Chapter 24
Chapter Twenty-Four
Tyler
"Is there a particular reason you’re coming with me to collect the cash from the auction sales this weekend?" Maddox questions.
I stare at him for a beat. Sure, I don’t typically accompany him after the auction is complete, but I didn’t think it’d be a problem.
“I didn’t think you’d mind.”
“I don’t,” he retorts, readjusting his Ray-Bans. “Just surprised you’re leaving Delaney. Tell me, brother, does she hold your dick for you when you take a piss too?”
“Fuck off.”
The corners of his mouth lift as he eyes me. “I’m just fucking with you.”
I can read Maddox like a book, and while he claims to be joking, there’s probably a good part of him that questions what the hell I’m doing with Delaney. I went from being the man who swore off women entirely to a man completely gone for her.
Clearing my throat, I shove my hands into my pockets. “Mammon wanted to speak with me,” I grumble. “Figured since you were heading over there, I’d tag along. Not to mention, the fence is finished. We could check it out together on the way back.”
The guys had put in some grueling hours, busting their asses to get the fence done. They rotated shifts, swapped out every other day, pushed deep into the nights—and finally got it done.
"I checked it out as soon as they were done,” Maddox reveals. “It’s good.”
I don’t know why that surprises me. Maddox has eyes on everything, and up until recently so did I. Maybe that’s the issue.
"Hate that I didn't do as much to help them as I should’ve done."
Maddox hums thoughtfully. “Don’t beat yourself up. It’s their job.”
“Yeah, but it’s my job too.”
“Well, get your head right.”
That’s easier said than done. It took everything in me to leave the ranch today, but Laney was right this morning when she said none of us could hide away from life.
With us taking Dash out of school, I need him to find the new normal.
It shouldn't be hard for him. He's only been going to classes for a few weeks, but it'll be good for him.
For all of us. I don't want him learning in a setting filled with judgmental assholes in charge. It's not right.
"What does Mammon want to talk to you about?" Maddox asks, pulling me from my thoughts.
"I might've asked him to find me Delaney’s ex’s address," I tell him, clearing my throat.
"What the fuck for?"
I turn to him, my gaze hardening as I answer, "Plan to pay him a visit and see to it that he gets his ass out of town." I grin as Maddox puts his truck in park.
Maddox stares at me quietly.
"We haven't seen him around, but he's still texting Delaney.
This past weekend alone, he messaged her ten different times.
Called her a slut and a whore, then pleaded for her to speak with him.
He's fucking crazy, and I'm going to teach that pencil dick motherfucker a lesson once and for all.
" I want him out of town and away from Delaney.
“I get wanting to defend your woman, but I sure as fuck hope you know what you’re doing. This guy sounds like a loose cannon, and you got Dash to consider, not to mention two other kids on the way. Might be in your best interest to leave this lesson to Mammon. The man don’t got shit to lose.”
“So, if Amelia’s ex pulled this shit with her, you’d just . . . what . . . sit back and let Shadow handle it?”
He gives that some thought. “No. I’d fucking kill him and make it as painful as possible, then I’d feed his remains to the fucking pigs.” He pauses for a beat, killing the engine on the truck before glancing back at me. “You gotta do what you gotta do, man. Just be smart about it.”
I nod, agreeing with him.
Maddox opens his door and sighs. “Let’s get this shit over with.”
We step out into the dusty arena parking lot. The sun beats down on my neck as I follow Maddox toward the office where I assume Lucifer or Shadow are waiting to handle business.
I spot Mammon halfway there, and nudge Maddox. "I'll catch up with you after I talk to Mammon."
Mammon jerks his chin when he catches sight of me heading his way.
"How's my sister?" he asks, leaning against the stall, eyes going back to the horse inside it.
"She's good. Taking Dash to the library and park this morning,” I tell him, trying my best not to let the edgy feeling get to me.
"Doesn't the little man have school today?" Mammon cocks a brow, eyes coming back to me.
"Nope, I don’t want him at a school filled with judgmental assholes. Delaney's gonna homeschool him instead for the time being. Figure Dash could give it a try and at least get him through the elementary years before putting him back in the public school system."
Mammon stares at me for a moment before nodding. "She'll be good at it. By the time he's ready for high school, he'll be smarter than any other kid in school."
"Yeah. I have no doubt about it." I grin, agreeing with him. "Did you ever find that address for me?"
"Yep, also found out that other than paying his first initial rent payment, which is week to week according to paperwork, he hasn't paid another dime, meaning he's being evicted sometime this week," Mammon informs me with a smirk tugging on his lips.
"It'll be just that much sweeter to be the ones to throw his ass out on the curb. "
"Damn." Talk about perfect timing. "Still want to pay him a visit with me?"
"You really gonna ask that shit?” He snorts. “The only reason I haven’t yet is Delaney. She didn’t want me getting my ass in trouble. But what she doesn’t know won’t hurt her.”
