Chapter 29 Rock
ROCK
We all sat in the lodge, our eyes hooked at the wall as blood covered our bodies. Holy fuck, Mick was a terrible shot. I raked my hand through my hair and sighed, filling the lodge with the first sound any of us had made since leaving Mick in the fucking woods to bleed out.
And my mind kept replaying it over and over again.
Two gunshots rang out and my heart stopped in my chest. I felt the air of the bullet whiz by my arm as Diesel let out a raucous laughter.
Holy fuck, Mick couldn’t shoot a damn target six feet in front of him.
Then again, he couldn't fucking do it at Brewer’s place either.
Mick ran behind a tree and continued popping off shots, one after another as we all ran for cover.
With the sounds of the bullets, I knew we wouldn’t have much time before someone called the cops.
“Give it up, Mick!” I exclaimed from behind a tree. “You're caught! You’re done!”
“I’m not done with anything!” Mick yelled. “You fuckers think you’re so special. That Redding somehow worships the fucking ground you guys walk on. But they hate you around here!”
“Not as much as they hate The Black Saddles!” Knox called out.
Another gunshot tore through the air before Knox popped off a couple of rounds.
“You all had every bit of what you got coming to you,” Mick said.
“A motorcycle gang? Cleaning up their act? You didn’t think that every fucking club within four states of this damn place wouldn't descend in and try to rid you of your turf the second the caught wind of it!? I just monetized it, because that’s what I fucking did for you guys.
I made you profitable beyond your wildest damn dreams. And what do I get! ?”
Another gunshot fired before Brewer moved trees and took aim at Mick. He shot off a round before ducking for cover, barely missing one of the few bullets Mick aimed well.
“Good job!” Diesel exclaimed. “Looks like you’re finally learning, asshole.”
“I made you all rich. Filthy fucking rich,” Mick said. “And then you want to go and clean up your act? Throw away all my hard fucking work I did for this damn club? Cut our profits in half just so you can fuck around with women and shove out babies you won’t give a damn about? Like Rock!?”
My eyes widened as ice hardened my veins.
Did that fucker just say what I think he did?
“Oh, yeah. That’s right. You didn’t think I knew, did you, Rock? About your precious little piece of ass and that kid of yours clamoring for your love after being absent in his life? After being a fucking nobody!?”
I stepped out from behind the tree and leveled my gun at the man’s head.
“Say it one more time,” I said.
“You didn’t think I’d tell every single one of those Saddle fucks about your fun little family on the other side of town? Hmm? Your dual fucking life, Rock!? You got on all these guys for dragging families into this shit, but you were the first fucking one to do it. And you didn’t even know it!”
I cocked my gun and took another step as Mick leveled his piece at my chest.
“I’ve been working with them for some time now,” Mick said.
“But the families component garnered me more respect than I would’ve ever gotten with you assholes.
The Black Saddles offered me bigger things.
Better things. Pieces of Redding to do what I wanted with and money that would make me comfortable for the rest of my life.
All we needed was for you family fuckers to flee into the hills with your defunct dicks and your bastard children to--”
My eyes flew open as the two gunshots echoed off the chambers of my mind.
“You okay, Rock?” Brewer asked.
I blinked my eyes and came to, with nothing but Mick’s dead body filling the crevices of my mind.
“Yep. I’m good,” I said.
“Killing’ a brother isn’t easy,” Knox said.
“He threatened our families,” I said as I panned my gaze over to him. “I didn’t kill a brother. I killed a threat to our loved ones.”
“Damn straight you did,” Diesel said.
I walked up to Mick’s body as sirens sounded way off in the distance. Knox ran around, picking up fucking bullet casings while Brewer knocked dust and dirt over our footprints. I hovered over Mick’s bleeding form, gazing down at him as he sputtered blood from his lips and reached out for my ankle.
I watched slowly as life flickered in and out of his gaze.
“Anyone got a pen and a piece of paper?” I asked.
“What?” Brewer asked.
“A pen and a piece of paper,” I said.
“You gonna fuckin’ write him a love note?” Knox asked.
“Answer the damn question,” I said.
I felt someone tap me on the shoulder and I turned my head.
Diesel stood there, his eyes glazed over and stoic.
He handed me a crumpled piece of paper and a sharpie, so I took to writing a note.
I wrote down Mick’s name and family before folding it up and putting it into the man’s back pocket, then I held my hand out for another piece of paper.
“I got one,” Grave said.
He held it out for me and I took it, scribbling the note I wanted the paramedics to see.
Redding General, Dr. Piper Jackson
“You think she got the note?” Grave asked.
I closed my eyes and rocked in the leather rocking chair as I drew in a deep breath.
“I do,” I said. “I think she got it.”
“What did you write on the note stuck in his back pocket?” Brewer asked.
I peeked one eye open before closing it again.
“His name and where his family lived,” I said. “They need to come claim his body before I torch it.”
“That’s not why you did it,” Diesel said.
“Can you turn off that fucking detector mind of your just once?” I asked.
“I can keep my mouth shut, if that’s what you’re asking,” Diesel said.
“Good. Because I’d really like some silence right now,” I said.
Piper was at work and Gavin was at school, which gave me a few hours to gather my head.
To figure out what the fuck happened next.
I still didn’t feel right about going after Rex.
One death on our hands and thrust into the hands of a medical examiner was enough.
Anything else could risk exposing the death of Mick and how it actually happened.
I rocked in the chair as the guys settled out in the lodge, losing themselves in their own memories.
I heard Knox talking in the corner, probably to Monroe or something.
Grave was in the corner messaging who I assumed was Everly.
Brewer picked up his phone and called who I guessed was Makenna, judging by the look on his face.
So, I closed my eyes and dreamt of Piper and Gavin while Diesel made his rounds and made sure we didn’t need anything.
Back from the psychological torture and thrust back into the diplomatic way of doing things.
Doting on us. Asking us questions. Probing us and making sure were all right before everyone left, one by one, to go be with their families.
Diesel needed to get himself a fucking girlfriend to take care of.