Chapter 20 #2
“You? No. You couldn’t even plan a simple house fire. Professionals take weeks to form a plan, to learn patterns of their victims, and they’re good at covering things up. You just like to set shit on fire and call it a day.”
“Couldn’t I learn?” he whined, my teeth grinding with annoyance.
“They don’t just burn down empty houses, Ty. They burn anything and everything, and in a lot of cases, there’s people inside. They’re like a special type of hitman.”
“This is simple though, right? We just douse the place in gasoline and light it up.”
I sighed, opening the car door. “You follow me and don’t do anything without being told. You get to light the match though, okay?”
He climbed out and moved to stand beside me, and I could see the flicker of something wild cross his face. The guy wasn’t close to manic, but something unhinged and desperate clawed at him, fighting to get out.
“Hey,” I said sharply, grabbing his chin in my hand to force him to look at me. “No rogue bullshit. I’ll only keep you out of trouble if you do as you’re told. If you go off script, I’m not saving your ass.”
“I’ll only light what you point at. Hurry up,” he begged, his lighter already in hand.
I snatched it as I released him, dropping it into his pocket.
“Relax and act normal. You can’t just walk around with your lighter out. If you can handle this, maybe I can call on you when I need a fire started. Got it?”
“You mean that?”
I grinned, patting his shoulder. “What are friends for?”
“You admit we’re friends now?” he joked, following me as I locked the car and started walking down the street.
“You’re like a pesky little brother. You’ve grown on me.”
His entire posture and facial expression changed, a spring in his step that wasn’t there before. It would’ve made me laugh if it wasn’t so fucking sad.
I’d always thought him and the guys had it all, seeing their partying playboy ways for years as they grew into adults, but spending so much time with Tyler had shown me that it was all a mask, and only those he trusted got to see the real him.
He didn’t want anything from me other than my company half the time, and I could appreciate how cool he was being about me and Rory.
I could trust him, and that was something rare these days.
We made sure no one saw us as we made our way into Liam’s house, and thankfully, Tyler stayed by my side the entire time so I could keep my eyes on him. I knew he wanted to do as he was told, but addiction was a tempting monster.
If he had a problem with fire, the temptation could get to him and make him do something stupid before we were ready.
The house had been cleared out of any Psychos’ belongings and Liam’s personal shit. We’d scrubbed the place pretty good, but setting it on fire would definitely fix any future issues from arising.
I’d already brought gasoline here days ago, so I knew everything was ready to go.
“Here,” I said as I grabbed some gloves from the kitchen and tossed them to him, making him frown.
“Why do I need to wear these?”
“Just in case. No trace, remember? Don’t touch anything, other than the gasoline and lighter. Be careful not to get it all over yourself too. Once you’re done, we’ll step outside where it’s safe and—”
“But I want to see it go up!”
“I’m taking you somewhere to watch it, promise,” I answered, motioning for him to hurry up.
I could see why Caden was worried about him. The little shit turned into a fire demon, the joy on his face something I’d never seen from him before.
He grumbled when I forced him back outside, but his pupils dilated like they did when he was high as he took the matches from me and lit a few, tossing them through the open window and watching as the fire sparked to life.
I couldn’t help but chuckle as he beamed at his handiwork, his hand reaching out as if to touch the flames.
“Hey, firebug. Let’s go so we can watch it. This might be the shitty side of Ashburn, but the cops are still fast here,” I explained, grateful when he left with me without too much argument.
He was jittery the whole way back to the car, his eyes glancing back constantly to watch.
I knew we could see the house from the rundown sports stadium, so I headed there, not having to tell Tyler twice about being able to sit on the old bleachers.
He scrambled to the top and almost fell over the damn edge, a wide smile on his face as he took in the glow a few streets away as fire trucks and police arrived on scene to try and put it out.
The roof was already caving in, erasing any evidence of Rory’s crimes with ease.
“What happens when they start asking around for Liam?” he asked as I joined him.
“Made it look like he left. Forged paperwork stating he was moving out and terminating our lease agreement. Sent some texts from his phone to some of us that said he’d been wanting to go and track down his dad. It should look like he left to find him.”
“Won’t the cops think you offed him then? You can’t just leave the crew, right?”
“You watch too much TV, man.”
“If that was true, I know for a fact some of you wouldn’t still be in,” he said seriously, finally turning to look at me. “Have you heard from Diesel or Rory?”
“I’ve left them alone. Today’s rough on D, and he really needs some uninterrupted grieving time. Her birthday is definitely easier for him to handle than the anniversary of her death.”
“As much as I can respect that, the Soldiers won’t give a fuck if he’s grieving. Check in so we know they’re okay,” he said firmly, staring at me until I pulled my phone out to send a text.
Slash: Just checking in.
Rory: No trouble. I might have to drive him home though. He brought whiskey.
Slash: Let me know when you’re leaving. Meet me at my place, he can crash with me.
She sent me one of those irritating thumbs up emojis that would get her ass spanked one of these days, and I turned the phone to show Tyler that they were okay.
“Should we head to them? If he’s drunk—” he started, but I winced.
“He doesn’t like us seeing him break down. He seems more open with Rory, which is why I sent her with him. A good cry and talk will fix him.”
“If they run into trouble?”
