Making Choices (Black Shamrocks MC Book 2) Read online

  “Sherri. Connor. Long time, no see,” she drawls. “I take it you’re not hiding anymore?”

  The skinny woman narrows hate-filled eyes at Maddi before she holds her phone in front of her face.

  “Say cheese, Princess.” Her voice is one of those put-on, saccharine-sweet, baby voices that some women think men love. Personally I find them as irritating as fingernails raking down a chalkboard.

  She takes a photo of us sitting together on the bed and shows the guy standing next to her. He smiles at her, slapping her on the ass with appreciation.

  “Get copies. Now. Then get them dropped off at the Compound and all their houses. ASAP!” he orders her. She nods in response, but doesn’t make a move to leave. He glares at her, but she’s oblivious. The woman that Maddi called Sherri runs her eyes over my body—not that she can see much since I’m hugging my knees to my chest—and smirks at me.

  “I see Timber’s downgraded significantly. He must be missing me something bad if he’s settled for you.”

  I’m not sure what to say to her.

  I have no idea who she is, or what her connection is to Lucas, and I’m not brave enough to sass her back at this stage. Maddi, however, doesn’t stay quiet. I’m beginning to get the feeling that she is incapable of it.

  “Oh my God, Sherri. Get some new insults. It’s always the same old crap with you. Your man likes me better. I’m a better fuck than you are. Blah, blah, bloody blah,” she tells Sherri, who turns white at her hostile taunting. “You’re a goddamn whore. You know as well as we do that’s all you’re good for, and all you’ll ever be. You’d wanna hope you have a tiny bit of talent for it. So just shut up.”

  The guy who told Sherri to get copies of the photos starts laughing.

  “Good to see you’re still the same hardnosed bitch you always were, Princess. I was worried you’d be fucked up. Too broken to be fun anymore.”

  Maddi flinches at his words. This is the first time I’ve ever seen her unsure of herself. He laughs at her again. There’s a whole back story here that I’m not privy to, one I need to know now that I’m caught up in it.

  “And you’re still the same traitor you always were, Connor. You disgust me. We both know that Mik and the Shamrocks are going to kill you when they find you. You’ve just sped up the process by taking us.” She gestures between the two of us.

  Studying Connor again, I realize where I know him from. He’s one of the men who guarded Joel’s room during his hospital stay. He’s what Lucas called an Enforcer, but I gather from Maddi’s comments that he’s no longer a member of the Club.

  That can’t be good.

  What the hell am I caught in the middle of?

  Signalling the two men who brought Maddi into the room by crooking a finger in the air, Connor turns his back on us and walks out without another word. Sherri follows him on spindly high-heels that make her take mincing steps, and even with the seriousness of the situation very apparent, I can’t help meeting Maddi’s eyes and sharing a grin with her.

  The biggest of the two men left—the one I think Maddi kneed in the balls since his face is almost as red as his hair—looks at us, a grim smirk covering his face. “Don’t go anywhere now, bitches. We’ll be back soon for some entertainment.”

  I gasp at the implication of his words, but Maddi raises her middle finger and flips him the bird.

  “Don’t get too far ahead of yourself, asshole. You have no idea what those two out there have dragged you into.”

  He tries hard not to buy into her threat, but his curiosity wins.

  “And what would that fucking be?”

  “I’m Beast’s daughter and Mad Dog’s Old Lady.” She points at herself, and both men’s eyes bug-out as her words sink in. “And she’s Timber’s woman. I’m sure you’ve heard of him too?”

  Maddi points at me, and in spite of my reservations about the status of our relationship, I nod in agreement. I’m all for any intimidation factor we can gain by mentioning their names.

  “Fuck off! Blake the Butcher?” the red-haired guy asks, unease in his eyes.

  “The one and only.” Maddi laughs at him.

  Personally, I’m disturbed to hear Lucas referred to as a butcher. I’m not naïve. I’ve read the newspaper articles that refer to him as Blake the Butcher. It’s different seeing the fear his nickname evokes in person, rather than chalking it up to media sensationalism.

