Chapter 8
ATLAS
Slumping back in the chair, I rubbed my temples and muttered, “Fuck me.”
“My sentiments exactly,” Layla agreed. “In fact, I couldn’t have put it better myself.”
“How you takin’ it?” I asked her. “Did it gut ya? Seein’ your dad?”
“Yes,” she whispered, her eyes filling with tears, but she smiled through them and added, “And no. It’s the one gift I never thought I’d have, and it was incredible, Atlas, seeing him, and getting to talk to him.
Weirdly, I even got some answers, but then I had to let him go again, and it hurt, you know? ”
I nodded, shooting her a reassuring smile.
It was weird having a meeting in Cash’s office with Layla in her robe and slippers, and me still dressed as Rambo. Break had also told us about his experience with Benny and Cash with Bandit.
My eyes slid to check on Breaker, who was slumped in his chair much like me, but I knew he was struggling to keep his shit together.
It was just a matter of time before the thing he called his monster surfaced.
His eyes were already darkening, and his face had lost all emotion and expression.
“How about you, brother?” I asked. “You keepin’ it together? ”
Breaker’s eyes lifted to mine, and a chill ran down my spine. “I’m good,” he said, almost robotically.
“It touched ya. For fuck’s sake, it had you on your knees, Break, and you’re not a man who kneels for any fucker.”
Something flickered behind his eyes, and he stated, “That pervert motherfucker will kneel for me soon enough.”
I turned to Cash. “What about you, Prez? All good? Must’ve been unnervin’ to look up and see your dead gramps sat there cacklin’ at ya.”
Cash snorted. “Don’t mind admittin’, brother, I’m shocked I don’t got shit stains on my shorts, seein’ as I was sure my asshole gave way.”
I nodded because I felt the same way when Belle pointed at the empty corner of her bedroom and shouted, “Bad man,” at the top of her lungs.
I’d fought a lot of shit and a lot of people over the years, but I never had the need or the goddamned inclination to fight a motherfucking ghost before, thank God.
The very thought sent serious heebie-jeebies down my spine.
What a damned shit show.
“After I got over the initial shock of seein’ my dead grandpa, it was kinda nice.
Excuse the cliché, but death becomes him.
Bandit was way more chill than I’ve ever seen him before.
He mentioned he saw Grandma Connie and was tryin’ to repent his sins.
He even told me to give Elise a message about what happened the day she went to the old clubhouse and he almost shot her.
My lip curled at the reminder.
Dagger’s wife was my Sophie’s bio mom, which also made her my ma-in-law and my girls’ grandmother. The thought of what Bandit did to her when she carried my wife in her belly made me wish Bandit was still alive so I could beat his ass.
“So, is it true Benny told Breaker the kids were playing Ouija board and opened a crack in the Veil?” Layla asked.
Breaker gave her one slow nod.
“Do you have an iPad or a phone I can use?” she asked Cash.
He grabbed his cell from the table and handed it to her. “Who you callin’ at this hour in the mornin’?”
She tapped away on the phone and, without looking up, explained, “I want to learn more about Ouija boards and how to work them. Something must have gone wrong if the kids somehow managed to create a portal for evil spirits like Bear to come through. I need to know how to close it.”
“Should I go get DJ’s ass up?” I asked.
“No. I want them as far away from this as possible. Right now, they think it was a game. Can you imagine how frightened they’ll be if they witness any of these weird phenomena?
The whole situation’s terrifying. When I first saw my dad, I thought I might pass out.
Then Bear appeared, and things went downhill fast.”
“Tell me about it,” Cash drawled.
“Dunno what they were thinkin’, playin’ around with that shit,” I muttered.
“They’re teenagers, so they rule the world,” Layla said, rolling her eyes. “Plus, it’s Halloween, and they probably thought they were doing something cool.”
“Maybe we should just burn the fuckin’ thing,” Cash suggested.
Layla looked up from the phone. “No. It says here you should never do that. It won’t help anyway.
We need to take it outside when it rains and leave it at an angle, so the water soaks it and runs off.
Leave it to dry in the sun for two days.
Then bury it somewhere where nobody will find it and cover the earth in holy water.
We need to sage every inch of the clubhouse, sweep it thoroughly, and then take the kids to church to get them blessed. ”
“Fuck me,” I sighed.
“In the meantime, we need to get rid of Bear,” she added.
“And how the fuck do we do that?” I demanded.
“Where did he die?” she asked.
I grimaced and looked down at my boots.
“I’m asking because there’s something tying him to this place,” she informed us. “It could be anything. A piece of jewelry, even a lock of hair. Something that he was attached to.”
