“And how do I know you’ll have any influence over the new president?”
She bit her lower lip to keep from screaming at him to get off his ass. Captain was in danger and they didn’t have time to fuck around. “Because I’m related to him.”
“The VP?” he asked, with a frown.
She shook her head. “No, they’ll offer it to Shep, but I think he’ll turn it down. I mean my son, Axel. He’s the natural choice. They’ll offer him the president’s chair tonight and I’ll do everything in my power to see that he partners with you.”
He rubbed the pad of his finger over his pursed lips. Then, shook his head. “Not good enough. A lover would be more motivated to save you,” he said, crossing his arms over his chest. “I’m not sayin’ your son doesn’t love you, but those family ties don’t have the same oomph. With a lover, you get the unreasonable fear and that all-consuming, unreasonable, incapacitating love.”
She was about to pull out her gun to convince him, but the door burst open behind them. “Put your hands over your head!”
“Agent Warren,” Beauregard greeted as he raised his hands.
“You’ve met?” Eddie asked, hopping to her feet, arms raised. She turned very slowly to face the agent, no sudden movements.
“Yes, we’ve had the pleasure,” he answered. “Do you, by chance, have a warrant with you, agent?”
“No, I don’t,” Warren said. “But I have probable cause.”
Oh shit. This just went from bad to worse.
“And that is?”
“Shut the fuck up,” the agent growled at Beauregard.
“Aren’t you supposed to be headed for Dallas?” Beauregard asked. “According to my sources, your investigation was shut down, because you failed to find evidence on the computers you confiscated.”
“Yeah, well, I stayed behind to play out my hunch.”
One of his Beauregard’s guards limped up to the doorway. He had the beginnings of a shiner on his left eye. Eddie noticed he’d left a trail of bloody footprints up the hall. He’d probably been shot. “Sorry, boss. He shot me, took my gun.”
“You’re fired,” he said with a smirk. “Get your ass out of my sight.”
The guard lumbered off.
“Let me guess, you’re using your vacation time to play Nancy Drew?” Byron asked the agent. “And your bosses don’t have a fuckin’ clue where are you?”
“Somethin’ like that,” he said. “And look what I found, the Dixie Mafia and a Horsemen rep in the same room.”
Byron smirked. “And did you radio your fed pals? Is the cavalry on the way?”
The agent sneered at him. “Not yet. Toss any weapons you might have.”
With a grunt, Beauregard tossed his pistol, and then snatched a Kleenex from a box on his desk. As she was removing hers, real slow, from the pocket of her hoodie, Byron seized it with his tissued hand, then shot the agent twice. Right in the head.
Eddie screamed.
The fed slumped to the floor, blood spewing.
“Oh my God!” She rushed to the agent, but there was nothing to be done, he was dead, grey matter was leaking onto the carpet, along with an enormous pool of blood. Her hand accidently landed in it, it was hot and wet on her palm. “Damn you! You didn’t have to kill him. He’s a kid, he had his whole life ahead of him.”
Byron sighed at the blood pool rapidly soaking the floor. “Fuck. And I just had this carpet cleaned. That’s a couple hundred bucks down the drain.”
She stared at the dead agent, his wide-open shiny eyes. “He was only trying to shake us up. We weren’t doing anything, just having a conversation. It didn’t have to end like this.”
He laughed. “I can’t have them associatin’ us together, it’ll make my business operations smoother, if they don’t know we’re in cahoots. Besides, Agent Warner here, wouldn’t have let this go. This man’s a true believer, a fanatic.”
“We aren’t in cahoots, remember? You turned me down.” She held out her hand. “Give me my gun.” She must have been insane, or desperate to come here anyway. She would be better off tryin’ to talk the boys out of it.
“No, I’ll be keepin’ it.” He turned to the safe and began entering numbers lightning fast. Then, he tossed the gun in, grabbed something else, and shut the door. “There. Now, I can grant your request because I have an insurance policy.”
The implication sunk in slowly…
Oh, God, no.
