Deviance (The Chicago Defiance MC Series Book 3) Read online

  But I don’t. I keep my shit together.

  Marginally.

  “So where’s Miller? In Grand Rapids?”

  “He’s actually in Chicago on business, it’s why I chose tonight to head down here. I wanted to get the guy with your help while he’s away from anyone who can help him out. We can get him tonight. Question and release him without any incident. Then I can be back on the road by morning.”

  “I’ll have Sensei and Chains go and retrieve him—”

  “Bullshit!” I yell making everyone snap their heads to look at me.

  “The fuck you say?” Torque scrunches his brow.

  I stand from my chair slamming my hands on the table. “Sensei and I do retrievals. Don’t pull me from my job just because you think I’m too close to this, Torque.”

  Torque rolls his neck glancing to Crest, then to Sensei, then back to me. “You are too close to this, Trax.”

  “Exactly why I’m the best motherfucker for this job. Who the hell is gonna make sure this shit is done properly if not for me?”

  Sensei clears his throat like I’ve offended him, but I don’t give a shit right now.

  Fucker can be offended all he wants.

  “Crest, back me up here. You know you want me on this.”

  Crest glances to Torque and shrugs. “I don’t care who fucking gets the shithead as long as he’s back here in one damn piece, so we can talk to the motherfucker. If Miller’s dead, then it’s all for fucking nothing, and Mylee’s instantly put in danger.”

  “I got this, Torque!” I look at him sternly. “I got this,” I reiterate.

  He exhales with a shrug. “Fine! Sensei and Trax will fetch Miller while we set up in the Chamber.”

  Elation rolls through me. Knowing I’ll be able to relieve some of my bloodthirst tonight, it’s the only thing keeping me going right now. With the intensity I’ve felt today, I need this to make it through tonight.

  I’m seriously damn twisted.

  “Everyone in the Chamber should wear balaclavas. Nothing identifying is to be worn. Since this is a release, there should be nothing visible to tie to you or the two clubs. So all black, no jewelry, tats covered, no cuts. You know the drill… same goes for you, Sensei and Trax, when you retrieve. Cover up. Wear nothing obvious, say nothing obvious,” Torque relays.

  “Thank you captain obvious!” I mock.

  His lip turns up at me as I plonk down on my seat. “You’re a prick when you’re ovulating, you know that, Trax?” Torque grunts.

  “Fuck you!” I murmur under my breath.

  “Enough! Fuck, you’re just like the damn boys at home…” Crest rolls his eyes. “Sensei, Miller will be at his hotel by now. You’ll have to grab him from there.”

  I let out a stifled laugh. “Hotel grabs, this should be interesting.”

  “If anyone can be creative, Trax, you can,” Crest mocks.

  “Oh, you don’t even know the half of it. You should’ve seen this one time when I was with Sensei, and a Yakuza underling, who couldn’t keep his cock in his pants—”

  The room laughs excluding Crest who cuts in. “Somehow I know that would have been a sight to see, but I’m warning you, Trax, keep your shit together with Miller. We need information not bloodshed.”

  Rolling my neck, I groan. “I got it! Can we go now?”

  “You’re like an errant child, kid. Who’s the techie here?” Crest asks.

  Ace stands from his station as if it wasn’t noticeable. “Yep. What do you need?”

  “I’ve got Miller’s cell number. Can you put a trace on it for Captain Impossible, so they know where he’s located in the hotel?”

  Ace smiles flicking his bobblehead of Iron Man. “There’s a reason I’m the tech guy here, Crest, ‘cause I have technology as good as Stark Industries.”

  We all raise our brows as Crest grunts. “Am I supposed to know what that fucking means?”

  Ace slumps back into his seat defeated. “Yeah, I can track the cell. Gimmie his number.”

  Scratch chuckles giving Ace two thumbs up in support as Crest stands up and moves to Ace’s computers. Crest hands over his cell information as they fuck about.

  Torque leans in beside me gaining my attention. “Bring the suit in, in one piece. You hear me?”

  I scoff. “I fucking got it.”

  “None of this hothead bullshit, Trax.”

