Chapter 36
Chapter Thirty-Six
DREW
My gut led me back to her.
Half the men thought I was crazy to go back to The Hut, most of them choosing instead to take the roads leading out of Babylon to try to find a trail once I’d quickly barked out orders to them that Owen was a rat and he was also about to die.
There’d been shock from some, and little surprise from others as I’d pointed down the road with my face turning red. Fucking find him, I’d shouted.
But I knew Owen. I knew that fucker and the way he worked. He had the mind of a snake, and snakes always hid in plain sight, ready to attack those they needed to swallow the most.
He was running, but he wasn’t running without insurance first.
Kenny had led some of the men down one highway, Deeks leading the rest of the crew. All that was left as we entered the yard were Slater, Jedd, me, and surprisingly… the kid, Rubin, who said he wanted to stay close to me now I’d just outed him in front of his own father.
All the ghosts of the road and all my fears dressed as demons taunted me the entire ride back to our home, and when I pulled into the yard, all I saw was a nightmare happening all over again.
Only this time I was awake, not chained up and unconscious as Ayda watched me from the hands of my enemy. This time I could see it all.
Owen behind her.
Her hair in his hand, her face bloodied and swollen as her eyes remained shut and her legs looked weak.
Every curse word I’d ever known faded away, until nothing but silence rang in my ears, the sound of terror so deafening, I found my eyes scrunching shut for just a second before I spun the bike into position, not caring where it landed.
Then I ran to her, eyes open and wide until I saw something that made me stop in my tracks.
My father.
Eric.
He was there, just as we’d planned, but obviously too late.
Too late to save Ayda’s pain and too late to put a bullet in Owen’s temple, but he was there with a gun in his hand.
His arms were raised high at Owen, unshaking and still as he studied his target through a skilled narrowed eye and waited patiently for the right moment to fire.
I was fucked. My breathing was ragged, a mixture of anger and dread stirring at once.
How many moments like this could we survive unscathed?
Three strikes we’d had.
Was this our out?
My nose curled, my teeth ground together and my jaw worked as I fisted my hands by my sides and turned my attention to Ayda and Owen.
Owen’s sadistic smile curled behind the wild mess of Ayda’s scrunched up hair, which he was holding in his fist, his eyes going from left to right as he tried to do a mental count of everyone in sight.
“This isn’t exactly how I wanted this to go, Drew!
” Owen called out from behind her; his gun aimed firmly at her temple as she swayed in his grip, her eyes fluttering open at the mention of my name.
“But you always seem to find a way to make everything shit, don’t you?
” Owen laughed maniacally, his voice high pitched and panicked, yet somehow sharp and threatening.
I swallowed the lump in my throat, aware of Jedd and Slater falling in line behind me, their guns aimed high, too.
“How do you do that?” Owen barked. He shuffled on his feet, his movements jerky and awkward like he was hurt. It was then that I let my eyes travel down, and I saw the blood collecting on the wooden porch beneath his feet.
She’d got him. Somehow, unless Eric had got there first, my girl had got him. The pride I felt knowing she’d put up a fight made my chest swell.
“You’ve got to be the worst motherfucking president of a motorcycle club that’s ever fucking existed,” Owen hissed, his face turning sour as he watched us all and tugged again at Ayda’s hair.
My hands rose, showing him I had no weapon and no bullets to fire his way. “No arguments from me there, Owen,” I said as calmly as I could, despite the vengeance rising in my throat, burning so hot I wanted to be sick.
He looked at the men surrounding me, knowing he was outnumbered.
“Why’d ya have to come back?” he cried, his face scrunching up.
“Things were better without you. Things were calmer—smoother when you were in prison. Nobody even whispered your name. It was like you didn’t exist, and it was fucking beautiful.
You were gone. Dead. Another ghost… just like Eric fucking Tucker. ”
I glanced at my father from the corner of my eyes for only a second, seeing his eerie stillness as he remained in place, unfazed by Owen’s words.
“I was always coming back, Owen.”
“You were meant to die in there.” He spat, fists curling tighter in Ayda’s hair.
I nodded slowly, my nostrils flaring. “I know.”
“You were meant to fuck up, get more years added on. Or at the least, come out weak. Weak as piss and full of shit. That’s how it should have been. That’s what we tried to guarantee would happen.”
