Chapter Thirty-Five
King
I hadn’t slept a wink, afraid to move. Afraid I’d startle her as she slept. Hearing her whimper in the night broke me into a million pieces. There was nothing I could do to comfort her. Her fingers dug into my side as each nightmare tore through her subconscious.
Each time she woke, I kept my eyes closed and my breathing even. Each time she woke, she would move her hand a little more. Feeling me, as if searching for a lifeline. I was so fucking happy it was me. I was her lifeline. I was the one she reached for, even if I couldn’t reach back.
Not yet.
I hadn’t needed Haizley to tell me to go slow.
I’d seen the fucking picture. Seen what they’d done to her.
And there was a video. A video no one fucking told me about.
That was the tension in church yesterday.
It wasn’t just about Grace and Karlyn being taken.
They all fucking knew and didn’t say a goddamn word.
“Why are you angry?”
I didn’t think; I reached down and covered her hand with mine. ‘’m not angry, baby.” Her fingers tensed, and I pulled back. “I’m sorry, Grace. It’s so hard not to fucking touch you. I just want to pull you close and hold you until it all goes away.”
“It doesn’t work that way, King.”
She hadn’t moved her hand, and I counted it as a win.
“I know,” I whispered. I hesitated a moment before I said, “I’m scared, Grace.”
She was quiet, so I looked over at her. She was biting her lip, tears pooling in her eyes as she asked, “Of what?”
“I’m fucking terrified you’re going to leave me.
I just fucking got you, and I’m afraid you’re gonna run.
I know you don’t believe me when I tell you that nothing about the way I feel for you has changed.
That’s okay. You have to work through that.
I just need you to promise me you’ll stay long enough to do that. ”
She pulled her hand back, and I rolled to my side. Catching her hand in mine, I placed it over my heart and held it there.
“You feel that, baby? It’ll stop beating if you leave.
I can’t live without you, Grace. It’s why I couldn’t let you go.
” I closed my eyes, knowing what I was about to say could be the end.
But I needed her to know. “I wasn’t honest with you, Grace.
Steele wasn’t the reason I wouldn’t claim you. Not the only reason.”
She tried to pull away, and I held her hand flat against my chest. “Not yet, baby. Let me say it, and then you can kick me out. Just please don’t leave.”
She didn’t say a word as a tear slipped from the corner of her eye and traveled over the bridge of her nose. I wanted to reach out and kiss the path it took, but I knew better. It would likely be months, maybe years before Grace let me kiss her again.
If she ever did.
“What I told you before about Steele. I knew there might come a day that I needed to make a stand.” I took a deep breath.
“That I might need to take him out. I couldn’t let anyone think you were the reason I did that.
I needed to make sure that I had the proof I needed, and I got it; otherwise, I never would have confronted Steele.
And if you and I were together, it wouldn’t matter what proof I had; people would always believe I did it for vengeance because he’d abandoned you. ”
I watched her face. I saw the moment she understood. It still sucked, but it made sense.
“It was always about protecting you, Grace. But it wasn’t just about Steele.
I knew once I claimed you, there would be a target on your back.
You would always be in danger because you were my old lady.
When all this shit started back in December, it reinforced that.
And then yesterday...” I couldn’t say the words.
I knew this was my fault. I should have let her go. I should have kept her safe.
“He said something to me,” she whispered. “Right before he...”
“Baby, you don’t have to do this.”
“I do. I need to know why.” She closed her eyes, and I saw the pain, the humiliation.
I wanted so desperately to shield her from this shit, and I made it worse by not letting her go.
“He said this all could have been avoided if you’d just given him what he wanted.
” She looked up at me. “What did he want, King?”
“He wanted Indie.”
Grace blinked at me. Confusion washed over her, and her brows crinkled together. “Indie? Why?”
I rubbed the back of her hand. She hadn’t pulled away from me and a spark of hope lit up in my chest that she’d one day forgive me and be mine. I blew out a breath.
“Indie is Vulture’s daughter.” Grace gasped.
“But that’s not why he wants her,” I quickly added.
“Indie was kidnapped when she was a child. It was just before she was supposed to start kindergarten. She grew up at a place called the Trick Pony until she was rescued by a Nyght Nymph. We learned something about Indie though. Something even Indie didn’t know. ”
Grace stared at me. I knew the story I was about to tell her was unbelievable, and if I hadn’t seen what she could do with my own eyes, I wouldn’t believe it either.
“While she was at the Trick Pony, she was hypnotized and trained to be an assassin.”
Grace’s mouth dropped open, and for a moment, the dark clouds that haunted her disappeared, and I caught a glimpse of the woman she was before her life was turned upside down.
“He’d tried to trade for her when he had Banshee. But he underestimated us. I never would have traded Indie for Banshee. So his bullshit to you was just that. Bullshit. It was a way for him to get inside your head. It had nothing to do with Indie or you, and everything to do with me.”
