Something more passes through their locked gaze, something unspoken, but loud and powerful. And then my dad sits back down with a thump.
“No, I don’t want that,” he says.
My phone starts ringing and I pull it out of my pocket. It’s Chance.
“I should take this,” I say and silence the ringer. “I’ll know more afterwards.”
I don’t wait for any of them to say anything, just stand up and leave the dining room through the French doors, sliding them shut behind me.
They’re all looking at me as I stand in the garden and answer the call, pale-faced and somehow not as solid as they should be. I messed up. But I will make this right.
“I told my parents… well, not everything, just that those bikers are after us and that you’ll protect us, but they’re not all that eager to just sit around the house and do nothing,” I tell Chance as I pick up, feeling like a traitor, but also my family’s savior.
“Fuck,” he says. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“I don’t know,” I answer truthfully. “My dad spoke about handling this another way. I think he was talking about going to the police.”
Chance curses again.
“It’s fine for now, they’ve agreed to stay home today, but I don’t know… “
“We’ll come talk to them, I guess, maybe, it’s really crucial that the cops don’t get involved for at least a couple more days,” he says. “Keep them at the house, do what you have to. Or else I can’t protect you.”
“OK,” I say in a small voice.
“I’ll call you back,” he says and hangs up before I can respond in any way.
How did my life get so complicated so fast? And why is it still getting worse and worse? I’m still trying to answer that question, but I’m losing hope there is an answer I can live with.
That my family can live with.
* * *
Chance
Speaking to my mother was not an easy experience. She knows what we’re setting out to do. My father might not have told her everything, but she’s a smart woman and figured it out on her own. She also knows I was shot at again last night and she knows that if I hadn’t decided to follow in my father’s footsteps and joined the MC, none of this would be happening now.
She didn’t actually say any of that. I made my choice and while she doesn’t agree with it, she doesn’t pester me about it anymore. So she just told me to be careful, to think before I act in any given situation and to keep vigilant at all times.
In other words, all the things she’s been telling me all my life. All the things I find impossible to do when my blood is up. As we both know.
She also told me she loved me. I said it back. But she sounded so distant and quiet the whole time. Like the strain of not saying all the things she really wanted to say was so great it was sapping all her energy to say anything else.
I told her not to worry. She will.
Speaking to Veronica right after that and hearing her news didn’t help my mood any either.
Especially since I can’t do anything about it.
I’m standing by the open window of the large lounge, a room that takes up about a quarter of the ground floor of Sanctuary. It’s filled with sofas and armchairs, bookshelves and TVs, and growing up, I spent a lot of time in here. Now that us children are mostly grown up, this room is empty more often than not.
The execs are in a meeting planning what comes next. Closed door, very official. More than half of the MC members are already gathered in the driveway and yard outside, silent for the most part, the air around them heavy with purpose and the gravity of what we’re setting up to do. My father is wrong to think I’m not ready for this or that I don’t understand how heavy setting out to kill over a hundred men is. I’m just not questioning it, because it has to be done. For what they did to Hunter. For what they tried to do to me. And what they will try to do to all the rest of us, given the chance.
Devil’s Nightmare MC runs like a very tight ship, it’s how Cross likes it. He treats everyone fairly and like family, but he demands things in return. Like respect and following orders. And remaining calm under pressure, because hot-blood leads to mistakes and deaths.
All the men out front are ready to spill blood. Their own or our enemies. I’m ready too.
I know Cross won’t spare much thought to keeping Veronica and her family safe if they decide they don’t want our protection. He won’t force it on them. But they need it. I was there, I saw the hatred on Gazz’s face when he pulled out his gun to kill me last night. He’ll go after Veronica just to get to me. I’m sure he will.