The relief was immeasurable. I would be so fucking glad to get the next couple of hours over with. Then I'd head home and start loading the rental truck, because we were leaving this fucking town tonight. I didn't care how late it was. I didn't even want to see it one last time in my rear-view mirror.
Mia had called and let me know that the boys were okay, they were going to have a shit ton of bruises and hurt like hell, but luckily there hadn't been any internal damage nor any broken ribs, just badly bruised ones. They were already heading back home.
Hatchet’s call came in right after Mia’s. He let me know that BamBam was still watching Jemma’s school and didn’t have any idea that Cale hadn’t made it to school. He said they both went to check on Cotton, only to find him gagged and tied up. He’d been knocked out and had a goose egg the size of a golf ball on the back of his head, but otherwise he was okay.
Reb had already called and rented trucks for everyone. Reb let everyone of the Brothers that were going with us know about the trucks and they had already picked up theirs. He had ours at the house and was dismantling beds with Jace and loading furniture in the truck. They were as ready to get gone as much as I was. Jemma was packing the last of our shit into the extra boxes Mia had been secretly bringing home. Mia and Jennie had already packed a lot of our things. So, hopefully it wouldn't take maybe four hours once I got home, but realistically I knew it would probably be longer than that.
I called BamBam and Cotton to get their stuff packed but to leave it in their rooms for now. Hatchet's mom had started packing three weeks ago. Hatchet said she was ready to get the hell out of Dodge, I knew that feeling well. Slade had already packed their things as well, it just needed to be loaded in their rental truck. Rogue and Screw's family had done the same. Everyone had the same thoughts about wanting to leave this miserable place and head toward better days.
BamBam and Cotton nodded at me when they walked into the room, as did Hatchet, Slade, Rogue and Screw. They were letting me know they were ready to go. Thank fuck.
As I sat at the table and waited on all the Brothers to make their way into Church, I thumbed through the book that had the notations of the year my dad died. I had always believed that Devil had killed him, but never had any proof. I didn't figure it would be in one of the books, but I was curious. When I came to the right month, I ran my finger down to the day he died, and sure enough, the fucker had bragged on how he had killed him.
I so fucking didn't want to look for the next thing, but a part of me had to know. I opened the book Devil had been carrying in his cut, and sure enough what I feared had happened. As I read what was done, it took everything I had in me not to pull my gun and shoot Spawn in the head. My hands started shaking, I was so motherfucking mad and enraged. I looked up and glared at Spawn. He had been watching me read out of the books, and he knew the minute I read what had happened to Rebel's girl, Shea.
“I should fucking kill you right now, despite what we agreed on.” I spit out at him.
His eyes went wide, and he held his breath, the fucker was waiting for me to pull my gun. The noise in the room started dying down as it became apparent that something was going on between Spawn and myself.
“Give me one reason why I shouldn't do it.” I demanded.
He shook his head, “I can't give you one.”
“I should fucking do the same thing to you, as what happened to Devil.”
He grimaced but didn't say a word. He knew I had him dead to rights.
Comments of ‘where’s Devil’ started flying from some of the men, as I abruptly stood up and strode over to the door. I was so infuriated; I wasn't sure I could do this right now.
“Boss, you okay?” Rogue inquired. He could tell I was about to fly off the handle. “Need me to do something for you?”
As I turned and looked at him, my eyes landed on the six men who would be leaving with me and I knew I had to get this shit over with.
I took a deep breath and let it out slowly. I had to get my fucking self under control. One more deep breath and I was ready.
“Where's Devil?” came again from several in the room.
“If you'll shut the fuck up, I'll tell you where Devil is.”
Mutterings continued around the room by some.
“I said shut the fuck up, now.” I snapped out harshly.
You could have heard a pin drop.
“Spawn can confirm what I'm about to tell you, but Devil and his son, Acid are dead.”
“Viper's right, they're both dead.” Spawn spoke out as the room got loud with cries of disbelief. “I was there when it happened.”
I threw out Devil's patch onto the table.
“Devil betrayed us all.” Spawn continued speaking. “Viper will let you know what he did. But believe me, I was fucking pissed to find out what he had done.”
I snorted quietly. He was only pissed at finding out he had been in the damn books, not for anything else.
“Now, you all know that with the death of the President, that position then falls to the VP. So, I am now your Prez.”
Mutterings broke out again between some of the men who were loyal to the sick bastard, Devil. But I was gonna find out just how loyal to him they still were in about two minutes. I hit the table with the gavel and the talk didn't diminish much, I did it again and they continued talking. Fuck this shit.
I pulled out my gun and shot into the block wall. “Shut the fuck up!” I roared.
Every mouth that had been flapping, shut and turned to stare at me in unease and disbelief.
“Now keep your fucking mouths shut and listen to what I have to tell you about your precious Prez. For over the last twenty years, Devil has been blackmailing me. He didn't like that Satan allowed me to make Jennie my Old Lady. Nor did he like the fact that one of his sons chose to live with us and not him. But during this same time frame, I was blackmailing Devil as well. I bet you all didn't know that Devil murdered Satan, did you?”
