FILLED: Berserkers MC Read online

  “That may be true,” Santos continued in that same chipper voice. The one that told me he had some kind of leverage over me. I dreaded finding out just what that leverage might be. “But you should probably make more of an effort since I think it’s pretty obvious now that I have something you want.”

  I frowned. Something I wanted? This was one of those moments where I knew I should already know what he was talking about. I should sense it or have picked it out, whatever. I should know. But it was as though I’d forcibly blocked that out, because my brain knew it was something bad. Something so bad that I might not be able to deal with it.

  “What’s that?” I finally asked, dreading the answer but needing to know.

  Santos laughed and I gritted my teeth against the sound. “You really don’t know? I always thought you were just that stupid. Poor, dumb Nester, never could get ahead of the curve, could you?”

  His words were little jabs, more effective because I knew that whatever he said next would eat me up inside. Would eat me alive. I didn’t want to know, but I couldn’t hang up the phone on him, and more to the point, if I didn’t figure out what it was that he had, I was going to spend the rest of my life regretting it. Probably in prison for murder, too, since I would have to kill Santos when it was all said and done.

  That much was obvious even now.

  There was a smile in Santos’s voice as he said, “Zelda.”

  For a long, impossible second, the world stopped. The idea of Santos getting his hands on her, of keeping her and hurting her brought me back to reality. “What do you want?”

  There was a gleeful laugh that came through before he said, “I’ve had a lawyer friend of mine draw up a legal document for me. One that I’d like you to sign.”

  That definitely didn’t sound good. “What document?”

  “One that, like a confession, admits your direct culpability and involvement in the trafficking of drugs in our fair city. I want you to sign it, give it to the police, and confess—because it’s good for the soul—that you are the leader of the drug ring that has been selling the heroine which is so clogging our streets these days.”

  I closed my eyes, sighing internally. That document would be the end of me if I really did sign it. I already had five years for a prior conviction and while I’d served my time, they’d take one look at what that charge was and be positive that I was guilty and that I’d do it again. Which would mean I’d get a sentence much longer than five years if I did as Santos requested.

  Unfortunately, I also knew that I had no choice. Santos had Zelda and he wouldn’t hesitate to do terrible things to her if I didn’t comply.

  “Fine,” I bit out. “I’ll sign your damn document, so long as you promise not to hurt Zelda and let her go.”

  “Sure, sure,” Santos agreed amiably. I knew it was a boldfaced lie, but didn’t interrupt him as he promised me, “I’ll release her as soon as I have your signature.”

  We talked a little longer just to hammer out the details. I demanded to speak to Zelda, but Santos wouldn’t do it. Instead, he took a picture and sent it to me, showing Zelda tied up and looking worse in the harsh lighting than I remembered her being the last time I’d seen her. It made my blood boil, but I did my best to keep my cool. No point in pissing off Santos when Zelda was the only one there to face his wrath.

  Finally, we agreed to meet the following day. He had the document and would have me sign it right then and there. He’d make a copy—just so I didn’t try anything stupid—then give me one to take to the police. I wasn’t looking forward to doing that, but then I didn’t really plan on following through with it.

  Just like Santos didn’t plan on letting Zelda go, whether I complied or not.

  I hung up the phone and started up my bike. I still had time to make the meeting with the rest of the Berserkers and it was more important than ever to do that. I needed a plan before meeting with Santos, and if I wasn’t careful, it would all go wrong.

  Part of me wished the meeting was pushed back a little. I could do wonders with a week, but the other part of me was relieved. I didn’t want Zelda to be stuck with that psychopath any longer than absolutely necessary.

  “Hang on, Zel, I’m coming.”

  Chapter Fourteen

  I had only one day before I had to meet with the snake Santos and strike a deal to get Zelda’s release. If I thought for even a second that Santos would actually let Zelda go after I signed that paper, I’d do it, but he wouldn’t. He’d get me locked up for life and if Zelda didn’t do what he wanted—and god knew what that was—he’d kill her. There was no question in my mind, and that was doing bad things to my heart.

  It did put conviction in me, though. I was determined to set things straight and get Zelda back before things got any worse than they already were. The downside was that I wasn’t quite sure how yet.

  I was still pretty certain that my best shot was getting the dirt on his less than legitimate practice that was his front for dealing in very illegitimate practices. His construction company was somehow involved in the collapse of a building and now I had a man who could help prove it, but all of that was good only in the long run. It was good in the sense that I could get his ass to court and he’d be held liable, maybe even serve time for the deaths of those caught in the collapse, but all of that would take months. Maybe even years.

  That didn’t do a lot for Zelda tomorrow.

  Which was why I was riding like the wind to the abandoned rock quarry where we held meetings for the Berserkers. I needed backup on this one if I was going to save Zelda and take down Santos.

