Passing the Torch (Devil's Knights 2nd Generation Book 1)

by Winter Travers

  “Figures,” Greta cackled. “The bitches love Hero.”

  “It seems that all dogs like Hero,” I giggled.

  Greta set her empty plate on the coffee table. “I do remember when he was younger, he always had a dog following him around as he got into trouble.”

  “Greta,” I laughed, “he’s like seven years older than you. When he was little, you weren’t even born.”

  She scoffed and shook her head. “Girl, I’m talking when he was like fourteen and fifteen. He was always running around with Frost even though Frost was like three or four years younger than him.”

  “You really all grew up together?”

  Greta nodded. “Sure as shit did. Not like we really had much choice in the matter. With all of our dads being in the club and then our moms being best friends, we were just always at the clubhouse.”

  “Sounds like fun to me.”

  “For the most part, it was. There were times we got on each other's nerves. I still remember when Jonas was eight and he punched Pie right in the nuts.” Greta cackled. “Oh, God, that was the funniest thing ever. After he did it, Jonas thought he killed Pie because he dropped to the ground and moaned like a cow in heat. He thought King was going to kick his ass for killing Pie.”

  “I don’t think I’ve met Jonas yet.” Hell, I hadn’t really met many of the guys in the club. Snapper and Frost were basically it.

  “Oh, shit.” Greta waved her hand. “Forget I said that. I forgot he has a road name now. He’ll always just be Jonas to me. Snapper punched Pie in the nuts.”

  “Oh, I met him. He was at the door of Sultry Knights last night.” Though now I knew his real name was Jonas. Greta was spilling biker secrets.

  “Yeah, he’s a good kid. His dad was in the club, and he died in an accident when he was only three. King and Meg adopted him along with basically the whole club.”

  Well, damn. That was awful. “Wow. That’s crazy.”

  Greta grabbed a breadstick and pointed it at me. “Enough about the club. Let’s talk about you and Hero. What was with the long face after you got off the phone with him?” she asked.

  I sighed and pushed around the last bite of lasagna with my fork. “He just was kind of short with me. I know I’m being overly sensitive, but I didn’t really see it coming.”

  “I’m assuming the reason why he ditched you tonight was for club business, right?”

  I shrugged. “I think so. He just said he was doing something and that something came up and he couldn’t come.”

  “No other detail than that?”

  “Nope.”

  “Club business.” Greta rolled her eyes. “Girl, I’m going to tell you right now there aren’t going to be any other words you hate more than those for however long you’re with Hero.”

  “I’m not with Hero,” I pointed out.

  She narrowed her eyes at me. “Why would you say you aren’t?”

  “Huh, well, the most obvious reason why we’re not together is because we’ve barely known each other for a week.”

  She waved her hand at me. “Time means nothing to these guys. I know all of the stories of King, Rigid, Demon, Slider,” she rattled off. “The only one who wasn’t wham bam thank you ma’am was Gravel, but that was only because Ether was married when he got the hots for her.”

  “Uh, huh?” The only name I knew was King, but I had never met him.

  “You’ll learn the names soon enough. That’s not my point.” She tucked her legs beneath her and turned on the couch to face me. “All you need to know is these guys may come off as assholes sometimes and bark about club business, but at the end of the day, all they want is a woman to come home to. And when they meet that woman, nothing else matters. Time, pfft. For these guys, one day is like a month. As far as Hero is concerned, it probably feels like four months that you’ve known each other. They live hard and love even harder, Reva.”

  I waved my hand in her face. “Hold up. No one said anything about love. We were talking about me being with him.”

  Greta sighed. “Jesus. This is so hard for people outside of the club to get. Let me just put it this way. These guys see what they like and they take it. That’s it. Hero saw you. Liked you. Now you’re his.” She sat back and folded her arms over her chest. “You’ll be much better off if you just accept it. I mean, as long as you like him, too. If you don’t, then you better change the locks and tell him to get lost,” she advised.

