Colson (The Henchmen MC Book 20)

by Jessica Gadziala

  "What do you guys want me on?" Malcolm asked, jerking his chin toward his Uncle Cash.

  "Fuck. I don't know. Why don't you take a ride over to see the Mallicks. Then the Grassis. If something is going down in the town, they'd want a heads-up. And most of them have a pretty good relationship with Reign, so they will keep an ear out."

  "Got it," Malcolm said, moving off, leaving Brooks and Tyler behind, standing around, looking and likely feeling as helpless as I was feeling right about then.

  "You two, on the grounds," I called out to them, getting nods and grateful looks before they both rushed off.

  "Roderick," Cash called, making the man push through the crowd.

  "Yeah?"

  "Any chance you can get Liv to stop here before she goes up to Hailstorm? She and Cam can maybe give us some insight into other competition we haven't considered yet."

  "She'll stop. Might have a problem making her leave, but she'll come," Roderick agreed, moving off to call his woman.

  "What else am I not considering?" Cash asked to the rest of the crowd still situated around.

  But there were no answers.

  Because the club had known calm for so long.

  There hadn't been any true enemies at the gates since all that shit with V, Summer's mother.

  Everything else had pretty much been grievances and vendettas involving individual brothers, not the club as a whole.

  "Should we report him missing?" Summer asked, coming back in the room, eyes red, but tear-free. That woman had been through a lot. I'd always been impressed with how well she handled difficult situations.

  "Listen," Lo chimed in, giving her old friend, her sister-in-law, a firm look. "If you want to do that, if you want to cover that base, that is entirely up to you."

  "But you don't think it will do anything?" Summer pressed, already knowing her answer.

  "What are the chances that they will go all-out for someone like Reign?" Lo asked, shrugging. "If we have nothing to go on by tomorrow, maybe then file the report. Give us a little head-start. Once they know he is missing, they will be out trying to catch all of us while we try to get him home by any means necessary."

  "Right. Okay. That makes sense. I just... I have nothing to do," she admitted, shaking her head. I just... I want someone to shoot at," she admitted.

  "Why? So you can hit the wall beside them?" Cash teased, always trying to lighten the mood, even in the most trying of times.

  To that, Summer gave a surprised, choked little laugh, chasing away some of the horror in her eyes.

  "But maybe you should be taking a trip up to Hailstorm with everyone else," Cash suggested. "You know Chris, she will put you to work on surveillance or something. You won't feel so useless there."

  "Right. Yeah. That's a good idea."

  "Finn will take you," Cash added, nodding toward his nephew. Summer moved to walk away, but Cash grabbed Finn on the way past. "Are you armed? If not, you need to get armed. And stay armed. I know your brother is always strapped, but you need to be too. And when you're driving, keep your eyes on the mirrors. Have your mom call us if you think anyone is following you. Got it?"

  "Got it," Finn agreed, looking suddenly taller, older, stronger, like he could handle anything that came his way.

  This club had the potential to do that. Make a man out of a boy. And it happened quickly. Blink, and you would miss it.

  "Once we do intel with Liv and Cam, we are going to head out in five-man teams. The rest will be staying here, taking turns doing guard shifts."

  "Including you," Wolf said, looking at Cash.

  "I'll be on the streets looking for my brother," Cash insisted.

  "Nope. Next in command. Gotta stay here."

  "In the glass room, if possible," Lo agreed. "Look, I get it, babe," she said, rubbing her husband's shoulder. "You want to help. But you're important to the club. You know all the things that no one else knows right now. You need to stay here and keep safe. In case the club needs you."

  In case Reign was dead.

  That was what she was saying.

  "If this was your crew, you would be on the streets."

  "I have Chris to run Hailstorm. I've already trained her, taught her everything she would need to know to keep it going. You are that for this MC. Like it or not, you have to stay safe. If Reign isn't around, and something happens to you, this MC dies. All these men, their women, and their children, will be left hanging. Assign your teams. Then get up into the glass room where you will be safe. If you don't, I will have Wolf knock you out and drag you up there," she added, smiling sweetly.

  Cash knew those weren't idle threats, either. His wife would make that happen, and his good friend would deliver the blow.

  After Liv showed up and some talking was done, Cash wrote down his teams to assemble once they all got back.

  "Colson, you're going to stay here," Cash said, and I had to pretend those words didn't sting my pride a little bit. Sure, I had never been the one chomping at the bit to get into dangerous situations, but I was capable of it if it became necessary.

  "I can go."

  "I know you can," Cash agreed, nodding. "But you're the only one here who doesn't have a partner at home for their kid. And I need someone level-headed here to balance out West."

  That was fair.

  West was staying because the Florida chapter was coming up, and he knew them the best.

  So he was pairing that unknown crew with me, Reeve, and Lazarus to even everything out.

  "Okay. I can do that."

  "And keep an eye on the prospects. Fallon, Finn, and Malc will likely be looking for Reign, but I want to keep Brooks and Tyler here."

