Chapter Thirty
King
I watched as Johnny walked out the door with Grace. She didn’t know it yet, but she wasn’t going back home. Not until this fucking war was over. Not ever, if I had anything to say about it.
“What the fuck is this, King?”
“The Death Dogs,” I said, my voice as weary as my body was. “There are cameras at the front of the building. But they’ll be covered. You won’t see their faces or their cuts. Not if they’re smart.”
“Are they smart?”
“I don’t fucking know.”
I didn’t know anything anymore. Skinner didn’t strike me as being smart, but he’d managed to pull one over on Kronos and convince him to give up his daughter.
He’d convinced Steele to join forces. Though that one didn’t surprise me as much as it should have. Not after what Sypher had told me about the recording of him and his brother Stone bragging about killing their parents.
Titan was a good man. A good president. He was fair and just. Everything he did was to benefit the club and the men he led. He wasn’t selfish like Steele. I’d looked up to that son of a bitch until he killed my best friend. I was done then. I’d rallied the men I trusted, and we got the hell out.
Steele knew I blamed him for Chasm’s death. I hadn’t kept it a secret from him. Things changed after that day.
Little Rock, Arkansas, 2019,
“We’re doing it, brother,” I told Cash. “I want you to be VP.”
“Me? Are you sure?”
“No one else I’d rather have by my side, brother.”
Cash nodded. We both knew that wasn’t entirely the truth. Chasm should have been my VP. He would have been if Titan hadn’t died. It’d been four years, and I still missed the old man.
“Gunner?” Cash asked.
“Gunner, Jack, Blade, Colt, Jingles, Ghost, and Nav. And whoever else wants to go with us,” I told him.
“Where?”
“Blade wants to go to Nebraska. Says he has a line on some land in a small town a few hours from Denver. Place he grew up.”
I knew all about Blade’s life. His father had been in the Irish Mob, and because he’d narc’d on his boss, his family was in witness protection until the Mob found them and killed his parents, but left him alive.
It hadn’t come without consequences. Every six months, the boss called him to make sure he’d kept his mouth shut about his parents.
I’d offered to talk to Dec. My brother was a cop; it would make his career to bring down the head of the Irish Mob.
But Blade said no. He said the calls weren’t long and the guy mostly asked about his life.
It was something I’d keep an eye on when I was officially president.
“Nebraska? Don’t they have tornadoes and fucking blizzards?”
“You’ll adapt,” I assured him. “It’s the price of freedom, brother.”
“Yeah, I guess you’re right.”
“Blade wants us to take a trip up there, talk to the old woman that has the land.”
Blade, Jack, Gunner, Cash, and I took the trip to Diamond Creek, Nebraska. As soon as I saw the little map-dot town, I knew it was the right place for us.
A place to build our club.
Build the quiet life we deserved.
We met Willow Washington. She was a spitfire in her late sixties, and she agreed to sell us a piece of the land she and her husband had owned.
We walked around the town with our cuts on to get a feel for how we would be received. Not that it would stop us, but we were pleased to see the locals mostly accepted us.
Of course, we hadn’t moved to town yet. Once we built the clubhouse, then we’d know how they really felt. Not that it mattered. Diamond Creek was our new home.
I thought I’d have a fight on my hands when it came time to tell my brother. He wasn’t happy when I joined the club, but despite everything he suspected I’d done in my life, he protected me.
I had an ace up my sleeve, though. I talked to the woman who ran the bakery, Trudy.
It seemed the residents of Diamond Creek didn’t much care for their lazy, good-for-nothin’ sheriff, as Trudy described him.
With a little help from the Silver Shadows, I bet we could convince him it was time he retired and made room for someone younger.
Diamond Creek would be in need of a new sheriff, and I knew just the man for the job.
“Come on, Dec. This is perfect for you.”
“What the fuck are you talking about?”
“You’re getting up there in years, big brother. Your body has to be getting tired, maybe a little worn down.” I punched him in the shoulder, and he shoved me.
“Fuck you. I’m forty-four, not even middle age yet.”
I scoffed at his assessment, but he wasn’t wrong.
For a man in his forties, my brother kept in shape.
He had to if he was going to chase down criminals.
Though in a sleepy little town like Diamond Creek, he wouldn’t be chasing much.
Willow had told us not much happened in the way of crime.
It was how the current sheriff had kept his job.
“What you say? You ready for a change? Ready to get out of hell and give the North Pole a try?”
Declan stared at me. “You’re really doing it? You’re getting out?”
“I’m not getting out, Dec. I told you when I joined, the club is for life. But I’m getting away from Steele and the illegal shit. I don’t want to live fifteen fucking hours from my brother, but I’ll do it.”
“No, you fucking won’t. Do what you have to do, but I don’t wanna know shit.”
That was as much of a green light as I was gonna get from him. But it was more than I needed to make sure Declan and I stayed together. We were the only blood family either of us had.
“King!”
I turned toward Mimic’s shout. He rushed over, Indie hot on his ass.
“Banshee’s in trouble.”
“What? I thought he was here.” My eyes did a spin around the room as I clocked the location of each of my men.
