Page 26 of Property of Indiana

“I know you don’t want to hear it, but I’m gonna tell you anyway. He set Issy up, man. She was kidnapped and he played a key role in that,” Rip conveys.

“No,” I adamantly deny. “He wouldn’t do that, she was like a sister to him.”

“That’s what hurts the most about his betrayal,” Rip validates. “They drugged her after an event and tied her to the inside of her trailer.”

That information hits home because that’s what was done to Zoey at the party where she was attacked and violated, outside of being tied up.

“Did they… did they rape her?” I wheeze out, the words stumbling out over my tongue. Issy’s face flashes across my mind as anger starts to build. She’s such a strong, independent woman, so for her to be abducted like that is mind blowing.

“They didn’t,” he reassures me, placing his palm over my shoulder and squeezing. “I’m not sure if that was part of their plan or not, but they didn’t get the chance. She had Starlight with her and they escaped.”

“Thank fuck for that,” I hiss. “All that training y’all put her through kicked in, huh?”

He sighs out loud before saying, “Yeah. Thank fuck for memory muscle because she’d been on the road a lot this past year running the circuit and hadn’t been trained in a bit.”

Whenever we’d work on self-defense with the former SAA and Enforcer, Rocko and Jangles, Issy was in the thick of it every single time. They didn’t treat her like a precious commodity either, they tossed her around like she was a guy because as they told her, if someone had ill intent toward her, they wouldn’t give that first fuck that she was a female. We all spent plenty of nights with bags of frozen peas on our various aches and pains, but it obviously paid off for Issy.

“Just goes to show you that no matter what, lessons stay with you even if you don’t practice them,” I grunt. “Where’s Gage’s body? Are we taking care of him?”

“Him and another piece of shit,” he tells me, draining the beer the prospect just sat down in front of him. “Gage gets treatedright. Respectfully because he earned that in the end. I don’t give a damn what happens to the other fucker. Rafe put him through his paces so it’s not a pretty sight.”

“He’ll be even less so once I piss and spit on him. Who was he?” I’ve already figured out he’s an enemy of the Kings, and since nobody fucks with us, whether that’s in life or death, I’ll make sure he gets what’s owed to him.

“The fucker who put a price on Issy’s head,” Rip informs me. “Fucker’s club name was Four because he and three others of those assholes, the Mojave Devils, thought they were the four horsemen of the apocalypse.”

“Is that right?” I inquire, a menacing smile breaching my face because there are times I call us that. “I know who he’s going to spend eternity with.” Rip chuckles because he knows I have Zoey’s neighbor on ice.

“On another note, I plan on calling church. Our sheriff needs to be taken out. He’s let things slide by for too long and I’m sick of dealing with the fallout. If we get rid of him, his dominoes will topple over.”

“Are we declaring war?” I ask him.

“Not yet,” he professes. “But I think it’ll come down to that eventually.”

“Same,” I agree. “The Onyx Dragons are getting more ballsy. They are now vandalizing the mom and pop shops to show they’re in charge. Boys trying to be men. We’ve been running around town putting out fires. I have better shit to do in my day than spank those motherfuckers. Have we heard from Sphinx?”

“Heard from him when I was on the road heading back this way. Right now, they’re planning to tag shit and be a nuisance to the residents and store owners in Canton. Childish games to make us look bad and make the town not believe in us and the security we provide them. And our elected official is doing nothing about it. He’s sitting on his thumbs and shoving them up his ass,” Rip scoffs.

“Probably the only way that fat fucker can get laid,” I snort.

“Especially since his wife is doing anyone but him,” Rip tacks on.

“Did LoneStar tell you she offered herself up to him on a silver platter?” I ask him, snickering. “He came back all wild eyed and puffing. Her proposition had him ranting and raving. It was some funny shit.” We both humorlessly laugh, still thinking about Gage—at least that’s the reason for me.

“Rafe and Issy are giving Gage a final ride next time they host the rodeo. I expect you to tag along. He may have ripped their hearts out, but he redeemed himself in the end. It’ll be enough time for you to deal with the pain and move on.”

“I’ll be there,” I declare. “At the end of the day, he saved Rafe’s life, and if nothing else, he deserves a sendoff.”

We knock knuckles and spend the rest of the evening getting drunk. We say it’s in Gage’s honor, but that’s just a damn excuse to help us forget about the pain settled in our chests.

It’s not until the next afternoon, when I finally rise from my drunken slumber, that I see I have forty missed texts from Hazard, the prospect I had on Zoey and Elodie.

All of them with one message—9-1-1!

He issued an alert for help, only we were drowning our misery in alcohol and sleeping it off.

CHAPTER

FOURTEEN

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