19. Poker
CHAPTER 19
POKER
I won’t let anyone hurt her, not as long as I have breath left in my body.
“You’ll regret this.”
Next to me, Ghost barks out a laugh while I simply stare at Diego. Tracer was able to determine that the brother he mentioned to Meri is Esteban. When I learned that, I’d been livid, but after some more digging and a meeting with Esteban, I was satisfied that Diego and Esteban aren’t close, and Diego only wanted him alive so he could eliminate him and take over his arm of the cartel.
With Esteban’s blessing and assistance, we located Diego, and he’s now swinging naked from chains in the Nightmare Room.
“Ya think?” I finally counter. “Because I’m not sure I’m capable of the emotion.”
Regret isn’t something I allow myself to feel very often. In fact, I never feel it after taking out a threat.
“My brother will come for you,” Diego sneers, blood dribbling down his torso from the shallow cuts I’ve made.
I look to Ghost. “Hear that, brother? He thinks Esteban gives a shit about him.”
Ghost grins as he slides his gaze to our prisoner. “How do you think we found you, hmm?”
Diego visibly flinches but recovers quickly. “He wouldn’t dare.”
“Oh, he dared,” I tell him. “It seems he’s been keeping tabs on you for years. He knew you’d try something to get him out of your way, and he was right. But what you don’t get is that he has some honor. He might not like the Soulless Kings, but unlike you, he wouldn’t use a woman to get to us.”
In reality, I have no clue how Esteban feels about the club. We have a precarious relationship with him, but honor is honor. I’ll figure out everything beyond that after his attendance at the upcoming poker game. Right now, my sole focus is destroying Diego for daring to scare Meri. Besides, what’s that saying?
The enemy of my enemy is my friend.
Right now, Diego is the enemy, and Esteban is the friend. We’ll see how long that friendship lasts.
Diego opens his mouth to argue but doesn’t get a word out because I haul my arm back and deliver a right hook to his jaw.
“The time for talking is over,” I snarl. “Ghost, grab me the spiked bat.”
The Sergeant at Arms snags the bat from its perch on the wall and hands it to me. The wooden weapon is covered with nails and wrapped in barbed wire. It’s not a weapon I use often, but feeling its weight in my hands, I make a mental note to use it more.
“What the fuck is that?” Diego snaps, fear infusing his words.
I smile sadistically. “Well, it’s two things really. It’s one of my own creations and is designed to inflict the maximum amount of pain without always being fatal.”
“And the second?” he asks warily.
“It’s your murder weapon.”
I swing the bat at his torso, making sure to drag the spikes along his skin and shredding him open. Over and over, I do this. I don’t stop until my arms are heavy, and my chest is heaving.
Diego has passed out, and that’s fine with me. I didn’t need any information from him, just needed him to suffer. Before I toss the bat to the floor, I swing it at his head until his skull is caved in, and I’m sure he’s dead.
“Fuck, that was fun,” I say gleefully when I’m done.
“I’ll take your word for it,” Ghost mutters.
I turn to face him. “What’s your problem?”
“You didn’t even let me get in one hit,” he whines.
“Jesus, grow a pair,” I taunt. “You can have the next son of a bitch.”
He throws up his arms and stalks out of the room, clearly annoyed. He’ll get over it, though. This was my kill.
As I make my way upstairs, my phone vibrates in my pocket, and I pull it out. When I see the text from Meri, my adrenaline spikes.
I race out of the clubhouse and climb on my Harley. After shooting her a quick text to let her know I’m on my way, I peel away from the building.
It takes me fifteen minutes to get to her house, but it might as well be an eternity. Meri answers the door quickly, like she was standing right there just waiting for me. I immediately gather her in my arms and guide her to the couch.
“You’re okay,” I murmur against her hair, although I think it’s more for my benefit than hers. She nods against me. “Show me the package,” I demand after I’m satisfied that she’s alright.
Meri pulls away from me and points to the box on the coffee table. I was so tuned in to her that I didn’t even notice it.
“It has to be from Diego. That’s the only thing that makes sense. He brought this shit to my house and disappeared like a coward before I could confront him.”
I take in the contents of the box, as well as the short note, and my vision blurs with fury. “It wasn’t Diego,” I seethe.
“How do you know?” she counters. “I mean, I know I didn’t see who delivered it, but it’s signed ‘D’. And the note suggests it’s him.”
“I guess he could’ve had someone else bring it,” I allow. “But he’s not who was here.”
“But how do y?—”
“Diego’s dead,” I blurt. At her shocked expression, I thrust a hand through my hair and heave a sigh. “I’ve been with him for the last few hours, so I know he couldn’t have brought it here himself. And if he is behind the contents, he’s dead and no longer a problem.”
She eyes me curiously. “Okay. I’m guessing this isn’t something I should ask questions about.”
I smirk. “Probably not.”
“Fine.” Her tone is clipped, but there’s no heat behind the word. She might not like it, but she understands. Meri rubs her temples. “None of this makes sense, Poker. This makes three notes. The flowers, the one on my door, and this. All of them are signed by different people. What the fuck is going on?”
“I don’t know, but we’re gonna figure it out, okay?” She nods. “Go grab whatever you need for the night. You’re coming back to the clubhouse with me. We’ll sort this out and get a game plan.”
I expect her to put up a fight, but she doesn’t. Thirty minutes later, we’re strolling through the clubhouse toward the meeting room. I texted Crow before we left her house to call church so everyone would be ready when we arrived. I also got his permission to bring Meri into the meeting because only she can answer some of our questions.
“Hey, Meri,” Crow greets when we walk into the room. “You okay?”
“I’m fine. Just pissed.”
“Pissed is good,” Journey tells her.
“Pissed will keep you alive,” Screamer adds.
“Jesus, you think someone wants to kill me?” she asks.
“We don’t know,” Ghost states. “But that’s what we’re gonna figure out.”
Only, we don’t figure shit out. By the time church is over, the only thing we’re sure of is I’m staying with Meri at her place until further notice. She quickly agreed, which surprised me, but I don’t question her reasoning. We’ll put in a security system, and one of the brothers will be outside on guard duty any time she’s home, whether I’m there or not.
We discuss the possibility that this has something to do with the club, especially since my picture was included in the package from tonight, but it doesn’t seem likely. Everything so far has been geared toward Meri, and it started before she and I were together.
As of now, we’re operating under two possibilities: This is one person who is trying to throw us off by using different initials, or this is multiple people working together to cause the most amount of fear and destruction.
Either way, Meri will walk away from this whole. I won’t let anyone hurt her, not as long as I have breath left in my body.