  I turn my back to him effectively ending the conversation as an alert pings on my cell. I look down to see the tracker app with a red dot appearing in the heart of Chicago. I smile standing up as I glance to Sensei.

  “Let’s go.”

  Sensei glances to Torque, an unspoken conversation passing between them, but I don’t care what it is they aren’t saying out loud. I have a guy I need to get to, who knows information on the dick who’s out to harm Mylee. My bloodlust is pulsing through my veins. The need to cause bodily harm growing by the second.

  Will I be able to reign in my demons?

  Fucked if I know.

  All I do know is Miller better not say anything to piss me off because right now I’ve had a shit of a day and just looking for an excuse to tear off some limbs.

  Please give me an excuse, Miller.

  Just one tiny excuse…

  TRAX

  Sensei and I pull up in the underground parking garage of the hotel in our van. He parks right at a back corner near the elevator. I smirk at his forward thinking. We hop out of the van all dressed in black, our balaclavas in our pockets as I look around to see a light illuminating our van a little too much. So, I glance around to find something as Sensei fucks about in the back of the van getting it ready for the retrieval. I find a small rock, glance around to make sure no one’s watching then I hurtle it at the light.

  A smashing sound rings through the parking garage as our van descends into darkness. Sensei’s head pops around the back to look at me, his eyes go wide.

  “What the fuck, Trax?” he murmurs.

  “There’s too much light,” I reply.

  Sensei shuts the back of the van and quickly checks around the parking garage to see there’s no one around. But I already knew that.

  “Lucky no one heard that, fucker. Now where is he in the hotel?”

  Pulling out my cell, I look to the flashing red dot on the screen. “Follow me,” I instruct as we make our way to the elevator. We enter turning our backs to the door. We know there could be a camera in here, so we keep our backs to the front the entire ride. The door pings, and we back out. We probably look like fucking idiots, but no one’s here watching, so who cares.

  We enter the hall and duck behind a partition while listening to the crappy music playing in the hotel bar. Licking my lips, I glace to Sensei as I check my cell. “I think he’s in the bar.”

  Sensei groans. “This complicates things. If he was in his room, it would be much easier. Now there’s other people around.”

  I grunt out frustrated as I rub the back of my neck. I need to get some of this anger out and soon. It’s only increasing, doubling in its ferocity. My thoughts shift to Mylee asleep in that bed, zoned out because of a panic attack. My nostrils flare as my palm comes up and slams into the wall hard making a loud thump as the wall shudders.

  Sensei glares at me while I breathe harshly out of my nose trying to cool myself down. “You need to calm your inner thoughts, Trax. If you let something as simple as having to wait to catch your prey get to you, you are further gone than I thought.”

  My eyes harden as I drop my hand from the wall crossing my arms over my chest. “What the fuck is that supposed to mean?”

  He stands taller, taking me on. “It means you’ve been falling apart for a long time, even before Mylee came back. Now she’s here, I see this as going one of two ways.”

  I cock my chin higher. “Yeah? How’s that?”

  “You can either let her save you or let her be your complete demise. Way I see you heading right now, you are letting your anger and your inner turmoil control yo
u. Take the control back, Trax.”

  I scoff. “What the fuck would you know about control?”

  He raises his brow. “A lot more than you think, and I will teach you. You just have to be willing to let go of that monster crawling around within.”

  My face scrunches, my stomach churning as the demon claws at my soul to be set free. “I don’t have a fucking monster within, Sensei.”

  He lets out a heavy sigh. “The thing is, Trax, if you want what’s best for Mylee, you’ll—”

  I lunge forward grabbing him by his black hoody and press him against the wall glaring in his stoic eyes. He remains calm and unmoving as my face contorts in anger. “Don’t fucking talk about her.” Tension rolls off me as I press him harder against the wall wanting more than anything to rip him to shreds, but the way he isn’t fighting back makes it harder for me to do any-damn-thing. My lip turns up while I pant for breath as my cell lets off a small ping. Sensei drops his cool eyes from mine glancing to my pocket as I finally drop my hold on him and pull my cell out to see the dot moving and coming our way.

