Chapter 35 Grudge
GRUDGE
“There’s something utterly unsatisfying about leaving him breathing,” I say to Wraith as we walk out of the hospital.
Light snow swirls around us, and I can see it settling on the windshield of the truck as we cross the parking lot.
Wraith walks beside me, his expression grim. “We got his laptop, though, and he knows his position is so precarious he won’t go to the police. Wren can work he–their magic on it.”
“I keep tripping over that too,” I admit. “I’m guilty of making assumptions.”
“We’re just not used to it. Motorcycle clubs aren’t exactly progressive.”
“But I want Wren to stay.”
“That’s a quick decision,” Wraith says.
“Look at the support team we’re building around the club. Greer for medical. Lucy for legal. Why not have Wren for tech? It’s like an extra ring of self-reliance and protection.”
“My old lady makes a mean apple pie.” There’s humor in his tone.
“Your old lady brought you back to us from your serial-killer era, so she gets a pass.”
I unlock the truck and check my messages, smiling when I see one from Lucy.
Until I click on it…
Bug: Help. Dad’s home office. Adam from law office plus one. Hurry.
Bug: I love you
My blood goes cold.
“Shit, we gotta go,” I yell to Wraith.
We clamber into the truck, and I dial her number as I reverse out of our parking spot.
No answer.
“What’s going on?” Wraith asks.
“What we heard. That Adam dude. He was talking about De Bose’s home office. Not his work office. Lucy’s there. She says there are two of them in her father’s office and asked me to hurry to help her.” I slam my palm onto the steering wheel.
Once.
Twice.
A third time.
“Fuck. We even heard him say to De Bose, ‘You need to tell me where you put it,’ and ‘Look, I’ll draw your office. Just point.’ I thought he meant he was trying to find something in the law office. But I guess he meant De Bose’s home office…and that’s what Lucy was thinking, as well.”
I glance off the road, for a second, and see a voicemail Lucy sent earlier too.
And thirteen missed calls from Catfish.
“Hey, Daddy.” Lucy’s voice plays over the speakers. “I’m just headed to check out Dad’s home office. We decided there might be more to find there. Feel free to meet me there, or I’ll see you back at the apartment.”
Her sweet voice, the use of Daddy. God, my girl is with two ruthless men, and I can’t even start to think of what they might be doing to her.
The next message chills my bones.
“Where the fuck are you? Get to Lucy’s parents’,” Catfish says.
He hangs up. A second message.
“She’s there with her mom. Two intruders. The others are all on the way and I’m fucking stuck with Wren.”
Wraith grabs his phone and types furiously. “I’ll get an update. We’ll save her, Grudge. We always do.”
Buildings blur past as I push the truck faster. Traffic lights become mere suggestions.
Hold on, Bug. I’m coming.
“I just got her back, Wraith,” I say.
He slaps my shoulder. “I know. And we can save me ripping on you about how she calls you Daddy until after we find her.”
I remember the look in her eyes, this morning. Sleepy. Secure. Content. Like we had all the time in the world. She wanted me to climb back in bed with her, and I’m sitting here, wishing I did.
And praying I get the chance to do it again.
“Fuck you,” I say, but I’m glad that, just for a second, things are normal.
My phone rings, and I answer it.
“Grudge,” Atom says. “Where you at? I’m about twelve minutes from Lucy’s.”
“We’ll likely get there two minutes before you,” I say, swerving around some parked cars.
“Don’t like you going in without the full club with you.”
“Lucy’s in there,” I say, swerving into the middle of the road, praying vehicles just move out of my way. “I’m going in as soon as I arrive.”
“Fuck,” Atom mutters. “I knew you’d say that.”
Then, he hangs up.
Wraith checks the mag in his SIG. “How do you want to play it?”
“Straight in. They shouldn’t have fucked with Lucy.”
“Brother, we need more than that. There’s that fucking gate. How do we get inside? Do we alert them if they are already in there, or go in quietly? How did they even get in?”
“We don’t have time to get all those answers.”
“Catfish,” Wraith says, and I realize he called him. “How the fuck you know all this shit that’s happening to Lucy?”
He switches it to speaker so I can hear, and Catfish relays what Wren has been able to see. Two men came from the rear of the property. They’ve been inside for seven minutes. That he was on the phone with Lucy, but he heard a scream and then the call was cut off.
They better be praying, because if they’ve killed Lucy, I’ll kill them.
I’ll go on a rampage that will make Wraith’s look like a party.
“Can Wren open the gates?” I ask.
