Authors: Kaylee Song
Thrash (18 page)
Fire and Steel hadn’t spread its wings since Bones’ betrayal. That would be the ultimate win. But Rage hadn’t gotten us there yet.
“He’s trying so hard, he’s gotten sloppy,” I lied.
Something in my voice got Bones’ attention. “Explain,” he demanded.
The way he said it, I knew I better get the next bit right or I was fucked.
I leaned back and looked him dead in the eye, not pretending a god-damn thing.
“We’ve patched in five new people in the last three months. That’s a lot of men. Cullen isn’t doing the background checks on them.”
It was true. He had Layla do those. She told us about anything we needed to know. If she was telling Cullen more, he wasn’t telling me.
“He hired the new guy off the street, cuz he liked the look of him. Gave him a cut within a month of hiring him. Made him the official sergeant-at-arms not even a week later. Now Rage is just letting in anyone the guy vouches for. I don’t mean prospects. He’s bringing these guys in as cuts without even testing them to see what they’re worth.”
It wasn’t exactly true. Nyx had served beside Wrath in Afghanistan. Jackal already took a bullet for Rage and he hadn’t complained. Just patched himself up and thanked Desiree, polite as you please. He had a mouth like a sewer when he was drunk, but was otherwise as tough and loyal as a man could ask for.
I wasn’t going to explain any of that to Bones, though.
“I know it’s only a matter of time before Rage replaces me.” If I let some resentment show, it was more fear than belief. If I really thought Rage intended to get rid of me, I would have played all this out a hell of a lot differently. I’d make sure I was getting a lot more out of it.
Maybe Bones sensed that, too, because he was still watching me carefully.
“These are military boys then?”
“The cuts, yeah. If the new guy is telling the truth.”
“What’s his name?”
I blinked, like I was catching up. “Who? Wrath?”
“The one with the gimped leg.”
So they’d been watching us. “Yeah, that’s Wrath.” I hoped I wasn’t painting a bull’s-eye on Aiden’s head.
“What about the prospects? They more of his buddies?”
“Not that I’ve heard.”
“Not that you’ve heard?”
I scowled, actually irritated. “Yeah, well, Rage hasn’t been keeping me in the loop as much lately.”
That and Layla had been having a hard time keeping up on the paperwork for a few weeks there. The level of sleep deprivation she and Cullen had been working on at the time had been dangerous, but she’d gotten back information on three of the prospects. I just hadn’t had a chance to look the paperwork over before I left.
“Is he the one getting sloppy or are you?”
The question was like a punch in the gut. It pissed me off. It made me wonder what game we were playing. It scared the shit out of me.
I leaned forward, my face twisting up with disgust. “I have been working my ass off since you left. I have given everything to make that fucking club succeed. And now Rage is giving that jag-off credit for all my work! I kept an eye on his allies and enemies. I did the legwork for his fucking new life. I did the work, and he wants to forget me?”
I leaned forward, teeth bared, reminding Bones exactly who the fuck I was.
“How do you think I’m gonna take that?”
He sat there for a second, the stub of his cigarette bleeding the last dregs of smoke. Then he flicked it aside, and the grin that cracked his lips scared me back in my seat. He laughed at me.
“You’re that mad you’d forget me leaving you behind?”
I gritted my teeth and my lip curled, feeling defensive. “You kept calling.”
That was all I had to say.
“Yeah…” Those weasel’s eyes saddened, became weary. “Yeah, I kept calling. I didn’t want to leave you behind. But you and Cullen were always so close…”
“Yeah, we were close,” I growled. “But he’s stabbing me in the back, slowly, and playing me for an idiot.”
“What else is it?” Bones suddenly pushed. “Something’s bugging you. What did he do?”
“Nothing,” I snapped.
“I’ve known you both too long, kid.”
“I said
nothing
, old man,” I snarled. “Get the fuck out of it.”
I’d pushed it too far, but I’d pushed too far in the right direction.
Bones backhanded me so hard and so quick, I barely blocked him. The full force didn’t hit, but I didn’t retaliate, and Bones let it be. The boys watching us knew I knew not to fuck with Bones. They might still think about it, but they knew I wouldn’t go along with it.
Bones’s teeth were bared, and those eyes were flashing. He’d want me to explain eventually, but I had some time to come up with something believable now.
He was older, self-absorbed and a traitor and an addict, but the son-of-a-bitch had never been stupid.
I’d have to come up with a damned good reason why I was mad at Rage. The sooner, the better.
Bones would let it lie for now, though.
“So.” He went on as if nothing had happened. “How are Rage and this ‘Wrath’ getting their new prospects so interested in my work?”
We’d been giving them hell for a while.
“Rage, Mick, and Crowe are painting you as a power-hungry alcoholic.”
