She could have pointed out that Nolan had aged years since he’d last seen his father, so of course he was different, but she forbore. “No, he’s not.”
“I’m sorry about all this. Lindsay called me and gave me this big sob story about”—he cast his eyes sidewise in Havoc’s direction—“you guys being in danger, and then Alex…” Matt cleared his throat awkwardly. “I been having some money trouble, and Alex…”
Cory understood, like a spotlight going off in her head. “Jesus. Alex paid you to come here?”
Matt’s only answer was to look down at his Nikes. There was so much to be outraged about—that Lindsay and Alex would interfere in such a way, that Matt would take money in such a way, that he would need to be bribed to see his own son in the hospital—that Cory, overwhelmed, set aside outrage in favor of weariness. She sighed. “He told you to go, right? To stay away?”
Matt nodded.
“Do. We’re done. Lose our numbers.”
He nodded again. Then he looked up. “Do you know where Linz and Alex went? They’re my ride.”
Cory reached out and took Havoc’s hand. “I could not care less.”
She turned to Nolan’s closed door, trying to lead Havoc. But he stepped in front of Matt again and locked in place. “Staying away is your only choice, dude. You show up again uninvited, and I will handle the problem.”
Then he pulled Cory close and, his arm around her shoulders, led her back to Nolan, leaving Matt standing alone in the hallway.
~oOo~
In bed that night, Havoc wrapped her in his arms against his chest and asked her about her family. There wasn’t much to tell; he’d seen all the family she’d still had any real contact with today, and he’d seen all he needed to understand the dynamics of that relationship.
“What about your folks?”
Cory resettled herself on his firm chest so she could see his face. He combed his fingers through her hair. “Mom died when I was in high school. Linz was in middle school. Our dad’s a drunk. Linz sees him every now and then—I think they give him money. I’ve stayed away as much as I could since high school. We don’t talk at all. Nolan’s only seen him once, and he was too young to remember.”
“Why?”
She shrugged, not wanting to get into it, but not wanting to hold anything back, either. She needed to be open with Havoc, because she needed Havoc to be open with her. Cory had found the courage she needed to ask the questions that lingered.
“Like I said, he’s a drunk. A chaotic drunk, who starts the day with Irish coffee and works his way through the day to a six-pack of Coors, which he calls ‘a little something light before bed.’ He’s on disability—he worked road construction, and he was hurt on the job, and I guess the booze started as self-medication. But he’s been on disability since Linz was in diapers, so we’ve only known him like this. Anyway, he and I had an incident right after my mom died, and since then I just don’t have much use for him.” She kissed his chest. “So that’s my family. Charming, all of them.”
He lifted her chin with his hand. “What do you mean, you had an incident?”
She was quiet, remembering the night a few weeks after her mother’s death, when her father had come into her room, stinking of booze and puke and rambling about how lonely he was, how sad, how much she favored her mother, who’d been the most beautiful women he’d ever known, and how much he needed—she didn’t want to tell Havoc all of that, because she knew how he’d react, and it had happened years ago. She’d held her father off; nothing had happened but his fetid mouth on hers, and he’d never tried anything like it again. She wasn’t even sure he was aware it had happened. But it had killed the last dregs of love she’d had for him.
“Nothing. Long past. Dead history.”
Havoc stared hard at her, and she thought he was going to insist. She tried to figure out what she’d say then to move the conversation along, but instead of pressing her for more, he nodded. “Okay.”
“Now it’s my turn, Hav. I need you to tell me about the Horde. I don’t think I know it as well as I thought. I need to. I need to understand.”
He went still, his hand freezing in her hair. “You can’t ask me about club business. That’s outside of us.”
“I’m not asking for details about your business. Except Valhalla, I don’t need to know. But I do need to know if that business could get Nolan hurt. There’s a chance, I know that. The way you all reacted to what happened to him—there was a chance somebody did that to him to hurt you. There’s still a chance, I guess.”
“We will find who hurt him. We will.”
But that was a question—what did that mean? “Okay, let’s start there. Say you do. Then what?”
He shook his head, his eyes intent on hers. “No, Cory. You trust me. We handle it. That’s all you need to know. You have to trust me.”
