by C. M. Owens
“That’s Snake’s real name,” she says with a sad smile. “I only call him that when the guys aren’t around.” She blows out a breath, and that chipper look fades ever so slightly. “I fucked up, and I regret not trusting him with my secrets, but… Anyway. Doesn’t matter now. I’ve heard how he feels about this entire situation, and it’s fine. I get it. Doesn’t mean I’m willing to just walk away until I know he’s safe. Stay put. Shoot anything that walks through this door without knocking three times. No more. No less. Understand?”
I nod, even though I really hope no one walks through that door.
“I’ll only be gone for a minute.”
She disappears out the door, and I listen to it click shut. It’s an automatic locking door, so I stare at the handle for no real reason. It’s not like someone can just walk in.
Why did Colleen call Sarah instead of one of the guys? One of the guys could have saved her sooner. Sarah could only listen, since Colleen couldn’t talk. Would the guys have even figured out where Colleen was? Would they have hung up if they answered and just met silence?
Then again, they might have shot both of us with their cowboy antics. Sarah is like a snake that coils and waits to strike.
Getting up, I peek out the window as Sarah’s car pulls away, and I move back to the bed, sighing as I try to wrap my head around everything.
My uncle. At the center of everything is the man my father saved over and over. Dad wasn’t kidding when he said Uncle Marshall was a sociopath.
After twenty minutes, I start to get worried. But then the knob of the door jiggles, and my stomach muscles tighten. If that was Sarah, she’d be knocking, right?
I slowly lift the gun, feeling my entire body start to shake as adrenaline and fear collide. The handle jiggles harder and something snaps on the other side as a man’s voice mutters a curse.
“AJ?! You fucking in there?” he growls, causing me to tense so painfully that I can barely even feel anything but knots upon knots.
As the door swings open, I don’t hesitate. One. Two. Three. Three shots fired, and all three shots slam into the walls nowhere near the man who just stumbled inside with dark shades and long dark hair.
“The fuck?!” he roars, ducking like he heard those silent shots, even though he doesn’t look my way.
I start to fire again, when I hear the distinct sound of Sarah’s voice.
“Bentley? What the hell are you doing here?”
The guy cocks his head as though he’s confused, but he still doesn’t look my way.
“Who the hell is shooting at me if you’re out here?”
“Who is—Oh shit. Don’t shoot!” Sarah gasps, leaping past him with apologetic, fearful eyes landing on me immediately. My hands are shaking violently now, and the gun is still clutched in front of me. Sarah looks at the three bullet holes I’ve made by glancing behind her. Then she looks back at me.
“You’re a terrible shot,” she says, amused.
“Thank fuck for that,” Bentley—I think she said his name was Bentley—snarls.
“How could you think that was me shooting?” Sarah asks while whirling around to face him like she’s insulted.
“Why is there someone shooting at me at all, damn it?” he gripes.
It’s like a morbid sitcom is playing out in front of me, and I can’t let go of the gun in my hands. It’s frozen in place, just like me. I’m legitimately locked in place like fear’s bitch and adrenaline’s toy.
“You shouldn’t be here,” she tells him. “I told you not to come.”
“No, you left a message saying to come by and bring you that file in person if you didn’t answer your phone. You said you might be getting tracked.”
“That was four days ago. I left another message with my new burner number and email address.”
“No you didn’t,” he growls.
Why is he still wearing his sunglasses? Why do I even care?
“Oh,” Sarah says while frowning. “Oops. Well, I meant to call.”
“Un-fucking-believable,” he grumbles.
“I lost my tail, tossed all my phones, and got some new burners. I meant to give you the number.”
“That makes it okay that the girl shot at me. Get the damn gun out of her hands.”
“How do you know it’s a girl and that she’s still holding a gun?” she asks him as she walks over and pries the gun out of my shaky hands before patting me on the head very patronizingly.
“Her hands were shaking so bad I could hear the metal clanking, and I can smell the cherry from here. Don’t know too many guys who wear cherry-scented shit. Here. I brought the file. I need to get back to my driver and away from this shit. I’m mostly legit nowadays, remember?”
