Chapter 8
I hadn’t planned to spend the whole day with Eden. I was gonna feel her out, give her a taste of the old charm and leave her wanting more. Instead, I very nearly took her to the Inn like she wanted. And I stood on the sidewalk, watching the red lights of her car disappear and holding the stupid box of leftover stupid pie pieces like an idiot for a long time.
I won’t let Ice’s daughter get under my skin!
No matter how gorgeous, sweet, and nice to talk to she is.
No matter how much I want to show her there’s so much more to life than being a good girl. No matter how much I want to show her that life is so much better than any fictional piece of romantic crap she reads all day.
By the time I reached my bike, my head was pretty much back on Mission Eden—break her and ship the pieces back to her father. Right before I destroy him too. And all the rest of the Devils.
And as I enter the compound where my MC is waiting to start this greatest mission we’ve ever undertaken, my head is back to normal, focused on what has to be done now.
“Man, what time do you call this?” Scorpio asks from the darkness by the door of the main building. “We’ve been having meetings on whether we should ride to your rescue all afternoon. You were supposed to be back hours ago.”
I need him mothering me like I need a bullet hole in my head right now. So I ignore him and just focus on detaching my saddle bags and getting the pie out of them before they make even more of a mess. I push the scrunched-up bag into his hands, wishing I didn’t smell the pecans and chocolate so clearly. Or the cinnamon, apple, and cherries—all things Eden.
“What the hell is this?” Scorpio snaps.
“A snack,” I say and walk past him into the building.
The main room, which I’ve been using as the MC’s family room, while we’re here sounds like it’s packed. I avoid it by heading for the back stairs up to my room. Scorpio follows, so I round on him.
“I’m getting my stuff and then I’m leaving for the inn,” I say, annoyed that he’s already stuffed a whole slice of pie into his mouth while we were walking. He looks like a stupid chipmunk. But that’s not what’s annoying me. It’s something else. Something I don’t want to acknowledge. Eden got those pies for me. Me. What a dumb thing to think.
He’s not saying anything because he’s having trouble chewing through the dry crust.
“Make sure everyone’s in the family room when I come back,” I tell him. “I have a few parting words.”
He nods and walks back down the hall. But it’s not until I’m alone in my quiet, dark bedroom that I get my composure back.
I’m not getting far with this mission if a box of pies is enough to threaten my cool. I stuff enough clothes to last me about a week into my saddlebags and focus on just that for a while. I won’t need more than a week to snatch Eden. All this crap today was just first-day jitters.
I’m perfectly calm again as I face my men in the huge room downstairs.
“We’ve all got a lot riding on this mission,” I say once they’ve quieted down enough to hear me speak. “You all know what’s at stake, so I trust that you can hold down the fort while I’m gone. But be ready to ride as soon as I give the word. We’re leaving everything behind when we leave here. And that includes any stragglers.”
“Let’s get this show on the road!” Razor yells. “We’re ready!”
Most of the others take up his call.
“Make the Devils pay their debt!” Scorpio yells and practically everyone repeats it.
It’s a good war cry because the Devils pride themselves on always paying their debts, so it’s been our chant for a while now. I join in, feeling ice begin to replace the blood in my veins—blood that meeting Eden today brought to a boil.
But what the fuck did I expect? I knew she was a hot piece of ass from the pictures and the videos. I knew she was sweet from the texts we exchanged. The guys I sent to check her out all told me she was hot in person too. I didn’t go near her before today because I was afraid she’d see me before it was time. Maybe that was my mistake—her innocent beauty kinda floored me.
Either way, it’s all done now and the Lost Sons are riding. Starting the mission that is the whole reason for our existence, for us banding together. Yes, there’s bound to be weird jitters associated with that.
I give everyone more detailed instructions and pick the twenty guys I trust to watch my back at the Inn.
“I don’t want you seen, is that clear?” I tell them one last time before we leave. “No one can know we’re together at that place.”
Scorpio nods. “Yes, dude. You’ve told us a million times.”
“You probably need to hear it one more time,” I say, making him laugh.
He shakes his head. “Not this time. I’m not fucking this up.”
He’s lived one hell of a life on the streets of Chicago because the Devils took everyone away from him. The blackness in his eyes tells me he’s more than ready to get his revenge now. I’m sensing no more of that feeling sorry for Eden crap. A quick scan of the now perfectly silent room tells me he’s not the only one.
“All right, enough talking,” I say. “You know what to do. So let’s get it done.”
I leave the room to another chorus of, “Make the Devils pay their debt.”
And I can still kind of hear it echoing in my mind as I ride off the compound. It’s the sweetest music I know. Almost as sweet as the sound of Eden’s laugh. I don’t chase that thought away. Because it’s right on point. Because that laugh is just the prelude to the sound of her screams. And the Devils’ screams. Which will trump it all.