Chapter 37
37
Karma
The place the Lost Sons are assembling at is a compound deep in the forest, made up of three buildings and surrounded by a tall wall. Scorpio said it was a fancy sort of place, but I didn’t expect this level of professionalism. There’s guards on the wall and everyone’s moving with purpose like clockwork. There’s no lounging around, smoking or drinking. Even Scorpio is different here. Harder somehow, more in control as he orders his guys around and makes sure things are getting done. There’s sides of him I have yet to get to know, and I’d be enjoying watching him be the VP a lot more if we weren’t planning to betray his MC the first chance we get.
Another thing I didn’t expect was to see so many guys wearing Lost Sons MC patches. We never could tell how many of them there were, but our best guess put their number at fifty, tops. There are well over a hundred guys here. They must’ve taken on a lot of new members in the last nine months or so. Joker doesn’t need us for whatever he’s planning, that’s for sure. He’s got plenty of men. Maybe even enough to win the war after all.
But we’re here to prevent it altogether and that’s the better plan.
The betrayal we’re planning has been eating at me all night and I feel well and truly chewed up by now. I can hardly look Scorpio in the eye, certain he’ll see we’re planning to double cross him and hate me forever.
But it’ll be different as soon as I see the girl they’ve abducted. Then I’ll know the risk we’re taking is worth it. For her sake. And for Scorpio’s too. He’ll see it our way. He’s gotta. He knows as well as I do what it’s like to be held against your will, thinking your only escape will be death. But only after a whole lot of pain first.
I haven’t seen the girl yet. They must be holding her in one of the imposing, windowless buildings that we don’t have access to.
“We should be out of here in the next hour or so,” Scorpio says behind my back. I didn’t see or hear him approach and I barely managed to stifle a squawk of fear.
“Are we leaving all at once?” I ask, looking at the narrow forest road leading out of here.
He follows my gaze. “You’ll be riding with the main body.”
I check around to make sure no one’s watching then slide my arm around his waist. “Your body?”
The more the betrayal eats away at me, the more I want him. Right here and now. One last time? God, I hope not. The betrayal is also clearly making me corny as hell, so I deserve that mocking smile he’s giving me.
“I’ll be leaving last, with Joker,” he says. “You’ll be going ahead.”
“Going where? To Roaring Brook?”
“You’ll see.” He winks at me like he just shared a secret.
But before I can ask what that secret was, he pulls me behind a black van with a logo of a florist’s shop on the sides.
And as he kisses me, all the darkness of imminent betrayal just floats away, like storm clouds chased away by strong winds. He feels firmer in my arms somehow, more solid, more like something I’ll lose if I let go of him now. Maybe we should call the whole thing off. Maybe we should just ride with them and make sure that girl comes to no harm some other way.
That idea only grows bigger as he deepens the kiss, caressing my neck gently the way only he can. Even when we’re just fucking, just going for a quickie like we are now, I feel like we’re making love. And that’s not something you discard.
He maneuvers us to the back doors of the van, pulling them open with one hand while holding me tight with the other. Even making love on the bare, hard floor of a windowless van will feel like we’re in a fancy, five-star hotel room, I’m sure. How can I throw that away?
My whole body is like a taut string, ready for him to play it. And the answer to the question sounding in my head is, I can’t .
But then his phone starts going off in his pocket, vibrating against my leg. He answers, doesn’t even consider ignoring it.
I’m standing so close I can hear Joker on the other end telling him to meet him in the surveillance room.
He tells him he’ll be right there then ends the call, giving me an apologetic smile.
“We’re gonna have to hold that thought,” he says. “I want us out of here as soon as possible. But then we’ll have all night in a place where nothing can interrupt us.”
No, we won’t.
I grab the front of his shirt and pull him in for a kiss that will have to last me for a while. Hopefully not forever. And the way the kiss makes my heart beat faster and turns the ground beneath my feet to water, I think forever isn’t entirely out of the question.
We won’t have tonight.
But hopefully, after we do what we have to, we’ll have a forever full of prefect days and nights. And that’s worth fighting for, and it’s worth a little betrayal. Because the reward will be so much sweeter than revenge ever could be.
Revenge is always bitter and never does what you want it to. Never gives you back the thing you lost. I know. I’ve tried to make that happen and failed.
I also tried to put all of that, plus every ounce of my love for him into the kiss. Maybe it even worked, because he keeps glancing back at me and smiling as he walks towards the tallest of the dark buildings. This isn’t goodbye. It’s just a goodbye for now. A necessary step on the way to our forever.
As long as I believe that in my heart he’ll know it too. And everything will be exactly as it should be for once.