I was breathing like a bull, the angry muscles twitching in my jaw. “I know.”
“But then this bitch came along.”
I took a step closer too quickly. My need to save her was kicking in until I saw Eric side-eye me and offer a subtle shake of the head. Owen’s gun was too close to Ayda, and the finger he held over the trigger was unsteady, ready to pull back at any moment.
“What happens if you kill Ayda, Owen?”
“You live a life of misery.”
“Apart from that.”
“Maybe that’s enough for me.”
“Nah.” I shook my head, my lips tense and flat as I struggled not to charge at him.
“That’s not enough for you. You want more than my misery.
You need more than that. That’s why you got cozy with Mayor Walsh, right?
That’s why you gave him intel on the club, told him shit he shouldn’t know, and then that fucker got to pass that knowledge onto whoever the fuck needed it.
Anyone who wanted me dead. You wanted me gone so you could take the lead. ”
Owen blinked, looking me dead in the eye before his shoulders started to shake and his laughter poured free. His head tipped back for just a second before he pulled Ayda closer, so his mouth was by her ear, his face turning darker.
“I don’t know what it is about this piece of pussy, but she somehow made you impossible to kill.”
I gulped again. “And how many times have you tried?”
“Too many.”
“Motherfucker,” I heard Slater whisper behind me.
“The Emps couldn’t kill you, even when I set that whole Widow Maker fake MC shit up for them and got those kids fixed up with old cuts and put all the plans in place for them to end your life in that warehouse.
All they had to do was put a bullet in your head.
But too many damn egos ended up being in one space, each trying to give the great Drew Tucker a performance before they put a bullet between his eyeballs.
So, I turned to The Navs. And they only proved that they sure as shit don’t know what the hell to do with the rifles they have tattooed on their skin, even though I told them how to get rid of you that night at Rusty’s.
Fuck... me. I can’t even get guys on board who know how to blow up a damn house and kill all the people inside it.
Trust me to find the one bunch of men that let a girl like Ayda escape her own house before we blow it up.
Fucking joke.” Owen sighed in frustration and shook his head.
“Yeah, I’ve tried to finish you, Drew. In more ways than you know.
Seems like the only way to make it happen is to do it myself.
” He pushed the gun harder to Ayda’s head.
“And if you won’t die on the outside, maybe I’ll just make sure you cease to exist on the inside by killing the one thing you love more than your own fucked up reflection. ”
“I will make your death so slow, you’ll be screaming for weeks before you take your last breath,” I pushed out through gritted teeth.
“It’ll be worth it,” he sneered.
“Owen,” Eric said calmly, forcing Owen’s eyes to snap open and turn Eric’s way. I looked at him, too, not knowing what he was about to do. “Don’t hurt her.”
“What the fuck do you care, old man?”
Eric didn’t respond. His eyes didn’t flinch or flicker, and his arm was as steady as ever as he waited, gun held high and in place.
“Y’all are going to kill me anyway. There are three guns pointed at me right now, and one human bomb just waiting to be set free.
I’m good, but I’m not that good. I can’t move that fast. If I let her go, I’ve got nothing.
May as well take her out with me, right?
” He tugged on Ayda sharply again, her eyes now popping wide open and her lips parting as she found me straight away and focused on my face.
That’s right, baby. Look at me. Use me as your anchor. You’re not dying today. Not tomorrow. Not ever.
I’ve got you. Somehow…
“You can’t survive this, Owen,” Eric warned him.
“Then I may as well go out in a blaze of glory.” He grinned.
“Not before I’ve had some fun with you first,” I growled, forcing Owen’s attention back to me.
“I’ve never been scared of you, Tucker. That’s what you want people to be. All I see when I look at you is a boy who failed to become a man. A boy so unsure of himself, it makes me sick to watch you lead this club with that patch on your chest. You don’t scare me, Drew. I pity you.”
“Keep talking, Owen. Keep talking.” I glanced at Ayda, a silent message passing between us as I stared into the eyes of the woman I loved. And in that moment, as she stared back and held my gaze, I knew this wasn’t the last time I’d see her alive.
I knew because of the fire and grit that shone back at me, even with blood staining her skin and bruises swelling her cheek.
She wasn’t afraid.
She was pissed.
She was the fiancée of the president of The Hounds of Babylon.