by J. L. Leslie
“It’s–”
“If it’s more than that, you’ll figure it out and so will she. Right now, we have bigger fucking problems. While you were tearing down the walls, Lincoln called. They found Lloyd.”
I look down at my hands, and my knuckles are bloodied and bruised. “Where is he?”
“EZ-Store.”
“Why would the Sinners take him to EZ-Store? Frank has been out of the game for years,” I comment.
EZ-Store is a storage facility owned by one of our former members. The storage units aren’t climate controlled, except for one. The one we used for purposes like this. Frank doesn’t have security cameras in place. He doesn’t need them. No one fucks with him.
“They didn’t take him there,” Dax clarifies. “I had Luka take him there. Fucker left his post for a blowjob. Claims he called Moses to come change out with him, but when Moses didn’t confirm, he left anyway. Now, the fucker has laid low because he was too chicken shit to fess up to what he did.”
“Son of a bitch.”
“Damn straight.”
As Dax drives, I replay the past few hours in my head. Griffin’s words. My own words. Katy’s face. Her eyes. She was hurt. What I said about her, my words had hurt her. The thought of her being with Griffin had pissed me off. He rubbed it in. He needed me to know that he could give her things that I couldn’t. Give her a life that I would never be able to. Fuck, I know some part of her wants that.
“We’ll go in and see what Luka has gotten out of him. Maybe he’s fessed up on who he was with and where he’s been hiding out,” Dax says, and hops out of the truck.
Our unit is on the very end. It’s the only one with a digital security code. Dax enters it, and together we walk in. Lloyd is in the center of the small room. His long, thin body has been stripped of his clothes, and he’s doubled over the folding chair he’s strapped to. Blood pours from his nose and mouth. I spot a couple of his teeth on the floor.
Luka is normally much calmer than me. My guess is that Lloyd didn’t want to talk at first. I have no doubt in my mind that Luka got the answers he needed.
“It was Ashley,” Luka tells us, wiping his hands on a dish towel. “That’s who he left to go see. When Moses didn’t answer right away, he didn’t think he would be gone very long. Didn’t think it was a big deal. He’s been hiding out at her apartment.”
I grip the back of his neck and jerk his head upright. “Hadn’t I already told you not to leave her fucking side?”
He slurs out his answer, barely conscious. Luka tosses the towel down onto the small table in the corner. It’s adorned with different tools. I like to call it our torture table. Anything we may need to get someone to talk is there.
“Fucking moron,” Dax grumbles.
“He’s not patched in yet,” Luka reminds us. “What do you want done, Dax?”
“Kill him,” I suggest, walking over to the table.
“It’s his first offense,” Luka adds.
Dax gives Lloyd a once-over, a disgusted expression on his face. “Leave him in here. I’ll have Frank give him some water in a couple days, and we’ll release him in a week.”
I lean down to him. “You’re lucky, motherfucker.”
Chapter Twenty
~Katy~
I thought the Ravens would be happier about Lloyd being alive. He’s not strung up somewhere in town with his intestines hanging out of his body. The Sinners like doing that. Sends a reminder to the victim’s family and friends not to betray them.
No, the Ravens seem pissed that one of their own is alive and breathing. One man, Moses, seems to be the most upset. I sit at the bar with Sully and ask her why they aren’t celebrating.
“He left his post,” she answers. “He wasn’t supposed to do that.”
“What are those members doing?” I question her, pointing to a few members that are looking at some papers spread out over one of the pool tables.
“That’s the property deed to the Lancaster Farm. The Sinners have set up their clubhouse there. Now that we know they didn’t take Lloyd, we have to decide if we want to make the first move or wait on them to do it.”
“I think I should go and talk to them,” I tell her. “I have a friend there. Maybe I can resolve all of this.”
“Katy, you know you can’t do that,” she replies. “It won’t stop them. You betrayed their loyalty. They considered you family, and you ran from that.”
