Chapter 34
Wylder
Evie stares at Atlas for a minute and then nods. “So, he’s after your entire family?”
Breakfast this morning consisted of scrambled eggs, sausage, coffee, and a file full of information on Wade. Atlas wanted me to look at it and see if I could find any loose ends tied to Wade but I’m coming up empty. Only Evie and I know why – we hired him.
Except…Wade’s off plan. We need all the information on him we can get because it’s obvious we’re missing something here.
Atlas sighs, running his fingers through his hair. “He’s only ever threatened my father’s life, but he’s made active attempts against me and Kortez. Roman’s been caught in the crossfire a few times.”
She hums. “He wants both of you then, but why. Neither one of you pulled the trigger to kill his father…there’s something we’re not seeing here.”
Just like we didn’t see there was something more to Wade than being a gun for hire. His father is connected to the Valente’s. He wanted revenge before he even met Evie.
Kortez sits on the other side of Atlas. “That’s the conclusion we’ve come to. We got close to him last week, but he knew we were there. Someone had to have tipped him off.”
The sound of paper shifting is the only thing in the room for a while. I take the silence as an opportunity to watch Evie, the shifting in her hips, how she nibbles on her bottom lip until it begins to bleed. A look from the corner of my eye shows that Kortez is doing the same thing.
I clear my throat, dragging Kortez’s eyes to me instead of taking in Evie’s subtle movements. “If he’s got ties to a gang, or is at least using a local one for information, I’ll figure it out. I’ll get some trusted ears to the ground and eyes in the sky to protect Evie until you can catch him.”
Atlas takes the file and nods, “Thanks, man.”
I reach up and rub the scruff on my chin, “Who do you think tipped him off?”
Atlas shrugs, “We don’t know.”
Roman’s arm goes around Evie, pulling her close and dropping a kiss on her forehead. “So, who knew where you guys were going?”
Atlas looks to Kortez, and I see Kor’s eyes light up. He turns to Roman with a small smirk sitting on his lips, telling the one truth we all know but haven’t wanted to speak out loud. “Only the people in this room.”
Kortez’s admission earlier has everyone on edge, but they took the knowledge of someone keeping secrets relatively well.
Evie is convinced they think I’m the traitor but she’s misreading the looks Roman keeps giving me.
He’s not accusing me of betraying them, he’s wondering how well I could fuck him if he bent over for me.
I can’t blame him, though, because I’m wondering the same thing. He would moan so well for me. Just imagining the way his tan skin would turn red from my violent displays of love have me rock hard in my jeans.
Evie knows there’s something between us, but the guilt is making her see things that aren’t there and miss the ones that are.
Roman doesn’t believe I’m the traitor. He believes she is.
He doesn’t realize we both are. He hasn’t known us long enough to understand the tension Evie has been carrying has nothing to do with his case and everything to do with the fact that she’s been lying to him since he arrived.
Even their meeting at the club wasn’t something fate decided, but something Evie orchestrated with the help of Vivianne, Wade, and I.
Wade began stealing the drugs and girls with the help of the local gang knowing Atlas would either send someone close to him to fix it, or he would come himself.
When we got word it was his own cousin coming to look into things, the rest pretty much planned itself.
Of course, Atlas would come to save his cousin from a lifetime in prison.
The only thing that wasn’t planned was the mountain of bodies Wade left in his wake. That should’ve been the first sign that something was wrong.
Evie shakes her head, her hand coming up to run through her curls. “Wade’s in Denver. I tried to tell him I was calling off the hit on Atlas, but he already knew.” Her wide eyes come up to meet mine, the grey looking darker in her turmoil. “How did he know?”
I take her in my arms, wrapping them around her tightly to try and stave off her trembling. “I don’t know, Evie, but we’ll figure it out. Did he agree to call it off?”
Her shaking gets even harder and I know she’s realizing the same thing I have – we laid in bed with the devil. “No. I even told him I’d still pay him, but he refuses to back down.”
She reaches down and pulls her phone from her back pocket, “Here, I recorded part of the call.” She taps a few buttons and a voice message comes through the speakers.
His voice has a hint of an accent, as if he spent most of his life in New York like Atlas and Roman, but there’s no mistaking the violence infused with his words.
“I’m disappointed in you, Evangeline. I thought you were just as bloodthirsty as me, but you’ve been sleeping with the enemy.
” A deep sigh comes through the speakers before he continues, “It’s unfortunate but I guess all good things must come to an end.
Perhaps you’ll be able to bathe in Aldo’s blood before I catch your lovers – and you.
I don’t take well to traitors. Remember you did this to yourself. ”
The phone beeps as the voice recording ends, Evie’s phone dropping to the ground as her shaking takes her over. “I did this, Wylder. I’ve put all of you in danger.”
Taking her face in my hands, I tilt her head up until I can look into her tear-filled eyes. “Evie, I know you’re worried, but we have to tell them. Now it’s not just their lives in danger, but all of ours, including Abel’s.”
She cries out, as if she didn’t realize the extent of our situation. “I’ll kill him, Wylder. I’ll kill Wade if he even shows his face around my son.”
