The Special Forces’ insignia I’d had done after my first mission took center stage in between my shoulders, but there were all kinds of tattoos there now. Anything from a Chinese dragon to a portrait of my mom that sat on my lower right hip. I moved closer to the mirror on the door, angling it so I could see the ink, and the resemblance between her and Alessa wasn’t as strong as I’d mentally thought.
It’d been a long time since I looked at a photo of her, because it hurt to do so, and it fit that I’d have her memorialized on my body but in a place I couldn’t see every day because I’d loved her. So fucking much.
It’d been us against the world after my dad had fucked off. But it spoke of how special she was that she’d gone from being a clubwhore to an Old Lady—a miracle in our world. And my ma was that fucking special she’d been an Old Lady twice over. Because when my dick of a father had done a disappearing act, one of the council, Indigo, had wifed her.
I bit my lip at the memories, not really wanting to deal with them just now, even as I was relieved she and Alessa weren’t at all alike. They had similar hair, but Alessa was a little more elfin, more delicate. Mom had been strong, her body filled out after she’d had me. Whereas my wife was like the feather I’d just likened myself to.
Reaching behind me, I carefully touched the ink, wishing she was here, wishing she’d give me a fucking hug and would tell me to get my sick ass in bed before she kicked me into it…
She’d been an angel with a potty mouth.
My lips twisted at the thought before I moved on, turning to look at the one I’d been avoiding.
The one that was just below my insignia.
For me to put anything there, well, it meant something. There was a blank canvas of space around both that and my mom’s portrait, but the rest were a mix of badly positioned designs that made me wonder what I’d been thinking or if I’d been drunk when I had them done.
But the mandala was so unlike anything else on my body, and its patterns were so different that even with my head as messed up as it was, I saw the symbols for what they were.
Hope.
A fletch of arrows with a series of inverted ‘L’s were the pivotal part of each symmetrical piece. A little like a snowflake a kid would draw, a fancy one, half was done in black, the other was forged out of a negative space, so the white of my skin gleamed brightly.
I knew what the old Maverick had been doing.
He was the dark.
Alessa was the light.
His light.
I gritted my teeth at the thought, then for want of nothing better to do, I slammed my fist into the dry wall.
It hurt, but what didn’t about this goddamn motherfucker of a day?
Twenty-Two
Lodestar
The following day
Adjusting my weight in my seat was starting to piss me off.
How a broken leg could hurt worse than being shot, I wasn’t fucking sure, but I just knew that it did.
And it was making me grumpier than usual.
Enough to growl, “What the fuck are you all doing here anyway?”
The low-level chatter in the kitchen quieted at my grouching, but it was Giulia who retorted, “You don’t own the place, Lodestar. You should remember that.”
I grumbled under my breath. “When you’ve got me working harder than a fucking workhorse, bet your ass I own some of the place. This table, this chair, my territory. You’re sitting at it. Fuck off.”
She sniffed and flipped me the bird, which I didn’t even bother glowering at, just shot her one back in turn. A lot of the brothers had gone on a run a day or so before, so they were hanging around Lily’s place more than usual and it was starting to piss me the fuck off.
Didn’t they know I had shit to do? Evil cabals to tear down Raymond Reddington-style? Houses of ill repute to destroy? And, somehow, a fucking mob family to tear to shreds?
It didn’t happen by its goddamn self.
“Anyway, as I was saying before I was rudely goddamn interrupted, Rex hugged me this morning.”
While I wasn’t interested in the inane chatter from a bunch of Old Ladies, that caught my attention. Rex wasn’t an affectionate kind of guy, and certainly not with a brother’s woman.
I speared Giulia with my focus. “Did he say anything?”
She shook her head. “Just hugged me.” Her eyes narrowed on me. “Why are you interested? Eavesdropping on conversations that have nothing to do with you?”
I sniffed at her. “Because it’s weird, is why.”
“I know it is. That’s why I brought it up.”
Alessa pressed a hand to Giulia’s good shoulder. “Calm down, Giulia. She’s in pain.”
Damn right I was, but I didn’t appreciate the whole fucking kitchen knowing it.
Because she meant well, I refrained from giving her shit. Instead, I focused on Giulia once more. “What did he do then?”
“What’s wrong?”
The deep voice still had the power to send shivers down my spine, but because he remained a visitor in La-La Land, Maverick barely spoke to me now. Seemed he remembered me well enough to know when I was in red alert mode though.
“Giulia said Rex hugged her.”
Maverick frowned. “He hugged you?”
“It’s not like he poisoned her,” Tiffany pointed out wryly before she took a sip of her coffee.
“Might as well have. He’d never have touched another brother’s woman like that,” was Maverick’s reply, and it amused me because our trains of thought were along the same lines. As usual. He shot me a look. “What are you thinking?”
“I don’t know. Yet. Giulia, what happened after he hugged you?”
“He headed off on his hog.”
“Do you know where?”
“Do I look like his secretary?” she retorted waspishly.
“This is fucking important,” I snapped back. “Did he say anything?”
