Twenty
TWENTY
CHAOS
Marianna’s name flashes up on the screen, interrupting my study of the last picture Circus sent: Vanessa leaving the trench’s house, hands buried in her hoodie pocket, a mystery woman on one side of her, the toxic bitch on the other.
“Why is she crying?” I snap, forgoing an actual greeting.
“Why the fuck is your freak following us around?”
I clench my teeth together hard enough to make them creak. “I asked you first.”
“Real mature, Chaos.” She pauses. Silent. “Why do you want to know about Ness anyway?” Her feisty demeanor switches to skepticism. “What the fuck have you done?”
“Nothing that concerns you.” Careful. Letting your secrets slip there, boy. “I’ve got Circus on her to make sure she won’t be an issue for our club, living so close.”
Marianna snorts a laugh. “Sure, champ. Now tell me the real reason.”
“I did.” I lower my tone and growl into the phone, “Now tell me why the fuck you made her cry. And then tell me who the hell that woman is.”
“No.”
Silence coats the line as the end-of-day bell rings out across the road.
“You want this sale?” Yep. I went there. I threaten the purchase of freedom for our club against the knowledge of why the hell my woman is upset. Traitor. I ignore the intrusive thought and push off my bike as students pour out the school entrance.
“You wouldn’t.”
“You forget who you’re dealing with?” The day’s been shit enough as it is, and the trench is only making it worse. Fair to say patience is not my virtue at this point.
“For fuck’s sake,” she mutters, the rev of her gunning engine cuts through from the background. “I just took her home. She’ll be fine. Not that it’s any of your business. Just some bad news from family.”
Family. Her journal says she doesn’t have any. Well, any that keep in contact. “What family?”
“The mystery woman is her aunt. Step-aunt, technically. So you can calm your tits about dangers to your club,” she mocks before uttering, “Not that it’s any of your business.”
She’s so, so wrong. It’s all my business.
“Just give her a break, okay?” Marianna switches to smooth and sultry tones.
They might have worked once when I was both drunk and high, but not today. And not now. “I don’t take fuckin’ orders from you.” I end the call and pocket my phone as Selena darts across the road.
“Hey.”
“How was school?”
She shrugs, hand clasped around the strap of her backpack. “Same shit. Different day.”
Swear to God. I pinch the bridge of my nose and then pin her with a hard stare. “Get your helmet on.”
“What’s the matter with you?”
Perhaps the fact we don’t share a mother. And that her genetics provided a body that’s a few years more mature than her classmates. One that attracts attention from the cock-sure fuckheads crossing the street. “Who the fuck are they?” I tip my chin at the group of boys breaking their necks to ogle at her as she secures the helmet beneath her chin.
“Who?” She glances around. As though the assholes are easy to miss. “Oh. Nobody.”
“Yeah? Well, I don’t like the way nobody looks at you.”
One of the cunts has the balls to smirk.
I tuck my keys in my fist, leaving one protruding between my fingers. “Be back in a second.”
“Chaos,” Selena snaps, her small hand painfully tight on my arm. “No.”
I huff out my nose, staring down the prick as he retreats with his friends. Lucky day, asshole.
“They’re goddamn teenagers, you menace.” My baby sister gives a vicious tug, moving me back to the bike. “What the hell is up your ass today?”
“Your fucking language,” I bitch. “Come on.” I jerk my helmet from the end of the bars. “I’ve got shit to do.”
“Same.” Kid flicks me her middle finger.
I shove my lid on so she misses my smile. Troublemaker. I give her hell about her attitude, but it’s not because I don’t like it. It’s because shit like that gets girls in trouble.
There are far too many pricks out there with too fragile egos for her to get around with such unchecked sass. One word to the wrong guy, and her whole life changes.
I can’t be everywhere for her. You can’t be everywhere for Vanessa, either. Maybe not. But that’s why I have men like Circus. Men who do as I ask without questioning moral boundaries.
What’s wrong with wanting her safe? Fuck Marianna.
“You ready?” I throw my leg over and flick the pillion pegs for Selena.
She climbs on and tucks the heels of her boots against the metal. “Sure. Make it loud.”
Jinx waits in the yard when we pull in, feet wide, arms folded over his chest. What the fuck now? I pull up near the clubhouse and let Selena off.
“Homework first,” I call after her as she darts toward the building. “If you get stuck with anything, ask Dolly to help.”
“Sure.” She waves over her shoulder, dashing through the open door and into the dark belly of the beast.
A one-percenter clubhouse sure as fuck ain’t the perfect place to raise a girl, but it beats where she came from. My father had addictions during his time with the Kings. Most involved women.
Selena’s mom was a victim of that carelessness.
“You need me?” I holler to Jinx as he approaches.
“You got somewhere more important to be?”
I kill the engine with a sigh and tug off my helmet. “Have at it.”
“Marty needs you at the station.”
Shit. It c an only mean one thing. “They look in the truck?”
He wets his lips. Scratches the back of his head. Nothing that soothes my anxiety.
“Boy, I swear to God?—“
“They scratched something up when they cleared some of the debris from the fire.”
“Scratched something up,” I repeat slow and low, one eyebrow raised. “Like?”
“Something human.” He draws a breath that puffs his chest.
I fold my arms over the tank and flop forward in the seat, head to my forearms. Wherever you go, chaos is sure to follow… My father’s voice haunts me. “Is it ours?”
“Don’t know.”
I jerk upright, lifting an eyebrow at him.
“What?” Jinx shrugs, tone hardening. “I don’t keep a fucking ledger of what we put there.”
“Somebody should!”
“You don’t think?!”
The fucker stares me down, chest heaving the same as mine.
“Look,” I say a little softer. A little more forced. “Shit’s tense at the moment. I get it. But us yelling at each other ain’t going to help any of these assholes, is it?”
“No.” He stamps his arms over his chest with a grimace. “It’s not.”
“What’s actually the issue?” I narrow my gaze.
“Aside from the sheriff uncovering a potential body on our land,” he chokes out. “How about you start with where the fuck you’ve been every night the last week?”
“What does it matter?” Since when do I need to check in with these fucks?
Jinx rolls his lips and tilts his head. “Do I need to say it?”
“You don’t trust me?” I lift an eyebrow.
“What would you think if you were in our position,” he challenges. “Put yourself in our shoes, brother. Our president disappears night after night without saying where he’s going or why and suddenly, our goods yard is on fucking fire. Where would your red string lead you?”
“You think I had something to do with the blaze?” Is this asshole cooked? “What the fuck would I have to gain from that?”
“What did your father ever have to gain?”
“Are you for fucking real?” I match his stance by folding my arms across my chest. “You’re honestly going there?”
“Already went. Already stinks.” He scowls. “It’s a fair question, Chaos.”
“It’s fucking bullshit, is what it is.” I snatch up my helmet and yank it on. “You’re skirting with accusations of mutiny there, my brother .” His face puckers harder. “I’ll go talk with Marty, and then I might stop off somewhere to have a shit on my way home. You need any more details than that?” I stab the starter hard enough that my fucking thumb hurts. “I’ve got a goddamn tracker on my phone, for fuck’s sake. Use it.”
“Easy enough to leave your phone lying somewhere,” Jinx hollers as I tear the back end around.
I don’t catch the rest of his bullshit. I don’t care to.
Not when I know he’d never understand.