by J. L. Drake
“The flash drive.”
“Okay.” I nodded a few more times than I needed to. Damn, Zay had been right. I guessed this was their next move—an innocent child. “Give me the boy, and I’ll take you to the flash drive.”
He laughed. “I didn’t say I wanted you to do it.”
The word decoy echoed through my memory.
Shit.
I glanced over my shoulder in the direction of the club. What the hell was going on?
“You have a choice, Tess. Run back to the club to warn whoever’s left that we’re here, or stay here with me and the boy.”
Fin’s bloodshot eyes shifted wildly in a secret plea for me to stay.
I’d never had a maternal instinct, not even with Lilly. I loved her. She was Mags’s little girl, and I would always be there for her, but she had grandparents and didn’t need me. But Fin and Denton were different. They had a father figure, but they needed a strong, stable female. The little beasts had burrowed their way into my life and into my heart. They needed me, and as much as I had trouble admitting it, I needed them. My need to protect the boys like they were my own coursed through me, and I made my decision. Truth be told, I loved them.
“Fine, I’ll stay here.” I straightened my spine. “Just remove the gun from his neck.”
He shifted it, but only slightly, and fifteen painful minutes ticked by. Fin’s eyes were enormous, and he seemed to be in a daze. I stood and stared at Fox, who in turn stared at his phone.
“Are you going to give me the ‘you don’t have to do this’ speech?” He half laughed before he drew his eyes up to mine.
When I moved my weight to my other foot, I caught a glint of something shiny by the sandbox. A shovel someone had left behind, and a decent sized one, at that.
“No, you’re a weak piece of shit. You will do whatever Allen tells you, even to the point of hurting an innocent child.”
“She says to the man holding a gun to the kid’s head.” He laughed.
I dropped my arms and started to step toward the shovel. He made a hissing sound for me to stop, but I pushed my limit and kept moving. I knew he wouldn’t hesitate to hurt Fin.
“You know,” I took a step, “I always wanted to see the Pacific.”
“Stop moving,” he warned.
“Always wanted to dip my toes in every ocean there is.” I moved another three steps and hoped he didn’t see what I was after.
“I said hold still.” He started to approach me slowly, Fin still in his hold.
“I never thought all of this,” I waved at him, “would come with my bucket list.” I was a foot away from the shovel.
“So, my warning wasn’t enough for you.” He gave me a grin, one that I felt hit the center of my core as it triggered a memory I had buried.
“You?” I stepped back, then everything fell into place, and I connected the murky dots and put it all straight in my memory. “It was you, wasn’t it? In the desert. You attacked me up on the ledge!”
“You smelled so good, your skin was like butter. I just wanted a taste of you.”
Something inside me snapped. One moment I was standing there, and the next I had the shovel and swung it straight at his neck. I saw arterial spray and had the satisfaction of knowing I had put him down.
His eyes bulged, and his gun wobbled, but he didn’t let it go. He was still a threat.
“No!” I grabbed Fin and tackled him to the ground. Then I flew at Fox and kicked the gun from his hand, then jabbed my foot down hard into his throat. I stood and watched the man who had once tried to rape me leak onto the ground. He tried to say something but only gurgled, and then his eyes glazed over.
“Shit.” I looked around wildly. What if someone saw? I thought I heard sirens. My fucking fingerprints were all over the shovel handle. “Ah…” I dropped to my knees and fished around Fin’s backpack. “Sorry, Fin, I just need,” I pulled out his water bottle, “this.”
I dumped it over the handle, grabbed a fistful of sand, and with the sleeve of my jacket, rubbed it into the wood in hopes it would scrub my prints clean. Fox’s glazed stare and still-jerking body lay nearby as I tried to hide the evidence of what I had done.
I tried not to think of how Fin would react to all this. I did what had to be done. I tucked the bottle back in his bag, tossed it over my arm, grabbed Fin’s hand, and quickly walked out of the park and onto the road.
“It’s okay, it’s okay,” I kept repeating to Fin as we walked at a normal pace. I wiped at the blood to help blend it into my clothes. Thank God I had on something dark. I didn’t need to draw any more attention to us. Anger flooded my brain, and I fought like hell to keep it under control.
“You’re okay, sweetie,” I reassured him once we turned the corner. “You’re going to be fine.”
I wasn’t sure if anything was okay right now. Something was happening, and I needed to know what was going down. I did know that no matter what got in my way, I was going to make sure he was safe.
“One more block, and then we’re back at the club.” I finally saw the rusty sign and knew I just needed to make it inside. Savannah always said “baby steps.” I could really use her right now.
“Here we go.” I opened the door and should have known by the fact Joe wasn’t at his post something was very wrong.
Fin’s drawn-out scream stopped my entire body from working, and all that was left was the word decoy.
Decoy.
***
Allen
“Should I be worried?” I turned to Zay. I knew he had tipped off Tess about the kid.
“No.”
I clucked my tongue on the roof of my mouth. “We had a plan.”
“My plan never included hurting the kid, only to use him to draw her out.”
“So, now you care?”
