?” He turned back towards the cops. “I’m the Vice President of the Dragons. We have every fucking precinct in our pockets so why don’t you call your commanding officer and get the fuck out of my face.”

  “DROP YOUR FUCKING WEAPON!”

  The gun clattered loudly to the pavement as he dropped the gun, all the levity gone from his face. His lip curled and I felt a stab of anxiety. None of them knew how dangerous it was to humiliate him. His chest and shoulders were already bright red from the sun and it gave the impression that his rage was burning him from the inside out. He took a step forward.

  “Stand back! Don’t move!”

  “You think you’re fucking safe behind those sheets of metal you’re hiding behind? I told you, I’m the Vice-President—”

  “And I could give a fuck! Hands behind your head!”

  His eyes widened as if he could hardly believe what he as seeing.

  Maybe I should say something.

  Suddenly, he aimed a violent kick to the man still kneeling in front of him. He screamed and doubled over. Spike leapt forward and shoved Cain's chest.

  “What the fuck are you doing? Have you completely lost it?”

  Cain looked down at the hands that still pushed against his chest. “I’m doing what I want.”

  I didn’t like the challenging look he gave Spike. “Cain, please. Spike is your brother. You wouldn’t be doing any of this if you weren’t—”

  His eyes flashed at me and I bit my tongue. The cops slowly stood upright, one of them unhooking a pair of handcuffs from his waist.

  If you weren’t high.

  “Hands behind your head, or I’ll use the Taser!”

  “You have no idea who you’re dealing with.”

  The venom trembling from his voice made one of the cops pause. Spike backed away as they reached for his arms and yanked them behind his back. His tattoos stretched across his chest as his arms were pulled back, his eyes smoldering at me as if it was my fault.

  The two idiots read him his Miranda rights as they led him into the police cruiser and Spike turned to me with a horrified look on his face.

  “Did that just happen?”

  * * *

  My head pounded with the stifling heat inside my car and the drugs I took before made it worse. Anxiety shot into my veins, feeding my paranoia as my eyes swept across the streets. I felt like I was locked in the darkness, drifting out of my body. I watched my red convertible roar through the crumbling streets, heading automatically for Cain's apartment. Spike followed me home. I watched his bike trail behind my car, desperately hoping that he would have a solution for what just happened. Cain was being charged with attempted murder and resisting arrest.

  He wouldn’t stay in jail. The charges would eventually be dropped, abandoned by the D.A. office once they realized just who he was.

  It only mattered because he would take it out on me.

  I wiped my hand across my dripping nose. I need coke now. But Cain hid the stash in the apartment. He lorded it over me like a fucking bastard, getting me to do whatever he wanted. Now he was gone.

  I slammed the door with a little more effort than necessary and walked up the stone steps. The door swung inside as I unlocked it and pushed. Spike’s heavy footsteps jogged up the stairs and he joined me in the living room, where I sank down in one of the leather couches in defeat. It was too quiet.

  He removed his jacket and hung it in the exact same spot that Cain hung his jacket and suddenly I felt a sharp pain in my chest. If only Spike could take his place.

  “I can’t believe that just happened.” Spike sauntered into the living room and collapsed next to me.

  I felt the weight of his body sink into the couch and I wished he sat closer to me.

  “Ever since he’s been on Red, he’s lost his edge.” My heart jumped at the thought of what Cain would do if he heard me say that. “Don’t tell him that.”

  Spike shook his curly head. I looked at his strong jawline, his Adam’s apple protruding from his neck, the sprinkling of dark hair peeking underneath his shirt. My mouth was dry. For so long I had rebelled against my attraction to him, burying it all in my mind when Cain suffocated me with his presence. It had to stay buried, but he was gone.

  I might be free.

  I considered that for a moment until I realized that I was wrong. He would get out eventually, and when he did, he would expect me to be his. If I moved on to another man, he wouldn’t hesitate to kill me.

  “Hey, don’t be upset. I’m sure they’ll toss out the case.”

  I swiped my hair from my face and chuckled. Spike mistook my sadness for grief over Cain's arrest. “I don’t want him to come back.”

  The air stilled as I made my confession. I’m still in his apartment.

  I jumped a little and looked around, half-convinced I would see his ghost nearby. What if he hid recording equipment? I stiffened and balled my fists, horrified that I hadn’t thought of that before I spoke freely.

