Chapter Fifteen
Ryker
One Month Later
T he days bleed together. Nothing feels real anymore, and we all become numb to the reality of things as more time passes. Sugar has tried his best to hold us all together, but there is only so much that can be done. We’ve searched high and low. We have ripped apart Jacksonville trying to find some sort of answers, but we always come up empty.
“Did you sleep at all?” Grayson asks as he props himself up next to me in Harley’s bed, where we have taken to sleeping.
“Maybe an hour,” I respond hoarsely. Turning my head towards him, I ask, “What’s the plan today?”
Rubbing his eyes, he sighs, “I don’t know. I feel like I am just spinning in a circle.”
A sudden bang on the bedroom door jolts us both up, and I run to the door, swinging it open. “We have a problem. Get downstairs now. Find Cade. Get fucking everyone,” Nerds yells before taking off back downstairs.
By the time Grayson and I throw clothes on and meet downstairs, I have called Cayden three times and dial again. He finally answers with a gruff, “What?”
“Get to the club, now.” I hang up, not waiting for his non-reply. Unfortunately, Cade has slowly sunk back into himself and barely speaks now. He is the rock when someone is falling apart, but besides checking on everyone every day, he stays out, running for miles, working out, staying with Bear, and not speaking to anyone besides single words.
Grayson and I aren’t much better off. I work out whenever I have a chance, and Grayson is always working, but we made a deal to always come together at night. Sleep for a while, lay together, talk to each other. Depend on each other to keep ourselves together. Cade has refused and started losing himself all over again.
Cade is the last person in the main room where everyone has gathered, and we all turn our eyes to Nerds, who slams a piece of paper on the table.
Grayson is the first to pick it up, and I glance over his shoulder to read it.
I have three trackers; one on my phone, one is in my necklace, and the last one is in my arm, as you all know. I have gone to my old trader. He never liked me much and only ever took me when he didn’t like other options up for trade. He will keep me for a bit and then trade me.
I can’t stand to watch you all fall apart slowly. I have never had family, but your club has shown me what family is and what it should be. I didn’t have that kind of example growing up. I knew you, Nerds, would never agree to me doing this. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you, but I had to do something.
Find me. Wait until he moves me from his home to come get me. It will more than likely be a place like the warehouse you found me at. I can do this.
Please forgive me, Nerds.
Oakley
“Holy shit,” I murmur, glancing at Nerds, who looks enraged and sick to his stomach. As the note gets passed around so everyone can read it, Grayson goes to Nerds. “We can do this. It’s not ideal, but she is right. We have all had the trackers put into our arms. There is no way the guy she went to will find all three. We will watch her from a distance and bring her home, hopefully with the others. She is giving us a chance to do something here.”
“And in return, she is putting herself back in danger and more than likely will relapse after she worked so fucking hard to get clean and stay clean!” he yells.
“Nerds, I know you're angry right now, and I don’t mean to sound cold, but she did it. It already happened. So now we deal with it, and afterwards, all these feelings can come forward,” Axe tells him calmly.
Presley, Raven, Carly, and Lex are all sitting together, most with tears in their eyes. Oakley had become one of them, especially over this last month as they have leaned on each other. Lex has found her spot here after everything and helps where she can, which is usually with the cooking or with Jayce.
Nerds takes off down the hall back to the tech room, and Grayson sighs. “Sugar, can I talk to you in Rage’s office?” Furrowing my brows, I nudge him, but he just shakes his head and heads down the hall after Sugar.
“What was that?” Cade asks.
“I have no idea. You good?” He nods and then walks away.
“I’m worried about him,” Noah says as he walks up to stand next to me.
“Me too,” I murmur.
“You feeling alright?”
I shrug. “No, but yes. I think if Harley hadn’t been a part of our lives and helped me get closer to the guys and learn to trust everyone around here as my family, I would be causing more problems. But having all of us depending on each other helps. I just wish Cade would too. He is so worried about everyone else, but yet he is letting himself backslide.”
“I’m proud of you, kid. We are going to figure this all out. I think Oakley did what all of us have been too afraid to do, and we need to show her we have her back and owe her for the rest of our lives for risking her life for our people,” Noah says. “And now I get to go find my stupid brother, maybe punch him once or twice.”
