Property of Drex (Book 2) (Death Chasers MC Series)

  Property of Drex (Book 2)

  Death Chasers MC Series

  BY C.M. Owens

  Cover Model: Derrick Keith Shane Meacham

  Photographer: Eric Battershell

  Cover design: Book Cover by Design

  Copyright 2016 by C.M. Owens

  No part of this book may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without express written permission of the author. This eBook is licensed for your enjoyment only. It may not be re-sold or given away to other people.

  The story in this book is the property of the author, in all media both physical and digital. No one, except the owner of this property, may reproduce, copy or publish in any medium any individual story or part of this novel without the expressed permission of the author of this work.

  This is a work of fiction and completely derived from the mind of the author. Any familiar names or places are just coincidences. Even the town of Halo, Texas, is not real.

  What’s the most selfless thing you’ve ever done? What price tag would you put on the ability to save the ones you love?

  They say the worst decisions are made by the desperate or the fools.

  I was desperate enough to make a foolish decision to save my family. The cost? Me.

  They may be a motorcycle club, but in all honesty they’re really an elite unit of criminals who just happen to drive motorcycles. They’re a business. An organization. A fully functioning army…

  What I’ve learned? They work in the gray area; life and death is real; and everyone wants everyone dead. Okay, so maybe that’s dramatic… No. No it’s not. It’s legit.

  I prepared for the worst, fully anticipating hating my new life. Turns out, I finally found out where I belonged. Oh, and I discovered I’m a little twisted or crazy. Maybe both.

  Drex Caine, the man without a conscience, didn’t ruin me the way I thought he would. Instead, he made me feel like I was living instead of just waiting to live. And I can never go back to the way things used to be.

  Chapter 1

  DREX

  What does a concussion feel like? It makes me feel pretty fucking stupid, and it feels like the worst hangover in history, minus the fun of drinking.

  I blink my eyes several times as the doctor finishes looking me over. He frowns down at my attire, which is just my jeans, since that’s all I bothered to put on when Drake showed up at my house. Glad I put on that damn much.

  “You’re sure Eve is okay?” I ask Axle, who takes a deep breath that doesn’t make me feel too good.

  “I made sure of it. Drake has her.”

  The doc is on our payroll, and has been for a while. So he says nothing before backing out of the hospital room. Death Dealer cuts are everywhere outside the room. I catch glimpses when they open and shut the door.

  Private rooms for concussions aren’t protocol for the hospital, but being off the radar from a cop is our protocol. So private room it is. Would hate to mess up our relationship with the local PD.

  Obviously the head injury slows my thought process, because it takes a second for Axle’s words to register. When they sink in, I explode off the side of the bed and land on my feet.

  “Why the hell does Drake have her?”

  Axle comes quickly when I sway, feeling like a dizzy bastard from the head rush just standing up gave me.

  “Easy, dumbass. You’re in here for a reason.”

  “Why the fuck does Drake have her?” I repeat, ignoring his warning.

  He tightens his lips and looks over his shoulder toward the door before returning his gaze to me.

  “Your dad wanted us to bring her to him. He didn’t say why, but obviously I didn’t want that to happen while you were unconscious. Dash seems to think Herrin wants her dead, which also seems to be the general consensus amongst the rest of the group. The guys are blaming her for this, because the attack coincided with the phone call she made not too long before.”

  My jaw clenches, and I shake my throbbing head, trying to keep my eyes open. It’s hard to do. I feel groggy as hell and things keep doubling, then singling, then doubling again. Fuck me.

  “That’s the stupidest shit I’ve heard. That phone call was two weeks ago.”

  “And we both know it takes a minute to organize a hit like that, so two weeks would be a good preparation period. She keeps amassing more and more coincidences. They’re starting to think you’re too close to her to notice the threat she poses.”

  I crack my neck to the side while finally retaining my balance. I still feel heavy and off kilter, but I manage to stay vertical.

  My stomach is being a bitch, because it takes all I have not to get sick. Damn concussion.

  “You good?” Axle asks.

  “No. Fuck no. I don’t want Drake around my girl. In case you don’t remember, he has a score to settle over a damn woman.”

  Axle tightens his lips before blowing out a breath. “Dude, I hate to say this, but the girl keeps being the center of trouble. She shows up, and so do the cowboy feds who are bolder than any before. We also lose our contact inside the FBI because he’s sidelined. The ATF don’t want to waste their time on us, but a special task force from the FBI gets our scent and won’t go away? Then, there’s a raid on our place. Now this?”

  He gestures around to the sterile room I’m in. I can’t help but laugh now.

  “And you think Eve is in on it? That she has deliberately put herself in the line of fire?”

  He stops and thinks for a minute, and something close to regret crosses his eyes. “I did. Until I saw the way she was hovering over you when I got there. She was on top of you, shielding you. She even looked like she might attack me if I tried to touch you. Drake had to pull her off you to get her to budge. Then she didn’t want to leave your side. Dash even took a nut-shot because he interfered. It’s why I let Drake run off with her, because I knew he’d keep her safe.”

