Fractured & Formidable: The Sacred Hearts MC Book V

by Downey, A. J.

  “Hey Red,” Dray said quietly.

  “Yes?”

  “Think you could get Em to agree to stay at the club house tonight? The both of you.” His dark eyes were pleading and my heart sank.

  “It’s bad, isn’t it? Grinder I mean.”

  “We don’t know Sugar, that’s the God’s honest truth,” Zander stated.

  I nodded, “I’ll get her to come.”

  Trigger smiled, “Thank you. Sunshine, Hayden, and the girls will be there too if that’ll help you convince her.”

  “I’ll do my best.” I promised. Dray stalked out front and Trig went over to look at what Zander was doing. He gave a low whistle.

  “Art Deco, nice man.” They talked for a while about their business and I listened, intrigued, softly asking a few questions here and there. They had a location almost completed and ready to open just down the block and across from their favorite bar, The Spot, on old Main Street.

  Eventually Trigger left and Zander and I settled back into the tranquility that was just being around one another while we respectively worked. Everett poked her head in close to closing.

  “Wrap it up girl, apparently we’re staying at the club tonight. You don’t need to talk me in to anything.” She gave a gusty sigh and I smiled and nodded.

  “They can’t find him, can they?” I asked softly. Everett’s expression said everything it needed to while Zander’s did too for very different reasons. His simply shut down. I nodded.

  “We’ll go by the house first,” I murmured. Everett nodded and ducked back out front.

  “Pack some shit so you have some standbys in my room.” Zander said and I fixed him with a look, he grinned, “I like the thought of you having some things there to use in case impromptu shit like this comes up but mostly,” his voice softened, “I just like having you in my life and I want some things in my room to remind me that you’re real and want to be there.”

  I went to him, how could I not? He opened his arms and pulled me in close, between his knees where he sat on the high stool. I put my hands on his chest and kissed him and he kissed me back oh so sweetly.

  “Go on, finish up,” he urged quietly and I nodded slipping from his grasp. I finished cleaning up and put the chocolates aside to harden in their molds overnight. We shut down the shop, set the alarm and departed into the freezing cold winter air. I looked into the leaden dark sky.

  “More snow is coming,” I observed.

  “Yeah. Let’s move, if it’s cool with you I’ll leave my car in your driveway and we’ll take yours.” Zander said. I nodded. All it took was us fishtailing the once on a patch of black ice the first time it snowed, for me to want to use my little, more reliable car the rest of the winter. You know, with the added modern safety benefits of shoulder belts and airbags.

  We made it to Ev and Dray’s before the flakes started to fall and Everett and I made quick work of packing some things into a couple of bags. Hers was one of her ever present gym bags, while I packed neatly in my little carry on suitcase that had never actually seen a flight. Zander had stayed out with my car, keeping it warm.

  We dashed into the cold and down to the car, locking everything up tightly behind us. I didn’t mind when Zander slid behind the wheel of my car. Everett got in back without a word. We rode in silence at half our typical speed through the snow covered streets, and when we arrived at the club, we were surprised to find that we had to wait to pull up into the lot.

  “Has everyone been called in?” Everett demanded.

  Zander gave a terse one word reply, “Yeah,” and looked uncomfortable. I studied his profile.

  “It’s bad isn’t it?” I whispered, but he didn’t answer, the muscle in his jaw clenching. I could tell he wanted to tell me, to be truthful, but he had a code to live by and the decision had been made by his club, and I understood that. I rested a hand on his leather clad arm, a reassuring touch and looked at his cut, neatly folded in my lap.

  “Sometimes your silence is all you need to say,” I reassured him and with a glance in my direction, he marginally relaxed.

  We moved it inside, fast, out of the cold and wet and into the warmth of the common room which had just about every man, woman and child of The Sacred Hearts MC in it. Zander gave me a quick kiss and shoved me a little in the direction of the club rooms with a meaningful look. Everett captured Dray’s eyes and something was telegraphed between them. She gripped my hand and we both hurried out of the common area and into the back, just as Dragon’s voice boomed over the low chatter, “Okay, listen up!”

