by Ambere Sabo
“All I’m saying is if we find a way to track her, she could get us more intel about the cartel…”
“She will not be going with that motherfucker,” Hoser roars. For once that asshole and I are on the same fucking page. Using Angel as bait is already bad enough, and this bastard thinks we should just hand her over.
“Everybody needs to just calm the fuck down,” Hyde exclaims trying to bring some sort of order to this chaos. “We have three options up for a vote. Option one we caravan Havoc and Angel to the halfway point, where the Sons will meet us and get them home safely.”
That’s Hyde’s idea, and while I agree that Angel's safety is important, we don’t know when we might have a chance to catch this bastard again. This is the best guarantee of her safety. But it also pretty much ensures that Wrecker won’t show his face.
“Option two is to let them head back seemingly on their own, but all three clubs will spread out along the road from our clubhouse to the Sons’. Doing so in groups of no less than three, in hopes that at least a few of the groups can make it when the distress call is made.”
That’s Rodeo’s plan. The Dominion guys feel it puts too much at risk if no one is close enough to help us should Wrecker even show. I understand their concern, but right now I think they need to grow a pair. I’m pretty sure I can do what it takes to keep her safe. After all, she’ll be right behind me. Wrecker will literally have to go through me to get to her. But I suppose, it might be good to have help close by should shit hit the fan.
“And the final option is letting Havoc and Angel go it completely alone. Should Wrecker show his face, let him take Angel and pray the cartel doesn’t kill her so she can gather information.” There’s no fucking way that this option is happening. Not even if Angel volunteers. I will drag her ass kicking and screaming back home.
The room fills with shouts and chaos. The vote can’t happen because no one can hear who’s voting in favor of any of the options. The number of men yelling is ridiculous. There's a reason none of the people in this room are part of a one percent club like the Reapers, myself included, and Wraith is reminding all of us of the differences in our clubs. The biggest difference being that the rest of us don’t think we’re above all the laws, living only by club rules. Thank God, I’m not in a one percent club anymore. I was never really cut out for that shit.
“Will you all shut the hell up,” Angel yells and the men actually fucking listen. “I’ve sat here and listened to y’all bicker like little school girls for the last hour and a half. I’m done letting you make decisions for me.”
“Carino, we weren’t…” Hoser starts but quits when she raises her hand for him to stop.
“I will NOT be going with Wrecker tonight or any other fucking night. I will kill the motherfucker myself before I let that happen. And you should be ashamed of yourself for even suggesting it, Wraith. Would you want Cessy back in the hands of the cartel?” Without giving him a chance to answer, she continues, “I didn’t think so.” She takes a deep breath and looks around the room, meeting everyone’s eyes.
Thank God, she doesn’t want to go get info on the cartel. I can breathe a little easier knowing that I won’t have to fight with my little spitfire about putting herself in harm’s way.
“Now, as for the entourage, while I appreciate the concern for my life, I’m quite fucking capable of handling my own, as is Havoc. We don’t even know if Wrecker will come after us on the ride back home, but if he does, it may be our only shot at taking him down. Havoc has been chasing him for months with no luck. So, I say if he comes for me, let him come. Any fucking questions?” she asks looking around the room again, her eyes finally landing on mine.
I can work with that. It might not be the safest option for her, but she’s right this may very well be our best shot at getting to Wrecker.
No one says a damn thing for a few minutes. Finally, Rodeo breaks the silence, “Alright, you heard the lady. Let’s get the logistics planned out, so we can all get to where we need to be.”
After another thirty minutes of figuring everything out, the damn meeting is over. I love my prez, but he and I are going to have some words when I get back about him calling in Wraith for this shit. I know Wrecker technically is still a member of the Reapers, but come the fuck on with that bullshit.
Ed’s empties pretty quickly. We still have a few hours before we need to leave for the clubhouse, but everyone else has already ridden out to get ready. “Do you want to go to the farm, sweet cheeks? You could say goodbye to your parents before we head out,” I ask her as I walk up behind her at the bar.