Mimic held up his phone, and it said 9-1-1.
“Nav! Pull Banshee’s location.”
“What’s going on?” Dec asked.
“I don’t know. Banshee texted 9-1-1 to Mimic.”
“He’s up near Sydney on the I-80.”
“He moving?” I asked as I made my way toward Nav.
“No.”
“Dec, I gotta go.” I put two fingers in my ears and whistled loudly. “Shadows, round up!”
“Go. The EMTs have this; thankfully not many were injured, and no one died. I need to go talk to Mary Ann. I’ll let you know when I have more.”
I grunted a response and headed outside to my bike. Nav pulled up Banshee’s location on Blade’s phone, and as Road Captain, he rolled out first. I waited for my place in the middle. This wasn’t a regular run where I needed to be seen out in front of the pack.
My men needed me safe, and that was in the middle, surrounded by my brothers, because I damn sure wasn’t staying back at the clubhouse.
We pulled up to where Banshee’s phone said he was. His bike was there, but Banshee wasn’t. There were two dead men, though. One of was Pepper, Aspen’s husband.
“Son of a bitch!” I cursed.
“He’s alive. If he weren’t, he’d be lying here in the dirt with these two bastards,” Cash said, kicking Pepper in the ribs to make sure he was dead.
“His bike is here too, which means this was opportunistic,” Gunner offered.
“What the fuck was he doing out here?” Blade asked.
“He must have seen someone at the bar. That’s the only reason he would take off,” Jack said.
“The stupid son of a bitch should have taken someone with him,” I grumbled. “Kytten, think you can ride his bike back to the clubhouse?”
She walked over to stand by Banshee’s bike. “No, it’s too tall for me.”
“She can ride mine,” Gunner said. “I’ll ride back on his.”
I cranked my head up to look at him. “How the fuck is she gonna ride your bike if she can’t ride his?”
Gunner smiled and winked at Kytten. “Because my bike is low to the ground, despite my height.”
I turned to look at Kytten, and she had a shit-eating grin on her face. “Oh yeah, I can ride his bike.”
She marched over to Gunner and held out her hand. He dropped his keys into her palm and growled, “Be fucking careful.”
“I know how to ride, dumbass.”
Despite the dire events of the evening, we all snickered at Kytten. Gunner hadn’t made the best first impression when Kytten thought he was threatening Haizley with a beating. The only thing he threatened his old lady with was a good fucking time.
Pun intended.
“Alright, let’s get back and wait for the call.”
“How do you know Skinner will call?” Colt asked.
I looked over Mimic’s shoulder at his old lady. “Because we have something he wants.”
Mimic followed my gaze to Indie and then turned back around and snarled, “Fuck no!”
“Mimic,” Indie warned.
“No! He can’t fucking have her.”
“He won’t have her. Banshee would kick my ass if I traded her life for his. But she’s the reason I know he’ll call. We need to get back to the clubhouse and figure out a plan for when he does.”
We mounted up, and one by one rolled down the highway toward home. I didn’t bother calling Dec. We were over the line in Sydney, and they had their own sheriff’s department. I left the dead assholes on the side of the road for the buzzards.
The ride home was as solemn as the ride out. Nav found Banshee’s phone in the dirt. We didn’t know what had happened, why he was there, or how many he’d been ambushed by.
Fucking nothing.
We pulled in through the gate, and Aspen rushed outside. I closed my eyes at the thought of telling her he was missing. They’d gotten close, living together on the ranch.
Aspen stood on the porch, her mother and sister beside her, as she looked over the men. When she got to me, I knew she saw the answer on my face before I could climb off my bike.
She was on the ground and moving quickly by the time I stood up.
“Where is he?”
“Aspen, I need you to take a breath.”
“I don’t want to take a breath, King. Where is he?”
“Let’s go inside, and I will tell you what I know.”
I put my arm around her and led her into the clubhouse. Inside, I looked around for Haizley and found her at the bar. I nodded for her to follow us into church. I led Aspen to a chair, and Haizley sat next to her.
Kronos and Zeus, along with Asclepius, Rhea, and Diana, followed us. Kronos stood against the wall behind Aspen, his arms crossed over his chest.
“The Death Dogs attacked the bar in town. When we rode out there, Banshee didn’t come inside with the rest of us. No one realized it until Mimic received a 9-1-1 text from him. We followed the location on his phone, and it led us to the highway just out of town, where we found his bike.”
“But not him?” Zeus asked.
“No. What we did find was Pepper. Dead.”
Aspen gasped, and I looked in her eyes. “Banshee did that for you. Whatever happens to him, he wanted you to be free. Pepper is dead.”
“They took him, didn’t they?” she asked.
“Yes,” I confirmed. “Skinner will call to make a trade.”
“I have money!”
“What?” I asked, sitting back in my chair. I fucking knew she’d been keeping something from me.
“I have money. Skinner’s money. With Pepper dead, I don’t need it anymore. Skinner can have it all if he gives back Banshee.”
“How much?” Cash asked.
“Almost a million dollars.”
Son of a fucking bitch!