SURVIVING SAVANNAH: GODS OF CHAOS MC (BOOK 16)

by Honey Palomino

  “Hey man,” I answered.

  “Blade, how’s it going?” he asked. “You at your sister’s place?”

  “Sure am,” I said. “Been tinkering around with my old bike and I got it running.”

  “Right on,” he answered. “Listen, I’m calling to fill you in on what we’ve found out since we saw you earlier. Riot talked to the girl at Cherry’s salon and got some names and information.”

  “Shoot.”

  “Okay, so the two girls who were killed were both killed right after they graduated from high school. Each one of them within a week of the ceremony. Both from prominent families.”

  “You got names?”

  “Yep. The first girl was Lillian Beddingham. She was the great-granddaughter of —.”

  “—Anson Charles Beddingham, the Third.”

  “That’s right. Know him?”

  “I know of him,” I said. “Everyone in town knows who that asshole is. I’m surprised he’s still alive, actually.”

  “Yeah, he’s in his nineties. Lillian was killed on her birthday, two years ago in June. No arrests. No suspects. Barely an investigation, which seems odd if she came from such a prominent family.”

  “It does,” I agreed.

  “The second girl’s name is Josephine Carlisle. She was killed the summer after she graduated, also on her birthday, last summer. Both girls had just turned eighteen. Josephine’s parents are both real estate agents in town and well-known for their fundraising efforts for various children’s charities. They’ve only been in Savannah for about twenty years.”

  “I don’t know them,” I replied.

  “So, Riot spoke with Trudy, Cherry’s friend. Trudy said the townsfolk are under the impression that the murders are going to keep happening every year now. This would be the third year and that’s why everyone is on edge, keeping their teenage daughters close. It’s all speculation, of course. Trudy was friends with Josephine. Before she died, Trudy said Josephine was convinced something was wrong. She felt like she was being followed. She was sure someone was going through her possessions, in both her room and her car. When she told her parents about it, they dismissed her concerns. Trudy said once Josephine was found dead, her parents didn’t seem to be too upset, especially her father.”

  “Wow,” I said. “Where were the bodies found?”

  “Both were dumped at the same place. Bonaventure Cemetery,” he replied.

  “Jesus,” I muttered.

  “Know the place?”

  “Very well,” I said, pushing away the memories of all those hours walking along the graves with Rose.

  Bonaventure is much more than a cemetery, it’s an almost two-hundred acre adventure. One of the biggest tourist attractions in Savannah, it’s the burial sight of a few famous people and the monuments that honor them — everything from statues to gardens to ancient trees — are sprinkled all throughout the many meandering pathways throughout the place.

  You never know what you’ll see around any corner, and the lush landscaping — with its ancient live oaks stretching its twisted branches over the ground, the long, fuzzy, silvery, trailing moss draping every branch and waving in the breeze — make it feel like the earth itself is dancing around you, reminding you of just how very much alive you still are, compared to those souls now buried in the ground around you.

  “Grace and I are going to take a trip there to check it out today, just to see what we’re dealing with.”

  “It’s a beautiful place. I hate thinking some asshole dumped some girl’s bodies there. Do you know specifically where in the cemetery it was?”

  “At the gravesite of someone named Little Gracie.”

  “Fuck,” I shook my head, anger rising in my chest. “Little Gracie was a six year-old that died of pneumonia and her parents had a monument made to honor her. It’s a beautiful statue, made to her likeness. There’s an iron fence around her grave, but it's one of the more popular monuments in the park.”

  “The bodies were both placed inside the fence and displayed in some elaborate manor, but the details are sketchy and haven’t been officially released.”

  “That’s a lot of trouble to go through,” I said.

  “Someone’s trying to make a point,” Ryder said.

  “And we have to figure out what that is,” I said.

  “Exactly,” he agreed.

  “Any change in Cherry’s condition?”

  “Unfortunately not,” he said, his voice lowering. It was obvious he cared a great deal about this woman. I was looking forward to meeting her. The Gods talked about her like she was a legend. “Riot’s going to keep digging and Grace and I are going to head out in a bit. Let me know if you find out anything I need to know.”

  “I’m going out tonight to talk to people. I’ll keep you posted.”

  “Thanks, Blade,” he said, hanging up the phone.

  I shoved my phone in my pocket, along with the keys to my bike, and headed back into the house. Sera was cleaning up from dinner and I joined her in the kitchen.

  “Where’s Snake?”

  She rolled her eyes. “I wish you wouldn’t encourage that name.”

  “Why?”

  “Because I want him to be able to get a job someday. Changing your name to ‘Snake’ is almost as bad as getting a tattoo on your face.”

  I laughed, shaking my head. “No, it isn’t. It’s probably just a phase. He’ll grow out of it. Let him have his fun. He’s just a kid, Sis.”

  “Yeah, well, so were you when everyone started calling you ‘Blade’ and you still go by that.”

  “That may be true, but I’m doing alright for myself.”

  “I’d say so, considering that car.”

  “It’s a rental,” I shrugged. “And I hate it.”

  “I heard your bike start up out there,” she said.

