by J. L. Drake
Focus.
“Find him,” I barked at Rail, who had fought his way over to me.
“On it.” He ducked under the sea of people and disappeared.
I had my father inches from the reaper’s grip. He was there in the flesh, ready to be taken out, but I lost my focus, once again trapped by betrayal. I yanked the door back and screamed with frustration.
“Where is she?” I boomed at Cray, and he put his hands up so I wouldn’t hit him. I heard my men come up behind me, but nothing mattered.
“Hang on!” He tried to stop me, but I was five strides ahead. “Trigger, before you flip out, you need to hear this!”
I ignored him and tore open my door and saw the room was empty. I went on to the next, and the next, and every empty room elevated my anger.
“Nolan!” my mother squealed. “I saw what happened.”
That stopped me.
“I saw them take—”
My hands snapped around her neck and pushed her into the wall. Brick appeared on one side of me and started to shout, but nothing made it through the demons’ cries for more. They were savages and slowly taking over.
Cray and Cooper came up with their weapons drawn, ready to do what was necessary.
Her fingers clawed at my arms while her face turned bright red.
“Allen. He took…her.”
My grip tightened as I fought to stay in the present, but Nolan was fading fast, and so was Tess.
No. This wasn’t happening.
“His fucking assholes jumped me!” Rail held his broken nose and limped as he came into view. “I’m sorry, man. Allen’s gone.”
What the hell?
“You did this, didn’t you? You played me! You know I love her, and you took her from me!”
If I couldn’t kill my father, my mother was the next best thing.
“No.” Tears streamed down her terrified face. “I don’t even know her. But I can help you find her.”
“Trigger!” The familiar voice cut through my rage, and a small body slammed into mine. I didn’t move. I was stone, but I broke the hold on my mother, my fist still raised, about to pound.
“Listen to me!” Fin’s face was bright red, and tears pooled around his cape Tess had helped him make to support the fight. So much terror was held in such a tiny face. “Stop fighting and find her!” He started to sob, and I broke. I scooped him up and buried my face in his neck. He shook as he sobbed and held onto me tight. I knew that fear. It was that of a boy who just lost his mother.
A feeling I knew and held onto for many years.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered. “We’ll get her back, I promise.”
“Oh, my God.” Brick covered his face as he turned around, looking about ready to puke. I reached out and grabbed his shoulder. Anchor to anchor.
“Where’s Gus?” I barely heard Cray ask.
I glanced at Minnie and handed Fin to her. I started to scan the hallway. He was slower than the rest of us.
“Watch her.” I jammed a finger at my mother but directed my words to Minnie. “She moves, shoot her.”
“Yeah, okay.” I noticed Brick as he tucked a gun into the waist of her pants, careful not to show Fin.
“Trigger?” Morgan nearly ran into me and turned his phone to face me.
Mike: Jace is your mole! Get Trigger to call me now!
What? That sucked the breath right out of me.
“Jace.” He shook his head, the betrayal deepening the creases around his eyes. “He took her. He’s the goddamn mole!”
Motherfucker! I clenched my fist, and my muscles quivered with the need to kill something. I should have known. Jace and Tess became close quickly. He burrowed his way into her trust, only to rip it away.
He betrayed me—no, us—his fucking family that fed and housed him.
I am done.
My head tried to keep ahead of the demons. I wanted so much to give in and let them take over, so I could get through this without the terrible ache that held my body prisoner.
“Trigger!” Big Joe burst around the corner. His face was broken out in a sweat. “You need to see this.”
“Joe, if this has something to do with Tess, you need to—” Brick couldn’t finish the sentence, and I didn’t want him to.
“No.” Big Joe motioned for us to follow him. We raced down two hallways, through the lobby, and down another hall. He held open the door, and we rushed in and our boots were covered in…blood?
“Holy shit.” Brick glanced around at the five twisted bodies. One’s neck had been snapped, an ear looked like it had been ripped off another, and the smell of bleach almost took our breath away. “Who?”
“Stripe Backs.” I pointed to the lime green eyes staring back at me as the rest of the guys joined us. Minnie covered Fin’s eyes and hurried back out with my mother on her heels. “Trigger.” Brick turned with a haunted look, and I nodded. It looked like one of my kills.
“Get Rich to call Sam,” I quickly instructed Rail. I had a sinking feeling we’d need our lawyer. He went to pull out his phone but stopped when we felt someone come in.
“You mean your prospect?” One of the men who carried our bags in before the fight suddenly appeared next to Cooper. “Yeah, man, he left, like, ten minutes ago with that girl Trigger had on his arm.”
What the fuck?
“With who?”
“Shit!” Big Joe jumped back, and a team of police held their weapons on me.
“Oh, my God!” My mother snagged my attention as she stared at her phone, not the police.
“Everyone freeze!” one cop shouted, clearly taken over by fear.
I raised my arms, ready to fight. The sound of their weapons filled the room as most of the guns pointed in my direction.
“Stop.” My mother stepped forward, almost as if to shield me. “Let me say goodbye to my son.”
