by Addison Jane
“So what happened?” I ask, leaning forward, eager to hear his story.
He places his hands on the table, and Ruin looks over to him with a look that tells me just how close they are. One that seems like he would be ready at any moment to step in and tell me to mind my own business if that’s what his brother wanted.
“Club kids are always close you know,” he begins, allowing Ruin to release the tension from his shoulders. “We’re often looked at as outsiders because we choose to live by our own rules and ways of life. Kids at school would avoid us, their parents scared of what we represent and the danger that sometimes surrounds us, so we stick together like fucking glue.”
I breathe in every word he says, anticipation building in my body as I learn more and more about what life is like for the members of the motorcycle club. The only knowledge I hold about the life they lead is things I’ve seen on television shows and news articles that paint them as a menace to society and a danger that needs to be exterminated.
But from what I’ve seen of these people so far, they’re loyal, private and hold their members to a certain standard that I have to think is somewhat better than a lot of regular citizens.
“My best friend growing up was another member’s daughter, her name was Kenzi. We were thick as fucking thieves.” I watch as his face lights up, just her name leaving his lips seems to brighten his day.
Ruin feels it too, his face mirroring Axel’s. “You two used to get in so much shit, you’re lucky Dad still let you patch in.”
Axel nods his head. “Totally true,” he agrees, his face morphing into something completely different. “Kenzi went away to college after high school, but we still talked almost every day, even if it was just a text or a two-minute phone call. Then one day… they just stopped.”
His head hangs and he takes a few labored breaths.
I instinctually reach out, covering his hand with mine. Kace tenses up beside me and I throw him a quick look, telling him he needs to calm down. I can see this story causes Axel pain, and the compassion inside me tells me to comfort him in whatever way I can. He doesn’t have to share this with me, he’s making a choice to open up and let me have a glimpse into his life and his purpose.
Kace frowns back at me but doesn’t speak or make a move to stop me.
When Axel continues to speak, I turn back to him, needing to hear every word he says, “After two days with no contact, both her dad and I were worried so we got on the first plane out there.” He takes a deep breath, looking up and meeting my eyes. I clutch the table, knowing in my gut that this story isn’t going to end well. “She was gone, disappeared, no trace of her.”
“What?” I whisper in a mixture of horror and sadness.
Axel clenches his fist beneath mine, the veins and muscles in his hands and arms protruding with the amount of force.
When he doesn’t continue, Ruin steps in, placing a hand on his brother’s shoulder. “We looked everywhere. We’ve never really stopped, I guess. Her apartment was left like she should have been walking back in the door any minute, half-eaten dinner on the table, school notes spread out around it as if she was studying.” He frowns as if recalling the images in his head. “It didn’t even seem like she could have packed a bag, there were still dry clothes in the hamper waiting to be folded.”
My heart is racing but at the same time I can feel a dull ache inside it. I’ve really gotten to know Axel, and while he can be very serious and quiet, seeing him in this environment has shown me who he really is. Bright, caring, intelligent.
I guess Kace isn’t the only one who has to put on a dark mask in order to make it day by day. I bet all of them have some kind of way they separate themselves and who they are on the inside from the job that they have to do.
Loud laughter has me looking over my shoulder and I see Luca, bent over in hysterics while Noah seems to dab at his lip with the sleeve of his sweatshirt.
Luca is different, he isn’t like the others. While the others use hard exteriors to get by, he seems to be the opposite. A shiver runs up my spine as I think about what Luca could have going on inside him that he needs to use so much humor and sarcasm to cover.
“So, anyway…” I turn back and Axel seems to have composed himself, his body much more relaxed. “The Agency doesn’t owe my dad anything, given that he walked away, but he asked them to help anyway. It was a last resort. Camilla told him that they would only do those kind of things for members, so… I offered myself up.”
