Forty
FANG
As promised, Marty showed his ass on site again late afternoon.
But with Vanessa’s help, we got the girls out of sight and out of the way.
When she came inside to say she’d found Freckles, the relief was instant—a part of me worried Jenna had gone and done what I said: left.
Then Highway came up with the smart idea that sending them over to Ness’s house for a little fucking conflict resolution might be the thing we needed to keep them out of the firing line.
The women didn’t need to witness how we deal with unwanted visitors—law and all.
To them, we’re still the good guys, and we need it to stay that way if anyone wants a hope at them healing from their experiences.
All our little stunt bought us was an extra day. Twenty-four hours to come up with a legal reason to bar the sheriff access to them or submit.
Chaos needs to work his magic if he wants to keep Marty from interfering in his plans.
My gaze drifts to where Molly sits in the backseat of the club truck, squeezed between two adults.
Loki sits to her left, Jenna on her right.
I don’t know what the women got up to at Vanessa’s, only that they came back looking different.
I hesitate to say “better”—just… different.
Kathy wore a dress I’ve seen Vanessa in a handful of times, Darla a pair of jeans and jacket that gave her an edgier look, and Jenna?
She arrived in a long skirt slit to the knee, Chucks on her feet, and a fitted T-shirt beneath an oversized, fashionably torn sweater. On anyone else, it’d look messy. Unkempt. On her, she fucking radiates cool confidence.
Even if her eyes say otherwise.
I jerk my attention back to the road, hands fisted around the thin, vinyl wheel.
After that bullshit with Reno, I wanted to do something to lift Molly’s mood, and the idea struck the moment I laid eyes on what was for dinner.
The prospects try their best, but damn, some nights I struggle to identify what meat they have in the dish, let alone if I should be eating it.
I don’t know how to cook for shit, so there was only one option: burgers.
Now, here we are, five of us crammed in the club truck on our way into town to get a meal.
It started as Molly and I, until I realized I couldn’t keep an eye on Jenna if I weren’t near her.
And then when Darko caught wind, he invited himself along, making the mistake of announcing it in front of Loki, who then took the last seat.
Three Kings, a child, and the enemy. Cozy.
I grip the steering wheel a little tighter and relish the stretch of my skin across my knuckles.
Darko got to the vehicle first and parked his ass in the front, which means Loki happily slid in the back with Jenna—Molly the only thing separating them.
I glance in the rearview and make eye contact with my brother in arms. Asshole.
He looks away first, casting his gaze over Jenna with a wary frown.
He said he has no interest in her that way, but he also has no interest in leaving her be, which pisses me off the most. Why get involved and make things harder for me?
Does he not trust me to do the job right?
Does he think I can’t keep her from causing more trouble for the club?
From jeopardizing what we hope to achieve?
Has he been fucking watching me?
“You missed the turnoff,” Darko says drolly, eyes on his phone.
How he’d fucking know… But the guy’s right. I did miss the damn street we need. I take the next right a little fast, sending everyone in the back sliding to their left.
“I’d like to die with a full stomach, thanks.” Loki shoves the back of my seat.
And I’d like to kick you out on the side of the road. “Why. It’d make your meal a waste of money.”
He sighs. Darko smirks.
Jenna continues to stare out the window.
I don’t miss the way Molly watches her, glancing at Jenna’s hands every so often. Also don’t miss the way my daughter gently nudges Jenna when we pull up outside the burger joint and whispers, “We’re here.”
The Breed brat looks down at my kid. “Thanks.”
Despite preferring to be alone, Jenna hasn’t once told my daughter to go away when Molly’s incessantly pestered her with simple conversation. For that, I have to be grateful.
I kill the engine, gaze unfocused on the dash.
There’s a weird mix of feelings I can’t make heads or tails of, knotted up around my insides.
My pride wishes I didn’t have to deal with this—any of it.
Not tumbling headfirst for the deceitful daughter of the enemy, nor my own daughter’s unreliable mother.
But there’s another part of me—the piece I can’t name—that knows I’d hate it if they were to both vanish tomorrow, no longer my problem.
You’re a goner. I shove the door open and step out onto the street to draw a deep breath.
Until now, I’ve never cared about anything this much in my life.
Even when I tangled with the Amish girl, there was a certain numbness that accompanied the fallout.
