by Hart, Eve R.
“We used to sleep in those containers. You remember that?” Monty asked. “That used to be ours. They were perfect in the fall. Leave the doors open wide and it was heaven. Or as close as we’d ever see.”
“Yeah,” Sketch said, a hint of hardness in his tone like he was remembering those days.
“Nah, fuck that. You don’t remember. You’ve forgotten what it’s like just like you’ve forgotten about us.”
“I didn’t forget!” Sketch yelled out. “I’ll never fuckin’ forget. I can’t! Yeah, I saw a way out. I fuckin’ clawed to the surface because I was dying out here, man. Bad enough that I had to do what I did, but them…” There was a frustrated sigh that rang out loudly. “Claire. Vass. The rest of them. I couldn’t shield them. Couldn’t take it anymore.”
“Good for you. But you left us and we don’t got no choice but keep doin’ what we gotta do to survive.”
“You could have come with me. You coulda done what I did. But you didn’t even try.”
“Yeah, well I found a way,” Monty said with a smugness in his voice that made me want to jump in there and punch the fuck out of him.
I got what was going on here and why Sketch might feel like he owed the guy. However, I didn’t feel that way. And fuck anyone that stole from my club.
I stopped hiding then, my big frame filling up the doorway and catching Monty’s attention. His eyes went wide for a split second, but he quickly recovered and narrowed them at me like he wanted to know who the fuck I was.
Sketch turned and I saw the hard look on his face.
“The fuck, man?!” Sketch said, pissed at me now.
“I will deal with you later,” I told him as I went for the guy in front of him.
It didn’t take much to nab him up.
A few punches and he wouldn’t be picking himself off the ground right away.
“Let him go. Just find out where the guns are,” Sketch said.
I stared him down, my jaw clenching.
That wasn’t going to happen and he knew it from the look on my face.
“Fuck,” he breathed out as he ran a frustrated hand through his hair.
Sketch gave me his back and I just waited. With my boot on Monty’s chest, he wasn’t going anywhere.
“Give me your belt,” I said to Sketch.
He hesitated.
I waited.
Eventually, he turned around and gave in.
I tied Monty’s hands behind his back, yanking a little too hard to make sure it was tight enough. Then I hauled him up to his feet.
“Get back to the club,” I ordered Sketch. I hated that I had to pull rank on him but he’d fucked up. “If your ass isn’t there by the time I get there, I will hunt you down.”
I didn’t wait for him to respond. He knew I meant what I said.
Monty tried to say something to me as I dragged him down the stairs. I slammed him into the wall and that shut him up real quick.
Thank fuck I’d taken Cami’s car.
I tossed the fucker in the trunk without any finesse.
He screamed the entire way to the container yard.
I pulled him out and pushed him toward the container he would call home for a little while.
Suppose that was a shit way to say it, but fuck it.
“You won’t get it out of me,” he told me once I had him chained up good and tight.
I said nothing, only smirked and stared him down.
He shrank back and I knew he got it.
“Fuck you,” he called out as I turned my back and walked outside of the container.
“Tell me, or don’t. Either way, I’ll enjoy every second of it,” I told him over my shoulder, then shut the doors, leaving him in total darkness to think about it.
I flagged down one of the prospects that were on guard duty. Fuck no, I wasn’t going to trust this job to him. After he told me who else was there, I made him go find Tripp for me.
“Got a guy in there,” I told Tripp. “Don’t let him get out.”
“You got it,” Tripp replied and moved to stand in front of the doors without asking anything further about it.
It only took me a few minutes to make it to the compound.
Sketch was sitting in the lounge, looking murderous.
Iron was there too. He knew something was up but he hadn’t jumped to conclusions yet.
“We got a problem?” Iron asked me as I stormed across the room to Sketch.
My fist went back and he cringed, waiting for the blow to hit.
And it did, right across his jaw. You bet your ass I didn’t go soft on him.
His head whipped to the side and he just left it there like he was waiting for more.
“Blade?” Iron asked in a tone that said he needed to know what was going on right the fuck now.
Someone’s arm slipped around my neck from behind and then I was being pulled back.
“I’m done,” I said trying to shake them off.
I turned, not surprised to see it was B-ry that had gotten ahold of me.
“I deserved it,” Sketch said as he got to his feet and looked at the Prez dead in the eye. “I fucked up.”
So then we took it to Iron’s office upstairs.
And Sketch told his version, which wasn’t all that different from mine.
“So you’re telling me this Monty guy knows where our guns are?” Iron asked, less pissed than I thought he should be at Sketch.
His club. His lead.
I would follow it.
“Yeah. I had… someone I used to know told me he knew Monty took them. But I’ve been trying to track him down. Tends to move around a lot.” Sketch let out a long sigh as his shoulders slumped.
Yeah, he knew there was nothing he could do to save this guy now.
I felt bad, only because it was clear that this shit was now tied up with his past. He felt he owed the guy but I didn’t see it that way.
“And you got him locked up?” Iron asked me and I nodded in response. He turned his attention back to Sketch. “Gonna have to deal with this, Sketch. You should have come to me right away.”
