Chapter Sixteen
Angel
The night before...
I stared at Steele’s body as it lay on the floor, blood pooling out of his chest. It was better than he deserved. He had answers we needed. I could have gotten them, if Banshee hadn’t gone off the fucking rails.
“Clean up this fucking mess,” King thundered as he carried Grace out of the room.
“Cash, my guys will clean this up, but I need some ideas on getting rid of the bodies. Back home, I have a system, but here...” I trailed off as I looked at my brothers, both from my chapter and Cash’s.
“We’ve got a kiln out back.”
My head snapped around. “A kiln?”
Cash smiled. “Yeah, a couple of the club girls like to make pottery.” He winked, and I shook my head.
“Speaking of, I’m sorry about Hash. He was a good man. If I’d had any idea what Skinner was planning, I would have called. Which girls did you lose?”
“Jade and Crystal.”
Fuck, I liked Jade. She was a great girl who liked to fuck dirty. Crystal was a fucking headcase, though. I didn’t say anything to Cash, but they probably dodged a bullet with that one.
“Steele was a fucking asshole. He’d been getting worse. When Stone finds out his brother’s dead, he’ll run.”
“Why?” Cash asked, and I knew there was a lot King didn’t know. “I’ll tell you everything I know in church tomorrow. In the meantime, I’ll help the guys clean this up.”
I walked over to my men. They were mine now. Hopefully not for long. I wasn’t cut out to be president. My role as enforcer was exactly where I wanted to be. But I knew King trusted me.
He didn’t know that most of the men in Arkansas could be trusted, but there were a few that needed to be weeded out.
“Krypto and Venom.”
Both enforcers turned to me. “There is a kiln out back. We aren’t dragging these bastards home. You two, grab Steele. Ambush and Warden, grab Lynch, and Baltimore and Crater, grab Demise.”
“What do you want me to do, Prez?”
I looked at Zombie, ready to bust his ass for calling me that.
Until I realized he’d heard King promote me.
The president patch was in the pocket of my cut where it would stay until we went home.
Then, once the trash was taken out, we’d vote, and I’d hand it over to the new president.
I wasn’t taking the time to sew it on my cut when I knew it wasn’t staying there.
“Help out anywhere you can.”
I walked over to Banshee and put my hand on his shoulder. He turned, and before I could say a word, he clocked me in the face.
“You son of a bitch!” he hissed as I lay on the floor at his feet. A dog I hadn’t noticed before stood over me growling and baring its teeth.
“DIESEL, NO!” Jack rushed over and kneeled on the floor in front of the dog. He looked up at Banshee. “Call him off!”
“No,” Banshee clipped as he glared at me. I didn’t know what the fuck I had done to piss the man off, but he needed to know I had nothing to do with what Steele had done.
“Call him off, or I’ll call Aspen.”
“Call her. I’m not calling him off. He can rip the fucker’s balls off first.”
I didn’t dare move. When Jack kneeled in front of the dog, it had pulled its teeth back, but it was still growling, and its hair was still standing up.
Jack pulled out his phone and put it on speaker.
“Jack?” a woman’s frantic voice answered. “Is Banshee okay?”
“That asshole is fine, but I need you to call Diesel off.”
“He’ll listen to Banshee,” she said, confusion clear in her voice.
“Yeah, well, Banshee won’t fucking listen to me.”
The woman sighed. “I’ll be right there.”
“No, Aspen. I have you on speaker.”
Jack kept his eyes on the dog. One hand held his phone; the other was on the dog’s head.
“Diesel, down.” The woman’s voice was soft, but firm. The dog immediately sat and looked up at Banshee. “Banshee?” she called out. “Baby, are you okay?”
My eyebrow raised as I listened to the woman’s voice. It had the same effect on Banshee as it had on the dog.
“Come upstairs, baby.”
Banshee’s jaw flexed as the woman spoke. He took the phone from Jack and pushed the button, killing the speaker. He lifted the phone to his ear and said, “I’ll be up soon. There’s a mess to clean up here, and I need to make sure it’s done right.”
Jack held out a hand when he stood, and I eyed him before looking at the dog. “Diesel, friend,” Jack said, and the dog inched forward and laid his head on my stomach.
“What the fuck?” I whispered, still afraid to move, worried the dog might actually rip my balls off.
Jack chuckled and held out a hand again. The dog sat up, and I reached out for Jack, letting him help me to my feet. The dog, Diesel, stood, and I flinched.
“He won’t hurt you now. Just pet his head.”
I peered at Jack, not trusting the fucker.
“I promise he won’t hurt you.”
“I don’t know if I believe you.”
Jack chuckled again and grabbed my hand, placing it on the dog’s head. Diesel nudged my hand until I started moving through his fur.
“Diesel,” Jack said. “Charlie.” The dog took off down the hall. “I sent him upstairs to my room. My girls are up there, and he won’t come back down without Aspen or Charlie with him.”
“Where the fuck did you find him? Guarding the gates of Hell?”
Jack threw his head back and laughed. “Banshee found him. The sheriff’s wife has one just like him.
In fact, they’re brothers. Banshee helps a woman train therapy and protection dogs.
My daughter doesn’t know it yet, but we’re getting her one soon.
