Page 33 of Fire Meets Fire

Hearing male voices drinking and having fun used to have me not hesitating to join them, being well able to down beer and horse around just as much as them. But those six months, those twenty-six weeks, broke me. My hands clench.

I’m Queenie ‘Helo’ May. I’m a fucking Night Stalker, top of my game.

I’m a broken woman, no longer able to drive, ride or fly.

Try as I might, I can’t slow my heart down, nor can shake the feeling of impending doom. This no longer feels like the sanctuary that allowed me to sleep. I’m on edge. I’m trying tofight sinking deeper into a mental dark hole of my own making when a brisk warning knock sounds at the door before it’s pushed open. A wild-eyed Chaz enters.

My initial thought is that I’m grateful for the company to get me out of my head, the second does nothing to restore my equilibrium when I see the expression on his face. For the first time since I’ve met him, he doesn’t seem sure of himself. His hands brush back over his bald head, then he does that again. His mouth opens, then shuts without any words coming out.

I watch as he takes a shuddering breath and draws back his shoulders. Then he bows forward, putting his hands on his knees, murmuring unintelligible words under his breath, before finally, he straightens, his mouth firm, as he obviously comes to a decision.

“We’ve got to go now,” he snaps.

I’ve heard that tone before, used it myself, normally in a matter where delay was a matter of life or death. He hasn’t brought the food that he promised, and my stomach’s decidedly empty, but his expression warns me not to mention that.

I don’t know him well enough to blindly follow him. “Why now?”

His eyes still and become dark. His chest expands, then deflates, and the words that he utters sound like a plea. “Trust me?”

If it was a demand I give him my faith, then I’d have baulked against such instruction. But that undeniable question mark at the end shows me he’s giving me a choice. I’m bemused. When he left, there was a calmness about him, a confidence that all was well in his world. Now he’s back, that certainty seems to have deserted him. He seems unsure, uncertain, and for a second I can’t understand why. Then the only answer I can think of occurs to me. While I wouldn’t expect a hardened MC prezwould be overly worried about the fact, his behaviour suggests my past has caught up with me, and he needs to get me away.

Could I have underestimated whoever was after me? Could they pull together enough of a crew to threaten an MC?Of course, knowing the size of the bounty offered for me, that I have underestimated is probably fact.

Whatever the question, the answer is clear. Chaz is suggesting nothing I don’t want. I’ve got to get away from here.

Maybe it’s stupid to put my trust in one man. Chaz could be taking metomy enemy instead of away. But there’s something about his agitation, his urgency to leave that transmits to me. He wastes no time. After I give him a rise of my chin, agreeing to go with him, he throws my backpack at me, then as he opens the door, signals me to stay back until he’s checked it’s all clear.

Are they already in the clubhouse?It’s the only explanation that comes to mind. Just the thought gets adrenaline rushing through my body as my heart starts to pound. Not fear, but anticipation, much like hearing the sound of the rotors starting to turn, knowing we could be lifting off and facing anything.

My hands don’t shake. My nerves are rock steady as I go into action mode. Following Chaz’s example, I quietly step out of the door and follow him along the hall in the opposite direction to the stairs. Without being told, I quietly ease down the fire escape stairs which brings us to the rear of the building, then carefully skirt the brickwork until we’re out front where the bikes are parked.

Chaz signals me to stay back while he gets his bike out of line, then, when he gives an urgent summons with his hand, I rush forward and throw myself on behind him. He waves to the prospect manning the gate and instructs him.

“Close the gate behind us and don’t let anyone else out. You do and you won’t be getting your fuckin’ patch.”

Shitface’s eyes widen at his strange instruction, but snaps to attention as his prez starts the bike and quickly gets into gear, twisting the throttle so hard, if I wasn’t holding on, I’d have been in danger of sliding off the back.

I glance behind as we hit the road and see the prospect has done as instructed.

I tap Chaz’s shoulder as we pass the turn that would have led to Harold’s, but he ignores my touch and the wind whips away my frustrated shout. I’ve no option but to be driven away into the unknown without clothes, toiletries or anything.

Fuck my life.

Accepting it must be too dangerous to go get my shit, I let my heart rate gradually slow to match the thump of the engine. I’m just relieved to be moving away from any threat. When I see an object fly past and just have time to note it’s Chaz’s phone, I realise he’s doing all he can to ensure danger remains behind. There’s no way to track us.

Miles fly past accompanied by the roar from the exhaust. I lose sense of time as the road rushes beneath us. At first, I’m exhilarated, enjoying the ride even though I’d rather be controlling the bike. There’s something about motorcycles that give the illusion of freedom that I miss from the sky. But as more time goes by, I start to feel my ass getting numb and wonder how far Chaz intends to take me before dropping me off. For the first few miles, he’d constantly been looking in his rearview, but then when he turned off the main road, made so many twists and turns I could almost believe we were going back to the place we started from, I could feel the tension leave his body.

We ride and ride, keeping to secondary roads and past signposts which don’t help much to give me a final destination and it’s then that belatedly my brain kicks back in.Why did Chaz prevent his brothers from following him?

Damn it! Has he discovered the bounty on my head? Is he now riding to deliver me to my nemesis? Did he delay his brothers as he didn’t want to share the reward?

As the wind whips through my hair, that’s not the only thing starting to chill me.Would Chaz really betray his club like that? What do I know of the man? He’s a criminal living outside the law but the one thing I thought he’d possess in spades is loyalty, to his club if no one else. If he knows of the bounty, would he really keep that to himself?

Two million dollars would be enough to set a man up for life, or, at least, for a very long time. Perhaps he’s been looking for an out from the club and I came along at the right point in his life.

Glancing around his shoulder, I see the bike’s pushing a steady eighty miles an hour. Unless I want to kill myself, I’m his unwilling passenger for now. The one plus is that he’s taking me far away from the place I could have been reported to have been last seen. The danger could be that he’s delivering me to the exact people I don’t want to see.

Moving closer to hug him tighter, as if I’m enjoying the ride, I can feel the bulge against my stomach that suggests he’s carrying a gun in his belt. Although it would be too hard to explain my wandering hands were I to try to prove it, I’d be surprised if he didn’t have another in an ankle holster. I’m carrying one myself. Like normal, underestimating a female, the assholes hadn’t searched me.

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