Defiance Falls Revolution: Defiance Falls Series Book 2

by Dean, Ali

  But Hazel looked at me now with tired eyes. She was asking me to take it away. I wanted to do it by slamming this Easton kid against a wall. But I could see that wasn’t what Hazel needed right now. Not to mention, it was exactly what the Malones wanted.

  I scooped her up and slid her into the backseat. “We’ll get my bike tomorrow,” I told the guys before sliding in after her.

  I wanted revenge. I needed it. I could taste the burn of unquenched vengeance on my tongue. Hazel was tucked under my arm and against my side, but it didn’t soothe the violence brewing in my chest.

  With the exception of a few fist fights over the years, I had yet to really hurt a Malone. The guys had taken the lead with Flynn because we knew my dad and I would be the first ones they’d target as suspects if it came to that. I’d been deliberate and patient when it came to avenging my mom’s murder. With not one but two assaults on Hazel, I didn’t know if I had any patience left in me. I’d snapped with Kai on the dock, and it was a poor substitute for who I really wanted to go after. I had to unleash some of this fury soon.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Hazel

  I was deep in my own head, wondering how someone like Easton got to be such an asshole in the first place. How did he grow such a massive ego that he was able to convince himself I wanted to kiss him, despite me telling him otherwise? I was distracting myself with it because if I didn’t, I would think about what it meant that Easton’s actions were the final straw. The Malones had to be taught a lesson. And that meant we weren’t going to give a real shot at the truce. My anger wasn’t fading, not really, but it cooled enough for me to recognize my declaration of giving up on the truce was more emotional than rational. We had to rely on the latter in this situation. If we didn’t, we’d never get the upper hand.

  “Wait, I thought we were going to the Spot.” I looked up from Cruz’s shoulder and found we were outside my house.

  Bodhi turned from the passenger seat. “We called your dad. Mitch is here too. This is happening now.”

  I could hear the rage in his voice. As my head cleared and I came back to the moment, I realized the entire car was sizzling with that same energy. I’d sensed it before with these guys. The need for action, and not just any kind of action. Before, it had been something I rolled my eyes about, these boyish tendencies for violence to cope with emotions. It was different now though, because I understood it. I felt it too, settling inside of me and growing with the passing seconds. Dad could press a few buttons and turn the Malones’ organization upside down. But that wasn’t all I craved. I wanted to see them sweat and panic, just as I had. At the hands of Branden and Sean when I was duct-taped to a chair in their basement. At the hands of Easton, one of their puppets who tried to corner me at a crowded party.

  “Come on,” I said, sitting all the way up and turning toward the door. Cruz opened it and when I slid out behind him he tugged me to him.

  He didn’t say anything, just held me against his chest with his chin resting on top of my head. “What are you doing?” I asked, after a minute passed.

  “Trying to channel some calm,” he said.

  “You’re not going to get it from me,” I told him. “Standing here hugging you is nice and all, but I’m only thinking about all the ways I want to hurt the Malones. How bad is it to get kneed in the balls? That was really satisfying.”

  “I don’t want you close enough to those guys to knee them. You could hit them with a baseball. I’ll lob you some balls and you can take some swings with the bat. You have great hand-eye coordination. I’m sure you’d hit the target,” he deadpanned.

  “I played baseball one season. I was great at hitting the ball but I got bored in the field. But hitting a ball at Easton’s junk sounds really fun. I like that idea.”

  “I can arrange that,” Cruz murmured.

  “Do you feel calmer now?” I asked.

  He shrugged and took my hand as we walked to the house. “Calm? No. But thinking about you swinging a bat in revenge did do something to take the rage level down a couple notches.”

  I was smiling when we walked inside, wondering when we’d get to be alone again. Bodhi and Spike were standing by Dad and Mitch, and by the looks of it, they’d told them what happened at Harvard. Emmett and Moody were there too, and they all turned to me.

  Dad’s eyes were glistening and he went for me, pulling me to his chest and wrapping me in a hug. He rocked me back and forth as he apologized over and over again. I was smushed to his chest and couldn’t talk, even though I wanted to reassure him.