Grayson
“You–you did fuckin’ what?” Sugar seethes from where he stands by the window with his arms crossed.
Fiddling with my fingers, I clear my throat, “Whether or not you will see it this way, I did the right thing. I am telling you because I think it’s time we bring them into this.”
I made the rash decision to tell Sugar about Bas and the Kings of Hearts, how they helped me and taught me while Nerds wasn’t working. I never planned on letting that out, but I think they can help us now.
I had brought it up after Rage and Harley were taken, but the ranking officers all said no because they don’t trust them. Vance and Rage have their own past, and they didn’t know if they were involved in this. I knew they weren’t, but letting out what I did when it goes against everything the club stands for wasn’t worth the risk at the time.
But now, we have Oakley on the line too. We have an opportunity, and I think the more hands involved, the better. We need to find them before they are gone forever, and this is our chance.
“I trust them. I know you guys don’t, but I am asking, begging, that you trust my instincts on this,” I tell him, making sure to hold eye contact even though my heart is pounding aggressively in my chest, sweat building on the back of my neck.
Sugar scoffs. “Trust you? You went behind our backs. You went behind Rage’s back. Maybe there was some good intentions, but you didn’t discuss it with us.” He shakes his head. “I have to call church and discuss this with them. Did anyone else know‘bout this? Ryker? Cayden? Nerds?”
“No. I kept it from everyone.” I swallow.
Sugar calls an emergency church, and the members head downstairs.
“What’s going on?” Ryker finds me as I walk into the kitchen and chug some water.
I shake my head. “Nothing to worry about right now.”
“Grayson–”
“I got it under control. I’ll tell you and Cade later,” I snap at him.
After pacing for what feels like hours, Parker finds me and lets me know they want to see me in Church. Taking a deep breath, I head downstairs and knock on the door. Nerds lets me in with a sneaky glare no one else sees.
“Grayson, being a prospect, we would have stripped you of your cut and sent you on your way. What you did is seen as betrayal. But seeing as the circumstances are unique,” Axe explains, “we aren’t going to do that right now. You will be monitored by Nerds on everything you do, and we are giving Nerds permission to reach out to Vance and see what he has to say. Everything else, we will circle back to when things are more settled around here.”
No one else speaks, not even Noah. They all just let me know with their eyes that they aren’t happy. If I didn’t think them helping us now was the best option, I never would’ve said anything, but I know they can help us in some way, which is why I just did it and didn’t let myself think too hard about telling Sugar.
When they call the end of the meeting, I follow Nerds upstairs into the tech room. He slams the door and spins to face me. “What the fuck were you thinking, telling them that?”
“I was thinking we now have three people we care about missing, and we need the help. They can give it, and I trust them, but Sugar and the others will never trust them. I didn’t say anything about you, as you are aware, so it’s fine.”
“God, Grayson, it’s not fine. You just want me to what? Sit back and watch them potentially boot you from the club when I am the one who said to do it to begin with?”
“Yes. Don’t say a word. They aren’t going to do anything right now, and when that day comes, I will deal with it. I won’t let this ruin your life or anyone else’s. Can we do this now?” I ask, gesturing towards his desk.
After we contacted Vance and his team, Ryker decided he was done waiting and dragged me off to Rage’s house, where Cade was already waiting. I filled them in, and Cade is silent while Ryker is pacing, also not speaking.
“Ry–” I begin, but he cuts me off.
“Why wouldn’t you tell him we were all involved? Do you really think we would’ve been mad and made you deal with this alone?”
I shake my head. “No, but I wanted to handle it alone. I didn’t know how they would react, so I wanted to make sure no one else would get dragged into it, since it is my mess.”
“It’s over and done with, Ryker. We wait now. What happened when Nerds reached out to them?” Cade asks.
“It was weird.” I furrow my brows. “Vance said he and his closest men, the ones who run the Kings of Hearts, would be here today.”
“Even though we don’t have anything yet?” Ryker asks.
