“Gonna get your turn now. We’ll play a little, then you can be the one to end his life. Of course, we’ll need to make sure he tells us every little thing Justin thinks he knows.” The doubt on everyone’s face tells us the dipshit is grasping at straws. Apart from the local and state cops we have in our pocket, there are even a few federal cops. You wanna know about crooked, you’ll find them with the feds.
“Wait, wait.” My fist shuts him up. “Lights out, motherfucker.” He falls backwards, not even seeing it coming. This will save us from having to listen to his yammering.
“Damn, son, not playin’ tonight, are you?” This comes from Ruger.
“Nope, fucked with my Ol’ Lady for the last time. Warned him off. He didn’t listen. Now I’m done. Add in him threatin’ the club, it ain’t ever happenin’ again,” I respond as I work on tying his wrists above his head to hang him on the meat hook that’s in the middle of the room.
“Thinkin’ you don’t gotta worry about him takin’ care of Lavender,” Cannon interjects, addressing Shovel as he helps me hang the now passed-out Justin.
“I knew that. See a lot of his father in him and some of myself. Just because I didn’t want to be a grandfather when they were eight-fuckin-teen didn’t mean I thought he wasn’t meant for my little girl.” Shovel has his tool of choice out, Dad his razor, but me, I’ll be doing something different. I think an axe will suit me well when it comes to my form of retribution.
CHAPTER 22
LAVENDER
I’m sitting in a rocking chair on the front porch. It’s well past midnight. Sailor is settled in the spare bedroom. The thing about free spirits? They never plan completely. She has no idea where she’ll live, and as much as I love her, it’s kind of hard to have an extra person under our roof when Ryder and I are still finding our way. Which is why I told her there were plenty of apartments in town. She didn’t even blink before bursting out laughing, saying there was no way she’d live with us when all we do is run around boinking on every available surface. God, I missed her. If Daisy ever comes stateside, my little world will be complete; not that I think she’ll ever do that, but it would be nice.
After Sailor yawned for the last hour, she went inside, passing out right away, I’m sure, what with the traveling and drama fest that happened tonight. I can’t blame her. The same can’t be said for me. All those nights Mom stayed up, sitting on the couch for one reason or another, sometimes us girls thinking it’s because she needed it to unwind, or she was pissed about us getting into her makeup or whatnot. It clearly wasn’t. It was always for Daddy, much like I’m waiting for Ryder.
“Baby, what are you doin’ up so late and sittin’ outside?” Ryder interrupts my thoughts. The soft outside light that’s by the front door shows me he’s clearly showered, judging by his damn hair, new shirt, jeans, and same motorcycle boots he calls shitkickers.
“Thinking about all the times Mom stayed up waiting on Dad. I guess the apple didn’t fall far from the tree. I know there are parts of the club I’m never going to know about, and that’s okay, but share with me what you can about tonight?”
Ryder runs his fingers through his hair, ruffling it in the way it looks after we’ve made love. “Where to begin?” He takes the steps up the front porch.
“The beginning, maybe?” I snort jokingly to lighten the mood.
“Yeah. You remember that guy from school?” he asks, pressing a kiss against my forehead before sitting in the matching rocking chair beside me.
“Barely. Sailor knew him well, though, or at least she knew of him. A real prick. Thought he was hot shit with the girls. Clearly, he wasn’t.” I shrug. Apparently, Sailor heard about how he got handsy at a frat party. It was so bad that campus security was called and the girl pressed charges, having bruises on her arms and shoulders from him grabbing her. A few days later, it was swept under the rug, the girl left campus, and Justin appeared like nothing happened.
“Saw him around, got a lock on the way you pushed him away, and he wouldn’t take no for an answer until you got in his face. Assumin’ you told him you were Diamondback. That little dick ran so fast I almost fell on my ass laughin’, seein’ him run from my woman. And, Ender, we may not have been officially together, but every brother in this club knew you were mine. They didn’t know what I was doin’ on my weekends off or on my way home from runs, and that’s okay. So, that day, I followed him, we had some words, he didn’t listen, so I used my fists, thinkin’ he got it then. Clearly, he didn’t. Justin did some diggin’. Not that we’re hard to find, but that’s what today was about. Fucker thought he could show off who had bigger balls. The brothers heard what he had to say, we took care of business, and now all you need to know is that he won’t bother you or us again, yeah?”