36. Venom
36
VENOM
I n a bad case of déjà fucking vu , I find myself trapped in the chapel with my president and his daughter. We’re even sitting in the same seats we occupied when I told Brutus mine and Lily’s relationship was permanently done. He holds the gavel, although this time, he seems a lot less tense about facing us. I’m sure it helps his confidence to have kept us waiting for him, despite the urgent summons he sent via Cass.
With a droll grin, Brutus says. “I ’spose you’re wonderin’ why I dragged you both in here?”
“Considering you couldn’t even give me time to change.” Lily gestures to her outfit. Her silky shirt is rumpled, and a pencil holds her long hair in a knot on top of her head. She’s kicked off her shoes under the table and rucked her pencil skirt up around her hips so she can prop her feet on the chair next to her. “I figured it must’ve been urgent. Turns out you were just chasing the high of another power trip by refusing to allow me time to head home to freshen up.”
When she calls Slash’s house home, my heart skips a beat.
It shouldn’t hurt, but it does.
After all, I stole her actual home from her.
Took everything from her.
Left her with no way to get it back.
Although I promised Lily I’d fix things, almost twenty-four hours later, I remain unsure how to proceed. I’ve picked Cass’ brains, dragged more of his truth out of him so we can continue our plot to take Brutus down together. Spoken to Cub and schemed with Hunter. As far as any of us can see, I have no way out of the deal I made with Brutus without turning myself in for Alex’s murder.
It’s the only way to truly negate his threat to pin the crime on Lily.
Since Sander, Cub, and Isaiah disposed of the body of Lily’s rapist at one of our farms, the cops will only have my confession to go on. Our pigs are efficient. They eat everything. Clothes. Shoes. Flesh. Bones. We compost their manure at elevated temperatures, then use it to fertilise our dope crops. Any evidence that could remain five months later is spread all over the lower third of Western Australia and has most likely been diluted to nothing by the summer rains.
Another hurdle is the fact Alex is only listed as missing because he made a public social media post around the time he disappeared that said he needed time away to rediscover himself.
Cub posted this for him.
Our tech officer also cleared out Alex’s personal bank accounts. And while Joseph has done his best to elevate his son’s disappearance to a suspected murder investigation, he’s received pushback. No longer in the mix to become our next state premier, his political connections aren’t as valuable as they once were. Turns out his partisan allies aren’t keen to see photos of the convicted rapist son of the minister for police plastered on every newspaper and evening news report when there’s an election coming within months.
Cub has monitored things for me since Lily killed Alex. He’s positive there will be no investigation of any kind unless someone—namely Brutus—is hiding some kind of evidence that links the Shamrocks and the safe house to Alex’s vanishing act.
Again, our fathers and Hunter believe it’s highly unlikely.
I’m not willing to gamble Lily’s freedom on their gut feeling.
“ Oh , it’s urgent all right, little Cherub,” Brutus tells us. He leans back in his chair and folds his hands over his stomach. The smirk on his bandaged face is at odds with his next statement. “I learnt somethin’ rather disturbin’ last night.”
“Did you just?” Lily rolls her eyes at his theatrics. She touches her phone. I check the time when her screen lights up since Brutus made me stick my device in Cub’s box before he’d let me in. Turns out we’ve been sitting here, silently stewing on Brutus’ intentions while ignoring each other, for more than half an hour. “Are you going to tell us anytime soon, or should I tell Gabriel that I’m going to be longer than expected because my dad is incapable of reaching the point?”
When Brutus doesn’t react to her sarcastic pronunciation of “dad”, my gut lurches. He usually flinches when Lily distances herself from him. At the moment, he seems to relish it. Almost like he’s ready to set her permanently adrift.
“Brutus,” I venture in a tight voice. “Maybe we should talk first?”
Lily snorts. “Why? I already know about the deal… what could be worse than that?”
“Well, that’s the best news I’ve had all day,” her father offers with a slimy grin. “Now I can get to the fun stuff without needin’ to backtrack through all the muck you two have tried to rake over the past year.”
“We’re the muckrakers?” Lily asks with a scowl. “You’re a fucking rat who sold out his own club… it doesn’t get much muckier than that.”
Brutus acts like she hasn’t spoken. “I hope you got your fill of each other on that balcony… hope it was worth the price you’re about to pay for breakin’ our agreement.”
My palms slap against the solid oak table as I push to my feet. “That was months ago. We haven’t been near each other since.”
“Bullshit.”
Lily’s eyes turn big and round at her dad’s vehement denial. “Nothing happened last night, either. We had an argument, and I went home. That’s it.”