“Wow!” I say in awe of what I’m hearing. Knowing that Axel was basically willing to give his life to such a dangerous job just to find this girl had me completely stunned, and if I was being honest, a little smitten with him. “You must really love her.”
His eyes shoot wide and he shakes his head, while Ruin just throws back his head and releases a loud hoot of laughter.
“No, Lily. She was my best friend… and a member’s daughter for that matter. Love? No, no, no.”
I raise my eyebrow. “You obviously haven’t seen the googly eyes you make when you say her name.”
Axel just stares at me but Ruin’s amused gaze shifts to Kace. “I really do like her,” he says as Axel elbows him in the ribs. “What? I’ve heard the same damn story since we were kids. We’re just friends. It’s not like that. Ew yuck.”
“Because it’s true.”
Ruin rolls his eyes. “Brother, you love that damn girl or else you wouldn’t still be searching for her, because you know in your damn heart that she’s not dead like everyone else seems to think. But you… no, you know she’s out there.”
Axel suddenly pushes away from the table with a fierce look of intent on his face, his boots stomping and rattling the ground as he walks away.
Kace growls under his breath. “Camilla promised him she would find her. Yet, she keeps making excuses time after time, saying she doesn’t know where she is.”
Ruin’s eyes light up. “You think she knows where she is?”
Kace scrubs at his hair. “Man, after all the shit that’s gone down, it honestly wouldn’t surprise me if she knew and was just keeping it to herself to pull Axel’s strings. She knows he won’t leave until he gets the information he wants.”
“Fuck!” Ruin curses, linking his hands behind his head. “You gotta take her down, man.”
Kace’s jaw twitches and his arm around me tightens. “Working on it.”
The lower the sun falls, the higher my anticipation and impatience grows. I’m not sure what’s going to happen tonight. Things could go well, things could go dangerously wrong. At this point, it’s honestly a coin toss.
We are heading into enemy territory, and while I have a solid plan, any deviation or surprise could send this mission in a totally different direction. It could send us down a path that none of us want to explore.
“Kace,” Falcon’s voice draws me from the haze in my head and I turn to look over my shoulder. “We’re ready to get this show on the road.” Gone is his jovial laughter and in its place is the face of a man who knows how I’m feeling and just what he’s getting himself and his men into.
He is wary. I know he trusts me and is willing to go out on a limb to fight for our cause, but essentially his focus is to protect the boys under his command, and I know that he will do exactly that. Even if it means leaving me to fight this battle on my own, a sure-fire way to get killed.
I understand, though.
On more than one occasion, I’d had to let someone else suffer in order to get the members of my team to safety. It is what it is. They come first, before anyone or anything and before even myself. Because that’s what a good leader does, and Falcon, he’s one of the damn best.
He crosses his arms over his chest as I move across the room to him. His arms bulge and stretch at the fabric of his T-shirt, accentuating the thick and well-toned biceps that can rival those of men half his age.
Falcon is a force, a sharply trained, experienced, intelligent, deadly force.
And he
is on my side, thank fuck.
“Everything packed up?” I ask, brushing my hair back from my face.
He nods. “The cars are packed with supplies, you and your boys…” a throat clears and Falcon pauses to acknowledge Tanner with a polite dip of his chin to which she grins back. “Sorry, you and your team will be traveling in the vehicles. Me and the boys will ride in front and behind. I’ll also send one ahead to check for any potential problems so things run smoothly.”
I clap him on the shoulder with my hand. “Thanks, I’m grateful to have you all at our back.”
I’d given Falcon and his brothers the chance to back out of tonight’s mission, given that if things went wrong, it had the potential to start a war between the Syndicate and Malice MC.
This isn’t their fight, and I didn’t want to bring any danger or pain to Axel’s friends and family, but I think the feeling of just how important this is, not just for us but for the entire fucking country, weighed heavily on everyone.
“All right, let’s get this shit moving,” I say loudly and the room fills with noise as men begin to head for the doors.
