Beginning of the Inevitable (Feral Steel MC Series Book 1)

by Vera Quinn

  “You done killed me brother.” I can barely make out what he says. There’s only one thing running through my mind.

  “Why Stone? We were a good family…just why?” Sarge is standing back giving us some room.

  “I never felt like I fit. I was never good enough. I wanted it…all of it and you were always in my way.” I wait until I have just the right words.

  “Keifer, you are my older brother and I have always loved you. I worshipped you and would have walked through hell with you at my back. I just don’t know where we went wrong. I love you brother.” He is having a hard time breathing. He finally gets a breath.

  “That’s just it brother, for once I wanted you at my back and not me at yours.” He is barely breathing and I wait for his next breath. Holding my own breath until he breaths just one more time. I feel the tears running down my face but I don’t give a damn. This man is my brother. My blood. “The drugs beat me, Kylar. Don’t let them beat you…love…” That was it. I reached down and shut his eyes. My brother would never walk this earth anymore. I hated the things he put us through. I hated the things he did to himself. The only thing that keeps running through my mind is the brother that taught me to climb a tree is gone. The man that taught me to ride a bike is gone. I killed the man that taught me how to grow up. I put his hand back on his chest and stand up. What I had to do was not easy but my brother is at peace now. Today was inevitable. Stone set us on the crash course and now it is done. The day Stone stole and wronged the Feral Steel MC was the beginning of the inevitable and for him and today he met his consequences. I tried to stop it but when you are on a crash course with destiny there is no stopping it. I hear a noise behind me and turn and look. Sarge and Tazer stand behind me.

  “Crockett is taking care of Grimes. Bowie is getting the van.” Tazer tells me.

  “As soon as we get Stone’s body in the van let’s torch this place. We’ll use the explosives they have here already.” I tell Tazer and Sarge. I look up and see Bowie comes in the door. I take my phone out and text Hacksaw to take care of the planning for Stone’s body at the funeral home. My brother will get a funeral. I need it, ma needs it and the Feral Steel MC needs it. I look at my phone and it is already six in the morning. It’ll be daylight soon. We need to get this done. I start to put my phone away and it vibrates. It’s Kane. I just hope he has Stacks and this is finally over.

  Chapter 26

  Kane

  Stacks kills the lights on the truck right before we get up to the cabin. “Let’s get your bike loaded and get out of here. Stone is by himself at the motel without a way to go.” Stacks tells me. He’s impatient and jittery.

  “Where are your bikes? Aren’t they at the motel?” Stacks looks at me. “They are in the shed behind the cabin. Where’s your bike? I thought you said it was behind the cabin.”

  “I just pushed it behind the cabin. I didn’t go out in the shed. I didn’t want to go nosing around.” Stacks opens the door gets out. I let him get to the front of the truck and I swipe my hand behind the seat and grab my gun from its holster. I put holsters on each end of the bench seat. Within hands reach but out of sight. I put the gun behind my waistband of my jeans and pull my shirt down.

  “Are you coming?” Stacks is nearly to the front of the cabin. “I’m not doing all the work for you. If you’d called from here I could have told you to just ride my bike.” I step out of the truck and shut the door.

  “Stacks, I did call or I tried to. No reception out here man. Do you have reception?” I’m trying to slow him down. He stops and takes his phone out and looks at it. This stops him so I catch up to him. “You must have a shit phone. I have full bars.”

  “Stacks what are we doing here? Why don’t we just load up our bikes and leave. You and I can start over somewhere else. Somewhere no one knows us. Find us a couple of women and have some kids. Start our own family. We don’t need this shit. This is Stone’s mess man. We don’t need this trouble.” I need to give Stacks one more chance. He needs to choose right from wrong.