I laughed it off—that’s what I do. I fucking laugh it off before conflict has a chance to get its hooks in me and I walk the fuck away to find something or someone else to fuck around with.
All I seem to do these past few days is walk right into the heart of the fire. For no other reason than to see myself suffer.
A fool would call that love.
“Ready?” Loki says to my daughter, offering his hand to help her out of the truck.
She takes it willingly, hopping off the running board and hitting the ground with a small slap of her sneakers.
I shut my door and promptly snatch her hand from his. He glares at me as though I’ve lost my mind.
Maybe I have.
“We ready to eat?”
I’m met with the enthusiasm of retirees watching their fourth off-key rendition of Christmas carols from the local school.
Darko crosses the street without saying a word, Jenna following close behind.
Loki rolls his eyes and trails the duo, leaving me to lead the only person in our group who gives a damn about the burgers.
“Can I get a milkshake, too?” Molly skips along beside me to keep up with my long strides.
“Sure.”
“Thanks, Daddy.” She tugs her hand from mine once we reach the safety of the pavement and barges past Loki’s legs to catch up to Jenna.
Darko scouts a booth table near the roadside to fit us all, and Loki snags menus from the service counter as we pass. I slide in last, Molly positioned to my right, Jenna to hers. Darko’s back on his phone, and Loki sits opposite me with the menu in front of his face. I swallow hard and grab mine.
A sigh punctuates the air to the right.
“Would you like a cheeseburger, hamburger, nuggets, or a mini pizza?” Jenna points out each option on the menu as she reads them to Molly.
Of course. Molly can read basic words, but not very quickly. Father of the year again.
“Hamburger,” she says. “And a strawberry milkshake.”
“Is that okay?”
I look right and meet Jenna’s questioning stare.
“She can have whatever she wants.” I get the feeling it’ll be one of the few times she does.
Jenna looks down, focusing on Molly again. “You get fries with your burger. What sauce would you like?”
“Ketchup.”
I stare at the menu, yet none of the words register. Swear I’ve read the sides list five times now. Fuck. Get a grip, boy.
“What you havin’?” Loki asks Darko.
“Same as always.”
Suave fucker slides out of the booth to go order for the both of them. Yeah, we’re good, thanks.
“What are you eating?”
Jenna sighs at my question. “I guess I’ll have the Waldorf salad.”
“It’s a burger joint, Freckles.”
“And I’m gluten intolerant.”
“Is that even a real thing?”
She glares at me over top of my daughter’s head. “Should we feed me a burger and find out?”
“Fine.” I lift the remaining menus and go line up behind Loki.
There was a time when there’d be at least two servers in here working the tables and taking orders.
But the economy has been rough, especially in small towns, and it was an easy way to save money by letting the serving staff go and making the customers do the work.
The weight of people’s stares is nothing unusual, almost a comfort as I wait my turn in line, gaze fixed on Loki’s patch before me.
Any normal day, and I’d search out every one of the judgmental fuckers, pull up a seat, and stare right back at them until they were the ones to shy away.
But I can’t be assed. Not when I’ve got a long night of wrangling two females ahead of me.
Molly needs her daddy to reassure her everything will be alright. And I need Freckles to reassure me I haven’t completely fucked our relationship beyond repair.
I’ve got a lot of apologizing to do and no idea on how to start.
Loki leaves with his order buzzer. I step up to the register and meet the blank stare of the young guy behind the counter.
“What table, please?”
Do my colors not give it away? “Same as the last guy.”
He taps our booth number onto the touchscreen. “And what would you like tonight?”
I recite the order on rote and then stash the menus back in their plexiglass holder.
He totals the meals, adds a tip even though there’s nobody to fucking earn it but him, and puts the transaction through.
And all the while my head’s lost in a cloud of Devil’s Breed making, imagining a world where Jenna was a part of that and somehow not at the same time.
How the hell did her mom keep her a secret when Jenna would have gone to the same school as the other brats? How the heck did nobody know?
Is that just another lie?
“Sir?” The employee holds my buzzer out to me, waggling it a little.
“Thanks.” I take it off him and book it back to the booth.
Jenna and Molly are deeply involved with the maze on the back of the paper placemat, the spot-the-difference image already dotted with pencil circles. Would they notice I was gone if I walked out, right here, right now? Probably when their food doesn’t show up.
“Winning?” I slide back onto the seat.
Neither woman answers me.
Loki’s stare burns in my periphery.
