Page 46 of Vapor's Blaze

We pull up at the hospital, I pay some of the money Hark gave me to the driver and rush into the emergency room. I don’t make it three steps before someone grabs me and shoves me against the wall. It’s Decker.

“Didn’t you get any of the messages your brothers sent? You’re supposed to fucking run.”

I shove his hands away. “Don’t touch me. I’m not going anywhere until I speak to my brothers and check on my grandfather.”

“Prepare yourself,” he whispers. “The stupid fucker is not going to make it.”

“I don’t understand why you would kill him over a marriage you clearly didn’t want.”

A nurse walks by, giving us a weird look. Decker steps back to give me some room. I don’t stop badgering him for information. I can’t hope to help my family unless I have a clear idea of what’s going on. “Why did you try to kill my grandfather? You were a trusted associate of the Hellfire Hounds, and our families were creating an alliance.”

“You think I shot the crazy old man because I wanted too? He reneged on the deal he made with my club. My old man wanted compensation, but your grandfather thought it would be a better idea to kill me instead.”

Shock rolls through my body. “What? Why would he do that? He got territory and cash in the deal he made with the Savage Legion. He could have split it with the Diggers.”

He reaches out and gives my arm a jerk. “You’re a woman. You don’t know anything about how our world works.”

“You better make this make sense or I’m calling the police. We’ll let them figure out if it was self-defense or not. At this stage I honestly don’t care what I might be bringing down onto the club.”

“It was, there were twenty eyewitnesses. Look Trix, you know that I like Tracker but we both know he’s not club president material.”

“Shut your mouth. The Hellfire Hounds belongs to him, now that King is down.”

An aid pushes a wheelchair past us. We stop our conversation until the hallway is clear. There weren’t many people milling about this early in the day. Once the area is clear, Decker speaks again.

“Tracker loves that fucking bar the Legion owns enough to work there for free even after his debt was paid. That tells me he was avoiding the responsibility of transitioning into one of the officers’ slots.”

I don’t say anything, I remember the conversation I had with Tracker weeks ago when he said he wanted to leave. I know that’s what he wanted at the time, but if something had happened to my grandfather, would he still walk away—or would he claim his birthright?

“You can’t expect my brother to let you walk off with everything our grandfather built. Surely the Hounds are never going to vote you in as club president.” I was getting exasperated trying to talk sense into Decker.

He lowers his voice. “They already did.”

I gasp as my hands fly to my mouth. “You’re now the club president of the Hellfire Hounds?”

“No. Look Trix. There is no Hellfire Hounds MC anymore. The club got patched over by the Grave Diggers, my old man is the president.”

“I don’t understand. Why would you do that? Why would my grandfather’s men agree?”

“I know this will come as a shock to you, but this was the plan all along. The Hounds were always going to get patched over. The marriage alliance was just a way to get close. Everyone knows that the Hounds were on their way out, a failing club led by an old man with no vision. Once some time had passed, I was supposed to talk Tracker into a patch over. King was always the problem. None of the other brothers cared what the club name is. They’re in it for the money, which King could never keep flowing in sufficient quantities for all the brothers to be satisfied.”

“Jesus, you used to ignore the hell of me and now you’re my new best friend, telling me all the club business I’m not supposed to know.”

Decker rolls his eyes. “There’s a fuck ton of shit I’m not telling you.”

“Why tell me anything?” I shoot back.

“I want you to understand enough to convince Tracker and Hark to find something else to do with their lives. To back the fuck off. We burned their fucking cuts, I can’t have them out there trying to start the Hounds back up. I don’t want to be always looking over my shoulder and wondering when they’re going to pop back up and try to take the club back. They’re both good kids, I’m giving them a chance.”

“My grandfather owns the land and the building, if anything happens to him then it’ll go to us.”

“No, he doesn’t. That was in the club’s name. The minute we patched over the Hounds all their property became legally ours.”

I open my mouth to object, but he stops me by holding up one hand. I don’t flinch when he leans closer and whispers, “If they don’t stand down immediately, I’ll be forced to let my gun do the talking, like I did with King. This is your chance to save the lives of two out of three of your remaining family members.”

I want to scream at him to stay the hell away from my family and that I hate him for gunning down my grandfather, but I don’t get the chance because someone jerks him away.

He’s there one moment and gone the next. It takes me a second to realize that Vapor grabbed him by the scruff of the neck and has him pressed against the far wall in the little alcove we’re standing in. I watch Vapor whisper something into Decker’s ear. I can’t make out what he said but it pisses Decker off to the point that he throws his elbow back into Vapor’s chest. He absorbs the hit like it was nothing, before perp walking Decker a few feet to the door and literally tossing him out.

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