  When I got there, most of the boys where already gathered. There was a circle of motorcycles parked in the large expanse of area that wasn’t littered with leftover debris from when the place had actually been used and then promptly abandoned. I’d had some good times at this little slice of rundown middle of nowhere. The boys appreciated it for its distance from other places. We didn’t have to worry about people coming around to snoop. Police officers, mostly, but we also had the added benefit of not having to worry about local business owners. Out here, in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by a dirt road that eventually led to the main highway, a bunch of old equipment that had long since been abandoned, and mines where no one was allowed to venture anyway, well, who was going to call to complain? No one. And no one was around to hear the noise of motorcycles revving, or the shouts of loyal men, brothers in arms. Here, we could be as rowdy as we needed to be and no one would care.

  All of that made it the perfect place to have a meeting and I liked to keep my guys thinking that this was all it was. But it wasn’t strictly the truth.

  There was no denying that this place was perfect for our needs, but for me it was a special place. It was the first time I’d ever met Zelda, that was true, but it was more than that. It was the first time I’d laughed with Zelda. It was the first time I’d put my arms around her—to keep her warm, but that hardly mattered. It was the first time I’d ever kissed her.

  Zelda was picking her way through the motley debris that littered the ground around us. The quarry itself wasn’t in bad shape. Way down below there was still water, a manmade lake now that for the most part wasn’t too disgusting or dirty. I’d been swimming in it before and I hoped that Zelda would keep that in mind as we made our way down towards it. Especially since the area surrounding it wasn’t exactly squeaky clean.

  Thankfully, Zelda had dressed practically today. She had on hiking boots and a t-shirt over a pair of shorts that were short enough to allow me a picture perfect image of the underside of her perky ass cheeks. It was the only fashion fad that I’d been truly grateful for in my life and I would defend it to the end. Short shorts were a way of life, if you asked me.

  I was staring at those perfectly rounded cheeks while she walked slightly ahead. I told myself I was hanging back to be there if she had a misstep and took a tumble, ready to catch her, but I knew better. It was all about watching that perfect ass.
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  “Where exactly are we going?” she asked, because she had undoubtedly noticed that we were descending the high ledge which sloped down to the pool below none too gently. There was an elevator left behind where the men who worked here at the time could be carried up and down, but the machinery was old and hadn’t been used in a long time so I didn’t trust it. I didn’t even know if the electricity worked for it anymore.

  Besides, there was a pathway off to the far left of the place that worked its way down to the rocks and the pool below. It was definitely steep, but anyone who was ever any good at hiking could do it without too much trouble.

  Thankfully, Zelda was an outdoorsy type and wasn’t afraid of getting a little dirty.

  “To the bottom,” I answered easily, still watching as her cheeks lifted and swayed as she walked. Fucking vixen. “Duh.”

  She let out a soft laugh even as she tried to send a glare my way. Things had shifted between us recently—for the better—and now she was much more open with me. Her glares were softer, her words were sweeter, and there was an undercurrent of tension between us that didn’t have anything to do with fear or uncertainty or distrust anymore. It was something else altogether and I wanted to jump on it before she came to her senses.

  Before she realized she could do way better than a guy like me.

  “’Duh,’ he says,” she answered, tossing it casually over her shoulder as she continued down the steep slope. “Well, sir, then what are we going to do at the bottom?”

  “Something kinky, I hope,” I told her cheekily.

  She laughed again, though this time it was a little breathless. She nearly stumbled, too, and I felt a little bad. I hadn’t actually planned on doing anything kinky with her today—though I would happily amend my agenda if that was what she was in to. There was very little I wouldn’t be open to trying with her, though I figured I should aim a little lower given that I hadn’t even kissed her. Thinking of all the ways I wanted to slip inside her was probably going a little fast.

  We didn’t say anything else as we carefully made our way down to the pool at the bottom. It was pretty light out despite being so late thanks to the nearly full moon. It also had the added benefit of making everything look prettier than it usually did. The surface of the water was calm, glasslike even, and the moon shone on it to make it look like a glittering white field. I knew that Zelda would love it and felt pretty proud of myself for swinging this the way I did.

  Granted, the moon hadn’t been planned, but that didn’t matter anyway.

  We finally reached the bottom of the ravine. Zelda came to the edge of the pool and stared over at it, watching it with shining, glassy eyes. Her breath hitched and I just barely heard her whisper, “It’s beautiful, Nester.”

  I smiled at her, walking up until I stood right behind her. Wrapping my arms bravely around her middle—she was still nervous, still scared that I was going to do something that we would both regret later—I pulled her to me. She nestled against me and I did my best not to get hard as her ass—the same ass I’d been staring at for the last forty-five minutes as it swayed and wiggled enticingly—snuggled up to my crotch. It was a losing battle, but I tried, because I was trying to do this right for her.

