by Lane Hart
Since he’s the last one out, I get up and go shut the door, then sit back down in my chair. The bearded skull king carved in the middle of the long table stares back at me in the otherwise empty room. It always seems so much larger when my brothers aren’t filling it up with their presence. I remember Kennedy remarking on the same thing, the last time she was in here when Chase caught us together in the act. I close my eyes, remembering those sweet moments.
“Oh, Torin, he’s never going to let us live this down. This is all he’s going to think about now when you guys are at the table!” Kennedy had laughed after Chase slammed the door behind him.
“I’m pretty sure Chase won’t spend any time at all thinking about what his brother does with his sister-in-law in private,” I had reassured her.
“He saw my tits!” she had gasped.
I had reached around to cradle her breasts, which were swollen and heavy in the last weeks of her pregnancy. “I’m pretty sure everyone has noticed these monsters. Pregnancy has been good for all kinds of things, hasn’t it, baby?”
“Torin!” she had scolded me before getting dressed while I leaned back in my chair watching her, admiring how beautiful she looked with her belly swollen with my boy. Unlike War, I wasn’t planning on hiding the club from my son. I wanted him to be a motorcycle-loving prince who would become a King and take over the gavel for me one day. That’s why we had already decorated his room with Harleys. I couldn’t wait to meet him and hold him, to teach him to walk, talk, and eventually, ride.
Once everything was covered again, Kennedy sat on the edge of the table, straddling me at the president’s chair with her palms spread out on her belly. “This was good today, Torin,” she had told me. “I’ve been worried about you, with everything going on with your brother, and the baby, and you being so…well, you would tell me if something was wrong, wouldn’t you? Wrong with us, I mean.”
“Of course I would,” I had lied. Only to protect her, but God strike me down, I had lied.
“We’re going to be all right. Me and the baby, we’re going to be fine. You’re the one I worry about. Isn’t that stupid? Even knowing that I’m going to be squeezing your giant son out of me in a few weeks, it’s you I worry about.”
“I’m going to be fine, baby,” I say out loud in the silent chapel. “You won’t have to worry much longer. Daddy’s coming home soon.”
Pushing myself to my feet, I head up the stairs to the kitchen behind the bar. I’ve got a guest to feed and watch over for a few days, but the plan is coming together nicely.
Everything will be done Tuesday. And once the rat is exposed and the club is taken care of, I can finally put down the guilt and shame and face Kennedy in the afterlife.
Chapter Twelve
Torin
“Everything is all set,” War tells me.
“Good. Let’s go,” I reply as I reach for the door handle and climb out my side of the SUV while Lexi, Coop, and War do the same.
When we meet up in front of the hood, Lexi comes up to me and whispers, “Please don’t let him walk out of here alive.”
“Not planning on it,” I assure her as we start toward the entrance.
Once we’re in the salvage yard, I look around, checking to make sure everyone is in place. Miles is up on top of the abandoned fire house across the street, which is nothing for his sniper skills.
Reece is up there too, monitoring the roads.
A few minutes later, when Reece spots incoming, he flashes the sunlight off of a piece of mirrored glass in warning to us.
“It’s time,” I tell War, Lexi, and Cooper.
A moment later, a black Suburban pulls up in the salvage yard and parks next to our SUV. Hector climbs out, along with only two of his men, as we agreed; but then he turns around and reaches back inside.
“What’s he doing?” Coop asks in concern.
“No clue,” I mutter, tensing as we wait.
My hand twitches, wanting to grab my gun from my back waistband because I figure Hector is about to pull out a big ass bazooka and blow us all away.
The last thing I expected to see in that psycho killer’s arms was…a baby?
“What the fuck?” War asks.
“Oh no. Oh, no!” Lexi mutters as her hand comes up to her mouth. She lunges forward, but I clamp my hand down on her shoulder to stop her. “What are you doing with him?” she screams at her father. “Please don’t hurt him!”
“We’re not gonna let him hurt a baby,” I assure her as I tug her backward.
“Everyone stay calm and don’t even think about pulling out a weapon,” War says through clenched teeth, his paternal instincts gearing up defensively.
