Chapter 23 #2
“I’m the VP of this club, you motherfucker. You want to screw her, be my guest—but the sun is up, which means the clubhouse is still kid friendly.”
“You see any kids around here?” he yelled.
“Does it look like I give a shit?”
“How ‘bout you take it down a notch, brother—it’s all good,” piped in Dog, obviously attempting to defuse his VP.
Twister glared at him and muttered, “How ‘bout you stay the fuck out of this. You were here. You should have said somethin’.”
Dog took a step back, biting his tongue, knowing Twister was right.
When Twister shifted his attention back toward Scorpion, he was turning to walk away. Twister pressed his palm square in the middle of the man’s chest and pushed.
“You’re not goin’ anywhere. We need to talk.”
“Funny how you think I’m inclined to do so after you chased off that pussy. Rumor has it, she used to be sweet on you. But as I understand it, you ditched her for Red.” A slow smirk tugged at the corner of his mouth before he continued, “Not that I blame you.”
Yet another statement Twister didn’t quite understand.
He ignored the comment and got to the reason he was there.
“What do you know that I don’t? What secret are you keepin’ for her?”
“Oh, I see,” he chuckled snidely. “Holdin’ out on you, is she?”
“Don’t fuck with me. What secret of hers is safe with you?”
His smirk stretched into a knowing smile before he replied, “Well, if I told you, it wouldn’t be safe, would it?”
Twister’s knuckles connected with Scorpion’s cheek before the man could react.
He hadn’t hit back the night before, but Twister wasn’t dumb.
Scorpion might have been pushing fifty, but he wasn’t weak.
If they were going to go to blows, Twister had every intention of giving himself the upper hand.
He was on the verge of swinging for a second time, wanting to strike while Scorpion was still recovering, but Bull’s voice from across the room stopped him.
“Hold up,” he called from where he stood in the open doorway, Maverick right behind him. “What’s goin’ on here?”
Scorpion laughed, and it pissed Twister off enough that he couldn’t hold back. He hit the man again, invoking more laughter.
“Tell me what I need to know before I beat the livin’ shit outta you,” he yelled.
“Surprised you’ve lasted this long as second in command with a temper like you’ve got,” said Scorpion, still feigning amusement as he wiped at his bloody nose.
He still hadn’t made a move to defend himself, and Twister was on the verge of hitting him again, but a hand on his shoulder distracted him. He looked back to find Maverick was no longer across the room.
Maverick shook his head once, but it was Bull who spoke next. He, too, had crossed the room while Twister wasn’t looking. Glancing between both men with a scowl denoting curiosity more than frustration, Bull paused before he settled his gaze on his VP.
“Fact of the matter is, you don’t have a hot temper. What’s this about?”
“Seems to me he’s worried about his pretty little redhead,” replied Scorpion.
Twister was so amped up he could feel his rage as if it was alive underneath his skin. He hated the way Scorpion talked about her—as if he knew her. But how could he? He was locked up before the bar was even built.
“If you don’t start talkin’—”
“Just tell the man what he wants to know,” muttered Dog.
Scorpion hesitated a moment longer, his eyes bouncing around the room. Twister didn’t shift his focus for a single second, which was how he saw it when the jailbird acknowledged he was outnumbered.
“Fine,” he said, wiping at his still bleeding nose a second time. “Told you last night, she’s wicked with a knife. Almost a decade ago, watched her kill a man with one. Little thing like her? Hell, it was a sight to behold.”
Instantly, the rage threatening to boil over inside of Twister not thirty seconds ago disappeared, leaving behind an odd hollow feeling as he tried to make sense of what Scorpion was saying.
“Phoenix killed someone?” asked Maverick, sounding as taken aback as Twister was.
“Where? Who?” Bull asked at the same time.
“Happened down in Cheyenne behind the bar where she used to work. Didn’t ask for details. Didn’t really care.”
Twister furrowed his brow. It didn’t add up—the story Scorpion told and what he witnessed the night before. Not completely.
“So, what?” he began, finding his words. “You watched it go down and that’s it?”
Scorpion was smirking again when he said, “Course not. I was a perfect gentleman. Cleaned up her mess.”
A weight heavier than a rock settled in his stomach, Twister somehow sure of the answer before he could find the words to ask the question.
“In exchange for what?” he bit through clenched teeth.
Now grinning, Scorpion replied, “Somethin’ tells me you don’t want me to answer that.”
Just as fast as his rage had vanished, it came back.
He lunged toward the man, ready to pummel him into the ground.
He landed only one punch before Scorpion took a swing at him in return.
He aimed true, the knuckles of his fist connecting just below Twister’s temple.
The blow was a hard one, but it didn’t stop the fight.
It was Maverick who did that.
“Hold on a minute. Let’s not forget what this is about,” he demanded. “Where is Phoenix now?”
The reminder that he didn’t know made him even angrier. Shrugging out of Maverick’s hold, Twister buried his fingers in his hair as he put a healthy amount of distance between himself and the bastard who sent his woman on the run.
She was in the wind, and he knew it.
That morning at her house, she wasn’t hiding in her room. She wasn’t ignoring him or shutting him out. She wasn’t there at all.
Rodeo. Mustang. Nobody could get her on the phone. He’d stake his life on the fact that she turned it off.
‘There’s so much you don’t know about me. So much no one knows.’
“Fuck!” he yelled as he continued to pace.
All at once, every hint she ever dropped began to pile up in his mind. He’d never felt so overwhelmed.
‘He’s not the biggest demon I’ve fought. Don’t feel sorry for me.’
‘I don’t—I don’t want to lose you.’
She hadn’t been talking about Scorpion’s return in the context of the club.
It was so much fucking bigger than that.
Yet, rather than running to him, fear had driven her away.
‘My house isn’t just my home—it’s my sanctuary...It’s the first place I’ve ever felt free.’
He stopped dead in his tracks, gripping the strands of hair in his fists even tighter. He needed to focus. He needed to think .
Where are you, baby?
It was one thing for her to run from him.
It was another thing entirely for her to run from home .
Twister was smart enough to understand every time she ran from him, what she was really running from was herself. Her desires. Her heart.
‘You’re mine, Ali-Mae.’
‘Yes, daddy.’
He knew when he was being manipulated. He wasn’t a fool.
He’d used and been used before. What he had with Ali was not that.
What existed between them couldn’t be faked.
She could run to the ends of the earth if she wanted—but no distance would change what existed between them.
And what existed between them was more real than he ever thought possible.
No truth— her truth—wasn’t big enough to break them.
She had to know it. He was convinced she’d felt it.
On the stairs in her house.
On his Harley in the park.
Where are you, baby? he asked himself again.
He felt sure she wouldn’t wander aimlessly.
He also knew Colorado was the last place she would go—which meant she hadn’t gone south.
Home wasn’t merely a place for her. It was a feeling.
‘You bought this big house so you’d have someplace for junk mail to get delivered?’
‘Grew up on a ranch, remember?’
He jerked his head up, dropping his arms to his sides as he looked to Maverick.
“I think I know where she is,” he said, not thinking twice about it.
It was a longshot, but it was all he had.
“We talkin’ days or hours?”
“If I’m right? Hours. If I’m wrong…” He let his sentence trail off as he shook his head, indicating he had one lead and one lead only.
“Alright. Let’s roll.”
“Mav, you’ve got Lane. Your ol’ lady will want you home sooner than later.”
He was already headed for the door. “I’m a father now, but that doesn’t make me any less your brother. I can spare a few hours. If you’re wrong, I’ll tap out.” He paused at the entrance, glancing back over his shoulder. “But if she really is your woman, you won’t be wrong. Let’s go.”