  With Maddi’s confirmation, the man closest to the door, the one who had been silent so far, curses loudly. “You’re with the fucking Black Shamrocks?”

  “We are. So if you touch us, rest assured that you’re signing your own death warrant.”

  They ignore her final statement as they leave, locking the door behind them.

  Even in their silence, I can tell that her words shook them up because they’re nowhere near as cocky as they were when they arrived.

  JJ

  Present Day

  I watch Maddi check the locked door and window numerous times before she starts pacing around the room. She must make her circuit two dozen times before I finally snap.

  “Would you sit down? You’re making me dizzy with your pacing.”

  Her eyes fill with irritation, but she stops pacing and sits on the end of the bed. We’ve studiously ignored each other since we were left alone, but it’s time. I have a pounding headache, and I still feel like vomiting. My stress is eating me alive.

  I need answers.

  “Can you tell me what’s happening here? I’m mixed up in this bullshit, and I don’t understand a thing.”

  Swinging her long, tanned legs in front of her—legs which are displayed in their full glory by the tiny jogging shorts she’s wearing—it takes her a few moments to answer me. I spend that time glaring at her legs as though they’ve personally offended me. I swear they’re twice the length of mine. Lucky bitch.

  “They snatched me when I was jogging this morning. They hit the brother Timber sent to shadow me with a frigging car before they dragged me into it. The Club’ll know I’m missing, and they’ll be looking. We’ll be fine. We just have to wait for them to find us.”

  What a fine non-answer that is. She’s told me exactly nothing.

  “I understand the whole code of silence bullshit the Shamrocks follow, but I’m involved in this now, so I want to know the details. Why did Connor and Sherri have us kidnapped? What did Connor mean about you being fucked up and broken? What the hell is the story between Lucas and Sherri? Why did those two guys basically shit their pants when you mentioned your father, Mad Dog, and Lucas?”

  As I throw my questions at her, I climb from the bed and stand in front of her with my hands on my hips. She looks at me with open curiosity, and a small bit of sympathy, before she rolls her eyes. She pats the bed next to her, but I disregard her invitation to sit. I’d rather stand so I’m looking down at her for once. The woman’s built like a damn swimsuit model. I feel better maintaining my slight edge over her.

  “Have it your way,” she sighs. “What’s happening now stems from some stuff—bad stuff—that happened to me when I was eighteen. It caught up with me and the Club about seven months ago and is the reason Joel was hurt.”

  I lift my right eyebrow when she stops speaking, indicating that she should continue. I can hear her counting from five to one in a quiet voice as she breathes in and out deeply. I’ve taken a few yoga classes, so I recognize the calming technique.

  What’s she about to tell me that requires her to calm herself?

  “The Club helped me fix my stuff, but it caused them a big problem before it was fixed. Sherri and Connor were part of that problem, and the Club’s been looking for them ever since. Apparently they’ve decided to come out of hiding. Now they’re using us as pawns in their game, because of our relationships with Mik and Timber. The Club’ll be one step ahead of them, and we’ll be fine. That’s all you need to know.”

  Sliding backward on the bed until her back touches the wall, she leans against it. Pulling
the elastic from her dishevelled hair, she runs her fingers through it as she gathers it into a knot and secures it again. Once she’s fixed her hair, she starts examining her nails.

  The Princess has dismissed me, it would seem.

  “Well, thanks for that. You basically answered nothing.”

  Giving up, I sit down on the side of the bed that I’ve mentally claimed as my own. I can understand having faith in the Shamrocks because they’ve always struck me as very dangerous, yet capable. What I don’t understand is her blind conviction that we should just sit here and wait for them. We don’t even know if they know we’re missing yet. We should be trying to find a way out so that we can contact the police and have these maniacs dealt with.

  Ordinary people do not kidnap others over a vendetta caused by problems, just like ordinary people do not sit around waiting for an outlaw Motorcycle Club to rescue them.