“They’re trying,” Catfish says, “but it’s not connected to the house’s main system. It’s unlikely to be open by the time you get there.”
A truck skids out into the intersection and pulls in behind me. Smoke flashes his headlights at me.
Wraith looks behind us. “Guess we just increased our odds.”
“Call Smoke. Tell him to take the right of the property and drive behind the garage to cover the back.”
Wraith dials and, while he’s waiting for an answer, he looks at me. “Why, what are we doing?”
“We’re going straight through the gate.”
Wraith looks ahead as Lucy’s parents’ home comes into view. “The gate?”
“Literally. Better put your seatbelt on,” I say to Wraith as I reach for my own.
He does as I ask, and I pray the bull bars mounted to the front of my truck live up to their reputation as I approach the gate at high speed.
“Fuck me,” Wraith says, shoving his seat back as far as it will go before tightening his belt. “Raven will kill me if you kill us.”
I glance at my VP. “Thank you for riding with me, brother.”
And I press my foot to the pedal, grip the wheel, and smash through the gate.
The black metal goes flying. The front of the truck crumples. Something crashes through the windscreen, limiting what I can see.
Airbags explode, slamming into us, and I lose sight of the road. Every part of me hurts as I’m thrown forward, and then, back against the seat.
Wraith mutters a prayer as the truck skids.
It’s a battle to bring it back under control.
“Deal with the fucking airbags,” I shout to Wraith as I try to force the deflating sack of air away from my line of vision.
Smoke pulls alongside me, and I see the flash of concern in his eyes before he realizes we’re fine and charges around the back of the house.
“Please tell me when you said the front door, you didn’t really mean it,” Wraith says.
I focus on the large door, with the glass panels flanking either side, that are up three shallow stone steps.
“You got four seconds to jump out if you don’t like it.”
“Remind me to get your fucking license cancelled when this is over.”
Steam hisses from beneath the truck hood. I guess the bull bar could only do so much to protect us.
“We got through in once piece, didn’t we?”
Wraith grabs the handle with both hands. “Yeah, but enjoy your reunion with Lucy, because I’m gonna kill you as soon as we have her.”
For a millisecond, I smile at one of my best friends.
And then, we’re both thrown forward, smacking into what little air is left in the airbags.
The car hisses, and jerks to a stop, and I kill the engine as I wince in pain.
Fuck!
“Never been more relieved a truck stalled out,” Wraith mutters. “Thought you were going to go through the front of the building too.”
Fear rolls through me, but I bank it down, because I need to get to Lucy. The scramble out of the wreckage and across the hood hurts. I feel for my weapon in its holster and realize I’m lucky I’m not more seriously hurt.
Wraith groans as he does the same, and as I look over at where he’s at, I see Atom’s truck pull through the wreckage of the gates.
And then…
The sound of a gunshot ricochets from inside the building.
My heart shatters.
“Lucy!” I cry, then run to the door. I smash the glass that runs down the side of the front door, and fumble around as glass shards cut my skin. My heart jolts when I find the lock release and tug on it.
The door swings wide open, and I stumble through it.
The stairs fly past in twos and threes as I charge up them. It’s an educated guess that she’s upstairs. She said her father’s office. The gunshot sounded like it came from above us.
The thud of Wraith behind me gives me confidence as I storm toward her.
Helplessness floods me. I have never been in the upper level of this home. I don’t know its floor plan. If I waste time checking the wrong spaces, Lucy could bleed out, or worse.
There are doors in the hallway, but only one at the end of it.
But there’s a second shot. This one more muffled.
So, I charge the door at speed, turning at the last moment so my shoulder hits it, almost slamming it off its hinges.
The scent of gunfire hangs in the air, and Adam stands at the foot of a bed, bleeding from a cut across his cheek, gun pointed at Lucy.
And Lucy’s on the floor.
Eyes closed.
Wes Granger lies on top of her, unmoving.
I take my shot, and Adam falls to the ground. But I miss his landing, because I grab Granger off Lucy and throw him behind me. A puddle of blood pools around his heart.
“Luce,” I cry, dropping to my knees, checking her face to see if she’s alert, before pulling her head to my chest. “Come on, Bug. Are you okay?” I lift her arms, move her around. That first bullet went somewhere.
Did it hit her? Is she punctured somewhere I can’t see?
“Luce. Daddy’s here. Please. Talk to me.” The last three words come out on a raw cry.
Then, Lucy bursts into sobs as fat tears fall down her face. “I knew you’d come.”
Those four words resuscitate my heart. “Always,” I say, gripping the back of her neck and pressing my lips to hers. “Are you okay?”