A feather light touch on my hand fills my lungs with air and I grasp onto Lily, pulling her around in front of my body. She comes willingly, her hands going to my waist where she grips my black shirt in her fingers as though she’s never going to let me go. I dip my head and place a soft kiss to her lips, nuzzling her nose with mine.
She stays silent, her eyes drifting closed as she inhales deeply. “Please… just be safe,” she whispers, refusing to open her eyes and look up at me. “I don’t… I’m not sure… what else to tell you.”
Lily knows that what we’re about to do involves to the two men who are essentially her half-brothers. She’s scared of what they’re capable of, of the blood that runs through their veins, but I can tell there’s a part of her that’s curious. She wants to know if they’re really like the sadistic sperm donor who gave her life. She wants to know their background, whether they’re tainted with anger and poison like the Syndicate. And I know deep down, as much as she wants to hate them for coming after my team—her friends—there’s a part of her that needs to know why they’re so hell-bent on claiming her as their sister and exacting their revenge.
They don’t know her.
Yet, they’re willing to start an all-out war in order to avenge her death?
It doesn’t make sense.
“Tell me you love me.” I smirk, earning me a small smile.
Finally, she opens her eyes, and I have to hold my breath so I don’t drown in the deep pools shining back at me. They make me weak, but they also bring me strength. Doing right by Lily is the goal, giving her the life I’ve promised I would and offering her a world where she doesn’t have to run anymore. She’s my constant reminder that sometimes blood isn’t thicker than water.
My mother is destroying everything we hold dear, but I won’t let her fucking destroy us.
“Is it going to be like this every time?” she asks. Her question has me raising an eyebrow questioningly. She sighs, tightening her grip on my shirt. “Every time you go on some kind of mission. Will it always be like this? Me freaking out. You acting like you’re not going out to save the world?”
I laugh softly, pressing my lips to hers once more and savoring the taste of her lip gloss. “No… it’ll probably be a lot worse.”
Her dark glare tells me she’s not impressed with my sarcastic tone, and before she can deliver a sharp retort, I slam my mouth down onto hers, enjoying the way her tight body instantly melts softly in my arms.
I pull back and lick my lips, stifling a groan. “I don’t know if it will always be like this, but hearing you talk about our future… fuck me.”
She tip-toes up so her face is almost level with mine and looks me directly in the eye. “Then you better damn well come back. You hear me?”
I smirk, squeezing her waist with my hands. “I hear you.”
With that, she twists on her heel, releasing me and turning her body. Her footsteps as she walks away are sharp and hard. I know she’s forcing herself to leave, not even looking back over her shoulder in case she changes her mind.
Unfortunately, even if she did, there’s nothing that she could say that will stop me from going out there tonight and bringing down total hell around the feet of the Syndicate.
Taking note from Lily, I head for the door and out into the cooling night air. My feet move silently across the ground outside the clubhouse. The outfit I’ve picked out for the night blending with the darkness as I approach the convoy paused at the gates, ready to leave.
The second I’m inside the car, the roar of engines fills the air, the loud drone lifting like music as Axel pulls our vehicle out of the compound and onto the road.
“You ready?” Luca asks from beside me, his tone and face unusually serious.
The sky darkens as we head out of the city and onto the open road and I allow it to fill me—fuel for destruction. “I’m ready to remind these assholes just who they’re fucking with.”
“We bringing them in alive?” he questions, even though we’ve already had this discussion earlier today.
“If possible,” I answer simply. “If not…” I let the words hang in the air, Luca doesn’t question them, letting us slip into a comfortable silence.
We’re only an hour from our destination when his cell phone starts to ring and he releases a loud groan. He holds it up for me to see.
BOSS CALLING.
I snort. “You better answer.”
He inhales a deep breath and plasters a happy smile on his face as he flicks call and quickly switches the phone to speaker so I can hear. The moment I hear her voice, it takes everything inside me not to scream profanities and call the bitch out on her shit. But instead, I let Luca handle it.