  Regarding Maddi as she leans back against the wall with her eyes shut, the ill-feeling I felt toward her last night begins to trickle back into my consciousness. Of all the people in the world I could’ve found myself in this shitty situation with, it had to be her.

  Little Miss Perfect.

  The beautiful, smart lawyer.

  The woman who manages to wrap every man she comes into contact with around her little finger.

  The woman who the man I have feelings for is in love with.

  The universe is having a gigantic laugh at my expense. I’ve never been good enough for my own family, and now I have this goddess to compete with in my love life.

  A small laugh escapes from me at the thought of my love life and I close my eyes, copying Maddi by resting against the wall.

  What love life?

  Am I seriously entertaining the notion of pursuing anything with Lucas after I’ve been kidnapped because of his Club?

  I’d kick my own ass for being so stupid if I could.

  We are over.

  Done.

  Finito.

  “I was repeatedly raped and beaten by my first boyfriend. He blackmailed me into keeping quiet about it. He nearly killed me before Mik rescued me from him.”

  My eyes fly open with shock, and I raise my head to look at her.

  Maddi hasn’t moved or even opened her eyes, but her hands are fisted at her sides as she keeps speaking. The pain she exudes takes my breath away, even though I’m certain that I’m only hearing the bare essentials of her story.

  “He went to jail for some of what he did to me, and I got on with life as much as I could. Mik and Timber looked after me the best they were able, but they couldn’t do much because there was only a handful of people who knew what’d happened to me, and that was the way I wanted to keep it. Dad and Wendy didn’t know, neither did my younger brothers or the Club.”

  An image of Beast losing his temper and Maddi’s stepmother Wendy trying to calm him flits through my mind. I’ve seen him in action at a couple of parties. He’s a scary, bad-tempered man. I imagine what he would have done if he’d known what had happened to his only daughter.

  Exhaling loudly, Maddi opens her eyes and faces me.

  Her expression is somber and her eyes are filled with tears that she’s refusing to let fall, but she radiates a strength and worldliness that makes me feel like a toddler.

  Our life experiences are miles apart.

  My problems feel small in comparison.

  “This is between us. I’m not kidding, JJ. Nobody outside the Club is supposed to know.”

  I nod at her vehement words. Lucas has explained to me a million times about the Club and its “what happens at the Club, stays at the Club” policy.

  Not that I’ve heard anything interesting yet.

  “My ex tried to organise a hostile takeover of the Club when he was released from jail, using Connor and Sherri’s Old Man to organize it from the inside, and another Club to attack us from the outside. He had me kidnapped and after I escaped him, he had Joel tortured and almost killed as a way of getting me to go back to him. It didn’t work because Mik and Timber messed up their plans. In the end, my ex ended up dead, but so did one of our senior brothers. Sherri’s Old Man was killed as well, but Sherri and Connor disappeared.”

  “Shit,” I mutter as what she’s telling me sinks in.

  I’m caught in the middle of a war between two outlaw Motorcycle Clubs.

  A war that’s already killed people.

  “Yeah, shit,” Maddi agrees. Scooting across the bed, she grabs my hand in hers. “So now you know the details, do you understand why I want you to sit tight and wait for our men? They’re the only people capable of ending this. Not the police. Not us. No one but Mik, Timber, and the Club can end this.”

  I heed her pleas with a small incline of my head.

  I’m not completely sold on the wisdom of waiting for her Club, but that’s not an argument we need to have at the moment. We don’t exactly have a variety of other options at our disposal to argue about.

  “So you think Connor and Sherri had both of us kidnapped because of what Mad Dog and Lucas did back then? This is revenge?”

  “That’d be the million dollar question, JJ. I can’t work out why they’ve decided to head down this path now. The two of them versus the Shamrocks doesn’t make sense, even if they’ve got those two other idiots helping them. Something else is going on, and we need to keep our heads until I can work it out.”

