Page 44 of Fatal Attraction

That drew a scoff out of Kendra. “That’s bullshit. What happened between you and Aunt Kendall isn’t your fault, Phoenix. It’s hers.”

“Tell that to him,” he uneasily grumbled, rolling his eyes.

Kendra sighed. “I’m not sure where he is and I’m not where I can hunt him down.” She emphasized by throwing up a hand and gesturing around the atmosphere. “Can I at least get you two a drink?”

“Please,” I begged, knowing we both were going to need one. “We’ll take whatever’s cheap.”

“It’ll taste like shit,” she warned, her perfect brows raised.

“Then make it a double.”

Kendra observed me for a beat, head cocked. “You know what… Fuck it. Whatever you two want is on the house tonight. Just don’t tell my father.”

Phoenix smiled, nodding his thanks as she grabbed two glasses and filled them up to the rim. Phoenix wasted no time gorging his down before he handed the glass back, insisting on another refill.

“Bonecrusher,” a dark voice called out, and we turned, finding Toothpick standing behind us with a dark smile on his face. “Boss is ready for you. Go ‘round the back of the bar to the shed.”

Phoenix guzzled down his second drink, motioning for me to follow. After chugging mine back, I kept my lips zipped, knowing better than to speak out of character with so many bodies posted around, and walked the same path behind my partner, all the way down to the building which harbored a dozen more bikes surrounding it. I couldn’t forget to mention the ear-ringing wails erupting from the outside, the sound chilling me to my bones.

“Bonecrusher,” Crow said when Phoenix stepped inside, leaving me standing there at the door completely aghast.

The shed was loaded with hundreds of weapons mounted against the walls, and in the center was a young man in his mid to possibly late twenties tied down to a chair, dressed in jeans and a black biker jacket which was undoubtedly caked in blood, along with the rest of him. Off to the upper left-hand side, in the furthest corner of the room, was Crow. He was sitting on a barrel, wiping his bloody hands clean with a towel, a huge grin spreading his lips.

“This is the pest that’s been giving me such a hard time.”

“Bo-Bonecrusher?” the guy gasped, his bloody eyes wide and shrouded with fear. “I thought you were a myth.”

“You thought wrong,” Crow growled. “The Bonecrusher is very much real and is called upon when needed, Leo.”

“Leo?” Phoenix repeated, whipping around to steer his sight on Crow, who nodded.

“He was just a wee-one when you left us, but he’s all grown up now.”

Wait… Did that mean this guy was a member of Crow’s crew?

“I’m sorry,” Leo said, panting hard as he struggled against his binds. “I was only trying to support my family. I-I didn’t meant to betray—”

“Butyou did,” Crow stated in a venomous whisper, his nostrils flaring. “You helped sneak in that last shipment of drugs and refuse to give up who’s in charge.”

“Please, Crow,” the man begged, sobbing, snot mixing in with blood dripping down his crooked, broken nose. “I have a daughter. She’s only two years old. I-I did it for my family. To support us. What would you have done if that was Fran and your baby?”

Crow launched from the barrel and clocked Leo with a vicious right hook, sending blood splattering out of his busted mouth.

“You willnot darespeakHERname,” he sneered so dangerously that even the walls in the shed shook. “EVER!”

“You regret it, don’t you?” Leo asked, giving him a bloody smile. “Choosing your father and the club over her. She left you, then moved away and had a kid with another man, all because you were too fucking weak to fight for her.”

“You mother fucker—”

Phoenix caught Crow’s fist and managed to push him back as Crow’s chest began to heave, his pupils narrowed to insanely thin slits.

“I’m fine,” he roared as he shoved at Phoenix’s chest, growling fiercely when I came up behind him and secured his arms behind his back.

“Calm the fuck down,” I commanded.

“You have no order here!”

“You asked forourhelp, remember?”

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