  “Uh, well. I don’t want him to get lost, but I’m not too sure about throwing that L word around.” I just wanted things to slow down. A little. Teeny tiny bit.

  “Then you might as well buckle in and just hold on, sugar, because as hard as it is for you to wrap your head around, you’ve been claimed by the biker.”

  My head swirled with everything Greta had just said. Water wasn’t going to cut it tonight. I had said I wasn’t drinking, but maybe a glass of wine would help me process what she had said a little bit better.

  I gathered the empty plates and headed into the kitchen.

  “Finally,” Greta called. “Luna is calling.”

  I heard her say “hello,” and I dropped the plates into the sink. Greta had mentioned she had invited Luna over for dinner but didn’t say if she was going to come or not.

  “What? Slow down, Luna,” she shouted.

  I reached for the bottle of wine on the counter, but froze at Greta’s panicked tone.

  “Did you call the police?”

  Oh, hell.

  “We’re on the way.” Greta skidded into the kitchen with her phone in her hand. “We gotta go.”

  “Uh, okay.” I switched directions and grabbed my shoes from the door. “Can I ask what is going on?”

  Greta shoved her feet into her sandals and had her phone to her ear again. “Luna. One of her girls didn’t come in tonight. She went over to check on her.”

  Oh no. I had heard a story like this not even three days ago. “And?” I asked.

  Luna’s eyes connected with mine. “She was dead.”

  *

  Chapter Fourteen

  Hero

  “What in the hell?”

  Greta’s car careened into the parking lot of Bruno’s and screeched to a halt in front of Frost and me.

  Greta shot out of the car. “Oh, my God!”

  “What in the hell are you doing here?” Frost asked. “You listen to police scanners now or something?”

  I peered into the windshield. Reva sat there and gave me a wave.

  Fucking hell. “You wanna tell me why you thought it was a good idea to bring my woman to a crime scene?”

  Greta scoffed. “We wanted to make sure Luna was okay. She called us five minutes ago.”

  Of fucking course. I should have known Luna would run to Greta and tell her. I just didn’t think she would do it when she was being questioned by the police.

  “Luna is fine,” Frost clarified. “The same cannot be said for Tanya.”

  “Oh, my God,” Greta gasped.

  I walked to the passenger door and knocked on the glass. “You gonna come out or just decided to go along for the ride?” I called to Reva.

  She smiled sheepishly. “I just realized this might not have been the best idea,” she shouted back.

  Now she thought of that after she drove with Greta to a crime scene. I opened the door and motioned for her to get out. “You’re already here, Sunshine. Might as well get out.” I held out my hand to her, and she grabbed it.

  “This seemed like a much better idea when I didn’t see police lights everywhere.” She moved close to me and kept her hand in mine.

  Across the street, the whole apartment complex had been taped off, and no one was being allowed in or out of the building.

  Frost and I had kept our distance across the street but knew what was going on because Luna had called us before the police started questioning her.

  Another waitress from the club was dead, and Luna found this one, too.

  I wasn’t a cop and even
I knew Luna was looking pretty damn suspicious. Thank God she had a fucking alibi for both murders, or she would be really fucked.

  “Why is this happening in our town?” Greta asked.

  We watched a cop move one of the barriers at the driveway, and an ambulance drove in.

  No lights.

  No urgency.

  “No fucking clue,” Frost growled. “Two girls dead who work at Sultry Knights. That seems like a coincidence or a fucking pattern.”

  I was thinking the same damn thing. As soon as Luna had told me Tanya was dead, my stomach dropped. Someone was killing the waitresses at Sultry Knights, and we had no fucking idea why.

  “Did either of you know Tanya?” I asked Frost and Greta.

  Greta shook her head. “Last night was my first night back in a long time. I don’t know any of the girls, and Tanya called out last night.”

  Frost shook his head. “I knew who she was but just like Bunny, I didn’t really know her.”

  We again knew absolutely fucking nothing.

  My gut told me to wait to call King, but I had done that last time and gotten my balls busted for it. I pulled out my phone out and hit send.

