Mercer: Prophets MC Page 14

  “No, it's not like that, and honestly, Mercer, it's none of your fucking business anymore,” he snapped. “If you'd handled this on your own like I'd asked, we'd be richer for it. But since you went and fucked it all up, now I have to pick up the pieces and salvage our business relationship...”

  I was no longer listening to Bates because I knew he was full of shit. But it didn't matter. There was no reason to call him out on it – I'd only be putting myself at risk. And if I were at risk, Val and Laila were too. I closed my eyes, counted to ten, and waited for Bates to stop talking.

  “You should have trusted me,” I told him and disconnected the call.

  The rage within my chest boiled. It was a rage that was dark, abiding, and demanded release. This wasn't right. This wasn't what the club was about.

  The cell phone clanked as it hit the concrete floor of the patio, and smashed into tiny pieces. I felt like the world around me had gone totally black. I felt nothing but rage – anger at Bates for leading the club in this direction, and angry that Val was in danger once again. I was also pissed at myself for not doing more to defuse the situation and bring it to an end.

  How could I explain to Val that she was no longer safe? How could I explain that we'd have to make a run for the border and try not to get killed in the process?

  “What's wrong?”

  In my anger, I'd kicked over a patio chair, broken a vase, and apparently woke up Val, who had managed to open the sliding glass door and step outside – all without me realizing.

  “Mercer,” she asked, grabbing my arm and yanking me toward her. “Mercer! What the hell is going on?”

  Her voice wavered; she was scared. As I turned to look at her, she winced and looked away, as if she thought I might turn that anger toward her. Seeing her frightened broke my heart.

  “We have to go, Val. Now.”

  “Why? What's going on?”

  “It's not safe here in Vegas.”

  “But you said – ”

  “Forget about what I said,” I growled. “I was wrong. None of that matters anymore. Things have changed, and we need to get you out of here.”

  “How do you know all this?” Her voice was barely a whisper. “Who was that on the phone?”

  “I can't – ”

  Val slapped me before I could continue speaking.

  “No, I'm not going anywhere, Mercer,” she snarled. “Not before you give me some fucking answers.”

  She picked the patio chair up and plopped down on it, arms folded across her chest. She tried to appear strong and calm, but she was biting her lip so hard I feared it might bleed. I could see the nervousness in her features, and I could practically hear her heart thundering in her chest. She was shaking too.

  “Val, I – ”

  I wanted to find another excuse, another reason for why I couldn't tell her the truth. But seeing the look in her eyes and the set of her posture, I knew it was too late. I had to tell her. There was no way she would trust me with that lie hanging in the air between us. But what was going to happen if I was honest? We could get her out of Vegas, and the only way to get her out was for her to trust me. And the only way to get her to trust me was to be honest.

  “Val, I'm sorry,” I said. “It's a long story.”

  “Well you better get talking then,” she threw back, still planted in the chair, and standing her ground.

  Looking around, I sighed. We were surrounded by the silence and darkness of the early morning. I couldn't see anything past the walkway directly below us. We were exposed to anyone who could get into the complex, and I suddenly became aware of just how in the open and vulnerable we were.

  A thought crept into my mind – one I wished had just stayed out there in the ether where terrible thoughts come from. What if Bates had called me from inside the complex? What if he was there already and was on his way to blow both our brains out?

  “Let's go inside, please? It's not safe out here.”

  As soon as I said those words, Val also looked around as if she was picking up on the vibe I was sending out. She nodded, stood up, and we walked back inside the apartment.

  Sure, I could tell another lie – and maybe that would have been the best way to go - but everything happened so fast, I couldn't think of anything she'd believe. Not anything that would get her to leave the country with me in a hurry anyway.

  “How do you know my life is in danger, Mercer?” she asked, sitting across from me on the couch. “Tell me who called.”

  The last part wasn't too hard. “It was the president of my club.”

  “And? What did he want?”

  I sighed again. “It's complicated, Val – ”

  “Of course, it is, it's always complicated,” she said. “But that's no longer an excuse, Mercer. If we're going to have anything between us – anything real at least – the lies stop here. I’m demanding honesty from you.”

  Seeing this girl, who was formerly abused and beaten by a man half my size, stand up to me, made me happy. Normally, I wouldn't let anyone talk to me like this without punching them in the face. But to see Val speaking firmly, and clearly not afraid of me – at least for the most part – made me grateful. It meant she trusted me, and that perhaps she'd be okay with what I was about to tell her.

  “The reason I know everything I do,” I began, “is because Ricky reached out to my president to put a hit out on you.”

  Val's eyes widened, all color drained from her face. “A hit? Like he wants me dead? I mean, I knew it was bad, but I never thought he'd kill me. I thought he'd just drag me back and beat the living shit out of me again. Are…are you sure?”