Nodding, she replies, “I’d like that. Can we get tacos first? My favorite taco shop is on the way.”
“Whatever you want is fine. Let’s go,” I tell her, helping her from the stool.
The taco shop, which was more like a stand, was interesting, to say the least. I have no fucking clue what she ordered as everything on the menu was in Spanish. The meat at least wasn’t chewy, and the tacos were actually pretty damn good. Pulling into the driveway of the farm, her arms tighten around my middle. I can’t imagine what she’s feeling right now. I know this will be hard for her, but I want her to see what we did.
Driving all the way out to the plot, I go slowly, giving her time to prepare. I know the instant she sees it by the gasp she lets out. Rodeo had a beautiful headstone placed at her parents’ grave. It’s done in black marble and has their names imprinted in silver. After I park my bike, she climbs off and slowly makes her way to where they’re buried. Coming up behind her, I wrap my arms around her, and she relaxes back into me.
“It’s beautiful. They would’ve loved it. Thank you,” she says in a soft, quivering voice, still looking down at their grave.
“No need to thank me, sweet cheeks. This was all Rodeo’s doing,” I tell her honestly.
We stand there in silence for a while. I don’t even know how long we’ve been standing over her parents’ grave, when I a sense of dread comes over me. The hair on my arms stands up, and I know we’re not alone.
“Sweet cheeks, you got the phone?” I whisper. Looking up at me in confusion, she nods. “Good. Send the message.” She opens her mouth to question me, but stops when I growl out, “Now.”
She group-texts the distress message and tells them we’re at the farm just as I hear the cock of a gun.
“Put the phone down, Angel. There’s no point in calling anyone. They’re all too far away to get here in time,” Wrecker says from behind me.
Turning around, I come face-to-face with the evil that is my father, but he’s not alone. He has three other men with him. Men who, judging by the tattoos on their arms, work for the Infierno cartel.
“I knew you’d be expecting me to come for you on the road. I didn’t expect you to be smart enough to lay a trap for me, but that’s ok. Because you were stupid enough to bring her here. I knew you’d want to her to see the gravestone before you left the city. You should’ve been smarter than that, Son,” Wrecker tells me with a smirk.
Angel has a death grip on my hand as I try to shield her body behind mine. Neither one of us thought this could even be a possibility, so my nine and her Glock are in the saddlebags of my bike. If he’d hit us while we were riding, they would’ve been easy to grab.
Right now, we need to get to my bike, but the four feet between us and our only chance in hell of making it out of here alive might as well be miles. The minute either one of us makes a move, these motherfuckers are liable to shoot us. I can’t take the risk that they’ll hit Angel. I doubt it really matters whether she’s dead or alive for them to get the farm. Shaking my head, then blowing out a deep breath, I go with the only option I think I have. I just have to pray she doesn’t hate me for it.
“What makes you think I didn’t know you’d be here, huh, Dad?” I ask with a smirk, my words dripping with disdain.
Tilting his head to the side, I can see the wheels turning in his mind. He’s not sure if I truly expected him to be here
or if I’m full of shit. I might as well be looking in a fucking mirror. There’s a reason I grew out a beard and let my hair grow a little shaggy. All I need now is a clean face and fade, and we’d be twins. All the way down to our crystal blue eyes.
Adjusting his stance, he pulls an arm across his body. Drawing his right hand to his face, he taps his mouth before asking, “So are you here for a fight or did you finally come to your senses and realize you’re on the losing side?”
Here goes nothing, shaking my head at him, I shrug. “Oh no, I still think you’re a piece of shit, but I figure we each have something the other wants.”
Angel gasps behind me and a small smile forms on the bastard’s face, “Oh, yeah? And what would that be?”
Pulling her from behind me, I shove Angel forward, towards the bike. “I have the girl who gives you your life back, and you can get me my sisters.”
“You son of a bitch,” Angel grinds out as she whips around to slap me. Grabbing her arm before she has the chance, I shove her as hard as hell to the ground beside my bike.
