Chapter 2
WHITE BOY
Parking my Harley out front of Jade’s, I don’t bother knocking when I enter through the front door. All the lights are off, and the scent of bleach hangs heavy in the air.
My stomach sinks as the constant niggle that’s been bugging me all day grows.
Something’s wrong.
Jade hasn’t cleaned in months.
Why does it also smell like roast in here?
My pulse pounds like a drum as I search everywhere for her, knowing her car is here. Plus, I checked her location before I left the clubhouse. We’re all synced for safety reasons, so her phone is also here. When I find it plugged in on the kitchen counter, that’s when I hear it.
A sob.
I follow the sound, knowing whose it is before I reach the back deck, where my mom sits, without her wig on, in a polka-dot bathing suit.
“Mom. What the fuck is going on?” I growl and kneel by her, resting a hand on her slender shoulder.
“It’s Jade,” she blubbers and sips her drink from a pink flamingo straw, staring over the dark water, not at me.
“What’s Jade?”
“She’s…” Mom trails off on a broken hiccup.
Getting frustrated by the intoxicated answers, I jostle her shoulder. “She’s what?”
“It’s the day.”
Jesus Christ.
“What fucking day?” I growl, steal the drink from her hand, and chuck it into the night, not giving a shit if it upsets her. She needs to tell me what the hell is going on.
Turning her head to look up at me, her eyes are almost swollen shut as a waterfall of tears and snot pours down her face. “She made me promise.” With a shaky hand, Mom points to the far side of Jade’s pool.
Oh, fuck.
Twisting my mom around by the shoulders, I rip my phone from my jeans pocket and shove it at her chest. “Call Blimp. Now.”
Within seconds, I have my cut and boots off before I jump into the water.
I fucking knew they were up to something. Things have felt off for months, but in the past week, Jade has acted differently. Nicer, even. She started to seem a little more like her old self.
Reaching the far end of the pool, I dive below the water to find her wrapped in something, but I can’t see shit in the dark. I feel around, and when I find what must be weights, I rip each of them out of the water and toss them over the side, untangling what I can of the endless rope as I go.
It feels like hours, but it’s most likely just seconds until I pull an unconscious Jade from the bottom.
Water runs out of the sides of her blue-tinged mouth as I cradle her against my chest and rush to the deck where Mom is standing, shaking like a leaf as I hoist Jade onto the wood, then pull myself up.
Dripping water everywhere, I immediately start CPR, not knowing how to do it, but I try anyway.
Compressions on the chest, then dumping her onto her side, where I pound her back.
“Wake the fuck up. You don’t get to die.” I shove two fingers down Jade’s throat to induce gagging.
Nothing happens.
Water continues to trickle from her mouth and nose as sirens wail in the distance.
“At least you did one fuckin’ thing right.” I scowl up at my mother, knowing she must have been the one to call for real help.
Knees knocking together, she wrings her fingers in front of her. “I’m sorry. I promised.”
“Yeah. And so did I. I promised I’d protect her, and that’s what I’m fucking doing.”
The rumble of motorcycles fills the night air, arriving moments before the ambulance. Blimp bounds up the steps. His heavy steps shake the deck as he wraps his arms around my mother and curses up a storm at the unconscious body of my best friend dying at his feet.
I shake her shoulder, not giving a fuck how rough I am. If she dies, it won’t matter anyhow.
Another pound to Jade’s back, and she coughs. The sweetest relief washes through me as one cough turns into two and then three, followed by an agonizing groan before she vomits water and alcohol all over the deck, and I rub her back through it all.
When Jade’s done, I carefully turn her onto her back. Those stunning green eyes, with lashes matted with water, blink up at me as her chest heaves for air, and her lips fill with color.
“You fucking bastard,” she croaks, then breaks into a rough coughing fit.
I smile.
I know it’s a dick move, but I do. Their plan was foiled, and now I don’t need to parent a teenager on my own, while my best friend is cremated or buried six feet under.
Leaning over the pain in my ass, I cup the back of her neck and stare straight into those angry eyes. “You don’t get to die before me. You hear me?”
“Fuck. You,” she snarls between coughs.
“What? You love me?” I taunt, and Jade huffs. “Oh. Wait. You’re sorry you almost made me a single father?” I finish with a low growl, furious with her. Furious with myself for not seeing this sooner. Furious with my mother for not doing what’s right.
Two men with a stretcher join us with a horde of my brothers at their backs. I move out of the way to give them room to work. We can discuss this later once she’s checked out.
Jade glares at me the entire time. Her black hair makes her look like an adorable, drowned rat as it sticks to her head. Her pale, tattooed skin is still tinged blue, but she’s alive. That’s all I care about.
From the moment they put her on the stretcher, to when I follow them to the ambulance, and they slide her inside, I get a death glare. When I climb in to ride along, refusing to let her out of my sight, I wonder if I’ll catch fire and burn to a crisp from the heat of her rage.
My leg bounces on the short journey to the hospital, but I don’t take my eyes off her, not even when the loud rumble of my brothers’ tailpipes follows us. I catch them out of the back window, staying close. I’m grateful—for them, for their support, and for their patience with me.
It’s been over a year since Jade and my mom were rescued from that warehouse.
A year of me keeping an eye on her and Hunter, supporting them, and dealing with her wrath.
Because she’s angry. With men. With life.
With me. I’m always in the way. Always cleaning the house, cooking, and making sure everything is handled.
I’ve stopped going on runs for the club, even though we’re at war.
I’ve neglected my girlfriend. It’s a goddamn miracle she’s still dating me at all.
When we arrive at the hospital, I hop out first, dripping water from my sodden jeans as they roll her in. Knowing I need to give them space to do their thing, I beg off and find my brothers as the doctors assess Jade.