  Yeah, maybe some pride swells up with hearing how she handled things. But before I can ask where Drake took her, the door to my room opens. Pop walks in with Sledge, Snake, Dash, and Hershel.

  I immediately notice Dash limping, and I can’t help but smirk. But my amusement fades fast when Pop speaks.

  “Drake isn’t answering his phone,” Pop says, glaring over at Axle. “Why the hell did you send her with him?”

  Axle shrugs, not acting affected by Pop’s glower. “Drex seemed to be more important than his old lady. We had to torch the house and get him out of there. For all we knew, his brain could have been bleeding or some shit. I wasn’t willing to risk fighting over her when time was wasting.”

  Before Pop can speak, I interject, “Eve made a call two weeks ago because I forced her to. Dash said her mom was at the police station freaking out. She was in that house with me when it started raining bullets. How could you think she’d deliberately set all that up? Even more importantly, how would she have set it up? Believe me, she wasn’t talking in code to her mother.”

  Pop rolls his eyes. “Didn’t say she was some sort of mastermind, son. Just wanted her here so I could keep an eye on her. Christ, you’re paranoid.”

  He sits down, and just because I’m fucking exhausted, I drop back down to the bed, cursing and wincing when I feel the aches in my body that I didn’t notice before. I must have hit the ground pretty damn hard.

  “Call Drake,” I tell Axle, hoping he answers before I kill someone.

  “Doing it.” He eyes my father warily while dialing Drake, and Pop talks while we wait.

  “Hershel got word the Hell Breathers were chatteri
ng about an attack a few days before we all went home,” he says on a sigh. Axle’s head snaps up as he puts his phone away, meaning Drake didn’t fucking answer.

  Again, I blame the head injury when it takes a second for Pop’s words to sink in.

  “Wait, what? You knew shit was going to go down?” I demand. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

  Pop frowns while glancing over at Axle. Sledge looks as pissed as I feel.

  “Or me?” Sledge growls.

  Hershel says nothing as Dash moves into the room better, limping noticeably toward Axle. My girl must have nailed him really damn good.

  He grimaces as he lowers himself to a chair, but my attention is pulled back to Pop when Axle speaks.

  “So you let us think the girl had something to do with it, while you sent us home to be bait long before the attack happened?”

  Pop bristles, and in this moment, I start finding a lot of questions. Where was he? Was he safe and protected while I was exposed in the middle of nowhere with no backup? Was he prepared with guns, while I had to scrounge for weapons? Was he hiding like a coward while I scraped by with my life?

  “I thought they’d come after me,” he says, shrugging. “The fewer people who knew, the better. I didn’t expect them to go after Drex. And I don’t know why they did. They don’t know we know it was them. Dash tells me they were wearing all black.”

  “I didn’t know you had prior knowledge of an attack that you withheld,” Dash says quickly, growling. “I was ready to kill a girl who was apparently not as involved as you.”

  My fists clench, but Axle is suddenly there, stopping me from charging Dash, someone I thought of as one of my friends until this moment. If he had hurt her—

  Dash leaps up, pointing at me. “Calm down! I had no idea she was innocent. I have your back. Just as always. But I didn’t know I was getting played.”

  Pop slams his hand down on a rolling table that collapses and falls, clattering loudly to the ground.

  “Enough!” he roars. “I didn’t tell anyone because it was supposed to be an attack geared toward me! I don’t know why they went for Drex. I don’t even know why they were attacking.”

  “You didn’t even bother to tell me?” I ask calmly, which immediately ices his fury, and an impassive expression masks his features.

  “You’d have told your boys if I’d told you. Like I said, I wanted this kept close to vest. I wanted to draw Benny out. I was prepared for him.”

  “But Drex wasn’t,” Axle coldly points out. “Because he had no warning, and since he’s your son, Benny went for him. He’s under the delusion you care about him more than anything else.”

  Yeah, it fucking hurts. My father admits he doesn’t trust me to keep my mouth shut after all I’ve done for him over the years. And he silently admits he cares more about himself and the business—my business—than me.

  Deciding not to show how personal I’m taking this, I shift the conversation. “Benny doesn’t sell the same merchandise we do. He’s nothing more than contracted muscle to loan sharks and bookies. So obviously this is a personal attack. We all know why. Let’s focus on what to do next.”

  Axle’s eyes find mine, but I look away. I know he wants me to say something to Pop. But I know it’s not worth it. I’ll let my actions speak. As of this moment, I’m no longer his fucking loyal puppet.

  “Why strike years after his brother’s death? Why wait?” Hershel muses, ignoring the thick tension that is strangling everyone else.

  Sledge still looks disgusted, probably feeling excluded, since Pop didn’t even trust him. I keep talking, ignoring the death glares everyone is giving my asshole father.

  “Knowing Benny, he’s probably been working with someone to help him get this right. He knows he’s not good enough to outsmart us. He knows he’s not capable of outdoing us. So he’s got help, but he lost his shit tonight, and messed up by showing his hand. So why’d he slip up and attack now? What provoked him?”

  I’m the one with the head injury, yet I’m the one doling out the facts and searching for answers, while everyone else sits around pissed off at Pop. There will be time for this conversation later. Right now, we need to worry about what the fuck Benny is up to.

