“Everyone stays here tonight,” Cross says curtly. “And for the next couple of days. So don’t even bother asking again.”
An older man passes him, striding away from us without a backward glance. He must be the one who was arguing with Cross—the Knights’ president. Dumb old fuck up! I could be riding home with Brenda’s arms around my waist right now if they hadn’t fucked up last night. Mitch would still be alive if they hadn’t fucked up.
“Understood, Prez,” I say, the words sticking in my throat.
But it is what it is. At least I got to spend one night with Brenda. Hopefully, that memory will last me through whatever the fuck Cross has planned for us now. It’ll have to.
Night has fallen outside, taking the edge off the day’s heat but not drastically. Blaze just stared at me with his mouth open when I told him what I’d done and what I overheard. He was shaking his head throughout, asking no questions, making no comments.
“I don’t even know what to say,” was all he said once I was done, gave me a death stare and another shake of the head, then left me alone by the bikes where we were having this conversation to go into the building.
Most of the brothers are outside too, enjoying the coolness of the evening and not much else, it seems. No one’s really talking beyond exchanging a grumbled word or two. Eagle’s the most animated of everyone gathered here, explaining something—probably what happened to Mitch—to a group at the other edge of the building. I can’t hear his words, but I can see he’s agitated. We all are. Losing a brother is a hard thing, and it doesn’t get easier fast. It could’ve been any one of us.
And on top of it, I might just lose my best friend with all this shit I’m pulling. But he knows me, he knows I think with my dick, he should be used to it by now.
But there’s a limit to everything. I think I’m really close to it with Cross and I think Blaze is thinking the same thing.
“Everyone inside!” Ace yells from the open doorway to the bunker. “Prez wants to talk to us all.”
All conversations stop as the brothers start filing back into the cavernous main room of the bunker. Even Eagle, who was in the middle of a very heated discussion, stopped waving his arms around and ceased talking when Ace spoke. I’m farthest from the door, so I let the rest of them enter. It’s probably a fool’s hope, but I’m still hoping very much that this call to assemble is so Cross can tell us we’ll be riding home now.
“That’s everyone!” Ace yells after I enter the building. He looks at me and comes to stand at my left, but doesn’t say anything.
Cross is standing on a crate today, so he’s clearly visible in the sea of my brothers gathered in the room. Joe is standing by the side of Cross’ crate, his arm bandaged up from his wrist to his shoulder. He has a dazed look on his face like he doesn’t really know where he is. Doc is by his side, looking at him with concern etched into his face. Hopefully, he gave him something strong enough to dull not just the physical pain but the mind’s pain too. I can’t imagine what I’d do if Blaze died. I don’t want to imagine it.
“As you all probably know by now, Mitch was killed last night,” he says without wasting any time. A few of the brothers groan. Not in surprise, just regret, and sadness.
“It was a senseless death, an accident that shouldn’t have been possible, but all accidents are—”
“It was the fucking Knights’ fault!” One of the brothers yells. Cross casts a dark look in that direction.
“Yeah!” Another brother yells. “What are we gonna do about it?”
Several more raise their voices, saying pretty much the same thing.
“Nothing!” Cross answers. “We will do nothing. Because it was an accident. A miscommunication. The bomb went off because it wasn’t handled right. The Knights lost two of their own in the blast too. That’s punishment enough.”
A few of the brothers grumble and the energy in the room is murderous. I want revenge too. The thirst for it is hanging in the air around us, thick like fog. But Cross’ word is law. No one questions it. Ever.
“Now, please join me in a moment of silence to remember him.”
He hangs his head, and I follow his example. I focus hard on my interlaced hands, but I can’t still my thoughts enough to think of nothing but my fallen brother. The silence in the room is so absolute I can hear the wind rustling the dried up shrubs outside. My heart’s racing, my stomach’s clenched, and I want a drink so bad that bile is rising in my throat. A drink and Brenda and then things might be at least a little closer to OK. Mitch will never have a drink again. He’ll never enjoy a woman again. Never ride again. Never…never do anything at all again.
“Once we get home, we will honor Mitch as we would any fallen brother. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to recover his body last night, but Hawk is doing everything he can to fix that. Although Mitch’s family might want to claim his body and we will honor that too,” Cross says, breaking the tense, sad silence. “For now, we must stay put. Tomorrow, we’ll start investigating what we’re facing now, but carefully. We don’t know why the cops showed up last night or what their aim was. Until we do, we have to stay out of sight and this bunker is the safest place for us. So I expect everyone to stay here, no exceptions, except on my orders.”
His gaze passes over all of us, and I feel like it lingered on me a little more pointedly.
But I’m through defying Cross’ orders. And I certainly won’t do anything to put any one of my brothers in danger. Not now. Not after we just lost Mitch. Not after we lost him so that we don’t even have his body to bury.
Brenda
The pizza arrived so fast it was too hot to eat, and I slammed the door in the pimply kid’s face the moment after he delivered it. I don’t want to discuss paying for the room. If I do that, I won’t have enough for a bus ticket out of here. Getting out of here should be my first priority.
Who knows if Colt will ever be back…I sure don’t. I just want his promises to be true.
I wolf down more than half of the extra-large pie, which is possibly more food than I’ve ever eaten in one sitting. It also tastes better than any pizza I’ve ever had—the cheese rich and thick and baked just enough to be both crunchy and soft, and the crust must be some ancient recipe from the old country because I’ve never had finer.
Despite a growing stomach ache, that’s threatening to get worse I feel better once I’m full.
If Colt doesn’t show up by midnight, I’m outta here. If he doesn’t at least call…
That’s what I promised myself after I finished eating. It’s past midnight now and I’m still waiting.
He’ll be back. I know he will.
Besides, I bet that kid’s watching me real close now. He’ll see me leave.
The phone ringing wakes me. I have no idea what time it is, but the room is so quiet I bet it’s late. I almost roll right off the bed as I reach for it.
“Brenda?” Colt says, and I’m wide awake from the hope welling in my chest. But his voice sounds so damn distant.
“Yeah,” I say. “You said you’d be back.”