Chapter One
Chef
“Ah, shit, her mother is going to fucking freak out,”
“We can’t send her back.”
“Yes, we fucking can! Do you want Blanche up your ass?”
What the hell is going on? I let Saint and Omen’s voices wash over me from where I sit on the couch recovering from a bullet to the gut.
Nowhere near as bad as Marx’s, this was a clean through and through and missed every soft organ I own, but still.
It tore through muscle and ligaments and I’m pretty fucking sore. Even just sitting here on my ass.
“It’s too late, brother. She’s asked for our help. Besides, it’s up to Prez now. If Dex says she stays, she fucking stays.” That sounds like Vex.
“Whose fucking side are you on, Vex?” Yup, got it.
Their voices drift off and now I’m on alert.
There’s a high likelihood that they’re talking about someone I don’t even know.
The Keep is a messed up place and I know Blanche has had a hand in helping a lot of women escape Eden’s Keep.
But there’s also a likelihood that they’re talking about someone I do know.
Someone I know very fucking well. The doe eyes, long dark hair, the freckle that sits just to the left of her lush, pink lips.
Pert tits, heart shaped ass. Small waist.
Like I fucking dreamt her to life there she stands, doe eyes wide in her face as she gazes around the common room. Dex says something to her and she turns her face up at him, and my eyes trace the shape of her profile.
“You know, you look like a total serial killer.”
“Fuck you, TumTum,” I growl, not even taking my gaze off of Sage to glare at him.
TumTum jumps over the back of the couch I’m on, landing too close and jostling me and my loose gut.
“Fuck!” I growl, my hands instinctively going to the bullet wound.
“You good?” Joe asks from where she’s sitting with Loyal and Damian across the room. Probably gossiping. That’s all this place does. Somehow they’re worse than the DRMC Originals.
“Yeah,” I grumble, giving TumTum the stink eye.
“If everyone is here, I’m calling Church. Prospects included,” Dex calls, eyeing the room.
It’s Sunday, so most of us are here, chilling out and trying to dodge the fucking humidity that is living in Louisiana.
“Messaged Justice, he’s on his way, you know my boy ain' missin’ it,” Damian yells from his spot with the women.
Dex nods but I’m not paying attention to him. My eyes are still glued to Sage whose gaze drifts to mine, and then holds it. It’s different. She’s different.
When I first cut her loose to come to the Keep she was hurt.
Those beautiful dark eyes I love looked fucking broken.
Then after months apart came the anger. The fire in her eyes when next I saw her stole my breath away.
And then I was shot, and all I saw was pity.
Same as now. She gives me a tight smile before turning her face from mine, and moving across the room to Loyal who smiles wide and waves her over.
“Well, if it ain't Blanche Junior,” Damian coos, his wide smile irking something inside me.
“Trust me, I’ll never be as cool as my mom,” Sage replies, plopping down on the couch next to Damian.
“I dunno, baby.” My back straightens at the endearment. “I think we give you enough time with some guns and knives and you’ll be just as scary as your momma.” Damian winks.
“Dude, are you growling?” TumTum asks and I jerk a little. I completely fucking forgot he was there.
Running a hand down my face, I shake my head. “Fuuuck,” I moan.
“Yup. You are totally fucked, brother.” TumTum slaps me hard on the shoulder and the pain jerks through my body.
“On the upside, at least you don’t have to ask her uncles how she’s doing anymore.
You can ask her yourself.” He cackles as if it’s the funniest fucking thing in the world, and if I was feeling better I’d punch him in the face.
“He ain’t worth it,” Omen mumbles, taking a seat on the other side of me.
I stare at the empty chairs to the left of me and wonder why the hell these big bastards insist on sitting on the same couch as me.
“Why is she here, Omen?” I murmur. It’s shitty of me, but I’d rather Cove be here, than Sage. Yeah Cove is fucking scary and all, but at least that way I wouldn’t have to see the woman I love every single day.
“Shit’s going down.”
Turning, I eye Omen. “Dangerous shit?”
“Fucked up shit.”
Great. If there is anything I know about the Landry family, is that anything involving them is fucked up.
“Landry shit?”
“Landry shit,” Omen agrees.
“Church!” Dex bellows and I guess now is as good a time as any to find out what type of fucked up Landry shit has brought Sage to The Keep.
