Chapter 21
CLUTCH - ALL ROADS LEAD TO HER
The drive back to the compound goes by in a blur. On the drive, there was something Razor said one night in church that kept replaying in my head.
Over and over.
Too many coincidences around your wife.
Insinuating that all roads lead back to her. At the time, I wanted to break his jaw for saying it.
Now…
I can’t stop thinking about it. Because if I’m being honest with myself…
It’s true.
But not in the way he was insinuating. All roads were leading back to Bex on almost every issue the club was having. Like someone was drawing a bright red arrow pointing at her.
But the more I thought about every coincidence… they didn't make sense. Not for her.
Bex always laid low, never wanted attention. Never wanted to do anything too high profile…
I never questioned it.
But if what Angel insinuated about my wife’s past was true…
She would never go near someone like Preacher…
A man rumoured to be worse than the devil himself…
A man with a body count and connections no one sane would want to fuck with…
She wouldn’t work with him, she’d run the other way. Every damn time.
That’s the woman I married.
The thing about when your head finally clears…When you finally have space to think… You start seeing things you should have seen months ago. I want to say weeks, but if I’m being honest with myself? I have been living with my head up my ass for months.
Months ago we got the first whisper that someone was targeting the Dawnbreakers.
Someone was coming for Angel. With Kiara’s death still hanging over the club like a ghost and no answers for how that whole mess started…
ended… Angel went straight into defence mode.
Listening to anyone who claimed they had information.
And because I never had a reason not to…
I listened, I followed…. that’s what brothers do.
That has been what I have done every day since his father saved my life and gave me a family. Since Angel took a bullet for me and I promised his father that I would always have his back. It was the last thing I ever said to him. So I held onto it with everything I had.
Only now I’m starting to realize that somewhere along the line we stopped asking the right questions.
We stopped being the good guys.
I close my eyes as we approach the compound, I keep hearing the prospect telling me that Razor had his hands on my wife, again.
And I wasn’t there. I need to deal with him and nothing that Angel can say will hold me back from getting the truth out of the snake once and for all.
He’s been the one planting seeds of doubt in the club about Bex, Four…
fuck has he been behind all the shit that’s been going on these past months?
Playing puppeteer with everyone in the club?
But why?
I know why Angel gave him leeway, Razor's old man was the VP and died shortly after Angel’s father did.
Everyone assumed Razor would be made VP, the title being passed on.
But Angel didn’t think he was ready so he gave the title to Four instead.
It caused a rift between the two, which everyone thought had been patched when Razor started seeing Mara.
Shit… has he been fucking with the club for years?
Angel is ahead of us on his bike, the guards don’t hesitate, they open the gates and I am out of the truck before Torch can put it into park.
I don't check to see if anyone is following me. I am moving, I want to be the first person to get to Razor.
I burst through the front doors and noticed some of the club girls sitting at a table near the bar, with some of the dead men walking that had been a part of the attack on my wife. I will deal with them when I drag their leader down by his throat.
I hear boots behind me, but I don’t slow.
I am up the stairs and at Razor’s door in no time, the brother who was supposed to be watching his door isn’t in the hall. I burst open through his door, he doesn't get the courtesy of a warning or privacy.
The room is empty, the bed made, his closet is open and drawers pulled out.
Fuck…
I push the bathroom door open and find our missing brother. He’s unconscious in the shower. Before I can yell for someone, Torch is behind me cursing under his breath.
I hear him talking to someone in the hall and then a yell echoing through the clubhouse.
“Lock it down, no one leaves.”
I kneel down next to Velvet, one of the brothers still around from Angel’s father, Tank, days. He is still breathing and his pulse is steady. I check him over quickly and notice a gash at the back of his head. Torch squats down next to me.
“I told Angel to call for the doctor…”
He pauses for a second before saying, “Too bad Bex isn’t here to help with this.”
I growl and grab at him, and he jumps back.
I close my eyes, the pain in my chest intensifying. Because she should be here, with me.
So many things I should have done differently. I open my eyes and exhale a breath I didn't know I was holding.
“You're an asshole, get a prospect in here to put pressure on the back of his head till the doc gets to him. I have a few brothers who deserve some time in the shed.”
Torch leaves and a few minutes later one of the Prospects is with me to watch over Velvet.