Sounds like Delaney. Always caring for those around her.
“You up for the task?” he asks.
“What do you think?” I cock a brow.
“You’re up for it.” He nods. “Why wait for the sheriff's department to escort him off the property?" He chuckles, straightening. "I’ve been waiting for a chance to give him his own beat down for fucking attacking my sister," he says, flexing his fists. "Asshole needs to learn a lesson."
"Exactly." Nodding, I ask, "When do you want to do this?"
"Got time now," he answers, rolling his shoulders.
“Yeah, I’ve got time, but I rode with Maddox here.”
“We’ll take my truck,” Mammon grunts with a nod. “Then let's get this shit taken care of." Mammon starts for the office, and I grin.
After what happened to Della, I've learned one thing about the Fallen Demons MC, they don't play around, nor do they go at things alone.
Banging on the door, anger I've felt for what Philip did to Delaney boils in my veins now, where it's simmered ever since that day I saw the damage he’d done to my woman. It doesn’t matter that at the time she wasn’t mine.
She went through the pain he put her through because of me.
If I hadn’t been an ass toward her that day, he wouldn’t have had the chance to put his hands on her in the first place.
"Open the damn door," I call out, slamming my fist against the door.
I know the man is home. His car is parked right out front instead of in the garage.
"Hold the fuck on," I hear him call from the other side before the door is yanked open.
Philip's eyes go wide when he sees me standing on the doorstep, flanked by Mammon. His face pales further when he takes in the others standing farther back.
"Remember me, asshole?" I ask, stepping forward, blocking him from trying to close the door in my face.
"What the fuck do you want?" he asks, trying to act like he’s some tough guy, but his voice gives him away by cracking slightly.
"Little birdie told me you haven't been paying your weekly rent and that you’re being evicted." I shove him back into the house, prowling in behind him. The place reeks of stale beer and cigarettes. Mammon follows me inside, leaving the door wide open to let fresh air in.
"You have no right to come in here like this," Philip stammers.
"Now that you don't have a woman to intimidate, you're not as ballsy as you think you are," I point out and move into his space, my hands gripping his shirt.
"We're here to deliver a message," I say, my voice low and controlled despite the rage burning through me.
"You're going to pack your shit and leave town. Today."
I give him a forceful shove, sending him back several steps.
Philip hits the wall, his eyes darting between all of us. "You can't just?—"
"Can't just what?" Mammon steps forward, getting in his face. "Can't tell you to stay the fuck away from my family? Can't tell you that if you don't get the hell out of town that I'll put you in the ground? You fucked with the wrong woman. The only reason you’re getting this visit now is because of her. She didn’t want me to come sooner, like I wanted to. If I had, your ass would be dead, and she damn well knew it. It’s because of my sister you’re breathing. However, if I’d known you were still messing with her, I wouldn’t have held back this long. That shit ends now."
"That little slut?—"
I cross the short distance between us, slamming my fist into his jaw before he can finish that sentence. The satisfying crunch of bone against my knuckles sends a surge of adrenaline through me. Philip bounces against the wall, blood already trickling from his split lip.
"Say that again," I growl, rolling my shoulder as I prepare to hit him again. "I dare you."
Philip sneers, eyes narrowing in defiance. "She's nothing more than a cock tease and whore?—"
I don't let him finish. My fist connects with his face again, harder this time. The impact sends him sprawling onto the floor. Blood sprays across the stained carpet as he scrambles backward, hands raised in a feeble attempt to protect himself.
Mammon steps forward, crouching down to Philip's level.
"Listen carefully, because I'm only going to say this once.
You're going to pack whatever shit you can carry, get in your car, and get the fuck out of Saddle Ridge.
If I ever see your face again, I won't hesitate to kill you, and no one will find your body. You can count on that."
Philip spits blood onto the floor. "You can't just?—"
"We can," Mammon snarls, wrapping his hand around Philip's throat.
"You know who the Fallen Demons are?" he asks, squeezing tighter.
"You fuck with one, you fuck with all. We take care of ours.
Come near my sister again, contact her in any way, and I'll see to you taking your last breath.
It's not a threat. It's a motherfucking promise. "
Tossing him aside, Mammon straightens and looks at me. "You got anything else you want to say to him?"
"Think you said all that needed to be said," I grunt, flexing my fist. I didn't need to look at them to know the skin is torn from the blows I got in. Looking down at the asshole on the floor, I ask, "You gonna get out of town?"
"Yeah," Philip croaks, nodding.
"Good." Turning to Mammon, I hold out my hand. "Appreciate this."
Mammon clasps his hand in mine and jerks his chin. "We're family. That's what we do for each other."
Family. I guess he's right, that's exactly what we are now.
My phone rings as I take a breath of fresh air. Pulling it out, I didn't expect the call, nor the fear that consumes my whole being.