I open my mouth to tell her I want to try, but before I can say anything, an arm is thrown over my shoulder. The scent of alcohol invades my nostrils as the woman slurs her words in my face. I can’t even make out what she says.
“Ashley, we can’t talk right now,” Sully says, extracting her arm from my shoulders.
Ashley grabs my shoulders, digging her fingers into my arms. “I l-l-love h-h-him,” she stammers.
“I’m happy for you,” I mumble, easing her hands away from me.
“You…you…w-w-want to t-take him f-f-from me.”
Sully forcefully steers Ashley away and as she does, the man I’m certain she was speaking of saunters into the clubhouse. His eyes scan the room and settle on me. I glare at him a moment before turning my back to him.
“Can we talk?” Kane asks, coming to stand between me and the stool beside me.
I don’t look at him. “I think you said enough earlier.”
His fist slams onto the bar, causing me to jump, and I see that his knuckles have dried blood on them. He reaches for my hands, but I move them down to my lap before he can touch me.
“Please,” he chokes out, and I suck in a breath.
That one desperate plea. That one word. Please. I turn to him, and with a low hiss, he lifts me off the stool and slings me over his shoulder. I beat my small fists against his back, but my protests go unheard as he carries me to his room. He kicks the door shut behind him and I struggle until he lowers me to my feet.
“This is not how it works!” I yell at him, shoving him hard in the chest. “You can’t treat me like that!”
“I asked you to talk to me!” he counters.
“And I was going to when I was ready! What are you thinking?” I shake my head, exasperated. My hands tremble with anger as I run them through my hair, refusing to face him.
Kane comes behind me. He doesn’t touch me, but I feel his presence there. “I was thinking that I’m fucked, Katy.”
“Don’t, Kane.”
I’m at the door. I could turn the knob, leave and forget about him. I could go after that life I keep telling myself I want. I could have it. Escape this damn nightmare. Escape everything.
But when he reaches for me, I don’t push his dirty hands away. I allow him to unbutton my pants and shove them, along with my panties, to the floor. I hear his zipper and the clink of his buckle when it hits the floor. Hear the rip of foil. I can hardly breathe, I want him so badly.
Kane moves my hair over one shoulder, and I feel his breathe on my neck just before his lips touch down. His cock nestles against the crook of my ass as he roams his hands down my arms. He clasps my hands and then brings them up and places them on his door, leaning me forward, then uses his knee to nudge my legs apart.
He lowers his hands down and uses the other to position his cock at my entrance. I don’t care that he hasn’t taken the time to wash his hands. I don’t care about what he’s done to bloody them. I just want him here. With me.
In one swift thrust, he drives into me. My breath catches in my throat at his sudden intrusion. He pulls out to the tip and slams into me again. I scratch against the wood of the door, arching my ass against him as he fucks me.
He moves his mouth up to my ear. “There’s one thing I didn’t lie about earlier,” he says, grazing his teeth over my earlobe. “This pussy is mine. You belong with me.”
~Kane~
I kiss Katy’s neck as I slip out of her. She keeps her hands on the door, and I chuckle when she goes to move, realizing that her legs are weak, and her pants are still around
her ankles. I shrug out of mine and then scoop her up in my arms. She kicks her shoes and pants off while I carry her into my bathroom.
Katy turns the shower on while I dispose of the condom. I strip my shirt off and toss it on the floor. I step in right after her.
“Little hotter,” I request, and she obliges. When she turns around, I trail my fingertips over her many scars. “How’d you get these?”
“We fuck, and you want to talk about my scars?” she smirks, facing me again.
“Mack gave you these, didn’t he?” She averts her gaze, grabbing the bar of soap from the ledge, and turning away from me again. I see more scars now that I’m taking the time to explore her body. Not thin lines, but small round scars. “And these too?”
“He gave me a lot of scars,” she replies. “Some you can see, and some you can’t see.”
