Chapter Four
Ghost
December 11, 2024, Diamond Creek Nebraska.
“Dad? What’s going on?” Beck asked the sheriff as I walked into the main room from the hallway.
The sheriff had been persona non grata here at the clubhouse ever since King found out Declan had been lying to him his whole fucking life and was actually his uncle, not his brother like he believed.
We all recently learned King’s father was Braesal O’Malley. Head of the fucking Irish Mob in Boston, Massachusetts. That was a fucking trip to find out. The couple that raised him until they passed away when he was ten were actually his grandparents.
I was curious about what had brought Dec here and better still, how he’d convinced the prospect at the gate to let him in. I had been upstairs jacking off again to the memory of the woman I couldn’t get out of my fucking head when King told us all to get to church.
“This should be fun,” Jack stated, walking toward church.
Declan followed us in, and we all sat around the table. He stood at the end of the table, opposite King’s chair. They stared at each other, neither saying a word while the silence lingered.
“Still mad?” Declan finally asked. He was pushing his luck. King would only hold back for so long. And we would have his back. Fucking badge be damned.
“Who’s on the gate?” King asked.
“Billy,” Declan said.
“Fucking prospects don’t fucking listen.”
“I told him to let him in,” Blade confessed.
The glare King sent him would make most men cower in fear.
“What are you gonna do, cousin?” Blade grinned.
“Fuck you.”
Yeah, that was another fucking trip. Turned out, Blade was also related to the fucking Mob. King’s long-lost daddy was Blade’s uncle. Making them cousins.
“What the fuck do you want?” King sneered.
“We need to talk.”
“So talk. You said this was official business. I called in the officers.” He swung his hand around the room, indicating we were all there.
The corner of Dec’s mouth curved up and he shook his head. We all respected the sheriff. He kept us out of trouble the best he could. But our loyalty was to King. The secrets Dec kept had no bearing on us, but King was our president. We were pissed at him in solidarity.
“We found a body yesterday on the Powell Ranch.”
King sat up straight and looked at me. “Find Winchester and tell him to get his ass in here.”
Before I could stand, Dec held up his hand, indicating for me to wait. “He doesn’t know anything about it. I told his brothers not to tell him anything until I talked to you.”
“What kind of body?” Gunner asked.
“Female. Looked to be mid-twenties. Brown hair, from what I could tell.”
“From what you could tell? What the hell does that mean?”
“It means, Colt, that a herd of cattle trampled her. Her face was unrecognizable, and the blood covering her masked her hair pretty well.”
“Why the fuck are you here, acting all secretive for a woman being in the wrong place at the wrong time?” King stood from his chair, ready to walk away.
“She was naked.”
King’s head snapped up and focused on the sheriff. He fell back into his chair. This was fucking serious. It was December in Nebraska. No one in their right mind would be traipsing over the plains butt ass naked.
“What do you know?”
“Unfortunately, nothing. I had my deputies walking in every direction from the body, looking for something that would give us an indication as to what happened to her or where she came from.”
“Are the Powells suspects?” Cash asked. This would affect Winchester.
“No. If they were involved, they would have just buried her. They have thousands of acres of land to choose from.”
“So, what do you need from us?”
“I told Allie I want this kept quiet. With nothing to go on, I don’t want the people in town to panic. Could be she was out there with her boyfriend, they had a fight, and she took off and ended up in the wrong pasture.”
“Or...?”
The sheriff focused on his daughter’s old man. They had a complicated relationship. Blade loved Beck. Dec tolerated Blade. And given that he had known her a hell of a lot longer than the sheriff had, he didn’t have much say in them being together. If he did, there was no way he would let his daughter get in bed with the Mob.
Ok, so Blade wasn’t technically part of the Mob. No more than King or Declan was. That was another mind fuck. Turned out Blade and Beck had a common uncle.
Braesal fucking O’Malley.
We all had concerns that Blade and Beck were related. Maureen assured us it was ok for them to be together. Something about Blade’s dad not being related to the sheriff, even though they were both related to the Mob boss. I didn’t fucking know.
“Or there is someone who had that woman out there against her will. She got away from him and ended up in the wrong pasture.”
“How much can we share with the guys?”
“As little as possible. If this was foul play, it could be anyone. I don’t want him knowing what we know. Tell the women less, but make sure they are protected. No one goes out alone. It will be a few weeks until I get the autopsy back.”
Foul play was a fucking given. Some bastard out there had done something. There was no question in my mind why the sheriff was sharing this with us.
“Once we’ve had time to go through the evidence, we might have more.”
Cash stood, coming around the table to shake Declan’s hand. “Thanks for letting us know.”
There it was.
The brush off.
Cash took the initiative so King wouldn’t have to. We had his back.
“King, we need to talk.”
