“Gotta be quicker than that,” Jet shrugged.
“And then there was one,” I growled.
“Please, no,” Jester pleaded. “Maybe we can work something out. We could work together.”
Barracuda barked with laughter. “You think you could work with the Royal Bastards?”
“Snort some more, Jester,” Jet laughed.
“No! You guys could branch out. I could give you all of my contacts an—”
I didn’t want to hear anymore. Nothing was going to stop me from putting a bullet in his head.
I pulled the trigger, and his head exploded. “Times up, fucker.” His body collapsed at my feet with a thud.
“Jesus,” Jet muttered. “You splattered his fucking brains on my boots. Do brains wash out?” He shook his foot, and the spongy tissue fell on the floor.
“Are we cleaning this up?” I asked
Barracuda shook his head. “Leave them like this. The police can send a thank you card for taking out the fucking trash.”
A gurgling noise came from the guy who had tried to run. “Damn. This one has got some fight in him,” Jet muttered. He put four more bullets in him, and he stopped making noise.
“I think it was just the hot air leaving his body,” I laughed.
“Well, God knows these assholes were full of it.”
I tucked my gun in the waistband of my pants and followed Barracuda out the front door.
“The girls are all loaded up. There was a blanket in the trunk we gave it to Memphis,” Tank said.
“They say anything?” Barracuda asked.
Mace shook his head. “Billie Jean was taking care of Memphis. I think she’s pretty banged up.”
Barracuda nodded to Tank. “Take them to the clubhouse. We’ll call the doc and have him come out.”
Tank and Mace hopped into the car and headed to the clubhouse.
“You believe that shit?” Monk asked.
“What? That Billie Jean was an informant?” Barracuda asked.
Monk nodded.
“I can believe it. The chick shoots straight from the hip,” Barracuda laughed. He shook his head. “She’s got a lot of spunk in her, too. Spit on his dumbass and told him to go to hell.”
Jet tucked his gun in his waistband. “Well, now that that’s over, can we get the hell out of here?”
“Yeah, brother.” Barracuda looked back at the house with four dead bodies in it. “I think we did pretty good and it’s not even noon yet.”
It was over. Billie Jean and Memphis were safe.
Raelyn had her sister back. She was a little more battered than the last time Raelyn had seen her, but she was safe again.
I threw my leg over my bike and cranked it up.
Jester was dead.
Billie Jean was back home.
Now it was time to really make Raelyn mine.
*
Chapter Eighteen
Raelyn
Say what?!
“Stop staring at me.”
I couldn’t. I didn’t know if I would ever see Billie Jean again and now she was sitting in front of me. “I can’t.”
She rolled her eyes and grabbed her glass off the bar. “You keep staring, I’m going home.”
I looked away for a second but then my eyes were back on her. “You’re not leaving.”
She shook her head. “I’m gonna leave eventually, Raelyn. I have my own place and life to get back to.”
“I know, Billie. Can I just have one night where you’re right in front of me?” Jesus. She was acting like she hadn’t just been kidnapped for over a week.
I had been watching out the window the whole time Playboy was gone. The van pulled into the driveway, and my heart leapt when the passenger door opened and Billie Jean had stepped out.
“I’m not staying,” she stated quietly.
“I know, Billie Jean,” I growled. She was going to give me one damn night.
“No, Raelyn. I’m not just talking about tonight. I mean I’m not staying here. I can’t stay in Sacramento anymore.” She looked down at her hands. “Before the whole Jester thing, I didn’t know what I wanted to do with my life, but I knew I didn’t want to be here anymore.”
“But…” I trailed off. I didn’t know what to say. Billie Jean was my sister, and we always lived in the same city. Yes, she had her own life, but she was always just a phone call or short drive away.
“I became an informant for the SPD and something changed inside me, Raelyn. I found something that could make a difference. I was doing something worthwhile. Not slinging drinks at some strip club and wasting my life away.” She sighed and ran her finger around the rim of her glass. “I applied to become a police officer in Colorado Springs. My testing starts next week.”
I blinked slowly and tried to process what Billie Jean had just said. “Is there Colorado Springs in California that I don’t know about?”
Billie Jean laughed and shook her head. “No, Raelyn. I meant it when I said I can’t stay here. I have to get out of California.”
“But, you’re my sister.” I had just got Billie Jean back, and now, she was going to leave me again?
“And I’ll still be your sister, Raelyn. Just from Colorado.”
I looked down at my empty cup. “I can’t drive to Colorado when I’m bored or want to go shopping with you.”
“Yeah, I think the over eighteen hour drive might be a bit too much for one day,” Billie Jean laughed. She sounded happy. I hadn’t heard her sound like that for a while. She was genuinely happy.
“You’re all I have, Billie Jean. If you leave, I’ll be all alone.” I couldn’t get over my own feelings though.
Billie Jean shook her head. “I’m not all you have, Raelyn.” She turned and looked over her shoulder. “You have crazy Leona.”
Leona was sitting in Barracuda’s lap with a beer in her hand and a huge smile on her face.
Billie Jean looked back at me. “And you also have Playboy now.”
“Why didn’t you ever tell me you weren’t happy?” I wasn’t ready to get off the topic of Billie Jean leaving. I knew she was trying to distract me from the fact that my only sister was going to another state.
She sighed. “It’s not that I wasn’t happy, I just knew that there was something more for me out there. I’m meant to be more than a waitress for the rest of my life.”
I agreed, but did she have to leave the damn state? “You’re putting two states in between us.” I leaned forward. “And they’re not small states like Connecticut or Maryland.” Nevada and Utah were huge in comparison. She herself had just said it was an over eighteen hour drive.
“No, they’re not, but it’s just a short airplane ride away, Raelyn. I have to do this. I know it’s going to be a big change, but I finally figured out what I want to do with my life.”
I sighed. I was being selfish and not thinking about what Billie Jean wanted. “What about Vegas?” I asked. That was still over an eight-hour drive, but it was closer than freaking Colorado Springs.
“I’ve made up my mind, Raelyn. I already bought my plane ticket.”