by Jade Kuzma
Chapter 18
SEBASTIAN
“Yeah… Yeah, that’s him…”
His eyes were closed. His face stained with red that was still fresh. He looked like a mess.
I stared at him, waiting for him to open his eyes but there was nothing.
“Come on, old man…”
I clenched my jaw to try and force myself up from the dream I was in. I just talked to the man last night and now he was right in front of me, body growing colder and colder with every passing second.
“Shit, man… Not even 24 hours and they already got him…”
Hunter took a step back and fell back against the wall. Ezra and Aden had to work together to stop him from collapsing.
“I’m sorry, gentlemen,” the coroner said. “You’re not allowed to be in the room much longer. This is part of a police investigation.”
Roman put a hand on my shoulder.
“Let’s go,” he said.
It was like a part of me was missing. I was a dead weight while Roman and I left the morgue with the rest of the club. We stood in the lobby together, our heads down and our hands on our hips like we were trying to piece it all together.
“What the hell happened?” Hunter said.
“We must’ve missed something,” I said as I shook my head.
“What did we miss?” Ezra said. “That EMP took out all of the cameras. You saw it for yourselves. Every man in that room was dead.”
“Every man in that room,” Roman said. “Shit…”
“What?” I said.
“Emerson must’ve checked every man. They found the man with the keycard missing…”
“And then checked the cameras in his mansion,” Hunter said.
“Shit,” I muttered.
I went over everything in my head a million times. One mistake. One fucking mistake and Murph paid the price for it. And now there was a gun pointed at everybody else’s head.
“Are you sure this was Emerson?” Aden said. “Murphy was always getting into shit. Maybe he got involved with something we didn’t know about.”
Roman eyeballed me because he was the only one who knew about the message I’d gotten.
“Go ahead, Seabass,” he said. “Tell ‘em.”
“Tell us what?” Hunter said.
“Tell ‘em how you found out.”
All eyes were on me. There was no telling how they would react when I explained it to them.
“It’s Kristen,” I said. “She saw it all happen. She sent me a message. A message straight from Emerson telling me he did it. And he’s gunning for all of us if he doesn’t get his money back—”
“I fucking told you!”
Roman grabbed me by the collar and pushed me back. When he slammed me against the wall, I wasn’t ready for it.
“I fucking knew some shit was gonna happen!” he shouted.
“Hey! Calm down!”
Aden and Ezra worked to pull him off of me.
“Yeah, well, maybe if you were watching Hunter closer, you wouldn’t have gotten caught,” I said.
“What?” Roman scoffed. “Are you blaming me now? Are you saying this is my fault?”
“I had it planned perfectly. Nobody should’ve known that Hunter got the keycard.”
“You motherfucker… Your idea… Your plan… And you’re pointing the finger at someone else. You can’t even take the blame.”
“Guys!” Hunter shouted. “It doesn’t matter whose fault it is. I mean, me and the old man were always ribbing each other but I respected him. A patch is dead. Now isn’t the time to be getting into it with each other. We’ve got bigger problems on our hands—”
“Man, fuck this.”
Roman turned around and stormed out.
“Maybe we should—”
“Let him go,” I said to Ezra. “He just needs to blow off some steam. Shit like this doesn’t happen every day.”
“Listen, I’m real sorry about Murph,” Hunter said. “But we’ve got a bigger problem on our hands. I’m not interested in being the next one.”
“You’re right,” Aden said. “We’ve gotta do something about Emerson.”
“I’ll do something about him,” I said. “I’ll kill him myself.”
“You know, we could just give him back the money,” Ezra said.
“If he caught us and asked for it, I would’ve handed it back to him without question. You win some. You lose some. But Emerson threw that option out the window. He has to die. There’s no other way.”
I looked around at all of the men. None of them said anything. Their silence was all the agreement I needed.
“How exactly do you plan on doing that?” Ezra asked.
“I’ll give it to him worse than what Murph got. Emerson will be begging for mercy when I’m through with him.”
“Easier said than done,” Aden said. “The guy is the richest bastard in Ivory. He knows you’re gunning for him. That means more cameras, more security, more guns. He’s not gonna just let you waltz into his office with a piece so you could do him dirty like that.”
“He’s right,” Ezra added. “You’re gonna have to get close to him… Maybe Kristen can set up a meeting for you. Tell him you’re gonna give him the money back.”
“That won’t work,” I said. “If I know Emerson, he won’t take the money and walk away. He has to make an example out of us otherwise other people will try to do what we just did. They’ll know he’s vulnerable.”
“Then what the fuck are we gonna do?” Aden said.
I closed my eyes, a part of me still hoping that I would wake up from the nightmare that I was in. At the same time, I kept searching for an answer, any answer so I could wrap my hands around Emerson’s neck. But I’d never met a man like him. Someone who was as cunning as he was rich. All of the obvious options were off of the table.
“Wait,” Hunter said. “I think there might be a way.”
“What are you talking about?” I said.
“I think I know how we can get close to Emerson with his guard down.”
“He’ll never put his guard down,” Aden said.
