Mal Read online

  Mal

  A Salvation Kings MC

  Short Story

  Ana Night

  BOOKS BY ANA NIGHT

  Please visit your favorite eBook retailer to discover other books by Ana Night

  THE BLACK RAIDERS

  A Detached Raider

  Deceiving a Raider

  A Guarded Raider

  Disarming a Raider

  SALVATION KINGS MC

  Saint

  Joker

  Table of Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  About the Author

  Connect with Ana Night

  Chapter One

  Sean

  HE GLARED at the security footage. He’d been staring at it for over ten minutes. Just like he had the first time he saw it. Saw him. Short, dark hair, broad shoulders, and that way he walked; with confidence and purpose. He’d known who it was the second he’d laid eyes on him.

  He had a scar across his cheek and his pale blue eyes were the kind that could see right into your soul. He’d always frightened Sean. Turned him on like no one else, too. He hated that. Hated that he cared enough about the man to warn him, to call and tell him to get the hell out of the warehouse. Even when the man had been working for Wade, the guy who’d not only tried to kill Sean but had also stolen his business from him, along with everything he owned. He was a fucking fool. Always had been where Mal was concerned.

  Malcolm Burke was a man Sean knew he should stay the hell away from. They’d met two years ago, right in the middle of a shitshow bigger than the one he’d just been through. Mal had saved his life and then proceeded to bitch about it every time they’d run into each other after. He’d owed Mal, but that wasn’t why he’d warned him about Joker and Saint. No, he’d done that simply because he didn’t want the guy to die.

  Mal was a tough motherfucker. An assassin who’d probably killed more people than Sean had even met. He might’ve been able to take on the two bikers and come out on top, but that would’ve been all sorts of shitty for Sean.

  He’d found the footage of Mal two days after Joker and Saint had rolled back into town to take out Wade. He hadn’t said a word about it to them. He wasn’t sure what they would’ve done, but he knew Mal would’ve never helped them. Not unless he’d been paid handsomely for it and, at that time, Sean couldn’t have afforded him.

  Now, he was screwed. The Kings knew someone had walked out of that warehouse alive and they wanted him found. In all honesty, Sean couldn’t promise them that Mal wasn’t going to come after them, so he’d kept his trap shut. Then the Kings had asked him to work with their computer genius, Auggie, to track down Mal and, so far, he’d been able to stall for almost two weeks. But he didn’t know how much longer he could keep it up. Auggie wasn’t stupid. He’d find out about the call. It was only a matter of time. Then there was Bones. Another King who was actually in town, looking for ‘the guy who got away’.

  Sean squeezed his eyes shut and rubbed the bridge of his nose. Then he shut down his computer. Staring at Mal all day wasn’t going to make the man appear out of the blue. Well, maybe if he looked in a mirror and said Mal’s name three times or clicked his fucking heels together, but he wasn’t holding his breath.

  He walked out of his office and through the warehouse to the kitchen. He opened the fridge and sighed when he saw the content. Or rather, the lack of content. He closed the fridge and pulled his phone out of his pocket. He called his favorite takeout place and ordered two pizzas. He hung up and leaned back against the counter. He glanced around the room. It looked the same. Wade hadn’t splurged on new furniture or anything, but the place still kinda seemed… wrong. Empty.

  He hadn’t called his men back yet. He’d made sure to pay them the second he’d gotten his money back, but he just hadn’t been able to get himself to call them. He’d lost a few men to Wade. Good men. Though that was probably debatable considering their lifestyle. Wade had taken a lot from him. Not just the physical stuff. Sean was a forger who hadn’t set foot in his workshop for weeks. He couldn’t get himself to go there. Couldn’t go home. He’d been at the warehouse since the cops had cleared out all the bodies. Cleaning that shit up with the cops had been nerve-wracking. Before everything that’d happened with Wade, he wouldn’t have doubted his skills of deceit, but even though he knew the cops wouldn’t have anything on him, he’d still been nervous.

