Chapter Twenty
Arthur
Romeo
“Who’s coming in for church?” Ajax folded his hands over his stomach and leaned back in his chair. Tyr, Slash, Zee and Ajax sat with me around a table we often used for poker in the Clubhouse’s main gathering area. The table was now bare, with the exception of a few coffee mugs and a sticky bun Slash had scrounged up. Usually at midmorning, the place was as silent as a tomb, but today there were a couple prospects hard at work stocking the bar and moving extra tables and chairs in, and about half a dozen mamas tidied the place up in preparation for the upcoming business and festivities. “What’s the roll-call?”
Tyr glanced at him. “All chapters, including the ones in Wisconsin and Michigan.”
“Hail, hail, the gang’s all here,” Slash quipped around a bite of sticky bun. “Remember the good old days when we started out on our own, just the Original Four and a bunch of guys who didn’t know their throttles from their dicks? It was just a handful of us, trying to live our born-to-be-wild dreams.”
“You guys started out with ten or so and expanded to ten times that amount just within the city limits,” Zee said absently, frowning down at a sheaf of papers he held. As the recruitment officer, Zee was the man who knew where all the moving pieces were and what they were capable of. “Plus we’ve got about a hundred or more coming in from their various chapters. Even Locust from Ann Arbor is coming in with his crew, and they’re traveling through a blizzard on their side of the lake.”
“They probably heard we had sunny weather and decided they needed to work on their tans,” Slash said, then winced. “Oh, shit. I just imagined Locust in nothing but a banana hammock, and now I wanna puke.”
“You want to puke because you eat shit like that instead of real food,” Zee said, nodding at the half-eaten sticky bun.
Slash waved the bun at Zee. “This isn’t shit, Dad. Shit is the package of Twizzlers I’m gonna eat after this.”
“Call me Dad again. I dare you.”
“All I’m asking is if we’ve got enough warm bodies coming in to make a lasting impression,” Ajax cut in when it looked like Slash was opening his mouth to do exactly that. “Are we little boys playing at war, or do we have more numbers than just the hundred or so brothers we currently have in town?”
“The head count I’ve got is around two hundred,” Zee responded, while Slash’s smile did a vanishing act. Apparently the term little boy hadn’t landed well with him. “As I was telling Tyr earlier, with that many coming in, we’re going to be filled up at the Barracks for the first time in this chapter’s history. We’re almost too popular for our own good.”
“Hades only wishes he had that kind of problem,” Tyr murmured, cradling his mug in his hands. “All our intel points to his numbers being down while ours are going through the roof. He needs a big win to get his club back on track, so he needs this war. It’s now a matter of survival for him.”
“That explains the ham-handed attempt to kidnap my Shy Girl right out of the diner,” I said, and the memory of just how close those fuckers came to taking Shiloh away from me iced me over so bad it hurt. If she’d followed her instincts and rabbited out of there when she saw Marvel, she would have launched herself right into Hades’s grasp. And then… “If they’d gotten a hold of her, I would’ve stopped at nothing to get her back. No matter the outcome of that kidnapping attempt, the First Blood rule was inevitable, leaving Hades to claim he’s just defending himself against a rogue chapter.”
“We got played good and proper, that’s for sure. If it hadn’t been Marvel getting his face smashed in for trying to touch what isn’t his, it would’ve been something else.” Tyr shrugged, clearly unconcerned with the past. “The old man’s been at this a long time, so he’s a past master at playing the game. That’s why we need to put him down once and for all. This war’s probably the best shot we’ll get at him, so I’m not going to let this opportunity slip by without taking care of my uncle once and for all.”
“I’m sure Hades has that same mentality,” I said, looking into the future and seeing nothing but blood. I couldn’t wait. “Dangerous family you come from, Tyr.”
“Oh, Hades Colgrave is as dangerous as they come.” Tyr looked around the table to make sure he had our attention. “Let’s not forget why we separated from Hades and started our own club. His way of doing things is all about chaos, and might makes right. Especially his might. He has no loyalty to the people he calls brothers, because he doesn’t see them as equals. He sees himself as their king. He thrives on pitting his own people against each other so they’re too distracted to challenge his way of running things. He gives no thought to the safety of the Gravedigger families, because they’re a bunch of nobodies to him. His only thought is to be the last man standing, no matter how many bodies he has to climb over—even if those bodies are the very same men wearing his patch.”