“Maybe not completely. But we can get close enough. It’s up to you though, Pres. Unless you wanna take a vote—”
“No. No vote. You do what you have to do, Hunter.”
“I’ll get on it and contact you as soon as I can.”
Hunter left with Aden following right behind him. I kept staring down at the ground, still foolishly waiting to wake up now that everybody was gone.
“Hey.”
Ezra patted me on the arm and broke me out of my trance.
“I’m sorry, man,” he said.
“Murph… The man was a father to me. I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for him.”
“None of us would. He’s an original. I know it’s not any consolation but the man lived a long life. He was rich. I mean, you saw the suits he wore.”
I managed to chuckle, so I knew that I wasn’t completely dead inside.
“Many men would gladly switch places with Murph and live the life he lived.”
“I don’t think many men would have the balls to live how he did.”
“True enough. But I know the last thing he’d want is for you to be crying over him when there’s still work to be done. This isn’t over.”
Ezra told me what I needed to hear. I took a deep breath and gathered myself.
“Yeah,” I said with a nod. “Let’s get this shit settled.”
Ezra and I headed for the exit when the door opened up. Sheriff Sutton took a step inside then stopped when he saw me standing in front of him.
“…I’ll be outside,” Ezra said. “Sheriff…”
He bowed his head to the old cop then left.
I held my hands out to Sutton and shrugged.
“I’m sorry, kid—”
“It hasn’t even been a few minutes since I’ve seen him. His body’s not even cold yet. But I’m already sick of hearing sorry.”
Sutton
kept eyeballing me.
“Go ahead,” I said. “Say what you gotta say.”
“I knew Murphy since the beginning. I was there before anything ever happened. All of the violence. All of the crimes. All of the death and destruction. All of the chaos…”
I’d never seen Sutton look so focused before.
“…I was there, watching Murphy and the rest of the West Devils go through it all.”
“Why are you telling me this?”
“Because I know what you’re about to do. And I know there’s nothing I can do to stop you.”
“Then why the fuck are you wasting my time, Sutton?”
“Because you’re not the only person who lost someone today.”
“Good. Then you’ll be grateful for what I’m about to do.”
I moved past him and toward the exit. He grabbed my arm and stopped me before I could push the door open.
“Emerson isn’t a club member,” he said. “This isn’t another MC you’re dealing with. This isn’t some rich businessman who’s doing shit under the table. Emerson is the last man in Ivory you wanna go to war with.”
Sutton stared hard at me. He was trying to find even the tiniest bit of reason somewhere inside of me. But there was nothing for him to find.
“You already told me there’s nothing you can do to stop me,” I said. “So why are you trying?”
“I’m not trying. I’m just telling you… I have an obligation to the city of Ivory. I have a duty to protect the innocent citizens of this town. I’m on their side. I’ll do whatever it takes to keep them safe. I respected Murphy but I won’t let some vendetta stop me from doing what I have to do. You hear me, Cain?”
I tugged my arm free from his hand and nodded.
“Do your duty, Sheriff. And I’ll do mine.”
I left the morgue and got on my bike. I revved my engine and stared at Sutton standing next to the entrance. Ezra pulled up next to me.
“What’d he say?” he asked.
“…Nothing I didn’t already know.”
Chapter 19
KRISTEN
Sebastian knew I wasn’t joking. I was never the type. And he knew I would never mess around with something like this.
I didn’t get much of a response from him after I told him. All of my calls went unanswered. All of my texts went unread. I raced through the streets of Ivory and headed to Old Town as fast as I could. If Sebastian wasn’t there, I wouldn’t know where else to look.
I pulled up into the parking lot and stumbled out of my car. When I stepped inside of Hades, the clubhouse was mostly empty except for a few patrons. It wasn’t any different from how I’d seen it before. This time though… There was a somber feeling in the air. An atmosphere that sent a chill up my spine. An awful feeling I couldn’t shake away.
There was a lone man standing next to the bar. He wore the Devils patch on the back of his leather kutte. I rushed up to him and he finally turned and noticed me.
“Sebastian…”
He looked me up and down for a second then nodded. One word was all he needed to know why I was here.
“He’s in his room,” he said. “Follow me. Don’t try anything.”
“What? Do you think I would—”
“Don’t try anything.”
I sighed in frustration and held my hand out.
“Fine.”
I followed him through the halls in the back and he led me to Sebastian’s room even though I already knew who it was.
“Hey,” he said with a loud knock on the door. “It’s Kristen.”
The door opened up and Sebastian stood there. Hair messy and hard muscles dripping wet like he’d just gotten out of the shower. No kutte. No shirt. Just a towel around his waist and nothing else.
“It’s cool, Ezra,” he said. “I’ll take it from here.”
The other man kept staring at me before he walked back down the hall into the clubhouse.
“I… I need to talk to you,” I said.
“What’s there to talk about?”
“Sebastian…”
I couldn’t imagine what he was feeling, so I didn’t pretend to. I half-expected him to blow me off but he eventually stepped aside and let me into his room.
