RUTHLESS HOLD (A Back Down Devil MC Romance Novel) Read online

  Eden felt her heart drop into her stomach.

  Was that romantic? Was that Trev just being nice?

  Trev took out his gun and Eden tensed up. He took out the bullets and peeled one away. He loaded the gun away and tucked it back into its holster.

  “What are you doing?” Eden asked.

  Trev walked to her father’s headstone and put the bullet on it. “Just something I do. Hard to explain. My own dumb reasoning maybe. Thinking that this bullet could maybe save me. Save us. Hell, maybe he takes it with him. Each time I leave one, the next time I come back, it’s gone.”

  “So you do believe in something.”

  Trev patted the stone and walked to Eden. “Come on, let’s get out of here. You need to go hang at the clubhouse. I have business.”

  “What does that mean?” Eden asked with a smile. “You’ve got people to kill?”

  She was honestly just joking, trying to lighten the mood and the weight in her heart.

  Trev looked at her. “That’s exactly what I’ve got to do.”

  __

  twelve.

  Trev sat in a chair with a knife in his hand. The two prospects stared at him, their hands chained, their feet barely touching the ground. They were weak, tired, their eyes begging for death. It had gone beyond any old fuck up. The two prospects had gotten spooked about justice and outlaw. A friend in the PD had given some intel that one of them had been spilling tips to Ethan about the MC.

  That was treason.

  If they had tattoos on their body, those pieces of skin would have been cut off and shown to them.

  Complete fucking treason.

  What Trev really wanted to do was just put a bullet between their eyes and end it. But a message needed to be sent. A clear message to every other prospect who wore a leather cut and dreamed of being a patched in member. Don’t fuck with the MC. The MC will fuck you right back.

  And since these pricks were on the wrong side of outlaw, their washed up bodies would send a message to Ethan too. Miller had a plan to tie the prospects to the murder and make it as though they were working against the MC, which they were, and then it would take the heat of Back Down Devil and it would make Ethan look like a fool.

  As Trev sat in the chair, he could only think about Eden. What to do with her next. How to really protect her from all the bullshit of this life. Hell, maybe it would be smarter to find a way to let Eden escape. Shit, if The Lost Men weren’t such filthy humans, she could go there.

  A door opened behind Trev.

  “You going to do this?” Miller’s voice asked.

  Trev stood up. “Yeah. I’m ready.”

  “You sure? You look off.”

  “No. I, uh, I took Eden to Griffin’s grave. Respect for her, you know? Him too, I guess. Trying to make her understand all of this. So she doesn’t flake out on us.”

  “You think she’s a problem?”

  “No. I think I’m the problem. The past is hard to shake off.”

  “I’m still waiting on a call from up north,” Miller said. “Let’s take care of one problem at a time. Remember, Trev. One of these motherfuckers talked behind our backs. Could have brought all of us down.”

  Trev felt the anger build inside him. He and Miller met eyes and Miller nodded.

  It was time.

  Trev turned and walked right to the prospect on the right. One quick swipe of the knife opened his throat, spraying blood everywhere, including on Trev. He then turned, standing next to the prospect and nodded to Miller.

  The prospect only had a few seconds of life before he was gone. The other prospect started to scream and kick, pleading for his life. Trev side stepped and grabbed a wrench off the table and swung it back and cracked the prospect in the jaw. That got him to shut up pretty quick.

  Miller opened the door and Blaine, Nate, and Jace were there with two prospects each, their hands cuffed in the front, their leather cuts missing.

  “Bring them in,” Miller said.

  Trev stood with blood on him, staring at the prospects. When they realized what they were looking at, their faces all dropped. Two of them started to cry within seconds.

  “Shut the door,” Miller said. “Guard it.”

  Blaine shut the door. “Good luck, assholes.”

  “Now,” Miller said. “I’m going tell you something important about my club. We don’t tolerate weakness. When you’re given a job, you fucking do it. You talk to anyone and you end up like our friend hanging here. Dead. Understand?”

  All the prospects nodded. They said Yes, sir in unison.