  I hated to admit it, but I was out of my league.

  Reva looked up at me.

  “I’ll be right back.”

  I walked away from the group and waited for the call to connect.

  “Yo.”

  Half of me hoped he wouldn’t answer and I wouldn’t need to tell him there was another dead girl.

  “King.”

  The line was silent. I swallowed and waited for him to say something.

  “What’s wrong?” he demanded.

  Of course he would know something was wrong by me saying one fucking word. How in the hell did he do that? “Uh, well, I’m over on Highland road by Bruno’s.”

  “You calling to tell me what you’re eating for dinner?”

  I cleared my throat. “No. I was calling to tell you across the street from Bruno’s, another one of the waitresses from Sultry Knights was murdered.”

  “Mother fucking son of a bitch,” King thundered.

  I shared the same sentiment. “I don’t know much other than what I just told you. The police are still inside the apartment.”

  “Well, thank fuck you grew some fucking common sense and called me right away.’

  It was more like I didn’t want to get my ass chewed, but if he wanted to think that, that was fine. “Luna found the body. Again.”

  “Oh, my Christ. What in the hell are you doing? Fucking finding bodies like they’re damn Easter eggs.”

  I couldn’t help but smile at the analogy. It was pretty accurate. “I don’t know what you want me to do right now.” I hated admitting it. I wanted to be the guy who always knew what needed to be done and did it without hesitating. For now, that was still King.

  “Let me get this fucking spaceship to Arizona and then I’ll be there. Meg is going to have to fucking deal with tooling around Arizona with Ethel and the rest of the girls.” He covered the phone and mumbled something. “I’ll call you tomorrow and let you know when to expect us. For now, just keep your eyes on everyone connected to Sultry Knights.”

  “You want me to shut it down?” I asked. Sultry Knights was a big money maker for the club. Shutting it down might hurt our money flow, but maybe it would keep people from getting murdered.

  “Yeah. We don’t know what is going on, and we can’t keep the club open knowing there is a murderer out there.”

  “All right. Once the cops finish questioning Luna, we’ll head over there and close it up.”

  King groaned. “Fucking shit-show as soon as I go on vacation.”

  I didn’t know what to say. He was right, but it wasn’t my fault. It wasn’t anyone's fault except for the person who had killed Bunny and now Tanya.

  “Keep everyone safe until I get there, Hero.” He ended the call, and I sighed.

  That went a little better than the last time I had talked to him.

  “Yo,” Frost called. He pointed across the street. Luna ducked under the barrier and jogged toward us.

  I moved back to Reva. She reached for my hand and threaded her fingers through mine. I squeezed her hand to let her know I was there.

  “What the hell kind of police do we have in Rockton, huh?” Luna grumbled. “Detective Stick-Up-His-Ass was about to arrest me just because I found Tanya’s body. I mean really.”

  “Ransom?” Frost asked me.

  It had to be. “I’m sure it was him. He was probably taking out his frustrations with Frost and me on you.”

  Luna huffed and folded her arms over her chest. “I just found one of my waitresses murdered, and he was basically telling me I had done it. Has the dude not heard of innocent until proven guilty?”

  “Ms. Wendt.” Detective Ransom called. He jogged across the street.

  “What now?” Luna whispered. “You can call me Luna,” she said when he was standing in front of her. “Like I told you three times in the apartment.”

  “Luna,” Ransom said. “I’m gonna need you to come down to the station. We have a few more questions to go over.”

  Luna closed her eyes and tipped her head back. “Are you for real?” she whispered. “What more do you have to ask me? I have an alibi.”

  “One that we haven’t actually checked out yet,” Ransom pointed out.

  “How long is she going to be at the station for?” I asked.

  Ransom glanced at me. “However long it takes.”

  Yeah, this guy was a dick. “She doesn’t have to go with you. She’s not under arrest or anything.”

  “No, not yet,” Ransom drawled.

  “I did not kill Bunny and Tanya,” Luna shouted in Ransom’s face.

