11. Chapter Eleven
Chapter Eleven
Sunny
“So, are we just gonna sit here trying not to stare at each other?” I ask, sitting up on Revenant’s bed.
I have no idea what his plan was, but I’m not complaining.
We’re up here, tucked away from the brothers and whores and their live sex shows, bellies full.
The only thing that would make this better would be if Revenant would talk to me.
So far the only sound breaking the silence we’re sitting in is Revenant’s rumbling.
I’m not sure if the man is having a wild internal dialogue or has indigestion from the fried apples.
I sigh long and loud, flopping back on the bed and grabbing my phone. I scroll for a minute before sitting back up, hitting him with a serious look.
“OK. Let's do some moral dilemmas. They’re always fun right?” Revenant raises a brow. “Excellent. Question one. Your Mama, your brother and your best friend are hanging off a cliff. You can only save one. Who are you saving?”
“Brother.” He rumbles, thick arms crossed over his chest, his long legs stretched in front of him as he sits in the only chair in the room.
“Not your mama?” I ask, face screwed up.
“She’d kick my ass for not saving my brother.” An almost smile tugs at the corner of his mouth. “Lemme guess, you’d save your momma?”
I frown at my phone for a moment, “No. I’d check to see how high the cliff is. Can anyone realistically survive the fall? Is there a ledge they can move to so I can save them one by one?”
Revenant’s brows furrow a moment. “That’s not the question.”
“Or maybe it’s not the whole question.” I raise a brow. “OK, number two. An old lady and a kid in a burning building.”
“I’d save the kid.”
“Wrong.”
His brow furrows into a frown. “You’d save the old lady and let the kid burn?”
I smile. “I’d throw her out the window, then save the kid.”
He snorts, crossing one long leg over the other, his arms loosening slightly.
“Ok, number three. Do you save the person you love or twenty strangers?”
“Twenty strangers.” I raise my brow. “Twenty lives outweigh a single life. I’d give up my life to save my brothers.” His eyes darken and I know on more than one occasion he’s done that. And yet here he stands, mad at the world that he survived.
“You’d be miserable, giving up the one you love.”
His arms cross tighter across his chest. “It’s worth it.”
I shake my head, eyes on his. “Not to me. I’d save the one I love. Then come up with a plan to save the others.”
He leans forward, resting his elbows on his knees, boots planted. “You can’t bend the rules to save everyone.”
I scoff. “Of course I can.”
“What if it’s not God’s will?”
I stare at him from across the room, “Then why did He make me the kind of person that would keep trying anyway?”
Revenant leans back in his chair, head tilted to the side like I’m a puzzle he can’t solve. He’s probably right. Most people see a wall and go around it. I see a wall and start looking for a hammer. It’s probably a character flaw. Or a gift. Depends who you ask I guess.
Revenant jerks a little, leaning to the side and sliding his vibrating phone from his pocket.
“Shit.”
His gaze flits from his phone, to me, then the door.
“You know you don’t have to babysit me. I’m a big girl.”
He looks at the door again, then back to me. “I won’t be long. Just…business.”
“Go, shoo. I’ve got this nice big bed, there's a TV on the wall. I have episodes of Love Island to catch up on. I’ll be fine right here.” I pat the bed and wriggle down to get comfy, hopefully taking some pressure off.
He moves to stand to his full height, the look on his face something I can’t quite decipher. He stares at me a moment, opens his mouth and thinks better of it, shaking his head slightly.
“Just stay safe, if you need anything find Mercy.”
“Sir, yes sir!” I say in a low voice, saluting him.
He mumbles something that sounds a little like “pain in the ass” but I let that slide.
Nestling back in the pillows on the bed I stare up at the ceiling.
Today has been fun. Apart from that whole murder thing, that probably deducts some points.
But other than that I’ve kicked some ass, seen some stuff, and gotten to know Revenant just that little bit more.
The man is plagued with self sacrifice. With making the hard decisions.
With carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders.
I’m here to carry some of that weight. He’ll figure that out sooner or later.
Revenant
Shutting the door behind me I let my head fall back on my shoulders. I don’t know what it is about Sunny. I’m like a moth to a fucking flame. That so-called game we played illustrated our differences. For me there is only black and white. Certainty. For Sunny everything is grey.
I scrub a hand down my face and instead of turning around and going back to my room, back to Sunny, I force myself forward, down the stairs, around the corner and further down the hall until I come to Gallows’ office.
I thump twice before walking in, not surprised to find Mercy and Coyote already there.
“Hollis ran into a problem,” is all Gallows says, leaning back in his chair, arms crossed over his chest.
“What kind of problem? He’s an undertaker.”
“The kind where the bodies he was meant to pick up are no longer there.”
I freeze. “What?”
“Same reaction we had,” Mercy says.
“How the fuck do you lose that many bodies?”
Gallows runs a hand down his beard, “That’s the million dollar question, ain’t it? We’ve had run-ins with the Sinister Wolves before and they ain't never cared about cleaning up after themselves.”
I sit heavily on the leather couch, next to Mercy, a wisp of an idea forming. “Not unless they’re trying to hide something,” I mutter.
“Or someone told them to,” Mercy adds.
Gallows nods once. “I had the same thought. Sinister Wolves are small time meth heads. They don’t come up with the idea to take over our runs and push us outta town on their own.”
“I dunno, Prez. The most motivated people I’ve ever met were crackheads,” Coyote smirks.
Gallows ignores him, instead focussing on me and Mercy. “I think the Wolves are playing lapdog.”
“And whoever it is, is paying for their lifestyle. See how nice their shit was? Their van, their guns? Someone is bankrolling their operations,” Mercy replies.
“And that someone knows the mountains.” Coyote turns to me. “You find it funny they hit us on the back road? Ain't no one there by accident.”
He’s right. Yeah it’s where the kids go to make out, but that’s community knowledge. Fuck, I didn’t know about it until recently and I’ve been living here for going on four years.
“Rev, I need you and Coyote to ride the hollers.”
I hesitate at my Prez’s orders, my gaze drifting to the ceiling as if I can see through the floors to Sunny on my bed tucked away in my room.
“I got her, Rev,” Mercy says.
I nod in reply, eyes on Gallows.
“Youre the best two for the job. Coyote is related to half of the folk out there, and the rest respect a man of God like yourself,” Gallows says, leaning back in his chair.
“I’m not a man of God.”
“Maybe not, but you can recite scripture like a mother fucker and the folks tucked away up there respect that,” Gallows replies, not missing a beat.
“Let’s get gone,” Coyote says, straightening from where he’s been leaning against a bookcase. “Quicker we go, the quicker we get back to your woman.”
“She’s not mine,” I growl through gritted teeth.
“Whatever you say, brother.” Coyote gives me a shit eating grin as I follow him out.
Standing in the common room I look toward the stairs, the pull of Sunny is almost too much to bear.
But it won't do me any good. She’s here until we get this shit sorted out and then she’ll move on with her life.
Find a nice man. Settle down. Have two children with her eyes and smile, run the PTA.
That’s the type of life she’s built for.
Not watching brothers fucking cut sluts in a filthy MC clubhouse.
“You good, brother?” Coyote raises a brow.
“Yeah brother, let’s roll out.”
I don’t bother telling Sunny. She’s not mine, and I gotta remember that.