Chapter 47
Clyde
My brain is slow at processing what I’ve just heard, still stuck on the Butchers taking Brigid hostage. But when it hits me, it’s like driving my bike into a brick wall.
I grab Road’s wrist and force him to meet my eyes. “No! No fucking way.”
I flinch when the scarring on his face—my fault—tightens, and the distorted switchblade tattooed around his eye shuts partially. He leans toward me, hissing out each word so intensely I can even feel their heat on my lips.
“There’s no chance I’ll let them take you or Brigid either. They hate you more, so it should be me.”
My breath shallows as I stare at him, unable to blink. All I know is that I’m not letting him go, because if I do, I’ll never see him again, unless as a corpse, and I’m not allowing that to happen.
I could strangle Prophet for the way he looks at Road with hope. Or is that just my imagination, since he’s only a blur on the periphery of my focus on Road?
“Let’s just try and take the shot,” I whisper with my stomach in knots, but I already know that’s unacceptable with Grizzly’s gun so close to Brigid’s head.
“Tick-tock, boys!” my uncle yells. “I don’t need Roadkill, but if you’re so in love , you’re free to join your sweetheart.”
I know he’s mocking us, but when Road swallows, never once looking away from my face, I can’t fully feel the anger, because the snark doesn’t affect how we feel about each other. Everyone can see it, and it’s both exhilarating and dangerous. Whichever one of us goes will suffer the consequences.
“Road that’s suicide. Stand down,” Harvey growls in a low voice.
The selfish part of me itches for Road to be firm, to show how much he needs me, even though that would ruin us both. But I want him safe most of all, so I shake my head, ready to venture out into the empty space between the two clubs. “It’s okay.”
Road swallows, his honey-brown eyes watching me with a new kind of sweetness. “It will be. I’ll think of something.”
Brigid is mumbling something through a gag, trying to shove away her captor, but it’s no use.
Prophet leans closer to Road. “I’m not letting you do this. There must be another way.”
But I see the method to Road’s madness. Us going is the only way to get Brigid out, and I know how much she means to Road and all the Vultures. I’d love to hide Road away from any danger, but if we go together, we have more of a fighting chance.
I take a deep breath, trying to cool my head. “They won’t kill us on the spot. Grizzly is too vengeful. He’ll want all and any intel, and only then our heads. Just like he couldn’t let go of Roy’s death.”
Road’s lips quirk, as if I were offering him a picnic, not facing torture and death together, and I feel the touch of his fingers on my hip, the one that faces away from my former club. It burns so good.
“Are you fucking high?” Yeti demands, but Road shushes him with a hard stare.
“I know I’ve been a fuck-up lately, but trust me, okay?” His gaze moves to Prophet, and he speaks in a lowered voice. “We’ll be passing the trap close to the gate. I can activate it.”
Prophet’s eyes are like carved in stone as he nods and pulls something from his pocket, no bigger than half a finger. He passes it to Road below the low wall, so the Butchers can’t see.
“Put the fob in your pants, so you can activate it even if they cuff you.”
It’s fucking happening. And as much as I dread the near future, I’m no coward. If I die, so be it.
So many eyes are on us now, licking our skin like fire, but as crazy as this plan is, at least it gives me something to hope for. And despite all this danger, and the pain likely waiting for us soon, I still experience Road’s gaze like physical touch .
“When the trap explodes, there’ll be chaos, and we run into the woods. Don’t wait. Just run, is that clear?”
I nod and mean it. While I’d love to be Road’s hero any day of the week, I see how turning around, checking if he’s there, might be the doom of us both. I have to be satisfied that this plan isn’t some self-sacrificing suicide mission on his part. It’s our best chance. And since the Vultures know about it, they might get a chance to show up with reinforcements.
Prophet squeezes Road’s shoulder. “Stall for time anyway. We might have a chance to do something here. I won’t forget this, brother,” he says and with a gesture, urges Creep to come over.
“Are you powdering your noses, or something? I’m done waiting! Come out, or I’m shooting the witch!” Grizzly yells, and there’s no more time to hear what Prophet’s plan could be.
“Why? Did you book a table at some fancy place for us all?” Road leads the way down the steps of the porch, and I follow, fighting the nausea twisting up my stomach. As we leave, I spot Creep whispering something to Prophet, but whatever this is about, Road and I are on our own.