  Then Spike’s raspy voice cut through the frozen air.

  “Julia, I backed off because I thought things were better between you two,” he said it almost desperately.

  When I met his worried gaze, I could see that I confirmed his suspicion. His face fell into his hands and he raked his fingers through his hair.

  I thought of the white, glistening powder and I sniffed hard. “Do you have any blow?”

  He turned his head slowly and I was embarrassed by the bewildered look on his face.

  “Jesus Christ, Julia. No.” His voice took a stern note. “Both you and Cain have been off the rails lately. You’ve been making stupid, sloppy mistakes.”

  “Have I?” My heated tone didn’t wipe the judgment from his face. I wanted to hit him. The fucking idiot had no idea what I went through every day.

  Maybe I should tell him about yesterday—show him the new bruises on my back.

  Coke numbed the pain and made me forget for a little while how fucked up everything was.

  Things were better with Ace.

  “Julia?”

  Tears steadily pooled in my eyes. I hated crying. Crying was for weak women, for those who couldn’t hide their emotions. I turned everything off for so long, that the softness in his voice made me sob into my hands. I wiped away the tears with angry swipes of my thumbs.

  Look at where you were a few months ago…and look where you are now.

  “He took everything from me. I don’t even have my sobriety, anymore. And I’m stuck with him forever, even though I can’t stand him.” The last sentence ended in a high gasp.

  The leather squeaked as Spike stood up. For a moment, I thought he was leaving. I was so used to Cain ignoring my moods that I forgot what a real man was like. He moved closer to me, invading my personal space.

  My heart hammered as his heavy arm dropped over my shoulders. I curled into his body and choked as I suddenly found myself nestled in Spike’s incredibly warm embrace. His arm reached up my back and he brushed the back of my head, and I suddenly remembered how my grandmother used to hold me like this before she died. I clung to his shoulders as this incredible feeling filled me up like a hot, home-cooked meal.

  I starved for months and Spike gave me what I needed. He was so warm in every way. He held me without hesitation, like he always longed to do it. I was sick with happiness and I cried into his broad chest, wishing I could have this every day.

  “We’ll think of something, Julia. I promise.” His voice was full of somber confidence.

  I raised my tear-stained face from his chest and looked at deep dimples curving into his face, his smile making him even more attractive.
My arms were around his neck and I lifted my fingers slightly to stroke his dark hair, marveling at its softness. His face became pink and my heart thudded. The embrace had been comforting, and now it made an abrupt turn into desire. It was like the flip of a light switch—I became hyperaware of his thighs under me and the heat between our bodies and how close his face was to mine.

  He seemed to realize it, too. Spike’s hands were damp.

  I wanted him to kiss me. My face flushed at the thought, but it was exciting and I wanted it all the same.

  It’s better that we don’t.

  My hands slid from around his neck and I lowered my eyes away from tenderness in his gaze. He wanted me, too.

  Spike suddenly checked his watch and gave a defeated sigh.

  “What is it?”

  “Had a date tonight. I’m going to call and cancel. I need to tell Crash, anyway. He’s going to be pissed.”

  I made an irritated face at the mention of a date. It was always hell to watch him flirt with other girls in the pool hall. I watched him leave with them, his arm wrapped around their waists while fervently wishing that I were in their place.

  “I need to go, I’m sorry.”

  Don’t go, I begged him silently. His face was drawn in as I stood up.

  I followed him into the foyer. He laboriously retrieved his jacket and pulled it back on, giving me a pained look. “I’m sorry that I have to leave you like this, but Crash has got to know about Cain. Duty first.”

  I nodded miserably, crashing after the high. He regarded me for a moment with a pained smile and took a few steps forward and bent his head next to my face, leaving a small kiss on my cheek. His scent wrapped around me, dizzying me before he pulled back.

  “I’ll be around, Julia. I promise.”

  Swallowing hard, I nodded as he opened the door and disappeared behind it, leaving me alone in the cold apartment.

  * * *

  The tissue I held against my nose was already soaked. Spike was coming to pick me up in a couple minutes to take me to visit Cain in jail. I sat a chair in the kitchen, which was in quiet disarray. Over the last few days I didn’t bother cleaning or cooking anything. I spent every waking moment tearing apart the home, looking for his hidden stash.