Secret Mayhem (Back Down Devil MC #4)(31)

Ava flickered a smile. Shay grabbed her by the waist and turned her toward the tile. He kissed her, and Ava knew then it was going to be a long, hot shower.





thirteen.



As soon as Miller got back, he pulled Shay from the bar into the meeting room. He left the door mostly open. The clubhouse roared with life and laughter. The Lost Men were loud, but they were not relaxed. Every other word seemed to be about sex, booze, or killing someone.

“Getting restless out there,” Shay said to Miller.

Miller waved a hand. “Fuck them. They’re here for bodies, nothing more. I have them out on a run right now.”

“What kind of run?” Shay asked.

“I Sent Jace and Landon to head up six of them to just cruise around. Check for anything unusual. Like a car ready to explode...”

Shay nodded. “Yeah. That seems to be the trend.”

“Heard you ran after that car,” Miller said.

“Yeah,” Shay said. “I had to stop it. No more innocent people need to get hurt. Besides, I needed to make sure your protection run went smoothly.

Miller put a hand to Shay’s shoulder. “I appreciate that, Shay. But now that Jakey is safe and that is out of our way, we need to finish this. I want to know why. I don’t just want revenge. I want to know it all. Nobody has tried to sneak into our home like this before. It’s like whoever it is has no real desire to take the MC down.” Miller turned around and faced the Back Down Devil banner on the wall. “It's like they want to just take out one of us… don't you agree, Shay?”

“We will get through this. We have the bodies. We have the force,” Shay said. He felt himself making fists.

“Where’s the enemy then?” Miller asked. “This guy is building fear in our club, and that's the one and only thing that can bring an entire MC to the ground. This guy is smart and he knows what he wants."

“I don’t fear anything,” Shay said. “We need to hit the streets. Hard. All day. All night. We need to go right into Eight Under territory and make our point known. Maybe we can have Griffin set up some of his own explosives.”

“There were two guys,” Miller said. “Strokner said so. One we took out. The other one - the one with the gold tooth and the scar - we don’t even know where or when he’s operating.”

Miller hung his head for a second.

Guilt was crippling Shay, but he fought it off.

A few seconds later, there was a knock at the door.

Gaige came into the room with Nate. Behind Nate came Strokner.

Of all damn people.

Wearing a nice suit, he looked tired and out of place. His eyes were deep, the bags under his eyes heavy. He didn’t look like a sane businessman.

“What the hell is this?” Miller bellowed.

“Strokner wanted to talk to us,” Gaige said.

“Let him talk,” Nate said.

Miller shot a look at Nate. “Who the f*ck are you? What’s your patch say?”

“Patches,” Strokner said and laughed. “I have something to talk about. I don’t care about patches.”

“In this room?” Shay asked. “You know what this…”

Strokner unbuttoned his suit jacket and opened it. Shay didn’t want to believe his eyes when he saw what was around his waist.

“Are you f*cking kidding me?” Miller asked.

“I had no choice,” Strokner said. “If you don’t let me talk, I press a button and we all disappear. I can see my daughter then. And Back Down Devil will be no more.”

Miller came forward. “Listen to me, Strokner. You kill me, the MC lives on. You blow up our meeting room, we’ll rebuild it. Tell me what you need. We don’t have time for anymore bullshit.”

“He’s watching all of you,” Strokner said. “Calmly watching. Seeking some kind of cold revenge. It’s terrifying to look at him. He touches that scar on his neck all the time. It means something. And he thinks I’m in the MC. I have his name. But you’ll never get to him, Miller. You’ll never be able to.”

“What does he want?” Miller asked.

Shay caught himself stepping back. His brother had more power than ever it seemed. He always loved to scare. It was more thrilling to him than killing. Killing was just a necessary part of his life.

“He won’t tell me. I’ve tried but he doesn’t trust many people. Way to make enemies with a crazy *.”

“Hey,” Gaige said. “What this club does means dick to you. We’re helping you and you’re helping us.”

“Oh, that piece of land I want, right?” Strokner asked and laughed. “Where so many secrets are hidden…”

Shay pulled his gun and pointed it. One pull and he could blow Strokner’s brains out.

“Shay!” Miller bellowed. “Don't!” Miller kept his gaze on Strokner. “Give me the name. Then get the f*ck out of here. You don’t come into his clubhouse with weapons or explosives.”

“It’s the only way I could get to you all,” Strokner said. “I see you’ve brought some friends into town. You could have an army and you still won’t be able to find your enemy.”

Shay's mind went back to the night he saw his brother talking to Eight Under. He had had a chance to take a shot and didn’t.