Rush - Blue Devils MC Book 2 (Book 1 Included FREE for a short time only!) (5 page)

Maybe it was both.

The Harley came to a stop again, and this time, Rush cut the engine. “We’re here, Blue,” he said softly into the cool morning air. Sitting up, Hannah stretched. The disappearance of the rumbling of the motorcycle was disorienting and as she dismounted from the bike and looked around, she was rudely thrown back into reality.
This is a motorcycle club and I don’t belong here.

Rush grabbed her hand and pulled her forward. “C’mon, all of the guys are waiting inside. We better get going.” Hannah stumbled, weakness overtaking her in a rush, drowning her in its dark embrace. She wanted nothing more than to lie down on a bed and continue her nap. Sleep until she actually felt better.

Supporting her as they walked, Rush and Hannah made it into the clubhouse, when Hannah spied Lain.

Fuck it, not him. Not right now
.

Lain came bounding over, followed by a short -
everyone is short to you, Hannah
- curvy, gorgeous blonde gal. She seemed rather possessive of Lain, and Hannah blinked several times, wondering if her eyesight had gone a little weird on her. Lain did sheep. Lain
only
did sheep. This blonde chick was
not
acting like a sheep.

Before Hannah could decide if she was completely losing it - head injuries did that to a person, right? - the blonde was nudging Lain and jerking her head towards Hannah in a not-so-subtle “suggestion” to introduce them. Lain’s eyes flicked over her and in that moment, Hannah regretted agreeing to Rush’s harebrained idea.
Goddammit, I don’t think I can make it through this!

Aided by an even less subtle nudge than before, Lain finally remembered his manners and barked out, “Hannah, this is Ella Anderson, my girlfriend. Ella, this is Hannah Blue Wright. The bitch who left Copper Lode 13 years ago and was never going to come back.” Maybe “remembered his manners” was a bit of a stretch, after all.

All of the air left the room in that moment, and the world tilted just a little bit as Hannah tried to remember to breathe. And then, Rush was
punching
Lain and Hannah thought that she’d finally crossed over full-blown hallucination because Rush would
die
for Lain, and she knew it, and everyone knew it and then there was a fight. Right in front of her. Rush was taller but Lain was built like a fucking brick house and Hannah felt a cry of desperation and worry fly out of her mouth unbidden and the world started to go black around the edges.

Ella was holding her up -
when did that happen???
- and then there was a guy in a leather vest on her other side and they were walking her towards the back of the clubhouse. Ella was prattling on about how everything was going to be okay but Hannah had a hard time holding onto the words. They were slipping away, no matter how hard she tried to reach out and hold them in her hands. Hold them in her mind.

And then they were pulling off her shoes and pulling the covers over her and she sighed into the pillow. “Thank you,” she said, except it came out funny -
shank oo
- and she wanted to say she was sorry and tell them that she would leave and never bother anyone ever again but the darkness had come and it swallowed her whole.

Chapter Five

Rush

The guys were pulling them apart, and Rush gave a few more halfhearted swings at Lain’s stubborn-ass head before he finally let the other members win their tug-a-war. They stood glaring at each other, two worn-out bulls in an arena, breathing heavily. Rush noted the blood trickling from Lain’s eyebrow with satisfaction, and then the bruise that was already starting to form around his eye.
He deserved every bit of that, calling my Blue a bitch.

He stopped short.

When did she become
my
Blue? She hasn’t been
my
Blue in years.

“Let’s go into the chapel,” Lain barked, and the men walked in, subdued. They gathered around the large stainless steel table that dominated the room, with Lain at the head. It was the first time since the shoot-out at the motel four days ago that they’d met as a club, and of course, it was the first meeting of the Blue Devils where Lain was president. It felt strangely weird and yet somehow exactly right
not
to see Brock sitting there, a jackass smile on his face, trying to convince the club to follow yet another one of his godawful ideas.

Lain looked around the table at each of the members one by one. “My brothers,” he finally said, “thank you for your confidence in me. Thank you for backing me when the chips were down. Killing Brock that night was one of the most fucking awful things I’ve ever had to do, and seeing it split our club in two…I hope we never have shit like that happen again.” His eyes flicked over to Rush and as always, Rush knew what he was thinking. He knew Lain was worried that after having already split their club in two, that he was about to lose his best friend too.

Rush jerked his head once in acknowledgment of Lain’s fears, and Lain nodded back. Rush took a deep breath and looked down at the table, letting the air out slowly. They may have been trying to pound each other into the ground minutes before, but they were still together. They were still on the same side.

“First order of business: As the new club president, I want to name Rush as my vice-president. We may have our differences when it comes to certain brunettes,” Lain continued with a lopsided grin, “but Rush is the best choice I could make for that position.”