“It’s true,” I confirm. “The scene in the bar is as far as it went.”
Brutus pins me to the spot with a knowing glance. “The scratches on your neck and the bruise on your chin tells me otherwise.”
“Dad,” Lily protests. “I hit him. We didn’t do… that .”
“Last night was simply the final fuckin’ straw,” Brutus interjects over her defence of our actions. “I’ve been watchin’. So have my men. My gut said it was only a matter of time before you both betrayed me again… Isaiah’s loose lips around Sander just confirmed it.”
“Sander?” Lily says her twin’s name with confusion. “He isn’t even speaking to you.”
“He is now.” Without explaining further, Brutus hits the button for the intercom that’s wired into the wall behind him. “Bring him in.”
The double doors behind me swing open, and Cass all but carries a heavily beaten Sander into the chapel. The younger black-haired man is handcuffed, his top lip bleeding. His clothes are creased and bloodstained, and Sander looks like he’s about to pass out at any second. The odd angle he holds his left leg as he limps forward makes me think it’s broken.
“What the fuck?”
Brutus’ twin brother has the good grace to look sheepish in the face of my rage.
He was supposed to be on my side, so seeing him with Sander is a gut punch.
I stomp over to the two men and rip Sander free of his traitorous uncle’s grip. A closer look at Lily’s twin pushes me over the edge. Seizing hold of his shirt front, I pull his face to mine. “You’re fuckin’ high.”
“What? No!” Lily is on us in a flash. Pure agony is all I hear when she says, “Sander… after all this time. Why?”
“I didn’t shoot up, they did it to me,” he whispers hoarsely. His throat is raw from what I figure is a night spent screaming for help in the bunker or one of our sheds. “But it’s my fault. I fucked everythin’ up… thought I could fix it with them before anyone found out. All I did was make it worse.”
“What did you do?” I demand.
Brutus bangs his gavel. “If everyone would take a seat, we can get this over and done with and move onto the upcomin’ celebrations.”
“Celebrations?” Lily whirls on her father. “How can you have anything to celebrate?”
“By the end of this meetin’, we’ll all have things to celebrate.”
Ignoring her father’s strange choice of words, Lily links her arm through Sander’s, and I pull his other one around my neck. Together, we help him hobble over to the closest seat. He drops into it and crumples forward to cover his face with his hands. As his shoulders shake, my fearless woman perches on the table with her back to her father and pulls her brother in for a hug.
With a broken leg, Sander’s season is over.
Depending on how badly it’s damaged and how soon we can get him to the hospital, the injury could be career ending.
“You’ll be okay,” Lily vows. “I’ll make sure of it.”
“He’s fine,” Brutus announces. “A little surgery and some rehab on his leg and his shoulder. It’s you and Venom who needa worry.”
“What do you want?” I growl.
With the same glint in his eyes as the night I gave him his Glasgow grin, Brutus finally fills us in. “When you sent a bunch of fuckin’ amateurs to clean up after my bloodthirsty little Cherub, you made your biggest mistake yet. You see, Cub and Isaiah were outta their depth. They couldn’t be in two places at once, so when Lysander offered to deal with the body by himself, they accepted. It could’ve worked… if a little birdie wasn’t keepin’ watch. A little birdie who knew he owed me one and was happy to barter his freedom in exchange for the body.”
“Bear,” I mutter to myself. As happy as I am that I’ve already dealt with that rat, I’d be lying if I said I wouldn’t like the opportunity to kill the motherfucker all over again for tormenting Sander. “Fuck.”
“This idiot.” Brutus lifts his chin in Sander’s direction. “Played right into his hands. Bear called me when he saw the body and realised that I was gonna put a bullet in his fuckin’ head for double-crossing me if he didn’t bring this to me.”
I can see Lily’s hands shaking when she forces Sander to look at her. “Did he hurt you?”
“He knocked me out from behind. I didn’t even know it was Bear until he started sendin’ me messages, demandin’ to meet up, so I could pay him to stay quiet about it.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?” Her question is the same one on the tip of my tongue. “I could’ve helped.”
“I went to Dad,” Sander admits in a whisper. “He just laughed and said you’d go to jail if I opened my mouth to anyone. When I said I’d confess to it to save you, he laughed even harder at me. Told me the evidence wouldn’t hold. That I’d just end up takin’ you down with me.”
When I hear the same threat Brutus levelled at me falling from Sander’s mouth, I’m on my feet and rounding the table in the next instant. Brutus holds up a hand, palm out, when I close my fingers into a fist and cock my arm back. “I wouldn’t do that if I were you… for two reasons.”