The fury in her gaze is fucking killing me. I was hoping she’d catch my slip about sisters and understand what I was doing. I know she won’t go with Wrecker willingly. Hopefully, she doesn’t shoot my ass first.
Chapter 24
Angel
The rage that consumes me at Havoc's words is blinding. How could I be so fucking stupid as to think he cared about me? Was this whole damn thing a ploy to get me to trust him so he could turn me over to this bastard? Why didn’t he just go with Wraith’s plan if this was his intention all along?
When he reaches behind his back like he’s going for his gun, I’m taken back. Does he truly intend to shoot me? What the actual fuck? Wait… He doesn’t have his gun. He put it in the saddle bag along with mine, so I’d be able to access both of them if Wrecker did come after us on the ride.
“Don’t make me have to shoot you, sweet cheeks. You come at me like that again, and I will.”
He’s stalling while putting me right next to our only weapons. The shame that comes over me for thinking he was like Wrecker is thick. I don’t have time to figure out what that means right now. This is how he wants to play this, I’ll play.
“Te jode hijo de puta,” I scream at him, spitting at his feet.
The men with Wrecker chuckle clearly understanding what I said in Spanish. They’re a part of Caine’s old crew. I’ve seen them here at the farm when we were under the cartel's so-called protection. Wrecker is still taking in the scene. I’m not sure if he’s buying Havoc’s story or not, as he’s still tapping his mouth watching us.
“Alright Son. So, you’re telling me that you’ll give up the girl, and lose your club just to get your sisters back?” Wrecker questions.
“I don’t plan on losing my club over this girl,” Havoc says gesturing to me. “You said it yourself, no one is close enough to help us. How would they know whether you took her from me by force or if I just handed her over?”
The smile that grows on Wreckers face is unnerving. “And how can you be sure I’ll follow through and get you your sisters? They’ve made me a lot of money over the years.”
Havoc tenses at his father’s words. “Because I’ll be coming with you. You get her when I get them,” he growls out.
A cold laugh comes from Wrecker. “Your cockiness was always something that got you in trouble, Son. I don’t have to take you any fucking where. And I sure as hell don’t need to trade your sisters, who are making me money, for that fucking bitch,” he says pointing at me. “I’m taking her with me, and there isn’t a goddamn thing you can do about it.”
Havoc rushes Wrecker, taking him to the ground. The cartel men pull their weapons, but father and son roll back and forth, trading blows. The men can’t get a clean shot at Havoc. No one pays me any mind, with me being the weak woman and all.
I take the distraction and pull both weapons from the saddlebags. Chambering a round in them both quickly, I point my Glock and fire two quick shots, shoot two of the Caine’s men in the head. It happens so fast that they didn’t see it coming, but when the two bodies drop the third man rounds on me. Falling to the ground behind the bike, I try to get some sort of cover. He curses in Spanish as I can only assume he checks his friends and finds them both dead.
Someone fires, but I can’t see shit from behind this damn bike. Fear for Havoc pushes me forward, and I scoot farther around the bike trying to understand what the hell is going on. Havoc was hit in the leg, and blood soaks his jeans. Gasping at the sight of all the blood draws Havoc’s attention to me.
His eyes grow wide, and he yells, “Move.”
Snapping around, I see the last Infierno member raise his gun in my direction. Twisting away, I take a bullet in the back of the arm. Fucking Christ! Wrecker uses Havoc's distraction and pulls his weapon on his son.
“Don’t move, bitch,” he growls at me while holding a gun to Havoc's head.
I have one gun trained on Wrecker and the other at the puto from the cartel, though it kills my arm to raise it at him. Wrecker’s gun is pointed at Havoc, and the fucker from the cartel has his pointed at me. Fuck me!
“Shoot him, Angel,” Havoc yells at me.
Wrecker steps closer to Havoc, and I don’t know if I can make the shot without hitting Havoc. Fuck it. I lower the gun trained on Wrecker just a bit.
“That a girl,” Wrecker coos at me like I’m a fucking dog.