She looks over at Adam, dead on the floor, then gasps as she looks away.
“What did they do to you?” I ask, as more footsteps thunder up the staircase.
“They wanted me to go with them,” she blurts between sobs.
“But Catfish gave me a knife before I left, and I said I wouldn’t go with them willingly.
” She sucks in some air. “It bought me some time. We fought, and then, his gun was between us, and I managed to push myself away from him at the last moment but…oh, God. It hit him. Who is he?”
A knife. From my brother. That was the difference between life and death. Not sure how I’ll ever thank him.
“You protected yourself. The make-my-day statute gives you the right. And he’s Wes Granger, former president of the Rebels.”
“Adam.” Granger’s voice is laced with terror. “Fuck…you killed him…assholes.”
I turn for a second and look at Granger. Wraith is standing with his foot over the man’s bullet wound. Wraith has kicked the gun out of Granger’s hand and is holding his own weapon, pointed at him.
But still, Granger tries to fight and look over to the man we now know is his son.
“Lucy.” The scream echoes down the hall, and then, Lucy’s mom appears in the room.
“She’s fine,” I say, as her mom drops to her knees beside us.
“Everyone okay?” Atom asks, following her inside.
“Apart from the fact I nearly went through Grudge’s windshield?” Wraith asks.
Shade nudges Wraith from his spot and puts his own foot on Granger’s chest. “Go sit down,” he says.
I turn back to Lucy. “Tell me what happened, Bug.”
“They were looking for the files. And then, they said something about hurting me because you hurt that man’s brother.”
I stand, then help Lucy to her feet before pulling her tight against me.
“Your brother?” I ask Granger.
He tries to shove Shade’s foot off his chest, but Shade just stamps down harder, causing the man to wince. “My brother was…the attack on…Butcher. Prison.”
“Then, that means your brother was tasked with killing our president and, therefore, deserved whatever happened to him.”
Granger’s cheeks are red, but I can see the threat of tears as he looks over at his son. “This is Rebel territory.”
I shake my head. “It’s Outlaw territory. So, is this what it’s been about…all these years?”
Granger looks at me. “You hurt my family. I’ll hurt yours. It’s always been the way of things. And this is my fucking club. No matter what the charter says. No matter what Hooper says, useless fucking president that he is.”
Wraith blanches. “You had my wife and child killed.”
Granger nods, but it’s the action of a man who is making his peace with his fate. “An eye…for an eye.”
“A grown ass man gets injured,” Wraith says, his voice cold. “And in revenge, you killed a defenseless woman and baby. You gave the instruction to kill my daughter.”
The man’s hand drops away from Shade’s foot, and I tip my chin for Shade to release him.
Granger looks over at Adam, and then, his breath becomes thready. “And now, your club took my son. Looks like we’re even.”
Wraith’s face wrinkles in disgust. “He was a grown fucking man who knew what he was doing.”
Lucy stumbles a little, and I guide her to the bed. “Sit there, Bug.”
“No. I want to ask him some questions,” she says.
I’m proud of her for finding her courage. If she’s going to exist in my world, she’s going to need to be able to do that.
“Go,” I say.
“Why did you help my father set Grudge up, Granger?”
Granger closes his eyes and presses his hand to his wound. “Because he paid me a lot of money to do it.” He smiles sadly.
He takes a breath. It rattles.
Then, another.
“Who pretended to be Grudge?”
Granger wheezes but shakes his head.
My knees crack as I crouch in front of Granger.
“We know what the price is for this life. As men. As brothers. Yet, you’ve done nothing but go after our women.
The only way to set this straight is to make sure you can’t do this again.
But don’t worry, once we kill you, we’ll throw the two of you in the same hole. ”
Sweat beads on his forehead, and he’s already gray. Death will be forthcoming.
“No,” Lucy’s mom says. “The gun that shot Adam. Is it registered to you?”
“Why?” I ask.
She looks at Lucy. “Do you really love this man?”
Lucy looks at me with tears in her eyes and a steely confidence in us that makes me feel a million feet tall. “With all that I am.”
She looks back to me. “Clean the gun, press it into Adam’s hand, then hand it to me,” she says.
“What?” I ask.
“The gun that killed Granger was his own, from a fight with Lucy, right? And you killed Adam with that one. If you clean it, remove all traces of your fingerprints on it, can’t you put Adam’s fingerprints on it, and then, mine? I fought Adam for his and won.”
I shake my head. “I can’t let you take the fall for this, even if it is defending your home.”
Lucy’s mom stands. “My family owes you, Zach. It’s time you let us pay you back.”