“You think that scares us? Your son has already brought a fed to our door, and it’s only a matter of time before more show up.”
The guy frowns, seeming confused.
“That’s not true. I made enquires on our way here with an old colleague, and no one is looking into your club.”
With the need for a cigarette growing, I nod for the prospect to open the gate.
“My guys will search you, and then we’ll carry on this conversation inside.”
Moving forward, Sparky and Slade pat them both down and step back, satisfied they’re clean.
“We’re not stupid, and this isn’t our first fight with a club like yours. Give us our son, and we’ll leave as quietly as we arrived,” the woman says.
Ignoring her, I head for the bar, the rat’s parents in tow.
I have seconds to work out how to play this.
“Who the fuck are they?” Pope bellows from his table, cleaning his gun.
“Brothers, meet the rat’s mommy and daddy,” I yell out, loud enough to be heard by everyone. “They want him back, but like I’ve already told them, he’s not here.”
“Cut the shit—” the woman starts, but is cut off when two British gangsters walk through the door.
“Sorry to interrupt. Seeing as we were passing through, I thought we’d pop in.”
Jamie Boy waltzes across the bar, followed by a man I’m assuming is the King we’ve yet to meet in person—Austin Hayward.
What the fuck are they doing here?
“Why don’t you wait in my office while I deal with—”
“We’d rather wait here,” Jamie Boy interjects, a smile I don’t like forming on his lips.
Ethan’s father whispers in the woman’s ear, and Austin narrows his eyes.
“It’s fucking rude to whisper. What are you, twelve?”
“So is murdering police officers. By the way, how is your uncle?” the guy snaps.
Jamie Boy chuckles lightly. “He’s well. We’ll be sure to pass on your best wishes.”
A moment of silence passes between them, and I step in to calm the situation.
“I’m sure your son will be in contact when he can.”
“We’re not leaving without him. You have ten minutes, or he makes a call. And, if anything should happen to stop us from making that call, we have reassurances in place, so tick tock. Time’s a wastin’.”
Jamie Boy saunters over to them.
“Your son is a grass. You, more than anyone, knows how grasses are dealt with.”
“He hasn’t shared anything.”
“And you expect us to believe that?” I bark. “Besides, because of your son, an innocent girl was taken by Bert Collins and returned with life-changing injuries.”
The woman’s face pales. “What kind of injuries?”
Looking down to her gloved hands, I smirk. “Injuries you yourself know all too well.”
She pales and looks to her retired fed. For a beat, they remind me of Alannah and I. They don’t speak a word, they simply stare at one another, sharing a silent conversation. He shakes his head at her, but she turns to me and says, “Why are you so sure he’s leaked information on your club?”
“We’ve had a fed sniffing around for the last few weeks, asking questions about shit he shouldn’t even know about, so don’t tell me he hasn’t brought a fed to town.”
“But there hasn’t been anyone sanctioned to look into your club,” the guy repeats, again sounding so fucking genuine, I almost believe him.
The woman runs her hands through her hair and sighs. “We’re not getting anywhere here. Tell us what we need to do, and we’ll do it.”
“I’ll need to speak with my brothers before going further.”
“Then I suggest you don’t take too long.”
She’s strong-willed, I’ll give her that.
“Tell me, how far are you willing to go to save your boy?”
“I’d burn the whole damn world down for him.”
The fed steps up beside her. “You don’t have long. We’ll wait outside.”
Jerking my chin, I nod for Mitch to follow them out, and turn to Jamie Boy.
“I told you today wasn’t a good day. Is there a reason you still decided to show up?”
Wiping imaginary lint off his jacket sleeve, he shrugs. “We told you we stand by our partners. Our deal is too lucrative to let anything happen to it.”
I’m glad he’s still thinking of the future, because I can’t see past today.
“What exactly is your problem?” Austin asks, stepping forward.
“Currently, we have a brother in the hands of someone who thinks he killed his son, another brother who’s a fucking rat, and the possibility of the feds showing up.”
“Sounds like run-of-the-mill, day-to-day problems to me,” he scoffs, as if it’s nothing.
Everyone looks to him, eyes wide. I want to slap the shit out of him.
“Maybe where you’re from, but here, in my club, shit doesn’t go down like that. We stay quiet, and stay off of anyone’s radar.”
Jamie Boy moves closer to his brother’s side, while my brothers remain quiet, letting me handle this.
“What my brother means to say is, these problems are easily handled.”
“We have a retired fed out there wanting something valuable from us, something we don’t want to give up, and something they’ll rain havoc over us to get, but we still have the upper hand.”
Pope rubs his chin thoughtfully. “What are you thinking, Cas?”
“We’re going to use the fed to get Dex back, then make them and their rat son disappear. Do we need a vote?”
Not one brother disagrees, so I call for Mitch. The fed and his woman walk in behind him, and I grab one of Sparky’s smokes. Rolling it between my fingers, the urge to light it up nearly consumes me, but I’d rather live than die over something that won’t bring me any long-term satisfaction.
Jamie Boy sits back in his seat, while Austin stands where he is, his shoulders set.