“Looks like his weapon of choice was a razor blade,” I comment. “They leave these little thin scars, the barely noticeable ones. But they’re still there. They hurt like a motherfucker.”
“You would be right,” she confirms. “Have you ever hurt a woman before, Kane?”
“I wouldn’t call myself a heartbreaker,” I smile, avoiding her question.
“You know what I mean.”
“I’ve had to do some things that would make you not want to be in this shower with me. That would make you not want me to touch you,” I admit. “But I will never lay my hands on you in that manner.”
“Mack said that to me before,” she replies. “Right before he choked me until I lost consciousness. Then he put me in the basement for two days. That was the first time he put me down there. I had given a prospect a hug because his father passed away.”
“You don’t have to carry any of that with you any longer,” I tell her. “He’s gone and he sure as fuck isn’t coming back.”
“I was pregnant before,” she says, quietly. I barely even hear the words. “That wasn’t in Mack’s plans, so he got rid of it. He also got rid of my chances of ever getting pregnant again. I can’t tell you how much he took away from me.”
Katy puts the bar of soap back on the ledge and I close my arms around her. “I’m sorry he did that to you.”
“It took me a long time to get past that one. To accept that I will never be a mother. Never carry a baby inside my belly and never raise a child. I’ve never told anyone that.” She shakes her head. “Not a soul.”
I hug her to me, somehow wanting to reassure her that someday her dreams will come true. I want to tell her about Eli. Want to tell her that I have a son, and what he means to me, but I don’t. I know that eventually, I will. When the time is right. I won’t keep him from her.
For now, I stand in this shower and hold her. I tell her that the past is gone. That the present isn’t marred by that monster. And I pray that I’m not the monster that’s going to ruin her future.
Chapter Twenty-One
~Katy~
I roll over, expecting to feel Kane’s body against mine, but he isn’t here. I ease out from beneath his covers and get dressed. Slowly opening the door to his bedroom, I peek my head out and listen for any sign of life in the clubhouse.
“There’s no real vantage point at the fucking farm,” Kane says. “We can attack from the woods and set up some gunnies, but after a few shots they’ll be onto us.”
“I’m not crazy about that idea either,” Dax agrees.
“Who does Griffin have on the inside?” Luka asks. “Maybe we should utilize them. That was the whole fucking point of working with him.”
“The whole point of working with him is that he saved my daughter. I’ve already given up enough for him. I don’t want his help.”
I slowly enter the main room, not wanting to intrude on their meeting. Lincoln sees me first and clears his throat to alert the others that I’m there. Kane comes over to me, his hand coming to rest on my hip.
“You should go back and lie down.”
I stare past him to Dax. “They’ll have people scattered throughout the entire town. That’s how they work,” I tell him. “They can work almost any job imaginable, and they know how to blend in. They adapt to the scenery, so to speak. In L.A. they were everywhere. They will be where you least expect them to be.”
“She can stay,” Dax states.
Kane puts his hand on the small of my back and leads me over to the bar. The property deed to Lancaster Farm is spread out on the bar. I recognize it as the paper the men were looking at yesterday.
“If you were going to attack here, you’d have to make sure the majority of them were away from the property. Draw them out somehow. If that were possible.”
“We have eyes on them, but haven’t gotten any word of any activity in town,” Lincoln says. “Other than them nailing the snitch to the courthouse, it’s like they’re staying put at the farm.”
“Do you know who you’re looking for?” I ask them.
Luka answers this time. “Eddie has intel on the members. He provided us with descriptions, so yeah, we know who we’re looking for.”
I laugh and climb onto an empty barstool. “I doubt it. You can forget any intel you have regarding their descriptions. Those changed the moment they got into town. Like I said, they know how to adapt to the scenery. They will not look the same as they did in L.A. except for maybe the president. If they need to look like wholesome bread makers, that’s what they’ll look like.”
“You’re telling me that tattooed bikers can blend in with Suzie Homemakers?” Kane questions.