My stare met Cash’s just as he said, “His cut.”
Layla’s eyebrows pulled together quizzically, and she asked him, “Why have you got Bear’s damned cut?”
He shrugged. “Souvenir.”
She tipped her head back and looked to the heavens.
“Great! It’s no wonder he’s tormenting us.
” Her eyes lowered back to meet mine. “That, we can burn. In fact, we should do it now. Somehow, he’s managed to attach a piece of himself to it.
” Her eyes drifted to Cash. “It happens when somebody dies in traumatic circumstances.”
Prez made a meh face.
I grimaced.
Breaker smiled evilly.
Layla glanced at our faces in turn and rolled her eyes.
Cash pushed back on his chair, scraping it across the tiled floor.
“Guess I’ll go get the fuckin’ cut. Does someone else wanna grab the s’mores?
We may as well have ourselves a cozy bonfire.
” He stood from his chair. “I’m gonna miss starin’ up at it and reminiscin’ about the good ol’ days, but bright side: at least I won’t have to deal with Wilder drivin’ me crazy and whinin’ about wantin’ to wear the damned thing. ”
I gave a shudder at the mere thought of a Demon’s boy wearing a Sinners’ cut, especially Bear’s.
Cash noticed and must’ve got my drift immediately because his face turned deadpan. “I know, right?” He walked around his desk, making for the door, but I reached out a hand and stopped him.
“We’re all goin’, Cash. Every time we’re alone, somethin’ happens; plus, there’s safety in numbers. If Bear’s nosin’ in on our convo, he’ll know what we’re up to and probably try to stop it.”
Cash looked around furtively and hissed, “You think he’s here now?”
I shrugged. “Who knows?”
Breaker spoke up in a flat voice. “It’s amazin’ how easy it is to hide in the shadows.”
My eyes slashed toward him because it wasn’t normal for my brother to speak when he was getting himself in the zone.
Usually, he kept his mouth zipped and shut his shit down (or whatever it was he’d been trained to do.) I eyed the way his knuckles clenched white around the armrests of his chair and winced.
Breaker had a point, even if it was a creepy-assed one.
Even Layla shifted away from him slightly and tugged her robe tighter as she looked around the room, her grey eyes growing even bigger than usual.
Cash, for his part, just shrugged. “Bear,” he called out. “If you’re listenin’, you can kiss my ass!”
My body jerked slightly as the overhead light flickered.
I glared at Cash, “Why you always gotta antagonize every fucker?”
He laughed. “’Cause I fuckin’ can, that’s why, fat ass.”
I saw Breaker’s eyes narrow on his older brother, his mouth tightening frustratedly.
Cash must’ve caught it too, because he rolled his eyes and muttered, “Alright, alright. Let’s get our asses into Church, rip down Bear’s cut, and raze that fuckin’ thing to the ground.”
Breaker was the first one up, moving slow and deliberate with his military gait and enough coiled grace for me to throw him an admiring glance.
You could tell just by watching him move that he was a force to be reckoned with, which was fine by me, seeing as we were being haunted by a vengeful spirit who was hell-bent on taking us out.
Layla immediately followed him, light on her feet in her house shoes, but still watchful.
Out of all the ol’ ladies, it was Layla who had changed the most since being around the club. She used to get mercilessly bullied by the assholes in town just because she was a single mom.
If they dared now, she’d probably shoot a round of buckshot in their asses.
Layla had proven herself to be a talented markswoman with a perfect aim and instincts that sometimes put even mine to shame.
She’d gone from shy and timid to courageous and fierce, and I’d happily shove a gun in her hand and trust her to have my six.
Cash was just Cash, but even so, in the last five years, he’d matured in ways I never thought were possible.
Our prez had been raised knowing that one day he’d hold the gavel, and that gave him a sense of entitlement that spilled over into the other areas of his life.
Luckily, he saw he was on a downward spiral and made moves to sort his shit, and I was proud of how far he’d come in just a few years.
We formed a little procession of misfits down the hallway. Break and Cash in their tees and jeans, me dressed as goddamned Rambo, and Layla in her nightclothes.
The fluorescent strip-lighting buzzed with electrical static above our heads, and the same icy-cold sensation I felt earlier began to press against me. I knew Bear was there, watching and waiting in the shadows, but unlike before, we knew he was present and what he wanted.
I couldn’t say it wasn’t strange, eerie, and even downright scary, but I wasn’t doing this solo, which helped me keep my shit together. Plus, I knew if we didn’t get that cut and destroy it, this wouldn’t be over.