Chapter Ten
King
I took a moment, my hands on the bar as I hung my head. I needed five fucking seconds without the world ending, but seeing Indigo in my clubhouse meant that wasn’t fucking happening.
The girl looked scared, and I had to wonder if she was here of her own free will. Indigo was a tracker. He was the man Luc sent out when he wanted someone found. And he was the man many clubs and underworld organizations used when they needed the same.
However, his methods were, let’s just say, not exactly moral.
“Who is that?” Grace whispered. I looked up at her.
“Now you wanna talk to me?”
She pursed her lips tightly and turned her back on me. I pushed myself off the bar and was about to walk to the trio when the girl rushed over to Jingles.
“Sebastian?”
Jingles looked down and smiled. “Karlyn Ingalls? What the fuck are you doing here?” He lifted her off the ground and spun her around.
I heard a growl beside me, and when I turned, Ravage was eyeing Jingles.
FUCK!
I suddenly remembered where I’d heard that name.
“Ravage, wait!” I grabbed his arm, but he turned around and sucker-punched me. Fuck, he could hit. My back hit the bar, and I slumped onto a stool.
“MIMIC!”
Mimic turned and saw Ravage headed for Jingles, and he rushed across the room, tackling him just before Ravage got ahold of Jingles. The two of them hit the wall before sliding to the floor. My little brother was a big son of a bitch like his father, but Mimic had skills that made him deadly.
Jingles put Karlyn down and pushed her behind him as Mimic and Ravage beat the shit out of each other on the floor.
“Fucking do something!” I shouted to no one in particular.
“Eros, Indigo, fucking now!” Nav shouted angrily. And the two men finally moved. They each grabbed one of Ravage’s arms and pulled him away from Mimic, while Big Ben and Ace grabbed Mimic. Everyone else stood like fucking statues, watching the show.
Both men fought their holds, but while Mimic’s eyes focused on Ravage, Ravage’s focus stayed on Jingles. I walked over and stood in front of him.
“Calm the fuck down!”
“He fucking touched my woman!” Ravage roared.
“He didn’t fucking know she was yours!” I yelled in his face.
Karlyn slipped in front of me and put her hands on Ravage’s face. He immediately stopped fighting and stilled. The rage still ran through him as Karlyn spoke to him.
“He’s a friend. From a long time ago. I didn’t know you were here.”
Karlyn stepped in closer and whispered in Ravage’s ear. He yanked his arms from the two men behind him and pulled Karlyn into them.
I looked over at Grace. Her eyes were on my brother and his woman, and the smile on her face as she watched them made my heart bleed. I wanted that smile. I wanted her to look at me that way.
When she focused her gaze on me, the smile dropped, and she turned away. Every fucking time she looked my way, she dropped her smile and glared at me.
“Hey, man, I didn’t mean any disrespect.”
Ravage growled, his eyes turning hard in an instant. “Jackson,” Karlyn whispered. Ravage ignored her as his eyes blazed at Jingles.
“Jingles, get the fuck out of here.” I shoved him off, and Nav stepped up.
“King, I called Patch. Bane is taking care of Mimic, though he isn’t happy about it.” Nav chuckled.
I turned to look at Mimic. He was arguing with his father as he sat at a table. Bane was doing his best to stitch up the gash in Mimic’s cheek. Shaking his head at whatever Mimic was spewing at him.
“I’m fine,” Ravage grunted.
“You aren’t fucking fine; you probably tore your fucking stitches again.”
“I can take care of myself, been doing it my whole fucking life.”
“Ravage,” Nav muttered, shaking his head.
“Listen, asshole, I’m the king of this motherfucking castle, and if I want to stitch you back up, you’ll sit down and shut up while I fucking do it.”
Ravage glared at me. “Why the fuck do you care so much?”
“Because you’re my little fucking brother!” I shouted.
“Jane Craven is your mother?” Ravage asked.
I took a deep breath. My eyes searched out Grace, and what I found gave me the strength I needed to do what I had to do. She wasn’t looking at me with anger or pity. She looked at me the same way she did night after night when I showed up on her doorstep.
I looked back at Ravage. “No, and she wasn’t your mother either. Karlyn, see that woman behind the bar?” She nodded. “That’s my old lady.” Nav chuckled beside me, and I elbowed him. “Would you sit with her while I talk to Ravage in my office? I promise no one here will hurt you.”
“King, I want her—”
“I’ll sit with her, brother. I won’t leave her side,” Nav assured him. Eros and Indigo confirmed the same. “Talk to King.”
“It’s okay, Jackson,” Karlyn whispered, then kissed his cheek and moved to the bar with the three men. I was so fucking jealous of what my little brother had with his girl.
Ravage glared at me. “What the fuck is going on?”
“I will tell you everything. In my office.” I walked out of the main room, hoping Ravage would follow. I didn’t turn back to look; I stared straight ahead until I got to the door.
I sat behind my desk and waited. Opening the bottom drawer of my desk, I picked up the envelope containing the pictures my father had left.
Earlier in the year, right after Sal left King in church…
I didn’t look at the ground. The pictures I’d shoved off the table lay there. Pictures of my mother. I didn’t want to know what she looked like. Not yet. I pulled out my phone and sent a text.
