Hellbent Hero by Naomi Porter

1

Hero

BAIL DENIED. ARE you fucking kidding me?

I entered a small room to meet with my prez, Storm, and the club’s lawyer after my arraignment.

The DO grunted, nodding to a chair. I sat my ass down like a good boy, then he left.

The county jail was different from the one I’d been in when I was a punk gangbanger in Los Angeles. Hell, juvie was worse than here. This place could’ve been a country club in comparison. I wasn’t even chained or handcuffed to the table.

I slumped in the metal chair, folding my hands on my stomach. I’d been locked up for over eighteen hours of my life. Apparently, nothing happened on the weekends here in Mayberry. I snorted, recalling the one and only time I caught Storm’s uncle watching The Andy Griffith Show. No, I wasn’t in Mayberry, but Winters Township might as well have been.

The DOs had muttered something about small-town living at its finest or some shit, and I needed to wait until Monday morning to deal with my arrest.

Well, it was Monday morning and I was salty as fuck.

That fucking deputy had planted the Mary Jane in my saddlebag before I’d stumbled out of the Wild Hog. It was Deputy Prick Miller’s partner Sonny. I had a feeling he’d seen me go into the bar and waited for me to come out. Goddammit, it pissed me off. I’d gotten mouthy, resisting arrest in my drunken state. He’d handcuffed me on the spot.

Once I’d sobered up, I realized I was in the same county jail as the Hunter’s enforcer. The fucker who raped the young waitress, Ava, and tried to assault Tara—my Roja.

Perhaps fate brought us together.

The enforcer’s days had been numbered for even speaking to Tara. But eye-fucking her in the silo? Touching her? Not even God himself could save that son of a bitch. I’d escort him through the gates of hell personally.

I blew out a breath, wiping my nose with the back of my hand. My stupid emotions were getting the better of me. Tara was all I could think of after getting to know her emotionally, sexually. We’d spent a whole day discovering each other’s bodies.

It’d been magical. Everything about Tara was tattooed in my memory: her unique smell, soft skin and red lips, and the cream between her thighs.

My stomach tightened, hands tingling with the need to caress every part of her.

Dammit. I needed to stop dreaming.

I tilted my head up to peer out the row of small windows at the top of the concrete block wall. The leaves on the poplar trees were yellow, the autumn sky overcast and gray. A sure sign fall had arrived and winter was fast approaching.

I might miss it all. Snow catting and ice fishing with my brothers. Christmas. The club’s Bang in the New Year Orgy party. Not that I’d miss fucking several Kittens in one night. Not anymore. Not after having Roja in my bed. She was the only woman I wanted.

A pang hit me square in the chest. I rubbed the spot firmly.

I missed her.

It’d been over a month since I last kissed her plump, pouty lips. Five excruciatingly long weeks had passed since I saw her gorgeous face and felt her silky red locks in my hands. I rubbed the spot over my heart again.

If the lawyer couldn’t get me out of these trumped-up charges, I might not see her for six to twelve months. Or longer. If I was lucky, I’d be out within the year. Maybe she’d find someone else before I got out. A better man without a checkered, violent past. A dentist or someone in education like her. Someone who wanted a family. The all-American family guy.

I rolled my hand into a fist and hit my chest a few times. Focusing on the physical pain so I didn’t register the emotional shit I felt.

A throat cleared as the door opened. Prez was here.

Storm rounded the table and sat across from me. A man in a blue suit and a striped red and navy tie, carrying a briefcase, took the chair beside him.

I made eye contact with my brother. He didn’t look happy, but then he never did unless his Angel was on his lap or in his arms.

Storm studied me for a second. “You all right?”

I grunted because, really, how good could I possibly be?

“So you met Theo Meyers, the club’s lawyer at the arraignment.” Storm’s intense gaze darted to his right. “You can speak freely. I trust Theo.”

I grunted again. Theo had only spoken two words to me in the courtroom: Be silent.

Storm sighed, shaking his head. “Don’t be an asshole, Hero. I’m your president. What fuck is wrong with you?”

Pissing off Storm wouldn’t end well for me. I just wasn’t interested in idle fucking chit-chat. But I needed his resources and support to implement the plan I’d concocted to take out the enforcer while locked up. Not only that, I didn’t want to be cut out of the club for going off half-cocked after the arms run. He hadn’t given me shit about needing to get lost for a while, but it was better to be prepared for Storm’s wrath. He was unpredictable and had yet to give me hell over not protecting his woman.

I inhaled, noting his jaw twitching. Storm wasn’t a patient man. Better get on with it. “The weed was planted on me. I was drunk and got mouthy. Here I am. But all is not lost. The Hunter’s enforcer is in here too.” I exhaled a heavy breath. “I’d call it a lucky break.”

It was as if he could read my thoughts. “Are you out of your goddamn mind?” Storm leaned back in his chair, crossing his arms over his chest. Under his cut, he had on a black long-sleeved shirt, scrunched up to his elbows. His massive forearms were on full display, along with his wedding band. Another pang pierced my heart as envy burned through it like acid eating through my flesh.