  “Yeah, gonna head out on it in a while,” I said.

  “Well, a lot has changed in Savannah since you were here, so be prepared for that.”

  “Like what?”

  “Well, growth, mainly. The population is soaring, people moving here all the time. Foodies everywhere. Opened up all those trendy little vegan restaurants, like anyone in all of Georgia is gonna eat that crap.”

  “It’s not so bad,” I shrugged.

  She raised a brow and burst out laughing.

  “Oh, please, when’s the last time you ate something green?”

  “I had a tofu and spinach bowl the other day in Portland with my friend Slade,” I said.

  “Is that so? Well, maybe things are changing all over the place.”

  “So, what else has changed?”

  “Oh, you know. People died, kids were born. Marriages, divorces, cheating scandals. I could tell you stories for days.”

  “I bet you could,” I laughed, grabbing a beer from her fridge and popping it open. I took a big long drink, the cold amber liquid coursing through me.

  “Any Denny sightings?”

  “No, the fucker,” she scoffed. Denny was Snake’s dad, and he had gone AWOL shortly after he was born.

  “Fucker,” I agreed, shaking my head.

  “I heard there’s been a couple of murders the last few years. Some creepy shit everyone is talking about?”

  I tried to ask carefully, but again, she can see right through me.

  “Why are you here?” she asked again, bluntly. Sera knew I’d joined up with the Gods. She knew what we did, in the vaguest of terms. I’d never really gone into detail about how we did what we did, as much as I told her what we did. I always figured the less she knew, the better.

  “I’m investigating a case,” I admitted.

  “What case? The murders?”

  “Sort of,” I shrugged.

  “How many questions do I have to ask you to get a straight answer? Spill it!” she insisted.

  “Fine,” I laughed. She’d always had a relentless pursuit for the truth, coupled with extreme impatience. “An old friend of the club was investigating the mur
ders of the two girls. She was here in town and was in an accident. Her sister thinks it was foul play. We’re here checking things out.”

  “And if it was? Foul play?”

  “I’m not sure,” I shrugged, again. “We’ll go where the information takes us.”

  “Who is us? I thought you were alone.”

  “I’m not alone, I’m with a few other people,” I said. “But remember, you don’t know a thing.”

  “I see,” she said. “I knew you didn’t come just to visit.”

  “Sis, as much as I love you and Snake, you know this isn’t my favorite place in the world.”

  “It was at one time,” she said.

  “Maybe,” I replied. “But that was a lifetime ago. I’m not the same person I was when I left.”

  “No, you aren’t,” she agreed. “I guess none of us are the same as we were back then.”

  “Do you miss it? Our youth? The good ol’ days?”

  “Sure, don’t you?”

  “I try not to,” I said.

  “You never should have left,” she said. She’d said this to me countless times over the years.

  “You know I had to,” I said. After her dog was killed, Sera grew up rather quickly. She understood how this town worked back then and she surely understood it now.

  “I still think you should have stayed. It’s not like Rose was happy after you broke up. She got with Derek and she was miserable. I’m pretty sure she’s still miserable now that they’re broken up, too.”

  I almost choked on my beer.

  “What?” I managed to growl out.

  “You didn’t know?”

  “No,” I said, my eyes wide. “Rose and Derek broke up?”

  “She asked him for a divorce. Honestly, when I first saw you, I thought that was why you came back.”

  “No, I didn’t come back for Rose,” I said, my head spinning. I had just assumed she was still married, and I didn’t even glance at her ring finger when I’d seen her at the park. Why hadn’t she mentioned it?

  “Well, now you know,” she said, winking. “Might be time to pay her a visit.”

  “I just saw her.”

  “What!”

  “At the park, with Snake. We had a brief conversation, but she didn’t even mention Derek. I didn’t think to ask.”

  “Interesting,” she said, laughing. “Maybe you two should hang out a little longer.”

  “I’m not getting back together with Rose, Seraphina,” I said. “And don’t you meddle!”

  “Me? Meddle?” she asked, her eyes wide with mock innocence.

  “I’m not kidding!” I said.

  She kept laughing and walked out of the kitchen, leaving me alone with my thoughts.

  Did Rose being single change anything?

  Of course not. Just like seeing her at the park hadn’t changed anything. We’d both gone on with our lives and whatever we had between us only existed decades ago, when we were just kids.

  As I walked out to my bike and started it up again, I couldn’t shake the truth staring me right in the face.

  It may have been a lifetime ago, but those feelings between us seemed to come roaring back to life as soon as she was in front of me again. The energy between us at the park was undeniable.

  And as much as I tried to push them away as I wound through the streets of town, my heart’s memory hadn’t forgotten for a second. Now that I’d shone a light on that dark corner I’d pushed Rose’s memory into, everything was rushing right back to the surface like nothing had ever come between us.

  Chapter 15

  ROSE

  Lately, most of my days seemed to come to a close while I sat on my porch with a glass of wine and tried to forget how lonely I was.

  Today was no exception, except that the loneliness seemed to be even more intense after running into Blade.