A few minutes later, Amber entered the room. “What do you need, King?”
Her soft, quiet voice was my undoing. Without looking at her, I asked, “Can you pick up the pictures on the floor and put them in my office? I don’t want to see them. Maybe find an envelope to put them in.”
“Of course.”
She shuffled past me and bent to retrieve the pictures of my mother. When she stood, I knew she was looking through them. “Can I say something?”
“Not now, Amber.”
“Tough. I know you don’t know him. But he’s your father. I would give anything to have him instead of the one I did.”
“Amber…” I finally looked up at her.
“I’m not trying to make you feel guilty. You’re entitled to feel how you do. But maybe look at it from a different perspective? I know you had your dad, and then you had Declan. But Sal is actually your father. He didn’t know, King.”
“No, he didn’t know. He thought I was his brother and still didn’t bother to come find me.”
She nodded, and the frown she wore broke my heart.
“When’s your next meeting with Haizley?”
“Thursday.”
I kissed the top of her head. “Is she helping?”
“She is. Thank you for letting me talk to her.”
“You don’t have to thank me. She’s been good for everyone.”
“Have you talked to her?”
I shook my head. “No, but I made Sal talk to her.” Her smirk mirrored my own.
“Maybe you should give it a try.”
“Nah, I have my own way of dealing with my shit.”
I moved around her so she could go. Amber walked to the door and stopped. When I turned to her, I knew by the look on her face, I wouldn’t like what she had to say.
“It’s time to shit or get off the pot, King. Claim her or let go. It’s not fair to dump your shit on her and give her nothing in return. Letting her be your first lady in secret isn’t really letting her be anything.”
“She’s not my—”
“Bullshit. We all know.”
“I’m not fucking her.”
“I know. That’s the problem. You lean on her, you rely on her to dump your shit on, but she gets nothing in return. You’re hurting her.”
“I can’t let her go.”
“Then claim her.”
“I can’t do that either,” I said quietly, turning away. I knew I was an asshole. Knew I should walk away and let her live her life. But I couldn’t.
She was mine.
Mine to protect.
Mine to love.
Then love her!
I did love her. More than my own life. But I couldn’t do it openly.
I heard Amber’s hand hit the double doors, then listened to the swish as they closed behind her.
Ravage walked in as I stared at the envelope. He dropped himself into the chair across from me without a word. Setting the envelope down, I got up and grabbed the first aid kit I kept in my office. I sat down in the chair beside Ravage and motioned for him to remove his cut and shirt.
“I want you to know I just found out myself when Massacre was here. After you took off, Valhalla found Massacre hanging in the warehouse and cut him down. You must have just missed Yuri, because she did CPR and brought him back.”
I wished Indie hadn’t killed her. There were so many unanswered questions. Like, why did she save Massacre? Was it for Amber? Why did she save Aspen knowing she was Diana’s sister?
“She saved his life. After Daniel Scott was killed, that was when I learned you were Morpheus’ son. That didn’t mean fuck all to me. But you know Sypher; he’s fucking thorough. He explained that your mother was not Jane Craven like you thought.”
Ravage winced as I cleaned and stitched his wounds a second time. “Then who is she?”
“Her name was Gretchen Foster. And Morpheus loved her.”
Ravage scoffed. “Morpheus doesn’t know how to fucking love anyone.”
I shook my head. “No, he doesn’t. But Kane Baudelaire did.”
I understood Ravage’s confusion. I wasn’t sure I understood it all either, but I would do my best to explain it. While Ravage got dressed, I gathered up the supplies and moved back behind my desk.
“The club that’s here? The Gods of Mayhem—they’re from Athens, Texas.
Kronos is Lucas Cooper. He and his wife are the parents of one of my brother’s old ladies.
And the grandparents of my enforcer, and another old lady.
Remember I said you weren’t the only one with a fucked-up family?
I’ve got family drama coming out of my ass here.
“All I fucking wanted was to live a quiet life in the Midwest with my brothers. I got out of the one percent shit, but it seems to have found me. I blame my father. My biological father is Braesal O’Malley. Head of the Irish Mob in Boston.”
Ravage’s eyebrows shot up to his forehead, and I smiled.
“My mother was Darcy Murphy. His childhood girlfriend. She was sixteen when she got pregnant with me, and in order to keep me safe from my grandfather, she moved to Arkansas with my grandparents and my uncle. Declan is Sal’s little brother; they have the same mother but different fathers.
Darcy gave birth and moved on. My grandparents raised me as their son.
They passed away when I was ten, and Declan took over.
He was twelve years older than me and a beat cop, so there was no issue with him becoming my guardian. ”
“Your father didn’t want you either?” Ravage asked, and I saw the pain he tried to hide.
I felt it. It was all I’d felt since I learned the truth.
That and anger. Ravage had that in spades.
I wished there was some way I could ease that for him, but I hadn’t figured out how to ease it for myself yet.
“He didn’t know I was his son. He didn’t want the little brother he thought he had. Once he found out I was his son, he’s become like a piece of fucking gum I’ve tried to scrape off my shoe but just keeps hanging on.”
“At least he’s trying.”
“Yeah, well, he’s the only one I have to be angry at, so I’m not ready to let him off the hook, despite his not being to blame.”