  “Now, my guy here, Trev, is in a fucking bad mood. Anyone want to add to it?”

  Trev stepped forward. He walked to a random prospect. “What’s your name?”

  “Andy.”

  “You have fucking family, Andy?”

  “None.”

  “Your Daddy beat you as a kid?”

  “No, sir. My Daddy left us. I was on the street by thirteen. Arrested by fifteen. Riding by seventeen.”

  “How old are you?”

  “I’m twenty-one, sir.”

  “You want to see twenty-two?” Trev asked.

  “Not unless I’m wearing a cut for this MC.”

  Trev nodded.

  He backed up a few steps.

  Miller walked behind the prospects and gave a nod to Trev.

  “Let’s make it very clear,” Trev called out, “what happens to anyone who fucks with this club. I don’t want any doubts. I don’t want any questions. There are three things I love in this world. I love to eat. I love to fuck pussy. And I love to kill.”

  Trev slashed the knife down the other hanging prospect’s shirt. The guy let out a weak yell and Trev ripped his shirt open, showing the open wound. He then sliced the knife up and down, shaking, almost hating himself for what had to be done. All he could think about was Eden and how innocent she still was. The outlaw life wasn’t for her. She needed to be saved and then she needed to get the hell out.

  When Trev stopped, he turned and looked at the prospects. They were all in shock. One coughed and vomit shot from his mouth. That led to two more throwing up before Miller ordered the door to be open.

  “Christ, it smells like the shit Blaine likes at night,” Miller said.

  “Hey!” Blaine said. “That was before. I’m a changed man.”

  Everyone laughed except the prospects.

  Trev stepped forward and held the knife out to a prospect. “Lick the blood off the blade right now.”

  The prospect licked his lips. He slowly opened his mouth.

  “Hurry the fuck up, kid,” Trev growled. “We don’t have all goddamn day around here.”

  The prospect stuck his tongue out and aimed it for the bloody blade of the knife. The tip of his tongue came within a centimeter of touching the blade and Trev took the knife away. He put a hand to the prospect’s chest and pushed him away.

  “We’re not doing this again,” Trev said. “This life isn’t about looking cool. This life isn’t about getting laid. This life isn’t about riding a motorcycle and throwing the finger to police officers because you want to be tough. This life is about survival. We live on a different side of the law. We abide by our own justice. If you fuck with that, there’s no arrests. There’s no lawyers. There’s no judge. No jury. No fucking peers.” Trev held up the knife. “This knife is the judge. I’m the goddamn jury. And behind me…” Trev pointed the knife behind him at the two dead prospects. “… this is our justice. This is our proof of action. There’s no appeal. There’s no questioning. There’s no rehabilitation into becoming something different. You either handle this life or you handle our death.”

  Trev grabbed the chair he’d been sitting in and took a seat. He cleaned off the blade with his t-shirt and then tucked it away.

  “Now,” Blaine said, “you motherfuckers get to unchain these two traitors and prep them for their final resting place.”

  “Come with us,” Jace said. “We’ll take those cuffs off you
.”

  Everyone left the room except Miller. He shut the door and stared right at Trev.

  “What?” Trev asked.

  “That was deep, brother.”

  “Deep?”

  “Yeah,” Miller said. “I didn’t expect that. I figured we’d scare them. But you went deep. That’s the kind of speech I’d give when patching prospects in.”

  “Whatever,” Trev said. “I just can’t take anymore bullshit within this clubhouse. You know? I’m already prepping my mind for what’s going to happen with the Daurian charter. It’s going to get nasty as fuck with Rippy.”

  “Yeah,” Miller said. “I said it before, Trev, and I mean it… you’d make a hell of a President.”

  Trev rose up, blood on him still. “And I’ll ask it again… you giving up your patch, Miller?”

  “Not unless I’m dead,” Miller said.

  “I can chain you up and slit your throat,” Trev said and smiled.

  “Anyone else in the world says something like that to me and I’d put a bullet between their eyes.”

