Where the hell were these words coming from? Some damn romance novel? I needed to see Sophie and get her to talk to me. Make her understand I meant nothing personal. But then again, our lives were so different. I would go with her anywhere, but she wanted to be predictable. Easy. Normal.
That’s the life I gave up for this one.
“You know what, asshole, do you want to be next?”
“Okay, Tony, Jed, knock it off,” Austin said and stepped between us. “Tony, Jed isn’t wrong, you didn’t handle that well. When you sober up, you’re going to regret it. Kara had every right to take Maxum even if we disagreed. He is her father. If anyone should handle his fate, she has every right. She has reason to hate him and if she wants to lock him in a trunk somewhere and leave him to rot, then let her. There’s no way he’ll get out of it, and no way anyone will find him. He’s as good as dead, now go home and sleep it off. Tomorrow, I’ll help you get going and make amends with Kara and Eric. Like it or not, we need both of them to deal with the Shadow Order and the Blue Diablos because, sooner or later, they’re going to realize Maxum is gone. When they do, they’re going to come here first. We need to be ready. We need the Crypt Keepers if we want to stand a chance against them.”
At least someone could talk reason into the hothead. And the sudden bleeding heart in me hoped he and Kara would come around.
Probably the same that I secretly hoped Sophie and I would too.
Chapter 23
Kara
“Is that really what you wanted?” Eric asked as we rode back to the Crypt Keepers’ clubhouse.
“It had to happen that way.” It was the truth; cold and to the point. Like my whole damn life. I was used to the cold. But this time, I was letting it chill me in a way it hadn’t before. The pain was settling in. None of that was supposed to be real, but his anger, his jealousy, it was coming from a place of truth.
These were the things he thought about me, my idea, and me and Eric. How could he still be jealous when I was having his baby?
“Right.”
“Tony knows I didn’t mean it. He knows you and I aren’t really together, and he knows the plan . . . he didn’t like the plan, but he knows the plan. He did exactly as he was supposed to.”
“Right. So, what’s the next step in your brilliant plan?” Eric teased wryly. He knew me so well still. I kept wishing and praying for him to find someone else, for him to get the love story he deserved and stop doting on me. Yet, I kept running to him and making him miss me and want me all over again. I had to stop doing that.
And I would, once Maxum was gone and we were all safe from the Shadow Order.
“We have a meeting with the Blue Diablos.”
“We do what now? Kara, what makes you think they will even talk to you?”
Now, it was his turn to think I was crazy. I could do little wrong in his eyes, but as an outsider, this had to look like I was certifiably insane.
“Because you’ll make them talk to me. You and some of your guys are going to go and get the Prez, and you’re going to bring him to me.”
“Kara, that’s never going to happen. If we go to the Diablos, we’re dead, or at the very least, we’ll wish we were dead.”
“We have to get the MCs talking; we have to end this war! I’m Maxum’s daughter; maybe that will buy me clout.” I held my head high, having to project that confidence out into the world. Maybe voodoo and shit wasn’t real, but karma was. And I could use some good coming my way. And so could the child I was carrying.
The truth was, I just didn’t want a war while I was pregnant. And I felt weak for even thinking about it.
“Yeah, but everyone knows you and Maxum never saw eye to eye, and the Blue Diablos know that you’re Tony’s girl. Sorry, Kara, but that plan won’t work.”
“Then, help me come up with a better one, because if you can’t, then I’m going with or without your help,” I grit out at him, so he knows I’m serious. I wanted the world I brought this child into to be safe. I didn’t want to look down at a bundle of blankets with big, innocent eyes and wonder when he or she would lose me, or I would lose them.
“I’ll help.” A man stepped out from the shadows as they pulled up to the club. “I want to show the club my worth, so if it’s dangerous and something that will get me their favor, I’m in.”
“Who the fuck is this, Eric? Can I trust him?”
“I don’t know yet. His name is Carlos, and he’s not from around here. He just moved here and was looking for a club to join. He used to be with the Guardian Angels in California.” Eric sized him up with more than a healthy bit of suspicion. As an enforcer, that was kind of his MO.
“The Guardians were tough; we kicked ass all the time. If you need some ass kicking, I’m your guy,” Carlos offered, his accent thick as mud. He definitely had balls and grit if nothing else.
“All you gotta do is keep Kara safe while she stupidly goes to talk to the Blue Diablos. If they pull a move, you deal with it.” Eric wanted to see if the name of the enemy would scare him. Didn’t matter if he was new. The MC world was much smaller, and everyone knew of everyone.
“Got it.”
“Now I see why you ditched Tony, he would never go along with this.” Eric turned his attention back to me.
“Exactly.”
“Ready when you are, Kara.” Carlos’ eyes looked hungry, but I didn’t think it was for me. I was pretty sure it was for blood. It was nothing but war out there in the west.
“Be careful with her, she’s pregnant,” Eric barked.
“Congratulations, don’t worry, I won’t let anything happen to her or the baby. Let me just make a quick phone call, let my ol’ lady know I’ll be late.” He pulled out his cell phone and spoke Spanish, something neither Eric or Kara could understand. He started arguing with the person on the phone and then hung up. “She isn’t happy about it, she had dinner on the table, she made my favorite, enchiladas.”
