20. Rex
It didn’t take long before the girl was discharged and I had them heading outside to where my brother had the cage. Sonic had swung by with the pickup to get the women, and I followed behind them on my bike.
The night had taken an unexpected turn and it wasn’t in the Street Kings favor. Right now, princess and her sister were in the middle of a shitstorm and they had no idea what was coming for them. Fuck, I didn’t even know what—or who—was coming for them. Which is what frustrated me the most. We had an invisible enemy, which meant we couldn’t fight them, couldn’t take them out and couldn’t protect them.
I pulled in behind Sonic outside the flower shop, dismounted and opened the back door for the women to climb out. They had looks of confusion and fear, with Mia holding her little sister to her, her arm around her shoulders. She looked far younger than her 22 years, and if I didn’t know better, I’d suspect she was much younger.
Sly stood at the entrance to the shop, the night time settling across his features, adding to the gloom of the situation. “Are you sure about this?” he muttered, as I walked up to him.
Looking at the women, I second-guessed my choice to bring them here. They were innocent, but they were now a part of this, and I didn’t want to sugar coat it for them. “I’m sure, Sly. Open the door.” He stepped aside, and I walked into the little shop which had changed since I’d been there not a few hours earlier.
Before, the scent of every flower hung in the air, and each species of plant had its own place, a rainbow wall of color. But now, chaos had visited. Crushed flowers and petals scattered across the floor, and the center table was in pieces.
As the women entered behind me, I moved to the side so the anarchy could be witnessed. A gasp of despair left the younger sister, and she stepped free of Mia’s arm, shuffling forward on unsteady feet.
Kannon stood in the entryway of the rear room, staring daggers at me. “Move out the way, Brother.” He stood in front of the worst carnage, protecting Millie, but he shouldn’t be. I needed her to take this seriously, especially as she was the only one that could identify our enemy at the moment.
“Rex,” he warned, “this isn’t a good idea.”
“Let the girl through,” I stated roughly. He must have noticed the gravity of the situation, the importance of bringing them here, because he slowly shifted his big body to the side. Millie walked through the open entranceway, and my brother stayed glued to her side. When her wail of distress permeated the air, he was the closest to catch her. Her knees shook and she collapsed in Kannon’s arms, her crying ringing in my ears.
Mia rushed to her sister’s side, and I didn’t stop her from seeing either. In her profession, she was used to death.
Margot’s body lay in the center of the little back room, a perfect hole in the middle of her forehead—exactly like Nag.
This was the second person to be taken out because of this, and I knew that unless we stopped these fucking bastards, Margot wouldn’t be the last.
“Why did you bring us here?” Mia fumed beside her crying sister, rubbing her arm in comfort as she sat in Kannon’s arms.
Kannon glared up at me, in agreement with the princess. She had barely glanced at the body, indifferent to the pool of blood beneath the old woman—as I’d expected. But her sister covered her face, refusing to look at the old woman whose life had been cut short.
“Look at her, Millie,” I demanded, stepping closer. She cried harder, the noise beginning to grate on my nerves. “Look. At. Her,” I shouted, my patience all but gone with the soft woman. I had no time for crybabies, I had a club to protect, and she was in the way of that.
Mia stood to her full height, which was barely to my chin and glared at me, our eyes met in a blaze of sparks, my frustration with her anger. “You don’t get to order my sister around,” she shouted back. “She’s just lost her friend and you’re making her look at her dead body. How fucking dare you.” She slapped at my chest, trying to push me backward, but her attempt at violence did nothing but irritate me.
“This is what they do.” As her hand rose to slap at me again, I grabbed her wrist, tugging her forward. “And if your sister doesn’t grow some fucking balls right now, she might be in Margot’s place next. Do you hear me?”
“They won’t get the chance.” She tugged at my grip, and I squeezed a bit harder, not enough to hurt her, but enough for her to know that she wasn’t getting away from me. “We’ll be on the first plane back to the UK in the morning.”
I scoffed at her optimism. She had no clue. “You’re not leaving until this mess is fixed. Your sister knows who did this, and she’ll be stuck here until I have what I need.”
Mia sputtered at my command, her face bright red with a mix of shock and anger. “You can’t… you?—”
“I can, it’s already done.” I stormed out of the shop, the fresh air wiping away the metallic scent of blood that had saturated my senses.
Gauge emerged from the shadows, his silent sentry a balm to my frustration. “Was there anything on the security cameras?”
He shook his head, a grim look on his face. “The miserable old bat refused to pay for the alarm, the camera was just for show. We have nothing.”
“Fuck.” I swiped my hand through my hair, releasing the top knot that kept it at bay and tugged at the thick mass before tying it back up, keeping it out of my way. I needed to do something, I needed to find these fuckers that were murdering people in my town—my fucking town. “Did you get the stuff?”
“Link and Wheeler packed up the sister’s shit from the motel and took it back to the clubhouse.” He watched me with curiosity, narrowed eyes searching for something. “You know she won’t accept this, right?”
I laughed at his conclusion, fuck, of course she wouldn’t accept it. But she didn’t have a choice in the matter anymore. I’d been soft, I’d had as much patience as I could with this situation, and now I had to take matters into my own hands. “It won’t be forever.”
“Have you called prez?” Gauge asked, his voice low in the dark night. There was no-one around, but still, we had enemies and it was always best to be cautious, walls had ears.
“I’ll tell him soon.” Gauge”s eyes widened, and I clapped him on the shoulder. “It’s better to ask for forgiveness than permission, right?”
“Yea brother, you keep telling yourself that,” he drawled, before sliding back into the shadows, to keep watch from the darkness.
Link pulled up in the company van, the name of the funeral home written on the side in neat silver swirls. As the only funeral home for miles around, we were often the first ones to arrive on scene. The Sheriff should have been called to the scene of the crime, and an investigation into Margot’s murder. But this was our town and I would be damned if I let some fucking coroner spoil the body and crime scene with their tarnished touch. This would be in-house. Her death certificate would have ‘heart attack’ written on it, and no one would be any the wiser—I would see to it.
As Link pulled out the gurney, the wheels rattling on the sidewalk, curtains twitched above us. By morning, everyone would know that Margot was wheeled out in a body bag, but they’d never find out why.