by Jade Kuzma
“There’s worse things you could’ve told me,” I said, smiling slightly. “Why did you tell me that?”
“Because I’m gonna get to the bottom of this. With Sebastian and the rest of the club, I’ll figure this out. It’s… It’s in my blood. I want you to know that I won’t rest until you’re completely safe. I brought all of this trouble on you. Even if you walk away after it’s all over, I’ll fix everything.”
He leaned forward slowly.
I can’t…
Doubts continued to swirl around in my head but I couldn’t stop myself. I closed my eyes and let my face drift forward. My lips met his. His tongue slid into my mouth and a relief washed over me that made me forget about everything going on, even for just a second.
Lacey…
My senses came back to me and I pulled away. His hands dropped from my arms, not forcing me to continue.
“It’s been a long night,” I said. “I was drinking a lot with Maddie. I… I should probably get some sleep.”
“You’re safe here. The whole club is watching your back.”
“I know.”
I moved onto the bed, too tired to undress or make myself more comfortable. Ezra stood at the doorway for a moment. I smiled softly at him before my eyes closed on their own. The last vision I had before I drifted off to sleep was him. There was a determination in his eyes that told me he would get to the bottom of this. Now all that was left was for him to do it.
Chapter 21
EZRA
“How’d you do last night?”
Hunter stared at me, his eyebrows raised. The motherfucker was smirking, so I knew he wasn’t concerned too much. Guys like him thought everything was funny.
“I don’t know if I would’ve gotten any sleep if it wasn’t for the half-a-bottle of vodka,” I said. “I can’t remember the last time I drank that much.”
“Guy like you doesn’t seem like the type to relax too much. Stick around Hades and you’ll build your tolerance up. You’ll be drinking a lot more.”
“Especially with a guy like Hunter around,” the other man across from me said.
Hunter rolled his eyes.
“Pay no attention to Mercy,” Hunter said. “He likes to bust my balls because of those boulders he calls fists. But I’m a lot smarter than he is. I’m the real brains of this operation.”
“Mercy…” I said.
I looked at the man sitting next to me. I narrowed my eyes at him. There was something familiar about him.
“You ever heard of Aden Mercer?” I said. “Fighter from a few years ago. Disappeared.”
“I heard of him,” Mercy replied. “What about him?”
“You look just like him.”
Everybody else around the table smiled when I said it. Hunter reared his head back and started cackling.
“Shit,” I said. “You are Aden Mercer. What the fuck are you doing here?”
“I’m not the Aden Mercer you remember,” he responded. “I’m just a man living in Ivory. Another Devil who’s here trying to live his life.”
“I can respect that.”
There was more to Aden’s story but I didn’t bother pushing for more information. There was more important shit to deal with.
Roman sat at the other end of the table. Dark hair. Goatee. The guy looked like he didn’t take much shit from anybody. Same as usual. His arms crossed, he leaned back in his seat and was silent.
“Where is he?” I said to him.
“He’ll be here in a minute,” he replied. “Just finishing up some details on something he’s got going on.”
“Business must be good for you in Ivory. There’s all kinds of things you could get a monopoly on with so few people around here.”
“We get by.”
“We could be doing more than get by if they actually listened to me,” Hunter said.
Roman glared at him and Hunter changed his tone.
“But… it’s a good living out here in Ivory regardless,” Hunter said.
“It seems that way,” I said. “I haven’t been here for very long. It’s a nice change of pace from the city.”
“Tell me about it. Everybody up there is a fucking asshole. You can’t even walk down the street without some punk bumping into you and telling you to watch where you’re going.”
“That’s because you are bumping into them so you can steal their wallets,” Aden said.
“But they don’t know I’m taking their wallets. Besides, I don’t do that anymore. Haven’t been back to the city in months. What kind of look is that for the MC for one of its patches to go around being a pickpocket? We’re better than that.”
“Some of us are.”
Hunter rolled his eyes at Aden’s comment. Roman got a chuckle out of it. Before the club could get into it anymore, Sebastian stepped inside of the room and took a seat at the head of the table.
“How you feeling?” he asked me.
“Just fine.”
“You took a good lick last night.”
“Ellis got it worse. A little bruise never hurt me.”
“That’s the spirit. There might be more where that came from.”
“That’s what I’m expecting.”
It was around noon. The MC called a meeting and invited me to it. I didn’t think much of it, considering I’d hired them to do a job. There were matters that had to be discussed.
Despite the circumstances, Sebastian looked as confident as ever. The president of the Devils looked around the table.
“I looked into Ellis and the rest of his boys,” he said. “Checked to see if there was any reason they decided to skip town.”
“What did you find?” I said.
“Their last charges against them were back in Corvus.”
“That’s a pretty far place from here,” Roman said. “Looks like they were just trying to get away.”
“They did their time,” Sebastian explained. “Probably got off because they could afford the lawyers. The kind of crimes they’re committing, it wouldn’t surprise me if they hit up a few businesses to line their pockets on the way to Corvus from wherever the fuck they came from.”
