Chapter Fifteen #3
It was too much to hope they’d let me stay while they questioned Mace.
The only saving grace was he didn’t let Hudson or Warren sit in either.
They were both bristling about it, for different reasons obviously, so the three of us sat in Rosa’s beautiful back garden, brooding away in silence, each lost in our own thoughts.
Warren filled Hudson in so he knew everything we did.
I didn’t even have it in me to guess. I was still so thrown by the news about our real mom.
She must have been so scared. If what dad said was true, I wondered if we were the last thought that ran through her mind before she died.
If she was even aware it was because of her own sister.
“Oh,” I sat up slightly.
“What?” Hudson looked at me.
“I just realized, if Danica isn’t our mom, then Lily.. Kristy, isn’t our sister.”
“Oh good, that makes it easier to cut her throat,” Warren deadpanned.
“She’s your cousin,” Hudson cringed. “Not that that matters,” he gave Warren a sheepish look.
“Wouldn’t have cared even if she was my sister. I’m going to kill her no matter what.”
I looked over at Warren, thought about being concerned by that, then realized I hated the bitch as much as he did. I could care less what he did to her.
“Where is Omen?”
“In The Shed,” Hudson told me. “We’ve been a little busy, so he’s just hanging out in there.”
Warren laughed and I remembered them telling me they’d once found a guy chained up in there when the three of them snuck down to the Shed as kids.
I shook my head at the dark humor. I’d only known Omen for the same amount of time I’d known Lily, so he didn’t matter to me.
His betrayal affected them far more than it did me.
“Does he know anything?”
“He doesn’t know shit. Seems the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, Lily is as manipulative and deceitful as her mother,” Warren shook his head in disgust.
We hadn’t had chance to talk about what dad just told us. We could even with Hudson here but for now, we were both still processing it in our own way.
“So what happens now?” I asked, reaching out to touch one of the yellow roses on the bush beside me. The petals were soft and a little damp, like they’d been watered or it had rained and I’d not noticed.
“Hopefully, we’ll get at least a part of the story from Mace. Dad won’t rush into anything without knowing all the variables. Oh, and you’ll be taken back to the compound.”
“Cos it’s safe as shit there,” I muttered.
“There are no other rats. Dirt made sure of it.”
The thought of being trapped back in the compound made me feel ill. I got why they were doing it but still, I didn’t want to be closeted away. I glanced at Warren for a moment before speaking. “And Connor? Can we go and see him now?”
“Wave.”
“Don’t give me any bullshit about it not being safe.
Hiding me away didn’t help last time. Plus, if I’m with you two assholes, I know you’ll keep me safe,” I said it with a straight face but then half grinned when Warren narrowed his eyes.
“Look, I just need to see him, okay. Lily told me he was dead. For three days I grieved him. I need to see him. I need it.”
“Okay,” Warren held up both hands. “Later, after this is all sorted and we know what dad wants us to do. We’ll go see him,” he huffed out and looked away from us.
I exchanged a confused look with Hudson, who looked back at my brother in concern. A whistle had us all looking up before I could question Warren’s reaction. Ballistic was standing by the back door. We hurried inside, Hudson putting his palm on the small of my back.
“Mace is moving to the compound,” King said.
“Not the Shed,” I said anxiously.
“Shed’s full,” Ballistic answered and I swore he was laughing internally at that.
I waited for someone to ask the question but realized no one was going to, because King wouldn’t answer while I was here. What little ground I’d made, was slowly falling away.
“But he’s going willingly?” I asked.
“Well, I wouldn’t put it that way, but he knows what he needs to do.”
“Dad-”
Warren stopped me from taking a step forward. “We’re going to see Connor. Wave’ll let this go if you allow that. Right Wave?”
I pursed my lips at him. The prick.
“Waverley, Mace is not going to come to any harm, we just need a more in-depth discussion. Besides, there are people out looking for him, it’s within all of our interests to get him somewhere they can’t get their hands on him or know that he is with us.”
I was only mildly reassured by that. At least my father was giving me something. He agreed we could go and see Connor, suggested we even spend the night down there, which made me even more suspicious.
I was about to argue when the front door opened. I was surprised to see Ransom. I hadn’t seen him since the party at the compound. He was wearing a suit but no tie and his top button was undone. He greeted everyone and tossed a set of keys towards my brother, who caught them despite the surprise.
“What’s this?”
Ransom shrugged. “Dad said you needed a car, where’s mom?” he asked Ballistic.
“Paterson with Stitch. These guys are headed down there for the night so she can come home.”
All three of us made an ‘oh’ gesture as King shook Ransom’s hand and thanked him for coming. “When did he become psychic?” I muttered to my brother.
“He always has been,” he smirked. “Come on, we need to go back to the compound anyway and get cleaned up. Get you some proper clothes before we head out.”
I agreed. I was still wary about leaving without having seen Mace.
For all I know, he could have been battered to within an inch of his life, but everyone once again reassured me things were fine and I let Warren steer me out to the car.
We dropped Hudson at his dad’s place to pick up his bike, then headed back to the compound.
It felt weird pulling back in through these gates.
I had no recollection of leaving, having been drugged and stuffed in a trunk.
I’d sensed Warren still wasn’t in the talkative mood so remained quiet too, watching through the window and thinking over everything that I’d learned in the last few days.
We were greeted with cheers and hugs and Handlebar held me longer than the rest.
“I’m glad you’re okay, kid,” he told me.
“I’d release her before her man gets in,” Warren slapped him on the back with a laugh. Handlebar stepped back but not because he felt bad about it or worried what Hudson would say.
I balked at going into the house where my stuff was.
Where Connor and I had been attacked. War volunteered to go get what I needed then we went over to the clubhouse.
Hudson was already inside. He was drinking from a bottle of coke, but he left it on the bar when I walked in, looking at the bag in my hands, he took it and led me upstairs.
Warren stayed downstairs and I heard him laughing and talking with the others.
“In the interests of water preservation,” Hudson ushered me into his bathroom.
“Oh, really, cos you’re Mr. Environmental.”
He kicked the door shut and pulled his t-shirt off, reaching in to turn on the shower.
Hudson didn’t do anything more than get washed up, stepping out and letting me finish up washing my hair. Warren was waiting when we came downstairs. Everyone seemed less cheerful than when we came. A few of the guys looked downright murderous.
“Mace is downstairs,” Warren told me.
I glanced about and noticed there were no other officers around, not that they always hung out in the clubhouse, but I figured they were down there with King. I turned to my brother raising an eyebrow. He’s the VP, he should be down there too. He just shrugged.
“They paraded him through here didn’t they?” I shook my head in disgust.
Warren just shrugged. If King did everything for a reason, I wasn’t sure what this one was.
“I know most of what they’re gonna talk about, he’ll fill me in later with anything else.
Besides, we need to get going, it’s a long drive to Paterson.
Everyone,” he suddenly shouted and those in the bar turned to look at him.
“King knows what he is doing. Don’t question him or anyone else over what is going on down there.
For the record, without him, my sister would be dead. And that, is good enough for me.”
We walked out then, leaving them all to speculate over that. I kissed his cheek before I got into the back of Ransom’s car as he held the door open for me.
“Don’t get used to it,” he said, the door slammed hard enough to make my hair blow back.
Asshole.