I make my way back to the main room and see Angel sitting at a table closest to the front door, Axel and Torch standing beside him watching the table in the back corner of the room.
Angel doesn’t look up when I approach. Which is odd… Usually when I walk into a situation like this his head lifts automatically. Right now he’s staring at the tabletop like he’s trying to burn a hole through it.
Axel’s arms are crossed tight over his chest. Torch is standing slightly behind him, jaw set like he’s already decided how the next hour is going to go, gun already out in one hand.
Ledger comes in the front door with Cypher at his side. They both take a seat at the table, looking comfortable, like this is just any other day and not a day where we will be a few brothers light.
I know it kills Four to stay back at his house, but with the DA watching him right now it is what was best. He can’t be here for this.
The prospect, Connor, is standing off to the side. He’s pale, eyes locked on the floor.
Angel finally looks up, his eyes land on me first, then behind me, then back again.
“Velvet?”
“Alive,” I answered. “Head wound. Someone put him down hard.”
Torch nods once.
“Someone warned Razor, it’s the only way this played out the way it did.”
Everything is falling apart around him and right now we don’t know who we should be trusting.
Ledger clears his throat, “The guard at the gate said he was called out to replace Cage right before we got here. He says he didn’t see Razor leave, but that Cage left right after he took the gate post.”
I need to deal with this and then get out there and find Bex. Because we have brothers out of control and people leaking shit they shouldn’t be.
“Who was the last person seen with Razor?”
“Let’s find out,” Axel says.
Angel exhales slowly.
My gaze shifts to the three idiots who are still sitting there. Still breathing. Still pretending this is a misunderstanding instead of the beginning of the worst mistake of their lives.
Tatum and Ivy, two of the club girls are sitting with them. Tatum keeps looking at the front door and then back at her drink.
Connor notices where I’m looking. He swallows, saying voice low, “That’s them.”
Angel follows my line of sight. His expression doesn’t change. Which is worse… for them.
“Bring them here.” he commands.
Axel doesn’t move. He just turns his head slightly and three prospects step forward immediately. At least someone still understands how this works.
The room goes quieter as the three brothers get walked across the floor. They don’t fight and that tells me everything I need to know. They already understand what this is.
They stop a few feet from the table.
Angel doesn’t invite them to sit. Doesn’t raise his voice when he says, “Connor says you were with Razor when Bex tried to leave.”
One of them shifts his weight.
Trigger.
“Yeah,” he says. “And?”
The fucker smiles, like this is normal.
Angel tilts his head slightly. “And?”
Trigger shrugs.
“She said she wasn’t Clutch’s ol’ lady anymore.”
Something cold slides down my spine.
Angel’s voice stays calm. “Then what happened?”
Trigger’s throat moves. “We were just talking.”
“Talking,” Angel repeats.
His tone doesn’t change when he asks, “About what?”
Trigger hesitates and that’s when Axel moves. The room shifts with him, as he slides his brass knuckles on.
Trigger notices. He swallows hard, saying, “Razor said she shouldn’t be walking around alone if she wasn’t claimed anymore.”
My hands curl into fists.
Angel’s gaze sharpens, his voice dropping low, “And you agreed with that.”
It isn’t a question and Trigger doesn’t answer. Which is answer enough.
Angel leans forward slightly. “Did anyone touch her?”
Silence.
Then…
“Yes.”
The word comes from the smallest one of the three. One of our younger patch-ins and too young to be this stupid.
Angel’s voice drops. “Who?”
He steps aside and points to Trigger and the asshole standing beside him.
“And… Razor… ugh and Cage.”
My vision narrows, but I don’t move. Not yet.
Angel’s voice stays steady. “Explain.”
The kid swallows, saying, “Razor grabbed her.”
Connor nods beside me.
Angel doesn’t look at him. “Then what.” he encourages.
“After they had the prospect take the girls back to the bunk room… They cornered her…” The kid looks like he might pass out or piss his pants.
Torch unclicks his safety and holds his gun in front of him for everyone to see.
I don’t reach for my gun, I want my hands dirty.
The kid takes another step away from Trigger and continues, “They were grabbing at her, she tried to get away… but then Razor asked her if she liked it rough…”
My vision goes a hazy red.
‘She… she looked like she was gonna kiss him… but she kneed him instead.”