Mercer: Prophets MC Read online

  “You goin' to let him talk shit like that?” Ricky said.

  “No, he's not going to get away with it, trust me,” Bates growled. “Give me your cut.”

  I just stared at him, not saying a word and not removing my cut.

  “Do I have to tell you twice, Mercer? It ain't a fucking request.”

  I stood up but didn't remove the cut. “I earned this shit. Want it - come take it off my cold, dead body. But until then, it's mine.”

  The club meant something to me back in the day; back when it meant something to be one of The Prophets. We weren't just henchman for hire back then, lining our pockets with cash from pricks like Ricky. No, when I joined - and when Bates joined too - there was a sense of pride in our work. If we took a hit on someone, it's because that person deserved it. It wasn't just about the money; it was about loyalty, about righting the wrongs in the world.

  That's what killed me the most right now. Bates was taking the club and turning it around, siding with the wrong people. At one time, we'd happily take out a man like Ricky, but because he was the one with the cash, we were working for him.

  But not me.

  “You want me to kill you, Mercer?” Bates called after me. I gave him double middle fingers. “You got it. If I were you, I'd get the hell out of town. My men will be looking for you.”

  His men. If only they knew exactly who they were working for. I'd like to think it mattered to them, but then again, this younger generation had only heard the stories of how things used to be. Bates was all they knew.

  So yeah, maybe getting out of town wasn't such a bad idea. I'd grab Val and Laila, and we'd do just that.

  ***

  Dammit. What in the hell was she thinking? What in the hell was I thinking? Normally, my instincts are razor sharp. I've relied on them to keep me out of trouble my whole damn life. I should have known something was up. I should have seen that she was being too calm.

  I should have known that something was off with her. I mean, I knew something was a bit off. I sensed it. But I didn't think it was serious and I sure as hell didn't expect her to do what she did. Never in a million years did I expect her to run.

  When I got back to the apartment, after talking to Bates and pretty much being told to fuck off by him, I knew we had to get out of there. Things were going sideways, and there was nothing I was going to be able to do to stop it. It was already in motion, and all I could do was react. All I could do was get her the hell out of there.

  I'd rushed back to the apartment to get Val ready to leave, but the moment I walked through the door, the warning bells in my head started to sound. I knew immediately that something was wrong. I rushed through the house, some small part of me fearing the worst. But when I looked around, I didn't find what I'd feared – her body. Instead, I'd found that her bags were not only packed, but they were also gone. As was her car.

  I stared at the bedroom where she and the little one had been staying. It was completely vacated, and I couldn't help but think that it looked so entirely empty without them in it. Somehow, it felt… unnatural. Now, there was no crib for the baby next to the bed, no clothes in the closet. Val's makeup was not in the bathroom, nothing was left except a few odds and ends.

  In such a short time – and without me even realizing it – Val and Laila had managed to carve a niche in my home that just felt right. I wasn't sure how they'd done it, but they had. And now that they were gone, the place just felt hollow.

  There was nothing but an emptiness and desolation I never knew existed before they'd come into my life. But now that I was aware of it, I felt it keenly.

  She's gone, and she's not coming back.

  I took a seat at the kitchen table and opened up my laptop, hoping that maybe she'd been in such a hurry that she'd been careless and made a mistake that would lead me to her. I checked the history on my laptop, hoping to see if she'd booked a flight or maybe bought a train or bus ticket. But there was nothing to see. If she'd done anything online, she'd done a good job of erasing it. There were no traces of anything. No breadcrumbs to follow. She was gone like a puff of smoke. Like she'd never existed in the first place.

  But of course, she did exist. And she was out there. Somewhere.

  Unfortunately for me, she'd been smart about this all. Too smart to tip me off that she was planning on bailing in the first place. And too smart to leave me any breadcrumbs for me to follow. She'd given me no hint of where to find her. And no place to even begin looking.

  The thing that concerned me most and made my blood run cold was knowing that Ricky had been able to find her once. If he could do that, he very well might be able to find her again.

  I couldn't let that happen. I wouldn't let that happen.

  Knowing full well that she wasn't going to answer the phone, I still felt compelled to try. Maybe she would pick up after all. I doubted it, but it was better than sitting there with my thumb up my ass doing nothing.

  I sighed, though I wasn't surprised when it went straight to voicemail.

  “Dammit, Val, I just want to help you. You can't do this alone,” I said. “He will find you again, and when he does, what are you going to do? Call me. I can help protect you.”

  The voicemail cut off and I disconnected the call, dropping my phone onto the table. I knew she wouldn't call me back. Because if she had trusted me, she wouldn't have left in the first place. But she did leave, and I had to figure out how to find her before Ricky and Bates did.

  I tried to calm my breathing, slow my heart, and get my brain working. I needed to take the emotion out of it all and think logically. Critically. I had to take what I knew and apply it to the situation. When I felt calm enough, I sat back in my chair and rubbed the stubble on my chin. The several days’ old growth made a dry, scratching sound.