  I was lonely long before I broke up with Derek. I couldn’t even remember the last time I’d been properly kissed, or even really treated like a woman. If I’m being honest, the last time my heart raced from kissing a man was probably the last time I kissed Blade.

  Derek never did much for me at all. He was like a conciliatory prize after losing the man I really wanted. I figured at the time, if I couldn’t have love, at least I could have a good life as Derek’s wife, I could have the stability I always dreamed of, a nice house in Savannah, a few kids to raise.

  I’d be a proper Southern woman, just like I was raised to be.

  Just like everyone expected me to be.

  I knew it would be hard without truly loving the person I was making this life with, but I thought I could handle it.

  And I did handle it.

  For a good long while, I gave it the old college try. And it was working.

  Until it wasn’t.

  And then, once it stopped working, once I wasn’t able to keep pretending to be happy and satisfied, and once Derek saw that — I knew it was over.

  It was only a matter of time before the pain of pretending became harder than the benefits of pretending.

  Many nights, Derek caught me out on the porch, staring out at the horizon, just like tonight — and he’d accuse me of wanting to be somewhere else, to be with someone else. We both knew who he meant.

  As much as I tried — and oh, boy, did I try — to forget Blade, I never truly could. He was like a ghost that wouldn’t leave, his presence always lingering between the two of us.

  It was good Blade was gone, but it didn’t really work so well. Even if I didn’t see him in town, he was still implanted so deeply into my heart that there was no way that ghost was going to disappear anytime soon.

  Or, if ever.

  I laughed as I thought about how many hours I’d spent just staring off into space, thinking about him, reliving every moment I could remember that we’d spent together. It wasn’t easy, there were so many.

  We’d grown up together. I didn’t even remember meeting him, he was just always there.

  First, at the park. Then, at school. Then, well everywhere I went. We traveled in the same social circles, despite the fact that we came from completely different families. Our families weren’t friends, but growing up in Savannah, back when it was smaller, it was impossible not to have some knowledge of another member of the community, even if you weren’t close. Especially as kids.

  But Blake and I were something special.

  We were always drawn to each other. We’d always been best friends. But as we grew older, our feelings deepened. I think most of our friends and family knew where we were headed before we did, but the first time he kissed me — next to the fountain at Bonaventure, under our favorite tree — it became crystal clear that we were meant to be together forever.

  We just fit. We had magic.

  We always had, and the progression of our love for each other only made sense. It was fate. As natural as a tornado, and once we’d finally sparked that initial flame, it was as strong as one too.

  We loved each other fiercely.

  I thought it would never end.

  It was never supposed to.

  For the millionth time, as I watched the sun set in the distance, the moon rising high above me, I wondered when I’d see Blade again.

  This is the part of the night where I make myself stop thinking about him. I’d spent so much time waiting and wondering about him. I never knew my love for him would last so long, even without him around. If I didn’t stop thinking about him, I knew the night would last forever as I let the memory of him keep me awake.

  But now that I’d seen him again, that effort was futile. My yearning would inevitably start over and I knew I wouldn’t rest again tonight.

  I took another sip of wine, resigned to giving up another night of my life to thinking about him.

  The roar of an engine broke the silence, the sudden movement on my rural street causing the roosting crows to call out from their perch in the tree at the end of my driveway.

  He was recognizable immediately, of course
. There is nobody in the world that holds himself the way Blade does, and if that wasn’t enough, the sight of that old familiar bike was a dead giveaway.

  I gasped, putting down my glass and standing up, my long, floral, cotton skirt blowing in the breeze behind me. I pushed my hair out of my face, then shielded my eyes from the golden setting sun, squinting to get a better look at him. He was too far away to make eye contact, but my heart sped up anyway, knowing he was once again so very close.

  He’d come to see me, I thought, joy flooding my heart.

  I waited for him to turn into my driveway, frozen, my breath caught in my throat, and then — he didn’t. He kept going, driving by without seeming to even look my way.

  Without realizing it, my hand had risen to wave at him, and I froze, letting it drop slowly as I watched him drive away, the crack in my heart widening just a little as he disappeared around the curve down the road.

  Chapter 16

  BLADE

  With the beams of orange sunlight bathing her porch, her long blonde hair blowing behind her, her skirt billowing around her legs, Rose looked like something out of a movie.

  I couldn’t breathe.

  I don’t know why I came. Like a fool, I guess I wanted to torture myself.

  I deserved the misery. I did this shit to myself.

  The urge to go see her was overwhelming, especially now that Sera told me she was single again. Not that it was any of my business, of course. But once I started rolling, I thought maybe it wouldn’t hurt if I just drove by her place.

  Yeah, it was a little out the way, a bit on the outskirts of town. I didn’t expect her to be sitting on the porch looking like a damned angel in her sundress bathed in sunlight, though.

  I should have turned into that driveway and marched up those damned porch stairs and taken her in my arms and kissed her, the way I’d always imagined I would. I could have easily done that.

  But, still, something stopped me.

  If she wanted to see me again, she would have said so at the park. She would have tried to make plans, maybe invited me over for coffee or something. But that didn’t happen. She let me walk away, and I walked.