“No.” She bit her lip, seeming to finally pick up on the severity of my tone and the potential ramifications of what had happened this morning. “But when I drove past the clubhouse, I didn’t see the red hog he’s riding there, and you know that sticks out like a sore thumb.”
I cast each of the women a look. “Call your men. Ask if Rex is with them.”
“What’s going on, Lodestar?” Lily asked uneasily, but she was obeying, her cell in her hand as she started the call to Link.
“I’m not sure. But—” I reached up and rubbed my forehead, wishing the concussion headaches would stop already.
This week had been a son of a bitch.
Last night, Link had charged me with tracking down the house where Lancaster might have played with his ‘toys,’ and I wasn’t sure if it was hard because of my health or if it was that well hidden it was difficult to trace—I should have found it already, so I was pissed that I hadn’t.
On top of that, there was the blast and the whole host of complications that triggered—finding who was at the top of the list, but so was determining whether a pedophile had access to one of the brother’s daughters…
All of that when I was down to two hours’ work capacity with eight hours napping in the aftermath.
If the bomb had been meant to slow me down, it was working.
And fuck if I didn’t hate the physical proof I wasn’t Wonder Woman.
When I was faced with a bunch of grim expressions and head shakes, I tuned back into the conversations going on around me.
“Rex isn’t with any of your men?” I asked, seeking confirmation, and I received a chorus of ‘no.’
Goddamn that man, because with the bad vibe churning in my gut and Maverick’s distrusting self looking on, I was going to have to burn my ace in the hole.
Motherfucker.
Twenty-Three
Rex
By the time I was in Brooklyn Beach, any agitation, deep in my soul, had gone. Dissipated. Disappeared even.
I was at peace with myself.
Whate
ver happened today, however it ended, I was happy with how I was going out.
I’d hugged Rachel this morning before she headed into work. I’d bumped fists with Rain, her kid brother, and I’d even slung an arm around Giulia—the only woman who’d ever leveled my psycho friend out—not that she’d appreciated the gesture. I swore, the reason they suited each other was because they were both so fucking prickly.
I hadn’t texted the council, mostly because I knew they’d head into NYC with me, and I didn’t need them to sacrifice themselves for me.
What I was about to do… it might mean my end.
For my mom, it was a risk I was willing to take.
She deserved more than she’d gotten, she deserved to rest in peace knowing that the people behind her murder were in hell. So, like the true Satan’s Sinner I was, with the devil himself on speed dial, I’d deliver them.
Personally.
And I’d smile as I did it.
I just needed my brothers to keep the MC going no matter what happened today.
The warehouse loomed in the distance, exactly where Declan had said. It belonged to a businessman who had no ties to any of the Families, who didn’t even know it was being ‘borrowed’ today, and even from this far away, I could see the men on the roof. Covering security from that angle. Even saw where there were men dotted around the courtyard.
It’d be hard getting in, but the truth was, I knew God was on my side.
I’d either die before I made my way to the summit, would have my ass hauled in and reamed before the four families, or I’d get to fulfill my purpose.
When I climbed off my bike, I felt the pressure of the pair of guns against my lower back, and I jerked my chin to the side to make it crack, bunched my hands into fists as I made my way down the path Declan had told me about.
There was a side entrance that was blocked off which, as a result, was going to be the least secured of them all.
I just needed to make it through a hole in a fence the Five Points were going to cut for me today, and then get to that side entrance, before I’d find a window that’d lead to the basement. After that, once I was inside, I had to make my way to the main floor where the summit was being held.
That didn’t sound too mission impossible, did it?
Good thing I’d always fucking loved Ethan Hunt.
The tune to Mission Impossible in my head, which I’d admit messed with my focus some, I found the hole in the fence, which was there as promised, and I knew from that moment on, Declan would have men looking out for me. Not to kill me, but to make sure I reached the summit.
I knew he’d have an ulterior motive, knew he must want the same thing I did for the Famiglia, but so long as we were both on the same page and he was on my side, I’d take it, no matter his reasons.
My cut snagged on the chain-link, and I grunted when it snapped. Twisting around to collect the piece, I held the worn leather that had seen me through far too much and hoped it’d have the chance to see me pull more crazy shit.
I was too young to die.
But I was too old to let the disrespect to my parents go unsung.
I caught the eye of a Five Pointer, one I recognized from the initial meetings with the Irish. He dipped his chin and the AK he was carrying tilted down to the ground, like he was reassuring me that he was friendly.
I nodded back, grateful that my logic was right thus far, then I headed deeper into the courtyard where it was most dangerous. If someone on the roof saw me that wasn’t Irish, I was fucked.
Hell, who was I kidding?
I was fucked anyway.
Twenty-Four
Maverick
I didn’t trust Lodestar as far as I could throw her, but her concern was real.
Why, I didn’t know, but she’d always had a strange kind of sixth sense where things like this were concerned. Just like Nic. Both of them had that spooky shit down pat.
“What are you thinking?” I snapped at her, both of us heading straight into military territory we’d been bred to exist in.
We were soldiers at that moment, and I was her CO, and she was my subordinate.
