Sicko

by Amo Jones

  My body aches. Every single time I move, my muscles contract. Wincing, I move from the sofa that’s in the clubhouse, running my hands over my face. If there was a point that was past tired and exhausted, I’d be there.

  “Hey,” Kara says, handing me a hot mug and taking a seat opposite me. I blow into the liquid and smile.

  “Thank you.” The absence of all the testosterone is obvious. “Where is everyone?”

  Kara shuffles in her chair. “They’ve gone after Kyle.”

  “He escaped?” I screech, horror clawing its way into me.

  Kara exhales, nodding with an apologetic smile on her face. “He did. Someone blew up the gate and while the boys were distracted making sure you and others were safe, he ran. Royce said his ties were loose all along, and that he could have run at any time, but he wanted to be there.” She pauses, and I place my cup onto the coffee table in front of me, unable to stomach anything right now. “He seems really bad.”

  “Kyle?” I ask. “Oh, he’s much worse than that.”

  The front door opens and my eyes shoot up to find Slim walking through with an AK strapped around his chest. “Still nothing.”

  I groan, leaning forward while massaging my temples. “You’ll never find him unless he wants to be found.”

  Slim’s phone rings in his pocket and he pulls it out, answering. I’m still stunned with the information that Kyle is out free, waiting to kill us whenever he would like.

  Slim is handing me his phone, and I take it, bringing it to my ear. “Yeah?”

  Silence. “You okay?”

  I clear my throat. “Not really. Where’s Sloane?”

  “She’s asleep in Wicked’s room upstairs. We’re going to find Kyle, and this time I’m just going to kill him. You good with that, or you wanna help?”

  I pause, my fingers flexing around the phone. “I think I can pass on that, Roy.” I couldn’t keep the sarcastic tone out of my voice.

  “I’m just asking, because I get the feeling you’ve been on the receiving end of his sick bullshit more than anyone else, and he took your mom.”

  I think over his words. He’s right. I probably have. I’m not sure what my mom would have endured by him, but I gather it would be around the same. If not maybe more.

  “It’s not me, Roy. You can handle that, but have you checked on our mom?”

  “Yeah, I have. She just thinks he’s away on one of his many business trips. Oblivious. Did she know anything?”

  I shake my head even though I know he can’t see me. “No. She didn’t have a clue.”

  “Well, we’ll keep it that way.”

  “You could just say that his submarine sunk or something,” I jest, leaning back against the couch.

  “What? His submarine?”

  “He owned a submarine company. How did you not know that?”

  Silence. “I didn’t know a lot.” I’m not sure if that was a dig at me or not. I know Royce, and although I have no reservations on how he feels about me, I also know that he’s going to be upset with me about a lot once this is all over. For one, I should have told him from the start. I know for a fact that that’s going to be a big fight. I’m drained already. “Where’s the launching pad?”

  “Well, that’s the tricky part.”

  “Spit it out, Duchess, I’m really not in the fucking mood.”

  “It’s at the naval base. You can’t get in without his access card or a military card.”

  “Stay at the clubhouse. I’m serious, Jade. Don’t fucking move from there.”

  “Okay.” What’s another lie. “Be safe, please?”

  He doesn’t answer, hanging up and leaving me sitting there with a nervous throb deep in my belly.

  Kara stands from the sofa. “They’ll be fine. Trust me.”

  The thing about trust is that it can be broken.

  We got into the naval base easy enough, with Lion and the pull he has, the cartel were more than happy to help us shift this along faster after learning who K Diamond really is and his connection to Olivia. The man behind the mask. Every time I think over the exchanges between him and me, I find myself getting angry that I hadn’t picked up on anything. None of it seems to make sense and right now, I don’t have the clarity to decipher any of it.

  Four truckloads of some of the deadliest motherfuckers I know, all for a man I grew up with. I called Dad.

  Fuck.

  Lion stops the car outside the launch station, pulling up the emergency brake and glaring out at the endless ocean. Wicked and the boys who were rolling with us begin piling out of the car, leaving Lion and I alone for the first time since revelations came about.