“Carlos, this can wait, go home to your wife,” Kara said.
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah, we can do it tomorrow.”
“Gracias! That means ‘thank you’!”
“You’re not really waiting ‘til tomorrow, are you?” Eric asked after we watched Carlos get away.
“No,” I said. “He wanted to hurt someone too much. He would have caused too much of a problem, but he will be a good member, I can tell.” I winked at Eric, and he sighed, shaking his head at me.
“Fine, I’ll come with you, but for the record, I hate this idea.”
“Yeah, I’m aware of that. But first we have to make a stop.” I led him to the junkyard where an old friend worked.
He met me at the gate.
“Kara, are we crushing the car tomorrow? I got about three more to do, then we can crush yours. Afterwards, we can sink it to the bottom of the lake. We’ll put it on my boat, and then in the middle of the night, we’ll sail it out to the middle of the lake and drop it. No one will find it, unless they drudge up the lake, but that’s not likely.”
“Is he still alive?” I asked, unsure if I should be feeling any emotions about this. The old me wanted my father dead for a long time. What he’d done to me was awful. What he was doing to Sophie now, stringing her along like he was still the father he proclaimed to be, was just as bad. And she would never take her own revenge. But he was also my father.
Shouldn’t I have been happy? Sad? But I felt nothing talking about his impending end.
“He still kicks the roof every once in a while. Don’t worry, no one is here but me. You know I ain’t letting him out. I have given him air twice so he doesn’t die before you get to see it.” There was a flash in his eyes. I’d told him what this man had done. He wanted this too, even just as a friend.
“I owe you. This is now Crypt Keepers territory; they’ll keep you safe,” I told him, smiling back at a speechless Eric.
“Uh, Kara, what are you doing? This is Shadow Order territory. If they find out your friend has Max
um, he’s a dead man,” Eric whispered through gritted teeth into my ear.
“You just claimed it,” I challenged him, knowing I was being a bitch. But it was necessary. And by tonight, he’ll be at the bottom of the lake, which is Crypt Keepers territory.”
“You can’t declare this place Crypt Keepers territory, for one you’re not in the club, you’re a guest. It doesn’t work that way, not unless you want a turf war, with the Shadow Order. And that is the last thing the Crypt Keepers need right now.”
But as if on cue, we heard the roar of motorcycles and turned to see the Shadow Order riding at us. Well, at least their scouts. They looked nothing like the assassins who did the real dirty work. These were grunts. I could fool them, no problem.
They stopped a few feet away. “When I heard from my scouts that a Crypt Keeper and former Prez of Midnight Saints were on my turf, I just had to come see for myself.”
“Good news travels fast,” I shot back with a snarky grin, but Eric elbows me in the shoulder. A little hard since he was so damn big.
“This isn’t motorcycle club business,” I said. “We’re just visiting an old friend.” The innocence card would have to work, especially since they thought I wasn’t Prez anymore; it meant they knew about the fight. They had eyes and ears everywhere, just like the rumors said.
“I’m about to crush an old car that has sentimental value for the three of us, as we rode it every day on the way to high school. She finally broke down, and I thought my friends would want to be here when I crushed her.” It was so easy to play like a dumb woman. Like a clubwhore who just got lucky enough to be Maxum’s biological daughter.
“Oh, the memories we had in that old car,” Eric said, looking at me like I was a meal. I couldn’t tell if he was playing or not.
“Kara, take a message for me back to your ex-boyfriend. The Shadow Order knows that he has Maxum, so he has three days to release him, or we’ll rain hell down on the Midnight Saints.” Then, the ugly asshole, smelling of old oily rags, turned to gaze at Eric. “And if the Crypt Keepers get in the way, they’re next.” With those words spoken, he sped away, the rest of the grunts following after him.
“Well, that was close,” I scoffed.
“Nice story about the car.”
“Well, the story was half true, we did all go to high school together, but we weren’t all friends.” I batted my eyes playfully at him.
“Wait a minute, are you the dork who sent her all those mixtapes and wrote that love song about her?” Eric asked.
“Yeah. That was me. Name’s Tanner.”
“Well, Tanner, you should know something, neither of us won her in the end. She’s in love with a guy named Tony, and she’s carrying his baby.”
“Congratulations. Welcome to the friend zone, Eric. Come back tomorrow night, we can crush the car then. He should be out of air by then. If not, well, it’s your call. I have no problem crushing him to death, if that’s what you want.”
“If anyone found out, you’d go down for murder. Or accomplice to murder at the very least.” Eric said.
“Dude, if I go down, we all go down, but don’t worry, it’s not the first body I’ve crushed and thrown in the lake. It’s a service I do, for abused women. I help them get away by getting rid of the husband. Or the father. They ain’t drudged up the lake yet.” He winked at us, and I smiled at Eric, feeling triumphant.
“Yeah, we’ll be back,” I said. “But if not, go ahead with it anyway.” I waved as we got back on the bike and headed for the Diablos.