I nod and tell him, “I never said they were tattooed. Mack was always very smart. He knew people viewed bikers one way and categorized them as always being tattooed, pierced, and leather-clad. Not all of the Sinners are like this, and he made sure of it. If he wanted someone to be able to pose as a police officer or baker, hell even a nurse or school teacher, he didn’t want them being subject to scrutiny because of their appearance. Maybe that’s why Sully thought he was a federal agent.”
Lincoln shifts at the mention of my sister’s name. “Griffin said he was given a message. One of the old ladies told him to tell Katy to burn it, whatever the fuck ‘it’ is.”
All eyes turn to me, and I shake my head. “I’m not sure what she was talking about,” I lie.
I have an idea, but I’m not ready to admit to them that I considered giving them what they want verses burning it like Spencer suggested. Bargaining with the Sinners isn’t a great idea, but it might be my only shot at staying alive.
“If you’re lying to us…” Dax begins, letting his voice trail.
“I understand.”
And I do. Regardless of the decision I make, someone will see it as betrayal.
~Kane~
The truck smashes against my head, and Eli bursts out laughing. Good thing the damn truck is plastic. Eli crawls onto my back and I rise onto my hands and knees. His tiny hands grip my shirt, holding tight, as he pretends I’m a horse.
“I still can’t believe Grandon arrested you,” Brandy says, putting away dishes from her dishwasher. “I’m friends with his wife and he’s always so nice.”
“It wasn’t anything personal against you,” I assure her.
“And for him to pretend that he didn’t know Eli? So annoying.”
“He wanted me to admit who he was to me. That was all. Don’t stress about it.”
I roll to my side, lowering Eli to the floor, then I tickle his belly. He crawls away, grabbing his toy truck as he does.
“I also can’t believe you have a girlfriend,” she grins, and I roll my eyes.
“Katy is not my girlfriend.”
“Oh yeah, what do you guys call them? Old ladies?”
Eli mimics Brandy as best as he can, running through the living room yelling ‘ol lady’ at the top of his lungs. I go to the kitchen and finish helping Brandy with the dishes.
“When do I get to meet her?” Brandy asks me. “It’s not every day a woman catches the eye of my brother. I mean, not in a permanent way.”<
br />
“It’s not permanent,” I say, quickly, but even I don’t know that I believe that.
I sure as shit don’t want anyone else calling her their old lady. When I think of other women, I’m not interested in fucking around with them like I would normally be. When it comes to Katy, I have this fierce need to take care of her, while at the same time wanting her to find the strength to take care of herself. I know she has it in her.
“The fact that you say that, but then get that look in your eyes tells me you’re full of shit.”
“Yeah, well, I’ll figure it out as I go. You know I don’t do permanent,” I tell her and Brandy sighs.
“I still want to meet her. We can do a double date,” she suggests.
“Enough talk about that. Have you seen anyone around that seems suspicious to you?” I ask her, recalling what Katy said about the Sinners.
They have no reason to target Garnerville, but if they have someone half as good as Eddie, then they’ll know I was arrested here and that might make them curious about why I was in Garnerville.
“Not that I can think of. Should I be worried?” Brandy asks, joining me and Eli in the living room. “There’s a new club in Verdana. We don’t know as much about them as we thought we did,” I answer her, honestly. “With me getting arrested, I don’t know if they’ll start snooping around here or not. Just remember everything I taught you and watch your back. If you see someone you think I should know about, call me immediately.”
The moment these words are out of my mouth, I get a call from Lincoln. Brandy watches me, knowing my whole demeanor has changed. I don’t explain to her why I have to go, just that I do. I hug her and kiss Eli on the forehead before I leave them and haul ass to Verdana.
I meet Dax at The Book Nook, a book and antiques store on the corner of Third and Main. From the outside, the store still looks intact, but when I enter, there’s broken glass and shredded books scattered everywhere. The owner is speaking with Dax, pointing to all his ruined goods.