“No wonder his numbers are down,” Zee offered, looking disgusted. “I mean, look at that scheme he ran on Romeo’s ol’ lady. Hades wound up sacrificing his own son while netting bupkis for the effort. Huge embarrassment for him, especially on the heels of losing Chef to us. At this point he’s got to be teetering on a no-confidence cliff.”
“No doubt about it, Romeo embarrassed Hades when he demolished the marvelous Marvel.” Slash lifted a careless shoulder before draining his coffee. “If I were still with his crew, I’d be looking around for another leader. Marvel, maybe.”
“I wonder if that’s why we haven’t heard much from Hades himself lately,” I said, feeling my face tighten at the mention of Marvel. That he still existed was highly offensive on a personal level I couldn’t begin to describe. “It could be he’s been dealing with more internal strife than we know.”
“He was seen at the hospital earlier today, springing Marvel.” Tyr shot me a quick grin. “I’ve gotta show you the pics our guy took of them in the hospital parking lot when we get a chance.”
“Why?”
“Let me put it this way—your beatdown did such a number on Marvel that he’s now as ugly on the outside as he is on the inside. Honestly, I didn’t recognize the bastard, and he’s my own cousin.”
“It wasn’t enough,” I said flatly. “He’s still breathing.”
“Marvel and Hades are a package deal,” Zee murmured, clearly thinking it through. “Now that Marvel’s back with Daddy, now would be the time for them to hit us while we sit here waiting for all our far-flung brothers to roll in.”
“I’m not one for waiting to be hit,” Ajax announced, and his scowl was fierce enough to melt his sunglasses. “We need to fortify our positions of weakness now and not wait for casualties later.”
“Already done.” I set my own coffee mug aside and crossed my arms. “Tyr and I went over the entire compound and then some, looking for any possible points of entry. Once we found them, we made them more welcoming.”
Ajax’s brows shot up. “Welcoming? Are we talking traps, or…?”
“What we’re talking about is a compound that’s locked down and ready to welcome a couple hundred of our brothers who want nothing more than to enjoy a stable life of continued prosperity,” Tyr said in a tone that shut everything down. “War threatens that prosperity. It brings LEO into our lives until we can’t even take a leak without them wanting to know where, when, and how much. I want Hades and all that goes with him in the rearview mirror as quickly as possible.”
Zee’s brows drew together. “Do you want me to put together a team to negotiate peace?”
“What I want is to hit Hades so hard he’ll never get up again.”
“Hades and Marvel.” It was out of my mouth before I even knew I was going to speak, but it wasn’t a problem. Every word was true. “Spies in our ranks, jacking our runs, targeting innocent women… I’m fucking done with all of it. What Zee said is true—Hades and Marvel are a package deal. If we leave the son alive to inherit Daddy’s corrupt kingdom, we’re just trading one problem for another. Marvel needs to be gone, too.”
“Jesus, you’re taking your eye off the ball now?” Ajax’s mouth flattened in such tight disapproval I considered slapping it around to loosen it up a bit. “Hades is the target, not Marvel. You’re just pissed because that assclown fucked up your ol’ lady before you even knew she existed. Let’s not get emotional about this, yeah? It’s business, Romeo. Club business.”
Don’t slap him. Don’t slap him. Don’t slap him… “Marvel is a rotten apple that didn’t fall far from the diseased tree, and everyone sitting here knows it. I’m not some hysterical little bitch dragging my personal baggage into club business. It makes sense to get rid of both of them while we have the chance.”
“Please,” Ajax muttered, and though I couldn’t see his eyes I was certain he rolled them. “Not personal? Tyr just said Marvel’s face is so wrecked he can’t even recognize his own cousin.”
“Seriously,” Slash nodded, clearly as delighted as any caffeinated devil would be at fanning the flames. “Dude’s drooling out of a mouth he can’t even feel, with broken teeth wired shut so his jaw doesn’t fall off his face or whatever. But sure, Romeo, it’s not personal.”
“Shut up,” I snarled at him.
