Destiny took her cut back and her gun holsters and handed them to Tate. “In case,” she whispered in his ear. “Take care of him and get him clear of the Pride.”
Tate hugged her and patted her on the back. Destiny released him and turned to the garage door.
31
Destiny slammed the door closed and stared through the dim fluorescents that lit the empty three bay building. In the middle, as promised, Drew was tied to the pole. On his knees. Head bent and bloody. He hadn’t taken coming in lightly and the Pride hadn’t taken it easy on him.
Drew looked up at her.
“Callaghan bitch.” He spat a mix of blood and saliva. “Who did you have to fuck to get them to turn me over?”
“It appears things are much more peaceful between the crews than you and Bianca had hoped.”
Drew jerked at her name. “Don’t you say it! Don’t you say her name!”
“Bianca? It was quick, it was painless. She was dead long before she hit the ground. Heart shot. I could have went for the head but...” She shrugged. “She’s still out there, you know? In the dirt and the Texas heat. All day long. Wonder if the coyotes and the buzzards have found her yet. You didn’t even try to go back for her. Just left her there, like she was nothing.”
Drew fought his restraints hard but had no luck. Destiny glanced at his hands. Three zip ties. Pride wasn’t taking any chances.
“She would have gotten a burial. Maybe not proper, but she would have been buried had it not been for you. We had too much to do, running Fabio to the hospital. You didn’t kill him. But you tried. You were supposed to be his brother!” she roared and slammed her fist into his face. His nose cracked again and it was a joyous sound.
“You thought it would be me? You said I would destroy this club! That I would turn my back on my family!” She landed a kick to his ribs this time and Drew gasped for air.
He laughed, blood streaming down his face. “You did. You destroyed him. He never would have been shot had he not had to jump in the way to save his stupid, dumb, stale-ass pussy that was you!”
She lashed out with a kick to the side of his head and it bounced back into the pole. Drew’s head rolled around but he wasn’t knocked out. He shook his head lightly and came back to. He was dead and he knew it.
Destiny withdrew Houston’s blade and walked behind him, slicing through all the restraints. He fell forward but didn’t make a move to get up as Destiny gave him a wide berth.
She tossed Houston’s knife at his feet. “Pick it up. Die like a man.”
“I’m dead anyways. Even if I kill you, the bikes on the other side of the door won’t let me live.”
“You will get out of here at least. That’s what the Pride is here for. Make sure it’s a fair fight.”
Drew laughed. “Running never was my thing.”
“Apparently neither was trust or loyalty.”
“Do you want to know why I did it?”
“Not really. It doesn’t matter. I took out Kyle, Bianca wanted revenge for her brother. I understand all of that. And I see you how she must have. As the weak link. Did she tell you she loved you? Did you really believe you just randomly met a perfect woman who cared for you who just happened to want your biker princess dead?”
Destiny stared down Drew and she knew he really loved the woman she killed. “Martinez grew up in the life. In the game. You’ve only been part of it a little while. She spent every moment being owned by worse clubs than the Bastards. So when she needed a Bastard to die, she went looking for an inside person. She picked the weak one. The only one she could tempt with blow jobs and pussy and the soft whispers of lies in his ears and she made him her mark. You were a means to an end, Drew. And now you’ll die for it.” She transferred her blade from her sheath to her hands.
“Pick up the knife.”
Drew reached for the blade but before he could wrap his hand around it Destiny lunged forward and buried hers deep into his heart. Drew collapsed on her, gurgling.
“I’m a weak little girl, Drew. I could never let you have the upper hand, now could I?” She threw back in his face his reasoning for not being able to trust a woman as he took his last breath.
Destiny flipped him over on his back and twisted her blade the full 360 degrees. She might not cut his heart from his chest but there was nothing left of it.
She pulled her knife out and wiped his blood on his own pants. The warm sticky liquid ran down her hands and arms and coated her shirt as it was, but the less mess the better.
She stood, unusually calm. The darkness hadn’t swallowed her. It hadn’t even reared its ugly head when she was in here. That was either a really good or a really terrifying thing.
Step by step she found her feet and walked to the door. She opened it to find all eyes on her and her men’s hands on their guns. Just in case it wasn’t Destiny.
“Talk over?” Alec asked, relief seeping into his voice.
“Just about. I do need some help with clean up.”
Her crew and a mix of Pride followed her back through the doors and she stopped to hand her brother back his blade. He wrapped her tightly in a hug. “Don’t ever talk me into doing something so fuckin’ stupid again.”
“Promise.”
“What now?” Jay asked, kicking at Drew’s lifeless leg with his toe. The two of them had been pretty damn close and he would take Drew turning traitor the hardest especially as twenty-four hours had yet to pass since he had been informed. They had taken the vote in the wee hours yesterday morning, that he had to die. Jay would never have voted against it. But it was hard. Destiny knew so.
“Ink has to go,” Eric spoke up, staring down at the body.
“Fire or knife?” Charlie asked.
“Cut it from him. Burn the flesh. Then burn his body. Neck down. Trent needs to close the case on the FBI man. That family deserves closure too,” Destiny told them.