  Fortunately, Axle jumps on the wagon and offers something useful.

  “You took your girl to Drake. You said he got threats after. Did he say something to you that might have put Benny in the corner and left him ready to strike?”

  I slowly shake my head while silently recounting our conversation.

  “No. I told you what he said. Nothing but vague… Fuck. Why would he tell me something? Drake and I have been on the outs for two years, and he’s never been one to meddle in shit. He keeps his mouth shut. He warned me about them the day I got Eve inked, and I didn’t even realize he was warning me. We gotta get ahold of him.”

  And I’ve got to get Eve back. Thank fuck Drake isn’t a sick son of a bitch that would touch her without her consent.

  “Calling him again,” Axle says, then curses. “Straight to voicemail now. He’s cut his phone off. He thinks we’re going to kill Eve, thanks to Dash’s big mouth.”

  I cut my eyes toward Dash, who leans over and shakes his head.

  “I thought the girl was fucking you over. Never knew it was our president.”

  Pop explodes, spouting off a litany of curses, and suddenly three more of his guys barge through the door when Axle, Dash, and Snake look like they’re ready to strike.

  I groan while dropping back to the bed, covering my thundering head with my pillow while absently grabbing my phone. Again, Drake’s phone goes straight to voicemail, and cold blood pumps through my veins.

  Damn it.

  How the fuck am I going to find Eve? Drake knows how to lie low, and I have no idea how to find him.

  Chapter 2

  DREX

  “Doc’s letting you go,” Axle says four—yes, four—hours later. “Feds and cops are still clueless that you’re here. Our guy in the local PD station let me know that they didn’t know the house we torched was yours. So all’s good.”

  I glare at him. “All’s not fucking good. We still don’t know where Eve is.”

  He purses his lips before sitting down in one of the chairs on the far side of the room.

  “We’ll find her. Drake will eventually answer one of our calls.”

  I start to object, but my phone rings in my hand. I jolt when I see it’s Drake’s name flashing across the screen.

  “Drake, where the fuck are—”

  “Thank God you sound okay.” Eve’s voice shocks me into silence, and I sag in relief.

  “It wasn’t me. I know you don’t believe this, but I’m not some kind of spy—”

  “Eve, where are you?” I ask, interrupting her.

  She gets quiet for a minute, and that’s like a slap to the face. Not that I blame her for thinking the worst.

  “You sound good, but are you okay?” she asks instead of answering.

  Out of everyone who has been in and out of here today, she’s the first person to ask that. “No. I won’t be until I get you back from Drake. Where are you?”

  She sighs as though she’s torn about what to do.

  “Drake went to get us something to eat. He left his phone, so I sort of took advantage. I didn’t know your number, or I would have called you sooner from the landline here. I didn’t grab my phone from your house before… well, you know. I just needed to know you’re alright.”

  I groan while glaring at Axle. “Eve, I heard what happened. No one is going to hurt you. It was a major misunderstanding. Have Drake bring you to the warehouse.”

  Silence. Motherfucking silence.

  “Eve,” I warn, trying not to lose my temper, but it’s really hard to do right now. “I said I won’t hurt you. You should be able to trust me by now.”

  She laughs bitterly, which surprises the hell out of me. “Like you trust me? Drex, anytime something goes wrong, I’m suspect number one to the Death De
alers. I have bruises on my arm from where your friend tried to drag me away for a death sentence.”

  My jaw grinds. “Which one left bruises?”

  “Doesn’t matter. The point is this thing between us will never be anything more than it is. I’ll always be under a microscope, and you’ll never trust me. I’m just the expendable toy, and what happens when you’re done playing?”

  Fuck me. I’ve never heard her pissed, and right now she sounds like she’s furious.

  “If you were some expendable toy, I wouldn’t have put my name on you. I’d have stuck the traditional DD tat on you. I don’t foresee me being done anytime soon, but if I ever am, then you can go home. No strings attached. And I can promise I’ll keep Benny off you if something like that ever was to happen. As for the trust, you have to earn that. Everyone does.”

  Pop was once the person I trusted the most, and now… I don’t even want to think about it. It’s not easy to be betrayed by the only family you have.

  “I can’t earn it if you don’t give me a chance. And why does it matter? You can find anyone to do what I do.”

  She’s fishing, and I really hate that she’s the one with the power right now.

  “If anyone could be you, I wouldn’t be making an ass out of myself by essentially begging you to tell me where you are.”

  That silences her for a moment. But the silence is brief.

  “I haven’t heard any begging,” she says dryly, but I hear the smile in her voice.

  Like an ass, I smile back, even though I’d love nothing more than to throttle her.

  “This is me begging. Well, as close as I can get. Where are you?”

  She sighs and drags out the suspense for a really long time.

  “You promise not to do anything to Drake? He was only trying to protect me, which is more than your friends were trying to do.”

  I glare at Axle, who averts my eyes. It can’t be hard to overhear her, since the volume on my phone is cranked up to full blast.

  “Drake is safe. As for the rest, I’ll make sure that doesn’t become an issue ever again.”