******
I open to my eyes, seeing nothing but smoke, as my sister lets out a howl that sends chills down my spine.
“Cass?” I mumble.
“She’s okay. They’re looking at her now.” The paramedic who put an oxygen mask on my face says. “I need you to stay calm and let me evaluate you, before taking you to the hospital.”
“Where’s my sister?” I ask.
“She’s with Text.” I hear Gamble’s gruff voice, and I can tell it’s filled with sadness.
“What’s wrong?” I worry.
“You need to concentrate on staying calm. We can talk later.” He’s being tender with me.
“Is it Cass? Did something happen to her? I’m not going to stay calm, until I know what the fuck is going on.” My voice is muffled because of the mask. I try to take it off, but his hand covers mine, preventing me from removing it.
“Will you please keep that on and listen to the paramedic, or I’ll spank you into submission.”
“Promises, promises.” I mumble, hoping he didn’t hear me. “Gamble, please.”
“Your sister and Text are talking to the detective about Rocko.”
“Oh, thank God they found my little man. Is he okay?” I ask with a smile on my face, but I look into his eyes, knowing the answer.
“Let me up.” I say, pushing all their hands away from me. “Don’t touch me. I’ll sign the waiver, so you don’t get in trouble. I need to be with my sister.” The paramedic and Gamble both argue with me, but I’m not listening. Trying to stand, I realize my legs are weak, so I lean up against the paramedic, trying to get everything working again.
Finally, I’m able to go check on Cass. The paramedic thinks she has a concussion and needs to go get checked out, so Gamble is sending a prospect with her, until I can get there.
“You touch her inappropriately, and I’ll cut your dick off.” I warn him. He chuckles, but I stare at him with no emotion in my eyes. “Cass, I’ll be there soon, but I need to check on Chelsea.”
“You go be with her, and I’m sorry about your nephew.” She says, pointing to the black coroner’s van pulling in. I feel completely sick to my stomach, but I start walking towards my sister, as I feel a mountain following me.
“Do you need to be so close?” I stop, and his body collides with mine. I fall forward, but his strong arms come around my waist, holding me steady.
“Yes. Let’s go.” He releases me, and I walk faster towards my sister.
“Ma’am, I need to take him with me.” The woman in a black Coroner’s jacket is trying to talk to my sister. “I promise to treat him as if he were mine. I need to find out what monster did this.” Her tone is one of gentleness and not demanding at all.
“Chelsea.” I cry, looking at her cradling my nephew, playing with his black curls. She rocks him, while singing a lullaby my gram used to sing to us that she wrote. I sit down next to her, laying my head on her shoulder and join her with the lullaby.
After a while, I know I need to help her let him go. “Chelsea honey, it’s time.” I tell her through the sobbing. She shakes her head no, and I know this is the hardest thing she has ever had to do.
“Honey, we need to do this.” She looks at me, and it tears me into a million pieces, but she finally nods and releases him.
“Thank you.” The coroner says to me.
“Come on, babe. Let’s get up.” I help her stand and grab her shoulders, making her face me. “We will find out who did this, they will go to jail, and we will bring justice to Rocko. The court system will make this right.”
“Fuck the courts. I want whoever did this dead. I want to him to suffer with pain as his heart is ripped from his chest.” Her tone is full of hatred. “If you can’t get behind it, you need to leave. The club will take care of this. That’s for damn sure.” She says, before walking away.
“They do things in their own way, but I need to be a step ahead of them. I wouldn’t want to arrest a grieving mother for the death of whoever did this.” I see the detective standing there. “It’s going to be hard, but this just made my job a lot harder. I never thought Rocko would be killed.”
“What did you think was going to happen? I mean, you dismissed this case because he was a biker’s kid. Did you do anything at all?”
“This is the grief talking, and I’ll let it slide this time.” He sternly tells me.