“But you would hurt the person who hurt Nolan.”
“We make sure what’s owed gets paid.” He took a deep breath and let it out, not so much a sigh as a blow. Then he shifted, sitting up tall against the headboard, and pushed her away.
“Look. I’m not gonna bring you into club business. I’m not. It’s no place for you. But I’ll tell you this, because you need to know what my life is. The Horde is the law in Signal Bend. We set the terms. Even outside of town, we don’t run things the way most people do. So, yeah. We’re on the wrong side of the law sometimes. Valhalla, though—that’s straight legit. Wouldn’t bring you into anything that wasn’t. You’ve got no exposure there, so don’t worry. But sometimes we have enemies. Sometimes things get violent. But honey, I mean this true: I will protect you and Nolan with my life. Every patch in that clubhouse will do the same. You are mine, so you are theirs, too. They all have your back. Every one of them. You saw that, too, when Nolan was missing.”
He picked up her hand. “I’m not gonna tell you that there’s no risk to being with me. Things have been chill for a long time, but I think that could change soon. And then it could get dangerous for the Horde. I’m sure you’ve heard what happened to Lilli and to Show’s oldest girl. You saw that stupid fucking movie. Or maybe I don’t come home from a run someday. Or maybe one of my brothers doesn’t. But, honey, when I told you that I wasn’t gonna let you go without a fight, I meant it. It’s too late. What I feel—I can’t lose this. I can’t go back to what I was. So don’t you turn tail on me. Trust me to love you and keep you safe. Trust me.”
But it wasn’t just her, on her own. The choices she made affected her child. “I see Nolan on the same road. I know you see it, too. He’s so young. It scares me.”
“Yeah, I see it. I think you need to trust him, too. And I got his back. I’m keepin’ an eye out. You know that.”
“I know you are. I know.” She dropped her head to his chest, and he put his hands in her hair. “It’s too late for me, too. And for Nolan, I think.”
“So you trust me?”
“Yes.”
“You love me?”
“Yes.”
“You with me?”
“Yes.”
CHAPTER NINETEEN
“I can’t believe you. You went to all this trouble?” Sophie put her arms around Havoc’s waist and squeezed him hard. “You’re amazing. He’s going to find out, though.”
“So what? Didn’t do this to fuck with him. Did it for you. If he’s pissed, though, fuck him.” He kissed her head.
Len was backing his truck and horse trailer down the drive to his stable. Inside the trailer were Mabel and Spirit, Havoc’s Christmas present to his baby sister.
It hadn’t been that difficult to get the horses from their old man. Len had seen him at the feed store and struck up a conversation. By the time Havoc’s father had placed his order, he and Len had come to terms on the horses—Len had even got a better deal than Havoc had told him he’d pay—and they’d shook on the deal.
And now Sophie had her mare and her colt. And a place to keep them that was away from their crippling chil
dhood home. Havoc could think of few better ways to spend some money. It wasn’t yet quite Christmas, but he’d managed to surprise her, picking her up for lunch in the club van and then bringing her to Len’s while she bitched about how bossy he was, making her run errands with him.
When Len stopped and got out, they all worked together to get the horses into a foaling stall. Both horses were agitated, but they calmed once they were alone in the stall. Spirit sought to nurse immediately. No great rush to wean him now, though.
They stood in a row outside the stall wall and watched. Then Sophie threw her arms around Len’s waist and held tight. “Thank you so much, Len! This is…this is amazing.”
Len hugged her back. “I was only the messenger, doll. Your brother’s the hero here.”
“You’re both my heroes. God, I love you so much! This is the best Christmas ever! I got that interview, and I got my babies, and I just love you!”
First Havoc had heard of an interview. “What interview?”
She let go of Len and turned to Havoc—who noticed that Len was a little slow in letting go of his baby sister. “I got a call yesterday. There might be a job for me in Springfield, starting January. It’s a private tutor for a family instead of a school, but it’s teaching, and the money is great. I’m going tomorrow for the interview.”
“Private tutor? Is that normal?” Sounded strange to him.
“It’s not that unusual. It’s basically homeschooling for people who can afford a teacher. This guy’s a banker or something, I guess. Anyway, I could stay in Signal Bend, near my babies”—she looked over the wall at Mabel and Spirit—“but get a place of my own. And actually be a teacher.”