“She lives!” Hector laughs when he comes closer holding the kid like a little human shield. “I thought the odds were only fifty-fifty that you wouldn’t kill her.”
“We had a deal. The money and flash drive for her. I haven’t gotten any notifications about deposits to the account I sent you,” I say. Since Hector and his men’s hands are all empty other than the kid, I ask, “Where’s the money?”
“I have a better offer than the five million,” he says with a grin when he comes to a stop about ten feet away, now close enough that you can hear the baby starting to fuss. It’s a small thing, so it can’t be more than a few months old. Hector has the infant propped up on his left shoulder, cradling it with both hands. In his right hand, under the child’s diapered bottom, I can see his cell phone peeking out.
“No, you don’t get to change the deal now,” I say before I push Lexi behind me. “We’ll keep her until you come back with the cash.”
“Oh, I think you’ll at least want to hear me out. Apparently, Lexi is still keeping secrets from you,” he says before dropping his eyes to the baby in his arms. “I want my daughter for your son.”
My fists clench tightly by my sides, and my teeth grind together so hard they squeak. “Fuck you!” I shout at him when he dares to bring up the reminder of all that I lost. “You die, right here, right now.”
“You wouldn’t fire on me while I’m holding your blood, would you?” he asks. “Allow me to introduce you to Liam. He looks just like his mother, doesn’t he?”
Lexi grabs frantically at the back of my cut before she says in a sob, “Torin, you have to get Liam away from him!”
Glancing over my shoulder at her, I ask, “So that’s your kid?”
“Yes!” she exclaims. “And he’s…he’s…”
“He’s yours, Torin!” Hector shouts over at me followed by a deep belly laugh. “Who would’ve guessed she’d get knocked up that one time, right? I didn’t. She hid him from me, his own grandfather. But thanks to your intel, I was able to find him in Vegas for you.”
“You’re lying,” I say without even considering something so absurd for even a second. He’s trying to manipulate me. I knew he would try something like this, and so I’m ready for whatever bullshit he tries to throw at me.
“I figured you'd want a DNA test first. Who knows? Maybe Lexi fucked another man a year ago. Liam’s what, three months old, Lex?”
“He’s yours, Torin, I swear he is! I haven’t been with anyone else,” Lexi says as she steps out from behind me and looks up at me with tears running down her cheeks. “Please don’t let them hurt him.”
“What the fuck?” Cooper mutters at the same time War curses when they both figure out the secret I’ve been keeping.
“Yes, we fucked, but that can’t be my kid!” I assure my brothers. “It’s…that’s impossible.”
“Are you willing to bet his life on that?” Hector asks. “This is your one and only chance to decide if you want your son. I’ll trade you Lexi for him.”
“No! No!” Lexi shouts. “I won’t give him up!”
“Torin?” Hector asks. “Let me leave with her, all of us alive, and I’ll leave my man, Joe, here with Liam.”
“Torin, it’s a goddamn trap,” War mumbles. “You know that, and you can’t trust her either. Just stick to
the plan!”
Turning to glare at him, I whisper, “How do I stick to the plan when he’s holding a fucking kid? A kid that could possibly be mine!”
“You’re not really buying this horseshit, are you?” Coop asks.
“Lexi, go,” I tell her, spinning her around to face her father and giving her back a shove so hard that she stumbles. We spent hours making plans, but now we’re gonna have to improvise.
“What? No! I’m not giving up my son!” she exclaims as she looks at me over her shoulder, pleading with me.
“Tell your men to come get her,” I shout to Hector.
He looks to his guys on either side of him and speaks softly before they start walking forward, leaving him alone with the kid.
“Lexi, go. Trust me,” I whisper and then step forward to give her another hard shove forward. “Catch him.”
“W-what?” she asks through her tears.
“Catch. Him,” I mutter under my breath without moving my lips. “Go!” I shout. “It’s your lucky day, Hector,” I tell him. “Your lucky fucking day!”
Reaching up to my ear and then my forehead, I tap the signal, or in this case, the sign of where Miles should shoot him, not one in the chest and one in the head like he prefers. Hopefully, one bullet will be enough. The two guards drop like flies a second later when Miles nails his marks on them.