I couldn’t help but feel a strange ripple run through me at the word son. Before anyone could say anything, she wrapped her arms around me and whispered, “They have Gus. He has his tracker on.” She slipped the phone into my hand. She stepped back and blocked the SWAT team’s view of the phone. I watched as the little blue dot moved farther and farther away from me. I couldn’t believe it.
“Nolan Vineyard, Matthew Montgomery, and…” Officer Doyle stepped into the room with a rag over his nose, and my blood went wild. He turned to Rail. “Silas Hunter, you’re under arrest.”
No.
Morgan sidestepped behind me and pulled the phone from my grip as Doyle went on.
“For the mass murder at the Final Temptations Strip Club in Santa Barbara four years ago, and,” he paused, and I saw him smile behind the rag, “the murder of these five Stripe Backs.”
My blood ran cold as I made the connection that I had indeed been played by one of my own. But it wasn’t only Jace who’d betrayed me. I slowly shifted and locked eyes with my second mole.
Nolan disappeared into dust as the cold steel clamped down around my wrists.
The End
Too strong to run,
Too proud to hide.
For this I’ll pay…
For this I’ll die.
My soul is black,
The demons are worse.
Pain was spread,
Love has burst.
Won’t move forward,
Can’t go back.
The reaper is circling,
Can’t fight back.
The world has gone black.
She is gone,
Time will pass.
Evil has spread,
Will we last?
Prologue
My fists beat at my temples, my head screamed at me to kill, and the room spun like someone had ripped open the door to Pandora’s box. I clawed at the walls, ignoring the pain of my torn nails. I smashed the chair against the table and yanked the camera from the wall then gathered up the wire. Quickly, I wrapped it around my hands, ready to take on Doyle.
I shook my head to clear the screams, and the de
mons swung from bone to bone like an army of apes about to swarm their prey.
No windows, no air, nothing.
Pure, untamed adrenaline coated my insides, destroying any trace of good left in me.
I popped my neck and felt the blood rush away from my palms. Back and forth I shifted my weight, ready to fight. Ready to get the fuck out of here.
“Ahhhhh!” I couldn’t keep in the madness. Chaos gnawed at my nerves.
The smell of blood lingered in the air, a promise I intended to keep for myself once he showed his face.
I rubbed my head vigorously in an attempt to keep it together.
I didn’t lose control; this wasn’t me.
What was happening?
What was the holdup?
Where the fuck was Sam?
Suddenly, as if someone snapped on a light, the door opened, and Officer Doyle stepped in. He glanced up at me from the file in his hand.
The window behind him shook, and I allowed it to draw my attention for a moment.
There I sat, cool, calm, relaxed in my chair.
If only he knew the storm that raged inside me.
Chapter One
Trigger
“I told you not to fight this, Trigger.” Sam tugged at his tie. The skin around it was red. In all the years he’d been our lawyer, I had never seen him this stressed. “You’re up for multiple murder charges, and you have a rottweiler named Rothweiler for a judge. Biggest dick on the west coast.”
“The proof will show itself,” I muttered, still lost in the dark thoughts that simmered with the need to tell my men who the mole was. It was too risky a move. They’d more than likely kill him before I could. Just knowing he was walking around freely in my club without a fuck made me wild with the urge to break out of here and rip his throat out.
Then there was her.
“Will it?” Brick rubbed his face, his tone hopeless. He’d completely worn through the pad of his thumb from rubbing the top of the screw on the chair leg. He pointed to the camera on the wall. “They clearly have some people in their pockets to have made this happen. That’s some high-up power.”
I know people too. I just need to wait for the right moment to play my cards.
The acidic ache in my chest alerted me that I was about to be hit with an image of her.
I jolted at the tear in my armor and pushed it away, back into its place, away from them. I felt their claws scrape at my insides as if they smelled my weakness.
“Trigger,” Sam broke my focus, “this is bad. My hands are tied. No one is listening. All they want is to see you gone. I had no idea Doyle was working as a U.S. Marshals Liaison.”
“I can’t be someone’s bitch.” Rail’s high-pitched voice piped in from the corner. “I have limits.”
“Come on, Rail, you nailed that cougar from the gym in a Goodwill parking lot last month.” Brick shook his head. “You have no limits.”
“Ah, yeah, that’s right.” Rail chuckled. “She was a freak.”
As jacked as they were inside, neither of them could keep their mouths shut.
“Fuck.” Sam pressed his hands against his forehead. “You’re all going to prison. I’ll be the one left here on the other side of the wall.”
“Why are you worried?” Rail dropped his feet from the table, his shoes smacking the floor. “Not like you’re the one who’s going to be showering with company.”
“I’d rather that than what awaits me if I can’t get you out.” He glanced at me but quickly turned away. That’s right, you little fuck. You better be scared to shit. I would kill his entire family if he didn’t get us out, and he knew that, hence why he was freaking out.
The dusty, caged-in clock on the wall ticked loudly above Sam. Each second that passed seemed to toss another bucket of dirt on my grave…or hers. I knew Morgan had been monitoring Gus’s location, but that was a few days ago, and I hadn’t heard anything in a while. Sam chose to know nothing, so it couldn’t be beaten out of him later. He was right to be paranoid. With me behind bars, he would be a target for sure, and not just for Allen, but for me too.
