Chapter Twenty-Four
TWENTY-FOUR
KYRA
The undeniable crack of a gun echoes through the alley outside.
Davis winces, his dry palm covering my mouth while we wait for the confrontation to end.
I considered biting his meaty flesh and hopping my ass to the door to get to Jinx, but the Devil’s Breed outnumbered him when Davis dragged me in here, and I didn’t want to risk complicating things.
But now there are more voices. One I recognize as Chaos, but the other is a mystery. I’m not sure how many more Kings arrived, but I’m fucking glad they did.
The thought that Jinx might meet his fate because of me damn near had me vomit on Davis’s parquet floor.
“Holy shit,” the idiot mutters, dropping his hand from my mouth as carnage breaks out in the alley. “We need to leave.”
“And go where?” I hiss-whisper at the guy. “Do you plan on walking me down the sidewalk like this? With my hands and feet tied together?”
Besides, there’s no fucking way I’m leaving until I know Jinx is okay. I haven’t heard his voice in the brawl yet, and while I’m relatively sure the gunfire came from one of the Kings, my heart still beats like a hummingbird’s wing until I know for sure.
“What the fuck are you doing associating with them?” I ask. “Is Pits your fucking brother?”
He grimaces. “Can’t choose family.”
No, you can’t. “You can choose how you deal with that, though.” His brother might have picked the wrong path in life, but why the fuck did Davis follow him? “What were they going to do with me?”
His gaze flicks to me, then back to the door to the alley as something slams against it. “It doesn’t matter now.”
“It fucking does.” I shuffle my feet toward the door.
“What are you doing?” he hisses under his breath. “Get back here before you draw them in.”
“Oh, shut up.” I wriggle myself to the door and then press the side of my head up against it. The voices are a little more subdued, too muffled to make out. I can’t tell if it’s safe.
“I knew this would turn to shit when I saw you,” Davis muses to himself. “Goddamn knew it.”
“Not much help that is now, is it?” I turn back toward him and shuffle over. “What was Pits talking about? Seven what?”
He lifts his gaze to mine, remorse clear in the peak of his eyebrows. “You don’t want to know, Kyra. Take this as a close call and then get yourself the hell out of Temperance as quickly as you can. The future isn’t so bright around these parts anymore.”
“Tell me, Davis.” I bend at the waist to level our gazes.
He shifts on his torn chair and draws a deep breath. “The Devil’s Breed put girls into the sex trade. That’s all I’ll say.”
“Unwillingly, I guess, considering they’re halfway through kidnapping me.” I lift my hands. “Any chance you’d like to take these off?”
A deep holler pierces the door, the crash of things in the alley being displaced as another brawl breaks out. Davis and I freeze, watching the fire exit for any sign they’re coming in. The noise quiets down again, and I turn back to the fool. “Cut me free, damn it.”
“Not yet.” He glances at the door. “It depends on who comes through at the end.”
“You’re that afraid of your brother.”
He looks at me, silent. I guess so.
“Why didn’t you tell my dad about this?”
He shrugs. “By the time it got bad enough that I wanted out, I knew it was too late for me. Your father would put me in jail, too. If the Devil’s Breed didn’t get to me first.”
“Fuck, Davis.” I wriggle backward to lean against the corridor wall. “You have kids of your own. Why get involved at all?”
“If you haven’t crossed the line to help family yourself, then I can’t expect you to understand.”
We wait in silence, the occasional shout coming through from the alley. Thankfully, there’s been no further gunfire.
Moving back to Temperance to take care of Mom was the plan. Return to the quiet life and regroup. Find the peace amongst the gentle goings on of a small town.
Sure. That worked out well.
“I’m sorry you got dragged into this.”
I ignore Davis’s attempt to make things right and continue to stare at the intersection of the wall and ceiling opposite.
The second I heard Jinx come down that alley, my heart sank.
I’ve kept him at arm’s length. Unsure about what he is now and what he stands for.
But I guess I never gave his role as Vice President the full consideration it deserved.
Where would Temperance be without the Kings of Anarchy? Overrun by the Devil’s Breed? Somebody worse? To keep the evil out, we need evil of our own. The community can’t realistically expect the Kings of Anarchy to operate within the bounds of the law without losing to clubs like the Devil’s Breed.
I’m no better than Mrs. Tallomore. Full of opinions about what they do, without taking the time to fully understand why.
