Page 62 of Scorched King

“Bull fucking shit. We take care of our own! What did he offer that was worth betraying us? Was it worth the lives lost? Was it FUCKING worth it?”

“Collateral damage. I didn’t plan for any of that.”

“Which is why the fuck you were supposed to come to me!” I roared, pulling my arm back and then burying my fist in his face this time. My anger broke the strained leash I had on myself and I continued to punch over and over again.

“JD.”

I heard Axel's voice calling out to me, but it couldn't pierce the haze of pain choking me, suffocating every rational thought. The memory of Sasha's burned body grabbed me by the fucking throat and wouldn’t let go, squeezing tighter with each passing second. The weeks of pain she endured in that hospital bed, hanging on for her life. The mental anguish and fear she suffered at his hands while I was too blind to see what was happening right under my own nose. The look in her eyes—god, those beautiful eyes—always reminding me that I didn’t save her, that I failed the one person who meant everything to me…

Each memory was like another knife twisting in my gut.

“JD, stop.” Someone grabbed my arm and I roared with fury as I turned to see Axel and Zook attempting to stop me. “I thought you wanted answers from him before we took this too far?”

My heart beat heavy and fast in my chest as I grappled to take a breath. I bent forward and rested my hands on my knees. After a minute or so I felt some semblance of control slipping back into place. I turned to Axel. “What did you say?”

“Interrogating this piece of shit was your idea and we agreed. We need to make sure there is no other fall out from this situation.”

He was right of course. We’d planned this out, but in the moment I’d lost control. All I could see was Sasha on the ground in front of our burning casino fighting for her life as the paramedics had worked on her. It had been one of the most devastating moments of my life and I was only now realizing just how much I’d been affected.

“Yeah." I straightened, eyeing the bloody mess hanging in the middle of the room. By some miracle, the bastard was stillconscious. Although that probably wouldn’t last much longer. “Let’s do this and get it over with. I need to get back to Sasha.”

Axel gave me a nod and I stepped closer to Cash. “I don’t have much patience left for you. But if you don’t want to spend the next however long it fucking takes in extreme, unbearable agony, you need to stop making excuses and fucking do the right thing. You took an oath to this club and you shattered that shit into a million little pieces. You killed one of your brothers. Harmed another. Now all you have left is the decision on what kind of man you are going to be when you leave this world. One who goes out trying to honor those he made promises to, or like the piece of shit who hired you?”

“What do you want?” he rasped, his breath as ragged as my own only moments ago. “I’ll do whatever you need.” The rattle in his lungs indicated that I’d likely punctured one or both of them and like it or not, he wasn’t going to last much longer.

“Who else knew about this?”

“Only Chel. She knew the fucker from high school. He got to her and Skyler first, roughed her up. Said if I didn't cooperate, Skyler was next.”

A twinge of regret pinged in my chest. Cash was a lot of things, but when it came to his kid, he was as devoted as they came.

“You should have come to me.” Those words were a waste of my breath at this point, but I couldn’t stop repeating them. The whole situation made me want to puke or kill someone. The death of Frank Mazzeo and his sick, twisted son didn’t feel like enough. But no amount of bloodshed could ever wipe away the harm done to Sasha and Bear as well as the others.

Cash coughed, and more blood dribbled out. We were about out of time.

“What about Chel? I heard she’s dating a serpent. What the fuck is that about?” I had to figure out how far this went and stop the spread before it got worse.

“Yeah. Dude deals drugs out of Redmond on the side to the Microsoft assholes there. Real piece of shit.”

I nodded, making a mental note to have Tel look into that fucker’s operation. We could shut that down easy enough.

“And Chel? Where is she now?”

Cash coughed, more blood dribbling out. “Fuck if I know.” His head lolled forward. “Bitch took off weeks ago. Right after Mazzeo disappeared. Probably ran off with the drug dealing asshole. Don’t care what happens to her. Only Skyler.”

I narrowed my eyes, sensing there was more to the story. But with Cash’s life quickly fading, there was little time to pry out the details.

“What else?”

“Nothing, man. Mazzeo had a fucking hard on for Axel’s woman. Who at the time wasn’t his woman so I figured it didn’t matter all that much if I gave him some fucking information on her. But one thing led to another and it was too late…”

“You are right about that. The minute you chose him over your club, you signed your death warrant and you damned well knew it. Now you go out like the piece of trash rat you fucking are. I only wish your death was going to make me feel better.”

“Can’t we make some kind of deal?”

I looked at him like I couldn’t believe he even dared to say that shit to me. I turned to Axel and lifted my chin in a well-known signal that I was fucking done.

He pulled the gun he would have prepared for this from the small of his back and placed it in my hand. I wrapped my hand around the handle so tight the texture of it bit into my skin.

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