“You underestimate Diesel and Rory. Diesel can sober up fast when he needs to, and Rory’s getting trigger-happy. If they need help, they’ll call.”
We hung out there until the flames vanished, then we went to the Shed to switch the cars around.
Skeeter wandered out before we could get into the Mustang, his eyes on Tyler.
“What have you two been up to? Why do you reek of smoke?” he asked, knowing we’d been up to no good if we had one of the other cars to hide our identities.
“Handling some shit for Rory. Where have you been?” I asked, knowing he’d been avoiding Rory and the guys since her punishment.
They’d talked on the phone a little and been texting, but he couldn’t face her.
Midterms had been a blessing because they’d been too damn busy to really notice our lack of presence.
“I got back from Fairview an hour ago. Yoyo heard some shit from one of the other guys in his cell block. Soldiers are looking for the one and only Max Donovan.”
I cursed, raking a hand through my hair. “What for?”
“He had no idea. Just wanted me to know my girl might be a target thanks to her father. Again,” he sighed, looking exhausted. “You going to tell me what you were burning?”
“Liam’s house.”
His eyes narrowed, suddenly looking awake. “You took Ty?”
“In case you haven’t noticed, he’s also dating the same girl as you. He has a right to keep her safe,” I replied firmly.
“Why do you care so fucking much? You should’ve come to me. We talked about this.”
Tyler took a step forward, lifting his chin to stare Skeeter down.
“This isn’t just crew business. This is about keeping Rory safe. He’s right, she’s my girl too, and I like burning shit. It made perfect sense that I went with him.”
“You know Holloway doesn’t want you—”
“He’s not my fucking dad, Skeet. None of you are,” he snapped, and I stepped between them just in case the little shit decided to throw hands.
“We can talk about this later. We’re heading to mine. Rory’s bringing Diesel there soon since he’s too drunk to drive,” I explained, and I thought the asshole was going to punch me over it.
“Wait, why’s she with him?” he demanded.
“Because the love of his fucking life died and now he spends her birthdays alone. Figured this year he might find some joy in her company while he grieves. I know you don’t like it, but they have a good friendship.”
“He’s the fucking reason she got hurt,” he growled before he could remember we had company.
Tyler glared at us, his voice low. “Her face? She said it happened in the cage. That’s not true?”
“It’s crew—” Skeeter started, but Tyler shoved him.
“Fuck that. When it comes to her, it’s not crew business. Was she taken again because of him? Did the Devils do that to her face? Are—”
“I did it,” Skeeter gritted out, silencing Tyler's rant. “I didn’t want to, but she forced my hand. We have rules. Diesel told her where I was the morning she found out about Gunther. She showed up at Wet Dreams while we were there for a meeting, waved a gun at Archer’s right-hand, then waved it around at me here afterwards.
My guys wanted her blood, Ty. I wasn’t going to let anyone touch her. ”
“So you fucking beat her? How does that make it any better?”
“Because,” I said with a sigh, knowing he’d never understand but wanting to try anyway.
“If the crew had handled it, she wouldn’t have been walking afterwards.
They would've beaten her bloody, then killed her if she’d gone for help.
Skeet could punish her enough to keep them happy, but not enough to cause permanent injury. ”
Tyler laughed, the sound dry and humorless. “So she should thank him?”
“She’s the one that made him do it. Even she knew it was the better option.”
“That’s why we haven’t seen you? Too gutless to see what you did to her face?” he spat, Skeeter’s jaw clenching.
“You guys have been busy with—”
“Since when have you let being busy get in your way? Hell, you usually just break in and get in her bed. You punched her and basically abandoned her, you piece of fucking shit. She trusted you to take it easy on her and even understood why you did it, but you couldn’t check on her once?”
“Slash did. I couldn’t, and neither could Diesel. The crew—”
“Of course Slash checked on her. He cares about her more than you ever will,” he threw back, turning and yanking open the Mustang door, sliding into the seat, and slamming it shut once he was inside.
Skeeter watched me with questions in his expression that I sure as fuck wasn’t about to answer, and I patted his shoulder.
“I’ll get him out of here. Diesel’s staying with me tonight, so I’ll send Rory to you when she drops him off.”
“I have the meeting with—”
“Brick can do it. Take the night off and spend some time with Rory. He’s right, you know? The least you can do is see her,” I murmured.
“Kind of sick of people cutting me off mid-sentence today,” he grunted, putting his hands in his pockets. “I don’t usually give a fuck about hurting people, and my bedroom activities are different. Seeing her face makes me feel almost ill.”
I chuckled, giving him a small smile. “That’s just your humanity coming out.
You should be happy to still have some of it left after everything we’ve done in our lives.
I mean it, brother. Spend the night with your girl.
She’s healing fine, and she just wants to spend some time with you.
I know the Shed isn’t that safe for her, but bring her around tomorrow.
Her punishment was handed out, so the guys can’t do anything to her now.
Show them who she belongs to so they don’t forget, and make sure they know she’s not scared of them.
Some will have something to say, but others will respect her for it,” I replied as I headed towards my car.
“Slash? Thanks,” he called out, making me smirk.
“Gotta look out for my brother and his hot piece of ass.”
He snorted but gave me a wave, and I knew I had to calm Tyler down before Diesel and Rory showed up, or we were in for one hell of an evening.