  “Fuck! He’s heading this way,” I tell him as I reach into my pocket to pull out my balaclava. Sensei does the same placing his over his head, it barely covers the dreadlocks that fall down the one side of his face. I yank mine over my head quickly. Now we’re really pulling off the criminal vibe as we stand back in the hallway leading to the suites.

  Miller rounds the corner as we conceal ourselves behind a partition out of view. He stumbles ahead of us as Sensei stalks up behind him, and I slide out in front of him. His eyes widen as he takes in the sight of me. He attempts to say something, but I don’t hesitate, the demon inside of me roaring to life as I clench my fist and slam it straight into his nose. My knuckles twinge but don’t hurt as much as normal—they’re covered in black leather gloves—while blood spills down his face, his entire body collapsing back into the arms of Sensei. It all happens without a hassle or a single word.

  Sensei hoists him up over his shoulder, and we run like hell toward the elevator. I press the button as Sensei looks me over. “You good?”

  “I’m good,” I reply.

  The elevator dings and luckily no one’s inside, so we stride in taking it straight to the parking garage. The doors open, I step out scoping for anyone, but it’s vacant. “Clear,” I call out as Sensei steps out carrying Miller while I open the back of the van.

  Sensei throws him inside then I step in and grab the cable ties. We’ve done this countless times, and we’re pros at this snatch and grab shit. I tie up his hands while Sensei tapes his mouth. Then we prop him sitting up, so the blood from his nose doesn’t clog his airways and he suffocates on the ride over.

  Yeah, we learned that the hard way.

  Once Miller’s ready to go, we slide into the van. We don’t take off our balaclavas, not until we’re at least ten minutes into the drive. That’s the rules. Plus, the windows are tinted enough so people can’t see in to notice us wearing them.

  Sensei pulls out of the garage, and we’re off to the clubhouse—a successful retrieval. He looks to me then his eyes slip back to the road. “You lost your head back there.”

  I grunt. “You were talking about her. I tend to lose my shit when it comes to… her.”

  He exhales. “You need to calm that storm, it’s going to end up with you losing yourself.”

  I scoff. “I’m well aware of the path I’m taking.”

  He glances to me again. “Do you? ‘Cause from where I’m sitting, this shit’s not pretty.”

  “I’m fine.”

  He exhales. “When you realize you’re not… I’ll be here.”

  Rolling my shoulders, I turn my head to the window and watch the city streets of Chicago pass me by. I’m fine. Sure, I might have a temper. Sure, I might fly off the handle sometimes, but doesn’t everyone?

  Yeah, fuck Sensei and his bullshit.

  There’s nothing wrong with me.

  I can handle my own shit.

  My bloodlust is my own.

  I have it capped.

  I have it locked down.

  It’s under control.

  As Sensei straps Miller to the silver chair, I pace the chamber, the dank room reminding me how much I love it in here. The dull hue from the lights. The tepid temperature. The faint sounds of dripping coming from the doorway. Every inch of this room was made for me even though I’m not the man of the hour down here most of the time. This is generally Sensei’s domain, but today I want to take the lead.

  Torque and Crest walk in closing the door behind them. Their club cuts gone replaced with black hoodies and their faces covered with balaclavas like us. Four men clad in black and one business- looking suit tied to the silver chair, still out cold, with blood oozing from his nose. I can’t wait to see his face when he wakes up.

  “You got here in record time, boys,” Torque relays as I walk over grabbing a length of metal tubing just in case I need it.

  “It’s easy when you have the tracker.” I step forward toward Torque and Crest placing the hard tube against the wall near the silver chair. “Let me take the lead on this. I have more to gain, I think I’ll be more convincing.”

  Torque scoffs. “Scare the guy to death more like it—”

  “I think we should give the kid a chance. If he falls out of line, then let option two take over,” Crest pipes in.

  My inner demon roars to life slapping Crest on the bicep as I smile at him. He nods to me as Torque and Sensei both exhale but nod.

  “Fine, but the moment you get too heavy-handed with him… you’re out. Remember this is a retrieve and release. He gets out of this alive.”