  “That’s just like you bro. Trying to run off right before the big payday. Stone has us covered. The guys in Colorado, Stone’s partners, need to run their weed through Feral Steel territory. All we need to do is make sure Stone is sitting President and we will have money coming out our ass. The Colorado connection wants to come through Oklahoma because the heat in Kansas is too hot. They move their line, south, through Oklahoma and the connection to the east coast is clear and free. Feral Steel MC territory is the easiest way. Devil is bent on the club being legit. If we take him out, put Stone in there, then the vote will swing our way. Wise up boy. We will be accepted into the club both our dads helped create. It is win, win. Stone said he was making me his VP and you his muscle. What did he call it? SAA, sergeant of something or other. How cool is that?” Stacks seems happy. He thinks it is all good.

  “What about Devil’s wife and kids? What does he want with them?” Surely Stacks has some decency left.

  “That bitch is just a means to an end. Her dad is President of a MC in Texas. If Stone has her then this guy will bend to what we want. Stone also said some guy she used to fuck is the guy that killed his sister. He wants to break her and flaunt it in front of everyone. His sister had a kid by Devil’s woman dad. He wants him and he wants Devil’s boys. They have our blood. He wants to groom them. He says once he knocks her ass up the fight will be over. Then we will have it all.” Stacks has lost his ever-loving mind. I wait a minute.

  “Are you sure we can’t leave and start over?” He looks at me.

  “It doesn’t matter if all this falls apart. I will never leave Devil and his family alone. He has what is rightfully part ours. We take what is ours.” He turns to go behind the cabin. I move by instinct. The instincts the army taught me. I step behind him and catch him by surprise. I am taller than him and have a good fifty pounds on him. I catch him totally by surprise. I have one hand over his head and the other underneath his jaw. I hook my foot behind his leg and use his own weight for leverage. It is set and I apply enough pressure until I hear his neck crack. I know that my brother is dead. I let his body fall to the ground. I fall beside him. I will carry this with me for the rest of my life. I don’t know if the guilt will let me live. I take my phone out and text Devil.

  Me: Stacks is neutralized.

  Devil: Stone too.

  Me: I am leaving.

  Devil: Meet me at the clubhouse.

  Me: Ok.

  Maybe Devil will put me out of my misery.

  Chapter 27

  Devil

  I sit in my office waiting on Kane to get here. It has been a hell of a night and morning. I pour some more bourbon in my coffee. Breakfast of the champions. I texted Chief earlier to let him know Stone, and possibly Stacks, had been eliminated. His only response was good. I got a text from Callie telling me she loved me. She has her hands full right now or I would have her here. Micah and Maddie’s aunt showed up and they are all saying their good-byes. Sarge and Tazer are getting some well- deserved sleep. Bowie and Crockett are still doing clean up and as soon as Kane gets here Tex and Creole will finish the job with Stacks. I have been going over the events from early this morning with Stone. I have replayed every word we spoke. His every action. The way his whole demeanor had changed. Drugs will destroy a person completely. I also know there is no place in the Feral Steel MC for anyone connected to any kind of drugs. I will bring it to a vote. The Feral Steel are only as strong as their weakest link and I will not take a chance of this shit happening again to my family. The Feral Steel are a family and each one of them are important, respected and loved by me. This club is my sons’ future and I will not hand them a shit future. I will make it strong. We will all make each other stronger. I hear a tap on my door.

  “Come in.” I tell the person. Kane walks in and sits in the chair in front of my desk. He looks as bad as I feel. I know tonight has cost him as much as it has cost me. He levels his eyes at me and I stare at a set of eyes th
at yell defeated. “Talk to me Kane. Tell me what happened and don’t leave anything out. I don’t have the patience to be talking all fucking day. Where is Stacks?”

  “My brother is dead. His body is at a cabin about seven miles south of here. It’s off FM 1520 on a dirt road. The cabin looks more like a shack. I had no choice. Stacks wasn’t going to quit coming after your family and the Feral Steel MC. The drugs took him over and he thought he was owed. He wouldn’t have stopped even if Stone was gone. I tried to talk him into leaving town and he was having no part of it. Now you can do whatever you need to with me. I don’t have much left in this world.” Kane sounds like he has given up on life. If I didn’t have Callie, the boys and Feral Steel, I could very well be him.

