Chapter Six
Chef
“What did you do?” I ask Damian, crossing my arms over my chest and staring down my nose at him.
Damian raises his brows, giving me an innocent look? “Mon cher?”
“You, you -” I look him up and down. “You big fucker, what did you do to my bed?”
“Hmmmm,” he says, tapping his chin. “I’m not sure what you mean.” A smirk slowly grows on his face and before I can punch him in his smug face, he sobers up. “You gotta keep Sage close, brother.” The quick change of demeanor catches me by surprise.
“Have we got a problem?”
He stares up at me, blue eyes flashing. “Ashfall.”
Fuck. With all this Hitchens’ bullshit and then helping the Originals with Petrov and keeping all the little girls safe, I had almost forgotten about Ashfall.
I think we all did. Since we came here we’ve been busy working our asses off to not only get The Keep up and running, but also to keep enemies at bay. Justice can attest to that.
“How big a problem?” I ask in a low voice.
“I been asking around the bar crowd, there’s been whispers of something coming.”
I run a hand down my face and nod, straightening up my cap.
Fuck. I don’t know what it is about the club, but we always seem to be knee deep in shit.
As per usual not only do with have this Nathaniel Mercy to contend with, the guy who is not only ex Eden’s Keep but also one half of a fucked up black market partnership, but we also have those religious fuckers that don’t think twice about torturing and murdering people. Great.
Closing my eyes I take a breath then crack my neck. “Thanks for the heads up.”
“Anytime, cher, anytime.”
Shaking my head to clear my thoughts, I walk into the clubhouse and I’m met with a wall of noise.
The little girls are sitting at a small kids’ table in the corner, giggling over their pancakes.
Sage is sitting with Joe, Loyal, River and Nell laughing, probably about my wet fucking bed, and my brothers are dotted around eating TumTum’s breakfast. Everyone seems to be in a fairly decent mood, but looks can be deceiving.
The Matrix twins are at the end of the table, frowns on their faces as they stare at their laptops.
Dex and Sniper’s heads are close together as they’re deep in conversation and Justice is looking more tense than usual. And that’s saying a fucking lot.
“Looks like we got trouble,” Vex says, stepping up next to me as I pile eggs on my plate.
“So I heard. You think they’re gonna make a move?”
“Nah. That’s not Eden’s Keep style. But they will be recruiting.”
I glance at him, noting the serious look on his face.
As the eldest Landry I can only imagine the shit he’s seen go down.
Looking around, I see it clearer now. My brothers may be tense, but the Landrys, Justice and Loyal?
They have a completely different demeanor.
They’ve seen more shit than we can imagine. If they’re nervous? We’ve got problems.
“You need to keep Sage close. Whatever the fuck happened between you, you need to bury it.”
“It’s done. We’re moving forward as friends,” I reply, the word only a little bitter on my tongue.
He stares at me, a slow grin growing on his face. “Whatever you say, brother.”
Fucker. He walks away, looking slightly less wound up than before. Moving to one of the long tables I take a seat next to Jason. His daughter Izzy sits quietly beside him, leaning on his arm and the man leans down to press a kiss to her dark head before carrying on with his meal.
“We got Church this morning.” Flack starts, looking between me and Jason, before pointing his fork in Jason’s direction. “You good to open this morning?”
“The garage? Hell yeah,” Jason says, wiping his hand over his mouth.
He’s a good steady worker, and trying really hard to get back on his feet after leaving some fucked up cult up north.
I don’t know what all went down up there, but Jason, Nell, and the teenage boy River they brought with them, are some of the most broken people I’ve met.
Jason tries not to show it, but I’ve seen the man jump a mile when people approach him from behind, I’ve seen his hands shake from time to time, and how fucking scared he is to make a mistake at the garage.
Whatever he went through has given him some severe PTSD, similar to what I’ve seen of some of the men I’ve served with, but funnily enough, he’s calm when he’s at the clubhouse.
“I won’t let you down, Flack,” he says earnestly.