  “I need to tell you something. I knew your father in high school.” He took a breath and blew it out. I want to interrupt and ask how and why and what the fuck? But I don’t. Not yet. “He was my best friend. It was him, me, a couple other boys and Jenny Smith.”

  “You didn’t think to tell me this?” I say, annoyed that it was kept from me by my damn president.

  “I was going to tell you, but Kyle and I decided the less you knew, the better when it came to his history. He played it up, not wanting you to know his dark past. Bullshit, obviously.” His eyes come to mine, and I see the way the worry lines curve in when the next words come out of his mouth. “Everything I did was to protect you, son. Nothing more and nothing less.”

  I nod my head, because I trust him. I trust that even if he had lied to me, I trust that I know he did it with the right interest at heart.

  “We were all best fucking friends. You, Wicked, Orson, and Storm reminded me of what we all had. Only our story was a little more rugged than your high school stories. Jenny and Kyle were the couple of the school. They fell in love early and stayed that way right until the night she died. Kyle loved that girl more than he loved anything and anyone in his entire life.”

  “What happened?”

  Lion huffs, his finger tapping on his thigh. “We were drinking at a party one night. On the outskirts. There were trees and loose gravel all over the road. The music was loud, there was laughter. Jenny was on Kyle’s lap because there weren’t enough seats. I lost control, rolled the car and hit a tree. Jenny died in Kyle’s arms. He never recovered from that. I thought he would resent me, but he never did. Never. All this time, he was cooking up some sick shit to get back at me. He put Ollie in my life and then killed her, I have no fucking doubt about that.” Lion reaches into his pocket and takes out his leather wallet, flipping open the worn case and handing me a photo. “So when we go in there, we kill him. You understand? Fuck answers. I’m done talking.”

  I study the photo closely. The woman looks so much like Jade I almost want to hit Lion for not picking up the resemblance. Her dark hair, square-shaped jaw and swollen lips. I think she looks familiar, but all I can bring it down to is that she looks like Jade now. The photo is old, with obvious discoloration tainting their smiles.

  “Yeah, roger that.” I hand him back the photo. “You think he put Olivia on your path for a reason?”

  He chuckles. “Just so he could tear her away from me.”

  “Doesn’t answer why the fuck he was so hellbent on dragging me to hell with him.”

  “Could be something as simple as his jealousy over Jade, or it could be something more sinister.” His hand goes to the handle, pushing the door open. “Whatever it is, you have about four seconds to figure it out before I go in swinging.”

  Finding his ship was easy enough, since there was only one submarine docked up in this harbor. The door is open with stairs leading down, with our snipers set up on all four corners of the submarine.

  My phone vibrates.

  If you’re at the base, we’re on our way there now. Got a tip. If you haven’t already, do it now and leave.

  “That was Isaac,” I say to Lion, flashing the text to him. “We need to move fast.”

  “You say that like we aren’t carrying an army behind us right now.”

  The submarine is all stee
l gray metal, with computers lining the narrow path to the back of the machine. Wicked and a few other boys are behind Lion and me, but I see nothing but fucking red.

  Nothing.

  Shoving through the back door, Kyle is seated at the front of the ship, swinging around in his chair to face us.

  “Well, just when I thought I was getting away…”

  My eyes fell to his pants, where blood is seeping through the material.

  “Who helped you get here?” I snap, raising my gun up and shooting him in his right arm before he can move.

  Kyle roars in pain, Lion coming to the back of his seat with his knife pressing against his throat. “Why did you take Olivia from me?”

  “He didn’t,” a voice says from behind us, and we all shift to see an older woman with dark hair and green eyes enter. She’s wearing a white suit, with her hair up in a tight bun on the top of her head.

  Lion falls backward, his arms coming to the side. “Ollie?”

  Olivia moves forward, her eyes on Lion. “I’m sorry, Lionel. I—I didn’t have a choice.”

