Chapter Nine #3
Rogue’s jaw ticked.
“A couple of their guys are going to do serious time,” Ryatt said. “I guess me getting probation set them off.”
Rogue pulled his cigarettes from his pocket. “How long have you known Kings suspected Ryatt?” he asked Cruz.
“Not long.”
“Anyone else know about this?” He indicated the dead guys on the floor.
“McKelle knows the Kings are after Ryatt.” They stared at each other. “And she’s going to know what went down here. She knows I went to Kane’s.”
Rogue growled and rolled his shoulders.
My spider senses prickled. Silent communication thickened in the room.
“Besides us,” Cruz finally said indicating Dozer and Romeo, “no one else knows about Ryatt. No one knows anything else.”
“I warned you and Blue about this.” Rogue shifted his gaze from me to Cruz. “You don’t fucking listen.”
“I went to talk to Kane. Nothing else, but when he told me about the Kings, about what they planned to do to Rizz, I mean Ryatt, fuck, no way was I waiting.”
Rogue grumbled. “Shit has a way of coming back and biting you in the ass.”
What the fuck? What did Blue have to do with this? What was up with the cryptic communication? Romeo and Dozer seemed to have taken notice as well.
Bullet leaned against the wall and smoked a cigarette. “Where’s your cut?” he asked Cruz.
“At the MC. I rode out to Kane’s, but I didn’t know if he’d give up what I needed. He’s in tight with Kings.” Cruz released a heavy exhale. “I’d hoped to keep the Hellers out of this.”
“Too late for that,” Dozer said. “Kings have been rolling up and down the street. Our bikes are out front.” He indicated the phone on the table. “I took that off the one sleeping in the corner.”
Sleeping as in dead.
“Texts are coming in,” he continued. “They think Hellers want Ryatt, too.”
“Kings don’t want trouble with Bullet,” Vic mumbled. “But they ain’t going to forgive this.” He stared at the dead guy on the floor.
Romeo stood behind me and Cruz and quietly spoke. “No one fucks with Bullet. The guy has balls the size of boulders.”
“Do you think you can come to an understanding with the Kings?” Rogue asked Bullet. “Impress upon them that Ryatt is ours.”
Two streams of smoke escaped from Bullet’s nose. “Get Ryatt out of here.”
I held my ribs. “Even if I had my bike, I don’t think I can ride.”
“Where’s your bike?” Cruz asked me.
“If it’s not at the halfway house, then the Kings have it.” If they had it, I’d just lost my only source of income and mode of transportation. Plus, I loved that bike.
“Take the hearse.” Bullet tossed the truck keys to Romeo. “I’ll take your bike.”
“I’m riding with Ryatt,” Cruz said.
“Good.” Rogue held out his hand with his palm up. “I’ll take your bike. You three take off. Don’t say shit about what happened here, not until we talk to Blade in case the Kings decide to retaliate against the MC. Get Willow out to the MC.”
“She’s on the road with Bear.” Romeo held his phone. “Levi can patch him up.” He paused texting, glanced up at me, and said, “Unless you think you need to go to the hospital.”
Dozer chuckled. “Levi has put stitches in me before. She doesn’t have a tender touch like her mom, but she knows what she’s doing.”
“No hospital, but I’m not leaving. This is my problem.”
“Nah,” Rogue said. “You’re done. Dozer can stay behind with me and Bullet.”
“If they take the hearse, how are we going to haul the bodies out?” Dozer asked.
I nearly choked on air. Haul the bodies?
“We’re leaving them here. Kings can deal with their dead friends,” Bullet said. “Take off. Get Ryatt patched up. I’ll have Vic text his friends and invite them to join us. Besides, they’re going to owe me.” A slow smile curved his lips. “Vic here is the narc they’ve been looking for.”
Since I was in no condition to fight, I followed Romeo and Cruz out to the flatbed truck. Romeo climbed behind the wheel, and Cruz helped me into the cab. I scooted into the middle of the bench seat positioning the gear shift between my legs, and Cruz sat next to me.
Romeo reached over, put the truck into first, and barely gave it any gas. As the truck rolled across the lawn and off the curb, the jarring bumps sent fire through my ribs. Because I could feel exactly which rib was fucked, I cradled my palm around my side.
The headlights cut through the night as we drove away from the trap house. “Feels like we should be in there, too,” I said. I was pawning my problems off on someone else. Not cool.
“No, we shouldn’t,” Romeo said. “I’m not usually in on the fights.
” He checked his mirrors, keeping his eyes both in front of us and what could be coming from behind.
“Not that I haven’t gotten my hands bloody.
You have to know your limitations. You’ve just taken a beat down, Ryatt.