  When he finally pulled away, he wiped his face and took a deep breath. “We gave them a week. Day five, they gave us their answer. I don’t care if Seamus denies this was a move. If he can’t control his kids, there can’t be a truce.”

  Mitch said, “We had to give it a shot. Yes we’ve tried truces before that failed. But we’ve never had this much to hold over them. Now, it’s time to show them how powerful we are. If they want to come begging for a truce after that, we can re-evaluate. What’s our next move?”

  Mitch, who had been the most reluctant to go to war, seemed prepared for it now.

  Moody was standing behind Dad and he stepped forward. “We can have Neil’s drug operation exposed by tomorrow morning. Keegan, Branden and Sean haven’t had major roles in any of the operations yet. But they’ve had enough involvement in that one to get them some time.”

  “Some time?” I asked.

  “A few years’ sentence, at least. If we want to see longer sentences, we’ll have to expose everything at once to establish RICO charges.”

  Emmett answered the question before I could ask. “RICO stands for Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act. It’s a way to get longer sentences for organized criminal enterprises rather than one-off crimes. But you have to be a lot more organized than most criminals are. Basically, you have to be a group of smart criminals who succeed at setting up more complicated crimes.”

  I stared at my cousin, thinking that once again I might have underestimated him. “Do that then. RICO. I don’t want to mess around with smaller charges.” I was beyond exhausted and my head was spinning. On top of that, my frustration was growing.

  “They won’t all get arrested in one fell swoop. That one takes time. We’ll hand over everything they need but there’s more red tape,” Dad cautioned.

  I wanted to scream. All this about timing, waiting, strategy. Why couldn’t we act on whims like the Malone boys seemed to do? Okay fine, I knew these guys had killed Flynn and done years of work to position us but I was ready to do some damage. “We took the time to wait things out after Branden and Sean took me,” I said through clenched teeth. “They decided I was an easy target and messed with me again for whatever reason. To get the guys to react on campus or to show us they were still in power, I don’t care. I’m done overanalyzing. We need to hit them where it will hurt.”

  Cruz moved closer to my side. “We’ll decide tomorrow on whether we go all in on the evidence, release part of it, or try for a truce on new terms, if that’s even a possibility anymore. Tonight, we go after Sean and Branden.”

  A tightness in my chest loosened at this declaration. He understood exactly what needed to be done. All of us craved this. We would only appear weak if we didn’t retaliate for what they’d done to me. They’d never take our threats seriously.

  Everyone was on the same page. Few words were spoken as we loaded into the Hummer and Dad’s Land Cruiser.

  “Do you have your gun?” Dad asked.

  I shook my head. I hadn’t wanted to carry it around with me on campus. Dad told me to get it and I ran inside and upstairs to retrieve it from under my bed. It should have made me frightened, the weight of a loaded weapon against my back when I tucked it in. But as I stepped back outside under the moonlight, I felt something settle inside me. It wasn’t calm, like Cruz sought earlier. But there was comfort, a rightness, to what was happening, what we were doing. Spike, Bodhi and Cruz were waiting
for me in the Hummer. Emmett, Moody, Mitch and Dad were watching me from the Land Cruiser. We had made this decision together. Whatever happened, we were a team.

  As much as each of us had wanted to do something back at the frat party, I knew that this had only worked because no one acted alone, and never made a move of significance unless we were all in agreement.

  I slipped into the backseat beside Cruz. I was the one who’d made the decision to act more aggressively. Cruz had too, all of us had, but I wasn’t only along for the ride anymore, a victim in need of rescuing. I was part of this, and they trusted me.

  Still, I had no idea what the plan was tonight. “Bodhi, why are we driving by your house?”

  “We need to get something. It’ll just take a sec.” The Hummer pulled into the Boyds’ driveway and Bodhi hopped out. The Land Cruiser was behind us, idling on the side of the road. Bodhi went through the gate by the garage. A minute later, he came back carrying a basket. As he got closer I recognized what was inside.

