Hammer Read online

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright

  CHAPTER ONE

  CHAPTER TWO

  CHAPTER THREE

  CHAPTER FOUR

  CHAPTER FIVE

  CHAPTER SIX

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  CHAPTER NINE

  CHAPTER TEN

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

  CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

  CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

  CHAPTER THIRTY

  CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

  CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

  CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

  CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

  CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

  CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

  EPILOGUE

  Sneak Peek of DIRTY DEEDS

  Sneak Peek of WICKED

  About the Author

  HAMMER

  An Evil Dead MC Story

  Nicole James

  HAMMER

  An Evil Dead MC Story

  Nicole James

  Published by Nicole James

  Copyright 2019 Nicole James

  All Rights Reserved

  Cover Art by Mayhem Cover Creations

  Cover Photography by

  Reggie Deanching / R+M Photography

  Cover Model: Alfie Gordillo

  Editing by CookieLynn Publishing

  CHAPTER ONE

  Hammer watched Tink strut past him without so much as a glance. She’d been giving him the cold shoulder for a while now, and it was getting on his nerves. His eyes moved over her hot little body—a body that had been driving him crazy and keeping him awake at night.

  His brothers ribbed him endlessly about her—the one chick he’d been infatuated with for months wouldn’t give him the time of day. They found that hilarious.

  Hammer, not so much. He found it irritating, exasperating, and annoying. He just didn’t get it. After all, he was a big, muscular man who turned female heads wherever he went. Tattoos covered the skin of his sculpted body, and being a patched member of the Evil Dead MC did it for most women who were into bad boys. Not Tink, though. Unfortunately for Hammer, the one woman he wanted more than any other seemed to be immune to him.

  Well, he’d had about enough of her snubbing. That was all about to change; he’d pussyfooted around her long enough. He was going after what he wanted, and what he wanted more than anything was that hot little girl with the short white-blonde hair. The one so petite, the guys in the club had nicknamed her Tinker Bell.

  Yes, that sexy little sprite was going to be his.

  ***

  Tink was totally aware of Hammer’s eyes on her as she walked past. Warmth flooded her body, like it did every time she was near him. He watched her like he was undressing her with his eyes and imagining all the sordid things he’d like to do to her.

  Things she lay awake at night imagining as well.

  But Tink wasn’t willing to risk her heart—not for a man who could hurt her like he could, a man who’d already been with her sister. Raven always got what she wanted, and that usually was anything she thought Tink might want. She’d beat her to it every single time.

  Tink learned long ago not to compete with her sister. She’d carved out a life for herself surrounded by the men of this MC and the women who’d become her best friends. It was a world she thought her sister would never be interested in.

  It was also a world she felt free to be herself and not worry about her family’s expectations of her.

  ***

  Ghost grinned as he followed Hammer’s eyes and shook his head. “Ain’t no way, bro. Give it up.”

  Hammer’s gaze shifted. “Why’s that?” He did an arm curl. “I’m a good lookin’ guy.”

  “You are so full of yourself, man.” Ghost chuckled.

  Hammer kissed his bicep. “I can’t help it if I’m gorgeous.”

  Griz rolled his eyes. “Don’t matter. You two are as different as two people can get. It would never work.”

  “Bullshit.”

  “You’re a big guy, and she’s a tiny fairy. You’d split her in two.”

  “Fuck off.”

  “You’re calm and slow as molasses. She’s hopped up with frenetic energy. Like a little hummingbird.”

  JJ grinned. “Maybe she’s buzzin’ on something.”

  “Tink doesn’t do drugs, shithead, so shut your fuckin’ mouth,” Hammer snapped.

  Griz shook his head. “I’m just sayin’, ain’t never seen two people more opposite.”

  “The differences you pointed out don’t mean shit.”

  Ghost slapped his shoulder. “Hammer, you’re my brother and I love you, but be honest with yourself. You want Tink, you gotta earn it, prove yourself to her. And Bro, you’re just too into your own shit.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  Griz stared in his face. “It means you’re all about you. If you’re not pumping iron, you’re lookin’ in the fucking mirror.”

  Ghost backed up Griz’s words. “It means you’d have to try. Tink’s not the kind of chick who’s going to be satisfied with whatever crumbs you throw her way.”

  “What the hell. Where’d this come from?”

  Griz popped the top on a can of beer. “From bein’ observant, dumbass.”

  “Who you callin’ a dumbass?” Hammer stepped toward him, his chest thrust out.

  Ghost pushed him back. “You’re gettin’ worked up, Hammer. You want a fight, JJ’s lookin’ for a sparing partner.”

  “He couldn’t catch me,” JJ snorted.

  Hammer whirled on him. “You think so? I’ll wipe the floor with you.”

  JJ grinned. “You got muscle, but I’m quicker.”

  “I got ten bucks on the pipsqueak,” Griz announced.

  “I’ll take that bet,” Ghost replied. “Ain’t no way.”

  Hammer shrugged out of his cut and passed it to Ghost. He reached between his shoulder blades, grabbed two fistfuls of his T-shirt, and pulled it over his head, revealing a muscled chest and arms covered in ink. He tossed it to the ground and happened to catch Tink pausing near the back door of the clubhouse. Her gaze swept over him.