  Everett and I both stole into Dray’s room and shut the door firmly, she sighed shoulders dropping.

  “I think they got him,” she said dejectedly.

  “What?” I didn’t want to think about it but she was right.

  Evy pitched her voice into a low murmur, “Dray and I talk. All of the men talk to their Ol’ Ladies behind closed doors, we always know things we aren’t necessarily supposed to, it’s just the way things are. Grinder left here in a huff over something or other two nights ago when it was dry, he hasn’t been seen or heard from since. Him not showing up at the shop today? I think cinched it.” she gave me a sorrowful but meaningful look.

  “They think The Suicide Kings got him?” I swallowed hard. Evy nodded.

  “I think they’re organizing a search out there. I wouldn’t expect to see much of Zander tonight,” she huffed out a breath and flopped onto her back in the middle of her man’s bed. I sank down to sit on the foot of it.

  “I wish we could get along with them,” I murmured and Evy let out a short barking laugh full of derision.

  “We tried that,” she said bitterly.

  “I know.” I looked my friend over and didn’t miss when her hand unconsciously drifted to the spot on her thigh where she’d been hurt. She rubbed it through the denim of her jeans with her fingers.

  “Does it hurt?” I asked.

  She nodded, “Doc said it would, when it got cold. He was right. I guess it’s kind of like when you break a bone.”

  I nodded, “My wrist aches sometimes too.”

  “I remember when you broke it. I knew your da’ did it, there was no way you’d be caught dead on a skateboard.” She snorted at the absurdity and I laughed.

  “That purple cast clashed with my hair something awful, but I was just in love with the color at the time.” I made a face and Evy laughed.

  “Yeah, you were seven, you weren’t quite the fashionista then as you are now.” She shook her head and got up, “Pretty sure if you make a quiet break for it you can make it to Rev’s room unnoticed. Meet you in the inner sanctum after that.” I nodded.

  “Sounds good.” I slipped out the door with my little suitcase and walked to Zander’s room and let myself inside, shutting the door softly and tightly behind me. I set about putting things neatly away in his little closet and tucking a few essentials in the corner of the drawers where he kept such things. I was startled when I looked up and he was leaning against the door frame, smiling.

  “Meeting over?” I asked.

  “Yeah, it was a short one.”

  “Going out?” I inquired, but I already knew the answer.

  “Yeah, have to.”

  “The weather is bad.” I remarked, hands trembling.

  Zander pushed off the doorframe and tugged me gently into the circle of his arms, “Not going out by myself Sugar, I’m headed out with Trig. We’re taking his Jeep, we don’t even know where to start lookin’ but he’s our brother and we gotta try.”

  I nodded and hugged his hard body to mine, “Just be careful; promise me.”

  “I promise, Baby. I’ll be back when I can. Try and get some sleep, no need to throw off your schedule.” He kissed me gently and with a final appraising look, smiled and let me go, disappearing out the door. I finished up and slipped down the open hallway to the media room where the old ladies and a few club bunnies were lounging around. I dropped onto one of the beanbag chairs and Ashton smiled at m
e.

  “Where’s Hayden?” I asked.

  “Out of town,” she made a face, “One of her clients is opening a hotel in Chicago and brought Hayden in to do the decorating. Poor Hayden is going nuts, the woman keeps changing things in the middle of them being installed; Hayden says she’s a complete psycho but this project is a big deal. It’s what might fix everything that the scandal Andy caused wrecked.” Ashton looked sad for her friend, “She misses Reaver.”

  Shelly snorted, “He misses her too. He’s been over just about every day this week bugging the Hell out of me.”

  Ashton smiled, “He’s been staying in our guest room, says the townhouse is weird without her in it.”

  I listened to the women gossip and chat, closed my eyes and just relaxed until Moira, one of the clubs’ regular bunny girls spoke up a couple of hours in.

  “Do you think they’ll find him?” she asked quietly. Usually Chandra would snipe at a girl, but she surprised me this time.

  “I don’t know honey, why? You and him have something going on?” Moira shook her head.