Cass cuts off his brother. “You needa hear him out before you make things worse.”
“Fine.” I perch my arse on the edge of the table and cross my arms over my chest. Although I’m still within swinging range, Brutus doesn’t seem perturbed. He surveys the table, his gaze landing on each of us with a smug look I’d love to slice from his face and hang on my wall like a bleeding tapestry. “Are you gonna give us these reasons, prez , or should we just guess?”
“Guess,” he retorts.
“First reason,” I reply with a shake of my head that does nothing to clear the dread bubbling inside my gut. “You haven’t given the body to Joseph yet, but you have given him enough evidence to open a murder investigation.”
“Well, look at the boy wonder go.” He lifts his eyebrows in a sardonic gesture. “You are right on the first count.”
“Fuckin’ arrogant prick.”
You haven’t seen anythin’ yet.” Brutus chuckles.
“Little Cherub.” He looks past me to Lily, who stands so she can face him. “Tell me… do you still love this piece of shit?”
Despite everything that she said to me last night, Lily doesn’t hesitate. “Yes.”
“Then I’m correct in assumin’ that you’d do anythin’ I asked of you to stop him goin’ to jail?”
I look over my shoulder, shooting her a look that warns her not to agree to anything.
Lily darts her gaze away without locking eyes with me.
“I would,” she tells her father. Glancing my way, apology clouding her face, she adds. “But I don’t know what else you can take. Zeke left me like you wanted, and you stole my trust.” For a second, I think she’s talking about her lack of faith in her dad. Once Lily elaborates, alarm bells start ringing in my head. “I have no man, no life, and no money. You’ve hurt my brothers. You’ve betrayed the Shamrocks. Dishonoured our name in front of everyone I love. You’ve ruined everything… I have nothing left to give you.”
“Do you remember Alexander’s good friend, Hugh St. James?”
“No!” My shout is loud enough to echo in the small room. With my heart in my throat, I try to make Brutus see sense. “No fuckin’ way. You can’t do this to her.”
The St. James family patriarch—Hugh’s father—is the underboss of the Maddison Clan. Has been for decades. He’s a thug. Indiscriminate in his violence and devoid of morals. He was never destined to be more than an unruly second-in-command until Kristof Maddison’s sudden heart attack. It occurred on the same night Alex came after Lily for the third time, suspicious timing that caught everyone’s attention. In the underworld, rumours are rife with the speculation Kristof will never make a full recovery. This means, with Alex missing and Joseph acting as the political arm of the clan, Seamus St. James will be the next boss.
“Hugh,” Lily spits his name, then curls her top lip and shudders. “I remember him well.”
“That’s good because he’s gonna be your husband.”
“Fuck no.” Sander finds the strength to pull himself upright. Standing on one leg, he bangs his fist down on the table. “He’s a fuckin’ sadist. Worse than Alex.”
Brutus continues as if his son hasn’t spoken.
“Due to Alex’s absence ,” he emphasises that last word with malice. “Joseph refuses to move forward with our plans. After some serious discussions over the past few months, we believe we’ve found a suitable path forward. Our organisations needa be joined in more than name. It’s the only way to ensure unity. A marriage, ’specially now it’s been proven you can fulfil your womanly duty and provide an heir, is the best way to consolidate our interests.”
My chest feels like it’s on fire as I state, “I’d rather go to jail than sign Lily up for this.”
“I was hoping you’d say that,” Brutus retorts with a dark chuckle. He hits the intercom button again. “Make the call.”
In the same moment I realise what he’s just done, Lily understands it as well. She rushes over to her father and drops to her knees next to his seat. Tugging at his arm until he extends his hand to her, she clutches his fingers and pleads, “Please, Dad. Don’t do this. Surely we can find another way to reach an agreement—one that doesn’t hurt Zeke or Sander?”
Brutus smirks. “If you refuse to marry Hugh, Venom will go to jail for Alex’s murder, and your trust fund will remain in my possession. The same goes for your brothers. I will disown them. They’ll be on the fuckin’ street. Anyone who tries to help a’one of you little fuckers will find themselves in the same situation… or worse. Sander won’t be able to fund your lives for long, not with a busted leg and the positive drug test that’s about to be on his record.”
“I don’t give a fuck if I go to jail,” I declare a second time.
“Venom,” Cass cautions when I refuse to back down. The look he gives his brother is filled with contempt and blind hatred. I prefer it to the pity that he hits me with when he directs his attention my way. “Think about it… even if you’re locked up, Cherub’ll be forced to marry the St. James boy. Like usual, Brutus has the loose ends tied up. We’re caught in his trap, and there’s no way out. The best thing you can do is keep yourself on his good side. Stay outta jail. Work to fix this. Find a way to get her out of the marriage.”
