Chapter Twelve
Grace
I heard King shout at Jackson, calling him his little brother, and I didn’t take my eyes off him. He hadn’t told me that. He didn’t share that little piece of himself with me.
And it hurt.
He sought me out and when his eyes caught mine, he looked... broken. I hadn’t been there for him. I wasn’t available when he needed me. I nodded slightly, letting him know I was here. That he could come to me. I could practically hear my mother rolling over in her grave.
I couldn’t hear what he said to Ravage, but he said something to the woman—Karlyn, Jingles had called her—and they both looked back at me. A moment later, she came and sat at the bar with Nav, and the two men she came in with joined them.
“Hi. I’m Grace. What can I get you?”
“Water.”
“You sure? You look like you need something stronger.” She looked scared, but there was something else in her eyes. Something dark but innocent. I’d seen something similar, but different, in my mother.
She smirked. “I don’t drink. Well, I’ve never had any kind of alcohol, so I wouldn’t know what I liked or didn’t.”
“Never?”
Karlyn shook her head. She was quiet as she looked at the hall Jackson disappeared down.
“Hey,” I whispered, reaching across the bar to touch her hand. When she turned around, I smiled. “It’s going to be okay. King won’t hurt his little brother.”
Nav chuckled and then said, “I’m more worried about King,” as Eros and Indigo both nodded silently. “I mean, you don’t know Ravage like we do.”
I narrowed my eyes at Nav, thinking about what he said, and then I smiled brightly. “Good. I wish Ravage would knock some sense into that asshole’s thick, stubborn, infuriating head.”
“Uh.” Eros stiffened. “You may not want to wish for that.”
“Oh, I wish for that and a lot more.” I placed beers in front of the men, then slid a pink drink toward Karlyn.
Leaning against the bar, I winked. “It’s a strawberry daiquiri.
It’s sweet, with very little rum in it. You will want to sip it as you’ve never had alcohol before.
If you like that one, there are others. I can make them with any fruit you like. ”
“Thank you.” She eyed the glass, swirling the pink liquid with the straw.
The four of us watched as she took a sip, waiting to see her reaction.
“Not bad,” she said, setting the glass down.
When she grinned, the three men surrounding her relaxed, and I laughed inside. They all acted as though she would fall apart at a moment’s notice. They didn’t see what I saw.
Karlyn was stronger than they knew. She might look fragile, she might seem as though she was scared of her surroundings, but what I saw was a woman who had been hurt.
Both physically and emotionally.
I prayed it wasn’t King’s newfound brother who had hurt her. I wanted to believe he was a good man. But the way he’d hit King without a thought and fought with Mimic. I knew an unhinged man when I saw one.
One who acted without thinking.
I looked around the room for Freeway. I hadn’t seen him since Ravage showed up, and I wondered where he was hiding. Freeway didn’t act without thinking; he just didn’t think ever. He was a puppet. Always doing his president’s bidding.
I should have told King about him. But that would mean telling him about my mother and my sisters. I wasn’t ready to have those conversations yet. But I needed to talk to Nav.
I was about to ask to speak with him when Karlyn asked, “Is there a place I could get cleaned up?”
“Of course,” Nav said. “Brandy!”
I rolled my eyes when the club girl bounced her way over to the bar. She sidled up to Nav and said, “What do you need, honey?”
“Can you show Karlyn to the room Ravage is in?”
“Of course. Come on.”
Karlyn looked at me; her eyes didn’t open any wider, but her pupils were blown. “I’ll come with you,” I whispered, and I saw her shoulders visibly relax.
As much as I despised Brandy for my own reasons, I knew she wasn’t like the club girls I’d seen in my father’s club. I wondered about the girls that the Golden Skulls had, and if Karlyn had trouble with them in the past.
I met the two women at the end of the bar, and we walked down the hall to the stairs. As we approached King’s office, we could hear Ravage yelling.
Karlyn’s eyes were on the door as we passed, and I grabbed her hand and squeezed it.
Brandy stopped on the second floor and asked us to wait while she ran down the hall and grabbed a bag.
Karlyn held on to my hand tightly as we walked up to the third floor.
I wasn’t surprised when I realized where King had put him.
Brandy unlocked the door and let us in. I didn’t miss the fact that she had a master key. Or at least a key to this room.
“You have a key to Jackson’s room?”
Brandy looked down at her hand and smiled. “I have a key to all the rooms. The girls and I—” She paused. “I guess it’s just me and Tiffany now.” She took a breath before continuing, “We clean the rooms, and when someone comes to stay, I show them to the room King wants them in.”
Sadness washed over me as I thought about Jade and Crystal. Both women innocent of this war. Their only crime was being in the room when the Death Dogs attacked.
Karlyn looked at me. “Aren’t you the president’s old lady?”
“Yes,” Brandy answered at the same time as I said, “No.”
I glared at her.
“I am not his old lady.”
“Oh, he said you were.”
“Because she is. He just hasn’t made it official yet,” Brandy stage-whispered with her hand on the side of her mouth. I rolled my eyes at her.
