“Now that you mention it, I remember you explaining that to me.”
Celt chimed in, “So we hit club savings. Gather what we can from the brothers, pay Viper and let Fuse work the rest of it off. He can take on extra security shifts and make extra runs. I’ll pitch in and help him.”
Thunder shook his head. “We don’t have a hundred grand even if we drained every club account and the safe. And most of the brothers aren’t in a position to pull large sums of money out of their asses and it’s not fair to keep coming to the ones that can. It doesn’t take much of that kind of shit to make a brother feel like an ATM.”
I thought about the numbers I’d heard presented at club meetings. There had been a lot of expenses this year. There were repairs on the clubhouse, help for widows and orphans of downed brothers, and we’d spent club money on lawyers and doctors for our brothers in need. The bottom line was that no one had that kind of money to blow simply because I let my mouth write checks my ass couldn’t cover.
“There’s no magic pile of cash,” he said. “The number you bid was more than we can scratch together right now. There is no way to raise that kind of money by midnight.”
I dragged a hand over my face. “Maybe I can trade myself for her,” I said in one last desperate attempt to right what I’d wronged and save the pretty blonde in the process.
Storm stared at me like he couldn’t believe those words had come out of my mouth.
“No. We’re not gonna be leaving you with that vicious bastard either. I compounded your stupid mistake by making one of my own. I said we’d honor the number. There’s no fuckin’ backing out now. I honestly don’t know what the fuck we’re gonna do. Standing in front of them and saying Dark Slayers talks big and can’t back it up, isn’t really an option either.”
Celt spoke, his voice flat and emotionless. “We could just kill ‘em all.”
Storm frowned. “You mean Viper and every single member of his club? I don’t think so, cousin. And I gotta admit this is one of your crazier plans.”
Renegade finally spoke for the first time since this all went down. “I know that you don’t wanna humble the club by going in there and admitting that we don’t have the money but that’s the only play that really makes sense right now. Viper’s an egomaniac. He’d probably love the feeling of us owing him money.”
Celt sighed, “Yeah, maybe we can make some kind of deal? Less money and doing their shit jobs for a while. I’d rather take a hit to our reputation, than let the Vultures get their hands on that poor lassie.”
Shaking my head, I realized just how much trouble I had caused for my club. “I knew this wasn’t a great decision when I made it,” I admitted quietly. “I thought I could figure it out on my own and make it work somehow. I didn’t know Viper was gonna ask the club to guarantee the bid.”
Storm stepped closer until I could see his ice blue eyes and the lines beginning to trace along his face.
“This is your mess,” he said. “Because you did it at a rally, you made it our mess too.” His gaze did not soften. “Learn from this. Don’t ever do anything like this again. Do you understand?”
Full understanding clicked into place in my mind. Whatever came next, the club would stand with me. We’d either get through this, or they would get dragged down right alongside me.
“Yes, Prez,” I promised. “Sorry, I was running on pure emotion, and I panicked at the last second. I won’t make that mistake again.”
Storm glanced around at the others before relaxing his shoulders. “Good. Let’s go and talk with Viper. See if we can find some kind of compromise.”
Chapter 3
Winter
We walked back to Viper’s tent, as brothers from all over the rally stopped us to ogle me and congratulate him on making bank from selling me to some other low-life biker. No matter how fast I walked, he walked faster, dragging me along by one arm. These bikers were as cruel as they were misogynistic. I hated every single one of them.
I remember when my father made this drunken deal. My first thought was that because Viper didn’t immediately rape me or try to slave me out, that maybe he wasn’t so awful after all. That had been naive thinking on my part.
Viper was a dangerous man. He was a control freak who would lash out with very little provocation. His wheels were always turning as well. I never suspected this was what he had in mind for me, much less that he would get away with it. It felt like I was living in some kind of strange reality where up was down and down was up.
At some point, Vulture, an older man who I gathered was the president of Vulture’s Pride MC, had showed up and they started shouting at each other. It was one of his men who’d been bidding on me in the auction, and I guess he wasn’t happy about losing out to the Dark Slayers. One of Viper’s club brothers grabbed me as Viper stepped out to argue with Vulture. If I were forced to root for one of them, I guess it would be Viper. At least he was just selling me on to someone else, instead of pimping me out. Then I felt ashamed for even thinking such a thought.
Their angry voices went back and forth as the crowd grew. I realized they were fighting about me. Vulture yelled while pointing at Viper, “You made the wrong decision, asshole. You know damn good and well that Slayer doesn’t have a hundred fuckin’ grand. I’ve got men lined up that would be willing to pay top dollar for an hour with her.”
“His club said they would make good on his bid. Why would I sell her to you for thirty grand when I can get seventy more? Ain’t no club president dumb enough to leave that kind of money on the table.”
“You’re a greedy fucker and wasting my time. And in my world, time is money.”
The bickering went on until Viper made the first move by punching Vulture in the face. The older man fell back a step and they circled each other, while everyone cheered them on. The next thing I knew, Viper had a switchblade in his hand.
The circle of brothers shouting encouragement tightened around the two men. Their cuts gleamed under the floodlight that had been set up long ago to illuminate the area around the terminal. There were so many feral looking men, all belonging to dozens of different clubs. I never realized there were so many bikers, much less all in this one area.
Someone tossed Vulture a knife and the two men moved towards each other with their knives held high. The blades flashed in the harsh light, catching my eye with every motion. My breath caught in my throat as I watched them circle, their shoulders tight and their movements sharp.