Whirling to face Brutus, I growl, “I’ll kill you.”
“We already tried that,” Cass confesses from behind me.
He deliberately touches my ear, and that’s when my anger at his duplicity evaporates. It appears that he’s still on board with my plan, even if it didn’t look like it when he dragged Sander into the chapel.
“What happened?” Lily asks. I stare at her for a moment, not comprehending her question. When she elaborates, the blood in my veins turns to ice. “When you tried to kill Dad… what happened?’
“It cost Angelis his oldest boy.”
“Topher was hit by a car. I was there,” I remind Brutus’ brother. “I’m the one who had to drag Slash off his body and run back home for help.”
“I know what you saw, but it wasn’t an accident.”
In one swift motion, I bend down to retrieve the knife strapped to my ankle. “You’re fuckin’ dead.”
All I can see in my head as I press the blade to Brutus’ jugular is Topher’s little body, crumpled and bleeding, lying underneath the car that ploughed into us as we walked to the park as children. For years, I’ve believed it was an accident. That it was just fate that me, Slash, and Toker escaped being run down as well. To discover that Slash’s big brother was killed by our president in some perverse act of revenge is fucked up.
“Do it.” Brutus shrugs. “It won’t stop a thing. Haven’t you realised that I’m always three steps ahead of you?”
He pushes his seat back, uncaring when my steel nicks the side of his neck, and snatches hold of Lily’s wrist. Dragging her to her feet, Brutus stalks around the opposite side of the table to Cass, pulling his daughter along behind him. Lily stumbles as her heels catch in the thick carpet, but Brutus doesn’t slow. I make a move to follow. Brutus’ twin brother does his best to stop me from chasing after them. I struggle to free myself from his restricting embrace, freezing when Brutus stops and claps a hand on Sander’s shoulder.
“In time, you’ll see that I did you a favour,’ he tells his oldest son. “Although I pushed you to pursue basketball, I now see that was the wrong move. Your legacy is here… with the Shamrocks, not on the court. Once you have your patch, you’ll see that I’m right.”
“You’re a monster,” his daughter shouts.
In the next instant, Brutus takes hold of Lily’s shirt. He swings her around and shoves her outside the chapel. Lily cries out as she lands on her knees a second before Brutus slams the heavy doors shut and flicks the lock. The handle is twisted back and forth, then my woman pounds on the door.
“Dad! Please. I’ll do whatever you ask. Just leave everyone else alone. Please. I’m begging you.”
“What happens next is on you, Venom.” Brutus flicks his gaze between me and the door that’s blocking Lily from re-entering. “Try to make the right fuckin’ choice for once.”
With that, Brutus releases the dead bolt and exits the chapel.
Lily pushes past him.
She runs inside, straight into my arms.
I hold her close while she clutches my cut in her hands.
“I’m sorry,” Cass tells us all. “But he’s the fuckin’ devil. Always has been. The best thing to do is to put your head down and get through this in one piece.”
Before I can tell him to go fuck himself, a commotion breaks out in the bar area.
I hand Lily my knife, then jerk my chin toward Sander. “Stay with him.”
She nods and takes up a defensive position in front of her brother.
I rush out into the main area, then stop dead in my tracks.
Brutus is nowhere to be seen, yet the bar is in an uproar.
Only the chaos is being caused by Slash’s ex.
Bebe Du Bois knocks over a stool as she whips around to face me.
“Did you know they were sleeping together?” the tiny redhead screams. “He promised me that they weren’t, but he lied.”
I hold my hands in the air and shake my head. “No idea what you’re talkin’ about.”
Dressed in green scrubs, the swell of a baby bump stretching out the bottom of her top, she turns around to lash out at Slash. “Tell him! And don’t try to lie about it because when I came to talk to you after my overnight shift, I found her in your bed.”
“You broke into my house?”
Bebe throws a ring with a single key on it at him. Slash catches it, then pushes it into the front pocket of his jeans. “It’s not breaking in when you have a key and the alarm code.”
“It is when I asked for my key back and you ignored my fuckin’ request.”
“Screw you,” she hisses like a wildcat. “Stop trying to deflect from the real problem.”
The brothers who’ve been stuck in the bar for over an hour, waiting for Isaiah’s patching in ceremony to begin, while Brutus took his time destroying mine and Lily’s lives, watch the short doctor haul off and punch Slash in the chest. It’s about as high as she can reach on him. Even though I know there’s no way Bebe could’ve hurt him, he still flinches like he’s been stabbed.