As we leave the protective shadow of the roofing and step into the white glow of the lights mounted around the clubhouse, each stride feels like a step toward the noose. I itch to touch Road once more, to kiss his lips in case it’s not possible once we pass the fence, but I refuse to aggravate the Butchers any more than they already are and find comfort in knowing Road is here for me.
Grizzly laughs. “Yep, tonight you’ll find out what it’s like to dine in hell.”
Road puts down his gun on the way and I do the same. The Butchers would disarm us anyway, and this way, if we manage to bolt, the guns might be reachable to us. I know this without even discussing it with Road.
I keep my shoulders loose and eye Grizzly as Road seems to struggle with the lock. He’s buying us time for whatever plan Prophet might have, but I’m pretty sure the trap at the entrance to Vulture Hollow is our best bet.
“A very dramatic way to talk about your shitty cooking, uncle,” I say, and I’m satisfied that in the stark white light, I spot a few hidden smirks.
“We had a bit of a laugh, so now bring over Brigid. We’re not leaving until she’s through the gate,” Road says, and I stiffen at the sight of a gun pointed his way by Samson. They could easily take down both of us right now, and Brigid too, but I remind myself that this is not what they want. They can’t torture us if they spill blood this early, and I bet Grizzly made his orders clear. He wants to know about Roy’s killer, and thinks he’ll squeeze it out of a Vulture.
Grizzly shakes his head. “You never knew when to shut your big mouth, Road. But go ahead, speak while you still can,” he says in a light tone but gestures at Harlow, who drags Brigid closer, lifting her off the ground, and then pulls the gag out of her mouth.
Road snorts, once again failing with the lock. “We sound like an old married couple now.”
“I’m losing my fucking patience! Want me to shoot that lock off?”
The padlock clicks and Road makes a show of opening it. “There we go. No need to get your panties in a bunch. Now get Brigid here,” he adds swinging the gate open.
When I look into her dark eyes she starts… chanting. I don’t know the language, and neither does Harlow, but he’s definitely freaked out.
“Jesus, keep that bullshit to yourself,” he says, pushing her at Road. My heart breaks a little when I see him pull her close, as if saying goodbye, but my uncle needs to ruin the moment again.
“Was his dick worth it, Clyde?” he asks, sneering at me from behind the fence that’s still keeping me safe from him. My stomach drops at the mocking laughter coming from people I used to consider brothers, but Road speaks up before I can drown in self-pity.
“It’s getting good reviews. Why? Wanna try?”
Harlow lunges at him, and Road must have anticipated it, because he shoves Brigid at me just before a fist to the gut folds him in half.
“There’s more where that came from!” Grizzly says, his gun pointed at us.
Brigid’s an older woman who always carries herself with so much confidence, but in my arms, she seems so frail.
All the hair on my body bristles, but trying to protect Road now would only embolden the rabid dogs around him. They’d enjoy seeing me suffer at his beating.
“You will regret this!” Brigid yells, even though I sense her tremble under my hands. Maybe she’s shaking with fury. “The ghosts of this land will follow you home, and you will never know peace. The dread will choke you in your sleep, then come for your children!”
Grizzly rolls his eyes. “Let’s go, Clyde. Leave the madwoman. Or are you hiding behind her now? ”
I straighten with a scowl and whisper into Brigid’s ear. “Go on, we have a plan.”
She stalls, and I hear her breath catch, as if her throat is too tight to let air pass. She pulls away, her dark gaze settling on mine. I get to see her for who she really is. The big hair, the dark clothes and tattoos remain, but beneath them is only a person, who can die and suffer like anyone else.
I’m so struck by it that the sudden bang coming from behind my back doesn’t feel quite real. The Butchers all raise their guns, as my uncle drops to his knees, hand pressed to one side of his face. Something—a bullet—swished right next to his cheek, but didn’t blow his head open.
Just one glance back tells me the shot came from the roof of the clubhouse where someone is crouching, but all I can think of is Road.
Above his back I see my uncle point his gun at Brigid. Everyone is moving so fast, yet it feels like I’m stuck in slow motion. I act on instinct just as Grizzly pulls the trigger. I press Brigid close and turn us both so I cover her. This wasn’t the plan, but I hardly have time to think about that when I become a human shield and my arm explodes with pain.