“I know that, son. You’re gonna make a good fucking manager one day.” Flack knocks his big fist twice on the table before getting up and taking his plate with him.
“Holy shit,” Jason breathes out, his startled gaze snapping to mine.
“You deserve this, Jace. You’ve been working your ass off.” I slap his shoulder and follow Flack, the rest of the brothers starting to follow suit.
Dex’s whistle pierces the air and we all dump our plates. “You go, I’ll take care of these,” Joe smiles, her teeth bright in her dark skin.
“If you leave them there I’ll help you after Church,” Justice offers, but Joe just shoos him away by flapping a dish towel at him.
“OK OK, I’ll leave you to it.” He grins as he walks away from her, and he seems like he’s a new man. Stronger, less haunted by his past. I guess getting rid of your monsters is a good thing.
I head toward Church and try not to smile as Damian leans against the door jamb waiting for Justice.
Dex runs the Keep slightly differently to Marx, allowing prospects into Church anytime Church is called outside of our normal meeting times and hours.
It makes sense. If he’s calling emergency Church, it's because shit is going down and the prospects are always on the front lines.
They need to know this shit to keep themselves and us, safe.
“Thanks for coming, brothers, and sisters.” Dex nods toward Loyal and Sage with a smile playing on his lips. “Damian, update us on what you’ve found.”
Damian nods once, clearing his throat. “See, alcohol got a way of loosenin’ lips and woo, lips be getting real loose at the dive bar.
” He looks at me and gives me a wink. “I’m runnin’ my usual shift, Maman’s on security, nothing out of the ordinary, til this new crowd rolls in.
All lined up neat, matching outfits. Same hair, shirts buttoned way up, pants like they’re tryin’ to tuck their ribs in.
” His eyes grow real wide, “I swear I saw a camel toe.” His brows pull in, like he’s remembered something important.
“No, hold up, what’s the man camel toe called?
Cos whatever I seen needs to come with a warning label. ” He shudders and we all stare at him.
Dex takes a breath, blowing it out, eyes laser beamed onto Damian. “What. Did. You. Learn. Brother.”
“Oh, yeah, so these guys, the camel toes? They're workin’ for Ashfall. Maman caught one of them graffiti-ing their little fucked up sign on the toilet stall.”
“They’re recruiting? At the bar?” TumTum asks, as if the whole idea is absurd.
“That’s what I thought! Why there? Anyway, when Maman frisked them she, ah, relieved them of their drugs, and their fliers.
Shooed them away quick fast, we know they trouble.
” The room is quiet for a beat before Damian clears his throat, eyes on me then Sage.
“One of the men Maman kicked out was Nathaniel Mercy.”
Sage
I can’t help it. I laugh. It escapes me not because what Damian has said is funny; it’s incredibly not funny, but that just explains my whole fucking life at the moment.
“Of course he was there. Why wouldn't he be? Jesus.” I whisper before burying my face in my hands and making a whisper screamy sound. Once that’s out, I look up at the men in front of me. “What the hell is Ashfall?”
Dex watches me for a beat, before waving at Jay and Theo. “Matrix twins, care to explain?”
“Hell, yes. We got new information that affects everyone.” They both look at me. Great. More shit. “Ashfall is very much recruiting. They’ve just started in Adonner, but they’ve been pretty fucking active in the surrounding towns, and guess who their preacher is?”
“Nathaniel?” Justice asks, with a bored voice.
“Yup. Oh, and he’s also pissed his betrothed or whatever the fuck you lot called it, is marrying someone else. Like, super pissed.”
“How does he even know? I only found out yesterday,” I huff out.
Jay and Theo the Matrix twins share a look before looking back at me. “Chewy,” they both say in unison, and I hang my head.
“Makes sense,” Flack says, nodding approvingly.
“Here is the announcement, in case you’re interested.” Jay shrugs, beaming a garish save the date up on the projector.
“Whoa, that's, um, a lot,” Loyal murmurs.
I stare at the pink, purple and blue save the dates.
There are artistically drawn flowers all around the border, and the text is written in bubble writing that veers on neon blue.
