34. STORM
With Keira’s angry words and Cyan’s sobs in my ears, I rode too fast as I rolled into the town where I’d been born and raised.
The distance between us was nothing to what would be in our future, because, fuck, she wouldn’t be coming with me, and I didn’t have a choice about leaving.
I was being shipped down to Coshocton, to the currently Prez-less chapter who was in need of someone to take charge of their rudderless ship.
For years, I’d wanted more. Rex was the best Prez, though, and as VP, that was as high as I knew I’d ever get here. Unless he got hurt. And to be honest, I loved him too much to wish that, even if I knew I was at the end of the road here.
I meant that in more ways than one.
West Orange wasn’t good for me.
It never had been.
Not until Keira.
My throat turned into fucking knots as I wondered what the hell was the matter with me.
The one good fucking thing in my life, and I fucked it up.
I fucked everything up.
West Orange was one huge mistake, and the only light at the end of the goddamn tunnel was Cyan.
She was the hope I had that I wasn’t a total mistake.
She was my everything, but to get away from the man I was here, I needed to go to Ohio. Needed to move away.
At church this morning, Rex told us all how it had gone down in Coshocton, how Peggy and Butch were now pig food and how they’d betrayed us, but I’d never expected him to tell me to get my ass over there and run the chapter.
The second I thought it over, though, I knew it was a chance for a fresh start.
Knew it was a path rife with possibilities.
I’d thought they’d come with.
It had never not occurred to me that they wouldn’t, but Keira had refused, and now?
I was fucking lost.
I had to go down there. I had to. I needed the change of pace. It wasn’t enough to watch over the strip joint, to deal with the chop shop shit with Steel. I needed more responsibility, more room to grow. But leaving Keira and Cyan behind? Fuck, I wasn’t sure if I could even do it.
I revved the bike harder, pushing it past the speed limit as I blasted down the highway on my way toward town.
When my cell buzzed, I almost ignored it, but along the wind, I heard Rex’s ringtone, and I knew not to ignore his call.
The idea that, in Coshocton, a bunch of brothers would feel the same way about me, that they’d feel that same fear, was an unexpected thrill.
Power didn’t get me going, but I figured the idea of being more, of doing more than just being Rex’s lackey, was the only way I’d ever get out of this rut.
Too much pussy.
Too much drink.
Fuck.
Temptations were rampant everywhere, but I was wasting myself here. Wasting away because I was living with regrets for shit I’d done when I was even more stupid than I was now.
Keira was forever.
She had that vibe about her, and being the dumbfuck I was back then, I’d been unable to deal with that.
Now?
I’d give my liver to have her back.
With my phone still buzzing, I pulled over, not because of Rex’s call, but because the tears in my eyes were getting in the way of my driving. I didn’t need to crash my fucking bike. Moving away was better for Cyan than her daddy dying in a road accident, and even though I was crying like a pussy, it was, I thought, only a smart man who recognized what he’d done, the mistakes he made, and who could mourn for it and his stupidity.
As I rode to the side, cars whipped past me, a few blaring their horns at how I’d slipped through the lanes.
I ignored them, reached for my cell, and when I saw the messages, I didn’t call Rex back, just dealt with them straight.
Seeing the live location I’d been sent a screenshot of, I typed out my reply.
Me: I’m two minutes away. I’m on the highway, just need to pull around.
Rex: GO! We’re sending back up. ETA, ten minutes.Her guards didn’t realize she’d gone out.
Me: Fuck. Nyx needs to slam some skulls. On it.
Thinking about how the brothers on Lily were going to get their asses handed to them didn’t beat down my anger as I shoved my phone back into my jeans then revved my bike into life.
All self-piteous thoughts vanished, Keira and Cyan did too as my focus shifted at the same time as the tires screeched when I slammed back onto the road.
The vehicle was heading for NY, not the town, so I quickly headed for the turn off and made my way onto the freeway.
Speeding faster than ever, the wind burning every visible spot of skin as I raced toward the car that contained my brothers’ women, I hunkered down, ignoring more horns as I looked for a car I thought Link’s woman would drive.
No one had any idea of the vehicle, but when I saw a souped-up BMW in the distance that was lower to the ground than a nun’s skirt, I knew I’d found my target.