“Where in the goddamn hell are you?” she screeches, causing Axel to force down laughter from the driver’s seat.
He grins over at me before he answers, “Family emergency. My cousin’s uncle’s ex-wife’s father’s dog died and I need to go to the funeral.”
“Luca…” she growls, her voice laced with hate and annoyance. “Why the fuck is Blair in the hospital?”
I sit back in amusement as I watch his eyes move back and forth as if he’s flicking through his brain for a feasible excuse. “Okay, so you see… we wanted to boost morale in the SO. So we decided to do some fun team building exercises. Then there was this miniature pony accident and things got weird… we would have asked you to come, but—”
“Luca! Tell me what the hell is going on right now. That’s a direct order!” she screams, her voice unlike anything I’ve heard before.
“Oh no… I’m going through a tunnel,” he starts to make scratching noises that don’t sound real at all. “You’re… breaking… up.”
“LUCA!”
He hastily hits the end call button before falling into fits of laughter. Axel and I can’t help but join him.
“Okay, so… we’re turning off our phones now.”
I chuckle and nod. “Yeah, I think that’s a good idea.”
The Malice MC ride into the port, along with my team, but we pull in a fair way down from Pier 81. The obvious drone from the hogs is a warning we don’t want the Syndicate to hear. We pull off right at the end of the road before it meets the port and walk the rest of the way between the rusted red and green peeling shipping containers on the dock. On the port side, boats are in the dock for restoration and repairs, some even for preservation, as they slowly bob up and down in the dark of night against the slow rhythm of the river water. If I had time to stop and admire the boats, they would be all kinds of inspiring, springing thoughts to mind of when Dad used to take me fishing when I was young. But I can’t reminisce right now, now I have to act as we all rush forward toward Pier 81 where the intel told us the Syndicate ship is said to be located.
Noah is working on his device, tapping into the security of this place making sure to loop the feed from bef
ore we arrived. We pull up behind a large broken down fishing vessel on a trailer and we all stand back looking to the peer across from us. Two guards stand at the gangplank leading up to the ship docked to Pier 81. The Syndicate ship ironically named Lady Liberty. Such a patriotic name for something that’s having a hand in actually destroying the damn country.
I look back at my team and the MC members who are here and nod my head.
“Okay, we do a sweep first. Locate and take out the guards then have them tell us where Ares and Ezra are. We go from there. It’s a simple snatch and grab. We get the brothers and leave. Try for minimal casualties, if possible. Got it?” I whisper.
Everyone nods and I look to Luca who winks at me and then looks to the two guards on the gangplank.
“Who gets the guards?” he asks.
I smile and nod. “Let’s go,” I say to him and he grins wide as I look back to Falcon gesturing for him to keep everyone here until I give the signal. He nods as Luca and I stand up and casually start walking over to the gangplank, although our full head to toe black outfits screams anything but casual.
The two guards instantly see us raising their rifles aiming them right at us and taking a threatening pose. “Halt, this is a restricted area. Please turn around and leave,” a guard calls out.
I raise my hands as does Luca and we start to chuckle as if we’re drunk. “Oh man, we’re so lost. We caught an Uber but the guy was totally drunk and made us drink with him and he dropped us off here, and now we’re like… hey, let’s go fishing and wow! Is that a real gun? It’s so shiny—” Luca dribbles as we step up to the guards.
“Back away!”
“But it’s totally fake, right? Let me see?” Luca asks as we reach the guards. They watch us unsure of our drunken wobbling. When we both straighten up right in front of them, we grab their guns at the ends twisting them up, so the straps come up and off over their heads. I push the guy in the chest making him fall back on his ass before he has a second to register what’s happening, and I take the gun from him pointing it back in his direction as Luca does the exact same thing to his guy. They both sit on the ground of the peer, dazed looking up at us shaking their heads.