He glared at the man he believed to be his brother. The man who raised him from the time he was ten. He didn’t move. He didn’t speak. Just sat in his chair, the scowl on his face letting the sheriff know he didn’t want to talk to him.
“I let you have a week, but we need to deal with this shit.”
None of us moved. Not unless King told us otherwise. Only he had the power to release us from this room. Finally, King stood and walked toward Dec.
He walked past him, intending to leave, and Declan grabbed his arm.
“We need to—”
Dec didn’t finish his sentence before King... well... decked him. Stumbling backward into the table, he caught himself before he hit the floor.
Straightening up, he walked over and stood in front of my president. I readied myself for whatever needed to be done. Declan may be the sheriff, and he may be King’s blood, but as an enforcer, I would do whatever was needed to protect my president.
“Do you feel better now?”
King reared back and hit him again. This time, his ass did hit the floor. He sat there, looking up at King. The two of them ignoring that we were all sitting here watching this play out.
“Get the fuck up!” King yelled.
“I won’t fight with you.” Dec could be a fucking pussy at times. He owed King this fight. King deserved to kick the shit out of him for what he did. What he kept from him. Secrets had no place inside a fucking family.
“You’re a fucking pussy. Grow some goddamn balls and be a man.”
“Be a fucking man? That all you got?” Dec pushed himself off the floor and stalked toward him.
When he swung again, Dec blocked him. He grabbed King’s fist and swung him around, pushing him against the wall. Holding his arm behind his back until he stopped struggling.
I launched to my feet, along with my brothers.
Dec snarled, “Sit the fuck down, all of you.”
Cash motioned for us all to sit back down. This was fucking bullshit, but I had to remember that this was family shit, not club shit. I knew Dec wouldn’t hurt King. It didn’t mean I wouldn’t put him in the ground if I needed to.
Whispering something we couldn’t hear, he released King with a shove. Dec pushed open the doors to church and froze.
Beck and Maureen stood there, arms crossed. Both women looked furious. Thank fuck I wasn’t their target.
Beck walked forward into the room and looked around. “All of you, out.”
None of us moved but Blade.
She shouted, “NOW!”
We slowly began to move. I’d like to think we wouldn’t give in to a woman’s demand so easily, but Beck was pregnant. And the truth was, she was special.
“Beck—” King started. But she held up her hand in front of his face. “Hush, Uncle.”
“Not your uncle,” he muttered.
Oh shit!
Beck’s face fell. Her eyes watered and she sniffed. Holding her head high, she turned and walked out of the room without a word. Blade growled beside me. At that moment, I realized I might have to protect King from my brother. But what shocked us all was when Maureen marched up to King and slapped him right across the face.
The silence was deafening until Maureen spoke in a voice that would have grown men everywhere pissing their pants.
“I would call you a son of a bitch, but I knew your mother, and she was one of the sweetest women I have ever met. Too bad you didn’t get any of her genetics. No, you’re a bastard, just like your father. How dare you speak to her that way.” Maureen poked her finger in King’s chest as she ranted, “That girl loves you. You have been her uncle since she found out about you, and you just ripped it away with three words. What the hell is wrong with you?”
“Um, Maureen, you can’t just slap the president...”
Jack let his words trail off when Maureen spun around on him.
“I grew up in the fucking Mob. You think I’m afraid of him?” Her arm was stretched out behind her, pointing at King. “Get out. All of you. Right fucking now!”
We didn’t hesitate then.
King was on his fucking own. Would I have put the sheriff in the ground if I thought King’s life was in danger? In a fucking second, without thought. But a woman? And a Mob widow at that? Not a fucking chance. We scurried away quickly.
All except Blade.
He stopped in front of King and snarled, “We’ll have fucking words later.” Then he stormed out of church.
Out in the main room, I sat at the bar. When Beck walked out of church, she had left the clubhouse. Blade followed after her. I knew he wouldn’t be back until King apologized. That might take a day or two. King could be a stubborn son of a bitch.
What people had forgotten was the past month had been a pile of shit for our president. It started when Maureen showed up out of the blue. Secrets and skeletons started coming out of every fucking closet in the clubhouse.
Add in a visit from Sypher and Pippen. Which had Stocks and me making an impromptu visit to the state of Kansas to blow up a government facility. Color me fucking surprised, but the kid knew what the fuck he was doing. I got him in and out of there without a trace.
Days later, Fury and the ghost of Shane fucking Keller showed up. Bane dropped in and never left. Then this shit with the Irish Mob and Declan’s secrets. The man deserved a fucking break.
Shouting was heard from inside church, and I knew Maureen was tearing King a new asshole. She walked out a moment later and stood at the bar next to me.
“You’re fucking scary.” I laughed.
“Don’t you forget it.” She smiled and took the beer the prospect set down in front of her. Walking over to the couch, her dog followed and jumped up, laying his head on her lap.