***
So, it turns out that wanting to be in Church to find out exactly why Sage is here is not as straightforward as I thought it would be.
Why? Because I have to sit directly across from the woman whose heart I broke, and watch as she laughs at Damian’s shitty jokes.
And I know they’re shit because I can hear them like he’s blasting them in Dolby surround sound.
I don’t dislike the prospect, in fact, the complete opposite and yet somehow his mere presence is pissing me off.
Sage’s gaze meets mine and she frowns before she turns her attention to Dex who takes a seat. “I know we don’t usually meet today, but, well I’m sure you can see why.” He waves toward Sage who gives us a tight smile and a wave. “Sage, do you want to tell us what’s going on before I patch Marx in?”
Sage grimaces before straightening her shoulders, and sitting a little straighter. She looks around our large, wooden Church table, making eye contact with everyone, except me. When she gets to me she drifts straight past and it hits me like a punch in the face.
“I found out some…information recently.” She takes a breath, blowing it out. “You know how we’ve been up against those black market businessmen? The ones who sold Addy, Bree and Kit?”
I know that's who we’ve been up against, but I never knew Sage knew that.
Looking around the table, the men all shift uncomfortably.
Both Chapters of the DRMC try to keep Church and business on the down low.
Only those who are deemed worthy know exactly what we do.
Sure we let our Ol Ladies in when it’s something that affects the club, but for the most part children are kept out of it.
Although I guess at almost twenty-one, Sage isn’t a child.
But she is innocent, and that's what we all so fiercely try to protect. I know that’s what I tried to protect by breaking up with her.
Do I love Sage? Fuck yeah I do. That feeling never stopped.
But I’m four years older than her. I grew up in a shitty family in a shitty trailer and then I enlisted as soon as I was able.
I was deployed, saw some shit, fucking killed people and then got dumped right back where I came from.
The only thing that saved me was the DRMC.
I’m not as damaged as some of the other men who have walked through the doors, but I sure as fuck ain’t innocent.
Sage on the other hand? She’s beautiful.
Light, pure and steady in a way I’ve never been.
“Anyway,” she continues, “Chewy found a picture of Richard McDonald. I guess up until now no one had any information on him.”
“Do we have a picture of this guy?” Dex asks, looking toward Theo and Jay, our tech team.
Theo holds up his finger as his brother taps away at his keyboard before looking up at the screen they demanded we put in for moments like this.
I mean it makes sense. Last time we had to gather round and all look at Jay’s screen and I don’t wanna be that close to my brothers ever again.
Looking at the screen I’m met with a smarmy looking blonde, nothing too exciting about him.
Well aside from the intake of breath and the Landrys now cursing.
“Can someone enlighten us on why you’re all losing your shit?” Dex asks, brows raised as Saint roughly runs his hands through his hair.
“That ain't Richard McDonald. Well, I mean, it could be now, but when we knew him, his name was Nathaniel Mercy,” Justice says, his jaw tight.
“And I’m meant to marry him.”
Sage
As soon as the words leave my mouth Chef goes off.
Slamming his fist on the table, growling, barking at Dex to do something.
I should feel better about the situation that he’s worried about me, but for some reason it falls flat.
This whole time we’ve been apart, coming up close to a year now, he’s shown no emotion whatsoever.
He hasn't reached out except for a letter at Valentine’s with two fucking words in it.
I knew he meant more by it. I knew he meant that I should take his advice and move on.
So I did. Or at least I tried. When you give your heart to someone, it’s hard to try and claw all the pieces of yourself back together in a way that makes sense.
I was doing that, and then he was shot in the gut and now I’ve dropped this bomb.
The only time this man has shown any emotion around me is when it looks like another man wants me.
“Sage, what do you mean you’re meant to marry him?” Sniper asks, the calm in the storm.
Looking around the table I stall for a moment to get my thoughts in order. “I’m guessing you all know a little about Eden’s Keep?”
“We know what we’ve been told. The general hierarchy, the abuse,” Dex says, his eyes darting toward Justice who sits proud in his chair. “Some of the stuff that went on.”
I nod. “So you know how women were treated? That we were belongings, not our own person without a father or husband to own us?” They all nod, some of them avoiding my eye contact.
“I don’t remember much of Eden’s Keep. For the most part, I only know what Mom told me.
” I look at my Uncle Vex. It’s so hard to only call them by their road names now and not Uncle Dom, Chris or Victory.