She stood up, feeling like her legs might buckle. He’d used her gun to kill a federal agent. “I’ll tell them you shot him.”
Beauregard laughed. “Be hard to prove. I didn’t touch the gun with my bare hand, and I bet you left a print or two on it. And I know your prints are all over the bullets inside the chamber, as well as the ones I put in his skull.”
For a moment Eddie stared at the drying blood on her palm. No amount of water and soap could wash this stain off. If this came to light, she’d get the death penalty.
“But look at the bright side. I’m going to help you with your problem.” He showed her a dog-eared journal he’d retrieved from the safe when he’d tossed the gun inside. “I have my momma’s diary. Let’s go rescue your beau.”
She didn’t know what to say. This is what you get when you make a deal with the devil. She glanced down at the agent. “I’m so sorry,” she whispered.
“Oh, don’t look so stricken. You’re getting what you want. I’m going to help Captain. And I get what I want, a deal with you and then the club. Win-win. Now, you wanna seal this arrangement with a handshake or that kiss you mentioned earlier? Personally, I’m hopin’ for a kiss.”
“Fuck you! I didn’t want it like this!” she screeched.
“Fine, you’ll get what you need, then. There’s a bathroom down the hall. Why don’t you wash up right quick and we’ll be on our way?” He looked down at the dead man. “I’ll have my boys take care of this while we’re gone. We’ll make sure he’s never found…unless I need him to be.” He gave her a toothy little grin.
What a fucking bastard. “You’re the devil,” she said.
“Ain’t the first time I been called that. Won’t be the last either,” he said, waltzing out of the room. “Now, let’s go, time’s a wasting.’”
Eddie had no choice but to follow him.
Chapter Twenty
Eddie arrived at Perdition with Beauregard in tow fifteen minutes later. She’d wiped off the blood, but she swore she could still feel it on her hand -- sticky and thick.
“What are you doing here?” Captain said, shooting to his feet, as she walked down the hallway with her brand new business partner. A pair of zip ties had been fastened around his wrists and he’d been sitting on a steel bench. Evidently, his meeting with the club hadn’t gone well, not that she’d expected it to.
From inside the boardroom, she could hear loud voices, though they were muffled. Captain probably only had minutes left if she didn’t intercede on his behalf.
“Eddie, I don’t want you to see this.”
“I’m not here to watch you die. I’m here to save you.”
“Save me?” His gaze moved behind her to Beauregard. She peeked over her shoulder to see him looming up like a dark storm cloud. And then Captain put it all together. “No! You’re working with him? Eddie, you can’t. I won’t let you.“
“You can’t stop me,” she said. “It’s a done deal. The time for negotiating is over.” She’d wanted to play let’s make a deal with the bastard and she’d lost. No point in going back on her word now. He had her and the club exactly where he wanted them.
“Oh, fuck. I never wanted this for you, I’m not worth it. Eddie, I know I’m the last person in the world you’d listen to right now, but you can’t tie yourself to this man. He’ll get you killed.”
Beauregard leaned up against the wall, looking Captain up and down, like he was for sale. “Bondage is a good look for you. Maybe you and the little lady should try it out now and then?”
“Fuck y
ou.”
“Here I am, ridin’ to your rescue like some sort of white hat hero in a Western and you’re castin’ aspersions on my character?”
“Shut up! Both of you,” she growled. Right now, she felt like blowing a hole in Beauregard.
“I know you hate me,” Captain asked. “But—"
Eddie seized his shoulders. “I don’t hate you. Don’t get me wrong, I’m pissed at you. But I…love you.” She wished she hated him. It would be so much easier, cleaner.
He stared at her, his mouth hanging open. “You love me?”
“Yeah,” she said softly. “I love you, you ass. Despite everythin’. We’ve been friends forever, and now we’re lovers. Hell, I think I’ve loved you for years and just couldn’t see it.”
“And what about my fuck up?” he asked, eyeing Beauregard.