  “Think you can actually prove that? Pretty suspicious finding both bodies.”

  Luna raised her foot and stomped down right on Ransom’s ugly ass shoe. “I didn’t kill anyone!”

  Ransom grabbed her by the arm and twisted it behind her back.

  “What are you doing?” Reva gasped.

  “You’re under arrest for assaulting an officer,” Ransom grunted.

  Fucking hell. Luna had gone and done it with her fucking temper. There wasn’t a way in hell I could get her out of this one. Reva moved to Luna, but I kept her by my side. “No, Sunshine,” I whispered.

  Reva looked up at me pleading for me to do something.

  Greta reached out and laid a hand on Ransom’s arm. Frost grabbed her hand and pulled her back.

  Ransom glared at Greta. “Smart move,” he grunted. “Otherwise you two could have shared a cell at the jail.”

  “We don’t want any trouble, Ransom,” Frost replied.

  “Well, you should have mentioned that to her before she decided to stomp on my foot.” Ransom twisted her around.

  “Call Rod,” Luna called. Ransom hauled her across the street and over to a squad car. Another officer took her from Ransom and placed her in the backseat.

  We watched the officer drive away with Luna in the back of the car.

  “Well, that was a twist I didn’t see coming,” Frost sighed. “Now not only do we have to figure out who killed Bunny and Tanya, we also have to bail Luna out of jail.”

  Leave it to Luna to take a shitty situation and make it into complete hell.

  Reva tipped her head back and looked up at me. “Who’s Rod?”

  “Lawyer,” I grunted. Rod had done work for the club before. Luna was the one who used him the most and was on a first name basis with him. I pulled up his number in my phone and put it to my ear. “Rod?” I said when he answered. “She’s done it again.”

  *

  Chapter Fifteen

  Reva

  “Are you hungry?” I looked down at the coffee table. “I think this should all still be okay.”

  Hero grabbed a breadstick. “Starving.” He ate the stick in three bites and grabbed another. “Tired?” he asked me.

  I stifled a yawn with the bac
k of my hand. “Yes and no. I keep yawning, but I feel like I could run five miles right now.”

  It was half past eleven, and as hard as Rod had tried, he couldn’t get Luna out of jail. On top of that, it was Friday and she couldn’t see the judge until Monday. Luna was going to have to spend the weekend in the clink. While Rod had been trying to get Detective Ransom to not press charges, Frost and Greta had headed off to Sultry Knights to shut it down and move all of the girls to the clubhouse.

  “I’m staying the night,” Hero stated.

  “Oh yeah?” I laughed. “You don’t want to stay at the clubhouse with all of those girls? Sounds like a hetro man’s fantasy. Trapped with nine strippers and eleven waitresses.”

  Hero shook his head and walked into the kitchen. “No, that sounds like hell to me.”

  I followed behind him and leaned against the wall between the kitchen and living room. I watched him open the fridge and pull out a beer. “You don’t have to humor me, Hero,” I laughed.

  He popped the top and took a long drink, then he wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. “I’m not shitting you, Reva.” Ope. He used my real name. I had figured out when he called me Reva he was being serious. “Now go ask Zig and Zag and I'm sure they’ll tell you they are in Heaven. Also Easy.”

  “What about Frost?” I asked. He was the only guy I had actually spent a little bit of time with.

  “He’s probably happy to have one or two there but all of them? Fuck no.” Hero finished his beer and tossed the bottle in the garbage.

  “You want some more food?” I asked.

  “I’m good for now.”

  Hero helped me clean up the leftover food and wash the dishes.

  A knock sounded on the door, and I froze in place. I glanced at the clock and saw it was almost midnight.

  Hero pointed at me. “Don’t move.”

  He didn’t have to tell me twice. I nodded, and he moved to the door.

  He looked through the peephole and growled.

  “Who is it?” I whispered.

  Hero looked over his shoulder at me. “Your fucking neighbor.”

  I frowned, shocked. “Harry?”

  Hero opened the door and blocked my view of Harry.