“No, not at all. I’ve killed and will kill again, but I don’t hurt kids.” He raised his hand like he had something else to say. “I’m beyond confused why you wouldn’t have taken out Trigger. You had the perfect moment when he walked out of his office. Silver platter, Trigger,” he made the motion with his hands, “right there for the taking!”
I shrugged. “I enjoy toying with my food.”
“We don’t have the time, and we’re running out of money. At what point will you put a bullet in his head? Because, apparently, you won’t fight him in the ring.”
I shot him a nasty look and waited for him to realize he was too far over the fucking line.
“I thought you were one of us.” I shook my head in disappointment. “Is this because your dick is jealous because she’s marrying my son?”
“No,” he hissed and changed his angle. “It’s because you hit a five-year-old kid across the face, and when he cried, you punched him. He’s an innocent fuckin’ little kid, for Christ’s sake. You didn’t need to do that.”
“Oh, what is it about people and kids? I hit Trigger all the time when he was a kid, and he was fine.” I fixed my collar in the rearview mirror and smiled at the memory.
Police, fire trucks, and an ambulance roared by with their sirens screaming.
“You didn’t need to kill him, and you didn’t need to do it in front of his oldest.”
“I don’t need to kill anyone, but that has never stopped me before. The boy will move on. Kids are resilient.” I pinched my eyebrows and shot him a disgusted look. “Are you next to be killed? Because of all people, I never thought you’d be the one to get soft on me.”
He opened his mouth to speak but then held up a hand as if to stop himself again.
“Wise choice.” I rolled my eyes as I went back to the mirror to make sure I looked just right.
His head dropped to his phone, and his mouth twisted into a thin line.
“What?” I snapped over my shoulder.
“Fox was found dead, shovel to the neck.”
“Well, fuck me, that chick has bigger balls than you.”
Zay closed his phone and bent to get out of the car.
“Hey,” I barked, an
noyed that he left before I had given him permission. “Let’s always remember who helped you when you got sloppy with that Italian hit.”
“That was nine years ago.”
“Yeah, and one picture to the police, and you’ll be in jail for life.”
“So, now you’re blackmailing me?”
“You expected anything less?”
“No.” He paused with his hand on the door handle, eyebrows raised, and waited for me to dismiss him.
I flicked my wrist and eyed my bloody jacket in the back seat. The splatter had stained my clerical collar. Luckily, I had a backup for times like this. It was a hazard of the job, I supposed. A strong surge of pure joy moved through me, and my spine tingled. I could almost feel the energy from his soul entwine with mine and meld with the many others who joined us.
I hummed with my palms downward.
“One down, a few to go.”
Chapter Fourteen
Trigger
Fin’s mouth was open, and his chest heaved, but there was no sound. Denton was stone next to Cray, who still had his backpack in his hands.
Brick ran in, but he was in slow motion. He shouted at Rail, but there was no sound.
Morgan had his gun drawn, and his wild eyes scanned the room along with Cray and Bruce.
Again, no sound.
The muscles in my arms were locked solid, my jaw was clenched so tight I thought my teeth would crack, but above all, the demons within wailed in high-pitched shrieks that made my head pound to their wild beat.
What the fuck just happened?
Where the hell did they come from?
Why the living fuck is the fucking mole staring at the body?
Flashing lights poured through the windows, and the sound of sirens filled the air while the vibration in the floor drew my attention to the guys. They were grabbing the last few bricks of coke from my office as fast as they could, then they slipped out back to hide it under the floor of the pool house. I knew all this, but I stood still. I observed, but I did nothing.
To my surprise, the lights and sirens seemed to move away toward the park.
I locked eyes with Fin. I took in his beaten face. Tears made a path down his dirty cheeks, and my eyes moved to the blood spatter across his white shirt. Fin’s white shirt? Blood on Finny’s white shirt. Suddenly, something inside me broke.
It felt as if someone had turned off the lights, turned off the sound, and I was left in the bottom of a cold, dark cave. The demons were free, and they were hungry. Their claws ripped at the flesh on my bones. They were wild, excited I had finally returned home.
I’d never taken speed, but the way my rage burned through my blood, I felt amped up and racing.
I needed to kill someone, and at this point, anyone would do.
“Trigger?” Tess sounded like she was a million miles away. “Oh, my God, Trigger,” she sobbed with Fin’s face tucked against her stomach. “What happened?”
Her horrified face turned to look over my shoulder, and I barely heard her scream Denton’s name.
Tess started to run to me, but Brick stopped her.
He eyed me carefully before he held up a hand and shook his head.
She looked confused as she sobbed and held the boy, and I felt nothing. Just emptiness. Lost.
I let my gaze fall to my uncle’s lifeless body.
“When was the last time you saw him?” Gus was pissed, but he was good at keeping his voice calm when he spoke to the school. Unlike me. “So, he did meet up with Ryder?” He paused. “Okay, I’ll wait.” He slammed the phone down and eased into the seat with a hiss. He was still in a lot of pain, but he tried to ignore it.
I set a bottle of Coors Light beside him—a shitty beer, but his favorite—and pulled out my phone.
“Ryder,” I said when he answered on the first ring. “Put Fin on the phone.” Gus leaned over the table with his hand stretched out. There was a pause before he spoke.
