Jordan spoke next. “I’ll never vote for the reaper.”
I looked at him. We needed the vote to be unanimous when choosing to send a member to the reaper. Jordan had just taken that option off the table.
“How would we go about punishing a woman?” Donny asked, giving away his feelings on the matter. “I mean, a man, we would beat him—”
“Banishment,” I said loudly. It was the only option.
Max held his hands up. “Isabel definitely deserves some sort of punishment for her part in all this, but, brother, are you sur—”
“No. Banishment. I want her gone,” I demanded. She never belonged here.
Greyson leaned back. He looked around the room again. “All those in favor of banishment.”
Around the room, each member said, “Aye.”
Greyson knocked the gavel. “All right. We’ll take her to the bus station in the morning and send her back to Des Moines. Skinn—”
“I’ll do it,” Jordan interrupted.
I glanced at him, confused. He’d never liked Isabel. But my best friend simply stared back with a straight face.
“Okay,” Greyson said. “I’ll tell her.” He stood up and left the room, ending the meeting.
The rest of the guys left, but I lingered in my seat.
I’d just made the decision to cut Isabel out of my life forever.
If I was less of a man, I would probably be crying right now. Instead, I stayed still and quiet while the pain washed over me.
Chapter Forty-Six
Isabel
When the metal door opened, it startled me awake. I must have fallen asleep after crying for a few hours. I sat up and rubbed at my scratchy eyes.
Greyson came down the stairs. In a few steps, he was standing in front of me.
His face was all business as he looked down at me. “We have voted, and the punishment will be banishment.”
Banishment?
“Tomorrow morning you will be driven to the bus station. After that, you are dead to the Aces.”
I felt my mouth drop open. I knew my punishment was coming, and that I deserved whatever they decided. One of my first lessons here was fidelity to the club. I knew sending me away was a possibility, as well as death or hurting me in some other way. Or even hurting my father. But now that I heard the word, it felt like a bullet to the heart.
“Do not attempt to contact us and do not speak of your time here to anyone.” His words were so plain and factual, but there was a threat beneath his words.
“What about Rem?” I said.
Greyson’s eyes went to the floor. “This is what he wants.”
I just nodded. There was nothing more to say, so I just covered my eyes and leaned over my lap.
“I’ll bring you some food tonight and then you’ll leave in the morning.”
I didn’t bother to look up. I heard him climb the stairs and shut the door.
I should have asked him for Kleenex before he left.
****
The next morning, Jordan was the one to release me from the hole. He already had my suitcase loaded in the back of the truck. When I asked who packed it, he said it was Tracy. I just shook my head. Luckily, I remembered that I stashed my purse in the ceiling. I waited in the clubroom while he went and got it. I didn’t see or hear anyone in the clubhouse. No one wanted to say goodbye? Sophie? Amy? I guess I really was dead to them.
To be honest, it only fueled my eagerness to leave. I hadn’t slept last night, too busy processing the state of things. Surprisingly, eight hours bouncing among anger, sadness, and guilt was long enough for me to go numb.
I was tired of feeling, so I decided to stop for a while. Just do as I was told and go home. There would be time to lick my wounds once I found my dad and we were both safe.
Jordan gave me a strange look as I climbed into the cab of the truck. “What?” I said.
He shrugged. “I thought you were going to resist leaving.”
I snorted. “Why?”
He just shrugged again.
“No one believes me.” I looked out the windshield, staring at the chain link fence surrounding the compound. “And even if they did, I still betrayed the club by bringing that thing within the gates. It just proves that I was never meant to be an Ace.”
“I don’t think—”
“Jordan.” I looked at him dead in the eye. “Let’s go.”
He let out a frustrated breath and put the truck in gear.
We made it into town without another word. I thought we were heading toward the bus depot, but Jordan suddenly pulled into a motel parking lot.
“Stay here,” Jordan said as he got out of the truck. He went into the office and came out with a key. He grabbed my bag out of the back and then opened my door. “Come on.”
I moved slowly because I wasn’t sure what was going on. He opened the door to room eleven and shoved me in.
That’s when it hit me. “So the club actually voted to kill me?” I asked.
“What?”
“You said we were going to the bus station but instead you brought me here.”
He rolled his eyes. “Why would I bring you to a motel if I intended to kill you? How would I get a dead body out of here with no one noticing?”
“I don’t know, but if you’re going to do it just get it over with,” I said. I put on a brave face for the statement, but I could feel the panic in my chest. I knew Jordan would make it quick.
But he pushed me to sit on the bed and pulled out the chair across from me. “I’m not going to hurt you. I brought you here to protect you.”
I could only stare at him, unsure what to expect.
“You are not safe going back to Des Moines.” He looked at his hands. “And I know Rem is going to want you back.”
My tense shoulders fell at the mention of my former lover. “Jordan.”
“I know you didn’t do it.”
I couldn’t help but think this was a trick. Was he trying to gain my trust to betray me? Was this the club’s revenge? “Why should you believe me?”
He looked down at the floor, rolling his hands over each other. “I know what it’s like to be put in your position.”
“How?”
Jordan closed his eyes and shook his head. After a second, he let out a breath and looked at me. “It doesn’t matter.”