Of course he does.
Seeing Bebe pregnant will be resurrecting the tragedy that happened nearly eleven years ago in technicolour flashbacks.
“Is it mine?” he asks.
Bebe’s cheeks flush until they’re almost the same colour as her hair. “I don’t know. More-than-likely.”
“When were you gonna tell me?”
“Last night… except you ruined it.”
“I ruined nothin’. We’ve been over for months. You have no claim over me—just like you told me that I had none over you.”
With all that’s going on, I decide it’s better if they take this somewhere private. I approach Bebe with slow strides. In a quiet voice, I offer what I think is a good suggestion. “Why don’t you take this to Slash’s room. It’s not really a conversation you wanna have in front of the entire club.”
Rather than help, my idea just sets her off. “No. Fuck. Him. Everyone needs to hear this.”
“ Ah, okay.” I glance at Slash to see if he wants my assistance or if I should just back off and leave them to it. “It was just a thought.”
My best friend won’t meet my eyes when I try to connect with him.
Instead, his gaze is locked on something over my shoulder.
“I was just tryna help,” I tell Bebe when she looks ready to launch into me again.
The redhead lets out a derisive snort. “Like you can help me.”
Now, I’ve never professed to be the smartest man on the planet. Hell, I doubt I’d make it out of the bottom ten percent based on my recent decisions and my level of formal education, but even I know that when a woman who doesn’t belong to you is about to blow, you get your arse out of the explosion zone and leave the dumb motherfucker who’s incurred her wrath to deal with his fuckup alone.
“Righto, then. I’ve got my own shit goin’ down?—”
“You!” Shoving past me, Bebe stomps in the direction of the chapel. Lily steps into the bar and tucks her hair behind her ears, then wipes her face free of tears. She straightens her shoulders and stares at the woman bearing down on her with a face like a thundercloud. “How dare you?”
“Me?” Lily exclaims. There’s confusion in her eyes. “I have done nothing to you. You cut me off. I tried to keep in touch with you. All I ever did was try to be your friend.”
“My friend?” Bebe scoffs. “A real friend doesn’t sleep with her friend’s ex.”
The tiny redhead’s declaration rocks me back on my heels.
Was Lily the woman in Slash’s bed?
I watch with disbelieving eyes as Lily’s mouth drops open, and she shoots me a look that flays my heart to shreds. Rounding on Slash, index finger extended, I poke him in the chest. “You’re fuckin’ Lily?”
He shakes his head. “No.”
“Bullshit.”
It’s there in his pale eyes.
The truth.
He’s touched my woman.
The animal inside of me snaps its leash, and I pounce. “You motherfucker.”
Unlike when we got into it at the cemetery, Slash doesn’t just meekly accept the violence my dark side unleashes. This time, after I shove him, he swings back at me. His knuckles glance off my chin, then his knee collides with my gut. Impervious to the pain, I sink my fingers into his throat, then sweep my leg behind his knee. His arse hits the floor. After stomping his arm when he tries to trip me, I kick him in the guts.
He curls in on himself.
I kick him again.
“Zeke!” Lily grabs hold of my arm. I shake her off and knock Slash back to the floor when he goes to scramble to his feet to come at me again. “Stop it. Please. Zeke.”
When I bend down to grab a fistful of his hair to hold his head up so I can give him the broken nose I promised him last night, Lily jumps on my back. She loops an arm around my neck and tightens her thighs around my hips. After jamming her thumbs into the pressure points at each corner of my jaw, she shifts her weight backward to force me upright.
Lips to my ear while she clings to my back, Lily croons sweetly to the monstrous side of my psyche, “Please. Stop. I didn’t fuck him. There’s been no one but you, I promise.”
“Promise?”
“Promise.”
I hook my arms under her knees to take her weight off my neck. When she loosens her legs and drops to the ground, I pull her around to face me. The colour sitting high in her cheeks and the way her eyes dart around my face yet never meet my gaze tells me that I’m not gonna like the answer to the questions pounding in my skull.
“Why were you in his bed?”
Lily’s throat works, then she replies, “We were watching Netflix, and I fell asleep.”
“That happen often?”
“Sometimes.”
Slanting a look Bebe’s way, I ask, “Why does she think you two are fucking?”
“’Cause she accused him of it when they were together.”
“Why would she do that?”
“Bebe thinks Slash is in love with me.” Lily cuts her gaze to Slash then back to me. “It’s one of the reasons they broke up.”
“Is he?”
