Chapter 23
I walk back into the clubhouse with Wrath, bruised and a little beaten, but he needed it. Freya shakes her head at me from the other side of the room, while Wrath taps the bar and asks Polly to get us a beer.
“Next time, no need to go easy on me.” He slaps my back as he takes a stool and starts to unbind his hands.
“I wasn’t goin’ fuckin’ easy,” I growl, taking the ice Polly's already got wrapped in a towel, and pressing it against my cheekbone. Wrath and myself both look over toward the girls when an ear-splitting scream comes from their table and my thoughts go straight to Freya, but she’s not who the scream came from, she’s up and on her feet, holding Alicia as she stares at the phone in her hand with wide scared eyes.
“Alicia, calm down. What happened?” She’s desperately trying to get some sense outta her and I rush over and take the phone, pressing it to my ear to try and figure out what's got her so shook. I hear more screams, and panic coming from the other end.
“Call an ambulance,” I hear someone cry out in the distance.
“Hello… HELLO.” I check the phone screen and see the person she was talking to is Saul. “Hello!” I yell again, hoping someone will hear me and explain what the fuck is going on. “Alicia, were you talkin’ to Saul? What did you hear?” I grab hold of her shoulder, probably a little too roughly for a woman in her condition, but she’s in shock and I need to know what she heard.
“Two shots. Loud ones… Then he’s, he’s not answering me.” Her eyes are wild and frightened as she stares back at me.
I got nothing comforting I can say so I let Freya take over, and press the phone to my ear again.
“Hello…someone?—”
“Hello.” A shaky voice comes from the other end of the line.
“What happened?” All my brothers have gathered around, with concern on their faces, waiting for me to relay back to them what the stranger says next.
“It just came out of nowhere, pulled up in front of him and…shot him.” The man sounds like he’s in shock himself.
“Is he alive?” I watch everyone around me tense up when I ask my next question.
“I’m sorry, we called for an ambulance but…” The man on the phone voice goes quiet and I shake my head at the others as a lump wedges in my throat.
The whole room is silent, even Alicia has stopped sobbing.
“Where are ya… tell me where ya are.” My voice comes out hoarse.
“We’re at a G&M, just off Route 5, Oceanside,” he explains, and in my head I thank him, the words just don’t come out.
“I know where he is.” I look across at Raze who’s looking at me as if he’s expecting me to tell him this is all a joke. Vike backs away from us all, shaking his head and looking like he’s about to throw up. And when all the others look to Raze too, I can see he’s all outta answers.
“Why are you all just standing here? He’s your brother… Go help him!” Alicia cries out, and when I turn my head back toward her I close my eyes before I speak.
“Darlin’, it’s too late. Saul’s gone.” I feel tears prickling my eyes when I open ‘em back up, and the scream she makes rattles my bones and triggers Vike to chuck his guts up all over the clubhouse floor.
Freya looks at me as she pulls her friend tighter to her body, and takes her weight to stop her falling to her feet.
“You said you know where he is?” Raze checks he heard me right and I nod back at him.
“Then she’s right. We go to him. Rocco, Finn, you stay here with the girls. Lock the gates behind us. No one comes in and no one goes out.” Raze starts heading for the door with his shoulders pulled back, his head held high. I can see he’s putting on a brave face. He has to, he’s our leader. If he crumbles, we all do.
“You take care of her,” I tell Freya before I follow him and my brothers out the door, stopping beside Vike on my way to grip his shoulder and check he’s up for this.
“Wait…” Freya rushes after me. “You're going with them?” She looks worried, far too worried for a girl to be, about her brother's best friend.
“Of course, I am.” I frown.
“You can’t, it’s too dangerous.” She looks at her brother as he kisses Eden and heads out the door.
“Ruckus, don’t go. Stop him from going too,” she begs me, clinging to my wrist.
“I’m sorry.” I shake my head and drag myself away, taking Vike with me. I wanna kiss her, promise her I’m gonna be okay. Instead, I have to leave her scared and comforting her friend, so I can go and say goodbye to mine.
The emergency services are already at the gas station when we get there, half an hour later, and we block off the road when we park up our bikes behind Raze’s and follow him toward the area the police have cordoned off.
“Authorized people only past this point.” The duty officer tells him, and as I look past his shoulder, I see the white, plastic sheet they have laid out over the body by the door. The body that I’m assuming belongs to Saul. What it don’t cover, is the pool of thick, red blood that's seeping from under it onto the forecourt.