  I thought about the situation and realized that I had only been gone for about an hour or so. Not all that long. Which told me that she probably couldn't have gone very far yet in that short amount of time. Would she risk being out on the open road? That could risk exposing herself to Ricky and Bates – or one of the scumbags working for them? Would she risk that? Or would she go to ground somewhere and hole up for a bit?

  Think, Mercer. Use your fuckin' brain, man. Where would she go? Did she mention family anywhere? I racked my brain but couldn't come up with a name. So far as I knew, she didn't have any family. At least no family that I could remember her mentioning. Nobody she would go to. Did she ever mention having friends? People she trusted? Someone she could stay with? I thought hard about it but didn't think she had anybody she'd trust enough to hide out with them.

  And it wasn't like she had a whole lot of money – if any - which meant that gas and food would be an issue. So would finding a place to stay – assuming she didn't have somebody willing to take her in.

  All of that added up to one thing in my mind; Val couldn't have gone very far.

  If she couldn't have gone very far, it meant that it was possible Bates could have found her too. After all, our little meeting hadn't exactly gone very well. Not only was Val on the run from them, now I was too.

  I'd been told to get my ass out of town and that I was no longer welcome within the ranks of the Prophets. I'd been stripped of my patch. Of course, that had all been Bates talking, but he was the president and who knew what he'd told the others. Not only would they be looking for Val, but if they came across me – having not left town per Bates' orders – there would be some serious consequences.

  But I wasn't leaving town. Fuck Bates, and if the crew sided with him, then fuck them too. I was going to find Val and keep her safe. No matter the cost or the consequence.

  I ran from the apartment and hurriedly hopped on my bike. I grabbed my helmet and was about to put it on when out of the corner of my eye, I spotted someone. Not somebody exactly, I had been little more than a shadow, but they had been standing in the mouth of an alleyway. I stared hard, but the shadow was gone. It could have been nobody.

  But it al
so could have been Bates. Or any member of my MC for that matter. Perhaps they'd followed me. Perhaps they were watching me. Or maybe they were hoping I'd lead them to Val.

  Or perhaps it was a neighbor walking to the dumpster. Or maybe it had been one of the homeless that hung around in the neighborhood. Maybe they were digging through the dumpsters, looking for a meal.

  Was I being paranoid? Bates had warned me. Told me to get out of town or else. Of course, I laughed him off. This wasn't the Wild West where a man needed to get out of town by sundown or risk catching a bullet.

  That wasn't to say that Bates wouldn't eventually put a bullet in me if he found me, but he certainly wasn't going to do it at high noon in the middle of the street. If I needed to leave town, I was pretty sure that I still had plenty of time.

  But considering the fact that I was still in town – and wasn't about to go anywhere without Val – I had a feeling that I was going to press that boundary. I was pretty sure the “or else” part of Bates' statement would come into play at some point.

  I wasn't going to be able to find her if I had to worry about having the MC climbing up my ass. I needed to be able to move around and operate freely, which meant that whether I liked it or not, I needed to stay hidden. Or at least, be discrete. I needed to lay low because if I went and got myself killed by Bates or one of his minions, Val didn't stand a chance out there on her own. Eventually, they'd find her, and when they did, Bates would finish the job he was hired to do. It wasn't a matter of if but when he found her.

  We always did.

  ***

  I avoided all the major roads that weren't necessary to travel on. I kept my eyes up and didn't drive past any of the bars my guys frequented. I stuck to the back roads, as I'm sure Val would have done as well. She would have wanted to avoid detection every bit as much as I did.

  I checked the train station, carefully driving through the parking long and saw no sign of her car. Ditto that on the small side streets near the station. There was also no sign of her car near the bus stops either, which meant her car was either hidden really well or she was still in it.

  If she was still in it, it was only a matter of time before someone tracked it out down. I needed to make sure that someone was me.

  Not knowing where else to go, I drove by her hotel – the place she called home before I'd taken her in. I knew it was unlikely that she'd be there, but it was, at least, a place to start. It was also risky since I thought Bates' guys might likely be there as well.

  Which was why I didn't drive by on my bike.

  Parking it behind a dumpster in an alleyway a few blocks away, I walked back toward the hotel. I pulled my hat low and made sure to cover up my head and face with it. The last thing I needed was to be recognized.

  My kutte – which was instantly recognizable – had been left behind. I wore nothing but a black sweatshirt, plain with no writing and no other identifying marks. The hoodie covered my tattoos, and the hat covered my head. I looked like any other man walking by. Just another ordinary, unremarkable guy out on the street. At least, I hoped that's what I was. If not, I was in for a world of trouble.

  It was just as I'd thought. As I walked by, I saw Jax and a few others sitting outside her place. Jax was smoking a cigarette, leaning against the building with a bored look on his face. They were waiting, which meant they hadn't found Val there and were simply hoping she'd turn up. If Bates had found her, he wouldn't have had guys sitting on run-down motels hoping she'd show her face. So, at least, I had that going for me. I had a little more time to work with.

