Chapter 27
Chapter Twenty-Seven
DREW
“Too bad you think you get a say in any of this, little lady,” Trigger told her, his smile making my stomach twist up like a thousand knives were stabbing the lining of it.
If Ayda got hurt, I’d lay my body at their feet, look up into their cold, angry eyes, and I’d tell them to take out my beating heart and put it in a fucking trophy cabinet for them to fawn over for the rest of their lives.
A victory! Look who took down the president of The Hounds of Babylon, once and for all.
Like any of that shit even mattered.
The 9mm pressing into my skull wasn’t enough of a deterrent for me.
I glanced up at my father, watching his face, studying it for just a heartbeat more than I should when I thought I saw the gentle fluttering of his lashes as his body swung in subtle waves. He was alive. I could feel it in my soul.
The Nav behind me pressed down harder, making sure I could feel every bit of the cold metal against my head.
On my knees, they thought I was helpless, but I’d been on my knees a thousand times before and survived.
I could take that gun out of that pussy’s hand without breaking a sweat, and suddenly it seemed worth the risk.
There was just something I needed to do first.
“Trigger?”
He spun around slowly, the movement smooth and controlled. His eyes were wide as he looked down at me, the master of the universe, while I looked up at him, temporarily helpless in his eyes, my club at his mercy.
“I’ll fight,” I told him, ignoring Ayda and her wishes.
“If that’s what you want me to do, I’ll fight for her happiness.
I’ll fight for all of them. If that’s what gets you off, and if that’s what all this is about…
” I glanced around at the altar, the flowers, the ropes around the edges of the setup, and at the chairs he’d lined up for some private viewing.
“I just ask one thing first, before any of this happens.”
Travis turned his intrigued smile upside down, and he tilted his head to one side.
I held eye contact with him for an uncomfortable amount of time, not blinking, watching his every twitch, his every fluttering of confusion he struggled to hide behind a fake smile, and I watched the way, as time went on, his shoulders relaxed, as though he didn’t have to be on high alert with me on my knees in front of him.
Then I moved quickly, dodging to the side so fast that the guy putting all his weight down on the gun against my head stumbled forward, losing his footing enough for me to bring the edge of my palm down over the gun he was holding and watch as it fell to my feet.
There was no scrambling, no plea for survival, or any poor timing on my part.
I had that gun in my hand the second it bounced, and then I jumped up on my feet, ignoring the weapons that were moving closer around me, and I pressed that fucking gun against The Nav’s head, holding myself upright as I glared right at Trigger.
“Do not fucking underestimate me throughout any of this,” I told him, my jaw tense, and my eyes murderous. “You might know what you’re doing, but I can assure you, I do, too.”
“Always so dramatic,” Travis smirked. “You never disappoint, Tucker.”
“I never miss a shot, either, so bear that in mind when you’re fucking with me, Travis.” I raised my brow—jaw tight.
“Noted.” Trigger tipped his head in acknowledgment before he took a step closer to me.
“But my men never miss either, and you’re currently outnumbered three to one.
Unless you want me to give the signal for one of mine to put a bullet in one of yours…
” He held out his hand for the gun in my grip, waiting patiently.
I glanced up, looking at my brothers.
Slater was furious, his face set to thunder.
Jedd looked more patient, a calm having washed over him that only Jedd could ever carry in such circumstances.
Kenny was weighing up how to help—I could tell by the way he was looking in every visible corner of the warehouse, checking the high windows, scoping out the place.
Moose was, even under the circumstances, waiting for my instruction, and Deeks…
Deeks looked fucking sad as he stared at me, the oldest of us all, tired and worn out with this side of life as much as I was.
I thought of Harry.
I thought of Pete, too.
And then my eyes found Ayda’s as I slowly let my shoulders sag and held the gun out for Travis to take from my grip. He knew what I could do. I’d had my way for a minute. Now it was time to play his games.
Once the gun was in Travis’s hand, the Nav I’d taken out groaned and got to his feet, stumbling to the side before Travis jerked his head, effectively dismissing his own brother.
The guy left, having failed his club, and I saw the anger in the way his fists curled in and out beside his thighs as he begrudgingly walked away.
“Brothers,” Trigger called to his men. “Bring them closer.”
Jedd, Slater, and the rest of them were pushed forward, and hisses of cuss words thrown back at The Navs came from each and every one of my guys, as the Navs tugged them back sharply, making them freeze in place behind the row of white chairs that had been lined up in front of the altar.
Trigger turned to Ayda.
“Unfortunately, this isn’t going to be pretty for you.”
Ayda scowled at him, turning up her lip in disgust. “Fuck you.”
Travis huffed in response, and he signaled to one of his men. Ayda was grabbed from behind, her upper arm used to drag her to the altar where my father was hanging, blood still dripping in slow falling, lengthy droplets from the corner of his mouth.
There was a desperate need for me to cry out and tell Travis to leave her alone; she was pregnant. But I knew men like Travis, and I knew they would use that as even more leverage.
Travis came closer, so there was barely any room between us. “I have a proposal of my own to make to you.”
My scowl was immediate—silence my only response.
