TWENTY-EIGHT #2
It had been a series of distractions, constantly taking his time away from Lisa—similar to the other night at Tomb’s place—and that didn’t sit well with a man obsessed with being near her.
He just needed to speak with the police after the bar brawl the other night.
But tonight’s situation was more serious.
He threw his leg over his bike, left it parked in his usual bay on the club forecourt, and prowled into the clubhouse, heading out the back to where Primo’s office was.
The room was kept locked for security reasons.
If the club were ever raided and they weren’t given prior notice, as they had in the past, the electronically locked room would give Primo time to wipe what needed wiping before the cops got their mitts on it.
So, after knocking, he waited until Primo opened and ushered him in, locking the door behind them.
“A call came through right before I contacted you,” Primo said.
Splice’s jaw pulsed with anger as he leaned his hip against the desk. “It didn’t go through to Lisa’s phone?”
“Nah, I already blocked any unknown numbers from reaching her phone. It came through on the cloned line. I answered but said nothing. The guy said much the same as he did to Lisa before. Warned her to get out of town and do it now, or else some shit would go down, and it would all be her fault.”
The mad cunt. Splice’s two fists at his sides clenched hard.
“Tell me you could trace a location.”
“I triangulated it to here.” He tapped the screen.
No, it couldn’t be. Only one person was associated with that area.
“Come with me. Bring that burner phone.” He gritted his teeth and took off, ripping the door open. He went the back way and hopped onto his bike. Primo easily kept up, and they went to that neighborhood without delay.
Splice’s head was ready to explode; he was sure that Primo must have it wrong, but his gut knew Primo didn’t get intel wrong. Ever. He just hoped it was the first time.
They had to wait a while, longer than an hour, but the guy they were waiting for walked out of a building.
“Make the call now.” Splice issued. His eyes narrowed at the figure across the street.
Splice’s world imploded as he watched silently, and the guy pulled the phone out of his pocket, answering with a gruff, “Who is it?” Then he must have realized he’d answered the wrong phone and hung up.
The guy looked around, standing at the corner of the street, then strode to his car and climbed behind the wheel.
It wasn’t a ‘gotcha’ moment.
It was a ‘what the actual fuck,’ moment.
A rat. Betrayal at its worst.
Splice felt as if he were split in two.
But he kept his body moving as he rode back to the MC. He connected to Axel first.
“Prez, I know it’s shit timing, but I need a church meeting.”
No one called an unscheduled church without a good reason, so Axel agreed after asking a few questions.
“Hell.” Axel’s response. “I’ll get everyone at the table ASAP.” The Prez hung up, and Splice swung down off the bike.
“You okay, man?” Primo asked.
“Nah, but I will be.”
All he wanted to do was see Lisa, to tell her how sorry he was for everything. This shit was all about him after all. Never her; she’d just gotten caught in the middle.
His gut was full of misery, of anger, of utter fucking rage, so he kept his feet moving.
Get it unraveled. Find answers.
* * *
The meeting lasted more than an hour.
The Diablos would always show up for each other, and now was no exception.
Understandably, when they were told who the traitor was, each brother was pissed off and gunning for blood. They could usually spot a rat among them.
But this had gone undetected for a long-fucking-time.
Add that they’d messed with his and Lisa’s relationship.
“I’ll ask you again, brother,” Axel said, looking down toward Splice’s seat. “This is the action you want to take?”
The priority was to take Lisa out of the situation; how else could he do it except give the guy what he wanted... her out of Splice’s life?
He took a ranging breath and nodded gravely. “Yeah.”
“Okay. You do your stuff. Ruin, back Splice up if he needs you.” That meant Splice could go as far as death.
“And if it needs saying, all ties with the rat are now ceased. Got it?” Axel stated, and everyone banged fists rowdily on the table.
What came next, Splice didn’t look forward to.
He had to lie to Lisa.
* * *
Lisa
Glancing up from her work computer, Lisa slipped off her reading glasses and lifted her arms above her head to stretch her lower back. Looking at the wall clock, she frowned, realizing how much time had passed without a text from Ryan.
He was late, and he was rarely late without letting her know work was running over.
She showered, prepared food for him, kept it warm in the oven, and watched TV. It’ll teach him to be late, she pouted; now she was going to fall in love with a new Korean actor. Later, she’d laugh smugly while Ryan got jealous.
Two episodes in, and he still hadn’t shown up.
It wasn’t normal.