I shrugged my shoulders. “Maybe. But I’m here, and he deserves to pay.” More than pay. That motherfucker deserved to die. By my hand.

Storm scratched his chin. “We’ll make sure he does, brother. The club. Not you solo.”

“I’ll make sure he does.” Before the week was over. “But I need help.”

“Really?” Storm’s hand slammed on the table, making Theo jump in his seat. “You know the club would’ve handled it. You’re hellbent on seeking retribution. That’s good. But there’s a way to go about it without getting life in prison. You’re my SAA. I fuckin’ need you.”

I watched the lawyer. He didn’t seem at all fazed by our conversation. Probably used to hearing about the club’s less than stellar, law-abiding ways. And witnessing Storm’s short temper. Hell, the whole club was used to our volatile Prez. He’d calmed, some, after Madeline entered the picture. His moods weren’t so erratic anymore. She was good for Storm, better than good. She was his perfect match.

Storm sat forward in his chair. “Where have you been all month?” His presence was larger than life. It filled up every inch of space within a ten-mile radius. I respected the hell out of him, wished I was more like him. But I wasn’t.

“Took a road trip to California.” I shifted in my chair as his gray depths narrowed and darkened.

“For what?” he hissed through clenched teeth.

This was where I needed to be honest with my Prez. If I lied and he found out the truth, I’d be dead. Storm didn’t tolerate lying. I’d never cross that line with him. When I left, I had no plan. No destination. I’d just needed to ride my hog on the open road and get lost for a while. It was no surprise the wind had guided me back to my demons in Cali. “Hitting up my old stomping grounds.”

Storm shook his head. The tension radiating off him made the air crackle and pop like a building thunderstorm. “Motherfucker, if you bring any trouble to the club’s doorstep,” he growled, “I’ll put a bullet between your goddamn eyes.” He wasn’t joking or being a dick. Storm never made empty threats. The club was his life, but he was married now and expecting a baby. I couldn’t fault him for wanting to keep his family and the club safe.

Storm had what I’d had years ago, but I’d lost it all in one night. I was sure he’d do a better job protecting his family than I had.

Fuck. I’d let his old lady get taken by the Hunters. Angel was humiliated and assaulted, along with my Roja.

Enough. Tara isn’t yours. You only want her to be.

I stared back at Storm like a dumbfuck, unsure of what else to say. Neither of us usually talked much. When we hung out in the bar drinking with our brothers, Storm and I sat back and listened while the rest bullshitted. Track, Lynx, and Boxer were the life of the party. They were worse than the club’s kittens, all chatty and shit, laughing and snorting at their own stupid jokes.

My brothers and I were quite a mixture of extroverts and introverts. We all had a dark side. Pasts littered with shit you wouldn’t find in Mayberry. Some, like Storm and I, had blood on our hands. Others were damaged from childhood abuse, like Ire and Grizzly. The only brother I might call normal was Boxer. He hadn’t killed anyone before joining the Marines. Came from an okay family. Except my brother walked around with a hole in his heart the size of Lake Superior.

“Did you get your revenge?” Storm’s question jerked me out of my thoughts. “Is there going to be a warrant for your arrest in California? Any blowback?” Storm looked tired as he pinched the bridge of his nose. He should’ve been on his honeymoon with his wife, not in county lockup dealing with me.

“I tried. The place has changed…” I dragged my hand over my cheek, fucking tired of everything. Instead of getting revenge on the fuckers who’d murdered my wife and baby, I’d reverted back to my old ways of dealing with shit. Booze and drugs. I’d indulged in the poisons for a week straight. Once an addict, always an addict… Miraculously, I’d somehow pulled myself out of the darkness before I drowned in white powder.

Before leaving LA, I’d visited their graves, leaving a bouquet of gardenias and a toy motorcycle at Monica’s headstone. I’d been in a self-deprecating place. Shame and feelings of worthlessness were a deadly combination. In the cemetery, I’d cried like a baby, asking for forgiveness and promising to love her forever—only her.

Going back to the West Coast had done more harm than good. It fucked me up all over again. The progress I’d made over the years seemingly vanished as I’d rode by all the places Monica and I used to frequent. My breaking point happened at Huntington Beach, Monica’s favorite place to go every Sunday. All the memories and dreams we’d once had pulled me down like a fierce undertow, slamming me into the ocean’s floor. Beating and raking me over coral reefs as I drowned in my own agony.

Storm cleared his throat. “Hero?”

“I had to try, you know? I need some kind of retribution. It’s why I need to take out—” I paused, cutting my eyes at the dude in the suit.

“I know, brother. I know.” He elbowed Theo. “Get on with it so I can have a few minutes alone with him before our time’s up.”

I pretty much drowned out the lawyer’s monotonous voice. He said I should be out within thirty days, provided I stayed out of trouble. I wasn’t sure whether to be happy or not. Tara probably hated me after I took off the way I had following our sexfest.

The door closed after Theo left the visitation room. Storm and I stared each other in the eyes for a long, painful minute.

I hated that I’d let him down. Let the club down. Hated that I couldn’t stop thinking about Roja, wondering what she’d been doing the past month. Had she thought of me at all? Missed me? Regretted letting me into her addictive pussy?