A screech of tires draws my focus to the door again, the faint sound of a vehicle passing Davis’s shop soon after. The alley falls quiet. Seconds tick by without further disruption.
“Do you think it’s okay now?”
I glare at the guy. “How about you go look since you’re the one with full use of your limbs.”
He sets his mouth in a firm line and then rises, brushing off his pant legs before he turns for the fire exit. Davis stalls at the door, his hand resting gently on the lever as he appears to gather his wits.
“Be a man, Davis,” I taunt. “The kind of man you are when you help steal women.”
He draws a deep breath and then cracks the door.
I wait for it. For the moment to backfire. For his head to snap back, blood to spray, his body to fall to the floor. But it doesn’t come.
Instead, Davis pulls the door wider, shoulders visibly relaxing as he steps into the light. I shuffle forward, wriggling my torso side to side to try to see around him. “What’s happening?”
“Thank God you came,” Davis says to whoever stands before him. “I didn’t know what to do other than keep her safe.”
Ooo, that asshole. “Keep me safe?” I holler. “You fucking dog.”
Davis stumbles to the side, shoved out of the way.
I melt to the floor. Thank God.
Jinx crashes into the narrow corridor, gaze roaming over me and lingering a beat on the ties around my wrists and ankles. “Fucking hell, Kyra.” He drops down before me and extends an arm behind him, gesturing with curled fingers to Chaos, who steps in second.
The Kings of Anarchy president swiftly hands Jinx a pocket knife, which he then uses to release my binds. The pressure points throb with the sudden return of full circulation. His massive hands gently lift each of mine in turn, checking the red welts from the plastic.
I can’t stop looking at the puffy split on his lip. The scratch that runs down the side of his face. The blood spritzed across his shoulder, which I don’t think is his.
“I should have stayed at the cafe and called Janis to say I’d be late.”
He shakes his head, gaze stuck on the spot where Pits slapped me, and then twists to look up at Chaos. “This will complicate things.”
Complicate what? I glance between Chaos’s legs and spot someone lying on the ground. Someone in a Devil’s Breed cut. Yeah, more than that already will. “What happened?”
“What needed to.” Jinx pushes the hair from my face. “Are you okay to walk?”
I nod. “Can you help me up, though?”
“Always.” He offers me a hand, helping me ease myself to my feet. Now that the adrenaline has worn off, my body feels like soup. I gather up enough strength to move toward the alley and put one foot before the other. He stays close behind, hand to my elbow the whole time to help me outside.
Davis catches my eye when I step into the afternoon light.
“You need to find out what he knows,” I say, staring at Davis before I shift my attention to Pits’s static form. “Because that was his brother.”
Chaos frowns, looking between the living man and the very dead relative on the ground. “Interesting.” He jerks his head at a crazy motherfucker with inked-out eyes and facial tattoos. “Leave that to you, yeah?”
The sideshow freak nods, seemingly pleased at being tasked with the job.
“I’ll take you home,” Jinx says, pulling me closer so that I can lean on him.
“No.” I shake my head. “Dad will lose it if he sees me like this.” I lift my hands and check out the angry marks that will take days to fade. Let alone how my face looks. “Can I go back to yours?”
Chaos locks his stare on Jinx, silently vetoing the idea.
Jinx sighs. “As much as I’d love that, it’ll make things worse.”
“She can go to Vanessa’s,” Chaos offers. “I’ll let her know.” Their president walks away to make a call.
I stare at Pits again. Totally deserved it. “What do you do with him?”
“Crow will take care of that.”
I look to the other Kings assembled in the alley and spot a tall and broad guy with jet black hair who lifts his hand in greeting.
“I was so worried, you know.” My focus slides back to Pits, drawn to the raw honesty of the situation. “What if it were you?”
Jinx tugs me tighter, wrapping his hand around my head to block my view when he places a kiss on my head. “Thought the same thing, darlin’. I thought the same damn thing.”
His heart beats rapidly against my shoulder. Hell of a day.
Hell of a wake-up call.
“I’m sorry I ever let what you do get between us.”
Jinx switches tact, sliding his hands beneath my arms to lift me against him. I wrap my legs around him to save from falling, his hold on me keeping me close to his hip as he walks.
“You’ll doubt me a thousand times over before we’re through, Kyra. And you’ll have a reason to every damn time.”