Mad Delights by Beth D. Carter Page A

his mind. “If they do, I don’t know who yet.”
    “I’m still the fucking sheriff of this town. I’ve got a duty to protect the citizens.”
    “What’re you trying to say, Tony?”
    The sheriff took a step closer. “Working with you is what’s best for this town, but I can’t turn my back on this. Fix this shit, Romeo, or I’m going to have to fix you.” He flicked a look around the roped-off scene. “My condolences. When I get the full report back, I’ll send the club a copy.”
    The sheriff walked away, and only Dax’s arm on his shoulder held Romeo back from jumping the fucker, even with his injured shoulder. Being talked down to and chastised rubbed him raw, like grinding his dick on a fucking cactus.
    “Let it go,” Dax told him. “There’re other things we need to concentrate on first.”
    Romeo took a deep breath and turned to his men. “Hook, can you ride?”
    “Yeah,” Hook replied, standing.
    “Call your girl and get to the clubhouse. We’re going on lockdown. Hawg, make sure Creole Jack gets to the compound.”
    Hawg nodded and headed toward the man still sitting in the back of the ambulance.
    “What about you?” Dax asked.
    Romeo looked over at Chloe, who had walked up to the EMTs to check out the treated patients while some of them waited for a ride to the hospital. This was the worst disaster Bair had seen in a while, and the small town simply wasn’t equipped to handle the dozen or so victims.
    “I have a ride.”
    “Rome, are you sure you want to involve her even more?”
    He turned back to Dax and sighed. “What if she’s telling the truth and she can get us guns?”
    “She’s still a stalker,” Dax reminded him. “Did you forget she’s here because somewhere she read about you? Read about you where? And where the hell did she learn to shoot like that? And promising guns? That’s not normal.”
    Romeo snorted. “And what is normal? You and me will never be normal, Dax. My parents ran off and left me with a biker club. Yours weren’t much better. We run drugs for a living, paying off the local cops to look the other way. We ride bikes even in the rain. We live in a clubhouse behind concrete walls. And we like it this way. Chloe might have a few screws loose, but damned if we don’t too.”
    Dax ran a hand through his hair. “It’s my job to protect you. Protect the club.”
    “I know. I trust you with my life.” He shook his head. “But we need to start looking at the bigger picture and in what direction the Men of Hell are going. Come on, let’s get back to the compound. We need a church meeting.”

Chapter Nine
     
     
     
    Just as she cleared the gates to the compound, they closed behind her with a clang and a steel wall rolled in front of the chain-link fence. Sentries posted on top of the high towers held AR-15 rifles. The garage bay doors were shut and the motorcycles had been parked safely inside. Cars and people milled about the yard, making it difficult to maneuver very far, so Chloe just stopped and put it in park.
    “Come on,” Romeo said as he exited the Mercedes.
    “What’s going on?”
    “Lockdown. Everyone’s family comes in for protection.”
    Women with kids of all ages headed into the clubhouse. She frowned. “For how long?”
    “Until the threat is neutralized,” he replied and marched after the familes.
    Chloe looked around at the members scrambling around to get everything in order. She had work in the morning and wondered how the hell she was going to get out.
    A little girl ran in front of her, tripped, and went down hard on her knees. She immediately burst into tears, and Chloe knelt beside her.
    “Aw, did you hurt your knee, sweetie?”
    The little girl looked at her with watery, big blue eyes and nodded.
    “May I see?”
    She bit her lip. “Will it hurt?”
    “Oh, no. Promise.”
    Chloe carefully rolled up the legging and saw that she hadn’t even broken the skin, only scratched it a bit.
    “You know, I have a magical