46. Devil
Chapter 46
Devil
I rap my pen over and over against the table. It feels like it’s taking for-fucking-ever for the men to file in. I know it hasn’t, but right now it feels like it. I don’t have control here and that’s a feeling that reminds me too easily of the past—a past I’m doing my damnedest to put behind me.
Finally, Gunner, Fury, and a few of the other brothers file in. I rub the back of my neck, trying to work the soreness out. I still have issues with my muscles, then again most can’t believe I’m still breathing. I had a reason to live, though.
Torrent.
Damn I love that woman. She makes life sweet—even with that fucker Wolf still out there. I’m going to enjoy choking the life out of that motherfucker.
“What’s going on, Devil?” Fury asks, coming in and sitting behind me.
“It’s a lot. I want to wait until everyone?—”
I stop as Torrent comes in, her hand under her stomach.
“Angel, what in the hell? You’re supposed to be lying down.”
She huffs at me, blowing her bangs up from her eyes.
“If you had your way I wouldn’t be doing anything but lying in bed and eating, Logan,” she growls.
“You’ve been having contractions woman. You need to be resting.”
“I’ve been having contractions for a damn month. This baby is determined to drive me crazy, just like his daddy. Besides this is my family you’re discussing and I should be the one to explain it.”
“If you give birth to my boy while doing this bullshit, as soon as you’re able I’m going to tan your ass,” I growl, knowing that once Torrent gets something in her head, she’s not about to let it go.
“Bring it on, just keep your dick away from me. I’m swearing off of them after this. Your baby has been tap dancing on my bladder for too damn long.”
“I’ll make you regret those words too,” I grumble over the rest of the men laughing.
“Alright, lets come to order. What the fuck is going on? My woman and Ryan both freaked out at the mention of Wolf’s name and I need to get back to them. Torrent what are you doing here?” Diesel asks.
Standard rule has always been that women aren’t allowed in church, but I wasn’t about to be the one to explain that to Torrent. It’s not like she doesn’t know. She grew up in the club life, but if Diesel wants her out, he’ll be the one to tell her. Despite my Angel’s claim to the contrary, there’s no way she’s swearing off my dick unless I piss her off—and I’m not about to do that—at least not for this shit.
“I want to be the one to tell you what’s going on and ask for your help. I don’t want you doing it because a brother asked for it. I know I come with Devil now, but my past… it doesn’t.”
Diesel frowns almost as much as I do—probably because he doesn’t buy that fucking shit either. Once you’re property of the Savage crew, that’s it—past, present, future. We don’t leave our family hanging in the fucking breeze. It’s clear Torrent’s father, Dodger, ran a shitty club. He had to, or he never would have trusted that fucker Wolf in the first place.
“Fine. Let me have it,” Diesel orders, and despite Torrent trying to push me away, I make her sit in my lap. The last thing I need her to do is to have our baby while standing and drop the little guy on his head. She’s so ready to pop, that’s a real possibility.
“Before I went into the cellar…” Her voice trembles a little, as she reaches back, grabs my hand and holds onto it tightly. “Before I found where Wolf was holding Logan, I retrieved a letter my father had written. I never really got around to reading it. I mean, Logan and I had been through so much. I just really felt like opening it would unleash more misery and I needed to heal. Then, I just wanted to concentrate on Logan getting better and our baby…”
“I get it, Torrent,” Diesel says gently. “I take it you finally read the letter.”
Torrent nods. “Yeah… last night. Although, I made Logan wait until this morning to bother you. There was really nothing you could do and there was just no point in?—”
“It’s okay,” Diesel says again with a hint of a smile. I watch as he takes in the death grip Torrent has on my hand, and the way she’s trembling. My brother is smart. He’s picking up the signs of her panic and he’s doing his best to keep her calm. “What did the letter say?” he asks, and Torrent’s nails bite into my hand.
“I have a sister.”
“I don’t understand,” Diesel says, confused. “I thought there was just you,” Diesel answers, looking from Torrent to me. He’s understandably confused. If I had known about Torrent’s sister the club would have done everything they could and taken her in too.
“We didn’t know about her. Torrent thought she was all that was left after her brother died, Diesel… until the letter. ”
“I’m still not following. How did you not know about your sister? You lived with your father, right?”
“I did, but I didn’t know she existed. Apparently, my mother was seeing another man, by then my father knew the marriage was over, but he didn’t divorce her. He wanted to keep my brother and I close and if he had kicked her out, she would have taken us. Dad didn’t feel many courts would let an ex-con and member of a club keep custody of two little kids.”
“Probably wouldn’t have,” Fury grunts.
“So, the other man? He has your sister?”
“No… at least, I don’t think so. My father said my mom had become afraid of this other man and he helped her to go away and have the child. I remember Mom being gone, but she would disappear all the time anyway, so I didn’t think anything about it. I just remember her being different when she came back.”
“Different how?”
“Wilder… she drank a lot, she drank so much that… Dad wouldn’t let her be alone with me or my brother.”
