Chapter 1 Leo
Leo
The plan not going as expected is an understatement and now there are brothers looking at my hands like they’re covered in blood.
I slide my boots on and lean over to tie the laces.
A strange sense of calmness settled over me during the last few hours, but it was a violent calmness that hasn’t faded as more hours have passed.
I placed the call to all chapters to ride hard to town after Dad left with Sparky to go tell Libby about Dex.
I didn’t care to hear what numbers we are down.
I will find out when they get here, and we can sit down and talk face-to-face.
Storm clouds hover above the club as I quickly glance out of the bedroom window, there is no sun shining as it should be.
I shrug into my cut, check my guns are loaded and slide them into the holster strapped to my chest. I check my knife is clipped into its sleeve around my ankle.
I grab my smokes and the two burner phones I've been using and go to leave when Holly wakes.
“You’re leaving,” she notes, eyeing the clock.
“I couldn’t sleep, got too much to deal with.” I cross the bedroom and lean on the bed, kissing her good morning. Yesterday is a blur and one I don’t want to repeat.
“Are you ready?”
The chapters should be arriving this morning ready for the funerals, and with the brothers come their old ladies.
She nods. “Are you?”
“Do you remember what I told you?”
“To keep my ear to the ground with the old ladies.”
“Old ladies gossip like crazy, watch out for the ones who don’t.”
“Will do.”
I kiss her three times, just in case I don’t see her throughout the day.
The boys are still asleep in Roman’s cot, and I quietly close the door behind me.
I tracked down Shane’s parents’ phone number, but they adamantly informed me they had no son.
I managed to tell them he had died but they told me he had been dead to them since the day he joined a biker gang.
I hung up, confused. Shane always made out he spoke with his family regularly, proving you never truly know someone.
Downstairs, I turn on the coffee machine for Holly so she doesn’t have to bother with it when she comes down, and then I let myself out.
Dad is sat out on his porch, staring out at nothing but destruction.
He doesn’t see me approaching and doesn’t acknowledge me as I sit on one of the porch chairs.
He's still smoking, finishing his cigarette and immediately lighting another.
I'm content to sit in the silence, but he eventually murmurs, “This is what the world looks like when you fight on the attack.”
It's a blow but I swallow it and refuse to let it show. “My plan was solid. How was I to know we had a traitor?”
He tuts and flicks the ash from his cigarette. “You’re talking like a solider. A president is always on the lookout for traitors. Not everyone who wears the patch remains loyal.”
Wringing my hands together, I grate out, “I ain’t gonna apologise for doing what I know is right.”
Dad stands and finally looks at me. “Then we’ll have to bury more brothers before this war is over.”
“Dad...”
“Nah, there ain’t shit you can say right now that I wanna hear.”
The front door closes behind him and I stand from the chair.
The tension in the air remains, though no one is around.
Blood is still puddled on the gravel. Thunder rumbles above and if rain doesn’t come, the last living prospect will have to get his ass out here and wash it away.
I kick at the gravel trying to cover the stains.
Dust kicks up and I waft my hand to clear it from my face.
Charred spots are dotted around the gravel from the petrol bombs, and I grit my teeth.
It might not have sunken in yet, or it may have, and I just feel nothing, but Slade, Dex, Shane, the prospect, I can’t think about them when there is too much to do.
Not one brother is up and awake in the bar and I move from room to room, down to the basement, and up to the rooms that used to be occupied with brothers, collecting all guns and boxes of bullets.
I dump them all on the tables in the bar and assess the situation. We're going to need many, many more.
Dad is wrong, I made the right call. He's grieving and not thinking about the bigger picture. He should be angry, desperately wanting to hunt down the traitor in our midst. As he isn’t in a position to do so, I will take it on for him.
I fall onto a chair and stretch my arms above my head. We don’t have a lot left to fight with. I'm going to have to call Luca and get him to bring more weapons.
“Daddy?”
My eyes spring open and Rayna is walking into the bar. I stand quickly and try to hide the mass destruction I’ve got spread out on the tables.
I sit on the opposite side of the bar, and she climbs up onto my lap.
“Why aren’t you still sleeping?” I ask her.
After Holly and I sat her down and told her about Slade, she cried until she fell asleep.
“I had a bad dream about Grandpa Slade,” she tells me.
Fresh tears fill her eyes and drop over her bottom lashes. I wipe them away, but don’t bother telling her not to cry. She can shed as many tears as she needs to.
“He was calling my name, but I couldn’t find him. It was so dark, and I couldn’t see him, I couldn’t see anything and then he was gone.”
“Sweetheart, it was a bad dream, that’s all. Grandpa went to sleep and now he’s with your mom. He ain’t in the dark, I promise you.”
“Do you know for sure?” she pleads.
I hate lying to my kid, but if it saves her a minuscule of pain, I can’t hate it all that much. Not today.
“I’m going to miss him,” she cries, going on to ask, “Can you take me to Grandma Kris’s?”
“Maybe you should wait a couple of days, give her some time.”
“She needs a hug. I need her.”
I find myself nodding and I stand, keeping her in my arms. Taking Holly’s car, I drive into town keeping my eye out for Hopper or his men. It's quieter than usual and by the time I pull up outside Kristen’s house, I've only seen three people around.
Zach answers the door, and Rayna runs inside while he steps outside. Kristen and I have an understanding of keeping our distance from one another. I light a cigarette while Zach lights one of his joints.