“Yeah. They should be here anytime now. It just felt weird, like they were thrown off when we said Rage and Harley had been taken.” My phone buzzes in my pocket, and I pull it out. “Speaking of. That’s the front gate camera. They are here.”
When we get back to the club, Vance and his guys are just pulling up. Sugar reluctantly greets them and lets them in. It looks like everyone has cleared out from the main areas of the club. It’s just club members in here right now.
“Only the four of you?” Axe questions, raising a brow at Vance.
He nods. “Yes. This is a matter for us, not the entire Brooks Family. When we plan an attack, I will involve them.”
Glancing from Vance to Sebastian, I ask, “What’s the matter we need to discuss that made you guys come here so quickly?”
Sebastian winces as Vance tells us, “There are a few things we need to explain to you all.”
Sugar gestures for everyone to sit at the tables, so we do and wait for Vance to begin.
“About three years ago, we ran into Sebastian. We thought he was an enemy and had planned to take him out until things took a turn. We learned he was being blackmailed to work for the traffickers. We were able to keep capturing him under the radar and we took in Bas. He became a part of our team, and we have been working tirelessly since then to take down the people behind the Black Night Ball.”
My eyes widen as I jump up from my seat and look at Bas. “What?”
He nods once. “I’m sorry to have lied to you. I couldn’t reveal who I was and what I was doing. But I was hoping you would find a way into the website with everything I taught you. We figured if you guys got in and were able to do some damage, we could pick up where you left off and completely destroy them.”
“We couldn’t just come and work with you on this because there is a lot on the line. We all discussed it and decided Bas would help teach Grayson while getting him onto the site,” Vance says.
“What we didn’t know was I wasn’t the only tech person they have working for them. I got the site up and running and I manage the listings and updates, but they had others also monitoring it because they trust no one. Which is how they found out someone got onto it. Eyes were turning towards me, and I needed to get them off us, because we can’t be discovered. To save our asses, we gave up your club. We assumed it would be a warning just like the first one, that they would hire some random person to mess with something and hurt a few people, and then they would have me or the others send a message.”
Bas pauses before he looks at me again. “I sent the first message about the explosion, but I didn’t send the second one. I didn’t even know what they had done. We all assumed since you guys weren’t reaching out for anything, it was something like the explosion.”
“The second you told us Rage and Harley had been taken, we knew that must have been the punishment and had to tell you. We want to help get them back. We are in no way good people and have had our hands in a lot of shit, but this wasn’t okay and we won’t stand for it,” Vance tells everyone but holds Sugar’s eyes, who is vibrating with fury.
In the next second, the room explodes in anger as Ryker flies out of his seat next to me and across the table to punch Sebastian in the face and take him down to the ground. The two other guys with Vance move towards Ryker, but Noah and Cade are there instantly, stopping them.
Vance goes toe to toe with an angry Sugar as they stay in a heated but low argument I can’t hear over Vance’s men yelling. Standing stock still with my heart pounding against my chest, I watch as Ryker beats the shit out of Bas. He doesn’t let up, and Bas has no chance to fight him off as Ryker loses himself in the dark.
“Enough!” Sugar roars, making everyone pause except for Ryker. “Noah, Cayden, get him.”
Releasing Vance’s men, they move to pull Ryker off Bas. Ryker keeps fighting in their hold, his eyes a dark abyss that sends shivers down my spine. I step in his line of sight and grasp his cheeks as he heaves for breath. “Ryker, please,” I beg, and his eyes immediately snap to mine as they soften. He breaks the boys hold on him and wraps me in his arms.
“They got them taken from us, Grayson,” he whispers hoarsely in my ear.
The guy with long blonde hair that is tied back in a man bun snarls in our direction, “Come at him again and I will fucking kill you.”
Before anyone can respond, Cade steps forward, calm as ever, and grips him by the throat, thrusting him against the wall. They are about the same height, but the guy is much bulkier than Cade. “The only reason we haven’t killed all of you for getting our people taken is because you can help us find them. Test me, and I’ll snap your fucking neck before you can even blink.”
“You don’t scare me, kid,” the man growls.
Cade smirks. “Good. That means you’ll never have your guard up around me, making you an easy target.”