  A baseball bat, and a ton of baseballs.

  I glanced at Cruz, who smirked. “You went inside to get your gun, but I thought you might prefer a different weapon.”

  I loved him.

  Bodhi opened my door and handed me the bat before putting the basket in the trunk. Then we were back on the road.

  “Where to now?” I wondered, realizing we were headed in the opposite direction from Malone-mansion territory.

  “Mayflower Academy has their own party spot,” Bodhi told me.

  Cruz explained, “The Malone boys don’t want anyone at their houses but they do want to host the parties. They keep it pretty exclusive so everyone thinks it’s a big deal if they’re invited.”

  “Were you invited, when you went there?”

  Cruz looked at me with one eyebrow raised. “Hell no. Not even the Malone boys could go there until they were high school sophomores.”

  “Oh. So, you think they’re there right now?”

  “Probably,” Spike answered. “But there will be others.”

  “That’ll be easy to deal with,” Cruz muttered.

  Okay, so for this part of the evening I would most definitely be a follower, not a leader. I was cool with that. It was my first rodeo into this vigilante justice thing.

  “I kind of wish we’d changed into all black. Maybe put on masks or something,” I said, only half-kidding. I liked being in uniform at game time. It set the tone.

  “We could get capes too,” Bodhi said, totally on board with this.

  Spike snorted. “Yeah, inscribe them with C.B. Hems. That wouldn’t be incognito at all.”

  “C.B. Hems?” Would I always be lost with these guys? Seemed like as soon as I got up to speed on one thing I was clueless about another.

  Cruz leaned over to bump his shoulder against mine. “That’s our security firm. C.B. Hems.”

  I shot him a WTF look. “Who or what is C.B. Hems?”

  Cruz tilted his mouth into one of his half-smiles. “It’s the first letter of all our names. Best we could do with only one vowel.” He watched me for a reaction as I worked this out.

  “H? Why am I in the name? I didn’t even know you guys had a security firm until last week.” No one answered. They didn’t need to. My momentary annoyance at having to ask more questions was replaced with that rightness from earlier. I was part of something bigger than myself. I hadn’t had this with any of my soccer teams. With the guys, we’d chosen each other. It was more than family. We weren’t under any obligation, but we all wanted to take these risks, make these sacrifices, for each other.

  Cruz’s smile widened into a full one as he watched me take it in. We turned onto a dirt road then and he moved his eyes around, taking in the dark forest around us. He was alert now, and I saw him reach down to his ankle and pull out his gun. He didn’t raise it, but it was right there in his hand.

  My hands fisted around the baseball bat. I glanced behind us and saw Dad’s headlights. This was happening. My heart pounded in my chest, but it wasn’t fear coursing through my veins. It was excitement. It was my turn to play. The tables had turned.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Cruz

  Bodhi held up his phone. “Moody’s got the police radar covered.”

  Spike bounced a little in his seat. Beside me, Hazel held the bat between her knees, tapping it back and forth between her hands.

  The cabin came into view and I counted the cars. Only six. I glanced behind me. Jeremy had parked already, off to the side, slightly out of view, though not exactly hidden.

  Spike pulled up beside the Navigator and I slid across the seat to hop out. I lifted my gun, aimed, and shot the first tire. Without moving my feet, I shifted my aim to the second tire and pulled the trigger. It gave another satisfying pop, followed by a hiss, and one side of the car sank. The Navigator was tilted now as I walked around to complete the job. I heard the commotion behind me, but kept my eyes steady on the task at hand. I knew the others had me covered. One by one, I hit each tire. Then I looked up.

  There were a dozen or so upperclassmen from Mayflower Academy scattering around me. A couple of them weren’t moving, just gawking. But their friends shoved them into cars. These were kids I’d gone to elementary and middle school with. They might call the cops, but judging by the way they scrambled in fear, I didn’t think so. This was Malone business, and if they called anyone, it would be Neil or Keegan. If they tried the cops, Moody had that covered.