  “Nah, Moira is all about Lucky and he’s crazy about her too. Surprised he hasn’t made you his Ol’ Lady.” Shelly said. Moira chewed her bottom lip and looked uncomfortable.

  The room fell silent, the television mindlessly playing in the background for a while, though no one watched it.

  Data called out from his little closet full of computers, “We got incoming! Cops.”

  Everett rose from her place on the couch with a frown and we just about all followed her out to the common room. Ashton and I held hands, and Chandra and Everett took the lead as the club room front door opened and two county deputies stepped in, shaking the snow off their boots, trying to keep the outside from coming inside with them.

  Disney and Data went up to flank Evy and Chandra, Chandra spoke while Data texted next to her.

  “Help you fellas?” she asked.

  “Yes, do you know a,” he checked his notebook, “Jose Trujillo?” he asked.

  “That’s my father-in-law.” Everett lied boldly.

  “He filed a missing person’s report on behalf of a,” he checked his notebook again, “David Chandler AKA ‘Grinder’.” The deputy looked grim.

  “That’s right,” Chandra said and lit a cigarette. The second deputy who had been silent up to this point frowned.

  “You do know there’s an ordinance against smoking in public places don’t you?” he asked Chandra. He was definitely the younger of the two deputies, the older one closed his eyes for a moment and it looked as if he was praying for patience.

  Chandra gave the younger deputy a smug look and blew a plume of smoke into the air, “Private club,” she uttered shamelessly, and raised her eyebrows daring him to say anything. The older deputy cleared his throat.

  “Do you know where Mr. Trujillo is?” he asked Evy. Evy hugged herself and gave him a steely look.

  “Did you find Grinder?” she asked quietly. We all waited with baited breath, all of us suddenly rapt on the older deputy who sighed defeated.

  “Do you know if Mr. Chandler had any next of kin in the area?” he asked gently, Chandra’s back straightened.

  “We’re his family. I’m sure you get that,” she intoned, following up with, “What’s happened to him?”

  “I’m sorry to have to inform you that there seems to have been some kind of accident…” I fumbled with my phone, the deputy’s voice turning to a mindless droning buzzing in my ears as he said words like ‘accident’, ‘highway’ and ‘skid marks’. The phone rang in my ear over and over before Zander finally picked up.

  “You need to come back,” I said automatically, my voice cracking. I mean sure I hadn’t known Grinder terribly well, only a matter of a few months but he was a part of this club, for better or worse a part of Zander’s family.

  “Red, what’s wrong? What’s happened?” he demanded, voice strained with an urgent need to know.

  “The police are here,” I said numbly, “They found Grinder; can you just come back please?” I asked.

  “Shhhhit!” Zander swore, then spoke to Trig holding the phone away from his ear, his voice fainter but still clear as he told the other man, “Back to the club, cops are there saying they found Grinder. Mandy’s freaked out, I can hear it in her voice.” He came back on the line stronger, “Hang on Sugar, we’re on our way back,” he said.

  “Okay,” I nodded. The other girls were on their phones too, likely with their men as the deputies stood by patiently.

  Evy looked at them, her phone pressed to her ear and said, “Both Dragon – Jose,” she corrected, “And Dray are on their way back,” she told them and I realized I was missing what Zander was asking.

  “Mandy, Sweetheart, Baby are you there?” he asked, anxious.

  “Yes, yes I’m here,” I murmured.

  Zander asked me the one question I had been begging silently he would leave alone, but I suppose it was only natural and I had to expect it, “Sugar is Grinder all right?” he asked me.

  I didn’t want to answer, I didn’t want to be the one to tell him that his Brother was dead. I closed my eyes and swallowed hard, “Are you driving?” I asked him and I was met by a cold silence on the other end of the line.

  “Zander?” I asked when the silence stretched for too long.

  “He’s not okay, is he?” he asked quietly.

  “Just, how soon until you can get here?” I asked quietly.

  “Just tell me Mandy,” his voice was so hard, I could hear the barely suppressed rage in it. I swallowed hard.