All colour drains from my woman’s face. Again she looks between me and my supposed best friend. Seeing that she’s going to lie, I direct my focus to the big man who’s slowly dragged himself back to his feet.
“You love her?”
He doesn’t hesitate. “Yeah.”
“Like I do?”
“Yeah.”
“You’ve touched her.” It’s a statement, not a question, since the truth is staring me in the face. “Made her come.”
Slash glances at Lily with apology in his expression.
He lifts his chin, then declares, “Twice.”
“ Oh, this is just brilliant,” Bebe screeches. With both her hands, she gestures at Slash then the clubhouse. “I’m pregnant. The most likely father is a bloody biker who’s in love with his best friend’s ex-fiancée. A man who’s made her come twice as he just, oh, so, proudly admitted to everyone listening. My life is officially a soap opera.”
Bebe glares at Slash. “Don’t call me. Don’t text me. I no longer give a crap about organising a DNA test. You can forget this child even exists.” She waves her hand in Lily’s general direction, then glares at me. “I hope you three have a very unhappy life together. God knows you deserve it.”
The door slams behind her after she flounces out of the clubhouse.
I barely register that she’s left.
Instead, my brain is stuck on Slash’s admission.
He’s touched Lily.
My Lily.
“Zeke,” Lily calls after me when I stalk toward the rack holding my leather jacket and helmet. “You don’t get to hold this against me. I did nothing wrong… there’s no way you’ve been living like a monk since we split.”
“I haven’t touched anyone since you.”
“You touched Honey.”
The entire club is quiet in the wake of Lily’s declaration. In truth, I’d forgotten we had an audience. My brothers have watched this whole sorry saga play out without comment. When I look around the bar, no one will meet my eyes, except my father.
He shakes his head, disappointment and worry clouding his weary features.
I avert my gaze.
“You know what?” I shout. After pulling my cut from my shoulders, I toss it on the floor. I snag my leather jacket from its hook on the rack. “I’m fuckin’ done. With the club. With everything and everyone.” As I’m threading my arms through the sleeves, I glance at Lily for the first time since Slash dropped his smug truth on me. “I’m ’specially done with you . For good.”
“Okay.” She accepts my dismissal with a half shrug. If I couldn’t read her like a book, I would’ve missed the way Lily blinks just a touch too fast as she tells me, “I’m not sure how I’ll tell the difference, but I’ll give it a try.”
“You do that.”
My helmet is in my hand, and I’m trying to force my feet to walk away from Lily instead of toward her when the doors Bebe left through are pulled open. Brutus swaggers inside with Joseph Kingsley right behind him. A dozen heavily armoured cops holding rifles flood the front of the bar. They block the exit, then look to their leader for his next order.
“Going somewhere?” my corrupt president quips with a chuckle.
“Yeah… any place but here.”
“Maybe I can offer a suggestion? The Perth lockup is a fine establishment where you’d fit right in,” Joseph says as his lips lift into a shit-eating grin filled with pure victory. The Shamrocks, with fucking Slash of all people leading them, are on their feet in an instant, ready to defend me, even though I just disrespected my patches in front of them. “Ezekiel Asher Miles, you’re under arrest for the murder of Alexander Joseph Maddison Kingsley.”
My responding laughter is heavy with irony.
Pretty sure I’ve just learnt firsthand the true meaning of it.
Fucking Brutus has taken the choice to protect Lily out of my hands.
The bar fills with anger, and my club surges forward.
“Don’t.” I hold out one hand to stay my brothers.
With efficient movements, I strip off my jacket and hang it back on the hook. When I slide my cut back over my shoulders, a little of the tension surrounding the Shamrocks reduces. All of my anger at Lily for letting Slash touch her evaporates. Every single problem I’m facing seems to freeze before my mind’s eye and the haze of uncertainty I’ve been trying to see through for months finally lifts.
I’m left with absolute clarity.
This is the way forward.
This gives me a way to take Brutus down and save the Shamrocks.
This is how I fix things between me and Lily, once and for all.
This is my chance to show my woman how serious I am about making amends for abandoning her.
The painful truth is that my ego drove her into my best friend’s arms, and my stubborn streak refused to see the feelings Slash held for her. He’s made it clear for years that he’d choose her over me if I ever fucked her over. And I didn’t just fuck her over, I destroyed Lily’s soul and everything we shared in my bull-headed pursuit of prideful perfection.
“Have at it,” I tell Joseph. Turning my back to him, I hold my wrists together. “I’ve got nothin’ better to do today.”
“Please think about this?” Lily pleads. “You don’t need to do this. Not for me.”