  Dirt flew up as one car after the next squealed away. Once the dust settled, I spotted Jeremy, Mitch and Bodhi in the trees, surrounding the cabin. Jeremy shook his head. No movement. Yet. I turned to face the cabin. Spike was crouched behind the driver’s side door, Bodhi behind the passenger door. Hazel remained in the backseat.

  Ten seconds passed with nothing but the sound of cars in the distance. Twenty seconds. Thirty. A full minute. We waited for them to take a shot. They weren’t patient enough to wait it out, they’d let their position be known soon enough. I sat on the bumper behind the Navigator, listening for any sign from inside. There was a scraping sound, like a window opening. And then a gunshot from Jeremy’s position behind a tree.

  A scream from inside. Bodhi and Spike fired several more shots before I shouted to them. “Let’s go!” I came out from behind the Navigator and Bodhi and Spike covered me as we went for the door. There were no shots from inside though and when we opened the door, we saw why.

  Jeremy’s single shot had hit its target. Branden was lying back and Sean was holding a blanket to his shoulder. Bodhi went over and yanked Sean back while I lifted the blanket. Branden was moaning like he was at death’s door but it was only a graze. “Dude, a Band-Aid will do the trick. Shut up already.”

  Spike chuckled from where he pointed a gun at Sean. I was a little disappointed in the lack of fight from these two. They’d caved so easily; it was a shame they weren’t worthier opponents.

  Jeremy walked in then, gun raised. He took in the scene and shook his head, as if he was disappointed too. Sean already looked like he was going to piss himself, and that was before Jeremy announced, “Come on, my daughter’s waiting for you two outside.”

  Neither of them moved as Jeremy held the door open. “You heard him. Hazel’s waiting for you. Get up.” We gave the guys a few kicks and shoves and they were on their feet moving.

  Jeremy and I shared a look as we followed them outside. It didn’t seem right these two losers had been able to mess with Hazel so hard. A deep ache formed in my gut. If she’d known, if we’d told her everything, she might not have… My train of thought stopped when I saw my girl sitting on the hood of the Hummer.

  Her legs dangled over the bumper. The bat rested across her thighs and she held her small gun in one hand. Regret whooshed out of me and a new sensation swooped in. One that had me sweeping my eyes up and down, licking my lips, and then looking away. Now was not the time to go there. I glanced to the woods and noted Emmett and Mitch were still holding position.

>   Hazel hopped down and swung the bat over her shoulder. As she did, Sean flinched. Hazel didn’t look at the two Malones though. She glanced at Bodhi.

  “Grab the duct tape,” she told him. “It’s on the passenger seat.”

  She walked with purpose over to a large tree and tapped it with her gun. “One of them can go here.” Then she turned and pointed with the bat to another large tree several feet away. “The other over there.”

  I bit my lip but it didn’t stop me from grinning. Her eyes flicked to mine and she flashed me a sexy smirk before scoping out the area. She called to her dad as she walked backward, a little ways from the two trees she’d designated. “Dad, grab the basket of baseballs from the Hummer’s trunk. You’re pitching.”

  Branden and Sean put some effort into fighting us when we secured them to the trees, and that gave me a chance to throw a few meaningful punches. But I was saving the real hurt for Hazel to inflict. It was eight on two. We had to be fair about this, and it was Hazel’s chance to have her revenge.

  Sean kept telling us he’d called his brother, that Neil or Keegan would come to his rescue, but we knew better. They were a good half hour away on Harvard’s campus. No one was saving these assholes. Not before Hazel got to them.

  It only took her a couple warm-up hits before she got her target. Branden in the stomach was first up. He couldn’t keel over with his body taped erect to the tree. That left her with an open shot to go a few inches lower. Bam. I sucked in a breath, knowing how bad that must have hurt. Tears leaked from his eyes. But he didn’t make a sound. At least not one we could hear. His mouth was duct-taped shut too. I looked over at Hazel, wondering how she was handling dishing out violence like this.