  "Got it. Don't worry about them."

  "I'm hoping this is all an overreaction, that Reign just fell off the map for a day. Though, even as I'm saying it, I know that isn't what happened. That isn't how my brother operates."

  "No," I agreed, "it's not."

  "Fuck," Cash said, raking a hand down the side of his head, looking like he could use a drink.

  "I will come and update you every hour," I told him, reaching to grab a bottle of whiskey to hand to him. "I'm sure everyone else will be texting in as they move around."

  "Alright. Fuck," he said, turning to walk away, then stopping. "We have to find him."

  "We will," I told him, voice firm, because I knew he needed it.

  He might have been the temporary president, but his brother was missing; he needed to hear someone tell him everything was going to work out.

  And, quite frankly, I needed to hear those words spoken as well.

  Reign had, for all of us, been a sort of big brother, if not an outright father figure. He was the stability so many of us were seeking.

  Him being gone was like the world was thrown off its axis.

  We had to find him to make things right again.

  Grabbing a gun, I moved out into the yard, watching as men came and got their orders, got into groups, then headed off again, faces grim, eyes determined.

  If anyone had a chance of finding Reign, it was the men whose lives would have been completely different without him, who never would have met their women, never would have had their children.

  Left behind, my thoughts roamed.

  My life would have been very different without Reign and the family he had created as well.

  Freddie might have been back in jail.

  Jelena wouldn't have the security I always wanted to give to her.

  I would have been toiling away at a job where no one appreciated me.

  He'd given a lot to me, even if I couldn't credit him for Jelly, or a woman.

  The night dragged on with no answers, my phone beeping constantly with updates that had nothing good to report.

  I was reaching for it yet again when I saw a name I hadn't expected on the screen.

  Eva.

  - Would I be a terrible parent if I chained my child to the bed so I don't have to worry when I go to work? lol

&n
bsp; I shouldn't have answered.

  I knew what was going on.

  I might have been out of practice.

  But I knew mutual attraction when I experienced it.

  And absolutely everything about this—her proximity, the timing, the complication of both being single parents—spelled out this being a bad idea.

  But my fingers moved to respond immediately.

  -- Not if no one finds out.

  - Shit. I already told you. I guess I have to do the unthinkable. Take him at his word. Oh well. Off to work!

  -- Have a good shift, Eva.

  - Have a good night :)

  Oh, fuck.

  That warming feeling in my chest? It had been years since I knew that sensation. And I don't remember it being quite so strong before.

  But I knew it for what it was.

  Dangerous.

  FOUR

  Reign

  My fucking head was throbbing, the kind of steady pain that made it impossible to think past it even when you knew that was what you needed to do.

  All around me was darkness.

  No windows.

  A basement would have had windows.

  Even if they provided no means of escape.

  At least they would have given things some context.

  Were there trees around like I was in a family-style home, or was it all sidewalks and buildings like I was in a more city-type area?

  What time of day was it?

  What noises did I hear?

  I had none of that. Not a slip of sunlight to suggest that I had been passed out through the night and we were facing a new day.

  It wasn't quiet though.

  I could hear the familiar whooshing noise of traffic, but from the sounds of it, not in any of the main areas of Navesink Bank where the speed limits were lower.

  There was no one here with me.

  Yet.

  I wasn't stupid enough to think that would continue to be the case for long.

  No one kidnapped you and strung you from the ceiling if they planned to leave you there to die of dehydration.

  My shoulders decided to compete for the most painful, dulling the screaming in my temples. They'd strung me up high. Not even the tips of my toes grazed the ground. And judging by the shoulder pain, I'd been here for a while.

  Christ.

  I was getting too fucking old for this shit, I decided as I tried to rearrange my hands to grab the chain, pulling with as much force as the position would allow.

  It gave me a moment of relief for my shoulders, but I couldn't hold it for long.

  On a sigh, I pulled up my legs at the waist and thrust them forward, then back, pumping them like a kid on a swing, trying to get my body swinging, get enough strain on the chain that it might break through whatever was holding it in place in the ceiling.

  "Fuck," I growled what felt like a lifetime later, sweat slicking my body, running into my eyes.

  I didn't know where I was, but the ceiling was solidly built. Or they had been smart enough to brace the chain down a wall as well. I'd swung out my legs as much as possible to see if anything was around that I could kick forward, could use to stand on. If I could get a little slack, I might be able to rest my shoulders for long enough that I could attempt to climb up the chain like a rope at the gym.

  I wasn't exactly twenty years old anymore, but the survival instinct could give you fucking superpowers in a pinch.

  But there was nothing.

  Judging by the way my grunts and curses echoed off the walls, there was next to nothing in the space save for me.

  At least I had managed to put the red flag up, I decided as I hung there. I'd gotten the chance to tell my men that something was wrong, that there was something going on, that someone was moving in.

  When they figured out I was gone, they would already know it was linked, somehow, to the dwindling supply chain. From there, they would start knocking heads together.