She cracked her knuckles as she refrained from answering me, instead called out, “Kat? I need you to go into my bedroom, and in my nightstand, there’s a phone. Can you go and get it for me?”
Alessa’s baby sister who appeared to go by two names, Kat to everyone but Alessa, and Kati to Alessa only, cast a look at Lodestar, but even the precocious kid seemed to sense that things weren’t right because she darted off. Not even skipping away like she’d ordinarily do, just outright running.
“After the blast,” she admitted gruffly, “I thought it was prudent to…clone Rex’s phone.”
The last part of the sentence was mumbled so quietly that over the ringing in my ears, I didn’t hear it. But Giulia, who was at her side, did.
“You cloned Rex’s phone?” she gasped. “Jesus, Lodestar, you got iron balls or something? Fuck, even I ain’t brave enough to do that. Not that I could… but still. Christ.”
Then, Giulia being goddamn Giulia, she lifted her fist at Lodestar who ducked back like she was about to be punched.
“I think she wants to fist bump you,” Lily said wryly, her eyes amused as she took in Lodestar’s reaction.
“Oh.” Star blinked then bumped fists with Giulia. “Thanks. I think.”
“When he finds out, he’ll kill you,” I warned her, not as impressed as the women were with her fucking antics.
This was Lodestar all over.
Unreliable, untrustworthy, disloyal. Fucking bitch.
Christ, I’d been a fool to get tangled up with her. I just didn’t understand how I’d ever gotten over the past enough to be friends with her again.
Before I could reply, Kat came sliding into the room, a phone in her hand, her cheeks bright pink from exertion, and her breathing hard.
“We’ve got the next Usain Bolt before us, ladies,” Giulia cheered, which had Kat flopping forward, her hands on her knees even as she wriggled her butt in a celebratory dance that had most of the women laughing through their nerves.
With the phone in hand, Lodestar tapped away, hunting down clues for Rex’s whereabouts.
Not only was it not like Rex to go off without telling anyone where he was going, in fact, he rarely left West Orange. To the point where he was close to a hermit, subsisting in the clubhouse unless—well, this was the Rex of old, I figured. Maybe he’d changed. But before, he’d only ever really gone on a run when it was time to meet with new chapters in his dad’s place, when Bear was Prez, or for Nyx’s fun and games.
Though I wasn’t as freaked out as Lodestar, I had to admit his behavior was odd. Odd enough to cause some concern.
“Shit, he called Declan O’Donnelly two days ago.” She peered up at me. “You know why?”
I shook my head. “No. I’ve been out of it. Slept through most of the past two days anyway.” He winced. “Nyx asked me to do some shit for the club, but I just haven’t been up to it.”
She waved a hand. “I dealt with it for you.”
Though I was grateful, it choked me to give her my thanks. Alessa, catching my eye, arched a brow and murmured, “We’re grateful for your help, Lodestar.”
My ex grunted. “He always was a shit patient. I’ll be glad when he gets his memory back though. I’m sick of being looked at like I just abducted and anal-probed him.”
Kat giggled at that, then hurled her arms around Lodestar’s neck. “You said ‘anal,’ Star.”
Lodestar grumbled, “You’re all sweaty.”
Kat smacked a kiss on her cheek which had Star hiding a smile even as she was tapping away on her computer.
“I’m in touch with someone who’s a part of the Five Points,” she muttered, even as Kat kept her arms around her neck and was clearly reading the conversation that was going down on the screen. “I wanna know why Rex would contact Declan O’Donnelly when, as far as I know, Sin’s the point of contact.”
Tiffany commented, “He is, yeah. They’re in touch a lot. Especially with the run going down later than planned.”
Lodestar hummed under her breath, but it wasn’t a short hum, more like a song. My brow puckered as I tried to think about what the song was, and it came to me with a flash.
‘Firestarter.’
I remembered us at a rave in goddamn Prague, slipping and sliding against each other because it was so fucking hot in that club. For all she’d been grinding into me, I’d ground my dick into her just as much…
Good times.
Before shit had derailed.
Before life had changed.
Before Nic.
I gritted my teeth as she muttered, “Oh, fuck.”
“What is it?” I demanded, rounding the table and her seat so I could read the screen too.
My nostrils flared when I read words I hadn’t heard in fucking years.
“Jesus,” I rasped.
“What is it?” Giulia snapped. “Don’t keep it from us. What’s going on?”
“A summit. Today. Brooklyn Beach,” Lodestar rasped, and like that, I was no longer Maverick pre-Nic. No longer the Maverick who was fresh from the sandbox.
I was here.
In the now.
And as the past collided with the present, I dropped to my knees as I realized the man I loved like a fucking brother had gone on a one-way mission where his end destination was finite.
Death.
Only that could bring me back to life…
Twenty-Five
Rex
I made it.
Barely.
My boots didn’t even get the chance to clomp against the ground—that was how fast and how quietly I moved—and within seconds, or at least that was how it felt to me, I was away from the hole in the fence and kissing the warehouse wall.
Maverick: A Dark MC Romance (A Dark & Dirty Sinners' MC Series Book 6) Page 20
