Hunter hells guardians m.., p.1
Hunter: Hells Guardians MC, page 1
Hunter
MAYHEM MAKERS
HELLS GUARDIANS MC
K.L. MYERS
Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Epilogue
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Also by K.L. Myers
About Mayhem Makers
Motorcycles, Mobsters, and Mayhem Author Event proudly presents The Mayhem Makers Series, novels brought to you by the attending authors who specialize in writing twisted chaos. You’ll get all the bikers, mobsters, and dark romance your heart can handle.
Disclaimer: The Makers Series is a collection of works of fiction that mention the author signing Motorcycles, Mobsters, and Mayhem Author Event in each novel. No authors, assistants, models, or readers attending the event were harmed in the writing of these fictional works. Events mentioned are fictional additions to each author’s novel and do not reflect what actually goes on at the aforementioned signing.
Menace © 2023 by K.L. Myers
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This is a work of fiction. Any characters, names, places, brands, media, and incidents are used solely in a fictitious nature based on the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to or mention of persons, places, organizations, or other incidents is coincidental.
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Chapter One
HUNTER
I stood in the corner of the clubhouse in Arizona, wishing I’d had another cold beer in hand. Just when I thought Menace’s voice couldn’t get any louder, I held the phone away as my brother yelled all the ways I was fucked. As much as I wanted to argue with him, I couldn’t. He was right. I kept the secret about our father from my club and everything that happened was my fault.
“You fucking lied to me. You could have spared everyone if you’d just told Inferno from day one. Now, I don’t even know if I can trust the words coming out of your mouth.”
He spewed the same words at me once when we were kids. When I’d told him I’d had enough of living under dad’s roof. I was too sober for this shit. “Menace, I didn’t lie. I’m telling ya, I didn’t know. We’re brothers. You can trust me.”
“Can I? Would I even be alive today if I hadn’t ended up in the hospital with a ruptured appendix? You arranged for me to have dinner with Chuck, how do I know you weren’t involved in the murders. The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, brother. How can I trust you’re not exactly like your father?”
Menace started referring to our dad as “my father” the day I told him he and Chuck McAllister shared no blood. It didn’t help that Dad often went out of his way to treat him like shit. Did that from the day he was born, and our mother bailed, turning our upbringing into an endless stretch of neglect. I was the one who raised my brother until he was eight. By eighteen I’d had enough and left, leaving Menace alone with the bastard. I did the best I could, sending money to him. Making sure the bills were paid so he’d have a roof over his head and food in his stomach.
Hearing him compare me to my dad ripped a new hurt deep in my chest.
“You may not be his blood, but we are. Nothing changes that. I thought I was doing what was in the best interest of everyone involved—Dad and the club. I didn’t know Dad had other things in play.”
“Put your phone on speaker,” Menace demanded.
“Why?”
“Because I’m going to give you one chance to prove your loyalty. Do it now, or you’re dead to me.”
The one thing about Menace: in my thirty-three years, he rarely said anything he didn’t mean. Reluctantly, I hit the button. “You’re on speaker.”
“Inferno, you there?” Menace yelled, his voice loud enough to catch the attention of a few of our brothers who were close by.
“What are you doing, Menace?” I whispered into the phone. “Are you nuts?”
“I want everyone to hear me. Inferno,” he called out again, louder.
One of the prospects walked across the room, tapped Inferno on the shoulder, and then pointed at me. My heart pounded faster with each step that brought him closer.
“Menace?” Inferno questioned once he was standing next to me.
“Yeah, it’s me,” my brother replied. “Hunter has information he needs to tell you about. When he’s done, call me back.”
The Prez of the Wyoming Chapter turned to me, narrowing his eyes. “What the fuck is going on here?” His voice clearly agitated. Games irritated Inferno more than anything, and this call became one with each passing minute.
“Sorry, Prez,” Menace said. “This is between you and Hunter. I’ve got a mess to clean up here.”
Before either of us could ask my brother anything more, he hung up, leaving Inferno in front of me with a shit ton of questions. “You want to explain what the fuck is going on here? I don’t have time for your sibling bullshit.”
Sibling bullshit. I wish that was all it was. I wasn’t sure how our Prez would react when he heard what I had to tell him. I played out two versions in my head: one where he grabbed his gun and put a bullet in my head and one where he told me everything would be alright.
