Warlords MC – The Complete Series
Warlords MC: Book 1 – Ace (Truman) : Chapter 4

Before anyone could say another word, a familiar voice called out from behind them, “I’m right behind you, idiot.”

Everyone turned all at once and they all just stared.

Joker stood there, smiling at his brothers.

King yelled and rushed forward hugging his youngest brother around the waist then lifting him off the ground he whirled him around in a circle. The others scrambled around them and slapped him on the back as well. It took a few minutes for the chaos to settle down.

Joker pushed himself away from them. Holding his abdomen and wincing slightly, he stated breathlessly, “Hold up brothers. I’m mending but I’m still a little sore.” He stumbled over to the sofa and flopped down beside Charli. Looking up at her he asked, “Are you ok? I heard the shot then by the time I got to the window, I saw the fucker running away. Did you get hit?”

Charli nodded. “Jack said it was a through and through. I’m ok. He treated me good.”

Joker nodded. “He would have. He’s the only one of us that has medical training.” He turned to his brothers and grinned. “Well, as you can all see with your own eyes, reports of my death are greatly exaggerated, but no one else knows I’m still alive. We should probably keep it that way, at least for now.”

“Why?” Ace narrowed his eyes at his brother.

“Because this is the same bastard that murdered Alex and I want him for that murder,” Joker explained with malice in his voice. “You have no idea how badly I want to see this bastard go down for Alex’s death.” He looked over at Ace and saw the same look in his brother’s eyes. “Alex was my friend and he didn’t deserve to die.”

Ace nodded at him. “What happened to you then? Why have you been hiding here for the last three weeks? And why haven’t you contacted us since that text the night you disappeared?”

Joker lifted his shirt and showed everyone there the scars he now had. It had been touch and go for about the first tend days he’d been here. His wounds had gotten infected but Charli had been there with him as much as she could have been. He owed her more than just his life. She kept him alive and allowed him a safe place to heal. She also told him many stories about the people who lived in and around their small town.

“Sweet Jesus.” Growled King and he searched his brother’s abdomen.

“I didn’t know if I was going to live or die that first week,” Joker admitted. “Hell, I thought the bastard that did this killed me too.” He turned to Charli. “But she didn’t give up on me. She brought me back here and tended to my wounds. She kept me alive.”

“What Andy did to you was just wrong.” Charli shook her head. “Now, he must think he’s killed me too. We have to stop him.”

“Oh, little Charli… “Ace shook his head. “We’re gonna stop him. We’re gonna bring hell down on him and his friends.”

“That might not be as easy as you think,” Ben told them.

Ace swung his gaze over to glare at him. “Why do you say that old man?”

Ben held up his hand and shook his head. “Because you don’t know what’s been going on around here, that’s why.”

“He’s right,” Charli added. “It all began about seven years ago when the biggest business man in the area, Oliver Chapman won the Mayor’s race in Big Timber. He lives locally but his offices are about 5 miles away in Big Timber. Things around here went from bad to worse overnight. Suddenly, his family thought they were better than everyone else. Oliver replaced most of the city council and the police force with his friends who didn’t know what the hell they were doing. He even got into the court system. Money will do that to some people and it did that to Oliver. Good people were going to jail for the stupidest things while the real criminals went free. People that complained about what he was doing were run out of town, legally or not. No one could say anything bad about him or his family.”

The men in the room looked disgusted at her descriptions.

“Andy went from being a bully to being an asshole. He could suddenly do whatever he wanted without fear of going to jail. He knew his dad would never allow that to happen. He’s only a few years older than me but he’s made my life hell ever since high school.”

“Why?” Ace asked her. “What happened in high school?”

Charli shrugged. “I was fifteen to his eighteen. My freshman year, his dad had just won the Mayor’s office and Andy was feeling his power for the first time. He was with his friends blocking the doors when I got there. It was too late to turn around and go the other way, so I pushed through the crowd. That’s when he noticed me for the first time. I was just trying to leave the building and he grabbed me. I tried to pull away and he laughed at me. He told me in front of his friends that he would see me later at the park. He told me to meet him around nine. I told him I wouldn’t be there. I had things to do that night. When he asked me what I had to do that was more important than being with him, I said I had to wash my hair. When everyone laughed at that… Andy got pissed. He tried to hit me but I nailed him in the nuts first. He went down and I walked away.”

