The Xmas Ride: A Christmas Biker Romance Read online

  I almost want to tell her I tried to warn her, but that’s not going to help anything. It wouldn’t even make me feel any better. She kept coming back, even after I told her and told her how serious things were.

  How could she have been prepared for this, though? This sort of thing doesn’t happen in her world.

  “They can’t find us here, though, can they?” she asks.

  “I don’t think we were followed, but they have their ways of tracking us down,” I tell her. “We don’t want to stay in one spot too long.”

  “What do we do then?” she asks. “Do we just keep running until they find us? What kind of life is that?”

  “It’s not what I wanted, but when Riley showed up, I didn’t know what else to do,” I tell her. “If I’d left you behind, they’d use you to get to me.”

  “What does that even mean?”

  “It means they’d hurt you. They’d threaten to kill you unless I came back, and in the end, they’d kill both of us anyway.”

  Her fingers pressed against her temples, rubbing, she says, “Oh my god.”

  This is exactly what I didn’t want. I don’t know how I could let this happen. Yeah, she kept coming back no matter how often or fiercely I warned her, but she didn’t sign on for this.

  “I need to go for a walk,” she says.

  “You can’t,” I tell her. “It’s not safe outside.”

  “So what are we going to do?” she yells. I motion for her to quiet down, and she does soften her voice. “We’re just going to sit here in this hotel room until they come for us? What happened to ‘We have to keep moving’ and all that talk?”

  “We do have to keep moving,” I tell her, “but that’s a grab everything and run to the car kind of thing. We can’t just go out in the open and—”

  She holds up her hand, saying, “I get it. I get it.” Now, she’s pacing the floor.

  “I’m not going to let anything happen to you,” I tell her.

  “I thought bullets were cheap, and if I’m standing next to you, they’re not going to hesitate to get rid of a witness,” she says.

  “I was trying to get you to leave,” I tell her. “I would have said anything to protect you.”

  “Could you stop using that word?” she asks.

  “If they come for us, I’ll find a way to keep you safe,” I tell her.

  “But just throw your own life away, because who cares, right?” she asks, and then buzzes her lips. “Don’t you have guys on your side? You have friends in the club, it’s not all of them who are after you, is it?”

  “Riley’s trying to round them all up,” I tell her.

  “How are you going to know when she does that?” she asks. “How are you going to know if she’s done that?”

  “She’s got the number to my burner cell, and nobody else knows I’ve got it.”

  “We have a chance then?”

  “Yeah,” I answer.

  She sits down, saying, “All right then.”

  Yardbird and those guys, I just hope they meant what they said about having my back. That, and I hope they’ve been recruiting some more help. I don’t know who my friends are, but I know there aren’t as many of them as there used to be.

  I suggest we sleep in shifts, because Julie’s too stubborn to listen to me if I tell her she should get some sleep. She doesn’t mind so much sleeping first, though.

  Time doesn’t mean much of anything, and I don’t know how fast it passes. I’m not looking at the clock.

  I let Julie sleep until well after the sun is coming around the closed blinds. When I finally do look at the clock, it’s almost eleven. This would be a perfect time to leave without paying, but getting stopped by the cops isn’t going to help anything.

  Walking over to the bed, I gently rub her shoulder. I tell her, “I need you to lock the door after me, and to use all of the locks. I’ve got to take care of the bill. Don’t open the door for anyone. I’ll knock four times fast, then three times slow, then four times fast again.”

  She groans.

  “You can sleep in the car,” I tell her. “We’ve got to get going.”

  She gets up and shuffles to the door behind me.

  “What’s the knock?” I ask.

  “Four fast, three slow, four fast,” she says, rubbing her eyes. “Should I ask for a password or something, too?”

  “No, just lock the door behind me, chain, bolt, and handle,” I tell her.

  “Got it,” she says. Before I open the door, she touches my arm, saying, “Don’t take too long, okay?”

  “If I’m not back in ten minutes, call the cops. Tell them everything you have to tell them,” he says.

  As I’m closing the door behind me, she says, “I’m still not sure why we don’t do that anyway.”

  The door latches behind me, and I stay close long enough to hear all of the locks fall into place. If I’m already dead, she can call the cops; but if she calls the cops before that, I won’t have any friends. We take care of business in-house.

  It crosses my mind to put a call into Carlos, and see if I can get the family behind me, but they’re not going to interfere. They want to keep doing business, and it doesn’t matter if it’s me or Rev in charge, so long as the money keeps coming.

  I get to the office and check out. I hand the clerk a $100 and don’t bother waiting for change.

  On the way back to the room, I’m scanning the parking lot for anything out of place. Nothing I can see, but that doesn’t mean I’m not missing something.

  We need to go back. Out here, she’s in just as much danger as I am, but if I can get her to a safe place near home, and hand myself over to Auric, she can get out of this alive.