I pray. Firing both weapons simultaneously, I hit the puto from the cartel in the chest and Wrecker in the hip. We need this fucker alive. The hit takes Wrecker down to his knees as his buddy falls to the ground. Wrecker may be wounded, but he’s not down for the count.
Havoc grabs the gun from him and aims it between his eyes.
“Stop,” I yell rushing to him.
“Are you fucking serious? This bastard needs to die,” Havoc growls at me.
“And he will, Havoc. He will. But we need the information he has on your sister and the cartel first. Think about Rose and Emily. He can’t die yet,” my voice is a plea.
Chapter 25
Havoc
Why the fuck does she have to bring them up now? All I see when I look at this son of a bitch is the rage. I want to pull the trigger and end all of the pain he’s caused—not only for my family and me, but everyone else he’s ever had contact with.
A warm hand settles on my shoulder, and her soft, angelic voice fills my ear, “I can only imagine how much you want him dead, Havoc. And he deserves it, but we need to get him to talk.”
“Go ahead and shoot me, Son. I ain’t sayin’ shit,” Wrecker tells me with a smirk.
“Oh yeah, old man. Did you forget about all the times you made me watch as you forced someone to talk? I paid attention, and it’ll be my pleasure returning the favor. Call Hyde, he should be the closest to us,” I direct the last part to Angel, and she does as I’ve asked.
My smile grows as I see the fear flicker in his eyes. It’s only there for a moment, but he knows all the pain that will be in his future. The fucker started having me watch him torture and kill people at the ripe old age of eleven. I’ll never forget the first time…
I’ve been sitting on this stool for hours. Watching my old man do things I’ve only seen in the movies. Movies I’m not even supposed to watch. I have to hide them from Ma. She’d flip her lid if she knew he was having me watch him do all this. There’s no way he told her.
He says I need to know what it takes to be an Evans man. That this is what will be expected of me when I grow up, but I don’t want to do this shit. My cheek is still sore from the slap he gave me when I puked earlier. It’s not like I wanted to vomit, but hell all the blood is just nasty.
The man is straddling a board, but he slumps over more each time my old man adds more weight to the chains. He screams out in pain each time they’re added, and I can only guess how much that shit is killing his junk. All of his fingernails and toenails have been ripped out, and he’s lost a few toes.
That’s what made me puke. Who knew there was so much blood in your toes.
The guy in here with him isn’t that much older than me. I know from the patch on his cut that they call him Rebel. He calls my old man Wrecker, which is weird for me. Ma always calls him Tony. Rebel doesn’t seem bothered by what’s going on. He must not think there’s anything wrong with what they’re doing. He told the guy he should’ve known better than to try and skip town without paying for his woman. He must’ve done something terrible at Blue Bells.
Ma doesn’t want me around Blue Bells. But I’ve been a couple of times with my old man. He won’t let me go inside, yet. Said I have to wait until I’m sixteen, but I’ve seen the girls hanging out outside when they want to smoke. I told Reine they have to be cold. They don’t wear very many clothes.
Rebel hands my old man a blow torch. Why would they need to torch anything in here? They won’t be able to get the chains off this dude if they torch them. Holy shit! They’re burning his arm.
“Havoc,” Angel shouts as she shakes me back into the present. “Where did you go just now?” she whispers in my ear, her voice frantic with concern. I don’t want to talk about that shit, so I just shrug my shoulders in response. She shouldn’t have to hear that shit. It would just make her think that I have to be a sick fuck like my old man somewhere deep inside. How could I not be, having had to witness that stuff? I know I’m damaged.
She huffs out a breath and tells me, “Hyde, Ink and a few of the other members are already on their way here. They turned around the minute I sent the text. They should be here in less than ten minutes.”
Nodding, I don’t say anything to her. If I open my mouth, I’m not sure what will slip out. It’s taking everything in me not to pull the trigger and end this motherfucker. Does she deserve my anger? Not one damn bit, but I just want to get this bastard back to the clubhouse and make him pay. His debt is huge, and it’s time for me to collect.