Chapter 16
Skye
Two weeks later.
I awake early to the sound of two bike engines loudly riding away at speed. Seconds later there’s a knock at my door and Drifter appears.
“Hey, sorry to wake you… but something’s happened,” he says, his face grave.
“What is it?” I ask worriedly, sitting upright in bed.
“It’s Brewer, he’s in the hospital,” he says anxiously.
“What happened? Is he okay?” I ask, jumping out of bed to get dressed.
I can tell it’s serious when Drifter doesn’t even try to make a joke or flirt with me when he sees I slept naked last night.
He shakes his head, “No. No, I don’t think he is. Someone broke into his house last night, seems as though he woke up and went downstairs to investigate, disturbing the burglar, they hit him pretty hard over the head. Angel and Buzz have gone ahead to the hospital now, but it doesn’t seem likely he’ll make it.”
I can see tears in Drifter’s eyes and I long to reach out and hug him, but I know that right now, I need to be strong for him. For all of them. I feel like crying myself, I may have only met Brewer a couple of times—we went back the day after the Demon Riders turned up to check in on him and spent the day—but I already feel very fond of him.
“Was it the Demon Riders?” I ask.
“We think so.”
After they showed up at Brewer’s house the other week a couple of the club members stayed with him for a few nights, but then Brewer insisted he was fine and wanted to be left in peace. With no sign of them at Brewer’s and no retaliation for the crash, we all assumed that the guys who showed up were after Angel and the others, not Brewer. But perhaps we were wrong. I feel sick at the thought that Bill could have been the one to send these thugs to terrorize an elderly man.
“Why come after Brewer though? Do you think that person who wants Brewer’s land put them up to it?” I ask.
The guys have vaguely mentioned that ‘some big shot’ was trying to manipulate Brewer into signing over his land, but they haven’t gone into detail so I can’t let on I know it’s Bill they’re talking about. I feel torn up inside that I’m hiding the truth from them. But I’m terrified they’d hate me if they found out that I’m Bill’s stepdaughter and that I came here looking for a story. Every day I can feel myself falling for them all and I feel horrible for not being honest.
“It seems the most likely reason, either that or their spineless cowards who’ve got no moral code. We don’t fuck with elderly club members if we’re pissed at the club. Brewer might not ride with us anymore, but he’s an Angel of Havoc through and through,” he says his jaw tense and fists balled as he barely controls his anger against whoever did this.
“Okay, I’m ready, let’s go,” I say, grabbing my leather jacket and following Drifter out the door to where a tense Gunner is waiting for us.
I hop on the back of Drifter’s bike with barely enough time to secure my helmet and wrap my arms around his strong, slim waist before he tears off, following closely behind Gunner.
When we arrive at the hospital we race past an irritated-looking receptionist straight to the ICU waiting area where an anxious Angel and Buzz await us. Angel is pacing the room like a tiger in a cage, filled with pent-up frustration and anger at being in a situation that’s completely out of his control. Buzz seems equally on edge, although he’s sat down, his leg is shaking and he keeps running his fingers through his now very messy hair, a nervous habit of his.
“Any news?” Drifter asks as they notice us enter.
Angel jerks his head in one violent shake, his brow furrowed as his voice comes out in a snarl. “No. These fucking useless nurses won’t tell us anything.”
I’m learning that when Angel is upset his go-to emotion is anger to hide his perceived weakness of feeling sad or afraid.
Buzz answers a little more rationally. “He’s still in surgery to try to reduce the swelling on his brain. They can’t tell us much more than that right now.”
“Gunner, let’s go. I think it’s time we paid the Demon Riders a visit,” Angel growls his blue eyes icy cold and full of hate.
“Too right,” Gunner agrees. He’s always stoic, a man of few words who doesn’t reveal his emotions, but even he seems less collected than normal.
“As much as I agree with you, that’s a suicide mission,” Buzz reasons.
“So they’re supposed to get away with this?” Angel snarls, rounding on Buzz, his fist clenched.
Buzz holds up his hands in surrender as Drifter moves to hold Angel back. “Of course not. We will make them pay, but you’re no good to Brewer or the club going in there, guns blazing, outnumbered and not thinking clearly and getting yourselves killed,” Buzz argues.
“You don’t think we could take on some pussy Demon Riders? Fucking assholes beat on an old man,” Angel bites back, still not ready to back down.
“Come on, Prez, be rational, you know Buzz is right,” Drifter says his voice level as though trying to soothe a wild predator.
“Fucking cowards, the both of you. Brewer’s dying in there and you’re too chicken shit to retaliate,” Angel shouts, his face twisted with rage and pain.
“Fuck you,” Buzz retorts.
Angel breaks loose from Drifter’s grasp and throws a punch that catches Buzz on the jaw which Buzz returns with punches of his own. Drifter jumps in, trying to break it up, and then Gunner joins the foray, all four grappling and swearing at each other.