I wanted to ask more, but the darkness in his eyes told me that Jordan wasn’t going to share.
I fell back on the bed, already hating this plan. Jordan was Rem’s best friend so he might know him better than I did. But I wasn’t going to waste hope. What I did was unforgivable to a man like Rem. And I didn’t know Jordan’s true intentions.
Jordan stood up and looked down at me. “Listen, there is a diner across the street. Just stay here for two days. If things don’t turn around by then I’ll take you home myself.”
“Whatever.”
He put some money in my hand before he left.
I lay there for a while, thinking about what Jordan said. Maybe the pain was too fresh, but I didn’t believe Rem would change his mind. To him, I was just like his father. Rem had yet to forgive him, so what hope did I have?
After a while, I decided to head to the diner because I never got breakfast. I sat in a booth alone and ordered the farmer’s breakfast, thinking food was always a good comfort. I only had a few bites before my stomach started to hurt and the taste turned ashy on my tongue.
I realized that I wasn’t ready to eat yet. Things were unsettled, and that was why my stomach rejected sustenance. It was time to take action, and I couldn’t wait for Jordan.
I made my way to the payphone near the bathroom and used the change from my bill. The phone looked beat to hell, but why would anyone care? These things were obsolete. The only people who used them were too poor for a cell phone. Or they wanted to stay anonymous. But even that was impossible these days.
I dialed my uncle’s cell phone number, and he answered on the second ring. “Hello.”
<
br /> “Where’s my dad?” There was no point in being polite.
“Isabel,” he said, as if my call was a surprise. “I’m not sure you have earned his release. After all, I had to have a third party finish the job.”
I’m sure his statement was meant to be intimidating, but I was sick of his shit. “Regardless of who did it, they think I’m the perpetrator. They’ve kicked me out. I can’t help you anymore so where is my dad?”
“I’ll give you the address.”
I hung up after he gave it to me. I didn’t bother with a goodbye.
Chapter Forty-Seven
Rem
I leaned on the side of the warehouse, smoking a cigarette. With Isabel out of my life there was no point in quitting.
I stared out across the cornfields. The back of the warehouse was always a good place to think. And it was the one place I’d never been with Isabel. I couldn’t stand to be inside the clubhouse or even around it. Memories of her were everywhere. My bedroom was the worst. Not just the memories but the smells that triggered more memories. Even after I ripped the sheets off last night to sleep, her scent still crept into my nose like a phantom.
That was why I came out here. Thinking of all our moments together made me want things I shouldn’t. I wanted to find her and bring her back to me. I wanted to forget what she had done and pretend it never happened. I wanted what we had twenty-four hours ago. So I removed myself from our space, trying to focus on her betrayal so I could start to hate her.
I put on a good show for my brothers yesterday and this morning. I wanted them to think I was angry, but the truth was that I was still in denial. I couldn’t believe what she had done. My brain rebelled against it so hard that my head was aching.
“Rem,” said a soft voice. Amy came around the corner of the building, just a few feet from where I was standing. “I made some lunch if you’re hungry.”
“No thanks,” I said, taking another drag. Eating meant going back inside, and that wasn’t happening.
“I’m so sorry, Rem. I know this is hard on you.” Even though her face was sympathetic, her blue eyes were clear and bright.
I shrugged. “She was your friend, too.”
“I know,” she said with a sigh and leaned on the wall next to me. “I never imagined she was capable of treachery. She was so sweet.”
Treachery? Something about how she said it was strange, as if she’d never used the word before.
“I feel horrible that I didn’t question her when she was near the bikes. She was only out of my sight for a minute, but it probably only took a few seconds for her to plant the tracker under the fender.” She breathed out her disappointment.
I should probably reassure her, but I was only half-paying attention. She felt guilty for not watching Isabel more closely. But I was the blind one. I’d shared my bed with the woman.
We stood in silence for a long minute before Amy finally spoke again. “What are you going to do now?”
“Drink.”
“I meant with the house.” I looked at her. She smiled softly. “I saw the Zillow page printed off on your desk.”
Shit. I’d forgotten all about it. I’d bought it for Isabel after our first fight. I wanted to show her that I was ready for the next step, a place to start our lives together. It was meant to be a surprise before for the whole bullshit with Breaker happened. “I guess I’ll sell it.”
I felt Amy move a little closer, her chest almost brushing my arm. “Why don’t you keep it? Just because Isabel didn’t work out, doesn’t mean you won’t find someone else.”
I scoffed. As if I could ever trust a woman again. And a woman like Isabel doesn’t come around very often, not for a man like me. But I kept these thoughts to myself. I didn’t want pity.
“Hey.” Amy cupped my cheek and turned it to face her. “You’re a good man, Rem. You deserve a woman who can stand by your side in this kind of life.” She licked her lips and leaned a little closer. “Someone who understands what you need.”