I let out a deep breath and drug my hand down my face, unsure how I would tell him the rest. “I may have been able to prevent the murders of the Officers of the Arizona Chapter.” Inferno moved his right hand to rest on his holstered gun. I knew whatever happened next, I deserved it. I just prayed I’d still be breathing when I finished. I told him about the conversations I’d had with Mammoth, the former Arizona Chapter president. How I’d learned there was a rumor my father was involved in a potential run on the club, but I’d yet to prove it. I was still working on that part, but at present, all signs led to him and his club, working with WhiteRail MC to carry out the murders of all five of Arizona’s Chapter’s officers.
What happened next was so quick I didn’t have a chance to prepare. Inferno drew his gun and pointed it at my head. “You motherfucker,” he yelled.
I was positive my life was over. I closed my eyes and waited for him to pull the trigger. I’d take whatever punishment Inferno felt I had coming to me. I’d gotten to five before I opened my eyes, just in time to see his knuckles connected with my chin. The punch dropped me to the ground. I lay there holding my face, unsure of how many bullets might come next.
“Pick your ass off the fucking ground.”
I got to my feet and looked Inferno in the eyes.
“Your tight lips caused this shit, now you’re going to clean it up. Your loyalty is in question. You want to keep breathing, you’re gonna prove I can trust you. Chuck McAllister needs to pay and then he needs to disappear. You get me?”
I nodded. There were many times I’d envisioned taking that man out permanently. But thinking and doing were two separate things.
“Time Arizona Peacekeepers feel their mistake. Bring me his ring. You set that on my table. You do that, I’ll know you’re ready to atone. I need a man worthy of Mammoth’s legacy. Someone needs to rebuild the Arizona Chapter as their president. You think you’re that man?”
I nodded. “I want Tank as my VP.”
Inferno raised a brow. “You telling me or asking?”
“I’m asking.”
“You’re damn right you are.” Inferno stared me down, still measuring. “Not just the ring, Hunter. The whole hand. Then we’ll talk.”
Chapter Two
HUNTER
“So, this is how it’s going to be?” My father asked as I stood there with a gun pointed at his head.
He and I looked so much alike. Same mustache. Same neglected beard, only his was now grey, hiding the same brown hair we shared. Too many hard days of living had turned his face to leather. It was a mirror no man wished to look at.
“You’re choosing the club over blood,” Dad said, his voice laced with contempt.
He’d followed me to the abandoned trotter track outside of Goodyear. I knew he suspected what was to come, yet he still showed. The dilapidated building once stood strong in the sixties. Now, just like my loyalty, its strength was in question. The broken glass from shattered windows lay in shards on the ground, cracking under our boots. A lesser man would break under the orders I’d been given. Back in the day, my boys and I would sneak through the fence and climb the stairs to the top, making us feel like we were unstoppable. Now it was just a place where deals went bad and bodies were found. Only this body w ould not.
Dad was also a quick draw. My .45 pointed in his face and his at mine. “You caused this. I told you something in passing, and you decided to conspire against my club. We live by the code, old man. Club before family. You know this.”
“Pull the trigger then. Show me you’re man enough.” My father taunted me.
“I hate you for putting me in this position.” I shook my head and closed my eyes briefly, remembering that the man in front of me was my dad. The one who raised me into the man I am today. “What do you have to say for yourself?”
“Careful Son. You know what happened was just business.”
“They hell it was! Five men are now dead because of you. All five officers of the Arizona Chapter. Because of what? A thought of expansion? When did the Peacekeepers start partnering with WhiteRail?”
“Think, Son. Men start thinking they can take what doesn’t belong to them, men start dying. That’s just how it is.”
I shook my gun. “Maybe it’s your turn then, hmm?”
My father showed me his teeth. “You know, I’m proud of you Hunter. You’ve become everything I could have hoped for in a son. Nothing like that spineless bastard brother of yours.” The barrel of his gun stayed true, pointed at my forehead. “It was a shift of power. Nothing more. You may have turned your back on my path, but everything I do is for you.”
My old man had become a good liar over the years. His voice shook when he spoke, but nothing in his facial expressions supported the sentiments spewing from his lips. “You expect me to believe that?”
I thought back to the week before Menace left for Arizona. Dad had reached out; said he wanted my help to get back in good graces with my brother—his youngest son. He sounded sincere, so I agreed to help. He’d given me the date and time for dinner and asked that I arrange it because he knew Menace would never agree to it. “Now that I think of it, you planned it all out, didn’t you. The date. The time. The place. It was all you. You never wanted to make amends. You just wanted Menace somewhere you knew he’d be unable to help so it wouldn’t interfere with your plans.”