  Trev dipped his finger into a chunk of blood on his arm and then touched his forehead. “Aim for the red dot.”

  Miller started to laugh. “This is why I need you around. You keep the rest of us on the edge of outlaw. Go clean yourself up, Trev.”

  Miller opened the door and Trev whistled.

  “Miller. Thanks for trusting me with this shit. The prospects. Eden. Everything. I’ll do whatever you need done to help with the charter bullshit. I’m not afraid to die, Miller. I visit Griffin’s grave a few times a week. I’m not afraid to be there. Don’t be afraid to put me on the front line of this.”

  “Okay, Trev.”

  “I’m serious. Everyone at the table has something or someone to lose. Christ, you have a kid and the woman of your dreams. The woman you’d been waiting for for years. Blaine has a woman and a baby. I’ve always run outlaw. From the time I was a kid until now. Put me up front, Miller. I’ll do anything to protect this charter, to protect you, and to protect everyone’s family.”

  Miller grinned like a guy seeing his first set of tits. “Spoken like a true President.”

  With that, Miller walked away.

  Trev looked over his shoulder and admired his work. Then he shook his head.

  No fucking way in hell I’ll ever be a President… unless it fell into my lap…

  *

  “Can we talk for a second?” Gaige asked as he blocked the steps to get to the apartment.

  “I’m covered in blood,” Trev said. “I need a shower and a drink.”

  “Okay. Just a second, Trev.”

  “What?”

  “Eden’s not in the apartment.”

  “What?” Trev yelled. “What the fuck…”

  “She got a call,” Gaige said. “Something to do with her friend that was murdered. I think it’s another friend. She wanted to go for a walk so I told her to stay in the lot and get some air.”

  “Are you fucking kidding?”

  “Bro, she’s fine. I have prospects with her. She’s a mess right now. It’s all weighing on her bad. The police want to talk to her and she’s hiding out. She’s worried about what’s going to happen.”

  “What the fuck were you doing talking to her?” Trev asked.

  “Before you pull a gun on me, asshole, she was looking for you. She was demanding you, man. I thought she was going pull a fucking knife on me. She trusts you, Trev.”

  “And if she sees me covered in blood, it won’t be good,” Trev said. “She’s new to all of this. She doesn’t get it. She thinks of murder like she’s outside this club. Just keep an eye on her. She’s a target, Gaige. The shit she knows… hell, the shit she doesn’t realize she knows…”

  “I know,” Gaige said. “Going up north is going to be a wild ride.”

  “It is,” Trev said. “I told Miller, I’m going to the front line to do this. I find anything out about bullshit within this club and I’m slitting throats. Votes or not, I don’t care. You guys could strip my patch, slit my throat as retaliation, I don’t care.”

  Gaige nodded. “Start small, Trev. Take a shower. Have a shot of whiskey. Fuck Eden’s brains out. Just take it easy.”

  Gaige patted Trev’s shoulder and walked away.

  Trev charged up the steps and went into the apartment. The first thing he smelled was Eden. Something soft, gentle, maybe even flowery. A woman, for sure. He walked through the apartment to the bedroom, where the bathroom was attached. The bed sheets were messy, a small pile of her clothes on the floor.

  Trev made fists and clenched his teeth. He wanted to keep the rage inside him alive. He wanted to harbor that and keep his eyes focused on protecting the MC. But the sight of Eden’s clothes did something fucked up to Trev.

  It made his heart race… with excitement… for a woman…

  __

  thirteen.

  Eden sat on the hood of an old rusted car. She had gotten a call from Andre, Dimitrio’s closet friend. He wanted to know what Eden was doing and where she was. Of course, she wasn’t going to betray Trev and the MC. It was too hard to explain and she knew with each weak word she gave to Andre he didn’t believe her. Andre finally came out and had the balls to ask if Eden had anything to do with the murder.

  That hurt really bad.

  That’s when she demanded to go for a walk. She was a second away from punching the VP, Gaige, when he ordered two guys to stay close to Eden and told her to stay in the lot.