“No, it isn’t. I’m a damn good defense attorney, and I’d sue you, if my sister and brother-in-law were my clients. You let others look without any effort from you. I don’t care if he was a drug dealer’s son. This was a young child taken from his home, and they ended his life, before he could truly live. He’s lost out on graduating, becoming a firefighter, falling in love, getting married, or have children of his own. Get off your damn high horse about who his parents are and do your damn job.” I say, stomping away towards to the clubhouse. My car isn’t drivable, and I need to get to the hospital with Cass and get the hell out of here. I can’t be around that detective or around my sister because I can’t watch her go down that destructive path.
“Where are you going?” Text asks behind me, as I walk into the shared area, looking for a phone.
“To the hospital to be with Cass, and I’m renting a car to go home.”
“I knew you wouldn’t be here for your sister.”
‘Hey!” I yell at his retreating back, and he stops and stares at me.
“I love my sister, but I can’t be here, when she goes after the person or persons responsible. She’d never forgive herself.”
“Look around here. You and your foster daughter were nearly killed, and my son was!” He yells. “The court system won’t do a damn thing to help us. I’d never let your sister get her hands bloody. I will kill the son of a bitch myself. I might need a good defense attorney to get me off. You know anyone?” He smirks.
“Why do you hate me?” The look of shock on his face makes me smile.
“I don’t hate you. I just wish you could see past all of this and just be there for her.” He motions around the club.
“I’m jealous, okay.” I look away, trying not to face him. “You love my sister, and it used to be just the two of us. Now, you are the center of her world, and I miss my relationship with her. I’ve only stayed away, because she doesn’t need me, when she has you.”
“She needs you more than you know. Yes, I’m her husband, but you are her best friend.” I begin to cry, as he opens his arms to me. I sob into his shoulder, as he tries to soothe me. “Come on. Let's go check in on Cass and make a game plan. You’re not leaving anytime soon. One of the prospects will drive you to the hospital. I’m going to get Chelsea, so we can head there, and Shawna is staying with my mom here. She’ll be safe.” I look to the clubhouse, and my heart sinks, knowing Shawna will never know what a great big brother Rocko was to her.
We go our separate ways, and I get into the backseat of a black sedan with the windows tinted. “Jesus Christ. You scared me.” I say, grabbing my beating heart, and Gamble is sitting there smiling.
Damn, this man is driving me crazy.
Gamble
“Sorry. I wanted to go to the hospital too, but I wanted to give them some time alone. Plus, I didn’t want you to be by yourself.”
“Thank you.”
We ride in silence, and my mind is racing. I don’t understand her way of thinking. I overheard her talking to Freeman and to Text. She’s a mystery I haven’t been able to solve.
“I heard that you found Rocko. How are you holding up? I know you love him as much as I do.” She whispers, holding onto my hand.
“I don’t think I can comprehend what happened. When I get back to the compound, I’ll deal with it.” I tell her. “Prospect, I need you to pull up in front of the ER, drop off Melissa, and then take me around to the coroner’s office.” He nods, letting me know he will follow my orders.
When we pull up, he lets Melissa out at the doors, and I get out of the car, once we get around to the
other side. “Go guard Cass and Melissa. I know they aren’t alone, but whoever killed Rocko and attempted to blow those two up, may try to finish the job.”
“Yes, sir. Can I ask a question?” He asks, and I nod.
“Do you think this could be connected to the lawyer and not us?”
“I have thought about that too, but I don’t want to add that guilt to her, until it’s necessary.”
He nods, and I walk inside, heading down the long hall and stop at the desk. “Hello darlin’. I was wondering if I could speak to the coroner on duty?” I smile at her, and she giggles. “What’s your name?”
“I’m Stacy and very single.”
“I’m Gamble.” I say, throwing her a quick wink, and she points to a set of doors. I thank her and walk into the autopsy room. I see Rocko laying there, and I choke on a sob.
“Can I help you?” The blonde lady snaps at me.
“Uh, yeah. I’m the one who found Rocko, and I was wondering if you had some answers yet.”
“Are you assigned to the case?” I raise my eyebrow, looking down to my cut, black t-shirt, and ripped jeans.