“Run, Lexi! Now!” I tell her since she’s halfway to Hector and the kid. Her scared brown eyes widen in understanding before she finally takes off at a sprint. She’s fast too, just like I remember from the night that she ran from the hotel room.
Hector has pulled his right hand out from under the baby’s bottom and is screaming something in Spanish into his phone. The kid is high on his shoulder, but there’s no way in hell I’m going to take a chance on injuring him. Time seems to slow as I draw the .45 from my waistband, bracing it in both hands and pointing it low to the ground.
Hector drops his phone and throws back the suit jacket he is wearing, digging for his own pistol as I squeeze the trigger. I’m walking to my left, making sure I keep Lexi out of my line of fire, struggling to make sure my hands don’t shake. My first shot is too low, the bullet kicking up a puff of dust right at Hector’s feet. He raises his own gun towards me, the thunderous crack of his gun echoing a split second after mine.
I see Hector’s shin explode in a spray of bone shrapnel, but at the same time, I’m knocked off my feet…from a crushing blow to my side. My pistol flies from my hand as I sprawl on the ground, a splatter of blood raining down around me. Before I can comprehend what’s happened, Lexi crashes into Hector, ripping the baby from his arms and easily shoving him to the ground as his wounded leg folds underneath of him.
Cooper was hot on Lexi’s heels and kicks the gun away from Hector before dropping a knee onto the front of his throat, pinning him to the ground. I look up, still stunned from hitting the ground, to see War standing over me, clutching his upper arm and grimacing in pain.
“Torin, you okay?” War gasps.
I scramble to retrieve my pistol, then get to my feet to check on my sergeant-at-arms. “Let me see it,” I hiss at War, peeling his hand away from the wound on his arm. “Goddammit War, you shouldn’t have done that,” I tell him as I inspect his wound, seeing that the bullet passed clean through the outside of his thick bicep. It may have only clipped him, but it’s still bleeding freely.
War is ignoring me, instead looking up to the top of the nearby fire station, where Reese is flashing his mirror down at us. “Shit! Their reinforcements are coming in hot,” War observes, jerking his arm away from me. Then, with a small smile, he says, “Don’t worry, it’s just a scratch. No one gets to you without going through me. No matter how badly you may want it,” he adds cryptically. “I’ll get Coop and Lexi loaded up while you…”
“I know what I have to do,” I grimace. “Thank you,” I add, before stuffing my gun back into the waist of my jeans and hurry over to Cooper. Lexi has retreated to the SUV, and I see her whispering to the baby as she checks him over desperately for any injuries. “Help her get loaded up, and make sure she and War are both okay,” I order Cooper.
He gives me a brief nod, then jogs away. In the distance, I hear bursts of fire from Reece’s M-240 and the sounds of glass and metal being ripped apart. I ignore all of it as I kneel down by Hector, slamming my knee onto his shattered shin.
He screams, his hands flailing at me as I draw the long knife from my belt. “Run Torin,” he gasps as I slash at his arms, knocking them away. “My men will be here in seconds, and you…”
I lean over him, slamming my forearm into his throat and choking off his words. I can see the fear and panic in his eyes and know that it’s the same expression Kennedy must have had in her final moments before she was gunned down. We’re so close I can feel the hot gasps of his breath on my face as I trace the blade of my knife wide across his belly, then dig the point in just above his hip.
“No more threats, Hector. No more lies,” I hiss as I press my blade into his lower belly, watching his face contort in agony as I drag the blade through his flabby midsection. “I want you to know what you did to me, Hector. I want you to know what it feels like to have a man rip your guts out, to tear your soul apart.” I throw my knife aside, then plunge my hand into the wound I made in Hector’s belly. All I can feel is the pulsing of his lifeblood slipping away under my grasp. His final screams drown out the gunfire around me, even the voices of my brothers desperately trying to get my attention.