  “You’re the woman who told me to go to the bar that day…” I whisper absently. Holy fuck.

  Olivia turns to face me. Having her in front of me is like a slap in the face. She resembles Jade way too much for me to be comfortable with ending her life if she’s team fucking Kyle. “I also apologize about the explosion. We had to get him out of there before you all killed him.”

  “Where the fuck did you come from?” Kyle seethes, spitting onto the ground.

  “She was with me,” another voice says, and a girl I don’t recognize walks through the boys. She’s short, petite, with a round face and doe-like eyes. Her hair is dark on the top and blonde on the ends, and her blue eyes are as moody as the ocean. I don’t know who she is nor do I recognize her.

  The girl turns to face Wicked.

  I look between her and Wicked, confused.

  “Hey, big brother…”

  I freeze.

  Wicked’s hand comes up to her face, blinking back the tears that are pricking the edges of his eyes. “Poppy?”

  “It’s me.” She smiles up at him, and I see the adoration she has for Wicked as she leans her face into his hand. “I’ll explain later.”

  She turns back to face Kyle, her shoulders squaring, and her lip curled. “You may not know this, Mr. K, but all these years—” Poppy moves around him as Olivia remains near Lion. Probably to ensure he doesn’t kill Kyle. This whole situation is fucked.

  “Listen!” I snap, I’ve fucking had it with the delay. “I need fuckin’ blood, so all of you are going to have to wait until I’m done, and then you can wear his organs as a necklace. We good?”

  Poppy stares at me blankly. “You must be Royce.” The way she confirms it is enough to have me stop talking. As if she knows more about me than I want her to know. “She spoke about you a lot.”

  “Who!” I yell, my fists clenching at my sides.

  “Me,” Jade whispers from the doorway, and I spin around in a rush, my teeth bared in anger.

  “I fucking told you! What did I say, Jade? I said to keep your ass at the motherfucking clubhouse so I can handle this shit!”

  Jade clears her throat, stepping farther toward me while an angelic smile remains passive on her lips. “I love you. You know that, right?”

  “What are you doing?” I say, exasperated. If I didn’t love her so damn much, I’d put a bullet between her pretty little eyes just to put myself out of my misery. She has always been the crux of my pain, but around that crux, we had a life together.

  “As I was saying, an angel has been working with you for years,” Poppy says, turning to face Kyle.

  The blood in Kyle’s face drains, his skin going pale. I’m still standing here, fucking gobsmacked as to what the fuck I’m missing.

  “Me,” Jade announces, like she’s fucking bulletproof. She steps closer to Kyle and my hand flies out to connect to hers.

  She turns to face me. “Roy, I’ve been through more than you know over the years. Let me handle this. Please.”

  There’s an internal battle that pulls in my chest. The me who wants to protect her at all costs and not let anyone go near her ever again, and then there’s the other side. The side that has realized over the past few days just how much she has grown. By the hand of my father, she has endured pain, suffering, and loss, and that’s only from what I know. I know that there’s so much more she has to tell me. But with that pain and suffering came resilience.

  I let her hand go, with my other fisted so tight that crescent moons scar my palms.

  “Over the years, I’ve been freeing girls,” Jade announces, her shoulders back. Lion takes the few steps it is to me, leaving the girls at the front line. We hang back like hungry wolves, waiting for our alphas to say it’s feeding time.

  I’m good with that.

  Jade carries on. “The first girl I freed was Poppy. After seeing her the first time you took me to the compound, curled up in the corner crying. I knew right then and there that I would not allow my part in your life to be in vain. I would use it for good.”

  Jesus fucking Christ, I want to fuck all that good out of her right now.

  Jade leans down, her hands pressed on either side of the chair. “You thought you were so smart, Kyle. But among all of it, you seemed to forget one thing.”

  “And what’s that?” Kyle snaps, and I watch as defeat drags out of his eyes.