I dropped my head in my hands to soothe my achy eyes. I couldn’t sleep, and it fucked with my mind. I’d woken to the sound of her voice, only to realize it was Rail in the bunk above me.
I followed the chains of the skeleton on my forearm and stopped at the lock. A heaviness settled in the pit of my tortured soul. I needed to get out of there, but I also knew I needed to play my cards right.
The door swung open, and in walked my parole officer, Chamness, shaking his head in his normal disapproving way. I rolled my eyes. The man was tired of working with me, and the feeling was mutual.
“Congratulations, Trigger, you’re royally fucked.”
“Please don’t sugar coat it, Chamness,” Rail hissed.
“Oh, trust me, I don’t plan to.” He dropped a file on the table and pinched the bridge of his nose. “You don’t listen to me, your lawyer, or the law. You made your bed, now lay in the shit that awaits you, because I have no more tricks up my sleeve.”
“Meaning?” I met his exhausted stare.
“Meaning they,” he pointed at the window, “are finished with you and the revolving prison door you’ve had since you were sixteen. They’ve moved up your trial, given the number of deaths, and are prepared to get the ball rolling now.”
“But it’s been a week.” Brick stood and pounded his fist on the table. “This shit should take months!”
“Yup,” he nodded, “but you’ve pissed on them so many times, they want to make their point, and they’re willing to pull out every judiciary trick in the book to do it.”
“And their point is?” I was about to go on when the door opened. Three officers stepped in and quickly ushered us back into the courtroom.
“For fuck’s sake, Trigger, keep your mouth shut,” Chamness warned before we entered the courtroom.
I didn’t recall much of what was said because I immediately locked eyes with Morgan, who shook his head, indicating they hadn’t found her or Gus.
The wild things inside me went nuts when they felt my mood shift south.
Shit.
Sam elbowed me hard in the arm when I didn’t give the judge the attention he demanded.
“Matthew Montgomery and Silas Hunter, you boys are looking at forty-five years, and by God, I aim to make sure you serve every second of it.”
Brick huffed out a heavy breath, and Rail muttered something about how he’d rather die.
Judge Rottweiler—Rothweiler—narrowed his blue eyes partially hidden behind his bushy eyebrows on me. “Nolan Vineyard.” He struggled to keep the corners of his mouth down. I stood a little straighter and waited for my fate.
“I guarantee, Vineyard, you can look forward to three life terms.” I blinked at his words. “And if I had it my way, I’d give you the death penalty.”
Rail reached out for the table while I bent to whisper to Sam.
“Links.” He quickly pulled out his phone. Links was the guy who made things happen. As soon as we were arrested, Morgan pulled some strings, and he got to work. Now I knew we just had to wait.
I scanned the faces in the benches and stopped at my mother. She gave me a slight nod. I wasn’t sure if she was telling me it was all right, or that she was giving me her support. Either way, I didn’t want it. Why the fuck was she even there?
An officer came up behind me and pulled my wrists, indicating for me to follow.
“Sam,” I yanked back and stepped closer, “she comes before us.”
“I know.” His answer sounded distant; the judge’s malice had thrown him.
“Play dirty. I pay you enough to do so.”
“You have my word.”
“I better.” I stopped myself from reminding him I knew his family well.
“Let’s go.” The officer grabbed my arm and pulled me away. I followed quietly to make my point to Sam. I’d do my part if he did his.
***
Tess
>
I tossed the paper plate in the trash and glanced out the window at the driveway and wondered how long it actually was. Three, maybe four miles? I knew it took it four minutes from the time I heard the engine until I could actually see the truck. Gus said six, but I thought his timing was off.
His smell hit me before I could react. My muscles locked in place as he stepped up behind me and whispered over my shoulder.
“You doing okay?” Zay trapped me at the counter with his arms. “Can I get you anything? Your skin looks so pretty in the sun. Like diamonds.” Fox walked through the kitchen, stuffing his mouth full of potato chips.
“Yuck,” I muttered. “You really know nothing about me, Zay.”
“I know more than you think I do.”
I wanted to elbow him in the ribs, but the last time I did that, Allen took it out on Gus.
“Really?” I couldn’t help myself. Zay pissed me the hell off. “Then you should know making a Twilight reference is far from sexy, and seriously, I hate romance.”
“Where the fuck are my shoes?” Allen snapped from behind us.
“Fine.” Zay’s tone changed, and he yanked one arm behind me and undid his belt. I started to panic. There was no way he was doing that. “I tried to be nice, tried to control myself around you, but you consistently push me away. So, we’ll do it your way.”
Allen sniggered, and I tried to whirl around, but Zay held my hips in place while his other hand fought to undo my pants. He was doing a shitty job. His hands kept slipping off my button, so I used that to my advantage.
“You sick fuck!” I drove my heel into his foot and drew back to punch him, but he caught my arms and bent me over the counter.
“I love that you fight, Tess, but you also need to know who you belong to now.”
“Bitch needs to learn.” Allen grinned with excitement as he raced upstairs.
“You mean a sicko who gets off by raping women?” I yelled at him because that was all I could do. He was too strong and completely overpowered me.