“No, but Rocko is my godson.”
“I’m sorry for your loss, but I can’t give you the file.” She tells me.
“What can I do to get it?” I’m almost begging her.
“Sir…” she starts again, but we’re interrupted.
“Hello. My name is Melissa Monroe, I’m an attorney, and I’m representing Rocko’s family. We’re putting together a lawsuit against the police department, so I’m going to need the file to determine if the actions of the head detective, or rather lack of action, is a factor.” Melissa states, standing there with puffy eyes, and her t-shirt still covered in dried blood. The coroner nods and walks out of the room, and we both follow.
“What are you doing?” I lean in and whisper.
“Shut up.” She snaps.
We stop at the desk, where Stacy’s standing and talking to the doctor.
“Stacy will get you the paperwork. He was alive up until about three hours ago. There was no sexual assault. I know Detective Freeman, and I believe he did everything in his power to find this child.”
“Thank you. I’ll add that to the report.” Melissa says, writing something down in a notebook.
“Here you go.” Stacy says, handing Melissa the file. “Gamble, maybe we can go out sometime?”
“Not a good time, sweetheart.” She pokes her lip out, but I ignore her. She’s not even on my radar right now. Melissa gives a little annoyed huff, as we walk away, but I choose to ignore her too, but I find it amusing she’s jealous. “So, tell me. Are you suing Freeman?”
“I don’t know yet. I’m serious about going after him though, if his lack of action is the cause of what happened, but I knew you wouldn’t get the autopsy report any other way. So, there are some inconsistencies in the file, but a lot of the tests aren’t back.”
“I would’ve gotten her to give it to me somehow.” We get off the elevators and see Cass sitting there, holding ice on the bump on her forehead, and she’s with the prospects.
Melissa doesn’t look too good, and she starts to wobble, before falling to the floor. I couldn’t catch her quick enough, but I immediately start yelling for help.
Nurses rush over, and she is taken straight back. Now, everyone is sitting in the waiting room, since we aren’t family. I get a message from Chelsea and Text, letting me know they are at the funeral home, planning to get everything for Rocko set up. After a while, Melissa finally comes out of the double doors, and I jump up and walk over to her.
“I’m okay. It’s just smoke inhalation, and the adrenaline rush wore off. I’m supposed to go home and get some rest.”
“Let’s go back to the compound.” We all walk out to the bikes, vans, and cars, and then head home.
“Do you think the coroner will tell Freeman about what I said?”
“She already did.” I say, pointing to the parking lot with a few other police cars and lights flashing.
We exit the vehicle, and I start in, “Freeman, what are you doing here?”
“I have a search warrant.” He says, holding up the paper.
“For what?”
“For her. You want to come into my city and act like you own it? Well, think again.” He snaps at Melissa, as I get in between them.
“Don’t threaten me. My nephew is dead, and I’m going to make sure someone is held accountable for it. You sat on your fucking ass the whole time, until my daughter and I were almost blown up. Don’t stand there thinking you’re innocent in any of this.” She says calmly. “I have nothing to hide, so go ahead and look at my car. The fire department put out the flames, so you might be able to find something that didn’t burn. Plus, I don’t have anything inside, because my bag was in the damn car.” She snaps, and Freeman seems pissed off.
“I’m not done.” He says, pointing to me.
“You don’t have shit on me.” I say, walking away, and then hear him slam the door and start his car up. The burning rubber of his tires tickles my nose, but it also brings a smirk to my face, knowing he wasted a trip out here for nothing.
I head over and sit down at the shared tables with the rest of my men. My mind begins to race, thinking about the best way to handle this. It takes me a while, but it finally hits me. I need to call in the other chapters to help us, so we can find the monsters who killed a young child.
I get up from the table and walk into my office. Sitting down at my desk, I see my vice president, Patriot, standing there. “What’s up?” He says, sitting down in the chair in front of me.
“Melissa got us the autopsy report for Rocko. I’m going to look it over and make some notes, before I call in the other chapters for help.”