  She called Andre back and explained that she was also attacked. She told him all she could without giving away who she was or where she was. Simply put - she was hiding out with a friend who was protecting her. Why? Because the guys that killed Dimitrio threatened her and were looking for her. That seemed to ease Andre a little, but not enough. Then again, Eden didn’t give a shit anymore. Andre was grieving and had every right to do so.

  Eden slid from the hood of the car and saw the two guys looking at her.

  “Don’t look at me,” she said.

  They both turned their heads.

  Eden started to walk again. The lot was full of cars, motorcycles, even trucks. There were several different buildings, all marked as parts, repairs, supplies, whatever. Eden wondered how many people were in those buildings. How many people were killed in this lot. If Trev was killing someone right now.

  It made her shiver with fear.

  Growing up in the normal world Eden had a sense that murder was bad and bad guys went to jail. The cops would get the bad guys and the bad guys would pay. The cops would protect the good people. But in this world, it seemed different. Very different. And in some weird way it sort of made sense to Eden. They didn’t seem to just run out and kill people. If there was a reason… but that meant they were playing God, right?

  Eden sighed and kept walking. Right now her only savior was Trev. With Trev came the MC and the MC had some serious power and control.

  When Eden got to the apartment she noticed blood on one of the steps. She looked back at the prospects, figuring she should make them go first.

  No. I can do this on my own.

  Eden entered the apartment and looked around. There was a smell in the air she couldn’t figure out. She slowly walked through the apartment toward the bedroom. She pushed the door open and heard the shower water running. Relief went through her body as did an intense heat.

  Trev. The shower? Naked…

  She made it three steps into the bedroom and then saw clothes on the floor. Jeans and t-shirt. They were covered in blood. Eden gasped and covered her mouth. She looked to the bed and saw Trev’s leather cut. More blood.

  She rushed forward to the bathroom and feared she was going to find Trev injured, or worse, dying.

  Instead, she found Trev standing at the shower, his back to her, butt naked. He was standing fine and didn’t seem hurt. All worry and care about him being injured was quickly swept away as she watched the muscles of his back cascade down to a perfectly tight a
ss that made her knees almost give out. She touched the sink and let out a little moan, then felt her cheeks turn red.

  Trev looked back. There was blood on his face. “Eden…”

  “Trev? Are you okay? Are you hurt?”

  “No, beautiful, I’m not hurt,” he said. “Go wait in the bedroom.”

  “Turn around, Trev.”

  “I had work to do,” Trev said.

  He put his right arm down and Eden saw the blood on his arm.

  “Please… turn around. I want to see. I want to understand.”

  Trev sidestepped and turned. Sideways, his shoulder looked like a basketball, leading down to his defined arm. A round tricep and chiseled cut bicep. Beyond that, his chest, abs, everything cut and pointed down to his cock. He just hung there, flaccid, but so long and so thick.

  Then Trev turned completely and faced Eden.

  The full sight of him naked made Eden bite her lip. Her body was on fire. Her nipples erect and pressing against her bra, making it uncomfortable to be clothed. The hot water heated up the bathroom, the steam creeping along the ceiling. She was sweating and not just from the steam. Between her legs, she was a sopping mess. Being near Trev was dangerous. She told herself she should have packed more panties because he was ruining all she had with her.

  Eden blinked a few times and then started to focus on the blood. There was so much of it. It was almost caked on him as though he’d been playing in mud or something.

  “None of that is yours?” she whispered.

  “Not a single drop,” Trev said. “Does this scare you, beautiful?”

  Eden nodded. “Yes.”

  “That’s what I was worried about.”

  Trev stepped back and Eden jumped forward. She ran to him and grabbed his left hand, blood and all.

  “Wait. Trev.”

  Eden licked her lips and felt such an intense passion inside her body. It was like nothing she ever felt in her life. It was about Trev being dangerous, scary, sexy, and caring all rolled into one. He was a man who came back to the apartment and slept on the floor, next to the bed, just to make her feel safe. That meant something. He could have had someone else do that while he killed more people or fucked other women.