It was strange. Whenever I was around Sebastian, I always felt like he was the most dangerous man in the world. I didn’t have that feeling any longer. I stared at Sebastian and tried to get that feeling back but it never came. All I could think about was James and what he’d done right in front of me.
“How are you feeling?” I asked.
“How am I feeling?” he scoffed. “I just spent the last half hour sitting in the shower. Ice cold water pouring over me. And I couldn’t feel a thing.”
“Sebastian, I’m—”
“If you say sorry, I’m gonna lose it. I’ve heard that enough today.”
“Right…”
He somehow managed to work a smile onto his lips.
“What about the rest of the club?” I asked.
“The rest of the club… Ezra’s hanging around in case Emerson tries anything, though I doubt he’d do that before he got his money back. Hunter and Aden are riding around doing God knows what. And Roman… We all handle loss in our own way. I just hope he doesn’t handle it like the last time we lost someone.”
The confident Sebastian I was so used to was gone. Disdain. Anger. Frustration. Sebastian barely cared about much but somehow, it looked like he cared even less.
“It’ll be okay,” I said. “I put the receiver on James. Agent Whitaker is getting all of the information. It’ll only be a matter of time until he busts him—”
“I don’t care. Emerson made his decision.”
“What the hell does that mean?”
“The old man wasn’t a patch but he was a Devil. I wouldn’t be here, none of us would be here if it wasn’t for him. Emerson made his bed when he had Murph killed. Now it’s time for him to pay the price.”
“Sebastian… There’s been enough loss. There’s been enough killing. You can end this right now. Give James his money and that’ll be the end of it. He’ll let you walk away.”
I rushed up to him and put a hand on his chest as if it would calm him down. But his heart was beating so hard that I could feel it against my palm.
“Do you think Emerson wants the money?” I said.
“Why wouldn’t he?”
“You think he’ll take his money back and let me and the rest of the MC walk away? You think he’ll just say ‘hey, no hard feelings,’ and shake my hand? No, you can’t be that naive, Kristen.”
“You know what kind of man James is. You know what he’s capable of—”
“That’s right I do!”
He raised his voice loud enough that the walls vibrated.
“He’s a criminal. He’s ruthless. He’s a sadistic bastard who’s willing to do whatever it takes to get to the top. You know how I know that?”
I shook my head.
“Because he wouldn’t be where he is now if he wasn’t.”
Sebastian looked me right in the eye, his stare so intense I could see the fire burning inside of him.
“Tell him I have a message for him,” he said. “Tell him I’m gonna kill him. And it’s gonna be painful.”
I closed my eyes to calm myself down but my heart was thumping so hard in my chest that I thought I was gonna pass out.
“Sebastian… You don’t have to do this. Everything will be all right if you just let Agent Whitaker—”
“No. I won’t let anybody else settle this. Emerson wants to go to war with me then I’m the one who should be fighting.”
“You’re angry. You’re upset. You just lost someone. You’re not thinking straight.”
Sebastian looked away from me. He was fuming. A ticking bomb, waiting to explode.
I put my hand on his chin and turned his face.
“Look at me,” I pleaded with him. “Look at me. Look into my eyes, Sebastian. It’s all right. Everything will
be all right. You can’t do this. You can’t—”
He rushed his face to mine and cut me off. His tongue slid between my teeth. Every second that went by, I lost myself. A loud, sloppy kiss that stopped both of us from saying anything more.
I reached my hands around his neck and pulled him closer to me. Anything to get rid of the numbness I felt. Anything to make me forget what I just saw. Anything to stop thinking about all of the chaos surrounding me.
Sebastian picked me up in his arms. I wrapped myself around him as he suddenly carried me over to the side of his room. He set me back down on my feet and started fumbling with my jeans. I helped him, pulling them down to my knees and doing the same with my panties, just enough to free my aching slit.
His towel fell down from around his waist and revealed a swollen cock. God, he was so hot. Muscles flexed. Skin dripping wet. All of the anger and frustration and pent-up rage was boiling up inside of him and I was powerless to stop him.
“Fuck me… Fuck me…”
I whispered the words into his ear, encouraging him to lose control. I needed to do anything and everything I could to clear his head. I had to make him see reason. I couldn’t let him fall any further.
He stepped between my legs and forced my jeans and panties down to my ankles. Then he picked me up from the ground completely. In one swift motion, he impaled me on his hard cock.
“Oh… Fuck…”
I groaned at his stiff shaft splitting me apart. I wrapped my arms and legs around him, digging my nails into his broad shoulders to try and brace myself from him.
He pounded me against the wooden walls. Every thud hurt but not enough to stop the pleasure beginning to surge through me.
Sebastian was ravaging me. Every stroke was joined by a grunt louder than the last.
He was fucking me so hard and fast that I could already feel him getting close to the edge. My own orgasm was nearing me. My swollen clit rubbing against his hilt stimulated me to the point that I couldn’t fight my climax off.
“Sebastian…”
I shut my eyes tight, grinding my clit against him and tightening myself around his cock, desperate for the orgasm that I was nearing. I saw the edge near and Sebastian banged me until I finally fell over it.
“Oh, God…”