“Things got worse after that,” Ben picked up the story. “She’d come home with bruises but would never tell me who or what caused them. Then I got an outrageous water bill in the mail. I knew Oliver was behind this.” Ben shook his head. “That was about six years ago.” He turned to Joker. “Then three weeks ago, she comes home covered in blood and bruises. I thought Andy had beaten her up again, but she wouldn’t tell me anything. I knew she didn’t want me involved but I couldn’t sit here and do nothing either.”

“Grandpa? What did you do?” Charli asked with a whisper.

“I called in some of my friends and we began compiling a list of just how much had changed since Oliver Chapman took over the city. We’ve been watching and keeping track of everything they do.” Ben nodded. “And we think we found something too.”

“What did you replace?” Ace asked.

“Well now…” Ben rubbed his jaw. “That…we’re not quite sure of. Me and my friend Jared was out checking fences about three months ago and I saw something that wasn’t there before. They set up a new warehouse out in the sticks. Trucks and people coming and going all hours of the day and night. Jared’s been watching from the woods and he doesn’t know what’s going on either.”

Ace looked over at his brothers. “Three months ago, you said?”

Ben nodded. “The place looks like it’s been there a while now. It’s not a new building but it’s been a busy place.”

“You think maybe it could have been there about eight months or so?” King wanted to know.

“Could very well have been.” Ben nodded. “I don’t get out in the field too much anymore, so it’s been some time since I was out that way. And I don’t get out during the winter at all. At my age, it’s all too easy to break a bone and I really don’t want to be tied down, if I don’t have to be.” He motioned toward Charli. “She’s too busy working to do too much around here so I’ve had to downsize this farm a lot. I lay in bed at night and I hear every sound this old farm makes. It comforts me to know those sounds. I also hear what sounds shouldn’t be here as well. Sound travels far in the country. I hear the cars, trucks and motorcycles coming and going all night.”

“Motorcycles?” Deuce asked.

“I’ve seen them too,” Joker told his brothers. “He’s right, the sounds travel in the country. As I’ve healed, I’ve heard the cycles too. When I did, I would get up and follow the sounds. Keeping in the tree line, I followed the sounds and I think I know the building he’s talking about.”

“And just what did you see, little brother?” Ace asked.

“One night I saw Ghost Riders.”

“Are you sure about that?” Ace cut his brothers a look. “You know what I’m talking about. You know what’s at stake here.”

Joker nodded. “I know but I also know what I saw. I knew I had to be absolutely positive, so I followed the sounds again, just a week ago. They were Ghost Riders all right but I’ve never seen them before.”

“What are you saying?” King demanded.

“I’m saying the second time I followed the sounds, I took binoculars along. I saw their cuts and they said Ghost Riders but I’ve never seen those four men before. I don’t think they’re part of Pepper’s crew.”

“Well, we need to replace out for sure before we call him out on it.” Ace growled. “I’m not going to start a feud. No one wins if this goes bad. I need to see it with my own eyes. Pepper has been nothing but on our side in this.”

“Well, if they follow schedule, they should ride out tomorrow night,” Joker informed them. “Maybe we can get a photo and have it on hand for Pepper and his crew.”

Ace nodded. He looked over at Ben and Charli. “You got yourselves a few guests until we can get to the bottom of this. If young Andy is doing what I think he’s doing, hell is coming to Braaken Ridge and it ain’t going to be pretty. People are going to get hurt and I don’t want you two caught in the fall out.”

“What are you fixin’ to do boy?” Ben asked.

“We’ve been tracking a killer for a few months now and by all accounts, we think we found him,” Ace said. “This killer murdered a friend of ours because he was getting too close to knowing his identity. Alex was on his way to a parley with us when he was ambushed. He was stabbed in the belly just like Joker was, only he was left in a dirty alley to bleed to death. He was alone when he died. When we found him, he was a mess like someone had beaten the hell out of him. Now, Alex would have given as good as he got, had he been able to. But his hands were clean, like he hadn’t even defended himself and we all knew that wasn’t Alex.”

Charli gasped and looked over at Joker.

His eyes were on hers and when he knew what his brother was talking about, he nodded. Andy had killed his friend in the same manner he thought he’d killed Joker. He had his friends hold Alex while he stabbed the other man.

