Chapter 20 #2
Four chimes in when he is done, “When I was locked up, there were a lot of questions being asked, but no one seemed to know the answers. Like this MC war everyone is worried about. No one knows where that started. Best guess is that Devil’s Ride stepped into some shit, and because Thorne doesn’t have Spike on a leash everything's going to hell.”
Dani grabs his plate, but before she can walk away, Four grabs her and pulls her in for a kiss.
When she walks away, Four watches her for a moment and then turns back to us, "You know what I never heard? Anything involving Bex or a nurse or me cheating on my woman with a fucking informant."
He shoots a look Angel’s way, and he finally speaks.
“I barely slept.” His voice sounds rough. “I kept replaying her words.”
He stares down at the table.
“Thinking about what she chose to say.” A pause, like he’s picking apart everything in his mind. “And what she didn’t say.”
No one interrupts.
“I… last night I was so hyped up on finally finding Mara. Figuring out what was going on. I didn’t… I should have…”
Angel rubs his face, then slams his fists down on the table in frustration.
“Fuck… everyone’s right.”
He exhales slowly.
“I haven’t been the same in years.”
The truth hangs heavy in the air.
“When Mara disappeared, it all came rushing back.” His voice drops. “Every time I drive now, I keep watching the ditches.”
I suck in a breath because I know why he’s looking.
“Thinking I’m going to find her there.” He swallows. “Like Kiara.”
Silence. Even the wind paused.
“Since Mara disappeared,” Angel continues quietly, “I keep dreaming about the night we found Kiara.”
His voice cracks. “But it’s Mara’s face when I flip the body.”
My hand reaches out before I even think about it. I squeeze his shoulder, and he nods once. Then straightens.
“I know you wanted to kill Razor last night.”
His eyes flick toward me.
“Hell, I wanted to help you.”
A breath.
“But Bex was getting somewhere.”
He shakes his head.
“I thought she was leading us to something.”
His jaw tightens and he swallows hard.
“Something is going on under my roof. I have felt it for a long while but didn’t know what or who and...”
He looks at both of us.
“And I can’t go off half-cocked anymore. We need proof.”
His voice hardens.
“This chasing ghosts and rumours has already put us in a worse position.”
I grunt and Angel looks back at me.
“I know you want to find her.”
He leans forward slightly.
“But even if you found her right now…” He pauses, like he’s not sure how to say what comes next. “What would you say to make her come back?”
I stare at the table, because I don’t know.
“And even if she did,” Angel adds quietly, “we still don’t know what the fuck is going on in this club.”
His gaze drifts toward the house.
“We have to fix our house before she will ever feel safe.” A long pause. “And she shouldn’t. Not now.”
My throat tightens because he’s right.
“I can’t just sit here,” I say. “I need to know she’s safe.” My voice drops, the words hard coming out, “I need to know someone didn’t…”
Angel nods, “We’ll be smart.”
His voice steadies.
“We’ll use our resources the right way, like we should have...” He looks me in the eye. “We’ll find her.”
The sound of a truck pulling up cuts through the moment. Torch steps out a minute later, with grease on his hands, expression tight. The prospect following behind him, head hanging, eyes locked on his feet.
My stomach sinks.
“Well?” Four asks.
Torch wipes his hands on a rag.
“It wasn’t a breakdown.”
The air around the table shifts and my pulse spikes.
“What do you mean?”
Torch tosses the rag onto the table.
“Someone tampered with the car.”
My stomach drops straight through the floor.
“What?” I breathe out.
Torch crosses his arms.
“The fuel line was cut. They tried to make it look like it just happened, but the cut was too clean.”
The silence feels like it's choking me until Torch adds, “She didn’t choose to abandon it.”
My vision goes blurry, red at the edges.
“And I think she left the car on foot.” He pulls out a phone I recognize from his back pocket, “She wouldn't have been able to call anyone, I found it under the driver’s seat.”
My stomach twists again.
“Dead battery.”
The realization hits me like a truck. Someone in our compound messed with my wife’s car. After everything that happened last night. My chair scrapes back violently, as I push to stand.
“So someone in our fucking club sabotaged her car.” My voice shakes with rage. “And she had to leave on foot in the middle of the fucking night, scared and alone. In the middle of some of the most tense club activity in years…”
No one speaks for a moment.
Then Four says quietly, “We’ll figure it out, brother. We will fix this and make it safe for her to come home.”
But the words don’t do a damn thing to calm the storm rising inside my chest.
“I am going back to the club and I am having a fucking conversation with Razor.”
The realization that I don’t have my bike kicks in and I turn to Torch, “I need to get to the club.”
He eyes me and then says, “First you need to hear what the prospect has to say.”
The prospect steps up beside Torch, his eyes still locked on his feet.
“I… ugh…”
Torch nudges him forward, “Spit it out kid, it will only be worse if you draw it out.”
Dread is settling in my stomach. The kid looks up finally and when his eyes lock on mine I know I won’t like what he has to say.
“Um… I did as you asked me to… I mean I tried… But he…”
My hands are vibrating at my sides.
“He what?” I grind out.
The kid instinctively takes a step back and Meg walks up beside him shooting me a dirty look before talking to him quietly. I know he helps her at her bakery sometimes and it's clear she's telling me I am on her shit list and he is not.
I take a deep breath and try again, “I need to know what actually happened after I left.”
He’s looking at his feet again and I barely hear “Razor’s nose.”
I go to open my mouth to ask for him to speak up, when Dani steps in beside Meg and shakes her head at me.
Torch looks like he’s ready to explode, “For fucks sake, he said he thinks Bex is the one who broke Razor’s nose.”
I feel nauseous, dizzy on my feet.
“When…” I croak and then clear my throat. “When did that happen?”
I try to keep my voice neutral, but I feel like I am one second away from losing my shit.
“I… When Bex was first trying to leave.” The prospect takes a deep breath, “We walked out to the main room and it was like Razor was waiting for her.”
I sense Angel step up beside me, and see Four, Cypher and the rest step up beside him. Everyone waiting to hear what the prospect says next.
“Keep going,” Meg urges him.
He closes his eyes and then blurts out, “He was waiting for her, overheard her say she wasn’t your Ol’ Lady anymore… sai… said he was glad because that meant she was up for grabs and then he grabbed her. I…”
I see red and I step forward, but Dani and Marisol step between me and the prospect and he keeps going.
“I told him you wouldn’t agree and I tried to get Bex to go back to her room till you guys got back. He wasn’t alone and one of the brothers, Trigger… I think he punched me and told me to li…listen and then Razor pulled one of his blades”
“I am going to fucking kill him, Torch give me the keys to the truck.”
“Why do you think it was Bex that broke his nose?" Meg asks.
“I took the club girls to the room like they asked… but I… I went back… they had her cornered… he wasn’t alone… and then she got Razor close enough that she kneed him and then she ran… she ran away.”
My whole body is vibrating and I feel like my skin is on fire.
I did this.
I left her there, I let him get to her… I…
Torch breaks my thoughts, “Get in the truck, Clutch. You are in no state to drive. Prospect you are coming with us and you are going to tell me everyone who was involved and everything you saw.”
I move on autopilot following Torch to the truck and picturing what it will be like with my hands around the fuckers throat. Angel is on his bike, before I get to the truck. As I jump in, I see Four moving the women back into his house.
The rest of my brothers are getting on their bikes.
All I can think as the truck tires roll over gravel and we pull out onto the highway is that; I did this, I need to fix everything and find my wife.