“Release him, Cayden,” Sugar demands.
“We are acceptin’ all the help we can get. But after this, we are even for life. No more jobs come to us. No work through Jacksonville. You stay the fuck away from here and don’t expect any favors from us,” Sugar tells them.
Vance narrows his eyes but nods anyway. “Fine. We never meant for them to be taken, but I understand. The trust between us has always been rocky.”
“What now?” Noah asks, violently flipping his blade between his fingers, making me flinch each time that he will chop his fingers off.
“I’ll fill in Bas on everything, we will watch Oakley, and see if there is anything else we can do in the meantime,” Nerds says, gesturing towards Bas, who is wiping blood from his face.
“Vinny, go with him,” Vance says to the fourth guy, who looks sort of like Vance with the same clean shaven face, dark eyes, and hulking build.
The rest of us split off to cool down. Ryker and I go to head upstairs, but he grabs Cade and makes him come with us. When we get up to Harley’s bedroom, he shuts and locks the door.
“What?” Cade asks, leaning against the wall and crossing his arms.
“Be fucking present. Don’t run off when shit is a mess like this. Grayson needs us; I know this is going to hit hard for him,” Ryker snarls.
Realizing involving Bas is what got them taken has already crossed my mind, but this is the last thing I need to spiral about, so I do my best to shove it down and focus on other things. I can tear myself apart after Rage and Harley are home safe.
Sugar (Colton)
My club is falling apart around me.
Our President is missing and he made me his Vice President all those years ago. Trusting me with his heart and soul. As this club is his family. My beautifully brave niece is missing as well and I have been barely breathing properly trying to keep everything together. My men do their best, but it will never be enough.
The boys are crumbling. I barely see them smile. They all keep to themselves now. I’m not even sure they are speaking to each other. Nerds has been obsessively watching Oakley’s trackers, waiting for them to move, for a week now. The man, who we have since learned is Patrick, is a nobody who has been part of the sex trafficking ring for many, many years and we will gladly put him down when this is all over. Her phone was destroyed the day she left, but she still has her necklace tracker and the one in her arm.
Sitting down for church, I wait for the others to join. As Axe walks in first, he pauses and glances at Rage’s empty chair before looking at me sitting in my normal one to the right. “You know that is technically your seat. I know you don’t want it, because we all want him back, but at some point–”
“Don’t say it. It’s not mine, nor will it ever be. It belongs to our President,” I snap at him, more aggressively than I mean to.
“Alright.” He deflates and takes his seat as the room fills with our men. Nerds, of course, comes in last with his laptop in hand.
“We should discuss Grayson. I really hate having to babysit him when he is working with me,” Nerds says.
“I know the kid made a mistake, but I think we reacted more harshly than necessary because Rage and Harley are missing. Rage would be angry, but I feel like he would’ve just added time onto his prospecting year and had him go through him for all projects for a few months. We should never have thought about him potentially not being here,” Axe says.
“Blade?” I raise a brow at the quietest right now, but usually he isn’t this quiet.
He sighs and pulls out a blade to fidget with. “I agree with them. Grayson is my little brother, so I obviously never want to see him stripped of his cut and kicked to the curb. He made a mistake, but I also think he was doing what he thought was best.”
“Okay. I’ll speak with him,” I say. I’m beyond pissed with him, but they are right. My feelings about Rage being gone are what's running the show right now.
As we discuss club business going over finances and how each place is doing overall, Nerds laptop starts beeping loudly. He fumbles for it and then sucks in a breath before glancing at all of us. “It’s time. She’s moving.”
Fuck. We still have Vance and his small crew here while the other clubs are on stand-by and Vance said he will call in everyone in the Brooks family because they don’t need to know his involvement in everything and can help. “Time to call everyone and get them going. Axe, Stone, and Blade, take off and follow them in cars. Keep your distance. We will get everyone here and then come up with a game plan depending on where he is taking her. It’s time to move.”
As the three of them run out of the room, and the rest of us prepare to make calls and let everyone here know it’s time, Parker knocks on the door frame to church. “Sugar?”
“What?”
“We have another problem.” He grimaces.
I groan. Will this shit ever end?