I began, knowing the lyrics already by heart because it was one of my favorite songs on the album.
Hope and change,
You're the one I claim, the one I needed in my heart
'Cause life is strange
And the ones you cling on to, well they can tear you apart
All I ever wanted
Was you and I, you make that so very clear
I was so haunted
I couldn't see you, my dear
I allowed for the building of the guitar beats and Niko’s precision drum playing as I launched into the chorus.
Now I know that life would never be the same
Because you laid your face and fame
Into my heart
I cannot start
Not wanting you in my life
Forever—fuck the strife
We'll fight it together
And move on
Cause baby, you're the one
The crowd cheered as couples did come together on the makeshift dance floor and slow dance to our mid tempo song but I continued with the lyrics that had come from the bottom of my heart never the less.
Times like this,
I look around and think how could I ever been so blind
People I dismiss
Don't mean a thing 'cause I truly have to find
All the things I missed
Too busy looking far behind
From the very first kiss
You left all of them to find
Me not around to diss
And I'll never forget the love
Me and you found
Devils and Gods above
Are circling all around
Jealous that we beat odds
Baby I’d do it all over again
‘Cause I know that we would win!
I launched into the chorus again and the whole crowd seemed to be moved by the song, which made my spirit soar and my voice fly free. Some of the best concerts I’d ever had were in smaller venues because it felt more intimate.
As Kris, Hailey and Linx launched into a guitar and bass filled portion of the song, I slowly swung my head because I was in that zone. I felt the music and the music felt me. I couldn’t think of a better way to live than with the man you loved by your side, two beautiful children and doing what I absolutely loved for a living.
As the guitar part ended and the drum beats softened, my voice rose into the sky again.
In this life there are second chances
Third, fourth and fifth glances
But they don't mean a thing
If you haven't got that precious ring
The one we both can hear in our ears
When we know that we're both near
Each other and nothing else means a damn thing
To you or me ‘cause now that we both see
That we’re not a fluke or fling
You and I were meant to be
I launched into the chorus again and the song felt so right. It was supposed to be sung that night, not only to Layla and Kink but to my one true love: Hardy. I could see his eyes and he was as mesmerized by me as I was by him. We loved each other so much and our coming together wasn’t a happy coincidence or something that just happened. We were meant to be with one another and that was a beautiful thing.
The song eventually came to end and the crowd went up in hollers, claps and drunken cheers but as I faced the audience again after looking at my band mates, one man wasn’t clapping or cheering at all. He was tall, lanky and lean with reddish-blond hair and ice blue eyes that were cold as stone. Those eyes haunted me because I knew them from somewhere.
“Dad! Daddy! What are you doing here?”
Mira had separated from Pyro and was grabbing at the man but he pushed her away.
“You betrayed me too, you little Judas whore. Just like that no good, cock sucking half-breed piece of shit I fucked to get you. Stay the fuck away from me.”
Hardy was quick on his feet and before I knew it, he stood in front of Nel Decker. “Get the fuck out of here, old man. Your time is done and you got no business here. If I were you, I would be plannin’ on what you’re gonna do when you get to Pelican Bay and everyone finds out you’re a sick fucking pedophile.”
Nel laughed but it was cold, lifeless and eerie. “Who the fuck said anything about me goin’ to jail, boy? Nah, that ain’t gonna happen. I’m gonna make you hurt in ways you never dreamed though and you’ll wish you’d killed me instead of waitin’ to catch me.”
I watched in slow motion as he pistol whipped Hardy with a shotgun and then aimed it directly at me. My fight or flight seemed to be defective tonight as I still rode the wave of a fantastic performance. I could see as he stood confidently and wrapped his finger around the trigger. I closed my eyes, not wanting to be apart of my own death though it made no damn sense and then a gunshot rang out but it was the wrong caliber weapon.
I’d recognize the sound of a nine-millimeter anywhere; especially an expensive well made one.
I opened my eyes to see Razr holding the gun while Nel laid on the ground, dead as disco with his eyes open to stare at nothingness for the world to see. He’d shot him in the head and with brain matter decorating the pavement, there was no way he’d be coming back ever again.