  My men had known calm for a long time. And maybe those from the outside would think we'd gotten soft. But I knew better. I knew what these men were capable of, what they had come from, what they would be willing to do to protect what was theirs.

  It could get ugly, depending on who this new enemy was.

  My men would paint the streets in blood to find me.

  And if I didn't make it out of this, they would do everything in their power to take care of Summer, to help provide for the kids that weren't kids at all anymore. Everyone would be okay. With or without me. And someone would pay. Either fucking way.

  It was at least another couple of hours before I heard a car coming close, idling, then the engine cutting off. Doors opened and closed.

  And then I knew where I was.

  Because a garage door grumbled open behind me before slamming closed again.

  A light flicked on.

  And footsteps came around from behind me.

  Then there they were.

  My kidnappers.

  My possible competition.

  And I didn't fucking know them.

  Well, no, that wasn't exactly right.

  There was a sense of familiarity, like a face you'd seen in passing more than a few times, often enough that they were familiar in a distant way.

  I'd seen their faces, but I couldn't place where.

  Had they been watching us for a long time? Is that why I recognized them?

  "Doesn't look so big and powerful now, does he?" one of the men asked one of the men at his sides.

  Nothing about them at first blush told me what organization they belonged to. The older guy seemed Latino, one of the younger guys, Black, the other white. So they weren't one of the many white supremacist assholes who wanted a piece of what we had. They didn't wear cuts, so they weren't bikers.

  I had nothing to go on.

  "What's the matter? Got nothing to say?" the older guy asked, taunting, showing off for the guys who clearly saw him as a role model of sorts.

  "To you? Not a fucking thing."

  It was never a great idea to provoke your kidnappers.

  It was even more stupid to do so when the main guy was clearly trying to puff his chest in front of the two younger guys.

  So I was expecting it when he cocked back and swung, landing a somewhat weak punch to my solar plexus.

  One downfall to stringing a tall man up was that if you weren't a giant, you couldn't do a fuck of a lot of blunt-force damage with your bare hands.

  "That all you got?" I asked, watching as his eyes blazed. A flush worked its way up the sides of his neck, coloring his cheeks.

  He had something to prove.

  That was interesting.

  Whoever he was, he didn't have the kind of power I had or Luca Grassi or Lo or fucking Quinton Baird had. Our reputations stood on their own. No one needed to prove shit.

  This guy was not a big player.

  But a small-timer with a lot of ambition was a worthy opponent. Especially if you weren't as hungry as you had once been.

  And I wasn't.

  But I did have a lot to live for.

  Which was its own kind of motivator.

  I took a deep breath as he turned to walk behind me, heard the car door outside slamming closed, then footsteps coming close again.

  "Watch out," the older guy called to the others, barely waiting for them to scramble backward before cocking back and swinging the bat.

  The next couple moments were a pain-soaked blur as I clenched my jaw so tight my teeth ached to keep from letting out my reaction.

  It had been a long-ass time since I got a beatdown. And I could practically predict the future arthritic spots as the bat landed to the side of my knee, my shin, across my hip, my lower back, just barely missing the kidney shot I think he was going for.

  "Not so fucking big and bad now, are you?" he asked, breathing heavily.

  "Dunno man," I said through gritted teeth. "I didn't have to grab a bat to get my point across. Seems there's only one small man here."
<
br />   The crack to my head was expected.

  The unconsciousness as well.

  When I woke back up, I was alone again, still hanging, draped in darkness, tasting blood, feeling the trickle of it down the side of my face, feeling the ache of bruises all across my body.

  I took a couple deep breaths, trying to focus through the pain.

  Even as I did so, I heard it.

  The rumble of bikes in the distance.

  A dozen of them.

  More.

  My men were on it.

  I just had to pray they found me in time.

  FIVE

  Eva

  I hadn't seen Colson or Jelena at their house in three days.

  And I was frustrated with myself for noticing that.

  But his bike was missing. His car hadn't moved. The lights didn't go on or off. There were no sounds over there.

  He'd never said anything about going away when I had sent that text a few nights before, a text that I had pre-written and refused to press send on for over an hour before—in a moment of insanity—I sent it out.

  Then sat with my heart racing and my belly jumping, worried I was being too forward, too clingy.

  He'd given me his number as a courtesy, not to exchange casual conversations. We weren't teenagers for God's sake. Adults didn't just start texting one another out of the blue. At least, in my experience, they didn't.

  I was actually shocked when he wrote me right back. And even more surprised when his tone was light and easy, that he didn't tell me to fuck off and call me a psycho.

  That said, though, I didn't have the balls to be desperate enough to initiate texts twice.

  And now Colson was MIA.

  And I was stupidly disappointed.

  Like a teenage girl with a crush.

  When did I become so pathetic?

  Even as my thoughts swirled around that same topic for what felt like hours, I saw headlights in the driveway next door.

  "Jesus," I hissed when I felt my heart leap up, excitement sizzling across my nerve endings.