Page 28 of Wrath

“It means I don’t shy away from my responsibilities. Iamyour son, and there was a time when I was real fuckin’ proud to call myself that.” The room falls silent and when he pulls his oxygen mask up to cover his face and makes a deep inhale, I don’t drop my eyes from his.

“What d’ya need?” he asks once he’s got the supply he needs.

“I need an edge, I need to know everythin’ about Cliff so I can draw him out from where he’s hidin’ and end this for good,” I explain, taking my seat again and hoping the old man’s got something for me.

“I heard he took the girl, the younger one.”

“Yeah, he took Willow.” I frown, wondering why that’s relevant, Cliff’s never given a fuck about his kids.

“Then your boy, Wrath, will know what it feels like to lose a sister too.” He smiles callously.

“Fine.” I shake my head and get up. “I came here to try and do what's right by Eden, and the club. For all we know she might be the next girl who’s bleedin’ on our beach.”

“With you lookin’ out for her she probably will be.” Him acting like he doesn’t care has me losing my shit, and gripping the old bastard by his shirt.

“Go on,son, put me outta my misery.” He winks.

“You know, what happened to that family all those years ago wasn’t your fault.” I watch his cocky expression fade into the guilt that keeps him bound to this cabin. “But when you die in this chair, bitter and alone, I want ya to know that what you did to yourown, was all on you.” I shove him back into his seat and march for the door.

“There's a woman.” I halt when he shouts out at me. “Last I heard she was in some kinda facility in Colorado. Cliff was seein’ her before he got sent to set up Long Beach. I guess his love sent her crazy.” Slowly, I turn around to face him again.

“His love?”

“Oh, he loved her alright. He was obsessed with her. Her name was…” He pauses so he can think. “Anita. Anita Carter, I don’t know if she’s still alive, and if she is you won’t get much sense outta her.”

“How do you know about her?” I ask suspiciously. I was at Long Beach for a long time, I don’t remember hearing Cliff ever mention a woman called Anita.

“I may have had Jimmer deal with the Eden situation, but I was determined to be the one who made Cliff and Aaron pay for what they did myself. There were a few times during that time period where I forgot that I was Dirty Soul…hell, I forgot I evenhada soul. I wanted to make Cliff hurt, and I knew that girl meant somethin’ to him. I looked her up, found out where she was and I paid her a visit.”

“You were gonna kill her.” I stare down at him in shock.

“Like I told ya, I lost myself.”

“But ya didn’t.”

“Yeah, well, I guess Anita Carter helped me find my soul again. She was a good person, oblivious, clearly bat-shit crazy, but good. I spoke to her for an hour, and I left.”

“And Aaron, how were you gonna make him pay?”

“I did make him pay.” He smirks. “In exactly the same way as you did,” he points out. “I’ve spent my entire life torturin’ people, but I learned for myself that there’s no worse pain than guilt. I wanted you and that boy to blame yourselves for Eden’s suicide.”

I’ve done some really fucked-up shit during my time on this earth, but what I’m hearing here is undoubtedly the words of the devil.

“How much did Jimmer know, did he know about Wrath’s involvement?”

“Jimmer knew nothin’, just that I had a daughter and that I needed her outta Long Beach, with a clean slate.”

“But why? Why would ya not tell him? You could have got Cliff kicked out the club years ago. Jimmer would never have tolerated what he did. He made the fuckin’ rules.” I think of all my own reasons for keeping what happened from Jimmer. Pride—the fear of what punishment Wrath would be dealt. But my father hated us both, it makes no sense that he would protect Aaron or Cliff back then.

“Because it was gonna be me that eventually killed ‘em, I didn’t want no club vote determinin’ the outcome for those cunts. I wanted to be in control of their fate.Iwould decide how long Aaron would suffer his guilt, and how long Cliff would have to keep lookin’ over his shoulder.”

“I take it ten years wasn’t enough?” I look at the weak, old man in front of me and thank God that I have Peyton in my life. There was a time that misery and hate fed my soul too, without her I could have easily ended up just the same as this sorry-assed fucker.

“Just because I ain’t the man I used to be doesn’t mean they're safe,” he warns.

“You make a threat like that about my VP again, and I’ll fuckin’ kill you myself. You did a good job of makin’ me and him suffer, I’ll give ya that. But how does it feel bein’ that father that never stepped up? The man who put wallowin’ in his own self-pity over gettin’ to know his daughter? You had choices when it came to Eden. At least Aaron owns his shit instead of festerin’ in it.”

I step back out the door and slam it behind me. Leaving the spiteful bastard to rot.

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