As one of the cops moves in behind me to zip-tie my hands together, I beckon her over with a jerk of my chin. Lily doesn’t falter. She strides over to me in the next heartbeat. When Brutus tries to stop her, she points the knife I gave her in the chapel right in his face.
“Back the fuck off, Dad . You won’t like what I do if you touch me.”
“Cherub. Just think.” Brutus lapses into silence when Lily shoves past him to get to me. Like an avenging seraph, she circles her arms around my waist and hugs me tight. When Joseph tries to separate us, her father steps up and stops him.
“Let her have a minute,” Brutus demands.
Joseph inclines his head and his men allow Lily to stay with me.
“I’m going to kill him. Maybe not today, but damn soon,” Lily whispers. She presses her forehead to mine. “Don’t do this, Zeke. Please. ”
“I promised you I’d fix things.”
“This fixes nothing.”
“No,” I tell her. “This fixes every- fuckin’ -thing.”
“How do you figure that?”
“Speak to Cass, sweet thing.” My voice is low as I continue. “He can fill you in with most of it. We’ve been workin’ on takin’ Brutus down for months… he just sped shit up when he resurrected this arranged marriage bullshit.”
“Zeke,” Lily mutters. Confusion clouds her eyes as she declares, “I don’t want you to do this. Let me take responsibility for my own actions.”
“None of this is on you.” I nuzzle her nose with mine. “Plus, sweet thing, it’s only temporary. They can’t convict me for somethin’ I didn’t do.”
“This is all on me… and you know corruption runs rife through the force. They could convict Crystal for this if they wanted to.” When a low growl of disagreement rumbles in my chest, Lily blinks, then shakes herself. “The last time you told me something was temporary between us, we ended up spending six months apart.”
“I fucked up back then. This time is different. You needa let me do this so you can concentrate on keepin’ Sander whole.” With expert precision, I use Lily’s love for her twin—the only person who comes close to eclipsing me in her heart—to stop her from doing something foolish like confessing to Alex’s murder. “He needs you more than I do right now. Every motherfucker here needs you more than me.”
Before Lily can protest my pronouncement, I put a couple steps between us.
“Slash,” I call out my best friend’s name like it is poisonous as I glare at him over Lily’s head. “Need you to do somethin’ for me.”
He knocks two cops on their arse on his way to me.
For the second time, Joseph Kingsley stays his officers.
There’s worry in Slash’s voice when he asks, “What do you need?”
“Feumaidh tu pòsadh, Lily, cho luath’s as urrainn dhut cead fhaighinn.”
Gaelic isn’t my second language. I’m only fluent in English, Hebrew, and Yiddish, but I spent enough time in the Hudson household as a kid to pick up enough to get by, even if I still butcher the pronunciation on most occasions. It was impossible not to absorb a sizable portion of Crystal’s mother tongue when she constantly lapsed into it whenever we drove her into a flap—which was often.
“Why?” Slash asks in the face of my demand that he marry Lily as soon as he can get a licence.
“You know why. Speak to Gabriel and Cass. Ask your mumma.” When Slash doesn’t agree, I add. “Lily will explain the rest.”
My woman is watching our conversation with hawklike intensity. I know she hasn’t fully grasped the request I’ve made, although I see her working it through in her mind. “What do I need to explain? You said…”
With a shake of my head, I silence her to tell Slash, “Use my rainy-day fund for the rest of it. There’s more than enough for everyone.”
“I’m confused,” he replies. “None of this seems like a good idea to me.”
It’s clear Slash isn’t sold on my plan, but I don’t have time to explain everything right now. Not in front of Brutus and the cops. If this is going to work, it needs to be a blindside.
“Just need you to tell me that you’re gonna do what I’ve asked as quickly as you can. We’re running outta time here.”
“Fine,” he concedes with a grimace. “I’ll do it.”
“I’m trustin’ you with my life.” Lily glances between us, then loses her battle not to cry. I want to look away as she breaks, but I can’t. The need to make sure Slash understands his part in this plan is too important to back down. “Look after her.”
“Always.” Slash inclines his head. His expression is completely serious when he tells me, “I’ll look after her like she’s mine ’ cause she belongs to us both .”
Everything that’s happened in the past six months floods my head.
The betrayals. The mistakes. Brutus’ double cross. His future plans to barter Lily to cement his alliance with the Maddison Clan. Cass and his secrets. My father and his terminal cancer diagnosis. The Shamrocks being torn apart. The truth about Topher’s death.
So much treachery.
It all hurts.
Somehow, hearing Slash claim Lily pains me the most.