“Marvel’s not a priority,” Ajax hammered on. “I’m not going to stand by and let you cause a distraction just because you’ve got a hard-on to show the current cunt in your life that you’re the man—”
One second I was seated at the table next to Ajax. The next I had my hands around his throat, knocked him out of his chair, and landed on top of him to smash the back of his head into the polished marble-tiled floor. Respect wasn’t too much to ask for, for fuck’s sake. After everything I did for this club and my brothers, I should’ve had some standing, so to get straight-up disrespected now was not acceptable. Obviously I needed to make that clear. And it wasn’t just me being disrespected; it was Shiloh, too.
No one disrespected her.
No.
One.
My brothers were like family, but Shiloh… she was my everything. They had to understand my woman was untouchable, now and forever. She’d already put up with enough shit in her life, but that was all in the past. I was here now. I would be her shield and her sword. I’d tear the world apart before it would ever be allowed to hurt her again, even with a few careless words from my own bro—
“Enough.” An arm came around my chest and hauled me back. Instinctively I fought it, then got tripped and landed with a crash in the chair I’d vacated. With a snarl I shot to my feet, only to find myself nose-to-nose with Tyr, who blocked my way. “Have you gone fucking deaf, Romeo? I said enough. Stand down. Now.”
“Fight, fight, fight, fight,” Slash cheered, punching fists into the air like he was hitting an invisible speed bag.
“Stow it, Slash. We can’t do this now,” Tyr snarled in my face. Behind him, Ajax got to his feet while everyone in the Clubhouse had gone so still they looked like a garden of statues. “You two want to beat the shit out of each other? Fine. Pick a time when I don’t need every able-bodied soldier standing with me and ready to go at a moment’s notice. But I’ll be damned if I’m going to sit by while two of my best men—two of the Original Four, for fuck’s sake—take each other out of the line-up over bullshit pettiness when we’re on the brink of war. You wanna fight? Fight Hades and his crew. Otherwise I don’t want you here taking up space and my valuable time. Clear?”
“Clear.” I snarled the word.
“Clear,” Ajax muttered, readjusting his sunglasses before sending an exploratory hand to the back of his bald head. Grim satisfaction twisted through me when his fingers came away smeared with red.
“I’m with you on this,” I told Tyr, forcing my attention back to him. “You just need to know I stand by my statement. We take out Hades alone, we’re only trading one problem for another. A newer, younger, more dangerous version of Hades will take his place, and then we’ll have to deal with that fucker for decades. If we don’t take Marvel out now, I guarantee we’ll regret it somewhere down the road.”
Tyr opened his mouth to respond, but before he could get a word out, a high-pitched scream sliced through the air.
As one, every man in the clubhouse turned and bolted in the direction of the open back service door. All around me, the sound of multiple guns being pulled and cocked filled my ears, and I was no different; my Sig Sauer M17X was in my hand, its weight comfortingly familiar against my palm, like a handshake from an old friend.
“Where?” I barked at the mamas and hang-arounds still clogging the doorway. The one nearest me looked at me like I was rabid before she and a few others gestured wordlessly to the left, down the service alley toward the access gate. Our group pushed out into the alley, and at first I didn’t see anything amiss. The alley directly behind the converted bank was kept meticulously bare—no stacks of pallets, dumpsters or trash cans to hide behind for a perfect ambush. The dumpsters were all the way at the mouth of the alley where it met with the road, and where a ten-foot chain-link fence and gate—all topped with razor wire—kept the world at bay.
The alley gate had been one of the softer points of access to the compound Tyr and I had pinpointed earlier, so I’d put four men on it, two brothers and two prospects. The gate was now closed and locked with a heavy chain, but the men who were supposed to be guarding it were nowhere in sight. A group of four women wearing Gravedigger jackets clung to the locked fence, looking at something on the ground that looked like a pile of rags.
In an instant my gaze zeroed in on Shiloh’s jacket, and I broke into a run. Goddamn it. What the fuck was she doing out here? She was fully exposed to anyone on the other side of that fence. If someone wanted to take a shot at her, the chain-link wouldn’t protect her. Hell, she might as well be standing in the middle of the fucking road playing chicken with the traffic.
As I watched, Shiloh banged her fists against the chain-link before she cast about wildly, only to spot me coming up fast. The look on her face was one I knew I’d never forget—fear and distress and a towering rage all rolled into one, and all at once I knew without a shadow of doubt that it had been Shiloh who screamed.
“It’s Arthur!” she raged, pulling uselessly at the gate she clearly wanted to tear apart with her bare hands. “For God’s sake, call an ambulance! I think he’s dead!”