Page 81 of Raze

“That’s what I’m tellin’ ya. I need to see her it’s urgent.”

“You came here to see her and you brought this piece of shit with you?” I stare at the scrawny cunt who I’m gonna fuckin’ kill, he can’t be more than 5ft fuckin’ 6 and looks nothing like what I expected.

“Do you know what he did to her?” I go for him again but Kenny takes hold of my shoulders and when Ruckus goes to intervene I shake my head at him.

“Get your fuckin’ hands off me.” I shove him back so hard he almost topples the old man over too. “You’re lucky to still be fuckin’ breathin’, Reaper.”

“I ain’t a Reaper no more, not since I learned what they were about.” He shakes his head. “I did time, and yeah, I ratted on ‘em but only because?—”

“You know what Kenny, I don’t wanna hear your story. I wanna rip the dick off this asshole and make him fuckin’ swallow it, so if you’d kindly step aside.”

“You got it wrong.” He stands firm in front of me. “Billy was accused of those things but he didn’t do it, trust me Raze I’m her Dad and I may not have been very present in her life but that wasn’t by choice. I’ve always looked out for her from a distance. It was me that told her to come here to keep her safe from the Reapers. I didn’t realize at the time that they were building up a Charter here.” I remember Peyton telling me that her dad was the one who sent her here but this still ain’t making no sense. I ain’t heard nothin’ about the Reapers trying to build a charter in Long Beach and Billy has to be guilty.

“You went to prison, I had Monkhouse look into your case, you pleaded guilty, why would you have done that if it wasn’t you who did it?”

“To protect her.” The gray-haired man looks me in the eyes and all I see inside ‘em is sadness. “I’d been with her mother since she was five years old. I loved her like a father.”

“You sick freak.” I go for him again but this time it’s Ruckus and Tawk who stop me.

“I think you should hear him out, Boss,” Ruckus says under his breath and I back down allowing Billy to continue.

“She was such a sweet girl and I knew that if she knew the truth it would destroy her. I spent years in a cell getting beaten up for being a?—-”

He can’t even say the word.

“Raze, we need to talk to her and it ain’t gonna be easy. I know from the calls we’ve been havin’ that she’s grown close to you. She doesn't know me, she’s gonna need you.” I can tell that that’s a hard thing for Kenny to admit, but it ain’t gonna solve his problem.

“She ain’t here.” I suddenly start to panic.

“What do you mean she ain’t here?” Her dad’s face goes blank.

“I mean, I kicked her outta here earlier when her brother came here to get her and I found out she’s been lying to me. I thought she was workin’ for them. They killed one of our members.”

“Wait, are you sayin’ Kane was here?” The two older men look at each other and I don’t like the exchange they make.

“Yeah, like I said, he came to get her.”

“And did she leave with him?” Her dad looks as if he wants to throttle me.

“No, he was long gone, but I don’t know where she is. Shit.” I turn around and kick one of the plastic chairs across the yard in frustration when I realize that I don’t know where she fuckin’ is. “I need to find her.” Suddenly nothing else matters, I should never have let her leave and I head straight for Dev so I can get the keys to my bike from my cut pocket.

“Raze, it was Kane.” The words that come out of Kenny’s mouth turn my blood cold and make my stomach knot.

“What did you just say?” I spin back around.

“I said, the person who was raping her was Kane.”

“But he’s her…” I can feel the world fuckin’ spinnin’ under my feet as my chest feels heavier and heavier to lift.

“I know, and that's why I did time in jail. No girl should ever have to suffer the thought of that,” Billy speaks up.

“I’m gonna kill him.” I go to head off again but her father pulls me back.

“First we need to find Peyton. Do you have any idea where she went?” He asks me and although his idea makes much more sense than mine. I still look down at the hand he’s got on me and remind him to remove it.

“No, I was so mad. I–”

“I know where she is.” Wrath steps up beside me. “I chased after her, told her not to listen to ya because I knew you’d regret it.” He shrugs. “She’s at my old man’s bungalow, at least that's where I told her to go, you know how she can be with followin’ orders.”

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