Leave this fight to Rogue and Bullet. They’re built different, and I’m not just talking about their size. ”
Rogue was the biggest biker in the MC, and Bullet was nearly the same size. Haul the bodies?
“Dozer is just like them,” Cruz said. “I’ve seen him fight both Bullet and Rogue in the basement. They don’t pull their punches. Pain just makes Dozer fight harder.”
Romeo continued to put distance between us and the battle. “Bullet was enforcer for the club before Dozer took over. This is what they do. They protect the MC. They take down our enemies.”
I shifted on the seat. “Kings wouldn’t have been your enemy if I hadn’t brought them to the fight.”
He snapped his gaze over to me. “We take care of each other. That’s why you prospect, to prove you’re willing to stand up with your brothers, no matter the enemy.
And no matter who starts the fight, we finish it.
” His tone took on a hard edge. “We don’t look for trouble, but it always seems to find us. ”
Maybe I did belong with these guys. I’d been in trouble most of my life. I thought those days were behind me, but maybe I was just done fighting alone. And the half-dressed asshole next to me had jumped into the fight first.
“Leave Ryatt back in the trap house.” Cruz leaned his head against the headrest and closed his eyes. “The MC custom is for your sponsor to give you your road name.”
“Fuck.” Here it came. Surprisingly, I didn’t hate Rizz, at least I assumed that’s the name he’d choose since he’d been referring to me as Rizz on the reg.
He could’ve called me something to put me in my place when it came to McKelle and the Hellers.
Something like Second Choice, PO, or Zippy because I rode an R1.
Or at least I used to. Now I had a two hundred dollars a month payment, and no bike. I might not have much to my name, but I had a chance at something good. “I’m all in.”
All in with the Hellers with Cruz as my sponsor, and all in with McKelle with Cruz somewhere between us.
McKelle
Curled on my side in Cruz’s bed, I stared at the screen of my phone. As soon as it went black with inactivity, I touched the screen to wake it up again, the only light in the darkened room.
I toggled between text threads from Ryatt and Cruz, hoping one of them would start showing bubbles. If Cruz had found Ryatt, he would’ve let me know. Romeo and Dozer hadn’t come back either so that had to mean they were still looking for him.
A knock sounded on the door. “Yeah?”
Kiss poked her head in. “Can I come in?”
I nodded, sat up on the bed, and held Cruz’s cut in my lap. She climbed onto the bed next to me. She didn’t ask what was wrong, or why Cruz wasn’t wearing his cut, she just pulled me close.
And I broke. My body heaved as tears filled my eyes, and fear stripped me bare. I couldn’t stop the deluge of emotions from overwhelming me.
Kiss combed her fingers through my hair. “Blue wants to kill Cruz.”
Still clutching my phone in my hand, I jerked up. “Why? Has he heard something? Did they find Ryatt?” I opened my text thread. Still nothing.
“Hmm. So, we definitely jumped to the wrong conclusions.” She twisted on the bed and faced me. “Cruz isn’t here, and you’re crying in his room. We assumed he’d fucked up again.”
I wiped tears from my cheek as I shook my head.
“No. We’re good.” I talked to Kiss about everything.
She knew Ryatt and I had started something.
I’d been at meetings with him. And I knew Ryatt talked to her.
They bonded in NA. Ryatt took his responsibility as her sober sponsor seriously.
However, she didn’t know anything about this situation.
My lips trembled. “It’s Ryatt. I’m scared, Kiss.” Cruz wouldn’t want me to involve Kiss because she’d talk to Blue, and he’d get involved. Ryatt would hate to be judged, especially by Hellers. Like Cruz, he had the same hunger for the patch. He needed to belong.
I’d been so stupid. It took Ryatt for me to realize just how much the MC meant to Cruz.
Anxiety coiled in my gut, wrapped around my bones, and slipped like ice through my veins. Every part of me was beyond terrified.
“You can’t say anything to Blue.”
“I won’t, but you never have to worry about Blue. He’s loyal, McKelle. He’d never betray you, not even to the Hellers.”
I knew this. Blue protected Kiss over anything and anyone. She never had to wonder if he’d be there for her. I wanted what she had. I wanted love, loyalty, and tenderness with Ryatt, but I’d never be okay without the raw, sick kind of love I had with Cruz. Right now, I just wanted Ryatt to be okay.
“Ryatt’s in trouble,” I whispered.
“What kind of trouble?”
“Promise, Kiss? Promise you won’t say anything to anyone.” I needed someone to tell me everything would be okay, that Cruz would find Ryatt, and the Kings would never know Hellers were involved.
I blinked tears from my eyes. “Washington Street Kings have a hit out on him. It’s bad. I haven’t heard from him since this morning.”