“I hope you’ve made the right call,” the woman proclaims, not intimidated by any of us.
“That fed you’re so sure isn’t sniffing around us is currently beaten and tied up in a bathtub by a guy named Bert Collins.” They’re outsiders, so I’m careful how I word what I say next. “Bert believes we killed his son, and now he has one of our brothers.”
Her stone façade cracks slightly, and she steps closer to me. I don’t think she’s even aware she’s done it.
“He’s here because of Danny?” she whispers.
The fed moves behind her and squeezes her shoulders. There’s obviously a story there, but I don’t care to hear it.
“Help get our brother back and clear up the mess with the fed, and we’ll talk further.”
It’s the fed who speaks up. “We’ll need more than that. We want our son.”
“We’re not without means or inclination to fight to the death,” she adds.
“I’ll add something else, then. Make it so we definitely have no fed heat on us when we’re done, and you’ll get your son back.”
Holding her hand out, I take a beat before I reach out and shake it.
“We have a deal.”
Yeah, we do, but I didn’t say we’d return him alive, or that they’d leave the same way.
“Now we want to see him, make sure he’s okay.”
“That’s not going to happen,” Sparky says, clearing his throat. “The deal’s been made, now we move.”
“We’ll move once we’ve seen him.”
Christ, this woman doesn’t back down. She kind of reminds me of Alannah.
“You can video call him. Like I said, he’s not here.”
When she finally nods, I tilt my head toward Slade to set it up. The sooner this is over, the fucking better.
Chapter Fourteen
Tal
A phone is thrust in my face. Leaning back as much as I can with the wall behind me, my mom’s face fills the screen.
“Mom?”
The tightness around her mouth relaxes, but she doesn’t smile. She’s pissed. The camera swings to my father, and then both of them share the screen. When I realise they’re in the bar, I close my eyes and sigh.
I knew my dad was in town, but he said Mom wasn’t. I should’ve expected him to tell her what I was up to when I made Holly call him. And with them at the clubhouse, Holly managed to make the call successfully.
“I’m not even going to try and understand what the hell you think is it you’re doing here, but you’re most certainly going to explain it when we go home.”
Go home?
After everything I’ve been through, my heart hasn’t pounded so hard. When Cas called out my birth name, the thought of going home went up in flames.
“Hold tight. And for the love of all that’s holy, don’t get yourself into any more trouble.”
JJ ends the call before I can pose my own questions, and shoves it into his back pocket.
“Not so tough now, are you, needing Mommy and Daddy to come save your ass,” he snipes.
I look over at Holly, and when she notices me watching her, she looks away. I know I deserve it, but I need her to know and believe how sorry I am.
“Holly, talk to me, please,” I beg.
“What’s there to talk about? I was taken against my will, punched repeatedly, tied up, had my hands torched, and now I’m being held by a bunch of bikers who seem to think I’ve been working against them because of you.”
“I’m so sorry…”
“So you keep saying, but it does nothing to make me feel better. You got me into this mess, and even if you get me out, I’ll never forgive you.”
I shouldn’t want her to forgive me. She’s going to be reminded of what happened to her every time she looks at her hands, but I do want it, and that makes me an asshole.
“The club will let you go. They’re just shook at the moment.”
Sweat pebbles across her forehead and drips down her cheek. Using her bandaged hand, she wipes it away, and I frown. She’s paler than she was this morning.
“How are you feeling?”
“Just fine,” she spits out.
The doors to the old mill open, and Zach and Leo walk in, laden with bags of takeout from the diner. Dumping it all on an old wooden table, I look back to Holly.
“Whatever happens, I’ll make sure the club knows you had nothing to do with this.”
“Forgive me if I don’t have much hope of them believing you.”
“She’s got a point, rat.”
Leo’s shadow looms over us. Digging out a wrapped-up burger from the bag, he crouches down in front of Holly.
“You must be hungry.”
“I’m not. Besides, I can’t exactly feed myself,” she snaps.
Dumping the food bag onto the floor, he unwraps the burger and says, “I was given a bottle of pain pills you’re gonna want soon. You shouldn’t take them on an empty stomach.”
I narrow my eyes, wondering what his game is. Why would he care about her?
“Just a couple of bites,” he urges, holding it up for her.
Leaning in, she takes a small bite, all while keeping her eyes on him. Chewing and swallowing her first bite, she takes another.
Nodding that she’s had enough, he backs off, tossing the half-eaten burger to the floor.
“Please, let me go. I have nothing to do with this, and I don’t feel so great. I need to go to the hospital.”
I can’t see his face, but he tilts his head to the side. Leo hasn’t been the same since India was killed; he’s quieter and colder. Having his attention on Holly now doesn’t sit well with me.
“It’s true. She had no idea what I was up to. And she’s right, she should be at a hospital.”
He spins around and glares at me. “It’s your fault she’s here.” Grabbing a bottle of water, he dumps it onto my lap, digs out her pain pills, and hands them to me.