  I’m at the door now, and I knock four times fast, three times slow, and by then, the door is opening. I take one last look back toward the parking lot just in time to see a late ‘90s white Honda Civic with blacked out windows pulling in, and I duck into the room.

  “We have to go,” I tell her. “We have to go right now.”

  “What are we doing in here, then?” she asks.

  I reach under the mattress and pull out the Glock 27 I hid underneath.

  “Oh,” she says, her voice hushed.

  “I don’t think they saw me, but if they know we’re here, they’re going to find us soon enough,” I tell her.

  It’s already too late.

  There’s a loud crack as the door’s kicked in, and I’m close enough the door hits me, knocking the gun out of my hand. I put myself between danger and Julie.

  The next thing I know is I’m swinging as hard as I can, and then everything goes black.

  Chapter Twelve

  Julie

  I can’t see anything, but I can feel the floor vibrate beneath me. I’m in someone’s trunk, gagged. My hands are bound behind my back with what feels like a long, thin strip of plastic.

  Russ is breathing heavy beside me, grunting as he struggles against his restraints.

  So, this is how it ends. Twenty-seven years, I led a perfectly safe life, a comfortable life. Now, I don’t think I’ll ever see my house that’s way too big for me, or my job that made me feel so trapped.

  Was it worth it?

  Up until Riley came pounding on Russ’s door, I would have said yes. Right now, though…

  He tried to warn me, but I wouldn’t listen. I should have just called the police. That wouldn’t have saved Russ, though. For as much breath as he wasted trying to save me, I’m almost glad I didn’t call 9-1-1.

  Almost.

  So, all that’s left is to figure out how I want to go. Do I want to fight, or do I just want them to get it over with? Right now, I’d do anything for this to be over, but I’m sure when that trunk opens, I’m only going to wish I had more time.

  I wish I could at least talk to Russ. We could lie to each other and say everything’s going to be okay.

  He tried to warn me, but I had this thought in my mind that nothing like this could actually happen to me. Thi
s is the sort of thing you see in the movies, not the sort of thing that happens to…it doesn’t matter. It’s happening now.

  The car is slowing down, and judging by how bumpy the ride just got, I think we’re on a dirt road. I’m jolted up and down and back and forth, and my left hand hits something on the floor, cutting it.

  Cutting it.

  I reach back, trying to keep steady as possible, but it’s hard. All I feel is the carpet, and then—yes! There’s a thin piece of metal jutting up from the corner of the floor and the back of the seats.

  Scooting back, I maneuver my hands over the edge, but it’s small. I have to press my body hard down to get both hands where they need to be, and now I’m working my plastic tie over the edge.

  Nothing’s happening. I’m doing a good job scratching my hand, but hardly making any progress cutting through the thick plastic.

  The car’s slowing down. There’s not much time. I don’t know where we are, or how long I was out, but I know that stopping is bad.

  With a loud snap, my hands are free. I rub my wrists a moment, but if we have any chance of fighting our way out of this, I have to free Russ.

  I don’t have a knife, and the trunk is too small for me to change places with Russ, but I do pull down my gag. “I’m free,” I tell him. “How do I get your hands loose?”

  It occurs to me he can’t speak with a gag in his mouth, so I pull it down. He says, “How’d you do it?”

  “Small piece of metal coming out of the floor, but I can’t get past you. It’s too tight in here.”

  “I’m going to turn around so my back is to you, and I’m going to need you to help me. You’re going to have to take your fingernail and shove it into the locking mechanism of the zip tie. It’s the little square piece where the end is threaded through,” he says.

  “You’ve done this before?” I ask.

  “More like I’ve seen it done,” he says, rolling over. “I’ll tell you about it later. Now, just take one corner of your fingernail and try to jam it in the locking mechanism.”

  I’m trying to do what he’s telling me to do, but I don’t feel like I’m accomplishing anything. My fingernail is too wide to get all of it down there, and the corner doesn’t seem to be enough to get in there.

  The car makes a long, slow right turn, and then it stops.

  I’m struggling with the tie, but it’s not coming loose.

  One of the car’s doors opens, and then another. They close, and I’m forcing my fingernail as hard into the locking thing as I can. Russ keeps plenty of tension on the zip-tie, but nothing’s working.

  There’s another snap, and I’m sure it’s my fingernail as the trunk is opened, revealing the night sky. Before I have time to reflect on how long we must have been in here, Russ is pulling himself up, throwing a hard fist that makes a loud packing sound when it connects.

  Russ is out of the trunk now, and I’m reaching for anything I can use as a weapon. There’s a removable section of the floor. It was useless with both of us lying on it, but I reach underneath, hoping beyond hope.

  My fingers wrap around the round metal of a tire iron, and I don’t waste another moment. I’m out of the trunk and on my feet. There are a lot more men than I thought there would be, but they’re all focused on Russ, who’s ferocious as he goes after one and then another, and then another man.

  I’m as quiet as I can be as I quickly move over the dirt, and everything just happens like I’m on autopilot as I bring the tire iron down with all my force into the back of one of the men.