I let her kiss me, her lips soft and gentle. At first, I didn’t respond. It felt wrong with my fidelity to Isabel still lingering. But then I let the pain of her betrayal roll over me, let it sink into my heart where it wanted to lash back. I grabbed Amy to me and kissed her back, ready to take my revenge. I bit her lip before I stuck my tongue in her mouth, wanting it rough and dirty. She responded as she always did to my touch, moaning and pressing her body into mine. Her taste was familiar but bland somehow. And I wasn’t feeling a thing below the belt.
I pressed on and kept kissing Amy, trying to force my body to take part in this retribution. It would hurt Isabel to know I’d slept with another woman, a woman who was once her friend. Even if it never got back to her, I would know that I took back part of my soul in this moment. Isabel destroyed everything when she chose to plant that tracker.
Wait.
I shoved Amy away by her arms. “What’s wrong?” she gasped, a little smile playing at her lips.
I glared at her. “How did you know where it was?”
Her face fell. “What?”
“The tracker.”
She rolled her eyes. “Hawk told me.”
I stared her down. She was lying. There was fear behind her flippant reply. We were in private when Hawk told the brothers where it was, and Hawk wouldn’t have told her directly.
Pure, unadulterated anger flooded into my brain. I quickly reached around her and grabbed her phone out of her back pocket. Then I gripped her arm and dragged her toward the clubhouse. “You fucking liar. You betrayed this club.”
“What are you talking about? Isabel admitted it.” Amy struggled against his hold.
“She admitted to bringing in the tracker, not planting it.”
I started yelling for the other brothers as soon as we were inside. I threw Amy into the same chair Isabel had sat in yesterday. I paced back and forth until Greyson, Max, Hawk, Donny, and Sam were all in the room.
Once everyone was gathered, I stood in front of Amy with my arms crossed. She put on a brave face but I could see the fear in her eyes. “Hawk, I have a question for you,” I said without looking at him.
“VP.”
“Did you tell anyone outside the brothers about where you found the tracker on my bike?”
“No.”
“Well, in Amy’s attempt to seduce me, she let it spill that she knew it was under the fender.”
“I saw Isabel do it. I told you that,” she said quickly.
“Yesterday you said that you saw her near the bikes, not that you specifically saw her touch them. And if that wasn’t incriminating enough, you told me earlier that Hawk told you where it was.”
I heard Hawk approach my back. I knew her lie was going to piss him off. Hawk took the responsibility of Sergeant-at-Arms very seriously. It was dangerous to insult his honor the way Amy just did.
“Amy, give up the goods and we’ll consider banishment rather than a bullet to the temple.”
She sneered. “You didn’t kill Isabel. You won’t kill me.”
I chuckled as I bent down to her level. “There are a lot of differences between you and Isabel. First of all, she was an old lady. You are just a Heart. Second, she is also a woman with friends, who would come looking for her if she suddenly disappeared. We all know that we wouldn’t have that issue with you.”
Amy just looked at her lap.
“But the most important difference is that I loved her, even after I thought she was guilty. There was no way I was sending her to the reaper. Instead I tore out my heart and banished her … all because I decided you could be trusted over her.” I was yelling now, my voice growing at every word. I was seconds away from wrapping my hands around her throat.
“But I can be trusted, Rem. I did it for the club and for you,” she yelled back.
I stood up. “What are you talking about?”
“A girl like her does not have what it takes to be your old lady. She is weak. She proved that when she brought the tracker t
o the club,” Amy screamed. Then she shook her head, and the tears started tumbling down her face. Her voice lowered as she said, “You and I were becoming close. You are the reason I became a Heart. We both know that if she hadn’t come around, I would have been your old lady.”
“So you betrayed the club because you saw Isabel as competition?”
She looked down in shame.
“You’re right, Amy. I did like you. I thought you were above all the petty bullshit that Tracy tried. But I was never going to make you my old lady, and thank God, because you are worse than Tracy. You made friends with Isabel, and then you stabbed her in the back—”
“She stole you away from me,” she cried. “On the very night she arrived it was like I ceased to exist.”
I knew what she meant. The night she’d waited for me to return and I’d sent her away. I didn’t know it at the moment, but things had changed. All Isabel had to do was show up to make me into someone different.
“You even went down on her. It’s not fucking fair,” she said, almost to herself. “After all I’ve done to get here.”
I’m sure the guys would have laughed if the scene wasn’t so pathetic. I just shook my head because I’d heard enough. I handed her cell phone to Hawk. “Someone else deal with this. I have to find Isabel.”
“I can help with that,” Jordan said. I didn’t even hear him come in.
“You put her on a bus to Des Moines, right?” I asked.
“No. She is at the motel in Watertown.” He was grinning like a smug bastard.
“Why?”
Jordan looked away for a moment. “There was just something that bothered me when she confessed.” He looked back at me with a strange focus in his eyes. “Yes, she lied about what happened at the house, but she seemed so earnest that it wasn’t her that actually planted it. Call it instinct but I believed her.”
I wanted to punch my best friend for seeing something I didn’t, but I could hug him, too, for keeping her close. Isabel may not be innocent, but she was still mine.
I tried to prepare what I was going to say to her on our way to the motel. It wasn’t going to be easy. But maybe I could soften her up with a few orgasms first. After all, it was a motel. There would be a bed right there.
Reign Over Me (The Covenant Book 1) Page 22