Low grumblings broke out. I sat the recorder on the table and pushed play, then threw some of pictures I had taken when Satan was killed. After the recording finished, I turned it off. Several shocked faces were staring at me.
“Not so perfect, huh. Bet you didn’t know he killed Serpent either, did you? I just found out that fact myself, the dumb bastard noted it in journals. The very journals that are here in front of me. These books tell everything that I have ever done in this MC, but not only just me, but every single one of you sitting in this room.”
The noise that broke out to this wasn't quite so low, Brothers were pissed. I didn't blame them the least.
I heard one of the men say they wanted to see proof.
“You want to see the proof? I'll start one book down each side of the table, and I'm watching those fuckers because I am not losing them now. And the book that has the page folded down, read where he brags about killing my dad. He even tells how he did it.”
Shock and disgust was on each face as Brother after Brother thumbed through the books.
“Alright, pass the books back to me.”
I waited until I had the books in my possession again before I continued,
“So, here's what's going to happen. There are men here who do not want to be part of this MC any longer. This is your chance to leave. There will be no reprisals or repercussions made to you or your family for leaving by anyone in this MC. You are free to go and do whatever it is you want to do with your life. Everyone that wants to leave the MC, drop your cut on the table.”
BamBam and Cotton were the first two up and they placed their cuts on the table. Rogue and Screw followed them, next it was Hatchet and Slade. Then it was Grunt, which didn't surprise me considering he was in his late sixties. But I was a little shocked when Knievel and Bear put theirs on the table as well.
“Anyone else?”
No one else moved.
“Alright, we're all going to go out back and we're all going to watch these fucking books burn. You men that are going to be
leaving, bring your cuts as well. Go ahead, Spawn and I will be right behind you.”
All the men got up and left the room.
I turned toward Spawn and held up the book Devil had been carrying on him when he died.
“You see this book right here, Spawn. This book goes with me.” I told him as I slid the book under my shirt and into the waistband of my jeans. “This is my insurance policy that there will never be any reprisals to any of the men who left the club today. It’s also my insurance policy against you trying to stab me in the back by pointing the finger toward me to the cops for killing Devil. Because you fuck with me, Spawn, I promise as God as my witness, I’ll fuck you royally, boy. You got me? Don’t make me have to kill you.”
He sat in his chair, pale as a ghost and sweating bullets. He knew I meant every single damming word I’d said to him.
“You have nothing to worry about, Viper. I’m not saying shit about any of what happened today to anyone. You have my word.”
“I don’t trust your word, Spawn. You’re too much like your old man. But you know the consequences of what will happen if you do try to fuck with me, because Spawn, even if you somehow manage to get me put away, your ass is going down with me, if Reb and Pred don’t kill you first that is. Make no mistake about that.”
With that, I turned toward the door and walked out carrying the books to the burn barrel outside. Well, other than the one I hid. Once at the barrel, I tore pages and pages out of the books, then reached into my pocket for a lighter, but didn't have one.
“Fuck, anyone got a lighter?”
About ten men reached for theirs. As every man watched, I tore the rest of the fucking books up and burned each one of them. There were audible sighs of relief when I finished with the last one, at least that they knew of.
“Alright, I want each one of you who are leaving to come up here and burn your cut.”
After the last cut was burned, I looked at the men and said, “Now I'm appointing Spawn as my VP, anyone have a problem with that?”
There were no indications of the negative.
“Spawn, here is the paperwork for the garage. While I owned it, it has always been Brothers of the MC who worked there. It's already been transferred over to SoS.
Shock flared across Spawn's and several of the men's faces. I didn't want any reminders or responsibilities of this place once I left.
“Alright, two last things before all of you who are leaving the MC go. First is this,” I pulled my gun back out and shot Spawn in his other leg. He went down to the ground clutching his thigh, now he had a matching pair. Motherfucker was going to hobble for a little while. He fucking deserved to die. I'm not sure what was keeping me from killing him. Maybe Jennie, I don't know. I knew I didn't want to have to look her in the face and tell her I had killed one of her sons.
“You deserved that and so much more you motherfucker.” I growled at him.
“Now for the last thing, as my last act as President, I am removing myself from the MC and leaving it in the hands of Spawn, who will now be your new Prez.”
I took off my cut and started burning it. Shocked exclamations were being made and spoken. Once my cut was ash, I turned and looked at the men who had been my Brothers for so long. Some I liked, most I didn't. I didn't feel any regret over leaving. None whatsoever.
“I wish you well.”
And with that, I walked out of the Clubhouse followed by the others who chose to leave. I got on my bike and left the grounds, never to return.
~*~
As I rode into my driveway, BamBam, Cotton, Hatchet, Slade, Rogue and Screw were behind me.
“Where do you need us, boss?” Rogue asked, while smirking at me.
I shook my head at him and laughed.
“You know I'm not your boss, right?”
“Yeah, but for now you are,” he said. “So where do you need us, boss?” he asked again.
“How much work do you and Screw still have to be ready to go?”
“We're all packed, Viper.” Screw remarked. “But could use some help loading it up in the truck.”
I lifted my chin at him.