Yet it’s the only option I’ve got right now. Slash can marry my woman and spend every dollar I have saved. As long as Lily’s safe from Brutus’ scheming, I can swallow my pride and stomach them being together.
Until I get back, that is…
Then the rules will change and he’ll pay for daring to cross the line with her.
“That’s enough chitchat, ladies.” Joseph steps forward to grab my upper arm when it becomes clear that me and Slash are all talked out. “We need to get you settled in your new home before nightfall.”
We manage two steps before the sound of a single shot booms from behind us. Next to me, Joseph Kingsley stumbles. I avoid falling with him as his grip on my bicep goes slack, and he drops face-first onto the concrete floor of the bar.
There’s a gaping hole between his shoulder blades.
A large calibre rifle shot.
“What the fuck?” Ready to dive for my life if it turns out the shooter was actually aiming at me, I whirl around to see who shot Joseph. I stumble backward a step when I spot my dad standing a few metres away with his Steyr HS .50 M1 clutched in his hands.
“Jesus, Dad. Why did you do that?”
My father smiles. His red eyes are watery, and he sways on his feet, exhausted, even as his tone remains jovial. “My son…just… bought… you the… time you… need…”
It’s the only thing he gets to say because the cops in the bar shake off their shock at seeing their minister gunned down in front of them. Half a dozen armoured officers dive on Dad. They knock him to the ground, kicking him with heavy boots, even though he isn’t mounting a fight. I do my best to make my way to him. My need to protect my dying father gives me the strength to overpower two armed officers despite my arms being secured behind my back.
The third one takes me to the ground.
“Stay there,” he demands as he shoves my face into the hard floor. “You move, and I’m gonna put a bullet in that pretty woman of yours.”
When he leaves me alone so he can radio for more backup, Lily rushes over to me and drops to her knees next to my head. Her eyes water as she tries to blink back her tears.
“I’m so sorry Hades felt he needed to do that.”
“It was his choice. He knew what he was doin’.”
She shakes her head as if to ward off a bad thought. “I love you.”
“Good,” I tell her. “’Cause I love you more than you’ll ever know , metukà shelì .”
“This marriage you’ve cooked up with Slash isn’t real,” Lily tells me in a scandalised hiss. The razor-sharp understanding in her expression settles my nerves. My woman’s not going to fight me on this plan because she sees that it’s the only way to stop Brutus from forcing her into an arranged marriage. Slash’s secret familial connections are our only hope. “It’s just a way to escape Hugh. I’ll do it to protect the Shamrocks. But it means nothing… I only want to marry you.”
“I know, metukà shelì ,” I reply in a wavering tone that attempts to betray my real thoughts. The truth about Slash and Lily is a lot more convoluted than either of us will admit, but I’m content to let that fact slide for now. “Me and you, we’re forever.”
When my heartbroken woman leans closer, I capture her mouth with mine and kiss her hard. She breathes me in. I absorb every atom of her love. Forced to break our connection when the cop behind me pulls me away from her, I keep my eyes locked on Lily’s. When she tries to follow us to the exit, my frantic gaze seeks Slash. He nods at the silent request that I send him with my eyes and rushes forward to grab her.
Before Slash can turn her away from the sight of me being dragged out of the clubhouse, Lily juts her chin and declares, “You don’t get to tell me that we’re forever, then not come back to me, Ezekiel Miles.”
“I wouldn’t dare.”
“Promise?”
“Promise.”
When my best friend wraps an arm around my woman’s waist, I slant a look his way that makes him do a double take. Eyes wide with challenge, he nods once, then hauls Lily over his shoulder and carries her out of the bar. She goes kicking and screaming, and I refuse to move, no matter how hard the cops hit me or how many of them try to drag me, until she’s no longer in sight.
Outside, I’m shoved inside a paddy wagon and the door is slammed shut. I slump on the hard bench with my back against the steel wall. The side of my head is throbbing from someone’s boot. My mouth is bleeding. My gut feels like a swarm of wasps has stung me a thousand times.
Still, my physical condition isn’t a patch on the turmoil spinning around in my head.
My freedom is gone for fuck knows how long. My woman is marrying my best friend. My dad just killed a politician in full sight of the cops. He’ll most likely spend the rest of the time he has left behind bars. A whole heap of shit just hit the fan, wave after wave of drama, enough to drown most men, and I have no way out of this tsunami of bullshit, except to hold my breath and keep kicking for the surface.
Right now, the only thing I know for sure is that as long as I have Lily to come home to, it’ll all be worth it in the end…
TO BE CONTINUED…
Thank you so much for reading Tempting Fate.