  “I'm positive.”

  “But then, why would you – ”

  “Why was I at the club?” We'd started down the path, and I had no choice but to continue leading her further into the woods. “Why did I follow you?”

  She nodded, and I could see it in her face that she already knew the answer.

  “Because I was the one assigned to kill you.”

  ***

  “We need to leave.”

  “We'll leave in the morning,” she said, her voice almost too calm. “Go down to the clubhouse, talk to them and buy us more time. Tell them I'm dead already or something. I don't care what you have to say, just buy us more time, Mercer. I have a child, and I can't just pack her up and leave in the middle of the night.”

  Val was too composed for a woman who'd just found out her ex was trying to kill her. But what the hell did I know? She'd run from him once. She knew what she was up against better than I did.

  “You want me to just go to the clubhouse and tell them you're dead?” I asked. “With no proof?”

  She shrugged. “Not my problem, Mercer. You need to fix this.”

  “Fix this? Seriously? You act like it's my fault when the only other option would have been to kill you like they told me to.”

  She winced slightly at those words but kept a straight face. “I'm going back to bed with my daughter, Mercer. We need some rest. You buy us some time. You've managed to get us this far. I trust you to figure something out.”

  Besides picking her up and dragging her out of there – most likely kicking and screaming, which was sure to draw plenty of attention – there was nothing I could do to make her leave. Anything else would draw unwanted eyes to us, and that was the last thing we needed.

  Buy us some time. Such a simple concept, yet one that was going to be near impossible to pull off.

  I went back outside to the patio and picked up my phone. The screen was shattered, but I hit the connect button and held it to my ear. Amazingly enough, it still worked. I redialed the last number. Bates answered on the first ring.

  “Listen, man, we need to talk,” I said.

  “I'm all ears,” he said.

  “About this girl, I mean,” I said. “Can you hold off until you hear me out? Because there's something you need to know first.”

  “Oh yeah?” Bates didn't sound too convinced, but he was
listening. He hadn't hung up yet, which was a good sign.

  “Yeah,” I said, licking my lips and trying to form my words very carefully. “I have reason to believe you're being screwed over by your client.”

  Bates was all about the bottom line. Making him believe that there was no money on the other end of the deal was the only play I had.

  “Go on.”

  “We can't talk over the phone, man,” I told him. “We need to talk in person. I'll head over to the clubhouse if you promise to still hear me out.”

  “You have one hour, Mercer. One hour before I leave and track her ass down.”

  “If you don't get paid, do you really wanna go through all that?”

  “One hour.”

  I wasn't sure what sort of arrangement he had with Val's ex, but whatever it was, I could tell Bates was at least somewhat concerned now that I'd mentioned it might be a mirage. That should buy me a little time. It was a risk, but it was one I had to take. There was no other play.

  Val had closed the bedroom door so I knocked. A moment later, it opened a crack, and she peeked out.

  “I'm going to the clubhouse. Don't open the door for anyone, you hear me? No one but me.”

  “I'm not stupid, Mercer.”

  “I know,” I said, yearning to kiss her before I left.

  I didn't want to leave. I didn't want to take this chance, but if she wasn't going to leave tonight, I had to do everything I could to buy us some time. Besides, I knew that it was going to take Bates a while to find her. He had no idea she was here. I wasn't even sure if he knew about this place. But then, logic told me that if he did, he wouldn't have bothered calling – he would have been here already, putting bullets into all three of us.

  If he did find out about this place and found her here, though, he was going to kill me first for protecting her. That much I already knew.

  I leaned forward to kiss Val, but she closed the door before I could seal the deal. I leaned against the frame and sighed.

  Buy her some time and then we'd leave in the morning. That was the best I could do.

  Chapter Twenty Eight

  Valencia

  From my bedroom window, I saw where he'd parked his bike. I watched him climb on it and listened to the growl of the engine as it disappeared into the early morning darkness. The sun would be up soon, the start of a new day. It was going to be a new adventure for us too.

  “Bye, Mercer,” I whispered as he drove off, the Harley moving quickly through the back alleyway that ran behind the complex.

  As soon as he was out of sight, I grabbed my bag. While he'd been on the phone with his club president the second time – buying us some time – I'd packed up most of mine and Laila's things. I had more stuff than I could carry now, so most of it would have to stay.

  “I'm sorry, sweet girl,” I said, waking up my baby and securing her in the carrier on my chest. “I had hoped we wouldn't have to do this again, but here we are.”