He hands her something small before a small wand turns into a cane with the snap of his wrist, and I watch as he feels his way out with it.
I just shot at a blind man.
Holy shit.
“Thank you, Bentley! I love you for this.”
“Love gets my dick sucked. Not shot at,” he mumbles from just outside the door.
Sarah laughs like I’m not in a full blown, cold-sweat panic over here.
“I owe you one,” she tells him, even though I can’t see him anymore.
“I won’t need those services. Like I said, I’m legit now.”
“But you could have problems one day in the future because of your past.”
“Speaking of the past,” Bentley says, “you need to get out of here before yours catches up with you. Your father has men all in the feds, and now the feds know who you really are. It won’t be long before that information spreads to him. There’s nothing else left here for you anymore.”
Sarah’s face falls, and she clears her throat. “Not until I’m sure he’s safe.”
“He’s a fucking criminal and a big boy. He’s never going to be safe and he can take care of himself, A. Just get the hell out of town before it’s too late.”
As they continue to talk, my heartrate slowly starts getting under control. Unfortunately, the rest of everything else catches up to me, and that rug that was firmly planted under my feet gets ripped away, and a painful realization hits me. Everything Sarah said earlier sinks in and resonates, bringing to life a very harsh truth that I believe.
My father didn’t kill himself.
He was murdered.
Chapter 37
DREX
“Where the fuck is she?!”
Sledge jerks back like he’s ready for a fight, as I kick over the Death Dealer bike that has been abandoned not far from the warehouse. A fucking SUV drove up, took my motherfucking girl, and no one stopped them.
I run a hand through my hair, unable to focus on anything and have no fucking clue what to do. Colleen is in the hospital with a bullet in her stomach, and she’s never been on Pop’s bad side. I was fucking arrogant and stupid to think he wouldn’t come after her. And even fucking dumber not to realize he had assholes like Lester under his command. Lester hates me because of Jessie, and Jessie died two days ago.
I overestimated myself and underestimated him. A locked door was never enough to keep them out, and I was an idiot to think it could.
Now… Now this is all on me. Eve is missing all because of me.
Rush walks toward us with a look on his face that doesn’t set well with me.
“What?” I snap, clenching and unclenching my fists in rapid succession.
“We found Lester and the SUV that took Eve.”
“And?” I prompt impatiently.
“And the shit was blown up.”
My legs try to collapse under me, but I force myself to remain upright by locking my knees into place.
“Eve?” I ask hoarsely.
He shakes his head.
“Two men’s bodies were found outside of the vehicles. They’re saying they were dead before they were burned, but they don’t know exactly what killed them or how they burned so fast. Burning a body to be unrecognizable in a short span of time isn’t fucking
easy.”
No one even bothered to fucking interrupt our meeting to tell me, and Eve has been missing for over a fucking hour.
“Where the hell is Dash?” I growl.
“He’s been gone since he found out they took her. He’s literally riding up and down the roads, asking anyone what they saw, Drex. He’s killing himself enough, so get the hell off him,” Sledge barks.
Just as I spin around to get in his face, a heavy hand clamps down on my forearm, dragging me back.
Before I can fully go ape shit, Axle walks up. “Don’t worry, Drex. Eve is alive. Just got word she’s safe,” he says while exhaling heavily.
I’ve never felt so weak in my life as I do in this moment, especially when I’m forced to sit down on the ground because my entire body goes limp at once from the swarm of relief I feel.
“How? From who?” I ask him, clearing my throat.
“She’s going to be coming back soon. I also know who is working with Ben now, and it’s not good. It’s—”
“Where the fuck is Eve?” I interrupt. He’s lucky my body is being a bitch right now, or I’d be beating the fucking information out of him.
Axle’s eyes narrow.