  “I was your blind spot. You conditioned me to sit like a lapdog, which I did. I battled with a lot of guilt inside of me, but there’s always one thing that would outweigh the abuse, and that’s the strength I built. I wanted revenge. I wanted to help these girls. So, one after the other, I freed them before they even made it to the podium. I wish I could have saved them all, but I always went for the younger ones first.” Jade pushes off the chair. “Poppy got in contact with me the day I started at the university. She said that they had formed an elite group of women, and all of those women were girls I saved over the years.” She looks at me over her shoulder. “With the help of some wealthy rich pricks, they have been able to do so much more for survivors.” My brain fuzzes. Anonymous? She turns back to Kyle. “I agreed to continue when I found out. To play your game until the right time came.” She moves to standing. “But then Royce happened, and you stole me.”

  “You knew about your mom being alive?” I say, teeth clenched. “Trying not to be pissed at you right now, baby, but you’re making it real fucking hard.”

  “Sorry,” she whispers, looking at me over her shoulder. “I get that you all have a score to settle with Kyle.” She turns to face us all. “Wicked, what he did to you and me, and to Poppy.” She moves to Olivia. “My mom, who received the worst of it and then had to further fake her own death while allowing her daughter to bring down the most dangerous man in history. I understand why she didn’t tell me Lion was my father. It would have distracted me.” Jade folds her arms in front of herself, and I watch as her lip trembles. “I understand the pain he has caused. You all want revenge. But the women who stand behind me, and the many more that there are, are only the tip of this iceberg. We can take the dealer off the streets, but that doesn’t remove the drugs.” She walks closer to me, and I snarl at her. I already know what she’s going to ask of me.

  “Royce.” Her voice alone has a direct line to every fucking emotion that resides inside of me. “We let them take him. Isaac needs him to bring down the buyers. There were a lot, Roy. Kyle has connections to the biggest trafficking rings not just in America, but the entire world. We owe it to those who have had their innocence stolen from them to do better than just murder.”

  I shake my head. “Can’t, baby. Can’t let him leave here unless it’s by his skin on my back.”

  Her hand comes to my cheek before her fingers flex toward the back of my neck, pulling me down to her.

  “You can,” she whispers. “I’m just asking for not yet. Let them get what they need. I promise
you, promise you, Isaac will get you in. Just—” she sighs, and tears roll down her cheeks. “Let this be about more than revenge. Let this be about change.” All of her pain spills out from her and washes over me.

  I soak it up, wanting to take it away from her, knowing damn well that I’m going to give this girl whatever the fuck she wants.

  “One month.”

  “Six,” she replies simply, her lips over mine.

  “Four,” I snap, biting her bottom lip.

  She kisses me. “Nine.”

  “Fine.” That was the fucking kiss of death. “They got nine months, then he’s mine.”

  “Okay.”

  Just as the words leave her mouth, Isaac and the feds storm through the submarine. Jade is tucked under my arm as Olivia falls into step beside Lion, rigid and nervous. In a matter of hours, Lion’s world has flip-flopped back and forward. All of us have somehow lost our grip on reality.

  Jade climbs into the back of the SUV with Poppy and Wicked, as I shut them inside and make my way to Isaac, who’s watching me near his squad car.

  I nudge my head. “How long you been under?”

  Isaac shakes his head. “Since she first came in.”

  I turn over my shoulder. I can’t see Jade through the tinted glass, but know she’s watching us closely. “Seven months, Isaac. I told her nine, but you got seven months.”

  When I turn to face him, his eyes are weak. “I have enough information on most of his clients already, so I’ll only need seven.”

  “This underground trafficking issue. She’s fucking passionate about it.”

  Isaac shoves his hands into his pocket. “That girl, Royce, that girl has had the worst of the worst happen to her. I wouldn’t worry about her mentally. She’s strong. Somehow built a wall to block out the life she had with Kyle, and her young life of being in high school. But tread carefully with her. There were a handful of times when I almost threw the towel in to save her from Kyle, but I didn’t. I couldn’t.”