“I will make the call for you. Plus, Rocko needs to have a proper send off. Do you think Chelsea will object?”
“I don’t think so, and it will be better for the other guys to be here anyway.” He nods and heads to his desk, while I try to process this damn report. There’s a mark on his back that is noted, but nothing about what it looks like. “Where are the photos?” I mutter.
I look up the number to the front desk of the hospital and hit dial, hoping Stacy is still there.
“Hello?”
“Hi. Is this Stacy?”
“Yes. Who’s calling?”
“This is Gamble. I was there earlier today. Listen, I need a favor. Can you send me the pictures of the young boy from the report we got? It says something about marks on his body, but they aren’t noted anywhere for what they look like.”
“What will you give me?” She says, and I laugh into the phone.
“I might change my mind for you, sweetheart. Just let me get this shit handled first,” She giggles, and says she will send them over.
Damn, I’m good. It pays to sweet talk sometimes.
After a bit, I hear a commotion coming from the common room. “What the fuck?” Patriot and I head out to the yelling, seeing it’s Text and Chelsea followed by Freeman.
“Do you want to hear this bullshit?” Chelsea slurs. Oh, no. They must have stopped at the bar. “He’s trying to arrest me for being drunk.”
“She got into an argument with the bar owner.” Text tells me.
“Are you arresting her?” I ask Freeman, and he nods.
“The bar owner is pressing charges, and they wanted to get their lawyer.” I nod, heading to wake up Melissa.
Melissa
I feel someone lightly shaking me in the dark. “Melissa, wake up. Chelsea needs you.” Gamble whispers into my ear.
“What?” I groggily answer.
“There was some trouble tonight, and she’s in the shared area with cuffs on.” I throw off the covers, forgetting I’m in a t-shirt. “Sorry, I’ll let you get dressed.”
“I just need my jeans. All of my clothes were burned, so I had to borrow this shirt from Chelsea.” I finish up, and then follow Gamble down the hallway.
“Where
is she?”
“Freeman took her. Gamble, the bar owner was running his mouth about Rocko, saying she finally was getting what was coming to her. I think he knows something.” Text tells us.
“Rooster take Melissa to the police station. Everyone else, but the prospects and a couple of members, stay here and protect the women and children. Let’s ride to the bar.” Gamble says.
“Who is the bar owner?” I ask.
“His name is Matthew Bale.” Text says, and I abruptly stop. Oh, my fucking God. This isn’t about Chelsea. No, it’s about me.
“Where’s my phone?” I frantically search my pockets, but I can’t find it, so Gamble hands me his phone to use. “Thanks.” I quickly dial my office and talk to my secretary. I ask her to send me the files on the Bale case, and she says she will have them there first thing tomorrow.
“Fuck.”
“Care to share?” Text asks, standing in the doorway, but I can’t make eye contact with him. “Mel, what’s going on?”
“I defended a man named Henry Bale a few years ago. He was accused of murder, and he was found guilty. He has been making appeals, and the last one was denied a week ago. He hung himself two nights ago. My secretary just told me. She’s sending me everything from the trial, including my notes. I think Rocko’s death might be fault.”
The realization hits me out of nowhere, and I fall to my knees. The weight of the world comes crashing down on me, and I can’t breathe. How could I let these people into my life? How could I let them know my family? How could I let this happen?
“I’m so sorry.” I keep repeating it over and over.
Text says something, but I can’t hear him, because everything sounds muffled to me. “I’ll deal with Matthew. He crossed the wrong aunt.”
After I’m finally calm enough to breathe on my own, I get up and walk towards the closed gate. I ask the guy to open it, as I hear Text yelling at him not too.
“Stick stop! This isn’t your fault. Let the club handle it. Now, let’s go get my wife out of jail. We need to lay my son to rest, before we take justice into our own hands. He deserves that.” I nod, hanging my head. “I don’t blame you, and Chelsea won’t either.”
Twisted Tales of Mayhem Page 52