“A fuck up is putting it mildly. So you aren’t taking the easy way out . You don’t get to go out a willing victim for your cause. You have to make this up to me and keep on living. For me and for your daughter.” She bit the inside of her cheek. “But I get why you did it. You were a kid doin’ the best you could under the circumstances. Though, I’m less forgiving about the rest. You should have told me all this sooner. And I don’t trust you the way I used to.”
His face fell. “You don’t?”
“No, that’s somethin’ you’ll have to earn back. Piece by piece. And it won’t be easy, it might be months or years before I trust you again.”
Beauregard watched everything, not even bothering to disguise his interest. All that was missing was a bowl of popcorn in his grasp. Eddie did her best to ignore him.
Captain stared at the ground. “I don’t blame you and I deserve that. But I turned myself into the club, confessed everything, and got all this shit out in the open. I can’t live with it hangin’ over my head anymore.”
She really wished he hadn’t. “Yeah? Well, it won’t be. They’re gonna vote to kill you.”
He looked her in the eye. “I know.”
She sighed. “What’s the point? It won’t bring back Joker. It won’t restore the old club, and frankly, I don’t want it back. Most of those guys were dicks.”
He nodded. “But I still betrayed them.”
“To save them,” she said. “From Joker, maybe from themselves. Who knows how many of them would have overdosed or gotten killed in a gun battle?”
“I don’t have any proof, Eddie. Just my word and I’ve already established myself as a liar.”
“Yeah, well, I found someone with evidence.” She nodded in Beauregard’s direction.
He smoothed his hair back. “And I think that’s my cue. Are we gonna stand out in the hall all day while you two whisper sweet nothings, or are we gonna do this?”
Eddie glared at him. “Fuck off.”
The man had the audacity to laugh. “Is that any way to talk to your knight in shining armor?”
“You’ve lost your fuckin’ mind. You extorted an agreement out of me. You’re not heroic. Not even remotely.”
“I’m still the hero of this piece.”
Eddie shrugged. She supposed, in his really twisted way, he was. At the very least, he’d save Captain. “Let’s do this, before I lose my nerve.”
“Please don’t!” Captain said. “Don’t tie yourself to this man. I’m not worth it!”
“I told you, it’s already done. I’ve made my choice.”
He shook his head. “What do you mean?”
Beauregard smirked. “It means I’ve got her over a DNA barrel, so back off, boyfriend. She and I are about to ride to your rescue.”
Eddie sucked in a deep breath, knocked briefly on the boardroom door, and turned to Beauregard. “Wait for me.”
Then, she walked in.
Eddie found Shep seated at the head of the table, where Captain would have normally been and his face was a grim mask.
He glanced at her. “We’re about to make a decision. You can’t be here.”
“I’m sorry about barging in, but I have some info you need before you vote.”
He sighed, then waved his hand. “Okay then. Tell us.”
“Actually, its somethin’ you gotta see and I’m sorry about this, but Beauregard is gonna be conducting this show and tell.”
There was a general uproar in the room – chairs slid back, muttered curses, and Coyote was shoutin’ something about Harry Potter.
Beauregard sauntered in, head held high, a smirk on his handsome face. Asshole. He ambled over to Shepherd. “Evenin, Shep’.” Then, he tapped the book. “In my hot little hand, is my mother’s journal. The one she kept the year your uncle and the rest of the club got into some trouble with the authorities,” he drawled.
Shep reached for it, but Beauregard held it just out of his grasp. “Not so fast. I need to know you’ll honor the agreement I made with Eddie.”
“I told you, we have a deal,” she reminded him through clenched teeth.
“As I said, I’m gonna need some assurances.” He scanned the table. “Which one of you boys is takin’ over for Captain?”
Cowboy spoke up. “We ain’t exactly decided, but it’s most likely Shep.”
“That so?” Beauregard turned to Shep. “You the new sheriff?”
“You can just consider me judge, jury, and executioner for now.” Shep stood, going-to-toe with Beauregard. “What deal?”
Eddie held her breath.
Beauregard watched her. It was predatory, the kind a fox gave a hen before he chomped down on the eggs she’d been protecting. “Trust me. If you care about your auntie at all, you’ll honor our deal.”