  He goes down, but he doesn’t stay down for long, and now I’m swinging for my life just like Russ.

  The tire iron cracks into another man’s arm, and this doesn’t seem real. None of it seems real until someone grabs the tire iron and wrenches it from my hands. Before I can do anything else, someone grabs me and there’s something thin, hard, and cold against the front of my neck.

  “That’s enough!” the man holding me shouts. “One more swing, and I filet your little plaything.”

  Slowly, Russ puts his hands up above his head. He says, “She has nothing to do with any of this. Just let her go.”

  “You know why I brought you here?” the man asks.

  Russ doesn’t answer.

  “I brought you here, because I believe in tradition,” the man says. “This is where we’ve been taking out the trash since before you and I ever heard of the Grinning Heretics. Back in the day, this sorta thing happened all the time. Leader gets soft. The pack takes care of it. We need someone strong in charge, and boy, that ain’t you.”

  “I never wanted to be in charge of anything,” Russ says. “Just fucking take it. Just let her go, Auric.”

  “You know it ain’t that easy,” Auric responds. I’m holding my breath. “Times like these make people take sides if there’re sides to take, you know what I’m sayin’? We need a nice, smooth transition of power, or every day’s just gonna be cleanin’ up mess after mess after mess.”

  “Then do what you have to do, but let her go!” Russ shouts.

  “It didn’t have to be this way, Ghost.” Russ goes to answer, but now the knife is pressing harder against my skin, and I suck in two lungsful of air. “On your knees.”

  In the distance, I can hear the roar of approaching motorcycles.

  “You hear that?” Auric asks. “You’ve got a few friends gonna join you tonight. Can’t have your soldiers servin’ in my army, know what I mean?”

  “What are you going to do to her?” Russ asks.

  “That all depends on you,” he says. “You act up, I’m gonna take my time. You do what I tell ya to do, though, and I’ll make sure it’s over before she feels somethin’.”

  “She’s not involved in this,” Russ says. “She was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

  “With the wrong asshole,” Auric adds.

  The sound of approaching motorcycles grows louder, and in the darkness, I can see the first headlight coming out of the trees on the dirt road. We’re in what looks like a wide forest clearing, but further than that, I have no idea.

  “Don’t take it too hard there, Ghost,” Auric says. “It ain’t personal, just you never stopped getting’ in my way. Big guy gives you the nod? Shit, you’re afraid of gettin’ your hands too dirty, and how did you think that was going to work out, huh?”

  “I never wanted it,” Russ says. “I didn’t want to get the nod.”

  “And don’t that just make you so damn special,” Auric says. “Now, are you gonna behave yourself, or am I gonna have to keep my blade at your lady’s throat ‘til we’re square?”

  “I won’t fight back,” Russ says. “Just let her go, and I won’t fight back.”

  Even if Russ tried to fight back, he’s outnumbered, and the others are almost here.

  Auric says, “Now don’t you try nothin’, or you’re gonna wish I cut your throat, know what I mean?”

  Suddenly, I’m shoved forward, and I fall to the ground. I want to run, but there’s nowhere for me to go.

  The motorcycles make their last turn, and now their headlights are pointed right at all of us. I’m shielding my eyes from the lights, and a second later, Russ is charging Auric.

  I slide one leg behind Auric’s feet just before impact, and he falls back hard against the ground.

  This is how it ends, but at least I can spend my last moments knowing I put up some kind of fight. Before I’m to my feet, something strange happens.

  Auric’s men, the ones that attacked us, they’re running. There are twice as many men climbing off their motorcycles than had us surrounded. A few of them pull out to chase down the others, but mostly, they seem to be concerned with Russ and Auric.

  They don’t intervene, though. They just form a circle enclosing Russ, Auric, and me within.

  Russ is still on top of Auric, and he’s pounding away, either unaware, or uncaring that there’s no way out.

  One of the men in the circle, he must be almost seven feet tall,
he’s the first one to do anything. He shouts, “That’s enough!”

  A moment later, Russ is on his feet and Auric’s holding one arm up, still trying to see through the glare of the headlights.

  “He’s trying to throw you under the bus,” Auric shouts. “I was just taking care of it.”

  “You’ve been gunning for me since the raid,” Russ shouts.

  In a deep, ferocious voice, the tall man shouts, “I said that’s enough!” He walks over with enormous steps, and just when I think he’s about to bend down and help Auric to his feet, the tall man kicks the other hard in the stomach. “Heard you’ve been disrespecting the chain of command,” the tall man grunts.

  “I can explain everything, boss,” Auric says. “Ghost here was just gonna run the whole club into the ground, and you know he’s the one that got the cops onto ya. I was doin’ what I thought you’d be doin’ if you was out here to do it.”

  “Well, I’m out here now, and you must think I’m some kind of fool.”

  “You ain’t gonna take me out, boss,” Auric says. “I got a bunch of guys…” Auric looks around, finally noticing he’s all alone.