“You’ve done a lot to piss me off, Tucker.
You and your merry band of fools don’t need to look for trouble, that much is clear.
It finds you. You’re incapable of living a quiet life, of keeping your head under the radar, of being a true tactician and a worthy outlaw.
You let your emotions sit on the surface, which lands you and those you love in trouble at every turn.
If you keep that up, you’ll be dead before you get a chance to walk your pretty little lady down the aisle. Or she’ll be dead because of you.”
I swallowed hard, unable to look away from him, my heart beating wildly and fists curling down by my sides.
“But I also see you have potential to be something greater than what you are now.”
“What the fuck are you talking about?”
Trigger’s smirk grew slowly. “I’m a big believer in survival of the fittest. Natural selection, shall we say.
I think those who die from their mistakes deserve to die.
Those who are weak have no place on this earth.
Those who fall too easy don’t deserve to get back up.
I want to hate you, Tucker. A huge part of me does.
I’ve had many dreams of bathing in your blood and being the one to tie you up in chains like Cortez managed to do, and I’ve thought about standing over your grave with a smile on my face.
But then I thought about why I wanted that.
Why did I want you dead, beside the heat you tried to put on my club?
Besides the way you seemed to think it was okay to mock my brothers?
Besides the fact that you messed with my drug trade in Babylon, and how you put us under the microscope of the likes of the ATF?
And once I’d put all those things aside, that’s when I came to the honest conclusion that I hated you because a part of me feared you.
You may wear your heart on your sleeve, and that may make you weak, but it makes you reckless, too.
Reckless can be deadly.” He grinned like the evil motherfucker he was.
“I like deadly. I want deadly on my team.”
“Over my dead body.”
“That may be an option.” He turned to Ayda.
“Or hers.” When he spun back around to me, he pressed his lips together and raised his brows.
“We could make this a marriage of both clubs, Tucker. If you prove yourself to me, if you do exactly as I say, we could eventually work together to create something Texas has never seen before. I’d protect you. ”
“At what cost?”
“All the evidence you’ve planted against us concerning Owen Sinclair and Mayor Walsh.” He paused for dramatic effect. “And a little show of strength from you, dear president.”
I glanced at my father and Ayda, side by side. I saw every flicker of pain Ayda was feeling and the way her eyes were pleading with me not to agree to any of this.
Closing my eyes to find some strength, I turned back to Trigger and opened them slowly. “What do you want me to do?”
“Fight,” he said simply. “You and your club. Show me you’re worthy of our allegiance.
Your men against mine. We have the ring set up.
We have spectators. This is everything you need, right?
You did used to fight in the underground if I remember correctly.
You’re used to these kinds of do-or-die battles, no?
” His smile broke free again, and I knew exactly where the fucker was going with this.
Pete. The fucker was referring to Pete’s death.
“Did Cortez show you Pete dying, too?” I asked through gritted teeth.
“Who do you think pulled Cortez’s strings?
” he countered, raising a brow. “Everything he did was because I manipulated him into thinking he could do it successfully. My mistake. I made an error in choosing The Emps. I never put them to the test. I never found out if they were truly worthy of being associated with us. I won’t make that mistake twice. I won’t choose a weak club again.”
My body shook as his words sunk in. My limbs trembled, and my jaw was about to break because my teeth were grinding together so hard as I stared into his creepy fucking stare.
He’d been responsible for Cortez’s actions?
Which meant he’d been responsible for so much more than I’d ever imagined. And now he wanted my club to fight against his so that we could prove we were worthy of his supposed loyalty.
The game had been flipped on its head, and now the rage rolling through my body needed an outlet.
Rolling my shoulders, I shrugged slowly out of my cut, never taking my eyes from Travis as I pulled it in front of me, folded it carefully, and then laid it out on a chair just a few steps away.
I began to lift my T-shirt over my head, sliding it off my arms as carefully as I could before I tossed it to the side, ignoring the grunts and quiet protests of my brothers around me.
I was focused on one man and one man alone for now, and that man had never looked more satisfied with himself than he did right now.
“Each fight goes to the end,” I told him calmly. “Until the other man can’t get off his knees and he has to be dragged away.”
Travis nodded. “And which Hound would you like to offer up as your first sacrifice?”
I shook my head and flexed my fingers out before I curled them into fists. “There won’t be any more sacrifices in my club.”
The audible groans and gasps from my men had to be blocked out. I was too focused on the narrowing of Trigger’s eyes.
“Are you suggesting…?”
“That I fight every man you’ve got? Yeah.
I am. If someone else is going to die for my MC, it’s going to be me.
No more sacrifices. Come and test my strength.
Come and find my weakness.” I raised my chin and glared at him, waiting for my chance of revenge on everyone I’d ever loved and lost. For every man behind me with a hound on their chest, and for the man bleeding out in front of me who’d brought me into this world.
Mainly, I wanted revenge for my girl, and for the misery that this motherfucker had brought into our lives when all we ever should have been doing was loving one another and living life.
“I can’t decide whether you’re brave or stupid,” Trigger whispered back at me.
“Both.” I sucked in a breath and rolled my neck to the side. “Let’s go.”