  “Did Stacks tell you anything before?” I don’t say the word kill.

  “He said that some people in Colorado wanted to use Feral Steel territory to move drugs through instead of going through Kansas. He said Kansas was their normal route and it was too watched. That’s about it but ramblings about the Feral Steel being stolen from Stone and us. He also said Stone wanted Callie so he would have her dad’s cooperation. Stone wanted to get her pregnant so they’d be tied to each other. He wanted your boys so that he would have the Feral Steel MC cooperation and they were our blood. They are Feral Steel because they belong to you. That would ensure loyalty. Stacks and Stone were just too far gone with the drugs. What happened with Stone? Did you get anything from him?”

  “Stone is dead.” I don’t tell him how Stone died but our eyes meet and he nods his head as if he understands. “He gave us nothing and he had nothing on him to let us know anything. We took the motel room apart and found nothing.” Kane stands up and takes some papers out of his back pocket and hands them to me.

  “Stone has those in saddle bags of his bike. Both of their bikes were out at the cabin in a building out behind it. There’s some other things still there but I don’t think it is important. What happens now? Whatever it is I am not going to fight you. Just do it. I do have one request.” I sit up in my chair and look at him and wait. “Let Starla go. Give her some pocket money and put her on a bus out of town. She’s not a bad person. She was just put in a bad situation.” This man doesn’t have a clue what we could do to him and his request is to let a woman go that isn’t even tied to him. Hmm.

  “We already did just that. We don’t make a habit of hurting women who are desperate She was warned, about what would happen, if any of us ever see her again. What are your plans?” I see the surprise in his eyes.

  “I didn’t think I would be walking out of here so I have made no plans.” Kane says and I see the relief in his eyes.

  “Why didn’t you let us take care of your brother? You didn’t have to do it yourself. I see the way it is weighing on you. I’m just curious.” It’s a question that has been bothering me ever since I received his text. Kane considers the question and sits a little straighter and levels me with his eyes.

  “I asked Stacks the questions I thought you needed answered. He answered because he trusted me and I could tell he was telling me the truth. If I had brought him to you someone would have tried to get more answers out of him even if he didn’t know the answers. I couldn’t and wouldn’t let that happen. I know there was something broken inside my brother. I’d like to blame it all on the drugs but that just isn’t the case. There’s always been something inside of Stacks that made him want things he didn’t want to work for. He hurt people, he lied, and he stole things. Love couldn’t fix it. My mom loved him and I loved him. The drugs just made it worse but I would not let someone torture anything out of him. I also could not see another woman or child hurt at his hands. I want Stacks’ body to be cremated so I can put his ashes at my mom’s gravesite. She would want that.” We both nod our heads at each other. We understand each other.

  “Where are you going to be staying? The motel is gone. I’ll have Oz arrange for Stacks body to be cremated and delivered to you.” Kane considers it.

  “Do you mean you want me to hang around? I thought you would want me gone.” Kane says it showing no emotions at all.

  “I’m saying, if you hang around, after all the dust settles, I would like to have some conversations with you. If you want. You know, to see if we can even like each other.” I hesitate for a minute and start again. “We’re half-brothers who don’t even know each other. We can talk, maybe drink a beer together.” Then I remember. “Or coffee, since you don’t drink alcohol. Just to see if we like each other. I have two sons and maybe someday you can meet them.” Kane smiles.

  “I have two nephews. I think I might like that.” I smile back at Kane.

  “You have three nephews. Our sister Kim had a son, KD, he lives in Texas with his dad. Long story short, our nephew is my woman’s brother.” Kane laughs out loud.

