19. Nineteen
Nineteen
Vic
T he second I walk back into church, I spot the guys all lounging on the leather couch. I take a seat and look at Trey expectantly.
“Here,” Marcus says as he passes me the bottle of Jack, “you’re gonna need it.”
I grab the neck of the bottle and chug until the liquor hits the inside of my stomach and warms me from the inside out.
With a long exhale, Trey runs his hands over his face. “When Pop first started the club, he wanted to make a name for himself, the club, and leave a legacy,” Trey says with an eye roll.
He and his father never had a common understanding or viewpoint.
“He wanted the territory one of the rival clubs had, so he made a deal.”
“I already know this,” I say with a sigh. I just want to get this done and go lie in bed with Rosie.
“You do, but he never told anyone the who. ”
“Rosie’s father,” I say.
“What better way to get to the top than to get hired by the Mafia, right? Pop ran guns and drugs for him for years, then shit started to get weird,” Trey says as he looks over at the guys. “First, with people dying or going missing.”
“Then,” Julian says, “the first run you and Ax went on got fucked. I swear to you nothing on the monitors showed anything. I would have never let you guys stay there as long as you did if I knew.”
I look over at Julian. He looks upset. “You think this was your fault?”
“I should have figured out the pigs were tipped off before it happened.”
“You couldn’t have known, man. Shit happens. It’s not your fault,” I say to Julian. I didn’t know he held guilt over that day.
“Shit was fishy as fuck after you got arrested, so I started snooping around more. Pop was furious and went off the deep end. I figured out it was Hector, Rosie’s father, who employed the club through the years.”
“So, you’re telling me Rosie’s father is the reason I got caught?”
I always knew the run was too clean to become so fucked up otherwise.
Trey nods.
“Why the fuck would he do that? From what Gage has told me, he practically owns the police force.”
This is so fucked up.
The need to expel the liquor as it churns in my stomach is almost unbearable .
“Whispers flew about his oldest son, Gage’s twin, getting in trouble. Hector’s hush money wasn’t enough to fix the last fuckup his son made, so he handed them the club to clear his son.”
My heart beats in my ears. I paid the price for Rosie’s brother’s fuckups.
Then, I landed in the same cell as her brother, Gage. Coincidence? I think fucking not.
Rosie’s father is the reason I ended up behind bars.
“I found out something else,” Trey murmurs as he looks at the ground. “The night your parents died, it wasn’t an accident. They were murdered. They owed too much money, and the time came to pay up. Rosie’s father made the call, and the club carried out the orders.”
As he utters the final word, a heavy weight settles on my chest, making it difficult to breathe. The club killed my parents.
“Who?”
“Razor and Tiny. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner. When I saw how broken up you were when Razor died, I didn’t want to make anything worse. But shit’s coming out, and I didn’t want you to find out any other way.”
My mind is reeling. I spring up from my seat while my heart pounds in my chest. I need to get out of here and get some air.
“Whoa. Where are you going?” Julian asks.
“Bed.”
“You okay?” Marcus asks as he grabs my shoulder and squeezes.
“Never been better,” I manage to say, my voice quivering as I struggle to stay upright .
I walk back to my room in a daze, and the worst part isn’t Rosie’s father or idiot brother. It’s knowing Razor is the one who killed my parents.
From the moment I arrived to live at the club, he made me feel like I belonged, treating me as if I were his own. He taught me how to ride, fight, shoot, and kill. It’s a twisted irony that he assumed the role of my father when he’s the very person responsible for the death of my parents. Did he feel the weight of the guilt for turning me into an orphan? Is that why he spent so much time with me?
I press my palms against the rough edges of the doorframe, feeling the coolness seep into my hands as I rest my forehead against the solid oak door.
No matter what I know now, it can’t alter what has already happened. I can only hope that the future holds more compassion for me and that I can still discover fragments of happiness along the way.
I quietly turn the door handle and peer in to see Rosie lying on the far side of my bed. I quickly shed my clothes and slip in behind her. Unable to resist, I reach out and pull her against me. Relief and a sense of security settles in, which is weird after everything I’ve just learned.
I caress her cheek, needing to feel the softness under my fingers, but stop when I feel wetness instead.
Alarm bells ring in my head.
“Why are you crying, baby? Are you hurting?”
“I’m fine,” she says as she rubs the sheet across her face.
“The fuck you are. Why are you crying?”
“I don’t know.”
“Look at me. ”
“I can’t,” she says as she sniffles.
“Look at me, Rosie.” Her emerald-green eyes swim with more tears, and I wipe them away with the pad of my thumb. “Everything will be okay. You’re safe.”
“I never told you about the bar. This is all my fault.”
“What about the bar?”
“That night, with that guy. He mentioned my father. I never told you.”
I think about that night. How she was white as a ghost while that fucker’s arm was around her. I thought it was because she was uncomfortable. I should have pressed her on it, but I wasn’t in my right mind that night.
Jealousy was at the top of my list, and I failed her because of it.
“That other guy came to the house, and I should’ve heeded the warning and kept better tabs on you,” I say with a sigh. “It seems we’re both keeping things from each other.”
“Never again. I’m so sorry,” she says as she cries harder, and it guts me for so many reasons.
I still have an enormous piece of the puzzle I’m keeping hidden from her, but I know she can’t handle my identity right now.
“Please, don’t cry.”
“Are you mad at me?”
“Why would I be mad at you?”
“I thought—” she takes a deep breath—“that you were mad at me. What about that thing with my father? You looked upset.”
“You thought wrong,” I say with a small smile. “And you don’t need to worry about that. I should be the one who’s sorry. This is all my fault.”
“You can’t protect me from everyone all the time, Vic. ”
“I can try.”
I look down at her lips and then back up at her eyes, asking for permission.
I want to make her forget, and I want to forget, too.
So, I angle my head and kiss her as deeply as she kisses me, taking my breath and all thoughts away.