Charli began to tremble. Now what Andy said at the diner made more sense to her. She looked over at Ben and he nodded. She turned to Ace and whispered, “Andy told me I’d better keep my mouth shut about the night he stabbed your brother. He admitted Joker wasn’t the first man he’d stabbed nor would he be the last. That was just before he kissed me. I almost puked on him.”

“You’re gonna need to cross your T’s and dot all your I’s to make anything stick to that man son,” Ben advised. “And you can’t expect the police around here to help you at all.”

Ace snorted. “Don’t you worry about that old man. I don’t plan on using anyone in this fucking town. You see, he isn’t going to face justice exactly in the legal way, he’s gonna be judged MC style.”

“Too bad you can’t do something about the corruption around here,” Ben complained.

“Grandpa,” Charli admonished the older man. “They aren’t from here, they don’t care.”

“Well now, that’s just the thing,” Ben replied without looking at anyone else in the room. “Oliver isn’t going to accept that Andy did anything wrong. You know as well as I do that’s the way that bastard thinks. He’s allowed that boy to run wild and just do what he wants to do. He’s turned everything Andy’s ever done around and if that brat hurt people, he always made it look like Andy was the victim not the one that did the hurting.”

“I know Grandpa, I know, but that’s not why they’re here. They’re looking for a killer, not to take back a town.” Charli shook her head.

“First things first,” Ace interjected. “Where can we put our bikes, so no one can see them in case they drive by this place? We don’t want anyone to know we’re still here.”

Charli nodded. “You can put them under a tarp in the barn. You’ll have to double up as we only have four bedrooms or you can sleep in the barn as well.” She got up and stumbled a bit but managed to catch herself before she went down. Ace rushed to help her but she put up a hand to stop him. “You’ll have to excuse me. I work the early shift tomorrow and I need to get some sleep.”

“Not sure that’s a good idea, sweet thing.” Ace narrowed his eyes at her. “You got shot tonight and if it was Andy who pulled the trigger, he isn’t going to like the fact that he fucking missed.”

Charli raised her head and glared at him. “He didn’t miss though did he? His bullet found its mark.” She turned and kissed her grandfather good night then slowly made her way up the steps. Slowly, Charli took one step at a time until she finally made it to the top. She knew she couldn’t turn around, she didn’t want them to see the tears rolling down her face.

Walking to her bedroom door, she slipped inside and shut it. Leaning up against it, she just stood there for a moment praying the pain she felt would soon ease up enough to let her get through the rest of the night. She went to her bathroom and opened the medicine chest. Reaching for the top shelf she let a small squeal escape as a stabbing pain went through her body.

She reached again and this time, she used her other arm. She dropped the bottle into her sink and leaned forward for a moment to catch her breath. Then a man’s arm reached around her and pulled the bottle out. Opening it, she waited until he shook out a few pills into her hand then she popped them in her mouth. Cupping her hand under the running water, she raised a handful of water to her mouth and swallowed the pills. “Thank you.” She pushed herself away from the sink. “I’ll be all right now.”

Ace pulled her into his arms. “Sweetheart, you are not ok and you’re not alone. I don’t know what it is about you but I feel the need to protect you. I have from the moment I saw you in that diner. I wanted to smash Andy’s face in when he kissed you.”

Charli groaned and laid her head on his chest for a moment. Then she pushed away from him and slowly walked into her bedroom. She sat down carefully on the edge of her bed then looked up at him. “I am not your sweetheart, so please stop calling me that. I’m not your anything. I’m not alone because I have my grandpa. You and your brothers are out of here as soon as you catch Andy and his friends, we both know that. You’ll go back to where you came from. You’re a fine looking man. I doubt your bed will be empty for long.”

Ace just stood there as he crossed his massive arms over his chest and stared at her.

“Go away Mr. Bridges. Please, I don’t sleep around and you are not going to get in my pants. I’m not that kind of girl and never will be. I want the kind of love my grandpa still feels for the wife he lost five years ago, not the instant satisfaction your kind desires. I may never get that but at least, I’ll never cheat myself out of that wish. I’m not cheap.”

Ace leaned forward and crushed her mouth against his own. They both felt the zing of electricity that passed through them. When they broke apart, Charli stared at him and saw the stunned look in his eyes.

“Maybe, just maybe I ain’t looking for easy right now.” He then turned and walked out of her bedroom.

Charli raised her fingers to her mouth and touched her lips. She could still feel the zing from his kiss. She turned and crawled into her bed and laid down. Fresh tears rolled down her face as she wondered what the hell just happened.