“Do you know how old I was when Mom got me out?”
My uncles all look at each other, brows furrowed.
Unfortunately for us, the Landry’s have strong genes.
Meaning we all look like our fathers. I know that mom, Vex, Omen and Saint have the same parents.
Aunt Lovely shares the same father and her mom is biologically my mom’s aunt.
Then it all gets murky. My father is Royal Landry, my mom’s uncle, the same man that fathered Little Bee with Aunt Lovely and Niko with my mom.
He also fathered Elio and Cove with different women making us all half siblings and cousins depending who our moms are because Royal Landry had no problems marrying and impregnating his nieces.
“You were little when your mom took you from Eden’s Keep. Walking, but not talking. I don’t know what age kids do that,” Saint answers.
I nod, figuring I must have been around a year old.
“Mom never kept anything from us growing up. I have always known that my real mother smuggled me out of Eden’s Keep to save me from my fate.
Which was to marry that man-” I nod toward the screen where Nathaniel Mercy’s face smirks down at me. “And birth his children.”
Chef’s feral snarl sounds out and I tell myself not to look in his direction. I owe him nothing. Instead I keep my eyes glued to Dex.
“Are you worried that he will come for you?” Sniper asks, reading the situation exactly as I read it.
Before I can answer, Justice interrupts, giving me a sad smile.
“He will come for her. I think that may have been the whole reason these guys have been messing with the DRMC. Nathaniel was a few years older than me and he was,” Justice hesitates, his Adam’s apple bobbing as he swallows, “cruel. Calculating. Dangerous, especially to the girls in Eden’s Keep. ”
Silence hangs heavily over Church and I need to let these men know that I’m not bringing trouble to their door.
I’m not here to cower and I’m not here begging for protection.
I’m here because something needs to be done about this problem and I want to be the one to end it.
My whole life has been working toward this moment.
My mom trained me to be strong, to know my mind, but to keep my softness about me.
She didn’t want me to be harsh like she had to become.
She protected me my whole life while teaching me all I had to know to keep myself safe.
I’m no longer a child who needs protection.
I am a woman who can fight for herself and now is my time.
“I’m not here to cause trouble. I’m here to end this whole thing.”
“Sagey-girl, what are you talking about?” Omen asks suspiciously.
“Mom wants to kill him, but I’m going to kill him first. And I’m going to do it here, where all this started.”
Everyone is silent for a beat before all hell breaks loose.
Vex barks, “Over my dead body!” Chef is banging the table again.
Dex is shaking his head and stabbing at his phone screen, probably to call my parents.
Damian and Justice give me fist bumps and Flack is giving me a little smile, nodding his head as if he approves of my plan. Well, I’m glad someone does.
“Sage?” My mom’s voice cuts through the chaos as Dex calmly places his phone in the middle of the Church table.
“Hi, Mom.”
There’s silence and I wait it out. Mom is either going to lose her shit, or she’s going to be eerily calm. “You’re back where it all started,” she says, quietly, thoughtfully.
“Yeah,” I whisper, throat clogged, that Mom knows me so well.
“What’s the plan, baby?”
“I need it to end, Mom. It -” I swallow, “he, Eden’s Keep, has been hanging over my head my whole life.”
“I know baby, I tried-”
“Mom, you gave all of us an amazing life outside Eden’s Keep, but we both know that after the cleansing, when Nathaniel wasn’t one of your victims, that he would come back. You said so yourself.”
Mom sighs long and low down the line. “You’re right. That’s why we upped your training. Started taking precautions. You did so well, baby. And you’re ready. I just - it makes me sad that you thought you needed to run away to do it.”
I shake my head, even though Mom can’t see me. “You’ve done so much for me, this is something I have to do without you. It’s my cross to bear.”
“That’s where you’re wrong,” Dex says, his eyes on mine. “You’re one of ours, Sage.”
I give him a wobbly smile and Mom sniffs over the line. “Keep, the easiest way to do this is to draw Nathaniel to you. You will have somewhat of an upper hand, given that you’re on home territory, but remember, he knows the Keep as well.”
“Wrong. He knew Eden’s Keep,” Omen says.
“True,” Mom replies, unphased.
“How do we draw him in?” Chef asks, leaning over the table, resting on his bunched fists as he stares down at the phone.
“He’ll come if he thinks Sage is taken. Someone needs to marry her.”