She’s been begging for a dog, and if it protects her half as well as these other two do, I can rest a little easier. ”
I looked around the room, and Tito and Keno were helping Zero clean up the blood. They’d learned everything they knew from him before he moved up here with King.
Banshee handed Jack his phone and glared at me.
“What the fuck, brother? I wasn’t involved in the shit Steele and Stone have done.”
“Were you fucking his wife?”
“Shit.” I rubbed the back of my neck. “Yes, I was.” His face changed in an instant, and I stepped back with my hands up. “Hold on a minute while I explain!”
“Make it fast, Angel. And make it fucking good,” Jack muttered next to me.
I was the fucking enforcer. I didn’t scare easily, but the way Banshee was looking at me had me just about shitting my drawers.
“I loved Kay,” I rushed out. “We were making plans for her to leave Steele when she left.”
“She didn’t fucking leave!” Banshee shouted angrily. His face was red, and his knuckles were white from the restraint he was trying to maintain. A gesture I appreciated.
“Look, I know it wasn’t fucking right. But I fucking loved her.
You can’t control who you love. When she left.
..” I swallowed the rest and corrected my words.
“When she disappeared, it devastated me. Steele told us all she took off. She cleaned out their account and ran off with the girls. I didn’t believe him at first, and I looked for her for two goddamn years and found nothing. I had no choice but to give up.”
“Banshee, for what it’s worth, I believe him.”
Banshee glared at Jack and turned back to me. “He sold her and the girls to the Satan’s Angels. She died there.”
My mouth dropped open at Banshee’s words. That fucking bastard. I looked at the spot Zero was cleaning. I wanted to fucking kill him again.
“Where is the kiln? I want to watch that bastard burn.”
“Banshee, why don’t you show Angel where the kiln is, and maybe tell him who Kaylah was,” Jack said. He slapped Banshee on the back and walked away.
Banshee eyed me for a minute, then without a word, he turned and walked outside. I followed him, hoping he would lead me out back. I sent a quick text to Krypto to tell him not to burn Steele until I got there.
As we walked through the backyard of the clubhouse, Banshee told me everything. I never knew Kay was the sister he’d been looking for. When Banshee started prospecting, Steele had banned Kay from coming to the clubhouse. At the time, I thought he knew about us, but he’d never said a word.
Now I knew it was because he’d known all along that she was Banshee’s missing sister. I loved those girls as if they were my own.
“Kyllian is with the Brotherhood.”
I stopped walking and grabbed his arm. “What the fuck for?”
“She’s Firestride’s old lady.”
“By choice?” I asked, knowing the rumors about the Brotherhood. In all the years since Kalden Baudelaire started the club, none of the Bastards had taken on an old lady.
“Not sure yet. When they showed up at the bar to get us out, she didn’t look pleased to see him, but I passed out before we were untied. Nav is checking on her for me.”
“And Kinsley?” I asked. Afraid to hear what had happened to the bright little girl that called me Angle. At first, she couldn’t get the letters in the right order, but even after she could, she’d always said it the same. Because Kinsley was her big sister, Kyllian called me the same thing.
“Kyllian thinks she might be dead too,” Banshee said solemnly.
My Kay was dead. My Kinsley was likely dead, and my Kyllian was in the lion’s den. I closed my eyes for a moment and pictured them together.
I took a deep breath as we walked up to the kiln. All three bodies lay on the ground.
“You haven’t even started yet?”
“Had to wait for it to warm up. This thing is huge; we need one,” Venom said with a grin as he stared into the brick building.
“Where the fuck would we hide one of these?” I barked. I looked at Banshee. “Declan know you have this thing back here?”
Banshee shrugged.
“Let’s load them up. I want this fucker gone.”
Warden pulled the tray out; it was only large enough to hold one body. I scratched the back of my head and asked, “How long does it take?”
“Two to three hours depending on size.”
“So what do we do with the other two while we wait?”
This time Banshee grinned. He walked around to the back side of the kiln and opened a door. He came back around with a chainsaw and coveralls. “They’ll all fit.”
Baltimore, Ambush, and Warden looked horrified, while Crater and Venom grabbed the overalls from Banshee and put them on. Venom grabbed a chainsaw and, with a smile that sent a shiver down my spine, said, “Stand back, boys, I’m going in.”
The two of them made quick work of cutting the bodies into manageable pieces. They loaded them onto the tray and shoved it back into the heat.
“You ever put someone in here alive?” Venom asked, and I shook my head. He had a seriously fucked-up mind.
“Only once. The guy tried to rape Blade’s old lady.” Banshee looked over at me. I closed my eyes, remembering the first time I’d met Beck. It wasn’t one of my finer moments.
“Fuck me,” I muttered.
As we stood there watching the flames through the glass door, no one said a word. I’d needed to see them go in, but I didn’t need to stand here all night and watch them burn.
“Venom and Crater, you two take the first watch. Ambush and Warden will relieve you in two hours, and if it still isn’t done then, Krypto and Baltimore will take the last shift.”
Banshee and I walked back toward the clubhouse, leaving my brothers to clean up while they waited for the bodies to burn.
“What happened to the baby?” I asked, afraid of what he would tell me.
Banshee stopped and glared at me. “What baby?”
“Kay was pregnant when she disappeared. It was why we were working toward getting her away from Steele.”
“Kyllian didn’t mention a baby. Was it yours?” he asked.
“Yes.”