I didn’t sugar-coat it, and he hated it about as much as I’d suspected he would. His face twisted and purpled and he spat an obscenity.
I almost laughed at his outrage.
“What’s so funny?” he spit at me.
I smirked, which was probably the only thing that kept my head on my shoulders. “They know you, but they don’t really get you, do they?”
“Do you?”
I looked him dead in the eye, and I let all the pent up rage evaporate. Underneath it all was a deep and raw pain. Betrayal. Confusion. Yeah, I knew this man. I’d trusted him. He’d been like an uncle to us. An uncle, a leader, a friend.
“Yeah,” I said. “Yeah, I get you. Now.”
And those were the magic words. All of it got me in.
He held out a hand.
Before I took it, I asked one last thing – one question to seal the deal. “Why Beast?”
It was a damned good question, and eventually he would have gotten around to wondering about it. But he hadn’t yet. And my bringing it up either made me an idiot, or it would tell him I was taking this shit seriously.
“What about him?” he muttered.
I looked straight at him, the muscles in my face tight. “Why’d you kill him?”
He actually squirmed, hiding it as best he could by messing with his pack of cigarettes. He didn’t light up, though. Just stared down at them.
“I was trying to do what was best for the entire group. Beast got in my way. He threatened it all and it spun out of control.”
“So you killed him?”
“It was an accident. A mistake I never want to repeat. This time I am going to create an entire empire. And I’m only bringing in people who support that.” He clenched his fists and looked into my eyes. “You support that?”
“Sounds like what I signed on for with Fire and Steel. But that isn’t what’s happening. You really gonna do it? You really gonna make it? Cuz I’ll support that. I’ll give that my fucking all.”
My words seemed to inspire him. His chest swelled and his face settled into its familiar lines. When Bones felt confident, he always hovered between smug and determined. Half the time, he succeeded. Half the time, he failed. But he’d always been good at getting other people to sweep his messes under the table. Until Beast hadn’t…
I was lucky Bones was too caught up in his own thoughts to notice the way my face had settled.
“What do you think?” he asked. “Do you think I’m just an insane drunk?”
“Would I be here if I did?”
He nodded slowly, buying it, so I went on just a little more, the way I would if we were discussing business rather than sitting through an interrogation.
“You said we shouldn’t have to bow to the mob. You still believe that?”
“Yeah.” Now he lit the cigarette and practically spit the first bout of smoke. “None of these boys put up with those Irish butt-fuckers.”
I almost laughed as the thought of just how Hawk would react to that. Smart-ass put up with my sister’s lip, but he’d get awful wound up over getting called a sodomite. Which was the point. Bones liked pissing off his enemies. He liked getting them so up in arms they made mistakes.
In a way, Bones and I weren’t so different. We both liked our tricks and traps.
We were both capable of watching and waiting. We both would lie for our own reasons. And we both were willing to sell our souls if it meant honoring what we believed was right.
I knew all of that. I should have felt uncomfortable. But I didn’t.
Because I could be a snake in the grass, too.
I was hell-bent on becoming the justice Bones deserved.
22
The sheets were warm and light and so comfortable, I wished he had stayed. There were so many other, better, things he could be doing right now.
My eyes flicked up to a series of paintings on the wall. They were stunning. Four women, women of the seasons, all different, a beautiful array of ethnicities yet, those eyes. Those eyes were all the same. A swath of color ran in and out from one to the other, the warm tones of autumn fading to the desolation of whites and browns of winter, back to brightness for spring and then summer. I let out a low sigh. He had an amazing talent for picking out pieces. It was one I would've chosen for myself.
I turned towards the open doorway that led out to the living room, and that's when I saw it. My painting. He'd hung it so that if he turned his head in bed he could see it perfectly, the light of the morning casting over it, making it glow. I imagined him lying there, staring at it. Did he think of me? Did he look at it at all? A part of me knew he did both, and it warmed me from head to toe. It was like he'd hung a little piece of my heart, and put it in a sacred place.
It was almost funny. Of all the things I wanted from him just then, one of those warming, sultry kisses was at the top of the list. I’d be happy to gently steer him onward and upward, but to start?
I flopped back on the bed and wriggled in the sheets. It was official, I was love-struck. I ached for him in my belly and my legs and my hands. I buried my fingers in my hair and grinned into the bed.
That was when I realized what the hell had woken me up.
The second pounding on the door so sudden and abrupt – and so familiar – that I squealed.
“Come on Thrash, open up. I know you are in there,” a female voice shouted through the door. The hairs on the back of my neck stood on end.
Both frightening and tiptoeing something a bit nastier, I popped up out of bed and started a frenzied search for some clothing, any clothing, that would provide me with a bit of dignity.