“She’s coming.” He glances around, eyeing everyone, and they take the not-so-subtle hint to take a walk. As soon as they’re gone, he turns back to me. “Sarah—or AJ, rather—saved her. She called me to let me know she has Eve and that she’s sending her back to us with a lot of information on our giant pain in the ass. It’s not good, Drex. We need to take care of this.”
Before I say anything else, a car rolls up in front of the warehouse, and a tall, unknown driver gets out. My legs start working again, and I shoot up from the ground before running toward the vehicle, ready to pull my gun.
But I stumble to a halt when he opens the back door. Eve slowly climbs out, and bile rises up my throat. Her face is bruised, her hair is everywhere, and her bottom lip is swollen. I don’t even know if I can handle hearing what happened to her right now.
I should have fucking killed my father when I had the chance.
Her eyes seem distant, as though she’s not staring at anything in particular, but the second she looks at me, the far-off look fades into relief. In five more long strides, I have her in my arms, and she clings to me, burying her head in my chest as her body begins to shake. It takes me a second to realize she’s sobbing, clutching my shirt in her hands, as small, suppressed sounds escape.
She’s gone through hell since coming here, and I’ve only seen her really cry once. One time. And… I really hope they didn’t fucking do what made her cry.
My entire body is rigid, but I force my arms to stay around her, denying my anger so I can focus on her and whatever in the hell she needs right now. Axle’s eyes meet mine as he approaches, but neither of us even think to question the driver as he speeds away. Fucking shit.
I wish I knew how much damage they’ve done, but I sure as fucking hell don’t want to ask Eve right at this moment.
Axle shakes his head, as though he’s in my head and hearing my thoughts run wild, but I ignore him. He can’t possibly fucking know. There’s no other reason she’d be sobbing and holding me like she can’t let go right now. Nothing else has shaken her but what Jessie almost did.
I bend and lift her, cradling her to me as she tucks her head under my chin. Dampness touches my neck as her tears continue to stream, and I swallow thickly before saying the first stupid thing that comes to my mind.
“Tell me who to kill,” I whisper against her forehead. “I’ll make them disappear.”
Even if she says my father, I’ll fucking do it. At this point, I want a bullet in his brain as much as I want to watch Eve smile. Never thought I’d see the day when I hated him enough to kill him myself.
Eve doesn’t say his name. I really don’t even expect her to answer, because Eve isn’t dark and sick like me. She doesn’t want blood to spill for any reason.
However, she shocks the fuck out of me by actually making a request.
“My uncle.” She leans back, staring at me with watery eyes as her lips thin. “And I want to be there when you do it.”
Chapter 38
EVE
I’m in Drex’s lap, since he refuses to let me out of his sight. I’ve gone over the digital file already. I don’t have to see more proof. Sarah showed me all her findings, including the coroner’s report. Well, Bentley’s findings—the blind man I almost killed for simply walking in.
I’m so messed up.
How did I go from playing in the sandbox with my young brothers, to asking my boyfriend to kill my uncle in the span of a few months? And I meant it when I said it. I still mean it. And that’s Drex’s idea of a romantic gesture—kill the man who killed his girlfriend’s father.
He’s a fucked-up Romeo, and that dark, twisted side of me I didn’t know existed loves him all the more for it.
“The coroner’s report wasn’t doctored, but I stand by the theory he threatened Aaron’s family. Maybe even threatened to expose them to us just to ensure Aaron died and took the suspicion to the grave with him instead of ever ratting him out,” Rush says.
“Sarah gave you all this?” Dash asks me, clicking the button that makes the screen change on the wall, shifting it to the picture of my uncle.
When my jaw grinds, Drex tells him to change the picture, and Dash immediately flips forward to more family documents that tie my uncle and father together. Dad really didn’t want to be linked to absolutely anyone. He tried so hard to keep us a secret… Even tried to keep his brother a secret. I half wonder if he did that to save his brother or himself.
Either way, it allowed his killer to go free for too long.