Ryan was as reliable as a Swiss watch.
If he were ever going to be late, he’d let her know. She loved that kind of communication. Pausing her show, she slipped into a pair of shoes. She had his house keys. After they exchanged keys weeks ago, she could swing by to check whether her tired, sweet boy had fallen asleep on the couch.
She only made it to the hallway when she heard the rumbling pipes of a motorcycle, and she grinned, relief hitting her chest all at once. Finally, he was home.
But Lisa’s smile faded fast when she pulled open the door and saw Tomb climbing off his bike. She immediately thought of Nina.
“Is Nina okay?” she asked even before he reached her.
“Yeah,” he gruffed. “Can we go inside, Lisa?”
Instant worry hit her then, from somewhere deep in the back of her mind.
But the somber look on Tomb’s face, she knew that the locked box in her mind had sprung open and was leaking fear at a fast pace.
Her legs refused to work, and she gripped the side of the doorframe.
“Just tell me he’s okay, Tomb. Give me that,” she said, as strong as she could muster, keeping her bones upright, waiting for the news she never wanted to hear.
Tomb reached her in a stride, and though she was standing on the step, he was still a foot taller, and she tilted her neck to look him in the eye.
Time seemed to stand still, yet her heart was going five times as fast.
And then he said the words. “He got into an accident, but he’s okay. Nothing’s broken.”
He was okay.
The best words in the world.
“Where is he? Which hospital? I’ll go right now.” She was already turning to grab her purse when Tomb’s hand pulled on her wrist gently, halting her.
“We’ve got him at the clubhouse; he wouldn’t stay at the hospital. But...”
Lisa frowned, still holding onto those words like an anchor: “He’s okay.” Feeling her knees shudder, she locked them in place and asked, “But what? Why are you hesitating, Tomb? Is Ryan really okay?”
“Physically, yes.”
“Okay then. I’ll go to the MC.”
She already clutched her jacket from the newel post and her stuff from the hallway table and was ready to head out, but Tomb’s massive frame blocked her way.
“Lisa. He sustained a head injury and has something called retrograde amnesia. It means...”
“I know what that means.” She frowned, processing his words. “Will you get out of my way now? I need to get to Ryan.”
Tomb followed Lisa to her car. She fumbled, trying to open the door, her shaking fingers, and he stepped up and opened it for her.
“He doesn’t remember the past two years.” He announced it in a quiet, sympathetic tone a doctor would use when delivering bad news to a family member.
“He’s alive,” Lisa stated, keeping it together with all her might. “That’s what matters.”
Tomb’s bike followed the entire way. Lisa didn’t even remember driving, which was worrying, but she reached the clubhouse compound unscathed and left the car parked. Striding to the door, she waited for Tomb to tap in the code.
She didn’t have to ask where Ryan was; he was sitting at the bar.
Axel was on one side, and his uncle was on the other.
The relief Lisa felt at seeing her tall man was something she’d never forget, and she exhaled in a great gust. She didn’t even know she’d swayed until Tomb grabbed her arm. “Steady, darling.”
“Thanks,” she murmured, but her eyes were on Ryan.
“Wait,” Tomb said. “Lisa, he... we already told him about you guys being back together, but he...”
“He doesn’t remember? Got it,” she answered automatically, emotion in her throat making her reply sound strained. He was not dead. It was the only thing that mattered here, she thought. She could handle anything else.
But it was so much worse than she could have prepared for, because as she got closer to Ryan, his uncle Vince saw her first, and he half-smiled, the same way Tomb looked at her, with sympathy on his face.
“Ryan,” she said, behind him, reaching out to touch his back; he swerved his head, and she met his gray eyes. But there was no love there, like normal, and it kind of sucked the air from her lungs.
Ryan openly, enthusiastically adored her without filters or restrictions. If it was five minutes or five hours since he’d seen her last, he would smile the same, big and excited, and his arms would be open for her to walk into.
“Oh shit,” he said, turning around on the stool. He scrubbed a hand through his messy hair, and her eyes tracked all over his face, looking for trauma, and saw nothing visible. “It really is you. I thought these guys were fucking with me because shit has fallen out of my head.”
Lisa was one thing that had slipped his mind.
It was true. Lisa half hoped it was all a joke, a prank played on her. Ha-ha. But he was almost looking through her, like she didn’t matter to him anymore.
How could he have forgotten her? She wanted to scream but kept all that emotion behind chains and a calm exterior.