Fucking peachy.
“Here.” Darko slides Jenna a new phone without looking away from his. “It’s set up the same as the last one.”
Her gaze briefly flashes to mine before she responds to him. “How did you know?”
“Tracking stopped refreshing.” Darko looks up. “So I went and looked at the last known location.”
“It was an accident.” Her tongue softly wets her bottom lip.
He shrugs a shoulder. “Doesn’t matter a shit to me, bro. Just tell me next time.”
“Okay.” Her lithe fingers cover the device, and she slowly drags it toward herself.
There’s a resignation in her gaze, as though destroying that phone had bought her a glimpse of freedom by cutting the final tie to her father.
But there’s also understanding. Jenna can’t pretend his presence doesn’t still demand resolution.
That she doesn’t have an obligation to finish what she started—whether that’s continuing to be his puppet or making a clean cut from his control.
The buzzer beside Loki’s arm goes off, vibrating across the table. “That was quick.” He snatches it up and heads for the service counter.
“It’ll be fine,” I tell Jenna quietly.
She nods, pasting on a smile for Molly and clapping softly when my daughter finally figures out the maze. “Good job.”
“Look.” Molly proudly presents it to me.
I knock her cheek with the back of my finger and find a smile, too.
“Too smart.” I open my mouth to ask if they do puzzles like that at school when a growl and flash of movement in my periphery draws my focus to the front of the store.
The fuck? A pickup truck speeds toward the window, lights blinding me as the front end bumps up over the curb.
With no time to get out of the way, I twist my body to protect Molly—my arms around her—and lock onto Jenna’s startled wide eyes as the vehicle hits.
Glass shatters, people scream, and I can’t tell if the scrape of timber is furniture scattering or the truck mowing shit down. Motherfucker.
Something hard hits my back.
My ears ring.
One steadying breath, two, while I keep looking at the woman who shields my daughter also.
Tires squeal followed by the crash of something smaller as it smashes onto the floor when the truck reverses back to the street.
Jenna’s gaze shifts from mine, moving over my shoulder. I almost miss the whispered, “Holy fuck,” that falls from her lips.
“You okay?” I drop my gaze to Molly, tucked against my chest.
“Yeah.” She tries to peer around me, voice shaking when she asks, “What was that?”
I glance to Darko. He has his phone to his ear, half standing on the seat as though he’s ready to jump over the table.
“I don’t know. Stay here with Jenna, okay?”
“Okay.” Molly nestles further into Jenna’s arms, tucking her legs onto the booth seat as she cuddles the woman.
I turn and get to my feet, immediately wishing I’d just stayed at home and eaten the prospect’s fucking food when a spike of pain spears between my shoulders.
Glass lies in shards across the floor and furniture, the front window’s frame twisted and hanging loose in places, angry teeth around the edges.
I frown at the reason for my sore back—a section of the broken frame on the floor near where my feet were.
An elderly woman holds her bleeding head nearby; a younger man covers his right eye.
Furniture and food lie scattered, pushed aside amid people’s panic to reach safety.
There’s a middle-aged woman on the floor who doesn’t move.
Flames flicker from amidst the chaos. Shit.
Loki’s already at the heart of the damage, lifting the burning molotov cocktail from the floor to send it back out into the street.
The cook runs out from the kitchen with a fire extinguisher.
My ear still screams, high-pitched and angry.
And I’m not sure, but I think the back of my head may be bleeding.
What the hell have they done?
Darko ejects himself from the booth, knocking into me in his haste. “Did you see anything?”
“They fucking rammed a goddamn family restaurant.” We’ve done some sketchy shit in our time, but we’ve never willingly harmed innocent people like this. It’s sick.
The fucking Devil’s Breed don’t have a soul—I have no doubt they’re who’s behind this.
“Did you catch the plate?” Darko’s back on his phone, thumb flying as he navigates multiple message threads at once.
“Wouldn’t matter,” I say, starting toward the immobile woman. “It’s probably stolen.”
“I’m going to take a look outside.” He dashes toward the ruined window and jumps through the hole.
I come to an abrupt halt when two other people beat me to the injured lady.
Passersby mingle on the sidewalk, gawping at the damage. Somebody holds up their phone to record the fallout.
And I’m right in the middle of the shot. Fuck.
Reno gets a hold of the footage; it’s all over. There’s no way in hell I’ll ever see my daughter again.