He helped Hardy up and with reluctance, walked him back inside the clubhouse as my old man held his head.
The party was officially over, and it’d literally ended with a bang.
My head pounded with a fierce throb from being pistol whipped by a goddamn shotgun but still, my first thought was on my ol’ lady. I pulled away from Razr and sat on the barstool. As I tried to get up, I suffered from a horrific case of a splitting headache and vertigo.
It was Razr again who caught my fall and set me back up on the barstool. “Prez, you all right?”
“Fuck no. How’s my ol’ lady—did she get hurt?”
He shook his head. “I blew the guy’s head away before he could even fire at Talia.”
“Thank God,” I murmured under my breath.
I could finally breathe again knowing my baby was going to be okay and we’d eliminated a serious threat.
Ronan, Cricket, Quinn, Chemist, Bookie, and Pyro poured into the clubhouse along with the band, surrounding a shaken Talia who still looked shell-shocked someone had tried to kill her.
She wasn’t the only one. My blood seemed to turned into molten lava as it flowed through my veins and all I wanted was pure, cold, chaotic revenge with a shot of justice on the side. Actually, at this point, I didn’t give a fuck who had kids and who didn’t—I wanted every member of the White Knights club annihilated.
“Church. Fucking now!” I roared with anger though it made my head ache even worse.
“What about the rest of the guys who are rounding up the women outside?” Bookie questioned though his voice remained calm.
“You guys can tell them what’s going on. All of you,” I pointed to the guys, including Razr, “get your asses in that room and planted to a motherfuckin’ chair.”
I stood, still feeling woozy but I watched as Razr situated himself right behind me as we walked to church so if something did happen, he’d be there to help me up. He looked like a stringy motherfucker too, all lean muscle though not too thin to be mistaken for a male model, but he was a hell of a lot stronger than he initially appeared to be. I was a big guy, and he helped me up like he was picking up one of my kids.
I’d been wary of him at first but now that he’d done what he did, besides Ronan, he was the only guy I would trust with my life in my own charter. It’s not that I instantly disliked everyone else because they didn’t take a bullet or try to save Talia instead. This guy just did it. No fucking hesitation. He saw a threat and he dispatched it like it meant nothing. Another day at the office as far as he was concerned.
That kind of loyalty couldn’t be bought, and now he had me wonderin’ why he left the Barstow charter. They should have been so lucky to have a quick-handed
fucker like him around.
As soon as everyone was seated, I grabbed a Camel from the pack Razr threw on the table and lit it immediately before I said, “Before we even begin this emergency meeting, you wanna tell me what you’re doing in my charter again, Razr?” I inquired in a cool voice that belied my logic to asking the question.
Razr already had a cigarette smoldering between his lips. He dragged and grabbed it with two fingers before he exhaled through his mouth and nose. “The truth? I fucked the Prez’s daughter. She’s eighteen, and had been after me for months. I’d tried to be the good guy and walk away but when you get home from a run smelling like a fucking hog, walk into your house, take a shower and come out with a naked, creamy skinned blonde on your bed with her legs spread . . . what would you have done?
“Anyway, she told her dad she was in love with me and wanted to be my old lady when I didn’t say shit about commitment—I fucked her ‘cause I was horny as hell, not ‘cause I wanted to wife the bitch. Anyway, when I turned her offer down, the Prez saw red, and threatened to pull my patch if I didn’t find another club to take me. I called Chemist ‘cause he’s my cousin and with everyone present—except you, Prez—they voted me in.”
“If you fuck my daughter, I’ll kill ya—granted she’s still in diapers so the chances of you and Eden hookin’ up are slim to none.” I dragged from my cigarette. I want you to be a part of the council. Bookie is needed back in Birch Tree so that leaves a spot open. Ronan is VP, Pyro is Sergeant-At-Arms, Cricket is Road Captain, and Quinn is Treasurer. How ‘bout you be Secretary once Bookie leaves?”
“What about Chemist?” Razr wondered out loud as he looked around the table.