  “I have got to hear this story over coffee one day. I’ll grab me a motel room. The cabin where Stone is at, belongs to us. I mean, our grandparents owned it and it was willed to our mom. I’ll need to talk to an attorney about it and if everything works out I can stay there.” Kane’s eyes have gone serious again. “Maybe I’ll just stay in a motel.” I stand up and stick out my hand and Kane takes it and we shake hands. Kane walks out the door and I take one more drink of my coffee and I text Bowie to get in touch with Oz about Stacks body. Then I text Oz and let him know what preparations need to be done for Stacks and to see if Stone was at the funeral home yet. It only takes a minute to get a response from Oz. Stone is there and they are waiting for further instructions. I know we need to have church but I need a little sleep first. I text Hacksaw and call church for tonight. The Feral Steel MC have a few decisions to make. I make two decisions for myself that have been in the back of my mind for a while now. I have one more text to send and then I need to go home and face my ma. I text my lawyer to get the ball rolling on some projects I have been thinking about since I decided I was keeping Callie for myself. When the projects were first brought to my attention it was something for Callie and myself. Now, I think it is the perfect business opportunities for the Feral Steel. If it is voted down, then I will take the projects on as originally planned. The risk to my family is over and I don’t want to wait any longer. I’m not getting any younger. I have my own money. It’d keep us tight for money a little while but Callie and I could swing it. With my mind, finally at peace, I know it is time to go home and have this talk with Ma.

  Chapter 28

  Kat

  I am walking the floor. I know Keifer is dead. I can feel it. It’s like my heart is being ripped out of my chest. I know in my brain, he had to be stopped, from what he was doing. I know the drugs had taken over his life but he was still my boy. I lost my baby girl. I lost Steel. Now, I know my first born is no longer walking this earth. Bourbon is watching every move I make. He won’t tell me what happened. He told me that was a talk I needed to have with Kylar. Well Kylar isn’t here to let me know. Bourbon and Chief won’t let me go to the clubhouse. I tried getting out when Micah and Maddie left but Bourbon caught me before I was out the door good. Now he is sitting watching me pace the floor. I need to know. I move towards the back door and Bourbon stands. My hand is on the door and it pushes me back and there stands Kylar. “Just tell me! I know!” I put my hand to my chest. “I feel it in here, please, just tell me.” The tears I have held back for hours slide down my face. Maizy and Em get up from the kitchen table and walk out of the room. They walk out and Callie walks in. She goes to Kylar’s arms and he hugs her. She whispers something to him and kisses him on the cheek. Kylar hugs her back like his life depends on it and then Callie moves back by Bourbon and sits down. Kylar looks at me and I almost fall but Bourbon catches me. I know that haunted look in Kylar’s eyes. I see it every day in my own eyes.

  “Keifer is gone ma. I’m sorry it had to be done, but he is gone.” Kylar is owning it but it is not doing anything for the loss I feel. After Kim was gone I shut down so I didn’t have to feel but I feel it all now. Something comes to
mind and I just blurt it out.

  “Is the Feral Steel going to bury him with honors? Are going to honor your brother because you sure as hell didn’t honor your sister?” I am shaking and if Bourbon didn’t still have his arms around me I would fall to the floor

  “Stone is at the funeral home in town. You can go and make whatever arrangements you want. It’s paid for by me. The Feral Steel have church later and we will vote on how much, if any, participation the club will have with his funeral. I can’t make that decision without a vote. It’s club business.” Kylar has that same stubborn look in his face he did when he was a little boy. It’s the one when he dug his heels in and he wasn’t budging on his decision. I have plenty to say to that.

  “Am I supposed to be thankful that I get to bury my boy? Is that what you and the Feral Steel want is for me to be thankful. I’m not. That damn club has taken my whole damn family away from me.” Kylar looks like I slapped him and to tell the truth I wish I had. Anything to get this anger out of me. Kylar is way too calm.

  “Ma, do you think I wanted to have to hunt my family down? Do you think I wanted to take Steel’s place before he was ready to leave it? The answer to both is no. Sometimes in life we must do what we don’t want to. You taught me that growing up. You said be a strong man and do what you need to so our family can be safe. The thing you didn’t teach me is how to decide which family members we must cut loose to protect the others. I’ve had to learn that lesson the hard way. Did I like it? No. It’s what I have to do as President to the Feral Steel, as a husband, and as a father.” I think about what Kylar just said.