When Karlyn turned to me, I shrugged. “It’s complicated.”
Brandy scoffed, and I shook my head. “Everything you need is in the bathroom. And here are some clean clothes to put on after.” She handed the bag to Karlyn, who thanked her and made her way to the bathroom.
“Karlyn, I need to get back downstairs, but Brandy will stay with you until Ravage comes up, or if you want to come back down.”
“Oh, that’s not necessary.”
“In case you need anything,” I told her.
“Thank you, Grace.” She moved into the bathroom and the click of the lock was unmistakable.
I turned to leave, and Brandy stopped me. “He misses you, you know.”
“I don’t want to talk about him. Especially not with you.”
“Grace—”
“What did I fucking say?” I hissed, keeping my voice low so Karlyn wouldn’t hear me.
“I’m not sleeping with him,” Brandy blurted out.
That had me stopping in my tracks. “What?”
“I’m not sleeping with him. I mean, I have, in the past; I won’t lie to you. But he hasn’t been with anyone since you moved to town.”
That couldn’t be right. I’d been in Diamond Creek for nearly three years. I’d seen him take Brandy’s hand and lead her down the hallway.
“He’s free to do whatever the fuck he wants.”
“You’re such a bitch,” Brandy muttered.
“What did you say?”
“You heard me. Look, I get it; you think I’m his favorite because that was what he wanted you to think.
He wanted you to believe he didn’t want you, and you fell for it.
The truth is, Amber was his favorite, and she never slept with him at all.
She was the one who usually did this shit; I took over recently. But this is your fucking job.”
“I can’t deal with you right now.” I walked to the door and yanked it open.
“You can’t run forever,” she said as I left the room.
“Watch me,” I answered quietly to myself.
I made my way back behind the bar just before King walked back into the main room. As soon as he entered, he turned to me. He looked me over, and when he’d had his fill, he walked over to the table where Kronos sat with his wife.
I made myself busy organizing behind the bar, cleaning up and occasionally handing out a beer or a drink. I was comfortable behind the bar. And if I couldn’t work for the next few days, at least I could stay busy doing something I was good at.
It shouldn’t take long for the bar to be back up and running. King had called Derek, Jack’s brother, to do the work. He’d been working on Ryder and Ellie’s house, but Ryder agreed the bar should be the priority.
I tried to ignore him. But all I kept seeing was him yell out that Ravage was his brother, coupled with the look on his face, over and over in my mind. I wanted to go to him—no, I wanted him to come to me. Like he always had.
I looked over at him, and he was staring at me. His eyes held me in place until Nav walked over and leaned in to tell him something. Then his eyes turned hard as Ravage and Karlyn entered the main room headed for the door, the other two men following closely behind.
King launched himself out of his chair. “Where the fuck do you think you’re going?”
Ravage stopped and turned. “Lincoln, Nebraska. I assumed that was what Nav just told you.”
“He did. It was a rhetorical question, dumbass, meant to make you think about what the hell you’re doing before you fucking do it!”
“I don’t need to think about it,” Ravage argued.
I quickly moved around the bar and went to Karlyn’s side. I put my arm over her shoulder as King and Ravage argued with each other.
“You are both being hunted, and you’re fucking hurt. I’ve sewn you up twice already.”
“I didn’t ask you to do that.”
“Stop being a fucking dick.”
“King,” I hissed.
“Stay out of it, Grace,” he barked, his eyes never leaving his little brother.
“You’re the one being a dick,” I snapped. He swung his head to look at me, anger on his face. But I saw behind it. I always did. That was why we were so connected. I saw the fear. The worry that he would lose the little brother he’d just found.
“We’ll protect him, Prez,” Nav assured him.
King’s nose flared like a bull, his anger a shield that kept him from looking vulnerable. I knew it for the mask it was.
The other two men waited behind Ravage to see what he would do.
“I have to go,” Ravage said, then he grabbed Karlyn’s hand and walked out the door.
When the door closed behind Nav, King roared, “SON OF A BITCH!”
He turned on his heels and stormed off down the hallway. I followed after him as he put his phone up to his ear.
“Ghost. Ravage is on his way to you. Nav is with him, as well as Indigo and Eros.”
He was quiet for a moment before he said, “He’s a brother in the Gods of Mayhem.” He walked fast, and I had to jog to keep up with him.
“Yeah, I told him everything I knew. I’m sure he’ll want Sypher to confirm everything.”
I followed him into his office and closed the door behind me as he sat at his desk. He looked up at me and continued on his call, his eyes never leaving mine.
“He’s being hunted, Ghost. I need you to protect him. There’s more shit going on than we realized. Nav can fill you in. Thanks, brother.”
He disconnected the call and placed his phone on his desk. Leaning back in his chair, he waited for me to speak.
“Why didn’t you tell me about Ravage? That you had a brother?”
He dropped his eyes for a moment, took a deep breath, and then he looked back up at me. “The last time, you told me if I came back, you would call the sheriff.”