  Laila looked up at me with sleep in her eyes. God, she was so beautiful, and she trusted me so completely that it made my heart hurt. I had so much love for this child. She was all that I had, and I needed to do what was right by her. There was no way I could stay here. Not knowing what I knew. How could I ever fully and completely trust Mercer?

  Maybe he had no intention of killing me, but somebody in his club did. Eventually, that somebody was going to get a shot at doing just that. And if Mercer weren't there to protect us, what would become of Laila and me?

  I grabbed the keys to my car and rushed down to the garage. I needed to be gone before Mercer got back. Long gone. I didn't have much money - thanks to not working these last few weeks - but I had enough to get us out of Vegas. Eventually, I might ditch the car, and catch a bus or a train to somewhere else. Anywhere else. Maybe it was time to try and find a new identity, and start a different new life, creating a whole new world for myself and my little girl.

  There was nowhere in Vegas that was safe. After all, if Ricky found me here, he could find me anywhere.

  I felt terrible for leaving Mercer like that, but how could I be sure I was safe with him? He had ties to the club, a club that was hired to kill me. Even if he did turn against them, the pressure of going against his president might get to him over time. I hardly knew him, and while the sex was great, I didn't get the feeling we were anything but fuck buddies in his mind. Would he put his life on the line for me? Should he have to?

  There was no way I needed that complication in my life. It was better this way. There were fewer chances of anyone finding us. I'd run before, I could do it again. I could set up a better life for us. Maybe the Midwest this time. Somewhere rural. Far away from the rest of the world. Nebraska or Kansas. Hell, anywhere but here.

  I slipped Laila into her car seat, climbed behind the wheel, started the car, and backed out of the garage. Giving the windows in Mercer's apartment one last look, and recalling a few very vivid, very fond memories, the ghost of a smile touched my lips. Some of the memories were pleasant; there was no question about it. But they weren't enough to compel me to stay.

  I put the car in gear and pushed all of my thoughts and emotions down into the dark place that resided in my soul – the place I'd stuffed all of the bullshit with Ricky in for years.

  I sighed and drove off as the sun started to lighten the sky on the distant horizon. I didn't know where I was going, but I had no choice but to figure it out along the way.

  Chapter Twenty Nine

  Mercer

  “I already told you, Mercer,” Bates said. “Your time is up. You're off the job.”

  I was here to try and buy us some time. Val had asked me to try to do anything to give us until the morning, so that's what I was trying to do. Bates wasn't alone. There was another man next to him with dark, greasy hair that fell to his shoulders. His face was marked with scars, but not those that come from fighting - ones that come from years of heavy drug use.

  I assumed he was Ricky.

  “I know, but what if I told you I already have her?”

  Ricky's ears perked up at that, but Bates started to tell me it didn't matter.

  “Go on,” Ricky said. “Where do you have her? Is the bitch dead yet? If so, I want proof before I'll pay up.”

  I cringed hearing Val referred to like that.

  “Yeah, Mercer. We need proof. Pictures, anything?” Bates asked.

  Pictures of her dead body. Of course, they'd want proof.

  “No, but I can get you whatever you need. Just give me until morning, I'll be back then.”

  Ricky looked interested in what I had to say, but Bates knew me better than that. He laughed, a frightening sound that caused the hair on the back of my neck to stand up. And trust me, Bates wasn't the type of man who scared me normally.

  “She's not dead, is she? Because you don't have the balls, Mercer. I know you better than that.”

  “If you knew I couldn't kill her, why put me on the job?”

  “Because I thought maybe I was wrong,” he said with a shrug. “But you've gone soft on me, old man. You've grown soft over the years.”

  “And you've just become an asshole,” I said.

  Bates slammed his fists down on the table. “I'm thinking of the club, Mercer. Not just myself.”

  “The club. Always thinking of the club, huh? Or just lining your own pockets.”

  I knew I shouldn't have said it, but at that point, the damage was done. There was no going back. It was all about buying Val some time, though. So that's what I was going to do.

  “You know what, man? Because of all the good you've done for the club in the past, I was going to let this slide... I was going to welcome you back in with open arms, all while not putting you on any more jobs, but with your shitty attitude, I'm not so sure that's going to be possible anymore.”

  I leaned back in my chair; hand on my gun if needed. “That's fine. I was going to hand in my resignation anyway. I have no desire to be part of a club who finds it fitting to ki
ll innocent women.”

  This time, it was Ricky who was pissed. He stood up, leaning across the table and stared at me with his beady little eyes, “That bitch ran off with MY daughter--”

  “Maybe because she didn't want you to start beating her too?”

  There was no way Ricky could come at me and win. No way. The man was nothing compared to me. He wasn't the one I was worried about, however. My gaze never left Bates, and from the look in his eyes, he was fuming mad.

  He pulled Ricky back down beside him though.