Lain hadn’t discussed this with Rush beforehand, but it didn’t matter. Despite Lain’s complete lack of manners when it came to Blue, they were best friends. “Absolutely,” he said without hesitation. Lain nodded his thanks and then turned towards Crow. “And I want you as my Sgt at Arms and Ride Master.”

Chili had held that position for years now, but he’d left, along with Butch and Pug and all the rest of the guys. Rush’s heart twisted for just a moment at the thought that Chili wouldn’t be coming back through those doors. He wouldn’t be goading anyone into a chili eating contest, or sitting out on the back porch when a monsoon came sweeping in. Rush would miss Chili most of all.

But Crow was a good choice. He was a damn good shot, and kept a calm head in tough situations. Crow nodded once in acceptance, and Lain nodded back.

“Okay, so now the hard part. We have to figure out what to do with Hannah. Rush, why don’t you fill the whole club in on what happened yesterday and this morning at the hospital?”

Rush launched into a summary without missing a beat, but couldn’t help but be surprised by this opening. Lain was actually going to give him a chance to tell his side of the story. There was no way he was going to goddamn waste it.

He spent the next few minutes getting everyone up to speed.

“I had to bring her back here,” he finished the story with a shrug. “I didn’t know where else to take her or what to do when I saw that
Chupa
standing there. Those goddamn police were obviously not going to protect her. If I hadn’t been there, Blue would be dead.”

“And that may be true,” Lain said, finally speaking for the first time since Rush launched into his story. “But did it ever occur to you that by
kidnapping
Hannah - and that’s exactly what everyone is going to think happened, including her father - the police may think that you did it because you were wanting to take out the only living witness to the abduction of those kids? If you’d thrown her on your bike and driven to the nearest police station, they probably would’ve believed you when you said you were just trying to protect her. But you didn’t. You drove her two hours away to a known 1% MC. The Tucson police don’t know that we started cleaning up our act four days ago, and they sure as hell won’t think that kidnapping a kidnapping victim is a great way to start down the road to legitimacy.”

Rush stared at him, a sick feeling of dread spreading through his stomach. No, he really hadn’t realized that’s what the police would think. He’d taken Blue, and he’d run to the only safe haven he’d ever known. He’d taken her to his home, where he knew he could protect her. Anyone who knew him, would know that he would never intentionally hurt Blue.
Never
.

But the Tucson police
didn’t
know him. And he really had fucked up.

***

Hannah rolled over with a groan. It felt like someone had stuffed her mouth with gauze. She blinked, trying to get her eyes to focus, when she felt the bed shift beside her. She turned her head gingerly, trying to figure out who the hell was in bed with her, when her eyes found Ella’s smiling face.

Oh. Right. Lain’s girlfriend. Nice chick, even if she has questionable taste in men.

“How’s your head feeling?” Ella asked through a yawn.

Hannah reached up and probed gently at the wound on the side of her head. She didn’t think she’d reopened the scar forming there, and when she pulled her hand away without any blood on it, that theory was confirmed. Thank God, because she really didn’t want to go check herself into another hospital. They weren’t on her favorites list at the moment.

“Uhhh, good,” she said belatedly, realizing she hadn’t actually answered Ella’s question. “Why are you here? It’s like…” she cast her eyes around the room and realized there was no clock to be found, “way early in the morning. Why did you come with Lain to the clubhouse?” Based on her admittedly limited knowledge of sheep or old ladies or whatever the hell Ella was, they weren’t usually involved in the meetings in the chapel. Sure, Lain had called her his girlfriend, but Hannah was damn sure that she must’ve just misheard him. Lain didn’t
do
girlfriends.

“Well, when Lain got the phone call from Rush this morning, it woke us both up, and I figured why stay behind if I can come where the action is?” She shrugged and grinned. “Plus, it’s kinda hard to keep my hands off Lain, so there’s that.”

Hannah could think of one place she’d like to place her hands on Lain - wrapped tightly around his neck - but she didn’t think Ella would appreciate hearing that, so she kept her mouth shut.

“And anyway, the Blue Devils are going to go after the
Chupacabras
to try to get the little girls back. No doubt Lain will be wanting to interrogate you about the kidnapping, to see what he can learn.”

Hannah tried to contain her groan at the thought but good God, the idea of having Lain question her was just…terrifying.

Ella looked at her appraisingly. “Listen, Lain and I are…pretty new. Together. We haven’t been dating long.” She stopped, drew a deep breath, and started again. “We haven’t had a lot of time to swap our deepest, darkest secrets with each other, but this morning, after he hung up with Rush, he told me why he was so worried about Rush bringing you back here.

“The police are going to think Rush kidnapped you, Hannah. Against your will.”