“I know,” Sketch said. His jaw clenched tight after those words left his mouth.
Iron paused for a beat, his eyes locked on Sketch’s and I just waited.
“Let’s go,” Iron finally said.
He jerked his head to me and then B-ry behind me.
It wasn’t long before the four of us were pulling up in front of the container where Monty was being held. Tripp was still there, guarding it with his life.
Iron waved him off and Tripp gave a good, long look at Sketch before he moved on. Yeah, it was clear that Sketch was in some shit and we all were probably thinking the same thing about him.
Sketch was a ticking time bomb. All that shit in his past. Everything he kept locked up in his head. It was a lot and though there had been times when it had come to the surface, he’d been able to push it back down. He could only do that for so long. The day would come when he couldn’t any longer. I was sure of it.
Not everyone might have been able to see it.
But I could.
Tripp went back to patrolling, knowing he wasn’t needed for this. I had a feeling he wouldn’t be going far in case something happened.
Iron pulled the doors open and the man inside blinked at the sudden invasion of light.
“I hear you have something of mine,” Iron said coolly enough but there was an underlying edge to his tone.
Monty said nothing.
Sketch stayed locked in place, his gaze hazy, set hard on the back wall of the container as if he couldn’t bring himself to look at the man chained up.
“And what of it?” Monty finally said all smug-like.
Iron nodded to me and I stepped up without any hesitation.
One punch to the gut.
The next to his face.
Another one broke his nose, blood pouring out and dripping off his chin.
“Where are they?” Iron asked.
“Sold
‘em,” Monty said but he wouldn’t look at Prez which told me that wasn’t the complete truth.
I pulled out my blade but stopped when Iron shook his head at me. I raised a brow, not sure why he wanted me to hold back.
Perhaps I was a little too pissed right now to see what his play was.
Why the fuck didn’t he just want me to get answers as fast as possible and dump this guy?
Smoothly, I slipped the blade back into the leather sheath on my belt and waited.
“You need to tell me who you sold them to then,” Iron said.
“Whoever the fuck would buy them,” he responded.
I stepped up. I wasn’t having anyone disrespect Prez like that.
B-ry must have been thinking the same thing because he was right there by my side, taking a few hits of his own to the fucker.
“Just tell him what the fuck he wants to know, Monty,” Sketch said flatly. “Stop fucking around and maybe they’ll kill you quick.”
“This is what is so great?” Monty spat out at Sketch. “Buncha fucking assholes goin’ around like they own the place? Thinkin’ they’re better than everyone else? Snatchin’ people up and killing them?!”
“It ain’t like that,” Sketch replied. “You fucking stole from us and now you’re trying to play some kind of game because you’re pissed at me! I get it. But fuck you if you say you wouldn’t have done the same!”
“Nah,” Monty said with a disgusted twist of his lips.
“Bullshit,” Sketch snapped. “All the time you guys were in and out of homes. Had someone takin’ you in for a spell until you decided you were too good for that shit. You had a bed and food. That was more than I ever had. And because you had a big fucking chip on your shoulder you walked away from it every single fuckin’ time.”
“That how you see it? Why don’t you ask Clarie how her time was? Ask her about the families that took her in. Ask her how she got how she is. You can do that, right, because you know where the fuck she is. Guess she was good enough for you to take in.”
It was Sketch who delivered a blow to Monty’s face this time.
“I didn’t leave you behind!” Sketch roared. I’d never heard him like this before, but I knew he had it in him. “All of you left me behind! Any chance you got, you left. It got too hard dealing with the streets, so you’d take off, tryin’ to find something better. All of you. And I was there every single fucking time you came back!”
My hand went to his shoulder. I wasn’t the comforting type but I did care about him and didn’t want to see him snap.
I didn’t say it with words but I had a feeling he got it. That no matter what, we’d be by his side. No matter how bad the shit was in his head, we’d shovel it with him.
“Get it out of him however you have to,” Sketch said, shaking off my hand and turning to walk out of the container.
I heard his bike rumble to life, and a second later, he was riding away.
Monty and Iron were staring each other down, only this time Monty looked as if it had finally all sunk in.
“There’s a house on fifth street. Yellow with blue shutters. Look in the attic,” Monty told Iron with a sigh. “I was workin’ on a deal, but the guy didn’t have all the money yet. They should all be there.”
“You’ll stay here until I make sure they are,” Iron told him and then he was walking out of the container.
“What are you going to do?” I asked Prez after we were out of earshot.
He looked torn for a minute and I didn’t have a clue what was going through his brain.
“If they’re all there, then we let him go.”
“What?” I asked, a hint of shock hitting my tone.
“Give him a strong warning. Make sure he understands what will happen if I see him ever again. Then let him go.”
“For Sketch?” I asked because it was sinking in.
“Yeah, for Sketch.” Iron climbed on his bike then stared at the man still in the box. “Shut him up for now.”
I did just that, not taking my time slamming the doors closed on his ass.
“B-ry, ride with me to check it out. I’ll get Knight to meet us over there with one of the SUVs,” Iron said as he pulled out his phone. “Blade, get Cami’s car back to her. Fill Brand in. We got it from here.”
