Chapter Twenty-three
Anastasia
After most of the guys leave, we settle in to watch a movie until Remedy comes through the door with a ball glove in his hand.
“Hey Rusher, want to go toss the ball?” he asks.
“Heck yeah,” Rusher bounces up, looking down at me. “Ma, you wanna come too?”
“I don’t have my glove. It was at the house,” I tell him.
Rusher looks disappointed before Pope comes down the hallway. “It’s a great thing that you’re staying with a bunch of ex-ballplayers. We have a ton of extra gloves. What do you say to a pickup game?”
Rusher’s eyes light up with pure childlike excitement. “Please, Ma, we can get Charlie, Ainsley, and even whatever brothers are left here. It would be awesome!”
I pretend to think about it before smiling at him. “Let’s go. I’m not on your team because I’m going to kick your butt.”
Rusher bolts to his room, grabbing his equipment, and we all follow Pope and Remedy out to the open field on the side of the clubhouse.
We divide into two teams, spending the rest of the daylight we have playing a very loose game of pickup ball.
By the time it’s too dark for us to see the ball, we’re all exhausted but happy.
As we make our way into the clubhouse, my phone vibrates in my pocket.
I pull it out and glare at the name on the screen.
I don’t answer the call but instead send it to voicemail. I instantly get a text message:
Them: Ignoring me isn’t smart.
Me: I don’t have any idea who you are.
Them: Don’t play fucking dumb, sissy. Pick up the phone.
Me: well not going to answer the phone.
Them: Look at the back of Rusher’s head.
Looking up, I see a little red dot on the back of his head as well as Ainsley’s.
Without another thought, I scream, “Gun!”
Everyone ducks low as the brothers usher us toward the clubhouse quickly. A shot rings out, and everyone screams, and my phone vibrates in my hand.
Them: that was just a warning. I will kill as many as I have to.
Me: What exactly are you wanting
Them: come to Auntie Lynn’s.
Me: give me thirty.
I’m going to meet her, but I’m not dumb enough to do it without someone knowing what’s happening.
The brothers are rushing around getting everyone covered and gathering us into one place.
I tell them I’m going to the bathroom before slipping out to go to Hermes’s office.
At the door, I knock and wait for him to let me in.
Hermes pulls the door open, shocked to find me standing there.
“Anastasia, what can I do for you?” he questions.
“I need your help.” I answer honestly. “The thing is, Raider is going to be pissed when he finds out, but I need you to help me with this so that you can send them my way.”
“No.” is Hermes’s only answer as he starts to close the door in my face.
I stick my foot out, keeping it from closing all the way. “Here’s the thing. I am here asking for your help because I’m trying to be smart. I will do this whether or not you agree.”
“This is why I don’t get involved with women anymore. They always get you in fucking trouble.” Hermes glares at me.
“I need you to send the cavalry to my Auntie Lynn’s house in exactly forty-five minutes.” I tell him.
“How exactly do you plan to get to your Auntie Lynn’s house?” Hermes inquires with a cocked eyebrow.
“I know you have a fleet of vehicles that either belong to the club or each brother has one to ride when they can’t ride their bikes. So, I was going to take one of those.” I say simply like this isn’t the craziest conversation I’ve ever heard.
“I don’t know why the brothers think Ol’ Ladies are worth the hassle,” Hermes grumbles, going into his office and coming back with a set of keys.
“Oh, I need a weapon.”
“No, absolutely not. No,” Hermes shakes his head wildly.
“My crazy-ass sister just had someone take fucking shots at people on your compound. We need this handled.” My anger rises in my chest.
“If you don’t get yourself fucking killed, Raider is definitely going to fucking kill me,” Hermes continues his grumbling.
“I knew you would see it my way,” I smile at him then head out the back door in search of the vehicle the keys belong to.
I hit the key fob, and the lights on a Ford Bronco light up.
I climb in, tearing out of the parking lot.
When I get to Auntie Lynn’s house, I look around, my stomach dropping when I don’t see anyone.
I park the car and stay inside, not brave enough to get out without having eyes on anyone.
Pulling my phone from my pocket, I send a text to Raider.
Me: It was my choice. I will always protect the people I love. At the end of this, it will either be me or her. I’m done letting her win ever again. I didn’t get to say it before, but I’m saying it now. I love you. Please make sure Rusher knows how much I love him.
Just as I hit send, there is a knock on my window causing me to jump and scream.
My sister is standing there. Where I would typically see a very well-polished woman and a put-together woman stands a woman with stringy hair, no make-up, and wearing workout gear.
She looks like a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs. I push the door open, stepping out.
“I’m here. What do you want from me?” I start not in any mood to play her game.
“I want it all. Don’t you get it? Ever since the first time Relic convinced me sex with his friend would show him how much I loved him. Or the night he broke my first rib when I fought against drugging Raider that night.” Shea is hysterical, but there’s something about her that’s just not right.
“Shea, for once in your life, fucking tell the truth. We both know that you don’t do anything you don’t want to fucking do,” I scream at her.
Her eyes lose all emotion. “It was all working just as I had planned. I even had Relic set up with his special toy. But that was never enough for him, or Jose, or even the Lucier’s Knights.
They couldn’t just let me do what I had perfected.
No, they wanted to be in charge of everything, and they got greedy. ”
“You are not making any fucking sense, Shea!” I shout at her.
“None of it matters. That is all you need to know,” she screams back.
“All of this—Auntie Lynn, Rusher, and Relic were for nothing. I’ve lost it fucking all, and now there is only one thing left to do.
Get rid of you, take Rusher, and all the money Auntie Lynn left you.
” She pulls a handgun from the waist of her pants.
I hold my hands up trying to placate her. “Shea, please, you really don’t have to do this. We can figure it all out.”
“Are you that fucking stupid? Without backing from the Kings, the cartel, or someone like that, I’ve got nothing.
No one will trust me or the girls I provide.
So, I’ll just take what is owed to me. I mean, as long as I have Rusher, the Kings will do everything I need them to.
” Her laugh is diabolical. “You’re the only thing standing in my way because Rusher and Raider will never let you go. ”
“Why Shea?” I ask her. “After everything I did for you, just let me go. I’ll leave and never contact anyone again.”
“You see, the will doesn’t transfer to Rusher until I can prove you died. And how tragic it happened while you were here mourning the death of your dear Auntie Lynn,” Shea wipes away a fake tear.
“And why would you be mourning my death?” A voice I never thought I would hear again calls from the shadows behind Shea.
She spins around, gun raised. “No, no, this can’t be happening.”
Out of the shadows step Auntie Lynn and a group of men in suits. Shea’s eyes go even wider as she looks between everyone.
“They said you were dead. That the fire was too hot and fast for you to get out since the fire started just outside of your room,” Shea spirals with the new revelation.
Auntie Lynn lifts a delicate shoulder. “Oh my dear Shea, as smart as you think you are, you still don’t get it. What is the one thing that talks?”
Shea growls, “Money. I’ve had your accounts checked. There is no way you had that kind of money.”
I stand there completely lost, still in shock at the fact Auntie Lynn is standing there like a ghost.
“Well, we can talk in circles all day. But alas, I have people I want to see and talk to. So now you get to pick. Go with my friends here and give them the information on every high-powered man that used your services or die.”
“If I give you what you’re asking for, I’m dead either way. So, is it even a goddamn choice?” she screams.
“I guess the choice is whether you die now or in the future,” Auntie Lynn’s tone is cold in a way I never thought she could do.
The sound of motorcycles coming up the driveway just adds to the insanity of the situation. They break the tree line.