As I slipped through traffic, I roared toward the car, trying to discern what the fuck was going on, and as I pulled up just behind them, I peered in and saw the glint of metal from the passenger seat, and I took note of Tiffany’s terrified features as she peered at me with longing and hope in her eyes, like she knew salvation was on its way.
Fuck, I hadn’t been that for a long time, but I vowed, then and there, not to let her or Lily or my brothers down.
I revved my engine, making it impossible for Lily not to hear the deep bass vibrating along the road. She had to know that a bike was in the vicinity, and she had to know what that meant.
I looked around and saw we were on a drag of freeway where there were a shit ton of trees on either side of the road.
Pushing my bike hard, I raced past her car, swiping from the side so she had no choice but to veer toward the shoulder or she’d crash into me.
But as I did that, disaster struck.
The boom of a gun trickled to me, even over the sound of the wind rushing in my ears. Glass shattered and screams sounded. The brakes screeched as Lily reacted to the gunshot. She and Tiffany screamed as more gunshots rained down inside the car as the bastard kept on trying to hit me, but succeeded only in terrifying the shit out of the women and fucking deafening them.
I swerved out of instinct, and as I did, rolling over to the side of the road, I saw a nightmare unfold.
The car drifted a few feet before the tire clipped the side of the asphalt. It teetered on that wheel, and my heart almost fucking seized as I thought it was going to ski, falling onto its side, and drift farther forward, but it didn’t. It just ran forward, but the reason it stopped?
A tree.
The passenger side took most of the impact, thank fuck, but Lily soared forward, the web of the shattered windshield almost catching her as the airbags deployed.
Who wasn’t caught in time?
The passenger.
I watched as the fucker soared through the glass, breaking it and any proof of the gunshots, except for the bullet casings, and I didn’t have time to collect them.
Kicking my engine into gear, and knowing I had to act fast as cars started to pull in to watch the show, which meant the cops would be on their way soon, I drove into the copse of trees and headed for the body.
He was a fucked up mess, but that was nothing compared to what he’d be when we were done with him.
I bent low, grabbed him by the hand, and dragged him over to the other side of the road, away from Lily’s car.
It killed me not to go to them, but I had to think about everyone here—the women and the MC.
Grabbing one of my two cell phones when I dumped the guy onto the ground in a heap of limbs, I quickly messaged Rex.
Me: Need a cage. Stat. Bullets in car, need to collect them. Have the gunman.
Sending him my location, I veered onto the dialer and called 911.
Shielding my voice, making it high-pitched, I said, “I saw a bike knock a sportscar off the Essex Freeway. Just off the storage place. The car’s wrecked.”
I cut the call before they could ask too many questions or tell me to stay on the line. Then I pulled off the back of the burner, grabbed the SIM, and pocketed it.
Rex: ETA, two mins. Understood.
I waited for the sirens that were going to come soon, but when a cage appeared, Hawk driving it, I nodded at him, even as I climbed off my hog and began to drag the fucker over to his ride.
When the passenger door opened, I heaved the breathing corpse onto the passenger floorboard, and ground out, “Straight to the clubhouse.”
Hawk nodded, and while I appreciated him as a man of few words, I finally heard them.
Sirens.
With that, I slammed the door shut, raced over to my bike, gunned it, and I rode through the trees to the other side of the road, just off the freeway.
Taking the backstreets, I didn’t stop until I was back in West Orange, pulling into the garage.
As I rode in, I wasn’t surprised that Link wasn’t there, but I dumped my bike and to Jaxson, a Prospect for the club, I stated, “Need new plates on this, new paint job too. Emergency.”
His eyes flared wide, but he nodded. “Sure thing, VP.”
I peered around the garage and saw no vehicle I could ride in except for a small Mini Cooper.
I shook my head at the sight, and under my breath, grumbled, “The guys see me in this, I’ll never hear the end of it.”
Jaxson snorted out a laugh, but I glowered at him, which shut him the hell up.
“Get me the keys.”
I needed to get the fuck out of here, fast.
Christ, it looked like I didn’t have a choice in whether I was going to Coshocton or not.
Fuck.