Ben was right when he told me my father had been killed, probably even gave accurate details of how it all came to pass. He just didn’t accuse the right person. I wouldn’t be surprised if he really does believe it was Drex, despite the fact Sarah thinks it was just him trying to manipulate the facts and turn me against Drex.
My stomach lurches, but I battle down the urge to get sick by focusing on my anger. I hated my father for being a coward and killing himself, leaving us with everything on our shoulders. Hated him for leaving my brothers without a father. Hated him for hurting us all so soon after my sister’s death. I’d grieved enough, so hating him was easier.
But he never deserved my hate.
Now it’s all focused on a man who deserves a worse fate.
Sledge walks in with a grim expression, and Drex’s arms tighten around my waist.
“Marshall’s place was empty. Looks like he’s skipped out at some point. I’m trying to be discreet in finding him. Don’t want him knowing we’re onto him. But he hasn’t been to work in a couple of weeks… Took some overdue vacation time, according to some of the others. Sounds like he’s getting paranoid. I was hoping he’d be overconfident.”
“He probably has a safe house somewhere and is lying low.” Rush flips off the screen. They’ve been reading all Sarah gave us for hours… Since I handed them the drive and took Drex up on his offer for bloodshed.
“Is Colleen okay?” I ask Sledge, remembering them saying a little while ago that he was at the hospital checking in on her.
He nods once. “She’s out of surgery and in recovery. Bunch of our guys are there looking after her, including Drake. She’s tougher than she looks. Just wish I knew why she called Sarah instead of us. The cops are asking questions, but we have… our lawyers—fucking unbelievable—handling it.”
I wondered about why she called Sarah too, and still think she knew like I knew people would die if the guys charged in.
“Who you got tracking his shit? Make sure it’s someone better than who did the background on Marks—I mean, on Eve’s father. Find someone who can find the rabbit holes he’s hiding so we can locate him,” Drex tells Rush, moving back to the topic at hand and clearing his throat when I tense in his arms.
“We don’t have anyone that skilled. Maybe
Eve could call Sarah and get her to help us, using her hacker.”
Snake slams his fist on the table, startling me. Drex narrows his eyes at him in warning, but Snake just glares back.
“Fuck her. We’re not calling her. We’re not trusting her to help us. This is our problem. He fucked with us, he made us look like fools, and now he’s a possible threat to Drex’s girl and our club. We find him. Not that fucking poser. And stop calling her Sarah. It’s not her name.”
Anger rises inside me, and my neck cracks to the side. “She saved my life,” I say quietly, causing some of the fury in Snake’s face to ebb. “She saved more than my life, Snake. She saved my sanity. I don’t care if you trust her. I do trust her. I watched her kill two men who were going to do far worse to me, and she’s staying in town to make sure you’re safe.”
He blows out a breath and looks away. “I don’t fucking want her here. We’re doing this for you, Eve. We’re doing this for us. AJ isn’t a part of us. No one here has the right to expect me to let her be involved. Not even you.”
He stands, scraping his chair across the floor, and he stalks out like he can’t get away from this conversation fast enough.
“So do we call her or not?” Rush asks.
“Not,” Drex, Axle, and Dash say in unison.
It pisses me off, but I understand why they’re siding with Snake over her. He’s had their back for years, probably saved their lives a few times. My loyalty is with Drex and Sarah. And Axle too. They’ve saved me. I’ll always side with Sarah over Snake because I wouldn’t be here without her. I owe her. Maybe I’ll get to repay the favor one day.
“Our best bet would be to lure him out,” Rush goes on, making me think I’ve tuned out part of the conversation.
Something buzzes underneath me, and I startle again. But Drex holds me to him. It takes a second to realize it’s his phone buzzing.
“Having a sharpshooter on our team wouldn’t be a bad idea,” Rush mumbles.
“Thought you didn’t trust her,” Axle says, cocking an eyebrow at him.
“That was before we found our fed link to this shit. Sarah is a fucking sniper, dude. She has a hacker at her disposal—one we don’t know. A hacker who can find shit that has been hidden. We don’t have that sort of intel. She could be helpful.”