“How is she?” I ask.
“Do you care?”
“Brother, Slade has been an uncle to me my whole life. I wouldn’t wish this on any old lady.”
He sighs. “Sorry, it’s been a lot. She's surprisingly doing better than I expected but she’s broken.”
“I’d offer my condolences but I'm the last person she would want to see.”
He snorts. “Yeah, she’s already talking about banning the club from the funeral.”
“That ain’t gonna go down well, brother. In fact, it’s not gonna happen.”
“I know, I'm dealing with it.”
Taking a long drag, I exhale as I say, “I’m going to need you at the club later today.”
He sighs and I urge, “You need to be seen, brother. Someone wearing our patch got your dad killed, along with Dex and Shane, and a prospect. I want them seeing you, I need them seeing you.”
He tips his head and promises, “I’ll be there.”
Sparky's behind the bar pouring a shot of tequila. He looks like shit and I'm sure he’s still got Slade’s blood up his arms. He knows I'm here, but he doesn’t speak, and he doesn’t look my way.
The guns are still laid out and I backtrack home and find Holly playing with both babies.
“Is Rayna over at your parents?”
“Nah, she wanted to go see Kristen. I just got back.”
Coming over to me, she wraps her arms around my neck and kisses me. “I’ve got Bonnie coming to help set up the main house for the old ladies soon. She's worried about Sparky so I’m guessing she wants to be close by for him.”
“He’s over in the bar, he’s not looking great.”
“How long are you here for?”
“As long as it takes me to go around the house and collect the guns I've got stashed here.”
Frowning, she asks, “I thought you said the house was clear.”
“I lied.”
Dropping her arms, she goes to walk off but I stop her. “If you didn’t know, it didn’t hurt.”
“I don’t care about the guns. We don’t lie, or I thought we didn’t.”
“Hey, I'm sorry. Okay?”
She nods but I don’t believe this is over. Though it’s over for now. I manage to track down five shooters and take them over to the bar. I dump them with the rest.
JJ walks in and asks, “What’s the plan for today?”
“Now? Go round and collect all the guns you’ve stashed and bring them here.”
“I don’t have much left after...”
We both know after what.
“Whatever you’ve got and tell the others. The twins usually have an arsenal between them.”
He goes to leave when he stops and asks, “If you get the chance, can you go see Harper? Get her to try and eat something.”
“Sure.”
“But don’t say I asked you to.”
“Don’t worry, I won’t get you in trouble.”
He nods and then meets my stare. I ask, “Are you prepared for anything?”
“We’re dead if we’re not.”
I sit back out of sight as the Five Falls chapter rides in.
On first count, they are three brothers down.
Their old ladies follow them in, and Holly is there to greet them.
I swig from my beer and watch every single brother from every chapter, how they greet each other, how they look around, everything.
Mason drops on the bench beside me and lights a cigarette.
“How are we handling this?” he asks.
“Until I make a move, keep an eye on everyone without making it obvious. Let Myles know to do the same.”
“Will do.” His stare as hard as mine, he continues, “I’ve felt the club changing lately, it was bound to with the deaths we’ve suffered. Brothers gone that we’re used to seeing our whole lives, but after this, I feel like nothing is ever gonna be the same again.”
I agree. I find myself saying, “It’s not necessarily a bad thing. It'll be what keeps the club going for years to come.”
“I guess we’re going to find out.”
Grim walks over with Tack, more relaxed than the last time he was here. I stand and shake his hand.
“How many men did you lose?” I ask Tack.
“None. We were lucky.”
Lucky? Or preplanned?
“Yeah, you were. Get yourself a drink and we’ll talk later.”
He nods and walks into the bar.
“It’s fucked up about Shane. Where's his kid?” Grim asks.
“Holly’s looking after him.”
“What’s gonna happen to him? The mother ain’t in the picture, is she?”
I shrug. “Don’t know, his family ain’t interested. I'm focusing on the funerals at the moment.”
“It doesn’t add up.”
“What doesn’t?” Mason asks before I get the chance.
“How they knew we were coming.”
“You do know,” I say. “You know exactly what’s happened.”
His brow arches. “Is that why you’ve called everyone in? You think someone ratted out to Hopper?”
Shrugging, I say, “I called everyone in to lay our brothers to rest.”
No one but my own chapter has privileges to what’s going on inside my head until this over.
Brothers are making themselves comfortable in the bar and I settle in at my table. JJ hands me a beer and I instruct him to get rid of the club girls.
The sorrow on Grim’s face as he sits is palpable. He was closest with Shane out of all of us. I would put money on it that he has nothing to do with this business, but no one has my trust at the moment.
A few brothers laugh and joke over a beer, stretching out after their long rides. A few look like they need to sleep. It's the ones who are too quiet I focus on.
JJ returns and gives the nod we’re clear. Standing, I whistle, and brothers shut their conversations down.
“You’re all here to bury our fallen,” I begin, reminding myself that there is a time and a place for everything. “Before the funerals I want all details from each chapter on what happened the other night.”
“You know pretty much everything,” Tack calls out.
“Pretty much ain’t everything and I'm not asking, I’m telling you. I want to hear every detail, in detail, again.” I glance around and the brothers reluctance pisses me off. “If you’ve got a problem with that, I'm gonna start asking why.”
Attitudes change and I sit back down. Someone in this bar is responsible and I will find out who.