Page 55 of Vapor's Blaze

“They better, if they know what’s good for them.”

“Alright, let’s get moving.”

Rigs and I help Marauder out of his chair. He jerks away from us. “I can fucking walk. I ain’t feeble. You know that, right?”

“Cut it out. You’re starting to sound like fucking grumpy old man.”

Since there was no putting the injured man on the back of a bike, we took him to the ER in one of our panel vans. Although I want to take this ignorant fuck apart with my bare hands for trying to traffic Trix, in addition to all the other horrible shit he’s done, I don’t. Dropping him off at the hospital, knowing they’ll get the police involved is the right call.

I can always kill him if and when he gets out of jail if I’m still feeling some kind of way about him. I’m a patient man. I also have the advantage of not being particularly bothered by killing truly evil men. I would consider getting rid of the Kings and Marauders of the world a public fucking service.

Rigs pretty much hauls ass to the hospital in town, and just as we’re unloading Marauder from the van, we hear a motorcycle pull up. I’m thinking it’s one of my club brothers. Nope. It’s Decker, who is clearly shit at following orders from his own club president.”

“Let him go. He doesn’t need a hospital. He needs a medic.”

“Son, leave it,” Marauder says. The old man is looking pretty damn green around the gills. I’m thinking with the specter of death hanging over him, he’s decided that doing jail time is the lesser of two evils.

I look over to see Decker sitting on his bike with his handgun pointed at us. I should have put the fucker down when I walked in and found him bullying Trix in the ER. At the time I had been more worried about caring for her than getting my hands on him for real. And here he is, popping up to make yet more trouble.

“Fuck off,” I say. “He’s gonna die if you ride off with him on the back of your bike.”

It felt weird to advocate for the life of the man I wanted to kill, so I decided to shut up.

Decker continues pointing the gun at us. We’re not gonna start anything in the hospital parking lot, so instead we wait and see what the old man will do. We kept up our part of the bargain, if he chooses to run, then that’s his funeral. Literally.

Marauder staggers over to Decker and climbs onto the back of his bike. I stand there staring at him, dumbfounded that he would be so reckless with his father’s life. This whole situation is getting stupider by the minute.

Truth be told, we’re all out of fucks to give for this pair. Siege, Rigs, and I certainly aren’t willing to risk our neck to keep our enemies from making one shitty decision after another. To my mind it feels like the trash taking itself out.

As we watch them race out of the parking lot, Rigs says in an astonished voice, “I did not see that coming.”

Chapter 20

Trix

Vapor doesn’t come back to the clubhouse until the early hours of the morning. He crawls into bed naked, and I curl up to him. I want to ask what happened to Decker’s father and what’s the next step toward getting rid of the Grave Diggers MC, but I don’t. Vapor is uncharacteristically quiet. He just lies there, rubbing my back as I rest cuddled up to his side. It almost feels like something terrible happened and he’s trying to process it.

Finally, I settle on asking, “Are you okay? You seem like you’ve been through something tonight.”

He tugs me close with one arm. “Yeah, I’m okay. We took Marauder to the hospital for that knife wound, but Decker showed up with a gun and took him to see a medic instead. Whatever guy they’re using seemed pretty good. He had packed the wound out and he wasn’t losing much blood but allowing that old man on the back of a motorcycle was criminally stupid. If he doesn’t get IV antibiotics, then he’s in a bad way.”

Shock rolls through my mind. “I don’t get it. Why wouldn’t they want him to get medical attention?”

“He has an outstanding warrant related to a murder in Dover County.”

“Oh, I see. That probably makes sense in their world.”

“Yeah, but Marauder made the choice to get treatment. I’m guessing he was trying to look out for his club. Sure, having the cops come down on them would be bad, but if he dies, then it’s leaving the Diggers to his sons—which from this evening’s shenanigans, don’t look the best pair of hands for his legacy.”

“Do you have any idea where they went?”

“Nope, but they’re probably heading out of state if Marauder lasts that long. Have you heard any word on King?”

“Tracker called about an hour ago. He’s out of surgery but still in a critical condition. He and Hark are staying with Mel for the time being at her apartment over the bar in town. Jamus offered them a room at his place, but I think everyone’s still a bit shell-shocked.”

“Yeah, I guess you all have a lot to process.”

“At least they’ve got a roof over their heads until they can get their clubhouse back,” I say.

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