Then he was riding off leaving me to track down Tripp again.
I walked away unsatisfied but I’d done what Prez needed from me.
I wasn’t really sure how I felt about it.
On one hand, I got where Prez was coming from. Wasn’t an easy choice to make, but he’d done what he thought was best for Sketch in the end.
But on the other one, I didn’t like the feeling I got from this guy and worried it might cause more damage to leave him alive.
In the end, It wasn’t my call to make, so I took Cami’s car back to the shop and filled Brand in on everything that had gone down.
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
Harley
I saw him storming across the street and was tempted to lock the door before he got here.
It was almost closing time so I could have used that as an excuse.
However, I knew better than that.
I might have taken some time for me. More time than Blade probably thought I needed. And by the look on his face right now, I was right about that.
You couldn’t really blame me though.
I was just starting to get used to the idea of having him in my life when the accident happened. Though, it felt weird calling it that, mostly because he hadn’t treated it like an accident that night. He knew damn well that condom had ripped and he just kept right on going.
I was still a little pissed about it, to be honest.
I also was afraid that if I got around him, another accident might come about.
Lordy, he was sexy when he was pissed.
I only thought that because I knew he wouldn’t hurt me.
If anything, I might get some hot, angry sex with it.
No! I scolded myself. That was the very thing that had me taking a step back. The sex was good, but had it been worth it?
Well, I wasn’t ready to admit the answer to that just yet.
He ripped open the door and with wide steps, made it to me in no time. I felt everyone’s eyes on me but I couldn’t look away from him.
I knew this was coming. I did. And somewhere deep down inside, I really needed it to.
“Need a word,” he said and the look he was giving me told me there was no other choice but to let him talk.
With a soft sigh, I nodded and turned towards the back of the shop.
“We’ll close up shop for you,” Wade called out with a hint of humor in her voice.
It was so not like that, I was pretty sure I was in trouble and honestly, I deserved this. I wasn’t talking about in the same way that I deserved what had happened to me in the past. This was different and I knew I had brought it on myself. And maybe I was hoping for it.
In the back room, I waited for him to go first, but he only jerked his head to the back door.
I got what he was telling me and rolled my eyes as I pushed open the door, climbed the stairs, and went into my apartment.
He followed behind and once we were in my living room, he perched his ass on the arm of the couch and stared at me.
“Been avoiding me,” he said flatly.
My head bobbed and I licked my lips as I tried to gather my thoughts. There was no sense in lying to him.
“Thought I made it real clear what I wanted, Har. Not sure how else I can say it.” His tone wasn’t cold but there was something there. Well, rather a lack of something. It made me think that he was getting to the point that he was going to stop trying.
It wasn’t my intention to make him feel like he had to chase me, but I was starting to see that was what I’d done.
However, after our last encounter, I was freaking the fuck out! How could he not get that? Why was he so damn cool about it?!
“What do you want
me to say?” I asked, my arms flying into the air with frustration before slapping against my thighs. “I’m scared, okay?! So much has happened and, fuck, Blade. What if there’s a baby inside of me now?!”
My head tilted back, my lids screwed closed tightly trying to hold in the tears.
“I don’t know if I can do this,” I went on, everything bubbling up and spilling from my lips like I couldn’t hold it in any longer. “What if I give you what I have left and it goes south? And let’s just admit it, I don’t think I have a lot left, not after…”
I shook my head, refusing to say his name out loud.
“I don’t think I can do it, Blade. Because I don’t know if I’m strong enough to pick myself up again.”
My head dropped down, my eyes opening to take him in.
I waited, the silence thick and suffocating, but he didn’t so much as open his mouth to speak.
“What? You have nothing to say? I spill my guts to you, open up, and you sit there like a fucking statue!” I was angry as much as I was hurt.
He cleared his throat, his arms rising and his fingers snagging my waist. A second later, he’d yanked me between his legs.
“I’m not a begging man,” he said and I couldn’t read anything in his eyes. “Think you got that about me by now. But I will beg if that’s what you need from me. I will get down on my knees and plead with what I have left of my soul for you to keep me.”
I opened my mouth but snapped it shut when he gave me a quick shake of his head.
“I’ll give you the words if that’s what you need,” he went on. “But I don’t think that’s what you need, Har. I think you’ve had all the words you needed before and they didn’t mean a damn thing. All the I’m sorrys and the it won’t happen agains and the I love yous were empty, and you know it. So, I think words aren’t gonna do shit when it comes to you. You need more. You deserve more. And I’m gonna show you everything you need. Not only that, I’m gonna mean it all, too.”
Tears were running down my face. His hand lifted from my waist and then he was softly brushing them away. I didn’t think he had it in him, but he just proved he was much more than he thought he was. I had known it all along even if I was doing my damnedest to push it away.
“And if I gotta put a bun in that oven to make you realize that I’m dead serious here, then I’m gonna fucking do it. I don’t feel bad about it and I sure as fuck don’t wish I could take it back.” His mouth pressed into a thin line at the same time one of his brows raised as if he had made his point.