She shut down again in an instant, and I knew I’d risked losing her by telling her the truth. But I didn’t want any more secrets between us.
My phone took that moment to ring, and I hesitated to pick it up.
“Answer it,” she said as she stood and moved into the bathroom. I watched her close the door and then rolled onto my back to glare at the ceiling.
Answering the phone, I barked, “What?”
“King, they’re gone.”
“Who’s gone?” I asked, sitting up.
“Stone, Ballistic, and anyone loyal to them,” Zombie said.
“How many?” I asked, climbing out of the bed and reaching for my jeans.
“A dozen.”
“Fuck!” I cursed.
“I think someone tipped them off.”
I sat up, one boot on my foot, the other still lying on its side on the floor. “Why do you think that?”
“I got a text on Steele’s phone a few minutes after we walked into the clubhouse.”
Son of a bitch! “What did it say?”
“Traitor,” Zombie repeated. “They know Steele’s dead. Someone in your house tipped him off.”
I stood up and grabbed my shirt, pulling it over my head as I thought about my conversation with Nav. “It wasn’t Freeway; he’s been locked up since I called Steele and told him to come up here.” Which meant it was someone else. Either one of my men, or maybe the rich fucking backer Skinner had.
“Thanks for letting me know. Watch your back, brother.”
I disconnected the call and looked up to find Grace standing in the doorway to the bathroom, her body trembling.
“It’s not over, is it?”
“No, baby. But I promise you’ll be safe. Please don’t leave. I can’t keep you safe out there.” I didn’t move closer. No matter how much I wanted to hold her, kiss her. I had to wait for her to come to me.
“Are you hungry?”
She nodded. “I’m not ready to go downstairs. Not yet.”
“You don’t have to, baby. I’ll have one of the girls bring you some food.”
“How is Jackson?”
“He’ll be okay. You saved his life, Grace. Karlyn and I didn’t know anything about that shit with the mud. Patch said if you hadn’t done that, he’d have bled to death before we got him home.”
“And Karlyn?”
“She hasn’t left his side. But I can ask her to come up if you want.”
She shook her head and climbed back into bed. I walked over to the far side and placed a knee onto the mattress. “I have to go talk to the guys. But I’ll send one of the girls up with some food.” I kissed the top of her head and walked to the door.
“King,” she called out. I looked over my shoulder and waited for her to say something I might not want to hear. “I’ll try. It’s all I can give you right now. I’m too scared to go outside, to even leave this room right now, but I can promise to try.”
“That’s all I need, baby.”
I closed the door softly behind me as I stepped into the hallway. I leaned against the wall and pinched the bridge of my nose to stave off the tears that threatened to fall. My girl was broken and I had no fucking idea how to help her heal.
I stopped in the kitchen and asked Kytten to bring some food up to Grace and to stay with her as long as she’d let her. If anyone could help Grace, I felt like Kytten would be the one.
“Cash, round up the officers.” My phone started ringing again, and I groaned. I held up my finger and answered the unknown number.
“Hello?”
“King, this is James Doherty. You have a minute to talk?” For a moment I couldn’t answer. Nav had told me the man was alive, but hearing his voice was still a jolt. Once the shock wore off, I said, “One minute.”
I covered the mouthpiece and whispered to Cash, “James Doherty.” His eyes went wide. James Doherty had died more than a decade ago. “Get the officers together, and Sypher. No one else. I’ll be in after I’m done.”
I ran to my office and closed the door. Sitting down behind my desk, I took a deep breath and put the phone back to my ear.
“What can I do for you?”
“This war you’re involved in—”
“Let me stop you right there. This war had nothing to do with me. I moved to the Midwest to get away from this shit. And last December, a brother in the Golden Skulls showed up on my doorstep and everything went to shit.”
“I know,” James said quietly. “There is a lot going on that you don’t know.”
“Then fucking enlighten me.”
“I will. But I need you to do something for me first.”
I sat there listening to James and what he had planned. I could feel the headache starting. It would never work. Those two assholes would never agree to anything.
“Can you do that?” James asked.
“I can try, but you know as well as I do, they’re both fucking stubborn as shit.”
“Just get them there, King. I’ll take care of the rest. I’ll send over some information for you to present to them.”
James hung up without a goodbye, and I dialed another number.
“What now?”
“I need you to come to Nebraska. You and Montana. You can each bring one brother with you, but that’s it.”
“What the fuck for?”
“You’ve both been requested to attend a summit.”
“What the fuck for? And why Nebraska?” Reaper asked.
“Neutral ground.”
“Fuck that.”
“Reaper... Ravage was shot.”
“WHAT?” the man roared into the phone.
“He’s okay. But some shit’s gone down, and I need you both to be here in three days.”
The phone was quiet. So quiet I had to look at it to see if he’d hung up on me.
“Fine, I’ll call fucknuts.”