  I didn’t want to scare her off.

  If she noticed that I was getting hard anyway, my cock settled perfectly between her ass cheeks despite the layers of clothing between me and her, she didn’t say anything. And she didn’t pull away. I counted it a victory.

  Resting my chin on her shoulder, I turned my head slightly so that my lips nearly brushed her ear. I whispered, “Not even half as beautiful as you are.”

  I felt her shudder against me, a ripple of heat and pleasure that she couldn’t hide even if she wanted to. I really hoped that she didn’t want to. Then a second later, she pulled away from me. I froze, thinking I’d just royally screwed all of this up and that she was about to turn and slap me for my forwardness, for my massive erection, for my unyielding desire for her.

  Except she didn’t.

  She turned in my arms, then moved closer to me again. She pushed herself against me, her arms wrapping around my back, until her breasts were trying to flatten themselves against my chest. The feeling was almost more than I could take. I needed to jerk myself off or plough into her, but this was pure torture just waiting right now.

  The best damn kind of torture.

  “Do you really mean that?” she whispered, and her lips were near mine, so close that I could feel their heat. All I’d have to do is close the fraction of an inch separating us and I could kiss her.

  “I do. Every word of it.”

  When she just continued to stare at me, her eyes wide and sparkling in the darkness, her body pressed so close against mine, pleading with mine silent as mine screamed…I couldn’t help it. I closed the distance and seared my lips against hers in the kind of kiss that couldn’t stop. My hands went to her cheeks, cupping her face both because I needed to touch her—and I was worried where else I might touch her if I didn’t go to her face—and because I didn’t want her to go anywhere.

  Her lips were the softest thing I’d ever touched and tasted just slightly sweet, like candy or powdered sugar or just a touch of honey. I wanted to taste more of it, so I slid my tongue along those full lips, trying to get more of the taste from them. I was surprised when that caused her to open her mouth and moan against mine.

  I swallowed that moan and then I dove my tongue into her mouth because I didn’t know that I’d ever get another chance to do it and I had to taste her fully, drink her in entirely, just once.

  Her hands gripped at my shirt, digging into my back, pulling me to her tighter though we were already pushed together so closely that I could feel her heart beating against my chest. Her own tongue tentatively searched out mine and when they slid against one another, I felt her shudder in my arms. I didn’t need to be told how much she wanted me in that moment and it drove me a little crazy.

  I wanted to devour her whole. I wanted every part of her because she was mine, she was meant to be mine.

  I sucked in a harsh breath, the memory powerful and strong enough to make me half hard. But the knowledge that Zelda was held against her will by a psychopath who was doing everything he could to get to me helped to dampen that a little bit.

  Focusing on my guys, I addressed the group first.

  “The Wicked Titans think they can do whatever they want,” I began, my voice booming and echoing off the walls thanks to the vast emptiness and the deep ravine below. “But I’m here to tell them they can’t. We’re here to tell them. I think it’s time we remind them whose stomping grounds these are. I think it’s time to take back what belongs to us.”

  There was a cry that rose up amongst my men, a battle cry to let me know that they were ready to do battle. Maybe some of them had even been waiting for it.

  “I want you to seek them out, find where they hide, where they lurk like the rats they are in the shadows,” I continued, forcing my voice even louder to be heard over the yelling of my men. “Find their little holes. I want to know where they are, where they like to eat, where they like to wander.”

  It was a little late to be giving orders like this. I had only until tomorrow night to get something to leverage for Zelda, but I did this with the knowledge that it did two things for me. First, it boosted the morale of my own men. It made them think that I had a plan, that I wasn’t scared of Santos and his men, even though he had the numbers. It would do wonders for the guys, because they had to believe that I was strong enough to win.

  Even if I wasn’t.

  The second thing it did was buy me a little time. If I could distract Santos’s men, make them think that I was going in a different direction than I actually was, maybe I could actually get the information and leverage I needed to take down Santos. It was a bit of a long shot, but I figured if Santos’s men were dumb enough, it might just work.

  And I didn’t really think of them as the smart types.
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  When I was done, I sent my men like a general sending his soldiers off into battle. It wasn’t far from the truth, but I hoped that I would avoid most of the bloodshed associated with that at the very least. Probably not, but I had to try. These men put their trust in me and I didn’t have any intention of letting them down.

  I called five of my men to stay. It would have been six, but Jackson was still out of town. I’d left him a message, asking him to come back, and I had no doubt that he would do just that when it reached him, but I didn’t expect him to get here in time. He had a lot of ground to cover and he was probably avoiding his phone at least for a little bit while he dealt with the stuff with his little girl.

  I couldn’t fault a man for that.