  “He’s gone, Zander I’m so sorry – “ I didn’t get to finish because I heard Zander scream ‘Fuck’ at the top of his lungs and then there was a loud thump and crunching sound and the line went dead. I stared into the wide golden eyes of Ashton and she put a hand on my own.

  “They’re fine, Zander threw his phone, they’re okay, Ethan is driving and they’re on their way back,” she quickly reassured me when I stopped drawing breath. I felt tears well up hot and immediate and I dashed at them with my fingers. I tamped down the emotions rising hot and furious, choking me up, sorrow and anger paramount among them that Zander was hurting so keenly and there wasn’t anything I could do except sit there and wait for him to come back. Half afraid of what would walk through the door, wearing my man’s skin.

  I’d never seen Zander in a fine burning rage, except that one time in the ring, but that was exactly what I had heard on the phone. I walked a little ways away from the rest of the girls, away from Data and Disney and sank into a chair. Evy was speaking into her phone in a low murmur and was dashing at some stray tears of her own.

  Disney pulled out a chair and straddled it, linking his long, brightly colored fingers through mine on the hand that wasn’t taken up by the phone. He sighed. Likely because if I looked as ashen as I felt I was frightfully pale. I looked at him and his sympathetic brown eyes almost had my fear level rising rather than easing.

  “I’ve seen Zander pissed off plenty of times, Red. He’ll scream and yell and hit things and generally fly off the handle and it’s scary as fuck when he does it, but I’ve only ever twice seen him put his hands on somebody outside the ring. Both times the motherfuckers deserved it and both times they were dudes. Zander would never hit a woman. Not after watching his dad tune his mom up as a kid. You ain’t got nothing to worry about,” he soothed.

  I nodded, but strangely his words didn’t make me feel any better. I sniffed, and fought to beat back the despair taking root in the center of my chest.

  “What do I do?” I asked hollowly, “How do I help him when he’s hurting this badly?”

  “Just don’t get scared if he gets a little rough with you in the bedroom,” he said starkly and I blinked startled. Disney shrugged inelegantly.

  “I’ve known Rev a long time,” he said quietly and had the grace to look embarrassed. I stared at the young man open mouthed. He gave my hand a squeeze and got up, moving off to comfort one of the club bu
nnies, who was really taking the news hard.

  I sat patiently and waited, turning things over in my head. Finally, needing something to do, I asked the deputies if they would like some coffee while they waited. The older one smiled wanly and nodded.

  “That would be much appreciated miss,” he told me and even the younger deputy nodded, grateful.

  “I’ll be right back,” I murmured and went in to the clubs kitchen, moving around the stainless steel, industrially kitted room automatically, measuring and grinding beans, pouring water and just generally going through a parade of motions, all the while my mind trying to grasp on to what the police had told us.

  Grinder was dead. What’s more, his death was ruled as one labeled under ‘suspicious circumstances’ and they were almost certain that his accident was no accident. Someone had run Grinder off the road. Someone had run him off the road and left one of the Sacred Heart’s brothers to die.

  Chapter 21

  Revelator…

  I sat in the passenger seat of Trig and Sunshine’s Jeep and seethed. I wasn’t pissed at Red for not wanting to tell me, I was more pissed that she’d been put in the position to have to deliver the bad news in the first place. Trig drove carefully, the snow was dumping in buckets from the sky and it was hard to see anything, the feeling of futility just adding more fuel to an already raging pyre of pissed off.

  “You good to talk yet Brother?” he asked me. He was fuming himself but I think that had a little bit more to do with the dent in his dash from where I’d thrown my phone in a fit. I felt like a jackass for it now, even if it had felt really good at the time. I felt like an even bigger asshole when he’d turned and told me that it was okay, Ashton had let Red know we weren’t in some kind of accident, that it was just me throwing a temper tantrum.

  Not that he faulted me for it much. I could see Trig was in his own head over the news. He was that creepy and distant silent. The place he went to when he was behind the scope. Fire and ice, that’s what we were. While I was burning up from the inside out, he was one big, deep well of chill in the driver’s seat. In control, focused.