“Listen officer, we ain’t got no intention of messin’ up your crime scene,” Raze explains as he lifts up the tape and gestures for us to go under it.
“Sir, you really can’t?—”
“Make this easy on yourself, son.” Raze dusts off his shoulder once we’re all on the other side of the tape, then ducks himself under it to join us.
We all form a semi-circle around the body that's lying on the floor, and when I look up at Vike it burns me inside to see him biting on his fist and trying to hold in tears. Saul was his best friend, the two of them did everything together, and I can’t even imagine how I would feel if I knew I’d never see Wrath again.
“Excuse me, you can’t be here.” A voice comes from behind us, and a woman who looks important heads toward us.
“Sorry, miss, but we’re havin’ a moment here, if you could just give us a fe–”
“This is a crime scene and you are contaminating it,” she cuts Raze off before he can finish.
“I said we were havin’ a moment.” Raze narrows his eyes on her. “You can give us a damn fuckin’ moment.” His voice grows louder, and seeing the thunder in his eyes and hearing the rage in his tone, she decides to take a step back. I figure from the way the guy in the suit who stands beside her takes a second glance, that it ain’t something she does all that often.
“Should I…” Saint gestures to the corner of the plastic sheet and when Raze slowly nods his head, he crouches down and pulls it back.
I close my eyes and count to ten before I force myself to look at my fallen brother. His eyes are wide open and the blood from the hole those fuckers put in his forehead has made a trail that leaks into the left one. The exit wound must be much worse, because that's where all the mess on the ground seems to be coming from.
We stand in silence, united in grief, holding in anger, and not really sure what to do next.
“What are you doin’?” I hear Sasquatch’s deep voice speak up and see two men pushing a stretcher toward us. “You ain’t takin’ him. You ain’t fuckin’ takin’ him.” He grabs the end of it and shoves it back at them, shunting them back and growling like a feral animal.
“I’m sorry but–”
“Did you not hear what I said?” Sasquatch grips hold of the guy and starts to rattle him, and suddenly Quinn comes rushing from the other side of the tape.
“Stop. Sasquatch.” She dips under his huge arm and places herself between them, stretching her neck to look up at him.
“Don’t hurt him. He’s just doing his job,” she whispers, placing both her hands on his heaving chest and eventually easing him down.
“What ya doin’ here?” Raze asks her, once Sasquatch has retaken his place.
“Peyton called, she told me what happened and that you guys were here and I…” She glances back to Sasquatch, who’s breathing like a bull trying to contain his emotion.
“The police are gonna want an autopsy,” she explains calmly.
“No, they ain’t takin’ him. He belongs with us.” Vike shakes his head, still looking at Saul, and I quickly throw the sheet back over his head, because I can’t take it anymore.
“I’m gonna speak to the investigator.” Quinn looks over to him and smiles sadly. “I’ll request they take him to Long Beach. He’ll be with me. I’ll take care of him,” Quinn assures him, before reaching up and stroking Sasquatch’s thick, dark beard with her hand. “Did you hear me, I’ll look after him.” She forces him to look at her and when Sasquatch slowly nods his head, she slides her hands away and nods to the guys with the stretcher.
Sasquatch quickly moves away, heading round the side of the building, and when we hear the sound of his fist connecting with brick, Quinn moves to go after him.
“Leave him be.” Raze grabs her arm and pulls her back, then looks over to the woman investigator and her partner. “That straight-assed bitch ain’t gonna let you dictate where Saul goes, she’d have seen the cut before we even showed up. She’ll know what this is, and if you start pullin’ your weight, she’s gonna assume you're involved.”
“I am involved.” Quinn snatches her arm back. “And that straight-assed bitch ain’t as straight as you think she is. I’ve worked with her before,” she tells him, before strutting her way over to her and proving her point.
“Raze.” Wrath is seething and I can tell by the way Raz’s chest falls that he knows what’s coming. “Time to take some action, Prez.” Wrath barges past him and heads to his bike, tearing off, while the rest of us watch Saul get loaded into the back of the coroner's van.
One by one, the brothers make their way back to their bikes and when I notice Vike sitting on the concrete next to the pool of blood, I head over to join him.
I don’t have any words for him, so I just sit beside him staring at the same spot on the floor.