“See, Son, you’re just as smart as I taught you to be. Too bad it wasn’t in time for you to figure out my plan and save your friends. We couldn’t have your brother with anyone from the club. Not one of the officers could live; if Menace was with any of them, there was always the chance someone would survive.” My father laughed. “I was going to put a bullet between his eyes after dinner, but he got lucky with that appendix thing. I even hoped he’d die from the rupture and make my job easier. But he lived.”
I couldn’t believe the words I heard from the man I called family. I knew he despised Menace. But I never thought he’d try to kill him. “So, you were behind the kidnapping of Tank too?”
He grinned and stood taller, showing how proud he was. “Orchestrated it myself.”
“Why give up your truck to help Menace return to Wyoming?” I couldn’t understand the gesture if he hated him so much.
“Tracker, son. I planned to kill him and Tank as they made their way back. But I hadn’t prepared for the other members of Hell’s Guardians to be there, escorting them back home.”
Mimicking the same arrogance he’d shown earlier, I laughed. “You can blame that on me. At least one person in our family was looking out for Menace. But then again, I’ve always been the one watching over him.”
“I told you the day the boy was born I wanted nothing to do with him. Hell, his mama didn’t even want him, and when I told her I wouldn’t be saddled with the little shit she walked away. But you forced my hand. Guilted me into raising him. I always had a soft spot for you until that day. I knew then you were a pussy. You’d never have it in you to choose something over your own blood. That’s why I know you don’t have it in you to pull that trigger. I’m your blood, Hunter. Your family. Even with that VP patch on your cut, you’re still a weak little boy.”
My dad stood a few feet away from me and looked me straight in the eyes. Daring me to prove I was the man he wanted me to be. The problem was I tried to help him, once I knew he was involved. I tried to talk some sense into him, to back down. Where I underestimated him was I never thought he’d do something as stupid as being a part of plotted murder of another club’s officers. But he was right about one thing: I’d choose blood this time, only it wasn’t his. It was Menace’s. It didn’t matter Menace sold me out to Inferno. The more I thought about it, the more I would have done the same.
“Chuck,” I said, attempting to trick my subconscious into believing he was just another man, not my father. “You’re partially right. The club always comes first, but I’m lucky this time because blood and club stand together, and you’re just the son-of-a-bitch who betrayed me.” Without hesitation, I pulled the trigger. As the bullet left the chamber, I saw the shock narrow my father’s eyes confirming my suspicions. He never thought I’d do it.
I watched the blood splatter against the side of the building as his body fell to the ground. “Fuck you, Dad, for making me do this.”
I looked in my rearview as I pulled away from the building, my father’s body wrapped in plastic, lying in the bed of the truck. One thing you did teach me dad was how to make sure I was the last man standing.
Chapter Three
HUNTER
Five Months Later
I sat in the new chapel of the Hell’s Guardians Arizona Chapter; a gavel in one hand and a bottle of Jack next to the other. Why the fuck Inferno thought I should be president I’d never understand. Although a lot of changes had happened since that night I’d dropped my father’s hand and ring on Inferno’s table, some things never do. Living with regret being most of it.
There’s been a lot of bloodshed. A lot of close calls. Five club officers getting gunned down in cold blood came with a lot of police interrogations. A lot of denials. A lot of moments where the cops just didn’t care anymore. It was five less men adding to their problems.
Making a temporary truce with the Peacekeepers MC took a lot of restraint. It all churned inside my head next to the memories of my father lying in a pool of blood.
The last time I was sober was the day I arrived back in Arizona with a truck full of my shit and my bike in tow.
I felt like an imposter. How was I supposed to lead the club if I can’t even get my own shit together? I should have never kept secrets. The minute I suspected my dad was up to no good, I should have told Inferno. We’ve been lucky that WhiteRail hasn’t attempted to retaliate, but I know it’s just a matter of time.
“First order of business. Skid’s cousin is coming to start the logo on the wall this Saturday. She’s cute and single. Don’t make her uncomfortable.”
Tank shifted in his seat, looking at each man to see who would be the first to hit on her.
Glad someone was paying attention. These last few weeks, I’d left most of the riskier club business and fucking with the Cartel’s trafficking humans to Tank. Man had exceptional skills at reading people. Planning. Things I just didn’t really give two fucks about if I was being honest. None of the men sitting at this table carried my burden to prove themselves worthy of a seat. While quite a few of them may have taken down garbage in a gunfight, none of them were tasked to be an executioner of their own blood.
I’d been preoccupied with building them all a new home. A new start. Something they could be proud of when I’m gone. Though Tank finalized all decisions through me, in my current state, having someone with a level head masterminding our weapons trade was better left to him.