“Still sounds off. I’ll come with you.”
Her back up all of a sudden, Soph put her hands on her hips. “No, you won’t. Don’t be an asshole, Joe. It’s not off, and you saying it is makes it sound like you don’t think I could get a teaching job. You’re flying high today, giving me these guys, doing all this for me. Don’t ruin that. Please.”
He didn’t know much about teaching jobs, but he knew what homeschooling was, and that it was a thing. Still, he felt an urge for caution. “Sophie, I don’t know.”
“It’s a good thing. Maybe I won’t get it, but I have a little hope today. Let me have it, okay?”
She was looking up at him, and he saw how much she needed it. He had no basis for being cautious, really, and it was only Springfield. An hour away, tops. Practically the back yard, as they measured distance out here. “Okay, Shorts. Okay. Good luck, then. Show ‘em how awesome you are.”
~oOo~
The next afternoon, Havoc came into the clubhouse hot. Show had called him. They had the guy who’d hit Nolan. Three weeks after the fact, they had the guy.
Mac fucking Evans, real estate snake oil specialist. Who’d been doing his thing around town for these three weeks, like nothing. No one had thought anything of him riding around in his Corvette instead of his big Dodge truck, even though he never drove that ‘Vette in winter. No one remarked on it until he’d come through town with a Christmas tree tied to the roof of that sportster he babied like it was an actual child.
Then people started to wonder where his truck was. So the Horde went looking.
In his garage, a headlight shattered and the grille smashed in. Nolan’s blood splattered over the hood.
Havoc had seen the truck. Now he needed to see the man.
Len had been with him when he saw the truck, still sitting in Evans’ garage. Now Len followed him silently into the clubhouse, having given up his admonitions to keep cool. Isaac and Show were standing between him and the hallway that led to the Room. Isaac put his hands out, and Havoc stopped, but only just.
“He back there?”
“You know he is. Double A’s got him covered. We’re talkin’ first. So sit.”
“He’s dying. I’m gonna run him down with his own motherfuckin’ truck.” Havoc tried to push past Isaac, but the bigger man laid his hands on his shoulders and held him where he was.
“No. We’re gonna talk. Evans is someone who’d be missed outside of town. So we’re gonna talk. Decide what’s owed. You sit, and we all talk.”
“Not at the goddamn table. No vote. This isn’t club shit. This is personal.”
“No vote. We’re gonna have a drink, the four of us, and talk. But it is club shit now. So fuckin’ sit, Hav. Or I’ll break your leg and make you sit.”
Isaac grabbed him by the kutte and led him to the bar. Wrench wasn’t around, so Show went back and poured everybody a shot. They tossed them back, and then Isaac said, “Your boy’s gonna be alright. Death isn’t due, Hav. You know it.”
“He laid in that fuckin’ ditch for hours. He could’ve died. Evans didn’t care one way or the other.”
Show spoke up. “He doesn’t admit he did it. He says he hit a deer.”
“There’s blood all over his fuckin’ hood.”
“Not like we can test it, Hav. Just blood. Not sayin’ he didn’t do it—we all know he did. But we can’t prove it. Need him to say it.”
“Then I’ll make him say it, and then I’ll fuckin’ kill him.”
“No.” Len leaned on the bar and met Havoc’s eyes. “I’ll make him say it. Then you make him pay. But Hav, the boss is right. Asshole’s gotta be left breathing. Your boy is gonna be okay. Only way our way works for the town is if it’s fair. What’s owed. No more, no less. If this wasn’t your family, you’d be sayin’ it, too.”
He knew Len was right—and Isaac and Show, too. They were right. But he thought of Nolan in that fucking ditch, covered in filth, his skin waxy and blue. He couldn’t believe the man who’d done it, who’d left him there to die, would survive his justice. “Fuck.”
“I know, brother.” Isaac put his hand on Havoc’s shoulder again. “But it’s the right thing. C’mon. Let’s get back there and deal with it.”