  With a sigh, he pushed away from the counter and made his way back to his office. He walked to his desk, then stopped and glanced down. The floor was still red in front of the desk. Wade had died there. He was fucking delighted that the guy was gone, but he’d never been a fan of blood and that big fucking smudge wouldn’t come off.

  He walked around the desk to turn on his computer. He immediately regretted that when Mal’s video popped back up. He let out a groan and dumped himself into his chair. He didn’t close down the video, though. He sat there, staring at the picture the video was paused on. Mal was staring right into the camera with his beautiful pale blue eyes. He could see the knowing look in Mal’s eyes because his cameras were hella good quality. He was all about quality stuff, and getting something mediocre, even just a security camera, felt wrong.

  A hard knock on the front door had him out of his chair and nearly running out of the office. He walked through the foyer and pulled the door open. The delivery guy looked bored as he waited for Sean to pay. The smell had drool pooling in Sean’s mouth. He took the bag and when the guy walked off, Sean stuck his head out the door. It wasn’t long before his gaze caught on Leon, the homeless man who spent most of his time on the street Sean’s warehouse was on. He waved Leon over and the man didn’t hesitate to walk across the street and up to Sean.

  “You hungry? I think I might’ve bought too much lunch,” Sean said.

  Leon raised a bushy brow at him. “You and I both know that’s a lie.”

  Sean shrugged, a grin on his face. He handed Leon one of the pizza boxes.

  “Whatever,” Sean said.

  Leon held Sean’s gaze and said, “You’ve been here a lot lately.”

  “You worried about me, Leon?”

  Leon nodded, surprising Sean.

  “I am. Take care, Sean. Oh, and thank you for the pizza.”

  Sean watched Leon walk to the nearest bench where he sat down and began eating. He hated that the man’s words were getting to him. It didn’t surprise him that Leon had noticed, though. Leon was a lot smarter than most people gave him credit for. He was also younger than he looked. The beard definitely didn’t help his case. Leon was truly one of the good guys and if he would let Sean, he would given the guy a new identity, a new life, and enough money to last him a good while. But Leon was homeless by choice. He didn’t fit into society and he didn’t want to. Sean respected him enough to let him live his life the way he wanted.

  He went inside, shutting and locking the door after him. He walked into his office and put the pizza next to his computer. He sat down in his chair and grabbed a slice, his eyes returning to the picture of Mal. He needed to figure out what to do about the whole Mal situation. Preferably before Bones or Auggie found out about Mal. If only he could find him.

  Mal

  Fuck. Fucking fuck.

  He wasn’t even sure how it’d happened. Why the fuck had he let his guard down? He knew better. He pressed his hand against the wound in his thigh and cursed at the pain. The fucker had shot him. It was a through and through, but it still hurt like a bitch and he needed to find a way to stop the bleeding soon. All because a certain blond
idiot had his head turned around.

  He threw a glance over his shoulder and sucked in a breath before humping the last few feet to his car. He pulled the key fob out of his bloodied jeans pocket and unlocked the car. He opened the door and dumped himself inside with a pain-filled grunt. He started the car, blessed himself lucky it was the left leg he’d been shot in, and tore out of there. He didn’t expect anyone to follow him, but you never knew. The bastard might’ve shot him, but he’d returned the favor, though his shot had been aimed between the asshole’s eyes.

  He drove almost as if in a haze. He’d memorized the way several years ago. Knew it in his fucking sleep no matter which part of the city he came from. He pulled up in front of Sean’s warehouse, knowing the man was there. He’d barely left the place since he’d gotten it back. Mal knew because he’d been watching Sean since he’d returned to Washington.

  He shook his head and pulled himself out of the car. He stumbled towards the front door and when he reached it, he knocked hard and slumped against the wall. He looked up into the camera he knew was there.

  “Sean,” he said, his voice hoarse. “I need your help.”

  He didn’t ask for help. Ever. This was a new low for him.