Once an addict, always an addict….

My curiosity got the better of me. I caved. “How is she?”

Storm crossed his arms over his chest again. His silence had me sitting upright in my seat. “Not good.” Two words. He never held back or sugarcoated anything. Painfully direct was his way.

I rolled my hands into fists on the table to steel myself. “What do you mean?” I needed more, even though I knew I wouldn’t like what came next.

“The first couple of weeks, she was okay. Holding on to hope. Expecting you to walk through the clubhouse doors. When that didn’t happen, she was sad. Hurt. Then she was angry as hell. Now Angel says she appears depressed like she’s shutting down.”

Damn, this might’ve been the most I’d ever heard the Prez speak.

I exhaled a painful breath. “Is she going to work? Eating and sleeping properly?” I didn’t want Tara to sink into a dark abyss over me. I wasn’t worth her time or energy.

“Don’t know.”

“What do you mean you don’t know? What’s she been doing at the club?” If any of my brothers had their hands on her, I’d choke the life out of them. Not like I had any right to her since I hadn’t officially claimed her. She was so beautiful and alluring. Someone had to have tried to get with her. The very thought made me sick to my stomach.

“She’s not staying on the compound. She moved back home. Angel sees her at school, but she can’t get her to come to the clubhouse. You know I won’t let my woman run around without me after everything. It’s too soon, so she comes home after work. And Tara goes to the trailer park.”

I blinked, seeing red. I leaned forward and opened my mouth.

Storm’s hand flew up. “Before you bite my head off, I had Grizz install a home security system linked to the clubhouse like all the club businesses before she returned home. I’ve got eyes on her at all times.”

I exhaled, gritting my teeth, but it didn’t help the fury I felt. “She wasn’t supposed to move out of the compound.”

“And you were supposed to return with me from the run.”

“I told her to move her shit into my room.”

“And she did. But then you didn’t return.” Storm pursed his lips thin. “Angel said you never called Tara. Or sent her a text. You ghosted her. That kind of treatment pisses off these women, man. They’re not like the kittens who just shrug and move to a new brother. What were you thinking?”

“How could you let her leave?” I shouldn’t put this on him. It was a dick move but still, how the fuck could he do that?

Storm pointed to his chest. “Me? How could I let her leave?” Shit, now he was pissed. “Did you claim her in front of the club, brother? Are you secretly married to her? Because I’ll tell you. The way it looks to everyone, including Tara, is you used her to get your rocks off then dumped her.”

“Fuck you!” I was out of my chair. A DO swung the door open.

Storm put his hand up. “It’s cool, Barry. He’s just blowing off steam.”

Barry, the grunting DO, backed out of the room and shut the door. Fuck, everyone did as Storm said.

Prez’s lethal gaze met mine. “Calm your ass down and sit.” He clasped his hands on the table. His platinum wedding band mocked me. Laughed in my face for all I’d lost and would never have. A wife. A baby. Happiness. “What are your intentions? Is she yours? Are you claiming her?”

“Now that she’s left the compound, it doesn’t even matter.”

“Sure it does. It matters to me, to your brothers and your woman if she’s your woman.”

“I’m in here because of that fucking Sonny. I was going to see her.”

“After getting drunk?”

“I was just getting my head straight before dropping in on her. But hey, the enforcer is in here. The asshole tried to rape her.” I scrubbed my hands over my face remembering the way that fucking animal touched my girl, tearing at her clothes and backhanding her. The sting of tears pooled behind my eyes like a pussy.

“I know.”

“I want blood, Storm. That motherfucker’s blood. I can’t move past anything until I take him out. In the meantime…” I grabbed the back of my neck. “Keep her safe.”

What was I doing? I got myself into this mess because I stopped at the Wild Hog in Winters when I should’ve gone directly to Tara. I should’ve been holding her in my arms that night. Making love to her. Keeping her safe myself. Fuck, I was an idiot for depending on another man to protect what was mine.

Storm drummed his fingers on the table. “I told you, I’ve got eyes on her. It’s about all I can do, brother.”

“Cameras?” My nostrils flared.

“Not in her bedroom or bathroom. On the exterior. On the doors and windows, and the living room and kitchen. She doesn’t know about them, but Grizz knows better. If she prances around naked, he’ll delete them.”

“After jerking off to her!”

Storm shrugged. “Guess that’s possible, but he’s not a dick, man. He respects you.”

“Shit,” I hissed. “Madeline couldn’t convince her to come back?”

He looked down at his wedding band and touched it. “No. Angel is sick with worry. I don’t like her being upset.” He lifted his steely gaze to mine. “She doesn’t need this kind of stress with the baby and all.”

“I’m sorry.” I blew out a breath. “Will you help me take out the enforcer? Without me getting life behind bars.”

“All we can do is try. But don’t forget, you got yourself in here. That’s not okay with me.” He sighed, shaking his head. “You’re going to have to deal with any fallout that comes from this.”

“I know.” The only fallout I cared about was with Tara. Fuck, I prayed she hadn’t written me off. I wouldn’t blame her if she had.

If Roja wrote me off, I might as well never see the light of day again and just rot in hell.