“Has anyone seen his cut?” Bryant asked and Abraham stepped forward.
“We found it with him,” he said, handing it to Bryant.
“I’ll do this,” Vat said, kneeling next to the body on the floor. “It’s messy but I’m good at messy.”
“Do you mind the use of your facility for another hour?” Alec asked the Pride.
“Bleach is in the closet,” the lieutenant answered. “I’ll leave you a disposable car to move the body to the desert.”
“Dump him with Bianca,” Destiny told Vat as she walked out the door.
***
Midnight approached when Destiny stepped through the doors at Fabio’s place. Anastasia had sent her bags here, before it all happened. She had no desire to go to Kristy’s and the apartment at the clubhouse was out of clean clothes.
Eric went back to the hospital, escorted by Jay. Tate, Charlie, and Vince all stayed behind in Prideland with Vat until the mess was cleaned up. Houston rode out with Alec and Bryant was tailing her to make sure she was okay. The Pup was still standing guard with the other prospect at the hospital. Just in case.
Bryant headed for the kitchen and Destiny heard him start coffee as she headed for the master bath. She stripped her clothes. Her cut was clean so she sat it on Fabio’s unmade bed. It was the only real mess in the house. The water ran and for the second time in one spin of the earth, she was washing blood from her. She cried in the shower, she screamed in the shower. She wrapped her arms around herself and sank to the floor until the water ran cold.
32
Stella told her they were allowing visitors when Destiny arrived back at the hospital. So she gave the women of her family a brief nod and headed into his room. They were only allowed in one at a time so it was just her, Stephan, and the whirl of the machines that were caring for him.
She hated hospitals with a passion. The smell, the lighting, the constant anxiety. He didn’t look like himself. Not the version she had separated in her mind for Fabio, the obnoxious best friend and the boyish laugh she had called family.
Nor did he look like the
version of herself she called by his real name Stephan, the man who owned a business and a three-bedroom, spot-free house. The man who wrapped her in big strong tattooed arms and kissed her till the point of no return. The man who loved so fearlessly and fiercely. So much so he had been willing to give his own life to protect her. That’s why he was here after all.
The bed didn’t make him look small exactly. His hulking frame took up every inch of it. He was paler than he normally was. While she and her brothers got most of their skin tone from Brianna, Fabio had never been too far behind. Lots of days in Texas sun could do that to you. Maybe it was his condition making him look washed out. Maybe it was just the lighting.
Destiny slowly sat down, careful of all the cords, next to his bed in the chair that was perched just so next to it. She reached out and grasped his hand. She needed to feel him squeeze back. Needed to see him smile, see all the danger and dares dance through his eyes once more.
Needed to feel him kiss her and his arms wrap around her. She needed to get that playful smack on the ass and punch in the arm that came from her best friend. She needed to feel him pick her up and push her against the wall again. Hear his voice laugh and call her Double D. Hear it telling her to get her ass in line and hear it whisper he loved her in her ear again.
She used her free hand to brush away the tears.
That’s where she stayed. Just like that. Time passed but she paid no thought to it. The nurses gave up trying to remove her from his room and eventually just stared, letting his other family and friends visit one by one as well. Destiny was the permanent fixture. She was going nowhere.
She lived in a daze. She assumed she slept on and off but she had no memory of it. She knew she stumbled to the tiny attached bathroom on occasion to use the facilities and splash water on her tired face but that was it.
Daylight broke two days after she arrived at the hospital. The forty-eight hours had ended twenty some hours before. Stephan’s wounds were healing nicely and his vitals were stable. The nurses and doctors came and took him away for more tests and she stumbled outside.
The sunlight hurt. Her eyes struggled to adjust as she smoked. She had been out only a handful of times since arriving and always at night. Night was… comforting, for some reason.
She stumbled back into the hospital and found her way to the small chapel. It was empty and candles sat up underneath the cross. She walked up to it, lit one for Stephan and stepped back into the first pew where she sat. Hands folded and head bowed in a silent prayer she could never find the words for.
The doors opened and someone else walked in. It was a slow but sure gait that she recognized as Eric’s. He slid in the pew behind her and was quiet for a long time.
“I sat in a chapel similar to this not so many years ago. He was as distraught as you. If not more. The police had your living attackers in custody since they were dumb enough to be caught on that security camera by the ATM across the street, and the boys had no way of getting to them.
“He had asked about the baby before the doctors told Stella and Kristy you had lost it. For a moment, your brothers turned on him and my heart glinted just a bit at the thought it was his. Trent wasn’t here yet when they told us about the miscarriage, and Fabio, he wanted him dead more than Austin and Houston. Had they let him get to Trent, it would have ended much like tonight.
“I found him in a chapel like this. Using all that good catholic boy knowledge Stella had pressed on him, trying to bargain a deal with God if you would just wake back up. The doctors didn’t have you under sedation like he is and it was a terrifying time.
“He asked to be in there, that’s why he was. Holding your hand when the doctors told you the news. It was the first time I saw it. That love that consumed him, it was all for you. He struggled with wanting to support your decisions and fighting with you to make you do what he thought was right. He never wanted you to enlist. He wanted you here with family. A family that could keep you safe.