“What did she do with your sister? Any idea?” Gunner asks.
“I didn’t even know she existed until I read the letter, but Dad said he tried to keep up with my sister, just in case I ever wanted to get to know her. He helped Mom place her in an orphanage.”
“I only have my mother’s name and the name of the orphanage, Diesel. That’s it… but…”
“Torrent honey. You’re family. We will get this mess with King and Wolf behind us and then we will definitely help you find your sister.”
“That’s just it, Diesel,” I tell him. “Angel, baby. Let me talk to my brother, you’re too emotional, it’s going to take you all day to get him the info he needs,” I murmur in her ear. She nods slowly, rubbing under her stomach.
“Somebody, please tell me something. I need to get back to Rory and Ryan.”
“Torrent’s mother was afraid of the child’s father. Dodger wrote he didn’t know who the fucker was, but that Layla—Torrent’s mother—did confess that he was a member of the club.”
“No offense, and you’re right to be upset, this sounds like a fucking soap opera, but we will find the girl. I’ve yet to see what in the hell is so urgent here, or what it has to do with Wolf.”
“We think the father is Wolf.”
“Motherfucker,” Fury growls under his breath.
“It makes sense. He bragged to Devil while torturing him that he slept with my mother and how he was going to have her daughter too,” Torrent adds.
“You really need to kill that son of a bitch,” Gunner says.
“That’s the plan. At least it is if I ever find the asshole.”
“I don’t?—”
“We can’t wait, Diesel. Don’t you see? If we know my sister exists, maybe Dad told Wolf? He thought they were brothers. Wolf could already have my sister. And if he doesn’t and he’s clueless, I still need to find her. I need to make sure she’s okay.”
“We’re searching for Wolf now, Torrent. I understand you want your sister, but we have our hands full. I can’t justify sending men off to find her right now. It would leave us too vulnerable,” Diesel says, and I can tell he doesn’t like giving that answer, but he does it just the same.
“I’ll go,” Fury responds. “Where is this orphanage?” he asks. Torrent gasps and jerks her head toward him.
“St. Augustine, Florida,” she answers.
“Fury, I can’t spare you. We don’t know what King is up to right now. I need all hands on deck until we do,” Diesel argues.
“I think I can give us some insight to that—at least a little,” Scorpion responds, speaking up.
“What do you mean?” Diesel asks, and all the attention in the room shifts from my woman to Scorpion.
“I was coming to you this morning, but you called church so I just waited. We’re still coming up empty on surveillance with King. I was pretty sure he went underground, but I’ve been monitoring any activity on Chul’s business holdings in the United States and I’ve been concentrating on anything that might be a red flag. It was a long shot, because I’m really only able to track the legitimate businesses, and that’s a small footprint, and full of red tape. But, still, it was worth a try.”
“And you got a hit?”
“As of last night, at midnight, Chul’s company, C.K. Holdings has rented a twenty-six room castle in Sevier County, Tennessee.”
“You’re fucking kidding me,” Fury growls. “That’s right in our backyard.”
“I think that’s probably the point.”
“A castle? Are you talking about that old resort outside of Gatlinburg?”
“That’s the one. He rented the entire facility, completely staffed, for the entire month beginning on the fifteenth.”
“Motherfucker, that’s just three days away,” Crusher growls, finally speaking up.
“What would Chul want in Tennessee? He doesn’t have a fight with us. It has to be King, using his brother’s purse strings.”
“That’s what I’m thinking,” Scorpion answers. “King is a shareholder—albeit a small one—in this company, so that makes sense.”
“I want surveillance on that fucking castle in place by tonight. Tap all communications going in and out and I want equipment close by so I can hear a damn fly buzzing on the inside,” Diesel growls.
“I’ll get on it.”
“My sister…” Torrent whispers, her body going tight.
“I can’t really spare a man, if Devil wants to go down to Florida?—”
“I’ll go. It’s just Florida, I can fly. I’ll be there, check out any records and be back before King, Chul, or who-the-fuck-ever is in place here,” Fury says.
“I’ll go with him. You need someone at your back,” I tell him. Diesel doesn’t look happy, but he nods his head yes.
“You can’t,” Torrent says, panicked.
“Angel, I’ll be fine and?—”
“ You can’t ,” she says, and I understand why even before she says it… because I feel it. “You have to stay here, Logan. My water just broke.”
Excitement, happiness and a little bit of panic grab me, as I pull out my cellphone and demand an ambulance.
“If you have this baby outside of the hospital because you’re too stubborn to tell me you’re in labor until you got Diesel’s cooperation, I’m going to throttle you, Angel,” I growl, picking her up in my arms, as she grips her stomach when another contraction hits her.
“When I’m able, Logan,” she huffs, stopping to take a deep breath. “I’m going to kick you in the balls,” she promises. “And then I’m going to bring your son in this world and make him promise to make your life complete misery for the next twenty years.”
For some reason I smile at her threat. God, I love her.