“Stop it!” I shout but my words fall on deaf ears. “Stop it!” I cry again, moving to push them apart and standing in the middle of them, “You’re acting like children, and this isn’t going to help Brewer! It’s not each other you should be mad at,” I shout furiously at them, not caring that any one of them could hurt me accidentally by getting in the middle of them.
My presence seems to calm them down and they finally stop fighting, all breathing heavily and shooting daggers at each other.
“Angel is right, you need to visit the Demon Riders and put a stop to this,” I say calmly. Angel looks smug that I’ve agreed with him, but I quickly add, “But Buzz is right too. You can’t rush in there without a plan or without knowing if it really is them. But most importantly, you can’t leave Brewer now. You’re right where you should be. Brewer needs you here. The Demon Riders can wait.”
To my surprise, the first to speak is Gunner, “She’s right,” he concedes.
The others nod and mumble their agreement.
“Don’t you dare fight like that again,” I order, still mad at them for their behavior, tears pricking in the corner of my eyes.
Drifter chuckles, hugging me. “Sorry if we scared you. But that was nothing, we’ve had our fair share of arguments in the past.”
“Stupid boys,” I mutter into Drifter’s chest.
This makes them all laugh, despite the situation, breaking the tension.
“Right, so now that you’ve all calmed down maybe we can actually come up with a plan and work out what happened. What do we actually know? Are you certain it was the Demon Riders and not a random burglar?” I say, pulling away from Drifter’s arms and looking between them all, my voice no-nonsense.
I feel that taking their minds off the situation and discussing it is the best way to keep them calm and distracted.
Angel takes a breath, calming himself down before gesturing for us all to sit. We do as instructed, and then he begins to speak. “We don’t have much to go on since Brewer was unconscious and whoever broke in was long gone when he was found. Dotty checks in on him each morning. When she arrived this morning, the door was open and Brewer was lying at the bottom of the stairs,” he explains.
“Were there any witnesses?” I ask.
Angel shakes his head, “None. You’ve seen it out there, there aren’t any neighbors close by. Even Dotty’s place is too far to hear anything.”
“What was taken? What makes you think it was the Demon Riders?” I ask, part of me hoping that this was just some random burglar.
The men share a look, as though silently debating if they should tell me. It seems they decide to since Angel replies. “The usual stuff, valuables that can be easily sold, some cash. But I think the thing they were really there for was also taken. The deeds to his land and his will.”
“Why would they want that?” I say curiously, “Surely if the deeds and will are reported as stolen they’re useless to them?”
Angel shrugs, this time Buzz answers my question. “Yes, but we believe it’s to muddy the waters and make it easier for someone to swoop in and buy the land for cheap off Brewer. We don’t think they ever intended to harm Brewer, instead, the documents could be used to confuse or blackmail him into selling. They didn’t count for the old bastard to be such a tough son of a bitch. When Brewer heard people downstairs, he came down with his shotgun. There was more than one burglar by the looks of things since he managed to get off a shot, potentially injuring one but not fatally, it seems another then jumped him from behind. They got lucky, even in his old age Brewer’s a tough bastard.”
“Why would the Demon Riders go to such lengths to try to buy the land?” I say, hoping that my suspicions aren’t correct.
Sadly, Buzz confirms them.
“You know how we mentioned to you before that some big shot was trying to manipulate Brewer into selling?” Buzz asks and I nod. “Well, it’s a local politician, Bill Anderson, who wants it. A huge part of his campaign is a new development of properties and Brewer’s land is perfect for it. If Anderson could get his hands on it, he’d make millions from investors and pretty much be guaranteed to move up the political ladder.”
So, that’s it, they’ve told me Bill’s name. If I’m ever going to come clean, now is the time. I could tell them Bill is my stepdad, even with a little white lie, pretend I didn’t know it was him they’ve been talking about this whole time. But the words get stuck in my throat. I don’t know if they’d believe me. Especially with Brewer undergoing major surgery as a result of Bill’s actions.
So, instead, I chicken out and ask, “But why resort to all this? Why not offer Brewer a fair price or look elsewhere?”
Angel answers this time. “Anderson is in massive debt. Seems he’s got a bit of a gambling problem and has been living beyond his means for years. He came to us a while back asking for a loan. We turned him down, but I’m guessing the Demon Riders took him up on it.”
“That’s why they’re doing his dirty work now, we can only assume they’ll get a heavy cut of the profits from the land to pay them back, with interest. Could be that he’s even promised them more power in the area,” Drifter adds.
“We think that’s why the cops have been on our asses. Anderson has dirty cops in his pocket. We think the Demon Riders want him to use his influence to take us down,” Buzz explains.
Shit. This is so much worse than I expected. I’ve got my scoop. But at what cost?