“Last time those fuckers came at us, Saul took a bullet for me,” Vike speaks so quietly I barely hear him. “I told him I’d repay the favor someday.” He huffs a laugh, and suddenly outta nowhere that laugh turns into a gut-wrenching sob.
“It was my turn.” I look up to Raze who drops his head and walks away, and when Sasquatch comes back from the side of the building, knuckles torn open and dripping with blood, he sits on the other side of our friend and puts his heavy arm round his shoulders.
The clubhouse is eerily silent when we get back, the girls are sitting with Alicia, and I guess Finn and Rocco made up their differences because Finn is leaning across the table and kneading his shoulder to comfort him when we step inside.
Wrath is already here at the bar with a bottle, knocking it back, and when I make my way to the bar to join him, he pulls me away from the others.
“I gotta get outta here, I can’t sit and watch everyone do nothin’. I’m takin’ my girl home. You got Freya for me, right?” he checks, and when Eden steps up to us with a sad smile, she reaches in his pockets and grabs his keys.
“Don’t worry, I’ll drive us,” she assures me.
“Don’t go doin’ anythin’ stupid,” I warn him.
“I should take Alicia home.” I notice Vike is behind me, when I turn around. “One of us should call her parents.” I nod my head, unable to imagine how hard that's gonna be. Alicia’s difficult situation just got a lot more difficult. But we’ll all take care of her.
“Anythin’ she needs,” I tell him.
“I hear ya.” Vike takes a long, deep breath before he moves over to her, and when she throws her arms around his shoulders and breaks down, he grips her tight and remains strong.
Raze is already at the bar, drinking, and I step over and nod for Polly to pour one for me.
“You got a plan?” I ask, looking at the devastation surrounding us. Nobody could have predicted what happened today, it’s shaken us all.
“I can’t let ‘em get away with anythin’ else. We already look weak.” He shakes his head and massages the bridge of his nose.
“I tell you what you need to do…” Alicia drags herself outta Vike’s arms and comes at us. “You need to ride to the Reapers’ compound and tear off some fucking heads.” She points her finger in his face and he stares down at it in shock.
“ They did this. They found out and they killed him!” she yells.
“Found out what?” Raze looks as confused as everyone else around us.
“He was in love.” She drops her hand and takes a step back. “Like you, and Wrath, he… was in love with Ronnie Wilkins’ daughter.” She drops her words like a bomb and Vike quickly releases the hold he has on her shoulders like he just got burned from it. “They even have a kid together, and he was too scared to tell you.” Her voice goes weak.
“Holy shit.” Vike looks to me, then to Raze, with wide, shocked eyes.
“That’s why he’s dead. And because of you.” She turns her head to Tawk who’s sitting at the end of the bar. “He would never have gone to her house if you hadn’t turned up there this morning. You all know San Diego is crawling with Reapers. But he had to check they were safe because of your fucking threat.” Alicia rushes out the door before she bursts into more tears, and Raze nods for Vike to go after her.
“Well, that explains a lot.” Raze blows out a breath and tips his chin at Polly for another hit.
“There's no way Saul would have hooked up with Ronnie's daughter, he’s not that stupid.” I refuse to believe what I just heard, but then I think about the way he ran outta here after Tawk made his confession, and I have to admit, it does make sense.
I look over to the table and notice Freya’s not here anymore, and when Peyton heads over to offer Raze some comfort, I can’t resist asking where she’s gone.
Wrath did ask me to take care of her before he left.
“She went back to her room.” Peyton smiles, before she gives all her attention to Raze, stroking his neck and whispering something to him that ain’t my business to hear.
I don’t want to admit it, but I could do with a little of that comfort myself right now. I let my need for it drag me out of this room full of sorrow, crossing the yard and climbing the stairs to her room. What I’m about to ask of Freya crosses the boundaries of our arrangement, it shows her that I’m weak, though I’m pretty sure that she already knows that I’m weak when it comes to her.
I open the door and when I see her standing between stunt guy's legs, dabbing the cuts on his face, I roll my tongue in my cheek and shake my head.
“Ruckus!” She calls my name and chases after me, when I leave them to it. and I make it all the way to the stairs before she manages to catch up.
“Are you okay?” She drops her hand into mine and I quickly snatch it away.
“I will be.” I leave her standing in confusion and head for my bike, getting the fuck outta here before someone else fuckin’ dies today.