“I’m the resident drug store but that’s not an official position on the charter. I handle all the makings of meth and have expanded into purp though I just deal with the chemical side of mixing the Promethazine with the codeine syrup. The soda and jolly rancher are for the end user to pick up and provide, not me.”
Razr shook his head. “Damn, man. You was always good with making shit when we was kids with that chemistry set of yours. Don’t surprise me you join an MC just to make drugs ‘cause you can.”
Although I should have been kind of pissed off that Chemist and Razr had decided to go down memory lane together after all the shit that had happened that night, I couldn’t. The guy had a natural charisma after you got to know him and he had the other guys at the table laughing their asses off. We all needed a bit of a break because after this meeting was over, we wouldn’t be gettin’ one for a while.
“You all know why I called this meeting. I almost lost my ol’ lady out there and if it wasn’t for Razr’s quick thinkin’, I’d be in Kink’s shoes but that much worse because I got two kids who are under the age of three, and never would have gotten to know their mum and what a fantastic person she is. We all know that ain’t no way to raise kids. I wouldn’t even pretend to be all right because we all know I wouldn’t be. I’d be a goddamn mess and guess what? Shit rolls downhill.
“The thought of that prick, Jaden, gettin’ a hold of my son would kill me but he’d be able to fight me on it ‘cause I’d be a raging druggie and alcoholic tryin’ to forget the love of my life that I’d lost. Eden wouldn’t stand a chance and would probably be taken by Trey, or Trista. They wouldn’t allow their cousin’s baby to be raised by the likes of me. ‘Cause you know what else I’d be? A raging, homicidal maniac pickin’ off Deckers for sport until I erased their whole fucking family off the earth.”
Quinn cleared his throat. “I know Marion is a Decker but she also happens to be someone I care about. What would happen to her? She’s Brad’s kid—not Nel’s.”
I shook my head before I dragged on the rest of my cigarette and put it out in the ashtray. “Not gonna lie to you, brother. If you care about her, keep her as far from me as possible, even now. I don’t want to see a fuckin’ Decker unless it’s a dead motherfuckin’ Decker.”
“I alerted Eve to what happened,” Pyro spoke up. “I didn’t tell her the truth though—I said I shot Nel ‘cause I didn’t want Razr to be questioned for doin’ somethin’ any of us woulda done given the chance. He was just quicker on his feet.”
“So, what’s the plan? You didn’t call us in here to discuss what might have happened but what will happen. What do we do, Hardy?” Ronan inquired.
“It’s war against all Deckers. I can’t kill Brad, and Marion will do just fine if she stays away from me—Jake too. But their ol’ ladies? I want every one of them dead by tomorrow.”
Bookie stared at me quizzically. “You mean Nel and Brad’s ol’ ladies?”
“For now but eventually, Jake’s too. Nel wants to come into my club and try to murder my ol’ lady? He’s got another think comin’. I don’t want any of those bitches breathin’ come tomorrow mornin’. Let those two motherfuckers know what it feels like to lose an ol’ lady,” I expressed coldly before I slammed my hands on the wooden table.
“And there’s no way we can talk you out of this because this is some fucked up shit,” Pyro spoke up. “You and I are agents, Hardy. We don’t indiscriminately kill women and children. I don’t like either of their ol’ ladies either but to murder them in cold blood for something they didn’t do? I’m not feelin’ this plan.”
His ice blue glare—so much like Nel’s—centered on me. “You’re gonna start something that none of us are gonna be able to stop. What happens when they start targetin’ our old ladies? You ever thought about that? Talia didn’t die—fuck, she wasn’t even injured. I can’t go along with a war that could cost me everything I love just because what you loved was threatened but not harmed today. We all know what we’re in for when we put these cuts on our back. Anything else and you’re just beggin’ to go to war.”
I glared back at Pyro with an icy stare. “Has it ever occurred to you that war has already began?”
“Maybe it has but what kind of war you willin’ to fight, man? ‘Cause what you talking is some crazy ass Vietnam or Afghanistan shit. A guerilla war we’ll be in for years, and nothin’ will come from it but a lot of heartache and a lotta fuckin’ funerals,” Ronan continued. “I’m with Pyro on this. I say no.”