“Same, boss. Once my Old Lady knew we were going to move she started packing weeks ago. We only had a little bit left and when you called earlier, she said she was gonna finish while I was at Church. Probably just need some help loading, same as Screw.” Rogue said while running his knife under one of his fingernails.
“Same, Viper. Just need help loading the truck. I've got everything all packed. You think Mom could possibly ride with either Mia or Jennie, it would be a smoother ride for her.” Slade commented.
“You know they would love to have her.”
He nodded at me.
“Appreciate it.”
“No problem, Slade. But you know I’d do whatever you needed, Son.”
“I know, Vip.”
I hated the fact that as Slade got older, he tried to count on me less. He didn’t want to be a bother. I needed to make sure that boy knew I loved him like a son and that he was never a bother to me. I’d be finding time to do that before long.
“Hatchet?”
He laughed, “Same as everyone else, Viper. We are packed and ready to go. Just need help with loading.”
“Cotton, how’s the head, Son? You good to ride?” I asked him while studying the bruises on his face. Besides the goose egg on his head, Spawn and Acid had worked him over a little.
“Head’s tender but okay, I should be fine to ride. Sorry I let you down, Viper.”
“Son, you didn’t let me down. Looks like you put up a good fight. You did all that you could do.”
He grimaced. “Feels like I should have been able to do more.”
I walked over to him, held my hand out, he reached and clasped it, and I pulled him in for a bro hug. I stepped back and looked at him.
“You get to hurting too much, you let me know. We’ll load your bike up on one of the trailers and you can ride with one of the boys. I don’t want you pushing it, Cotton. Got me?”
He sighed. “Yeah, Vip. I got you.”
“Good. Y’all give me a couple minutes to see how it's going in the house.”
I walked in and was surprised to see that the house was almost done. I listened to try to figure out where everyone was and heard noises coming from the bedrooms, so I headed that direction. As I walked in ours, it was completely empty. Damn, they had been on the ball.
“Mia, Jennie?”
“In here,” Jennie called out.
I walked into one of our closets and Mia was taping a box while Jennie held the flaps down. There wasn't anything else in the closet other than a few boxes that needed to be moved.
“Hell, y'all have been working your asses off.”
“We're just ready to go.” Mia responded as she wiped sweat off her face.
“What all lacks being done?”
Jennie replied, “This was the last box to pack, now we just need to finish loading it.”
“How the fuck did y'all pack this fast.”
“We're ready to get home, Viper.” Jennie said as she walked over to me and gave me a hug.
“You get finished at the Clubhouse, baby?” Mia asked as she made her way to me, reached up and kissed me. My cock twitched. The fucker was just going to have to wait. I wanted to leave as soon as possible.
“Yeah, I'm done. It's all over. I'm letting Spawn decide what he wants to do with the bodies. I don't care. But he knows not to call the cops. I did leave it set up to look like Acid shot Devil and Devil managed to shoot and kill Acid before he died. So, it’s up to the MC now. It's out of my hands and good riddance.”
“You don't think Spawn will try to get you in trouble over the deaths, do you?”
“Nope, got insurance.”
“What?”
“Well, I might have a book of Devil’s and Spawn might know I have it. And, it has some info on him that he doesn’t want getting out. He knows how I left things set up in the barn. It would b
e his word against mine if he did go to the cops. Plus, he knows that if the cops got involved and dusted that barn that just about every member of the MC’s prints are in there. Meaning that everyone could go down for the murders and anything else the fuckers might want to pin on us. So, I’m pretty sure we don’t have to worry about anything.”
I smiled at my women.
“Fuck, Pops, the way your mind works is scary as hell sometimes.” Rebel said as he walked into the room.
The grin I shot him was slightly evil.
“How much more to go, Reb?”
“Just finished the garage. It helped that you already had it all packed up. Got the bikes loaded on the trailers. We just have a few more boxes then we're done.”
“Alright, let me go talk to the guys a minute and then we'll finish up here.”
As I made my way back outside, I looked around the house. A lot of memories had been made here, it would be hard to leave the home, but I knew soon we would be making new memories where we were able to live without so much stress all the time.
“Cotton, BamBam, you guys head over to Slade's house and help him load up. Once you have him loaded, all three of you head to Hatchets and load him up. Then two of you head to Screw's and two to Rogue's. Once everyone is ready to go, give me a call and I will send one of the boys over to bring your Mom back here, Slade.”
“That works, Viper.” Slade said.
“Are you all gonna trailer your bikes?” I asked as I looked over to make sure ours were strapped down good. The boys had made sure they were loaded right with the straps tight. Our bikes were an important part of us.
“Yeah, we all talked about it and thought that would be best. It would be too hard on most of the women to drive that far.” Rogue commented.
I nodded in agreement.
“Since we are centrally located, I want everyone to meet back here and we'll caravan out from this point. Sound good?”
Everyone nodded affirmatively.
“See you in a couple hours then.”
Everyone departed to go help each other finish loading trucks. About thirty minutes after they left, a car pulled into the driveway. As I walked out onto the porch, I saw Elle's mother getting out of the car.
Viper (Angel’s Rebellion MC: #1) (Angel's Rebellion MC) Page 24