Big, my prez, is standing outside the emergency department's doors. “No, Sugar Tits, you aren’t coming,” he snaps, talking to his old lady on the phone. “We’ve got it covered. I’ll be home when I’m home.”
Blimp pulls up in Mom’s car, and she darts out of the passenger side. I snatch her around the waist before she gets past me.
“I need to see her,” Mom demands, frantically reaching for the doors as Blimp leaves the car idling out front and Gypsy jumps in to park it for him.
Shaking my head, I haul Mom into her man’s arms, so he can deal with her. I don’t have time for this shit. You don’t get to sit and watch your friend try to kill herself and then barge your ass through the doors to see if she’s okay once I saved her.
Nobody is going in there but me.
Not the Sacred Sisters.
Not my fucking mother.
Not the brothers.
Nobody.
I don’t care what Jade wants. She lost that privilege when she decided the world was better off without her. It’s not, in case you were wondering.
When Big finally gets off the call, he clasps me on the shoulder. He doesn’t say anything. He doesn’t have to. I’m standing outside an emergency department, soaking wet, with no shoes on. That says enough, doesn’t it?
Fuck.
Tipping my head back, I thread my fingers behind my neck and heave a sigh.
That’s when I let myself feel. To let it sink in.
My heart aches. It’s heavy and painful in my chest, twisting and boxing against my sternum.
I almost lost her. Hunter almost lost his mom because I wasn’t paying attention.
I wasn’t vigilant. I didn’t push her to try different medications.
I didn’t force her into more therapy. I did this.
I let my best friend suffer, and I couldn’t fix it.
A knot lodges in my throat.
Fuck.
I swallow hard, and it doesn’t move.
My mom carries on like a madwoman with Blimp, swapping between sobbing and fighting him to let her see Jade. The brothers give me space to breathe and don’t do the shit women do—ask too many fucking questions.
Where do we go from here?
How do I fix something like this?
Jade was raped. Repeatedly. They broke her.
I’ve been giving her time to put the pieces back together. To glue the broken bits where they belong. But it didn’t work, did it? She almost died.
Fuck!
Tears burn my eyes.
She almost died.
Jade.
My best fucking friend.
The woman who gave me money when I mowed her yard as a teenager.
The woman who watched me learn to ride a Harley on the road in front of our houses.
In case you were wondering, it was a shitshow.
I was a wobbly, knee-knocking mess of a teen back then, and Blimp was too chill when he was attempting to teach me.
In hindsight, I should have asked Dallas or Tripper, or someone other than him, for help.
Jade was the second person to ink me.
When Pixie, one of my brother’s old ladies, moved to the mother chapter and opened her tattoo shop, Jade went from working with douchebag men I couldn’t stand to an all-woman-run parlor. Watching her art grow has been incredible.
And she almost took all of it away.
From Hunter. Me. The sisters. My mom.
Scrubbing a hand down my face, I blow out a breath and look at Blimp, hugging my mom as she strokes his long, gray beard to calm down.
“Take her home.” I notch my chin at them.
Mom’s back goes rigid. I know she’s about to argue, but Big steps up, towering over all of us. “We’ll address this tomorrow,” Prez says, speaking to them before he turns to me. “You gonna handle all this?” He gestures to the hospital doors.
“Yes.”
Big hums. “We’ll keep Hunter in your room for the time being.”
“Thanks,” I reply. “He’s at his friend’s tonight. Can someone pick him up tomorrow? But don’t tell him what happened. I’ll do it.”
Big clasps me on the shoulder and squeezes before letting go. “Whatever you need, brother.”
I offer him a tight smile—grateful for his support, but the guilt… damn… It’s a bitch.
How do you tell a teenager their mom doesn’t want to be here anymore?
Hunter has grown up so much since his mom was kidnapped and shaped into this new person. The old her is gone.
And I miss it.
I miss our playful banter.
I miss sitting on the couch with Hunter, watching cartoons.
Not that he does that much anymore. Unless it’s anime, and even then, it’s not the same.
We were buddies once. Now he’s grown. Sure, we’re still buddies, but it’s not the same.
Not when you’re cleaning crusty tissues out of his trash in his bedroom. At least they make it into the bin.
Fuck.
I’m stalling.
Saying goodbye to my brothers is easy. Kissing my mom’s cheek and promising I’ll call them with any updates leaves a hollowness in my chest.
When I make it into the hospital, alone, they’ve already moved Jade to a room for overnight observation. A nurse meets me at her door.
“She doesn’t want any visitors,” she whispers, resting her hand on mine to keep me from pushing the handle and going inside.
I nod. Just once.
Tears well in my eyes, and my nose burns. The nurse, knowin’ I’m about to lose it, escorts me down the hall and into an empty room for families. That’s where she leaves me to fall apart.
And I do.
Collapsing onto my knees, hands covering my face, tremors rack my body as I sob.
For Jade.
For Hunter.
For not protecting her.
For letting this happen in the first place.
Fuck.
Fuck.
Fuck.
That night, I remember it well. We had just saved a bunch of trafficked kids from Remy and his trafficking enterprise. We were at a farmhouse in the middle of nowhere when we couldn’t get ahold of Mom or Jade. Gunz got a call that Kit had been taken and lost his shit.
We spent what felt like years trying to find them.
One dead end turned into another dead end until we found the warehouse, where we then lost Runner, one of our brothers. Our women were tied to chairs after being raped for weeks because we couldn’t reach them soon enough.
A choked sob lurches out of my throat as I hang my head and let the truth tear me to shreds.
I’ll fix this.
I don’t know how, but I will.
One day, she’ll smile again—a genuine smile. One day, Jade will stop hating me, and she’ll be okay.
One day.
Fuck.