Chapter 25 Grave
GRAVE
We threw all our shit into the van Brewer had pulled around. Guns. Ammunition. Grenades. Flash bombs. Anything to tackle the entire club. We had no idea what we were walking into or the number of men we were going to have to go against in order to get Everly back.
So, if we prepared for an army, anything else was gravy.
“Knox, you got that semi-automatic?” I asked.
“Loading it up now,” he said.
“If you got enough rounds for it, you could perch yourself in the damn van. Brewer could roll it by or some shit, and you just shoot out the window.”
“Time to mow the fucking grass,” he said with a grin.
“How the hell do you mow your law, Knox?” Brewer asked.
“The same way we all do,” Rock said with a grin.
“Do we want to let someone out in the back of their lodge?” Diesel asked. “If Knox and Brewer have the front, you wanna take the back with me, Grave?”
“That’s actually not a bad idea,” Mick said. “After Brewer and Knox mow them down riding by, I could jump out the back of the van and run on in. You two bring up the rear and one of us is bound to find Everly somewhere.”
I looked over at Diesel and eyed him carefully.
“Everly first. Rat second,” he said.
I nodded, trying to keep that mantra in my head. My gut was telling me Diesel wasn’t the rat. He was the fucking President of our damn club. But all of the evidence up until this point screamed his name, and it was hard to shake.
I didn’t want to put Everly’s life in his hands if I could help it.
Just then, my phone vibrated against my hip. I took it out and saw the word ‘unknown’ and automatically flashed it to Rock. He grabbed my arm and we ran back into the lodge, where he quickly hooked my shit up to his shit.
“Pick it up and put it on speaker. I’m gonna trace the call,” he said.
Then I picked up the call just before it got shot to voicemail.
“This is Grave.”
“We know,” the voice said.
“Who the fuck is this?” I asked.
“None of your fucking business. But you can call me ‘Rich’. Everly always did.”
My fists clenched at my sides as the guys quietly filtered into the lodge.
“If you hurt her in any way, I will find a way to kill you all. Your blood will line the streets of Redding and your buddy Rex will go down for that, too,” I said.
“I don’t doubt you would,” Rich said with a chuckle. “But I’m not sure Everly would like that too much. You know, after we pinned Blaze’s murder on your guy.”
“Tried,” Knox said.
I shot him a look and he shrugged.
“What do you want?” I asked.
I looked over at Rock and he circled his finger. He needed me to keep them talking, so that was what I was going to do.
“What do I want? Or what does Rex want?” Rich asked.
“The fuck do I care? Try both,” I said.
“What I want is Everly. Her fucking brother stood in the way of us dating years ago. Had I known she liked being fucked against a wall, though, there’s a chance I could’ve enticed her into my arms sooner.”
“You fucking son of a bitch. If you touch one fucking hair on her head-”
“What Rex wants is for her to not testify. So the case can be thrown out. We know she has a signed testimony. That will also need to be retracted,” Rich said.
My eyes whipped over to Knox and Brewer and they were on their phone in an instant.
Those assholes had a connection in the police department that was feeding them information on this case, and we needed to figure out who it was.
Brewer was already talking to a police buddy of his and Knox was messaging Monroe.
Probably letting her know to keep her fucking head low since she was pregnant.
Damn it.
I couldn’t imagine what Knox was going through with that shit. Leaving her all the damn time to clean up this fucking mess.
“Everly never planned on testifying in court,” I said. “That was why the signed testimony took place.”
“Then why are you protecting our little butterfly?” Rich asked.
“She’s not yours,” I growled.
“I tried to make her mine. Maybe I should ask you for a few of your trade secrets. Everly was always a hard one to crack.”
I was shaking with fury as Diesel’s eyes hardened on me.
“We’re protecting her because we know Rex wants her dead. She came to us with the information, so we had a duty to her to protect her from the likes of you. This is an Dead Souls and Black Saddle issue. No cops need to be involved, and no one has to die,” I said.
“Well, once Rex is out of jail, then you can have your precious fucktoy back.”
“Don’t you dare talk about her like that,” I said darkly.
“Uh oh. Sounds like someone caught some feelings. Don’t worry. You’re not the only one who’s gotten caught up in her web.”
“And how do I know she’s still alive anyway?” I asked. “I want proof of life and I want it now.”
“Too bad. We don’t always get what we want,” he said with a chuckle. “You’ll just have to trust me on this one.”
The phone line went dead and I slammed my fist into the table. I slammed it so hard it cracked underneath the force of my weight. I roared out into the lounge before a hand came down onto my shoulder, and I whipped around to see Mick staring at me.
“Why didn’t you tell us?” he asked.
“Tell you what?”
“That you were screwing around with Everly,” Diesel said.
“For the same reason Knox didn’t fucking tell you about Monroe,” I said.
“You thought we would forbid it?” he asked.
“Wait, is that why you didn’t tell us about Monroe?” I asked.
“Why the hell didn’t you tell me you were screwing around with our witness?” Diesel asked.
“Because I thought you’d fucking pull me from her protective detail, that’s why!”
“Is anyone interested in knowing where that damn call came from?” Rock asked.
“Where the fuck is that son of a bitch?” I asked.
He whipped his laptop around and I saw a blue dot blinking on his screen.
“Damn it, Rock. I don’t know what the hell I’m looking at,” I said.
“They’re all in the same place. Drunk ass idiots. That call came from their lodge as well. If that isn’t enough proof to fucking bust in their walls, I don’t know what is,” Rock said.
I turned myself around to Diesel and stuck my finger in his face.
“She’s a great woman,” I said with a growl. “And you won’t take her from me. None of you will.”
“I’d never try to do that,” Diesel said. “Now get your fucking hand out of my face and let’s go. There’s a civilian caught up in this bullshit and she’s probably scared half out of her mind.”
We grabbed the last of our things before we all jumped into the van.
Brewer got behind the wheel of the car while Knox set up his semi-automatic in his lap.
I pulled my phone from my pocket and opened up my voicemail, then pressed the only entry in it and held it to my ear.
I closed my eyes and leaned heavily against the seat, blocking out everything that was going on around me.
Then? Her voice graced my ear.
“Hey, Grave. It’s me. Everly. I got your note with your number, and I just wanted to call and make sure you had mine. So, here it is. Yay. Um… I don’t know if you want dinner or anything, so I’ll make you a plate and put it in the oven on low. It’ll be there whenever you get back. So, yeah. Bye.”
“We’ll get her back,” Mick said.
I turned off my phone and slid it back into my pocket.
“I hope so,” I said.
“You know you aren’t to blame for his.”
“Don’t start, Mick. I’m not in the mood.”
“This is all her brother. He started this the second he tried pinning that murder on Knox. Set all this shit in motion.”
“I get it, Mick.”
“No, Grave. I don’t think you do.”
I slowly panned my gaze over to him and looked at the beady-eyed newbie. He wasn’t good for much. Numbers. Profit projections. He was a half-decent shot. Loyal to a fault. That was it, though. Mick was definitely a behind-the-scenes kind of guy, and I could see his leg jiggling with nerves.
“And why do you think that?” I asked.
“Because you keep blaming yourself, that’s why.
Everything you’ve done has been a reaction to something someone else has thrown your way.
Diesel asked you to come to church, and you reacted.
You got back to the lodge and saw the destruction, and you reacted.
They snagged her while you were indulging that reaction, and now you’re reacting again. ”
“And what do you suggest I do about it?”
And for the first time since I’d met Mick almost three years ago, I watched a mischievous grin cross his cheeks.
“Make them react,” he said.