They walked back in a line, Isaac leading, Havoc right behind. Mac had been stripped to his khakis and was bound to a metal chair, his arms tied to the armrests and his ankles bound to the legs. He wasn’t a big guy, nor fat, but he was flabby, and his chest seemed concave over his pouch of a loose, white gut. His big beak of a nose was red and bloody. Somebody had gotten a couple of licks in already.
When the four came into the Room, Double A immediately walked back and rolled the toolkit forward. Havoc wanted to be the one to put any and all hurt on Evans, but he also knew that he wasn’t the finesse guy for interrogations. That was Len, who was more patient, and more skilled at controlled pain. Hav was more of a retaliation guy. He knew what kind of hurt would do lasting damage and could aim his blows to do that kind of damage or to avoid it, but he was about blunt force rather than real precision.
Evans clearly knew how much was on the line, because he held out for nearly forty-five minutes. It wasn’t the first time he’d been tied down in the Room; he’d run afoul of the Horde on several occasions, in fact, his greed getting the better of him time and time again. But this was different. This time, he’d hurt somebody close to the Horde, and there was more at stake than simply exacting justice. So he stuck to his deer story, even after Len had him screaming and begging.
Then Isaac looked at Double A and said, “Pull the winch line over. Strip him down.”
“NO! Wait! Wait! Please, Ike. Wait. Okay. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt anybody.” He stopped begging and just wept—big pussy sobs, snot running out of his bloody nose in into his bloody mouth.
Havoc pushed Len away and grabbed Evans, leaning the metal chair backwards, holding him up only by his hands around his throat. “Say it.”
“It was late and dark, and I…I maybe had a drink too many. I wasn’t drunk, though, I wasn’t. Just tired. Coming back from Thanksgiving dinner. I didn’t see him until I was on him, and then he was just gone. I stopped—I promise I stopped—but I didn’t see him anywhere. I thought maybe I’d dozed off and dreamt it. I went home. In the morning I saw my truck. I r
eally did think I’d hit a deer. The night was blurry at first. But then I heard about the kid, and I remembered it all. But if I’d known he was there, I’d have helped him. I would have. I swear I would have.” He rattled all that off through his constricted throat; Havoc had not released him or set the chair back down square.
“You slimy piece of shit. Nearly killed him.”
“But he’s okay, right? He’s gonna be okay—that’s what I heard.”
Havoc knew what was owed. He looked up at Isaac. He knew all of Nolan’s injuries. Had them memorized. “Leg broken in two places. Four broken ribs. Punctured lung. Concussion.” He set the chair on all four legs and took a step back.
“Not the lung. Too risky. Otherwise, yeah. That’s fair. We’ll put him in his truck, leave him in a ditch.” Isaac walked around to face Evans, standing next to Havoc. “You’re gonna have a pretty bad wreck, my man.”
Evans goggled at the men before him. “Please. I have to work.”
Isaac ignored him and looked at Havoc. “Your play from here, brother. I’ll work out the truck, get Nolan’s blood off it and get it ready for its featured role.” He pulled his burner and walked toward the double doors. Show followed. Len and Double A stayed.
Havoc looked at Len. “Let’s winch him.” Then he went back, past the toolkit to the wall where the large tools hung.
When he came back with a twenty-pound sledgehammer, Evans screamed.
~oOo~
It was past dark when Havoc, Isaac, Show, Len, and Badger came back from depositing an unconscious Mac Evans and his truck in a ditch. They’d placed an anonymous 911 call, so he’d be rescued whenever the county got around to getting to him. They knew he wouldn’t rat. He understood the danger of ratting. The story he’d tell was of falling asleep at the wheel. And then he’d toe the line—for awhile, at least, until he forgot, again, that crossing the Horde was dangerous business.
Havoc was feeling pretty good. He’d get to go to Cory tonight and tell her that justice had been done. He’d gotten to get some violence on, and for a good, righteous cause. Nolan was coming home in a couple of days. It was almost Christmas, and he was looking forward to the holiday in a way he maybe never had before. Cory and Nolan would be with him at the Horde Christmas party, and then he was taking them to Isaac and Lilli’s to spend it with real family, people he loved. Show and Shannon would be there, with Show’s daughters, Rose and Iris, and Shannon’s girl, Adrienne, who were all visiting for the holiday.
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