Though it’s difficult with the restraints, I scoot closer to her, open the pill bottle, and shake two into my palm before opening the water. Raising my hands as high as I can, I put the pills into her mouth and hold the water bottle for her to swallow them down.
“You better hope Mommy and Daddy meet the terms for your life, or I’m going to enjoy ripping you apart,” Myles snickers from where he sits at the old wooden table, his feet resting atop it.
They find Holly’s surprised gasp amusing.
“They’re going to kill us,” she whispers, a small tear running down her cheek.
“No, they’re not. They want to kill me, but my parents will get us out before that can happen. They’re more bark than bite. You have nothing to fear.”
She holds her bandaged hands up. “I have everything to fear.”
Chapter Fifteen
Dex
After enough time passes, you stop thinking the past will rear its ugly head and try to end you. I always hear life moves on, but for this guy, nothing has moved anywhere. I don’t particularly blame him; his son was killed. It doesn’t matter to him that Danny came after us, and if I were in his position, I’d do the same for my children.
I just hope the club can find me in time.
I test the rope tying me to the chair, but it doesn’t budge an inch. It’s not like I can make a run for it, but still, instinct has me at least trying.
I run my tongue over the split on my top lip, tasting blood. The air hits the open wound on my cheek, and I try not to flinch. I can barely breathe from where the sick prick busted at least two of my ribs.
While I wait for the club to track me down, I reassess the situation I find myself in.
Bert hasn’t moved from the chair facing mine in this rundown motel room. The old prick hasn’t laid a finger on me yet, choosing instead to order his guys to inflict pain on me.
“I have eleven kids by eight different mothers. Eight sons and three daughters, and Danny was the only one I gave a shit about. He was the only one I saw myself in. You could say he’s the only one I cared enough to be a father to… well, as close to one as I knew how to be.”
I can’t bring myself to wonder too deeply how he fathered, because Danny was an asshole who got what he deserved. He took Oak from us, a sin that had to be paid for with his life.
“I want you to tell me every detail of how my son was killed.”
“I’m surprised you don’t already know, as you seem to know everything else.”
I limit the sarcasm. I don’t want to push him over the edge completely.
He waves his hand dismissively. “Talk.”
If I give him what he wants, he won’t hesitate to end me. Instead, I divulge, “I loved Melissa. She was unlike any woman I’d ever met before.” Raking up old memories of her, ones I’d long ago buried, seems wrong. Libby is my life now. “Our relationship wasn’t exactly typical, but when I had to shoot her, there was no question I wouldn’t hesitate to end her life over Cas’s.”
“I could care less about her, and I know all about loyalties to a president. Get to what I want to hear.”
“Why did you burn her hands. You’ve been watching us for a while, so you knew she wasn’t one of us,” I ask instead.
A slow smile spreads across his face, and I sigh with relief at buying myself a few more moments.
“The man you call Tal is Ethan McGregor, and the same thing happened to his mom many years ago. I like it when history repeats itself. It makes me feel as young as I was the first time it happened.”
I stay quiet, allowing him to continue. “Ethan’s dad is an undercover agent, since retired, and because of him, I spent twenty years behind bars. I learned long ago, when I want someone’s attention, you have to set the flames high.”
What the fuck? Tal’s our fucking rat?
“I knew who he was as soon as I stepped into the diner. He’s the spitting image of his father, and that’s a face you never forget. I told the girl who he was, and by now, I imagine Cas knows the truth.”
“There’s something I need to tell you. I wasn’t the one who killed your boy—Cas did.”
Bert’s eyes narrow, his hands clenching into fists.
“I was there. I remember everything that happened to him. First, he got beat so bad, he couldn’t even remember his own name, but that didn’t stop him from running his mouth. Then, one by one, he lost his fingers. More beatings followed, and then he was stabbed repeatedly until he choked on his own blood. I watched him take his last breath.”
If pain had a taste, I’d be feasting on Bert’s right now. “While rigor set in, my brothers and I partied above him. We got so drunk, he wasn’t even a memory. He was a nobody, and no one has thought about him since that day. He lived for nothing.”
Launching out of his chair, Bert backhands me so hard, my teeth shake with the force.
Gripping onto my cut, the leather squeaks as he twists it in his hands. Spit lands on my cheek from his heavy breathing, but I keep eye contact with him.
“What are you going to do, old man? One good punch will shatter your hands. You’re so frail, it’s embarrassing.”
Goading him ignites his anger, and I brace myself for the beating equal to the one his son received all those years ago. But when the door opens, and one of his men slips inside, inclining his head for Bert’s attention, it doesn’t come.
It takes a moment, but he releases my cut and shoves into my chest before joining his guy.
“One of the runners spotted five Lost Souls riding out to an old warehouse on the edge of town with the girl and the fed’s son.”
Bert turns to me. “What are they doing out there?”
I lift my shoulders as much as my restraints will allow. He must be out of his mind if he thinks I’ll give up information on the club’s movements. Not that I know what they’re doing, but my guess is, Cas is getting the rat and the girl away from the clubhouse because he’s expecting unwelcome company.
The Club Betrayal: #8 Sons of Lost Souls MC series Page 8