  Turning my back to my blood brother, I roll my eyes. “I fucking know, let me get on with it. It’s getting late, I need my beauty sleep.”

  “Don’t we know it,” Crest mocks. Rolling my eyes, Sensei walks up to me with a bucket of iced water.

  He looks at me, and I nod with a giant smirk. “Let’s get this party started.”

  Sensei hurtles the iced water onto Miller. His body jolts as his head flings up. Miller starts to shake as his eyes widen in fear. His nostrils flare in and out with his frantic breaths. He looks to the four of us all covered up as he shakes his head trying to obviously figure out what the hell is going on.

  I step up to him, my gloved fingers grabbing at the tape as I rip it from his mouth in one fell swoop. He yelps out in pain as he gasps for air.

  “Fuck! What the hell’s going on?” he blurts out as he looks right at me, the fear evident in his eyes.

  I bend down so my eyes are in line with his as I narrow them. His Adam’s apple bobs up and down as I watch his body visibly shake. “You know Everett Scott, correct?” I ask.

  He inhales and looks around at my brothers trying to ascertain why there’s so many of us here. He’s in shock, obviously, as he keeps quiet still glancing around the room taking all this in. So, I reach out grabbing his chin forcefully making him look only at me. He yelps out as I see a slow trickle of wetness appear at his crotch and run down his pants.

  Fucker pissed himself.

  “Don’t look around, talk to me. You can get out of this if you cooperate, Miller.”

  His breathing is coming in fast and frantic as he rapidly bobs his head up and down.

  Fucker’s a pussy if ever I’ve seen one.

  “Yeah,” his voice is barely audible.

  “What? I can’t hear you,” I spit at him.

  “Yes! I know Everett, dammit.”

  I let go of his chin and stand back up folding my arms over my chest. “How often do you talk to him?”

  He glances around the room, so I snap my fingers pointing my middle and pointer finger at him and then to my eyes. “Look at me, Miller. How often do you talk to Everett?”

  His breath stutters as he sniffs shaking his head. “I… I don’t think I should be talking to you.”

  I lunge forward without hesitation, my fist clenching and landing a blow right in his st
omach. He hunches over, but he can’t hold onto where the pain is radiating out from because his hands are tied to the chair. He puffs out heaving breaths. “I don’t think you have any other option, Miller. You talk to us, you tell us what we want to know, or I get a little trigger happy.”

  His eyes dart open as he looks around the room again at my brothers.

  “Don’t look to us, we won’t help you,” Crest relays making Miller frown as he coughs a little.

  He sits up taller looking back at me. “What do you want to know?”

  I grin stepping closer. “Everett has a plan in action, we want to know what it is?”

  He raises a brow and scoffs. “You’re going to have to be a little more specific there, cowboy.”

  My lip curls as I grunt. Guy’s grown some balls. I can fix that. Stepping forward, I raise my foot and stomp as hard as I can onto his expensive looking black shoe with my combat boot. He screams out in agony as he writhes on the chair.

  “Stop being an asshole, Miller, and you’ll stop getting hurt,” I reply. “Though, I do like hurting people, so keep it up. It doesn’t really faze me.”

  He grunts shuffling up on the seat. “What plan?” he reiterates.

  “Has he talked to you about anything to do with Mylee Bannerman?”

  His eyes widen as he tilts his head. “Mylee? A plan to do with Mylee?”

  “That’s what I said, fucker.”

  He clears his throat. “I think you’ve been misinformed. Everett and Mylee are a couple.”

  I scoff as Crest stands taller. “What makes you say that?” Crest asks.

  “Everett talks about her all the time.”

  “Have you ever seen them together, Miller?” I ask, and he lets out a laugh.

  “Why would I? Mylee’s working abroad, Everett says he only gets to see her occasionally, but when he does, fuck is it wild… if you know what I mean?”

  I tense up, the demon within me swarming as I rush forward without hesitation, my knuckles clenched as I thrust them into his face so hard and fast I can’t think about what I’m doing. Anger swarms around me, a rage burning so hot as I punch and punch and fucking punch. I feel the bones crunching, I hear his cries of agony. The adrenaline races over me as I let the demon within me ravage my soul.