As Hector’s eyes lose focus and he lets out a final shudder, I feel a hot rush of nausea wash over me after what I’ve done, the violent act of vengeance. Dammit, killing Hector was supposed to make the crushing pain in my chest lessen, not double. I drop my knife and jerk back from the corpse. I try to get to my feet, but stagger under a wave of vertigo when I glance down and see his warm, sticky blood coating my hands. Why the fuck does his blood look just like Kennedy’s? Shouldn’t it be black to match the evil inside of him?
“Torin, let’s go!” Cooper shouts at me.
The ongoing rattle of Reese and Miles gunfire creeps back into my conscious mind. I crouch back down, frantically checking Hector’s pockets, smearing his blood all over his clothing until my fingers wrap around the small plastic hard drive, then I grab my knife from the ground before racing towards the SUV.
“We need to get the fuck out of here now!” I roar when I climb in the back with Lexi since Coop’s in the passenger seat with his gun out the window. War’s in the driver seat, his injury that’s been wrapped with a makeshift bandage not slowing him down any as he shoves the SUV into gear and peels out. Beside me Lexi’s still clutching her kid…possibly my kid. Jesus.
Was she lying to me, telling me I’m the baby’s father just so that I would save him? Who the fuck knows. My mind is so twisted that I barely even register the two trucks we pass as we pull out of the yard. One of them has turned over onto its side, and flames flicker from under the hood. The other is riddled with holes, and the bodies of Hector’s soldiers hang from two of the windows. War slows down for Cooper to shoot at a man who climbs out of the vehicle while we wait for Reece and Miles to come down from the building.
I spot Miles when he jumps out the window on the second floor and onto a dumpster lid before the last jump to the ground, obviously too impatient to go down the fire escape. He makes it to the SUV just as Reece comes running from around back. Both jump into the back cargo area through the hatch, and then we’re out of there.
“Was that…a real…baby?” Miles asks through his pants as he leans over the seat to get a look. “I’ll be damned.”
“She says he’s Torin’s,” Coop informs them from the front seat. “There’s a better chance that he’s mine…”
“Shut the fuck up,” I warn him.
The vehicle goes silent as we drive away from the chaos.
“Do you think we have to worry about retaliation?” War asks when he looks at me in the rearview mirror.
“No,” Lexi answers before I can. “My father’s dead. His men that are still alive don’t owe him any more loyalty. They’ll be too busy fighting over who gets to take over.”
“Why wouldn’t they want vengeance for his death?” I ask as I watch her press urgent kisses into his dark hair while she squeezes him to her chest.
“Because they’re drug lords, not a brotherhood. It’s all about the money and power, not devotion,” she answers without sparing me a glance. And I have no clue if she’s right or not about that.
“Hector came after me and my brother for killing his men,” I point out.
Finally, Lexi lifts her eyes to mine a moment before they go back to her kid. “Because that was an insult to him and he couldn’t let you get away with it,” she says. “Loyalty in the Cartel is inspired through fear, not love. Besides, I think he was trying to take over your territory by crippling you…” Lexi trails off after she voices her beliefs aloud, in front of my men, that I’m weak. The silence in the SUV is so intense that I can hear everyone breathing.
Fuck it all if she’s not right, even if I don’t like hearing it. Losing Kennedy and my son did bring me to my knees. I wasn’t able to do anything but mourn them and beat myself up with guilt. It’s why I had to walk away from leading the club. I didn’t think I was capable of coming back from such a blow.
But now? I’m finally starting to feel like myself again. The guilt of killing Hector is fading fast. And while the pain of all I lost is still there — a constant, crushing ache on my chest, I’m beginning to understand that it will always be with me. Now I just have to learn how to keep breathing despite it.
Because I do want to keep living.
My goal for so long was to kill Hector and then put myself out of my misery. Surprisingly, I’m not so sure that’s what I want anymore, though. I still have a job to do with the MC outing our rat, and, possibly, although I think the chances are slim, I may have a son who needs me to stick around and be his father.
“Coop, have Sax call in all the Carolina and Virginia charters. We’re gonna need their help keeping an eye out for a while,” I tell him. “Let’s go ahead and put some guys at the entrances on the entire beachfront strip until we know for sure.”