I rub her back, smiling down at her blonde head. “I know you will, Evie.”
We stay there, standing in her shed with our arms wrapped around each other until her tears dry and the sun creeps below the horizon.
There’s a knock on the door and I reach over to open it, Markus’s full form taking up the doorway.
I called him after our talk this morning to get some of the old club asking around about Wade.
He checks to make sure no one saw him back here before shutting the door.
“I checked in with the Seventh Street Psychos.” He stops in front of Evie and I, waiting until we unwrap ourselves from each other before continuing.
“Their captain, Chaos, heard from Wade two days ago. He said Wade was back in town and needed a few guys to run recon.” His green eyes flare as they land on Evie, “On you.”
Evie curses and begins to chew on her bottom lip. Markus isn’t done, though. “Chaos was confused, though, Evie. Why would Wade need recon on the woman he’s been working with this whole time?”
Fuck. I knew Markus reaching out to the Psycho’s was a bad idea.
Evie looks from Markus, to me, and back to Markus before letting out a deep sigh. “Fuck.”
He nods. “Yeah. Fuck. I told the Psychos to let me know if they hear anything else, and they’re willing to feed this Wade guy some false info for a few days, but not for long.” He shakes his head. “I don’t know what you two got yourselves into but be careful.”
Evie turns to look out the window to where Atlas is playing catch with Abel in the backyard. He came home from Sawyer’s earlier bursting at the seam to tell us about the baseball game they went to yesterday and it looks like Atlas took it as a chance to bond. Good for them.
I clap Markus on his back and walk him over to the door, “Thanks, man. If you ever need me, call me. I owe you one.”
He laughs and shoots me a look, “We’ve had each other’s backs too many times through the years to be keeping score.”
He leaves, taking the path between my house and Evie’s to make a quick escape. I shut the door and turn back to Evie, watching her nails dig into her palms as she continues to look out at her son.
“Let me have tonight. Okay? Let me have one last night of this before I have to tear their world apart.”
I pull her to me and kiss her firmly on the temple. “They love you, Evie. Nothing is going to change that.”
Evie’s anxiety seemed to be contagious. It’s two in the morning and I haven’t been able to sleep a wink, tossing and turning in my bed until I’m sure I’ve worn a hole in it.
Evie wanted Atlas to stay with her last night, leaving me to come back to my house and sleep in my bed while Kortez and Roman are split between my own guest room and living room.
We need a bigger house.
I know why she did it though. Roman, despite his family ties to Atlas – and unknowingly to Kortez – is loyal only to Evie. He may be upset when he learns of the truth tomorrow, but he won’t leave.
Kortez wouldn’t leave her either. He’s been obsessed with her since childhood, and he wouldn’t let her slip through his fingers a second time.
She knows I’m on her side, since I’ve known about the plan for years. I’ve trained her countless times in combat and guns; shit I learned in the military mixed with the dirty street fighting of my club days.
The only one she’s worried about is Atlas, especially because she knows she still plans on killing his father. If not for taking Kortez, then for the torture Aldo put him through every day that followed.
She needed one last night with him.
I get out of bed and throw a pair of gym shorts on before heading downstairs. I need to try and relax – maybe a beer will help.
Except, when I go downstairs, I realize my kitchen isn’t empty.
Roman sits on my island, with his own beer in his hand as he looks out the window facing Evie’s house.
From here, you can see into her second story window.
The light is off, and her bed is on the other side of the room where Roman can’t see, but he doesn’t seem to care.
His voice breaks the silence, somehow knowing I’m standing here without me making a single sound. “She’s going to break his heart when she tells him, you know?”
I don’t bother to ask how he knows. He probably had Kortez follow Markus over to see the Psycho’s, if they didn’t already have a plant in the gang to begin with. I’ve had a feeling they knew for a while, but this confirms it.
“Why haven’t you told him?”
Roman takes a drink of his beer and turns to me. He’s shirtless, dressed in a pair of flannel pajama bottoms a red the same shade as his hair.
“Not my place. Atlas’s view of Eve has been tinted in their time apart and he doesn’t realize just how…vicious my little moth is. He needs to learn that on his own.” He sighs and takes another drink. “Tez and I are doing what we can to fuck Wade up but…he’s here, isn’t he? He’s in Denver.”
I nod and walk over to the fridge, grabbing my own beer before opening it on the edge of the kitchen counter. “He is. Evie believes Atlas will leave her for this, you know?”
“He won’t leave. He may be pissed but he won’t leave.”
I walk over, stopping directly in front of him and waiting until his eyes raise up to meet mine. “And you? Will you leave us?”
His eyes widen in surprise, the blue glinting with the same feeling building inside myself. Desire. “Us?” His lips turn up in a one-sided smirk. “Scared to lose me, Wylder James?”
I set my beer down beside him, my arms trapping him on the counter in front of me. “Scared to love you, Roman Bavone.”
He begins to laugh but the sound is cut short by my hand snapping up and wrapping itself around his throat, squeezing just enough to feel his vein pumping beneath my fingers. “Are you prepared for my violent version of love?”