“They were probably doing the same on their way to Ivory,” Hunter said.
“That’s reasonable to assume. But they’re here in Ivory and they’ve taken a lot of interest in our man here.”
Sebastian pointed at me.
“You want me to help you, you have to give me all the details,” he said to me. “I need to know what the fuck is going on.”
I would’ve thought twice about giving Sebastian and the rest of his club the information. But I trusted my gut.
“There’s a drug trade going on Ivory,” I said. “People are moving weight to every city in every direction, including the big city up north.”
“That’s not a secret,” Sebastian said. “I listened to the negotiations for myself. There’s a group that has a monopoly on it.”
“That’s part of their problem. They’re moving so much weight that they need help. They’re looking for partners.”
“And you came down to be a part of it.”
I sighed, thinking about what I planned on doing and what it meant to Lacey.
“That was the plan,” I said. “I was supposed to open a business. I picked a spot just down the block from here. I’d launder the money through the business.”
“Smart plan,” Hunter said.
“Smart would’ve been opening in a part of Ivory that’d actually be successful,” Sebastian said. “Old Town isn’t much for business.”
“Not now,” I said. “But it can be. That’s why my plan changed. I don’t want any part of the drug trade going on here. I just want to open my business.”
“You wanna open a business?” Roman said. “Like… a legitimate business?”
“That’s right.”
“Why the sudden change of heart?” Aden asked.
Everybody at the table had their eyes on me. But Sebastian was the only one that wa
s smiling. I didn’t have to give an answer that he already knew.
“In any case, you’ve got beef with the Rebels that needs to be settled,” Sebastian said. “You’ve got options.”
“And what are they?” I asked.
“We could finish what you started last night,” Aden said. “Take on the whole gang. Ellis can’t fight for shit. Doesn’t look like the rest of ‘em can fight either, even if they do outnumber us. Single ‘em out and I’ll do my part.”
“Always with the meathead option,” Hunter said.
“And do you have a better idea, Joker?”
“Sure, I do. Listen, Ezra… I say we set up a meeting with the Rebels hash out your differences. Unless you’re hiding something from the city that you’re not telling us about, I figure it’s got something to do with the drugs. I say you let ‘em in on the deal. Give ‘em some money.”
“Pay them to go away?” Aden said. “That’s your idea?”
“I didn’t say to let them keep the money. I say we pay them on the condition that they leave town. I can set ‘em up with some counterfeit bills. They’ll be on the other side of the country before they figure it out. Shit looks realer than anything.”
“And when they figure it out, they’ll come riding back here wanting to take care of us. Great plan, Joker.”
“Hold on,” Sebastian said as he held his hand up. “Any other ideas?”
He turned toward Roman, who was sitting comfortably in his seat with his arms crossed.
“This is your show,” Roman said. “I’m just here for the ride.”
“Those are my options?” I said. “Beat the shit out of them or pay them off with fake money.”
“There is one other option,” Sebastian explained. “There’s always that one other option.”
“And what’s that?”
“We can just kill all of ‘em.”
“No,” I said as I shook my head. “That’s not happening.”
“It wouldn’t be hard. Nobody’d miss a group like that.”
“I didn’t come here to pay you guys to go to war for me. I haven’t been in Ivory for more than a week. The last thing I want is blood. I know how violent MCs can get. It’s not as simple as you’re making it seem. Besides, we can’t kill ‘em. I need answers.”
“Answers to what?” Roman said.
“These guys wouldn’t just start beef with me for no reason. Even if they were doing it because they wanted to get in on the big deal, there’s room for them. No, there’s more to it than that. Ellis knows. I have to get the answers out of him.”
“So… How are you going to get the answers out of him then?” Hunter said.
He raised his eyebrows at me, that confident smirk still on his lips like it always was.
Everybody was focused on me, waiting for my response. I turned toward the table and closed my eyes.
Think… There has to be a way…
I considered all of the options they’d given me and then it hit me.
“Ellis will never spill the details willingly,” I said. “We have to convince him to do it however we can.”
“So, what is it you wanna do?” Sebastian asked. “You wanna pay ‘em off like Joker says or do you wanna beat the shit out of ‘em like Mercy says?”
“Both.”
“Both?”
“Trust me. I’ve got it all worked out in my head. Next time we see Ellis, I’ll get what I’m looking for.”
“And do you plan on letting us in on this whole scheme you’re plotting?” Hunter asked.
I gave him a nod.
“Ellis is looking for me,” I said. “He’s probably got a man outside of the club watching my every move. We’ll set everything up. Then tonight, we’ll draw him out and I’ll get the answers I need from him.”
“You sure you know what you’re doing?” Sebastian said to me.
“Trust me. This will work.”
He turned toward Roman.
“VP,” Sebastian said. “You sure you don’t got anything to say?”
Roman looked at me. It was hard to tell what the motherfucker was thinking like always.
“The man didn’t get to where he is today in that fancy suit of his without knowing what he’s doing,” Roman said. “I trust him.”