  It wasn’t long before he heard the lock turn and the door was opened. He glanced up to see Sean standing in the doorway, his dark green eyes wide as he stared at Mal.

  “You gon’ let me in or what?”

  Sean swallowed visibly, his eyes shooting up to meet Mal’s gaze. He nodded and took a step back to let Mal in.

  “What happened?” Sean asked as he closed the door.

  Mal arched a brow at him.

  Sean scoffed and started walking. “I don’t want specifics of what you were doing. I just want to know if you got shot, stabbed, or run over by a car.”

  Mal grunted to hide a laugh.

  “Shot.”

  Sean gave him an incredulous glance over his shoulder.

  “Well, that’s just fucking stupid,” Sean said.

  “I didn’t plan on getting shot, Sean.”

  Mal snapped his mouth shut and tried not to think about why he felt the need to defend himself to Sean. He shouldn’t give a shit what Sean thought of him.

  He followed Sean into what looked like an office. Sean pointed him towards a chair which he gratefully sank into. Sean walked behind a desk with a suspicious red splotch on the floor in front of it. Sean returned with a huge first-aid box.

  “Pants,” Sean ordered.

  Mal unbuckled his belt, then unbuttoned his jeans and pulled the zipper down. He was rather relieved that he hadn’t gone commando that day. Having his dick out with Sean around wasn’t a good idea and he doubted even the pain from the bullet wound would curb his libido. He worked his jeans down his hips and when he pulled them over the wounds, he hissed because the fabric caught on them. He managed to get the jeans down to his knees and then he just gave up. They’d have to stay there. He didn’t care.

  He glanced up, his gaze landing on Sean who looked kinda green. His eyes were on the blood gushing out of Mal’s thigh.

  “You good?” Mal asked.

  He couldn’t have the guy pass out or throw up all over him. Hell, he could patch himself up if needed.

  “No. I’m in no way good.” Sean raised his gaze to Mal’s, anger burning in his green eyes. “You honestly expect me to be, asshole?”

  Mal dropped his head back with a sigh. Fuck. He didn’t need this right now.

  Sean bent down, putting the box on the floor and opened it. He grabbed something from it and then kneeled down next to Mal. The face Sean made had Mal doubting his decision to come there.

  “I have some questions,” Sean said.

  Mal let out a loud groan. “We can play twenty questions after you fix me.”

  “Nope. We can do it while I fix you. I’m not risking you dying and not getting my answers.”

  Sean waved the bottle of disinfectant at Mal who bit back a curse and gave Sean a nod. Sean didn’t waste a fucking second asking those questions.

  “Wade? Really? Money must’ve been real low that month, huh?”

  “It was a job,” Mal said and hissed when Sean poured the liquid all over his thigh.

  “Pssh. A job.”

  “Wade was the job.”

  Well, technically, he’d been working for himself, but Sean didn’t need to know that.

  Sean froze for a second, then glanced up at Mal. “I’m sorry, are you saying I could’ve just sat back, done nothing, and Wade would’ve been taken out anyway?”

  “Pretty much,” Mal said.

  “Fuck.”

  Sean shook his head and then he sat staring at something over Mal’s shoulder.

  “Uh, Sean? Could you get back to, you know,” Mal said and motioned at his thigh.

  Sean blinked at him, then jerked his gaze down. He didn’t say anything, he just returned to cleaning the wound. After pretty much emptying the bottle into Mal’s wounds, Sean threw the bottle back into the first aid box.

  “I’m gonna have to sow you up, aren’t I?” Sean asked, a grimace covering his face.

  “I can do it myself.”

  “Yeah, no thank you. You’re not really good at the more delicate things. I’d hate to look at the ugly ass stitches you’d produce,” Sean said. He pursed his lips and grimaced as he met Mal’s gaze. “I don’t have any anesthetics.”

  “Doesn’t matter,” Mal said.

  Sean nodded and found a needle and thread in the box. When he was ready, he glanced up at Mal who nodded at him. The first pass of the needle burned, and he had to fight to keep from jerking away from Sean. He gritted his teeth and clenched his hands. It was pretty fucking awful, but he wasn’t going to let Sean see how much it actually hurt.