“What about the rest of you?”
Razr glanced at me. “I’d be with you . . . if that motherfucker had injured or murdered your ol’ lady but he didn’t. I’m in a new charter and I can’t afford to be pissin’ people off. I’m gonna have to say no.”
“Chemist?”
“Hell fuckin’ no. By the time it ends, we’ll be broke, emotionally bankrupt and won’t have pot to piss in or a window to throw it out of. Some shit you just gotta let go, Prez.”
“Bookie?”
“Yeah, I’d be all for it but since I’m not in the Vegas charter any longer, I don’t have a say. Plus you’d gotta get somethin’ like that cleared with Cillian, and I highly doubt he’d approve that kind of retribution.”
Pyro’s phone buzzed and he read the text before he looked me dead in the eyes. “The situation has been handled. A cleanup crew has removed the body and any signs that Nel was even here. As far as his club knows, he just disappeared. I think we should leave it that way and concentrate on what the main mission is, Hardy.”
“The main mission . . .” I trailed off while deep in thought. “This meeting is adjourned, my brothers. I understand why you feel the way you do, and I can respect that. Nothing will be done against the White Knights unless it’s government sanctioned.” I slammed the gavel down and the boys stood and filed out, all with the exception of Ronan.
He closed the door behind the other members as the last one—Bookie—finally left and leaned against the door with his arms crossed against his solid chest.
I didn’t have to guess what he was thinking; Ronan’s violet-blue eyes always made his feelings quite clear and I was about to get an earful from a man that had suffered enough to last two lifetimes.
He slicked his hand through his brown hair and sighed. “You don’t thin
k I understand but I do . . . actually better than you do. If you weren’t my uncle, I’d undermine your authority, go straight to my dad and have him pull your patch for having gone absolutely motherfuckin’ loony tunes on us, bro. What you pulled in this meeting was not cool and you sure as shit know it.”
“What are you talking about?” I didn’t want a moral discussion with him at this point—I just wanted him to get the hell out of here so I could go see my ol’ lady and calm her own fears.
“You wanted to go to war for Talia? Someone who has better security than ninety-nine point nine percent of the other old ladies? The only reason they weren’t here was because she gave them the night off. She’s a world famous star and the lead singer of Winter’s Regret yet you thought it would be okay to lose a brother—or five—over her pampered ass? You pompous, sanctimonious motherfucker.” Ronan lit a cigarette and stared at me like I was cow dung he’d just wiped off the bottom of his biker boots.
“So let me get this straight . . . just because I’m married to a famous woman, she somehow ranks better than any ol’ lady in here, and I shouldn’t want to seek revenge?” I asked my VP.
“No, that’s not what I said. I mean her status alone means you don’t have to.” He allowed the smoke to drift from his lungs through his nose. “I have twins with Naomi, Hardy. For a while, I didn’t even know if they were mine or the sick fuck who abducted, raped, sodomized and tortured her. My own father told me I couldn’t go after the perpetrator because he was a valuable informant. That’s when I fuckin’ threw my badge in their faces because I was helpless to save my own woman—my hands were completely tied.” Ronan dragged on his cigarette. “You think what you went through tonight was worse than that?”
“It’s apples and oranges, Ronan—”
“Is it? ‘Cause from where I’m standing, both fruits are still in the same motherfuckin’ basket. I was in so much agony, so much physical, emotional and psychological pain, I couldn’t fuckin’ process it all myself. I fucked another woman—well, at least I got my dick in Layla before she threw me off after I called her by Naomi’s name—and I truly didn’t know if I was comin’ or goin’ because Naomi has always been my destiny. My little Mexican, black, Native American and Scots-Irish goddess that I would do anything to do to protect, and at her weakest moment, I couldn’t do shit but get drunk, high and get down on my knees and pray to God that she would be all right in the end.”
Ride To The Edge (Lucifer's Saints MC) (Rough Riders MC Series Book 4) Page 15