  Our discussion is aborted when the lock on the door starts jangling, the door swinging open seconds later. Connor strides in, evil intent written on his face. The two men from earlier follow him.

  Holding a hand out to Maddi, he motions for her to stand with a jerk of his head. She ignores him, holding my hand tighter and offering me a small smile of comfort.

  I return her effort. It’s half-hearted at best because I’m scared witless.

  “Get up, bitch,” he barks at her.

  When she doesn’t listen, he smiles as if her stubbornness pleases him.

  Closing the distance between us, he backhands her across the face, sending her flying into the wall behind us. My heart starts pounding in my chest when he stares at me.

  Grabbing a handful of my hair, he jerks my head back, and I let out a small whimper as my scalp stings in response to his manhandling.

  “Now, Princess, we can do this the easy way or the hard way.” The words that were said to me last night fill me with unease, and it registers that he was the one who rendered me unconscious. “You can be a good baby girl and come with us now, or we can have some fun with your little friend to give you some fucking incentive.”

  I whimper again when he pulls my head closer to his. Sucking my bottom lip into his mouth, he bites down on it. I taste blood after he breaks the skin. Holding my head still in an effort to minimize any further damage, I sob when he bites harder. I shove my hands against his shoulders to push him away from me. Spitting my lip out of his mouth, he laughs at my futile efforts before jamming his free hand between my legs and rubbing my vagina roughly. I squirm away from him as much as his hold in my hair will allow.

  He falls away when Maddi launches herself onto his back, and wrestles him off of me. She lands on top of him on the floor, and lands two good punches to his face before the other men grab her by her arms, and lift her off Connor.

  She’s a wildcat, twisting wildly and scratching at them until Connor picks himself up from the concrete floor and punches her in the stomach, and then in the face. She falls still with a pained groan. My heart reaches out to her as I watch her trying to regain her breath and ride out the pain he’s inflicted, but I don’t move to help her.

  Shit just got real, and I’m scared.

  Frozen stiff with fear.

  Nobody pays any further attention to me as they concentrate on dragging a now subdued Maddi from the room and lock the door.

  I push myself into my corner of the bed, and wrap my arms around my knees as tears stream down my face.

  I want to go home.

  LUCAS

>   Present Day

  Fuck this shit.

  Standing in the waiting room of the emergency department at the hospital, I swallow down my pathetic wish that JJ will stumble across us so I can spend some time with her without breaking my stipulations from last night.

  I feel like a pussy, but I need to lean on someone right now.

  One of my brothers was hit by a fucking car this morning, and Princess was snatched.

  Again.

  Sal’s one of our most respected brothers, so the waiting area is crowded with patches and families as we wait to hear whether he’s gonna survive.

  Surrounding us are cops and the fucking media.

  The cops are involved because bystanders called them after the shit went down and Maddi was wrestled against her will into a car in broad fucking daylight. The media are here since they crawl out of the woodwork like fucking cockroaches when it comes to a good outlaw biker story nowadays.

  Their presence is pissing the entire Club off. The atmosphere is tense, a powder keg of frustration and resentment looking for a place to explode. Since scrutiny is the last thing we need with the interest directed at the Club recently, a delicate balance of menace and calm is being maintained.

  For the moment.

  We’re all stuck here, having been ordered by Beast to stay put and wait for the cops to lose interest so we can start digging into what happened properly. We have scouts out—lower-ranking brothers who the cops don’t know as well—asking questions, but we’ve made the presence of the Club’s officers at the hospital known to the cops.

  Beast has decided—without consultation—that it’ll make them back off quicker.

  Our relationship with the authorities has taken a nosedive since Maddi’s fucked-up ex went missing, and his politician father pointed fingers at the Black Shamrocks. It’s all smoke and mirrors and will amount to absolutely fucking nothing since they’ll never find the rapist cunt—his body was fed to the pigs on Beast’s farm months ago, mere hours after Maddi shot and killed him after he raped and beat her again.