Savage Love (Back Down Devil MC #7)(77)

"Okay," Emily said. "Sorry."

Gaige hurried to his motorcycle and handed Emily his helmet. "Put this on and hold tight."

Gunfire continued.

Gaige started his bike and looked back to the table. He saw the men from the circle standing there, machine gun like rifles resting on their shoulders. He feared for Blaine, who was still on the ground with the dead woman on top of him.

Nate took the lead and Gaige peeled out behind him.

The men on the table started to shoot but the bullets missed Gaige and Nate.

They sped down the alley and cut out into traffic in a blur of dangerous moves. Car tires squealed, horns honked, and Gaige and Nate both maneuvered through the evening traffic.

Once far enough from the junkyard, Gaige and Nate ended up next to each other, riding off into the night. The open road in front of them and a destruction of hell behind them.

Welcome to the life of the Back Down Devil Motorcycle Club.





six.



Emily closed her eyes, put her head against Gaige’s back, and wished everything she had just seen would all go away. The body of her best friend, her back riddled with bullets. That scummy biker guy - Blaine - holding her tight on the ground, acting like he didn’t give a shit about her. Of course he didn’t give a shit about her. Bikers didn’t give a shit about anything except themselves and their clubs.

Which made Emily wonder why Gaige was offering her a ride out of the junkyard. The sick cuts left and right on the motorcycle were enough to make Emily want to vomit. At any given second she thought the bike was going to drop and they would slide under a car or truck. It didn’t surprise Emily that Gaige could handle the motorcycle as well as he did, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t afraid the entire time.

When she didn’t think of the two wheeled beast moving at an obscene high rate of speed she could only then think about Rachel. The more she thought about Rachel the more she had to face the fact that her best friend was dead for no reason. Bullets took her life and she did nothing to deserve those bullets.

Emily finally lifted her head just in time to see the see the motorcycle in front of her hang a right as a gate opened. They rode into another compound, this one with a long line of motorcycles and a collection of cars. There was a garage and an old building that read BDD EXPORTS.

The motorcycle in front, ridden by the tall, thick guy, Nate, stopped and he backed into his spot. Gaige got in front of Nate and performed the same action. The motorcycles then stopped. Nate climbed off his bike and stood with his hands in fists, obviously waiting for Gaige to make a move. When Gaige tilted the bike, Emily had no choice but to get off or else she would have fallen.

Gaige walked to the front of his motorcycle and stood for a second. He ran a hand through his hair and then looked back at the building.

“We need a meeting,” he said.

“Yeah,” Nate said. “Want me to call Miller?”

“You f*cking better,” Gaige said. “He’s on a run, but we need him back to the table. This shit can’t go without something happening. That was a f*cking ambush.”

“I was there, brother,” Nate said. “What about…”

Nate nodded toward Emily. When she had both sets of eyes upon her, she grew worried. Would they kill her? She was a witness to something very serious, wasn’t she? Not only had she seen illegal fights and gambling, she had been the witness to a shootout and a murder.

“Let me talk to her,” Gaige said. He grabbed Nate by the shoulder. “I’ll be okay. Go in the office and call Miller. Head up to the clubhouse and see who’s there. We need to round this up fast and make a decision. I don’t want these f*ckers to think they got to us.”

“They think Blaine is dead,” Nate said.

“Hopefully,” Gaige said.

Emily’s lips quivered. Blaine survived because Rachel had been used a human shield, taking all those bullets to her back. Without warning. Without need.

“It’s not fair,” Emily finally said. Her entire body started to shake. “It’s not fair…”

“You better get to that,” Nate said.

He hugged Gaige and then walked away, the leather chains dangling from his jeans clanking together.

Emily saw Gaige turn to face her. His eyes and face looked sympathetic, but she knew this part. It was part of the life. The life that Emily didn’t want. The life that she ran from before. The life that Rachel never knew anything about.

“Beautiful, I need you to look at me,” Gaige said.

“It’s not fair,” Emily said again.

“Emily…”

“She didn’t get it. She wouldn’t listen to me. She thought it was a game. She thought it was fun.”

“Listen to me,” Gaige said. “I’m sorry for what happened back there. That was retaliation on the club. That will never happen again.”

Gaige put his hand out Emily stared at it. She noted the size of his hand. She wondered how many people he had hurt with that hand. How many times that hand hit other people’s faces or pulled a trigger.

She slowly lifted her gaze to Gaige.

“Look, I’m not here to play f*cking games, beautiful,” Gaige said. “I took you to save you. I could have left you back there in that f*cking mess. I’m doing you a favor and trying to help you.”