I squint a little at the flowers, trying to figure out what kind they are.
They’re not daisies, or chrysanthemums, they’re something more exotic.
Something a little off. Something a little-
“Dicks!” I yell out, pointing at the wall.
“Um, you OK, Sagey Girl?” Omen asks, as Sniper stares between me, and the projector.
“Dicks!” he says, before snorting.
Chef gives me a puzzled look, as does Damian who mutters something about me being unusual. I see when it hits him though, his eyes go wide and he giggles like a little girl.
“The bouquets, they’re not flowers, they're dicks,” I manage to get out between snorts.
All the brothers tip their heads slightly, then one by one start to chuckle, then laugh, and then everyone is snorting and giggling around the Church table, our troubles forgotten, for the moment anyway.
“Of course they’re dicks,” Flack says, shaking his head as we calm down.
“Sorry, um, please continue?” I ask Jay and Theo, who both nod like robots.
“We still have access to Matthew Thompson’s email. The dumb shit never did change his passwords,” Jay says, rolling his eyes behind his thick, black framed glasses.
“Nathaniel Mercy, or Richard McDonald as he goes by, has been going off in the emails. Talking about Sage needing to be put in her place, how he needs a team to be able to ‘extract’ you. How he’s going to fulfill the vision Royal Landry had for him. Unhinged shit,” Theo finishes.
“Right, so lemme get this straight.” I say, blowing out a breath. “Ashfall is an offshoot of Eden’s Keep?” Everyone nods. “And I’m guessing whoever is running Ashfall is a former Eden’s Keep member?”
“From what we could find, doing a deep dive after Damian told us about Nathaniel being there,” Jay starts, “I would say that he’s one of the main players, if not the main player.”
Justice taps his pointer finger on the wood church table. “When he was preaching, did he say he was the prophet, or just a messenger from a higher order?”
“Shit, we didn’t get any of that. Just what we were told when we did a deep dive. Sorry, brother,” Theo says, smiling tightly.
“Is there a difference?” Sniper rumbles.
Justice shares a look with Loyal, who shifts slightly in her seat. “If he says he's the prophet, then he believes he’s a divine source. The voice of God. There can only be one prophet, so if he’s claiming that, then he’s the top dog.”
“But if he says he’s the messenger,” Loyal adds, “then he isn't leading this. He’ll be part of the higher ups, but he’s not the man in charge.”
“Which means he’s either the whole problem, or we got another coming our way,” Vex says somberly.
“We’re DRMC, does shit ever run smooth?” Flack asks, his white teeth peeking through his salt and pepper beard.
Dex nods in agreement before blowing out a breath. “Right, we need to keep an ear out. With the Keep businesses we all deal with locals. See what they can tell you.”
“Or,” Damian starts with a sly grin, “we infiltrate. Let me go to one of them rallies. I’ll find out all we need to know.” He shrugs, and I have to admit, it’s not a bad idea.
“No offence, brother, but you are the most conspicuous person I’ve ever met. Everyone is going to notice the fucking seven foot tall bar manager from the dive bar is sniffing around,” Saint says.
“I’m 6’2, cher,” Damian says with a raised brow.
“Stick to the bar for the moment. If we need you to go in, I’ll let you know,” Dex says to Damian before looking around the table. “Anything else?”
“Yeah, one more thing,” Jay says, pressing some keys on his laptop. The projector screen is filled with faces. Women and girls fill the screen and my gut drops. “These people all went missing within days of Ashfall being in their towns.”
Curses go around the table, my hands fist with anger and pain pierces my palm from where my nails dig into my skin.
How dare they? How fucking dare they steal these people away from their families?
For what end? To breed them? To sell them?
The urge to find Nathaniel and get rid of him is almost overwhelming, but I know I need to play it cool.
I need to lean into what Mom taught me. Patience, timing, execution.
I need proper planning. That is what is going to keep me safe, and end this, once and for all.
“Damian?” Dex says, eyes full of fire. “Fuck what I said. You’re going in.”