  When Sean was done, he looked up at Mal with a raised brow and it took him a second to realize Sean would have to sow up the exit wound, too. With a deep groan, he shifted in his seat so Sean could get to the underside of his thigh. The pain was only just bearable, but he hated showing any kind of weakness, even if it was to Sean. Especially to Sean.

  Sean was used to working with his hands and it showed in how precise his stitches were, even if he was bitching about it the whole time. When he finished, Sean stood and threw the needle into the trash can like it was on fire.

  “You need water and probably something to eat,” Sean said, looking thoughtful. “I already ate my pizza and I doubt Leon is willing to share his.”

  “Who the fuck is Leon?” Mal sneered.

  Sean looked at him with confusion in his eyes.

  “The homeless guy?”

  “What?”

  “What?” Sean repeated with an innocent look on his face as he backed towards the door. Mal caught his smile before Sean turned around. He wanted to strangle Sean. Unfortunately, that’d mean he’d have to get out of his chair and that wasn’t gonna happen for a while. He leaned back in his seat with a sigh. Fucking hell.

  Sean

  The last thing he’d expected was to have Mal dumped on him like that. He’d been certain he’d have to travel across the country to find him. Whatever Mal had been doing in DC hadn’t gone too well. Served him right for working with Wade. He wasn’t sure he believed that Wade had been a job. Didn’t know why, but it just didn’t feel completely right to him. Something was off with that. He’d get it out of Mal now that the man was at his mercy.

  A little evil smile spread on his lips. In Mal’s condition, there was no way the man was running from him any time soon.

  He grabbed a glass in the kitchen and filled it with water from the tab. He walked back into the office, finding Mal exactly where he’d left him, except he’d pulled his pants back up. What a shame. He handed Mal the glass.

  “As I said, I don’t have any food here, and I’m not gonna leave you alone,” Sean said and crossed his arms. “So, your place?”

  Mal glanced up at him. “Don’t have one.” />
  Sean let out a sigh and asked, “Where have you been staying, then?”

  “Somewhere we can’t go.” Mal aimed a questioning glance at Sean. “What about your place? It’s fully stocked, right? In case of a zombie apocalypse or something,” Mal said, a smile on his lips.

  Sean narrowed his eyes at Mal. “How would you know that?”

  “I know you.”

  Sean huffed and crossed his arms over his chest. Mal didn’t know him. Not really. He couldn’t. Right?

  “Fine. My place it is.”

  Mal pushed out of his chair, but it looked like it hurt. Sean didn’t offer to help him. He knew the man would never let him. While Mal made his way to the front door, Sean grabbed the things he’d need, like his computer and the bag he’d been living out of for far too long.

  When he walked out into the foyer, Mal was already outside. He turned off the lights and locked the door after himself. He turned around, his eyes landing on the car parked halfway onto the sidewalk.

  “That yours?” he asked Mal.

  Mal shook his head. “Stolen.”

  “Oh. Great. Guess I’ll have to take care of that for you, too,” Sean said.

  “Leave it,” Mal said. “Someone’s gonna take it.”

  Sean let out a loud huff and crossed his arms. “Yeah. Right in front of my warehouse. The one who had a lot of dead assholes in it not so long ago. And I’m guessing that car is gonna have your blood in it, isn’t it? You really want that out there?”

  Mal cocked a brow at him, a shadow of a smile on his lips.

  “You worried about me, Sean?” When Sean didn’t answer, Mal shook his head and said, “Don’t be. They might get my DNA, but they have nothing to match it to.”

  Sean pursed his lips. He didn’t like leaving the car there like that.

  “You have the keys?” he asked Mal who handed them to him with a frown.

  Sean left Mal standing there and walked across the street. He headed for the alley where he knew a few kids liked to hang out. There were four boys between the ages of fifteen and nineteen sitting around, playing gangsters.