Page 53 of Savior

SPMC raided my house, confiscating my weapons as if I were a criminal before leaving a biker behind to ‘watch over’ me. Yesterday it had been Crossbones, today it was Comedian.

I adjusted my long skirt until the pistol disappeared from view. The club hadn’t gotten everything. And, if the only way to recoup my firearms was by smuggling them back in under my dresses, I’d do it.

I just had to figure out how to lose my guards first.

Comedian paced along the porch, walking the same path that Jamie had when he was working through a problem in his head. It wasn’t right, men who weren’t him coming in and taking over.

“Are you going to tell me your damn joke or not?” I snapped, stopping him in his tracks.

He grinned before hopping up onto the railing across from me. “Right, so this guy walks into a bar and sees his friend sittin’ next to a twelve-inch pianist. And he says to his friend, ‘Hey, that’s amazing. How’d you get one of those?’ The friend pulls out a bottle and tells him to rub it. The guy does, and a genie appears in a puff of smoke, tellin’ him he can have one wish.

“The man thinks it over and says, ‘I wish I had a million bucks.’ The genie says, ‘Go outside, and your wish will be granted.’ Guy runs outside, but all he sees is a sky full of ducks. He runs back into the bar and tells his friend what happened, and the friend sadly looks down at his beer before sayin’, ‘I know. You really think I wanted a twelve-inch pianist?’”

I mashed my lips together, fighting a smile. “That’s terrible! Now, you want to tell me the one where the club finds my husband and parents?”

The grin on his face faltered. “You know I can’t, doll. We don’t discuss anything that goes on in church. In fact, it’s best just to let the club—”

“It’s best to let the club do what? Sit on their asses while my husband is lost out there? Continue to operate as if everything’s normal? What is it Bear wants me to believe the club is doing to fix things?” My teeth ground together painfully, my breath coming out in short, panicked bursts.

His boot came up to rest against the railing. He pulled a pack of cigarettes from the inside of his vest, offering me one. I shook my head. “Bear thinks Grey might’ve had somethin’ to do with your parents disappearing. Money was there—”

I ran a shaking hand over my face, feeling the vein throbbing in my temple. My blood pressure had to be dangerously close to stroke levels by now.

“Is he really that stupid?” I growled. “The money was a ruse, Michael, a way of getting me over to their house! Even the texts from my father’s number were bogus. Why do I feel like I’m the one under investigation here? And for the love of all the saints, why am I the only one who seems to give a damn where my husband is?”

“Hey.” He jumped down and came over to me. “Hey. I don’t for one second believe that Grey left you willingly.”

“You don’t? And here I assumed that Bear had everybody in the club drinking the same Kool-Aid.”

“I saw how he was after you got… hurt. He could’ve stayed at home with you and the girls, but he refused, said he’d go home when he’d found the men responsible.”

“What are you saying?” I asked.

Comedian ran his thumbnail along the edge of his jaw. “I’m sayin’ that if he ain’t dead, then there’s a damn good reason he’s layin’ low. Now, between you and me, I got more than a few issues with the way Bear’s runnin’ shit. His focus is on widening our territory instead of on findin’ your old man.”

I knew it.

I’d known that Molly’s reassurances were nothing more than ridiculous platitudes. The club wasn’t going to find Jamie. They’d already moved on.

“Someone within that club was giving up information, Comedian. Someone wanted him dead. I need to know who that was… they can’t get away with it.”

“Trust me, Celia,” he said. “I ain’t gonna rest until I figure out what happened that night, even if I have to face every single one of those motherfuckers myself.”

I wanted to say more, to inform him of our plans to stop the Sons, but I heard Jamie’s voice as clear as day in my head, reciting a passage from Sun Tzu’sThe Art of Waras if it were gospel.

Let your plans be dark and impenetrable as night, and when you move, fall like a thunderbolt.

Comedian served his patch above all else. He might’ve had his doubts and suspicions over what had happened to Jamie, but ultimately, his loyalty was with the club. If he knew what we were planning, he’d be obligated to inform the club. And, with as much trouble as I’d already given Bear, the biker would probably chain me up and leave me in their storage facility.

Imagine you’re me. Where would you put him?

The storage facility.

“Celia?” Comedian waved a hand in front of my face. “You okay? You look like you just saw a ghost.”

I nodded. “I’m just tired. I think I’m just going to try to get some sleep. I’m assuming you’re staying all night?”

He nodded and reached for my hand. “You sure you’re alright? You seem, I dunno, jumpy or some shit. Did I say the wrong thing? I just don’t want you thinkin’ that no one gives a fuck, okay? Grey was like a brother to me. Even if Bear don’t give a fuck what happened, I do.”

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