Everybody at the table was in agreement.
Tonight, everything would be settled with Ellis and the Rebels once and for all.
Chapter 22
EZRA
After meeting with the club, I did everything I could to get ready. It all came down to this. If I couldn’t get the answers from Ellis tonight, then there was no telling how long I’d have to watch my back for him.
Sebastian gave me a room to stay in at the clubhouse. Despite how old and beat-up Hades was, it was a spacious building that was home to all of the club members when they needed a place to get away.
It was the middle of the afternoon when I was sitting in my room. Nothing on but a pair of boxers, I sat near the window and enjoyed both the breeze and the Ivory warmth.
I closed my eyes and sighed a deep breath through my nose. Just when I thought I was gonna drift off, there was a knock at the door.
“Yeah.”
The door slowly creaked open and Lacey stood there. A pair of jeans and a tight top that accentuated her petite figure, she looked as gorgeous as she always did. But there was worry on her face. Short hair made it that much easier to see.
“Sorry,” she said. “I’m not bothering you, am I?”
“You could never bother me.”
She closed the door and walked toward me.
“You look comfortable,” she said, laughing softly.
“Thought I’d get some rest. I had a busy morning. Lotta shit to get done to get ready for tonight.”
“Tonight… Is there something happening tonight?”
“Everything is set,” I said with a nod. “I’ll take care of Ellis, one way or another. Then you never have to worry about them or me or anybody else following you. You’ll be free to do whatever you want.”
Lacey took a seat on the edge of the bed. Her head down, she still looked uncertain. I would’ve done anything to wipe that look from her face but I knew that the only thing I could do was get it done tonight.
“What are you thinking?” I asked.
“I… I was just thinking about what you told me earlier. About how your grandfather was a member of the MC.”
“That’s right.”
“I don’t know much about motorcycle clubs. But just being around all of the bikers I’ve been around recently told me enough about what they’re capable of.”
“I see… You’re afraid of what Ellis and his gang are going to do to me.”
“No.”
She shook her head and smiled at me.
“I’m afraid of what you might do to them,” she said.
The seriousness in her eyes was enough to tell me what she was getting at. I searched for the words to try and reassure her.
“I don’t have any blood on my hands,” I said. “Not counting what I did for Jamie back when we were in the city moving that weight. But I’ve never squeezed the trigger and executed someone. I’ve never laid fists on a man and beat him up bad enough to put him in a coffin. I’ve only done enough to look out for myself. That’s it.”
I got up from my seat and walked over to her. I put my thumb on her cheek, expecting her to resist but she didn’t. She just closed her eyes and breathed a deep breath through her nose.
“There are things in my life that I’ve done that I regret,” I said. “Mistakes I’ve made when I was younger. No excuses. I did what I did. If I could go back in time and change those things, knowing what it was… I would…”
I moved my hand down toward her arm and trailed it over her soft skin. The tattoo that covered the scars on her skin felt different underneath my fingers.
“…But I can’t change the past. I can only accept the things that were done and try to be better the next time. I’m going
to be better… tonight… for you, Lacey.”
Lacey stood up from her seat. She slowly opened her eyes and stared up at me.
“When I look into your eyes, I see so many things,” she whispered. “A man who wasn’t honest with me. A man I fell for. A man who’s capable of all of the best and worst things in the world. You’re going to do something tonight. I want you to promise me something, Ezra.”
“I can promise you that I’ll take care of the Rebels.”
“That’s not what I want,” she said, shaking her head. “I want you to promise me that you do whatever you think is right. I want you to be you. Don’t do this for me or the club or the city. Do this for yourself. Be who you are.”
It wasn’t an easy promise to make. Not knowing what was gonna happen exactly, I wanted to do everything I could for Lacey but she wasn’t giving me the obvious answer.
“Tonight,” I said. “After everything is done. Will you be waiting for me when this is all over?”
Her throat bobbed up and down with a swallow. All of the emotions building up in her eyes made it obvious why she was having trouble responding. She didn’t need to say anything to know her answer.
“That’s your decision,” I said. “Be who you are, Lacey. But if you’ve had enough of me and this is the last time we ever see each other, at least let me say goodbye. Let me say goodbye the only way I know I can.”
I moved closer to her. My face drifted toward hers. I closed my eyes when I saw that she was moving toward me just the same.
My lips met hers and my thoughts emptied. All that there was now was the desire she stirred within me. An inferno in my gut sent fire through my veins.
My tongue teased hers, swirling into her mouth and making our kisses loud. She sighed hard breaths as I trailed my mouth down her neck. Her hands wrapped around my shoulders while I continued to taste her soft, pale skin.
There was no point in holding back.
I rushed my hands toward her jeans and undid them faster than I’d ever done anything in my life. She lifted her top up and tossed it aside. Her bra fell to the floor, freeing her breasts so that I could take them in my mouth. I cupped her tits in my hands and sucked on her. Wet swirls of my tongue on her nipples made them swell hard enough for me to suck on.