“If the Corps could have promised he’d always be assigned with your unit, he would have enlisted the day you did. When he flew to Bethesda and they told you that you may never walk or ride again, it was their chapel where we finally found him. First pew, again trying to strike a deal.
“He focused so long on Austin and Houston. I never knew if it was out of his love for them or his duty to you. He’d follow you to the ends of the world. He was as conflicted as his mother when you patched. He would do anything to see you happy and knew that you could handle yourself but damn did he struggle. He always wanted you behind him, not because he knew you couldn’t fight but he wanted to keep you safe. Because he loved you.”
“He kept me safe, Eric,” she said, tears streaming down her face. “That’s why he’s here. Part of me always knew. For ten years anyhow. But I was me. Stubborn, stupid Callaghan. When I put my transfer in, it sure as hell wasn’t me that broached the subject of us first. I fought it so hard. Why? Because I wouldn’t date a brother patch. That would complicate things. Complicate my return to Sweetwater, complicate my standing in the club. Always the fuckin’ club! Always the cut I put above everything else! It took me too long! Too long to tell him the truth! Too long to tell him I am in love with him!”
Her screams echoed throughout the chapel.
Eric came to her in her sobs and wrapped his arms around her. “He knows though, sweetheart. He always has, and he will wake up for you again.”
A knock came on the door as someone announced themselves as Eric ran his hands over her hair to soothe her. Alec cleared his throat. “They took the sedation tubes out. It could still be a few hours but he can wake up now.”
Destiny shot up and raced for Stephan’s room.
***
Four hours passed by before Stephan opened his eyes. His parents had just snuck down to the cafeteria for a bite to eat and while Destiny felt horrid at stealing such a moment from them, she was slightly glad for it.
Stephan tried to form words and Destiny quickly brought a water cup with a straw to his lips. He took a few sips, half gasped, half coughed and laid back down.
“You scared me,” she told him, tears falling down her cheeks.
“I guess I’m supposed to say sorry then, huh?” he asked, his eyes darting around the room.
“I’ll let it slide this time.” She forced a smile and squeezed his hand tightly and leaned in to press a kiss to his forehead. “It’s been a long few days. I couldn’t handle much more of it. God, I love you.”
“I love you too,” Stephan told her as he slowly struggled to bring her hand to his lips. His body was drained still of all energy.
“Any blanks you can fill in? With nurses and doctors here?” he asked, so Destiny settled back in to give him the gist of things. The clean version that she hoped would be the only version he would hear. He could read between the lines and know what happened to Drew but she hoped he would never know how dark she had gone in such a short time.
She had the rest of their lives for her conscience to keep her at bay. And with any luck there would be a lot of years left of their lives.
Epilogue
It had been seven weeks since Stephan “Fabio” Ames had taken the bullet. The two of them had still struggled a bit on the name part and she had adjusted to calling him Stephan when it was just the two of them and continued to use Fabio the rest of the time. They had plenty of make-up time for their years apart as Destiny had officially vacated the clubhouse apartments for good and took up residence in Stephan’s neat stable home.
Two weeks ago, and earlier than the doctor recommended, Fabio got back on his bike and back to his vote. That same day, Alec took her transfer to the table and she was voted a Sweetwater member.
Houston rode out two days later. After the party celebrating her official join to the chapter. It had been a nice two months with her older brother but there was only so much family time the two of them could have before they killed each other.
Alec added a few more months to his
exit plan from the club. Kristy just sighed. It was common knowledge that the push of the gavel would go to Destiny with Fabio as her second and no one seemed to be upset with the decision. Not that anyone would dare question her anymore. They had seen what she was capable of.
The club was adjusting to having not only a woman, but a couple amongst the ranks. Although in all honesty they didn’t really treat each other any differently in the clubhouse than they ever had. I guess the underlying love had always been there.
Today Fabio strapped his saddle bags onto his bike and Destiny hers. Back to the normal day rider, both her original bike and her fathers were back in the storage locker where hopefully they would stay untouched for a long while.
“How long do the two of you plan to be gone?” Kristy asked, she was clucking like the mother hen she was and even Stella looked slightly nervous. The shooting had wrecked her good-natured nerves.
“Just a few weeks. A tour of the chapters. See some of the country. Neither one of us has really done that before,” Destiny told them for the millionth time since Fabio was back in the saddle.
“Call it an extended honeymoon,” he tossed in as he strapped on his helmet. He had wanted her to ride with him and it was tempting. She loved being on the back of his bike wrapped around him. But they were chapter hopping and for that they needed to be able to be separate as club members and not just patch and old lady.
“You’re not married!” Kristy told him as they started up their bikes.
“Might be when we get back. Never know.” Fabio winked at Destiny mischievously and they pulled out of his driveway.
“You damned well better not! I get to plan a wedding! Stella and I get to plan a wedding! It’s the only one we are going to get!” Kristy was yelling behind them as they went on down the road.
Additional Works by Kendra Plunkett-Witt
The Devils Bastards MC: Destiny Dallas Callaghan Page 24