  Good. Let her watch. Let her see how wound-up she got him. Maybe he’d finally get some kind of reaction from her. He spun toward JJ who was now shirtless and hopping around on the balls of his feet.

  “I float like a butterfly and sting like a bee,” JJ taunted.

  Hammer rolled his eyes. JJ was quick, but Hammer’s reach was a lot farther. He just needed to get close enough to land one solid punch, and JJ was going down like a ton of bricks.

  Hammer leveled his fists near his face, keeping his elbows tucked in. They danced around a minute, and JJ attempted to land some jabs. Hammer easily deflected them. He swung a blow, but JJ ducked out of it.

  JJ grinned. “I’m gonna start callin’ you an old man; you move so fucking slow.”

  Hammer saw red, and all the teasing his brothers had been ribbing him with over Tink flared to life. Maybe all the taunts about him and her were right; he had no chance, and he should just give it up.

  Suddenly he was that ten-year-old boy again, his father’s words echoing in his brain. How’d I ever raise a worthless pussy like you?

  JJ stepped closer, comin
g into range of Hammer’s big fists with a sneer that dared him to swing again. With a fake right, Hammer landed a powerful left hook that connected with JJ’s jaw and sent blood flying from his mouth. JJ staggered to the right, dropped to his knees, and keeled over face down.

  Ghost clapped Hammer on the shoulder. “Feel better?”

  Hammer returned Ghost’s smile, feeling a hundred times lighter. “Yeah.”

  A high-pitched whistle rent the air. The men turned to see their VP making a circular motion with his hand as if to round them all up.

  “Guess he’s calling a meeting,” Ghost murmured.

  Griz chugged down his beer, crushed the aluminum can, and tossed it in the trash barrel. “Yup. Let’s go.”

  “Pay up, dog.” Ghost held his palm out.

  Griz huffed out a disgusted breath and pulled out a ten, tossing it at him. Then he looked down at JJ and toed him with his boot, flipping him from his chest to his back. “I’m gonna take that ten out of your hide, you little shit!”

  JJ shook his head, starting to come to, blood spittle dripping from the corner of his lip.

  Ghost gave him a hand up.

  JJ spit out a mouthful of blood. “Mutha-fucker. That hurt like a bitch.”

  Ghost shook his shoulder. “Walk it off, bro. You’re lucky he didn’t kill you.”

  “Yeah, and now I’m next in line. After this meeting it’s gonna be me and you goin’ round,” Griz growled.

  Hammer glanced to Tink. Her gaze trailed over his sweat-covered chest. When their eyes locked, she took a step back, her chin lifting, and then she spun on her heel and dashed through the clubhouse door.

  She could pretend all she wanted, but he’d seen the heat of her desire flash in those expressive eyes. He just didn’t understand why she denied it, why she continued this game with him. Their attraction for each other was real; he felt it every time they got within ten yards of each other.

  He wanted to go after her to talk, to confront her about it, but that would have to wait. There was club business to handle, and that always came first. He blew out a breath and followed the others inside.

  ***

  Tink stood behind the bar, her eyes tracking the line of men filing into the meeting room they called church. Her gaze briefly connected with Hammer’s before she looked away. She couldn’t deny the things it did to her seeing Hammer fight, his shirt off, and his muscles on display. God, he was hot as hell.

  Determined to tamp down her body’s traitorous response, she blew out a slow breath and counted to ten—a ploy that wasn’t working as well as she’d like to believe. She plunged a glass into the sink full of sudsy water, rinsed it, and passed it to Sherry, better known around here as Strawberry Shortcake because of her strawberry blonde hair and short stature.

  Sherry grabbed the glass with a dishtowel and dried it, her eyes on the men as well. “What do you think the meeting’s about?”

  “Don’t know, don’t care,” Tink replied, keeping her eyes on the soapy water. “I’ve got to finish up and get to class.”

  “Which class is this one?”

  “Microbiology.”

  Sherry curled her lip. “Why are you taking a class like that? It sounds really hard.”

  “It is, but it’s required if I want to get into the nursing program.”

  Sherry scrunched up her nose. “Why would you want to be a nurse, for God’s sake? I mean it’s great you want to better yourself and all, but nurses are so underappreciated, and they work like, all the time. Who wants hours like that?”

  “My father is a doctor and—”

  “Oh, right,” Sherry cut her off. “And your mom’s a nurse.”

  “Was. She stopped working when she married my father.”

  “So why does she want you to be a nurse? Does she want you to marry a doctor or some shit?”

  “Probably.”

  “Does your dad want you to be a doctor?”

  Tink let out a muffled huff. Her father didn’t think women were smart enough, but her mother always thought Tink was smart.

  “So, do you want to be a nurse?”

  Tink shook her head. “Not really.”

  “Then why waste your time trying to get into a nursing program?”

  Tink shrugged. It was hard to admit she didn’t want to let her mother down. “What else am I going to do with my life?”

  “Anything you want. Whatever you want.”

  “No. It’s my path.”

