Chapter 30
Thirty
“There you are,” Pax grumbles as I finally park my Indian.
I turn off the engine and get off. “Sorry. Had to pick up Brooks at the Knights of Mayhem,” I mumble.
“‘Scuse me?” Pax raises his eyebrows and stubs out his cigarette.
“Long story. Let’s get inside first.” I nod at the door and walk up to the security guard.
Pax tells him who we are and that we’ve got an appointment with Billy The Kid.
The security guard takes a step back and says something into the earpiece he’s wearing.
After a few seconds, he nods and lets us into the club.
We weave our way through the crowd to the VIP area.
The security guard stationed there immediately opens the partition to let us through.
He must’ve been told we were on our way.
At the top of the stairs, we see Billy sitting in a dark corner on the couch. From that position, he can overlook the entire club. There’s a glass of whiskey on ice on the table.
“Gentlemen,” he offers as a greeting, raising his glass as we approach.
Nodding, I take a seat on one of the leather chairs opposite him. Pax sits down next to me and rests his forearms on the table between us.
“What can I get you gentlemen?” Billy raises an eyebrow and looks from Paxton to me.
“The same,” I say, nodding toward his glass.
Pax puts his fist in his other hand and grunts, “A beer, please.”
Without another word, the server walks away. I glance across the VIP area and notice that we’re the only ones here.
Pax turns to The Kid. “Can we get down to business?”
“Ah, the information. Of course, Mr. Young. I didn’t call you without reason. Rumor has it that something’s going down in the harbor tonight.” He slumps against the back of the couch.
“Rumors? You’re calling me because you’ve heard rumors?” My little brother almost rolls his eyes.
“You have to understand, Mr. Young, that these aren’t just rumors. A warning to stay away from the harbor until seven o’clock tomorrow morning is anything but a simple rumor. This is actual information.” He brings the glass to his lips and takes a sip.
Just then, the server puts our drinks on the table, and I take a sip too. “In other words” —I start— “Rumor has it that you’d better stay away from the harbor until seven o’clock tomorrow morning.”
With one eye narrowed, The Kid points at me and says, “Exactly. The rumor also says that you don’t want to be seen there by the wrong people and that you definitely don’t want to get involved.” A broad grin spreads across his face. “I thought that information was worth sharing with you.”
“I agree,” I respond. “We appreciate you sharing this information with us. It’s obviously not our intention to end up there accidentally when you’ve explicitly said you don’t want to be seen.
Pax’s gaze shifts from me to The Kid and back again.
“Exactly,” Billy says.
“Thanks for the warning.” I wink and down my whiskey.
Pax follows my example, and then we leave.
“Fuck,” my dad says when we tell him the news. Tension is etched on every face. Brooks’s sitting next to me, but he doesn’t say a word. Who knows what’s going through his head.
“There’s a good chance Jen and Layne are there,” I say. “They know we’re hot on their heels, especially after Brooks’ little stunt, so it makes sense that they want to get rid of them as quickly as possible.”
“We have to intercept them,” Brooks mutters. He wants to get up. “Where’s the place?”
“Sit down,” Dad roars. “We’ll form teams so we can keep an eye on a large part of the harbor. We need to stay in contact so you can pass on any information. Paper,” he bellows.
Colt leans back and grabs a notepad from the desk to pass it to my father.
An hour later, I’m sitting next to Pax in the car. Dad paired Asher with Brooks, hoping that looking after his little brother will keep him in check—even though Ash is perfectly capable of looking after himself. With binoculars pressed against his face, Pax grumbles, “Pass me the coffee.”
Groaning, I grab the thermos Paxton insisted on bringing and hand it to him. “See anything yet?”
“Nothing. Why didn’t you bring binoculars?” My little brother puts the thing on the dashboard and unscrews the cap of the thermos.
Rolling my eyes, I ignore him. I intended to find a spot behind a container in the harbor.
Better view. Then we wouldn’t have needed the binoculars.
But both Paxton and Dad had other plans.
He assigned each team a specific spot. The entire harbor’s still shrouded in relative darkness.
Meaning—for a harbor—there’s not a lot of activity.
“Watch it,” suddenly crackles over the walkie-talkie, and I sit up straight. “A truck’s driving toward the entrance.” It’s Tats. He’s parked just outside the harbor entrance in his old Chevy.
I immediately want to grab the binoculars, but I miss them. When I look to the side, Pax’s already pressed them against his face. Suddenly, he points. “There. You see it?”
I squint and peer at the spot his finger is pointing at. And then taillights of some kind of delivery truck come into view. My heart starts racing.
Please, give us a break.
I grab the door handle and feel my brother’s hand on my shoulder. “Wait. Colt’s out there somewhere. Wait until they got something to say.”
“Fuck, Pax.” I release the handle. “I gotta…”
“I know, but you can’t run over there in a frenzy and cause a scene.” He puts the binoculars back to his face and peers at the harbor.
I slump back in my seat with a sigh. He’s right, but what if she’s in there? What if…
“Cut it out, man.”
“I didn’t say a thing.”
“The silence spoke volumes.” His hand drops and the binoculars return to their place on the dashboard. “I always thought you were the rational one of the two of us,” he mutters.
“What the hell are you talking about?”
My little brother tucks a stray strand of hair behind his ear. “Pax does everything without thinking. He’s a screw-up,” he says, imitating my father perfectly, and lets his hands fall to the steering wheel.
I turn to him. “You know that’s bullshit.”
“No, it’s not. It’s just that when it comes to her, I’m not the only one.” His lips curve into a sad smile.
“Layne, you mean?”
His only response is a nod.
“You can say her name.”
Pax shrugs. “Maybe I don’t want to.” It’s soft, but I hear it.
“What’s your problem with Layne, Pax? What did she ever do to you?” I clench my hand over my knee to keep from punching my little brother.
“Nothing to me.” A laugh that’s a mix of irony and mania echoes through the truck cabin.
I turn my upper body toward him. “Then what the fuck is the problem?”
“Man, you’re so fucking blind. It’s a miracle you don’t need a guide dog. First she leaves you for some accountant dick, and then when she gets in trouble, she comes crawling back to you.” His eyes spit fire as he says it.
“That’s not how it happened.”
“According to whom? You were devastated when she left last time, Ky, and now? Where did she go this time? Why wasn’t she in your apartment? Why did she drive through that gate in that truck? Well?” His face is dangerously close to mine, and I have to resist the urge to punch him again.
“You have no idea what we discussed back then. Why Layne left. Why she was with Connor. No idea,” I spit at him. “And this time, I know exactly what her plan was. It was a stupid plan, but I know what she was going to do, and it wasn’t leaving me behind.”
It's kind of a lie, but at the same time it isn’t. She’d asked me to follow her. She wanted to build a life with me.
“I’m glad you two talked it out. But all I saw was my brother in pain, walking around like a zombie.” He pushes himself back until he’s sitting against the doorframe.
“Good. Then you know exactly what I saw when Violet…” I clench my jaw.
Pax throws open his door and gets out. The door slams shut with a bang. I clearly crossed a line, but dammit.
“Ky,” I hear Ash say over the walkie-talkie, and I grab the device. “We’re behind a second container, and I swear we hear thumping.”
“Wait,” my father barks. “Don’t you dare, Brooks. Wait. Before you blow up the entire operation.”
“We’re entering the compound,” I reply. "Wait for us."
“Watch your back,” my father barks again.
I get out of the truck and walk over to Pax. “We gotta go now. Brooks and Ash found something.”
Without saying a word, my brother follows me to the entrance of the port.