That nasty little feeling turned out to be jealousy though, and I recognized it when I glanced in the mirror and smirked at my wild hair. I looked like we had shared a wild night.
Manners that had been drilled into me over the years, which made breaking them now in this moment all the more vindictive and fun.
“Can I help you?” I asked. My heart was pounding wildly, but my voice came out calm and composed. Well, some things stuck.
“What are you doing here?” Desiree laughed at me, her face slowly registering that I was actually there, answering her brother’s door.
Relief and then embarrassment flooded through me. She didn’t even look irritated to see me. Just a little shocked.
At least I hadn’t insulted her.
“Oh, I didn’t realize –” She cleared her throat, suddenly as unsure of what do as I was. “I’m looking for my idiot brother. Have you seen him?”
“He left this morning. Something about a trip. Going to be gone for a few days.”
“Why is he always gone when I need him?” she mumbled.
Strangely enough, I did have a clue what to do in this situation. Sister upset with someone I cared about? Oh, that one was easy.
“Would you like to come in? I can make up a pot of coffee and we can talk.” I put on my best smile and waited.
She just eyed me. “He’s letting you stay her while he’s gone? How long have you two… How long’s he been seeing you?”
Reminding myself that Thrash had been very clear that this was now my home too, I just replied quietly, “I moved in last night.” And I didn’t explain further. Not while she was standing in the doorway.
She looked at me. I looked at her.
Then I opened the door wider and waited for her to make a decision.
She walked in.
It broke the tension.
Suddenly, she gushed, “Wow, he must really like you. He doesn’t let women in his apartment normally.”
“Oh.”
She plopped down on the couch in a fit, her pout obvious. I took a seat in one of the chairs.
“No, I mean it. He, he must really care about you.”
She smiled at me for the first time, a real smile. We hadn’t known one another long, but I realized then that I had never seen her smile. She looked a lot like Thrash when he was in a good mood.
“I am glad you’re here, actually,” she went on. “I was starting to think he had shut out love.”
“Ah.” I was starting to sound like a child’s doll instead of woman. I cleared my throat and curled my legs up under me, gripping my knees for strength. “You didn’t come to see me. Is everything all right?” I asked.
She eyed me the way Thrash had eyed a questionable can of beans the other night. It was as if she was debating whether I was safe to trust.
The beans had failed the test.
I must have looked a little more palatable.
She dug in. “I’m dealing with shit with this guy at work. His name’s Gary. He won’t stop bugging me. Thrash told me to come by if I needed some help with it, and I swore I didn’t, but now the guy’s getting scary. I tried to talk to HR, but they didn’t take me seriously…” She trailed off.
They rarely did, even when they nodded at all the right times. All those rules to ‘protect the ladies,’ but at the end of the day, everyone still got trapped in that tired old cycle of “She must have led him on.” Even if she hadn’t. Even if they had known her for years. The idea that women earned what they got was older and more familiar than any one woman could ever be.
I knew there was a small chance the hospital might get it right, if the circumstances fell out just right. But the odds were low. The thought of what was more likely to happen was awful. I started thinking of possible solutions.
“Could someone in the club help you?”
She shrugged, her face closing off. She looked down at the carpet, but her hands were knotted in her lap. “I don’t know why they would. They know exactly how I feel about them.”
“You don’t like them?”
“You haven’t seen the damage they cause.”
My eyes widened. The idea of Thrash sending people to the hospital horrified me, but I was surprised when Desiree started backtracking.
“They call me when they need to be patched up.”
Was that better or worse, really?
“They’re in some sort of conflict,” she hurried on. “Our father was in the club and he died. And they’re always in the middle of something. It scares me to death, sewing up the people my brother would fight and die with…”
“They’ve really helped me,” I said quietly. “I’ve been painting their mural, hanging around to get to know them a little. They don’t seem as awful as everyone says.”
“I dunno about that.” I could tell she was considering it.
“They’re a little messy.” I smiled vaguely. If my brow furrowed a little, it was just reflecting another aspect of how I felt. I was happy and scared and I liked them all and worried for them. A person could feel all that at once, and feel it all honestly.
“Messy! Ha!” Desiree seemed to find that funny in a dark way.
We fell into a still silence.
“Do you know Layla?” I asked suddenly.
“Not really. I mean we hung out when we were kids, but I haven’t talked to her in years.” She trailed off.
If Desiree had been friends with Layla so long ago, I doubted Layla had changed much.
I beamed at her. “Do you mind if I give her a call? I bet she’ll know exactly what to do…?”
When Desiree nodded, I went to find my cellphone. I was willing to bet a great deal that together, we could find a way to make dear ol’ Gary leave Desiree alone for good.
If the world wanted to toss around blame instead of deal with the problem before it blew up, we’d just have to make the point instead.