Silence. And then a chorus of clicks as the boys cocked their weapons.
Byron laughed, holding up his hands. “Easy now. I came here as a courtesy, to help Eddie here out.”
“What. Fucking. Deal,” Shep gritted out.
“We made a bargain,” Beauregard hedged.
“It’s more like blackmail than a deal,” Eddie explained. “I came to the manor to bargain for the journal and one thing led to another. It ended with him shooting an FBI agent with my gun.”
Without warning, Shep backed Beauregard against the wall, his forearm pressed hard against the other man’s windpipe. “You’re tryin’ to set her up for murder, you piece of shit? I’ll—“
“What?” Byron choked out. “You can’t do a fuckin’ thing about it. The gun’s safe in my vault and the body is hidden by now.”
“You'd do well to remember what I told you about wrath." Shep smiled and Eddie hadn't seen so much malice in an expression since Joker had been alive. "My guns are right here and I don't care if they find your body."
Axel and Ryker stood, weapons raised as if to emphasize his point.
“If I don’t walk out of here, my people will make sure the FBI gets all the evidence. So basically? Your ass is mine,” Beauregard said. “You’ll cooperate, or she’ll go down for murder.” He paused. “Of a fed.” Yet, another dramatic pause. “In Texas.”
Lone Star juries weren’t exactly known for their leniency when it came to imposing a death sentence. In fact, if they had DNA evidence, the kind you might find on a bullet or a body, you went straight to the front of the line.
Axel cleared his throat. “Shep!”
“Fuck,” Shep said. He glanced at Axel and Ryker who looked stricken. Yeah, she’d really fucked up this time.
Shep released Beauregard, who sucked in air like an Olympic swimmer.
Beauregard gestured to the book. “Read ‘em and weep.”
Shep picked it up, flipped it open.
“I took the liberty of markin’ some pages you might find interestin’,” Beauregard muttered. “I hope you ain’t the shy sort, because my momma held nothin’ back.”
Grimly, the VP began to read aloud and Eddie plugged her ears. Yes, part of her was really curious. What the fuck had possessed Joker? But hearing a smutty version of events from his mistress would only bring her pain. She’d probably never get the answers she dese
rved.
When Shep finished, the brothers all got real quiet, evidently lettin’ it sink in.
“We gotta vote now,” Shep said. He glanced at Eddie and Beauregard. “You two wait outside.”
“Actually, I’ll be on my merry,” Byron said. “Once I know we’re all squared away?”
“We gotta vote that out, too, but I don’t think we got much of a choice,” Shep said, glancing at the brothers.
All the men at the table nodded. Shit. Whatever fallout resulted from this alliance with Beauregard would be all her fault. She should have been more careful.
Well, shoulda, woulda, coulda.
No sense in cryin’ over it now. It was done and they were fucked. She’d worry about this another time. For now, she just hoped she saved Captain’s life.
Shep caught Beauregard's eyes. "You and me, we got a reckoning coming."
He smiled. "Looking forward to it.”
Beauregard held the door for her and once more they stood in the hallway on opposite sides. Captain still sat on the bench and he was busy glaring at Beauregard.
“Well, hot damn,” Byron said, clasping his hands together. “Looks like we’re in business.” He raised a brow at Eddie. “All thanks to you.”
She ran a palm down her face. “I hate you so much.”
He chuckled. “And here I was thinkin’ about how much I like you.”
“Before he went in, he told me about the deal you made,” Captain said, shaking his head. “I’m so sorry, Eddie.”
“Shh. Don’t be,” she said softly. “It’s worth it, if it saves you.”
Beauregard prowled towards her, but she refused to budge from the spot. She wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of looking even remotely nervous.
“Stay the fuck away from her,” Captain ordered.
“Little late now, don’t you think?” He got closer to her, almost whispering. “I told you the very first time we talked, you’d be making a deal with the devil. And I was right.” He gave her a mocking bow, before he sauntered away from them. “See you real soon, partner,” he called over his shoulder.
Devil May Care (Four Horsemen MC Book 4) Page 21