“I, ah, I can’t do that, boss.”
“Why?”
“Because he’s not with me.”
My eyes shot up to Gus, who was now by the door, ready to leave. “Explain.”
“I met him as usual, and we were walking along the street. The next thing I remember, I’m getting up from the sidewalk. I must have been knocked unconscious, and Fin’s gone. I was just reaching for my phone to call you.”
“When?”
“I just came to. Couldn’t have been out long.”
Shit!
“Morgan!” I shouted, and the entire club went silent. “Get the guys and get out there, find Fin fast.” I could hear their bikes as they fired them up and roared out onto the street. What the fuck was happening here?
Denton came in with Cray, looking confused at the commotion.
“Why are you not in school? Gus shouted.
“I got in trouble, and the school called and got Cray.” Cray came in behind with his book bag.
“Where is Tess?” Gus looked at me, worried. “Where is my youngest? I have a bad feeling.”
Boom!
We were knocked off our feet, momentarily stunned, and the place quickly filled with smoke. I was hit in the back and dropped to my knees. I managed to catch my weight with my hands before my face hit the floor. Black boots came into view, and my head was pulled back by my hair. A rifle butt was shoved in my face, and then I saw him.
“Hello, son.” Allen smiled down at me. “We thought we’d stop by and finish what we started. I’ve been so looking forward to this.”
There was no warning as he let my hair go and stepped toward Gus, and there was no warning as he plunged a knife into my uncle’s chest and ripped it downward, blood spraying everywhere.
Gus’s eyes locked onto mine as his soul was brutally torn from his body.
The only man who meant anything to me, the only person I looked to as a father figure, the only man who truly loved me, was just murdered in front of my eyes.
“You took my life from me, so I plan on removing every last piece of yours. Then I will kill you.”
Just as quickly as they arrived, they disappeared, leaving me with the aftermath. I could barely comprehend what had happened. Where were my men? I could’ve prevented this. I should’ve killed Allen the first time.
This was my fault.
“How the fuck did they get in!” Brick’s booming voice pulled me back.
“Three men dead at the door,” Morgan barked from the doorway.
“Where was Joe?”
Morgan swiped the sweat from his forehead and avoided looking at Gus’s body. “He was watching the back gate tonight.”
The screams became too much. I needed to get out of there.
My foot kicked the bike to life, and I pointed it north. I split traffic and watched as the speedometer climbed along with my adrenaline.
***
Tess
The water beat against my face. I wished it would clear the fog that had wrapped itself tightly around my brain. Every time I thought I couldn’t cry any more, more tears came, which turned into sobs, and then more fog enveloped me. It was a horrible loop, one I knew all too well with Mags’s death. Gus and I had become so close. I thought I had lost him once, and when he was returned to us, I realized how important he had become to me. He made me feel like I was family, even though we weren’t blood related. He filled a hole I never knew I craved—a parent figure.
I pressed my back against the cool wall and let my knees give out until my butt hit the tile. I drew my legs up and tucked myself into a ball and let my soul have its way.
I needed few minutes to be weak, so I could be stronger.
“Where are the boys?” Morgan handed me a glass of whiskey, but I took the bottle instead.
“My bed,” I whispered and ran a hand through my damp hair.
“How are they?”
“Denton has shut down, and Fin cried himself to sleep.”
“And you?”
I shrugged. “I have no idea.”
Big Joe stopped when I turned and glared at him. I couldn’t help but pour every venomous emotion I had been holding back in that one look. It was all directed toward the man in front of me.
“Their father was murdered in their home. How would you be, Joe?”
“Sorry,” he quickly stepped back, “I should be a little more sympathetic.” He turned away, and I fisted the neck of the bottle.
Morgan pinched his brows together before he leaned over the bar top and stared right into my eyes.
“You know.”
“And so do you.” I downed the glass in front of me, hugged the bottle, and walked out back. Instead of going to the pool, I turned and went down the long hallway and into the slaughter room.
The door was locked, but I had seen Trigger use a key before. I rocked up on my toes and reached into the lampshade that was attached to the wall and fished around the bottom of the bowl. I hooked the ring and pulled it free. A long skeleton key hung from a chain with a tag that read “Devil’s Playground.” It was a fitting saying for the use of the room.
Carefully, I turned the lock and headed inside.
It was always so clean, and the smell of bleach burned the lining of my throat. It was oddly comforting.
I flipped on the light above the industrial drain. It was a small light, so the rest of the room remained dark. With the remote in hand, I flicked on the Apple TV and searched for one of Gus’s favorites, “The Sky Is Crying” by Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble. I turned it up, tossed the remote, and made my way over to the weapons hanging on the wall. The whiskey dangled from my fingers, and the amber sloshed around in the body of the bottle.
I ran my hand along the bat I had used to kill Clark. My fingers dipped along the grooves, and my eyes shut at the memory.
“The only reason he’s even paying attention to you, sweetheart, is because he’s trying to get my attention.” My mother gave me a smirk when she saw the damage her words did to me. “You’re nothing but a steppingstone.”
I shook my head clear and moved on to the ball on the end of a leather tether.