It was about halfway into our ride when I got the text from Tanner.
Get here. Bring help. 911.
“Fuck!” I raged, telling Eric to turn back around. The Diablos would have to wait. Something was wrong with Maxum.
When we arrived, I felt it, the instantaneous dread.
Even though there was silence, that in and of itself was a problem.
Where was Tanner?
Eric cut the engine, and we walked the cycle into the junkyard, too easy to enter, the creaking of the entrance eerie this time of morning before the rest of the world was awake.
Then, a flashlight, an ambush, and a dead body.
Tanner’s dead body.
They were on to us. Too many.
And I was yanked off the bike.
“Run! Start the bike!” I screamed at Eric, seeing Maxum approaching. He’d fuckin’ got out somehow. And now we were all going to pay for my mistake.
“I’m not leaving . . . ”
“Get the fuck out, Eric! It’s me he wants.”
I could only hope he knew me, that he knew the words I didn’t say.
Get help. Survive.
But I was dragged off. I couldn’t see Eric, couldn’t tell if he was fighting, if he was being carried away too.
For all I knew, no one would ever find us.
Not even Tony.
Chapter 24
Sophie
I played Jed’s call over and over in my head like a broken record, while I drowned my sorrow, with a tub of ice cream and a bottle of wine. I chastised myself for getting involved in the first place and for giving myself to him, when I swore I wouldn’t.
I knew I should have just focused on school and on my career, there would be time for boys, for men, later when I found success. Why did I allow myself to get sidetracked from my goal.
I grumbled to myself. I knew I should be studying, but I wasn’t in the mood. All I wanted to do was pig out on ice cream and watch sappy movies that made me cry. I couldn’t say that Jed broke my heart; we weren’t in love, not in a long shot, but I felt used. I felt like one of the whores he usually slept with, except I didn’t have money to show for it.
I did have new clothes, which I threw on the floor in the back of my closet. That was one outfit I would never be wearing again.
However, it had done one thing, I had forgotten about Maxum for just a brief moment. It had been a while now since Tony and the other guys had dragged him from my car. I wondered how he was doing. I wondered if Kara had been telling the truth, that all they wanted to do was talk to him and help him sober up.
I had been allowed to talk to him only once, but I didn’t know if I could trust the ten-minute charade to be real. I mean, it was his voice, but were they holding a gun to his head?
He sounded alright but still off, somehow.
I got up early the next morning to get some serious studying in, but again I couldn’t concentrate. Fuck my life! I ended up watching sappy movies all day. In the evening we had a study cram session. I was able to fake my way through it, but all I wanted to do was go back to my room and watch sappy movies ‘til it was time for bed. It went on like this for days, until one of my best friends came over.
“Girl, you have got to snap out of this. Was it a boy? What’s his name?”
“No one you know. It was a stupid one night stand, and I don’t know why I’m getting so upset about it. Maybe because he was filthy rich, handsome as a movie prince, and sweet as candy.”
“Are you sure he was real?”
“Yes, he was real I spent an amazing weekend with him. It was a shitty weekend, but he turned it into something amazing, and now he doesn’t want to see me anymore. I feel so used.” I covered my face with a pillow and screamed “The worst thing is, I can’t concentrate because his last call to me keeps playing over and over again in my head. I tried drowning myself in ice cream, I tried sappy movies, nothing is working, and we have to take the exam in two days. What if I don’t pass because of this?” I screamed in the pillow again.
“Girl, what you need is sex with a total stranger, so you can get this asshole out of your head.”
“But I don’t want him out of my head, and if you met him, you wouldn’t either.”
“Again, are you sure this guy was real?” I threw a pillow at her.
“If you’re not going to be helpful, then get out!”
“Out, yes that’s what you need. Come on, get your shoes on, get your co
at, we’re going out. We’re going shopping and then out to dinner.”
“I don’t have money for shopping. Wait, yes, I do.” I put on my shoes and run out to my car. I opened the glove compartment and pulled out the cash and returned to my room to show her. “I was going to give this to my dad, but well, he doesn’t need it now.”
“Oh my gosh, how much is that?”
“Everything I had in my account. I cleaned it out for my dad. He needed money, but my . . . sister helped him instead, so, let’s go spend it.”
“You don’t have to tell me twice.”
I wasn’t usually so reckless, but something about the way I felt and the way I’d seen people like Kara and Jed living, it got me in a mood. I realized that while I needed to be somewhat responsible, normal, successful, I didn’t have to be so uptight all the time.
And while, after we got to the club that night after dinner, wearing our new garb, I didn’t feel like hooking up with anyone, I did dance with a couple friendly guys. Just for the fun of it.
I did need this.
Just because my mother had made awful choices didn’t mean I would, when presented with the choice.
I took my exam and got the results. I passed with flying colors, and a week later I received a letter; an internship offer for over the summer. I was so excited, I picked up my phone to call Jed, the only person I had that I could tell, but then I remembered what he said and didn’t finish dialing his number.
Instead, I went shopping for better clothes for my internship. I wanted to look professional and powerful, like I could take on the world.
I sure felt like I could.
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