  I walked past the hotel at a brisk pace, knowing I couldn't just turn around and walk back toward my bike without drawing their attention. That was the last thing I needed. Instead, I stopped at the bus stop and pretended to be checking the schedule.

  “Hey, you!” Jax called out.

  I ignored him, fighting the urge to turn around and look. If I did, Jax was bound to recognize me, at which point, the game would be over. But that little voice inside of me, that piece of me where my survival instinct lived told me that if he was calling out to me, he probably already knew who I was.

  “Hey, buddy, I'm talking to you!” Jax called out again.

  This time, I glanced over, trying to keep most of my hoodie obscuring my face. Unfortunately, it obscured most of my vision as well. I slid my hand inside the pocket of my sweatshirt and felt the butt of the gun in my hand as my adrenaline began to flow. I feared that a confrontation was coming. That it was inevitable. I didn't want to hurt Jax. He was just a dumb kid, not a bad guy, but if it came down to him and me, you better bet I'd shoot.

  Thankfully, the bus saved me. It pulled to a stop, and the door opened with a hiss.

  As I boarded the bus, I glanced back to see if Jax and the boys were coming my way. I breathed a big sigh of relief though when I saw Jax waving down a Hispanic man – an employee. He hadn't been calling out to me at all. Thankfully. Jax and the employee appeared to be having a heated discussion. No one was looking at me as I hopped back off the bus and headed back toward my bike.

  They didn't see me, this time, but I had the ominous feeling that it was only a matter of time before someone found me.

  Chapter Thirty

  Valencia

  I had no plan this time. I was simply winging it and hoping for the best. Stupid me. When was I going to learn? I should have known better than to put my trust in a man. Hadn't I learned that lesson already? Given what I'd gone through in my life already, you would think that lesson would be clearer to me. But I'd let myself get attached to Mercer, so I obviously hadn't learned it just yet.

  My daughter and I were safer on our own. That too should have been obvious to me by now. By letting Mercer in, by getting close and putting my trust in him, I'd put us in danger. I let him get too close. I'd been blinded by my emotions and had invited in a whole host of potentially terrible consequences.

  What if Ricky had followed him? He could have led the enemy straight to my door – all the while not letting me know he was playing both sides. Did he care for me? It was hard to tell. After all of the lies, the secrets, and the fact that he put us in this danger unknowingly, I couldn't be sure. I couldn't be sure of anything. Hell, I couldn't even be sure that Laila and I were going to survive the night.

  That was why I had to get out. Had to get away from Mercer. If he didn't know where I was, there was little chance anybody else would either. If Ricky was looking for me, and he somehow found out that Mercer was hiding me, I'd be far less apt to get caught if I was out on my own. There was a small piece of me that regretted going. A piece of me that missed Mercer and wished he was there with me.

  But I had to worry about keeping my daughter and myself safe. I wasn’t going to be any good to her if I were dead. That was my absolute first priority. Not my feelings, not the way I felt about that man – keeping my daughter safe. I'd lost sight of my priorities and had let myself feel too comfortable around Mercer. It had been a mistake. A bad mistake. And one I wouldn't be repeating any time soon.

  I drove down the back roads, heading out of Vegas. I didn't have time to pick a bus route, nor did I trust standing out in plain view. Not with God-knew-who on our trail. To be honest, I didn't even know what my enemy looked like. Sure, I would never forget Ricky's face, but the men he'd hired to kill me? I had no clue who or what to look for. Aside from Mercer, I had no idea who I was even running from.

  No, I needed to get far out of the city. Maybe even get out of Nevada altogether. I was heading south with no real destination in mind. My only goal was to stay alive and get out of harm's way. The only thought in my mind was that maybe somewhere out in rural Nevada, a place that had very few people, I could catch a train or a bus somewhere else.

  Or maybe I'd keep driving south. Maybe even all the way down to Mexico. But as soon as I'd had the thought, the little voice in my mind whispered to me, then what? What would we do then? Would my daughter and I live in some shitty little border town? Would we dance
at some club owned by a cartel and maybe wind up dead anyway?

  Maybe I should go north? Or maybe east? Maybe I could find some small town in the Midwest where nobody knew me? Maybe we could start over? Maybe I could find work doing something other than dancing for a living? Maybe I could get a job in an office somewhere – something that was nine to five, with a steady paycheck, and actual benefits?

  I let myself indulge in the daydream for a few moments. It sounded nice, and as long as I was on the road with the whole world open to me, the possibilities were endless. Which should be a good thing. It should be something that I embraced and rushed toward, but I also hesitated. That dark voice of skepticism in my brain kept whispering, kept telling me that I had everything to worry about. And because of that, my heart was filled with fear and trepidation. What if I made the wrong choice? What if by trying so desperately to get out, I drove myself right into their hands? What would become of Laila? What would become of me?