34. Melody
MELODY
“Are you going to kill me?” I’m terrified of Clutch’s answer.
“Not quite as dumb as you look, I guess. I was hoping not to, but you had to keep asking fucking questions. You might not know everything, but you know too much to let you run around making trouble for me. Eventually you’ll put everything together.
Arranging for you to go to the rally was a mistake. ” He sighs. Poor Uncle Clutch.
“Red made me think it was Dad who invited me.”
It’s only been getting more and more desolate since we left the freeway. Every so often, a dirt road branches off from this one, but I have no idea where to. The deeper we go, the less likely that there are going to be any witnesses to find me, now or much, much later.
It’s not that cold in the car, but I’m getting some serious chills.
“I wasn’t lying when I said your daddy’s been planning a rebellion. He can be real fucking convincing when he wants to be, believe it or not. And he’s right, Rocco’s turning into a fucking pussy, who’s losing his grip on his fucking club.”
“I thought you were on Rocco’s side?”
Clutch laughs like I said something really funny.
“Like just about everyone in the fucking world, I’m on my side.
I don’t give a shit about Rocco, but I need him to go on my terms so I can take over without a fight.
The Devil’s Brigade should be mine. My own fucking MC.
But your dumbass father refused to play along, and you got yourself some big fucking protectors.
Should’ve stuck with ‘em, honey. Trusting me was a bad choice.”
No kidding. The more he talks, the more certain I am that this is going to be a one way ride for me. “Why did you have me invited?”
“I convinced Rocco it was his idea. Would you believe it? Ever since your mom died, Joker’s been planning his move.
Having the two of you on the outside kept him settled, but with her gone?
He didn’t have anything to distract him anymore.
Rocco thought getting you closer to the club would help keep Joker tied to us.
I knew it was bullshit, but I was hoping that putting you in danger would get Joker to move on Rocco before he was ready. ”
“What about Lightning and Red? Who really shot them?” Clutch seems to be enjoying his villain era. Now who’s the dumb one? I might not make it out of this, but if I do, I want to know everything.
“Me, obviously. Red was a loose end. He knew I wanted you invited. Lightning? The Eagle? Wrong place, wrong time. If I’d noticed he was in the Screaming Eagles before I shot him I might’ve second guessed myself, but he saw me shoot Red. It was self-defense if you really think about it.”
“But Dad gave me the gun.”
“I passed it off to him. Told him Lightning shot Red and I defended Red. Your father might be a bastard, but he is still loyal in his own way. At this point he’d kill me if he got the chance, but he’d cover up my crimes to protect the Brigade.”
“I can’t believe I trusted you.” The memories of him taking me fishing and coming by with Dad on the weekends are too many to easily forget, but I try anyway.
“Like father, like daughter, I suppose.”
I lean my head on the window, watching the colored sky of the coming dusk. “Why have me attacked?”
“Wasn’t planning on killing you, believe it or not. My boy here was supposed to grab you.” He nods his head at the driver. “But then people showed up just as he knocked you out, and of course someone had to haul you off to the fucking ER.”
“And it was your men at the house? Killjoy and… and the other one?”
“Poor Turk, forgotten in life, forgotten in death. They were just there to install some spy cameras. I wanted to know what you and your father were up to.”
I look over at Clutch, seeing him for who he really is. “I think I’m starting to understand why Dad didn’t want you to take over.”
“Good thing nobody fucking cares what a walking corpse thinks,” he says with a smile.
That’s it. I’m cooked. At some point Clutch dropped the uncle mask entirely and went straight to unhinged, and now I’m going to suffer for it.
And at this rate, I’ll never see Riptide, Rebel and Mad Dog again. Why does that hurt the most? I’ve barely known them for a week, and somehow they’ve wormed their way so deeply into my heart. At least they aren’t here to get killed, too.
I was holding on okay until that point, but now the tears are pushing hard behind my eyes. I’m not even making it to my twentieth birthday, and I won’t be able to say goodbye to the few people I really care about.
“If it makes you feel any better, I’m not going to take any joy in this. I’d hoped to pull this off without killing you, but I’ll do what I have to. With you gone and the Eagles killing Joker, life can get back to normal.” He almost sounds like the man I remember, and I hate it.
“It doesn’t. Make me feel better, I mean.”
“I figured, but I just wanted it out there.”
I turn away from him, watching the landscape pass by, searing every dead tree and jagged rock into my memory, knowing they’re some of the last things I’m going to see.