  “Not if it’s not what you want.”

  Tink didn’t have a clue what she wanted. She glanced over her shoulder at the clock on the wall. “Shit, I’m going to be late.”

  “Go. I’ll get these.” Sherry offered.

  “You sure?”

  “Yes, but you owe me one.”

  “You got it. Thanks, babe.” Tink gave her a hug, grabbed her purse, and ran out the door to her Volkswagen Beetle. It was yellow with black racing stripes, and she loved it. She’d had the bug since she was sixteen. Her father bought it for her new, and that wasn’t many years ago. She was twenty-two, a bit older than most of the kids attending Samford University, but it’d taken her a while to decide to cave into her mother’s wishes. Of her mother’s two daughters, Tink was the only one who had a chance of successfully earning her nursing degree.

  From the time Tink had graduated high school until last year, Tink had rebelled against her mother, and that’s how she’d ended up hanging out with the MC. It was as far from the “good-girl” reputation as she could get. Of course, if her father ever found out, he’d blow a gasket. Which was why her mother hid it from him. Even Raven didn’t know, and that was a good thing. Raven hated Tink, and she’d be more than happy to run to their father and spill the beans.

  Tink fired up the car and pulled off the property. The Evil Dead Birmingham chapter’s clubhouse was buried back in the low-income housing near the old steel plant. It was a poor side of town, where the residents weren’t inclined to call the police. Hell, there were three burned out buildings on this block alone.

  Tink turned left and headed toward the nearest entrance ramp to get onto I20/59. She always felt safer once she got on the expressway; didn’t matter that it was broad daylight, either. She hit the gas pedal, zooming off the ramp and into traffic. If she hurried, she’d make it in time.

  ***

  The brothers filed into the chapel, the room where all business was conducted. A long table took up the middle. Some brother, long before Hammer ever patched in, had fashioned it from planks of oak and burned the MC’s name and motto into the center in big block letters. EVIL DEAD MC – First, last, and always.

  Hammer stood against the wall, folded his arms, and stared at those words as the men took their places around the room. Those words weren’t just a motto; they meant something to every brother who’d ever put the three skulls center patch on their back. They meant the club was more important than anything else in their lives. It came first and always would.

  That didn’t mean the men in this room didn’t have women they loved, old ladies they’d protect with their lives. Hammer’s eyes strayed to Butcher, the club president. He was a mean old cuss who ruled this chapter with an iron fist, but his old lady had been with him for years. Hammer’s gaze shifted to the man seated next to him. Shades, the club’s VP, had a woman he’d kill or die for and had proven just that fact when he’d rescued Skylar from the club’s rivals, the Devil Kings MC, better known as the DKs around here.

  Hammer glanced over at Ghost. Now there was another brother who had a woman he’d do anything for… and had. When the club tried to use her to make a deal with the DKs, Ghost stepped in and saved Jessie.

  So, why did Griz and apparently others in the club think he couldn’t have that—couldn’t be that for Tink? A flash of doubt snaked up his spine. Maybe he didn’t feel worthy of love. Maybe he’d had a hard time feeling worthy of anything since he was a child.

  Hammer’s eyes landed on those words burned into the oak. Didn’t his b
rothers understand that was why he’d fought so long and hard to become a member of this MC? He’d needed to prove his father’s words wrong—words that even now still rang in his head over and over.

  “How’d I raise such a worthless pussy for a son?”

  He was no longer that ten-year-old boy, but those words still lingered.

  Butcher called the room to order, and roll was taken. He cleared his throat. “This is an impromptu meeting, boys, but something’s come up.” He jerked his chin at Shades. “You wanna take it from here, VP?”

  Shades glanced around the table. “Got a call from a member of the DKs. Some of you may remember my run-in with them, especially a patch named Rusty.”

  Hammer remembered. Skylar had been with Rusty at one time. Shades and Rusty had come to a kind of a truce over her.

  “He reached out to me to set up a meet.”

  There were hushed murmurs around the room.

  “What kind of a meet?” Griz asked.

  Shades eyes flashed to him then traveled around the table. “Not sure. They want to set it up at the Talladega Dirt Track. Friday night races, two weeks from now.”

  “What for?” Hammer asked.

  Shades met his eyes. “Don’t know.”

  “You think it’s some kind of set up?” Ghost asked.

  “Don’t know that either.” Shades looked around at the faces of the men. “Look, boys, I know what you’re thinkin’. Was a time I didn’t trust him as far as I could throw him, but I think he’s shootin’ straight with me. They just want to talk. Parlay some kind of a deal.”

  “And what kind of a deal would we be interested in makin’ with those dirtbags?” Gator growled.

  “One that makes us money.” Grizz chuckled.

  “Amen. We could use some more of that,” JJ agreed.

  Butcher rubbed the side of his forefinger across his mouth and then leaned forward in his chair, the leather creaking. “Set it up, VP. Ghost, you and Griz scout it out ahead of time and set someone near the border. They’ll be coming over on I20. I want to know the minute they hit the state line.”

  Griz nodded. “You got it.”

  “Well, one good thing… Friday night races are free.” Ghost waggled his brows.