Hannah just stared at her in shock but even as she opened her mouth to protest it -
Rush would never hurt me,
never! - she realized that it was true. Rush hadn’t told anyone about the
Chupa
and the guy was well hidden under a pile of dirty laundry. Who knew how long it would be before the
Chupa
was found? It had just been instinctual - do what Rush thought was best. No matter how much of a jackass he was about the Blue Devils and Lain and Copper Lode, he would also lay down his life to protect the person he loved.

Or used to love.

She tried not to think very hard on that topic.

“This kinda fucked the Blue Devils, Hannah,” Ella said softly, drawing Hannah’s eyes back to her. Focusing on the present. On what to do now.

Oh God, what
did
she do now?

She stared at Ella, beautiful and warm and welcoming, and tried to come up with a plan. Some way to fix this.
Goddamn it, I’m a schoolteacher, not an action-adventure heroine!

A small part of her was surprised by how intelligent Ella appeared to be. Unlike the Bimbos of the Day that Lain had dated their senior year, there was something about Ella that impressed Hannah right off the bat. She was self-confident; the kind of person that it felt natural to rely on.

“What if,” Ella said, slowly, feeling her way through the idea, “you called your father - only your dad is in the picture, right?” Hannah nodded, wondering where the hell this was going. “What if you called him and asked him to lie for you?” Hannah cocked an eyebrow, not wanting to reject the idea without hearing her out but
really
not liking where it was going.

Ella continued in a rush, wanting to get it out before Hannah could tell her no. “The Blue Devils can do a lot better in trying to find your students if they don’t have the police breathing down their necks every step of the way. They’re not bound by things like laws and shit,” she said with a grin and a casual wave of her hand in the air, brushing away those pesky laws. “Last time the
Chupacabras
kidnapped a bunch of little girls, they got off on a technicality.”

“Last time??” Hannah echoed in horror. “This happened before?!”

“Yes, and they got off because the police screwed up. Didn’t follow the proper procedures and the judge had to throw the whole case out. It was a royal fuck-up. The whole gang was deported back to Mexico and told to never come back, but…” She shrugged. “You can see how well that worked out.

“Anyway, the Blue Devils want to make sure that this time, they don’t get off scot free. But if the police are busy investigating the Blue Devils, then the Blue Devils won’t be able to investigate the kidnapping. Which is where the brilliance of
my
plan comes into play.” She grinned at Hannah in triumph and Hannah smiled back, unable to resist her enthusiasm and excitement, even if it was leading in a direction she really wasn’t sure she wanted to go.

“If you call your dad and convince him to lie to the police and the media for you and say that he arranged for you to be moved overnight because of security concerns and that he intentionally didn’t tell anyone because he wanted to keep it all a secret, then the police will have to back off and quit giving the Blue Devils the stink eye. Rush will be able to continue to protect you because
obviously
the police were doing a fucking awful job of it when they were in charge, so you definitely don’t want to go back to them, and the Blue Devils will be able to find those motherfucking
Chupas
and whomp their asses.”

She smiled triumphantly at Hannah, obviously pleased with herself and her plan. Hannah turned it over and over in her mind, trying to find the flaws in it, the reason why it was just the worst idea in the world, so she could go back to burying her head in the pillow and sleeping. Anything to avoid calling her dad and telling him that she was with Rush again. He was going to like that about as much as Lain liked it.

But then she remembered Isabel Lara’s face and like a punch in the gut, panic shot through her.
Isabel, where are you, darlin’? God, I hope you’re okay. If those
puta madres
try anything, knee them between the legs and run. Fuck, I never taught you self-defense moves. I never thought you’d need them. Not when you’re ten, for God’s sake. Goddamn it, I was supposed to protect you, and I didn’t. I let you down.

“I’ll do it,” she said. She had to. Isabel needed her.

Ella handed over her cell phone. “Thanks,” Hannah said, tapping in her dad’s cell phone number. The phone rang and rang, and then went to voicemail. She hit the red phone icon and stared at the screen, worrying her bottom lip. “Dad is a heavy sleeper and this whole thing hit him hard,” she said, unnecessarily explaining the problem to Ella. She knew Ella didn’t need to know, but the words spilled out of her anyway. “Dad tried to remarry once - that’s how Rush and I found each other, actually, was at their wedding - but it didn’t work out. They got a divorce just months later. I’m Dad’s only child and he may’ve spaced on raising me and actually parenting me at times, but I never doubted that he loved me. This whole shooting…thing threw him for a loop.”

She took a shuddering breath and then looked back up at Ella. “Okay, let’s try it a second time.” The phone rang and rang, then voicemail.
Goddammit.

“So how did you and Lain meet?” Hannah said, trying to change the subject while they waited. Waited for her dad to wake up or get out of the shower or whatever the fuck he was doing. Hannah shifted impatiently on the bed, wanting to just do it and get it over with - beg her dad for his help, and listen to him list the 947 reasons why being around Rush again was a godawful idea and hopefully, eventually, talk him into helping her anyway.