Page 105 of Blue-Eyed Jacks
Whatever.I’d made do with much less in my life.I’d squirreled away assets for over twenty years.Shock knew about the house in Maine, but no one knew about some of the other holes in the walls I’d burrowed out.Meeting Kate wasn’t the catalyst, but knowing her and Zoe needed places untouched by the Destroyers’ network made me get creative.
I pulled my keys out.The SUV was leased to the club.“Here.”
“Your bike keys, too.”
Wolf was taking his newfound power too far.“Fucker.”I threw the second key ring on the table.There was a little Subaru near the back of the yard, tucked behind a false fence every single prospect strolled past nightly.At the base of the twisted metal bars and vines that grew hundreds if not thousands of feet a day was a small, grimy culvert.I’d crawl through it and drive away.I could be five hundred miles from here before any of these assholes figured it out.
Or better, I’d hit one of my rifle stashes and take out every single betraying motherfucker in this room.They wouldn’t know what hit them as I hunted them down.They were stupid to let me walk out.And Shock had dug his grave by threatening Zoe.She was mine by blood.No one was going to take her from me again.Not even Kate.
My scowl went deeper.She’d hate me for this.For giving up on her.For playing the games this club had shoved in my face while she hid all those years.
And for what?
Nothing.
Without this club, without my men, without power, I was just another bitter man chewed up and spit out.One step from a lifetime behind bars.And if I was lucky enough to make it that far, I’d be shivved because of the disgrace they laid on me.
If I were a smart man, I’d remake myself working some fucked up polo-wearing backwater job that never got me much more than an obligatory 401k with junk bonds.I’d die poor and unknown after living the rest of my miserable life, swallowing my pride.
That wasn’t me.
None of this was me.I’d dug my grave by being a smartass son of a bitch who didn’t know how to keep his dick out of someone else’s woman.I’d been warned about this very thing all my life.
But I didn’t regret a damn thing.Nor would I do anything different.
I turned my back on Shock and Nonno.One final insult as I walked out of my throne room.I barely glanced around the bar as I kept one foot in front of the other.Any second now, the human sharks circling me would smell blood.Once that happened, I would face a gauntlet of at least fifty angry men.I’d betrayed each and every one of them.
For Kate.
For my girl.
For blood.
At the door, I turned back for one last look.
The floor was cleared.Most of the members and visitors opted for the barstools and wooden spools scattered along the rim of the room.I stared at the bare wood where not long ago, Shock had set up his make-shift throne.Where Kate had puked her guts out.
Where, nineteen years ago, I dared to challenge the order of things.
The room was quiet, as if they were waiting for me to say something in a cheap parting shot.Or maybe give an order to test the limits of my fall from grace.
Or perhaps they pitied me.
Whatever.
My palm hit the door as I walked away from it all.My empire, my castle, was a junkyard of broken promises.
I turned as soon as a pile of cars blocked the sight of me from the doors.I knew every inch of scrap in this place.It had been my playground and my life for over two decades.No one knew more about the lay of this land than I did.
The vines covered the culvert nicely but tugged away in a mat that didn’t break apart.I slid into the hole, pushing forward.The darkness inside was so complete it felt like a grave.I could die in here, and no one would find the body.Ever.
Fuck that.I shoved at the vines and muck clogging the other end and pulled myself free.The Subaru waited for me.It had been a piece of junk.It was still one, but at least it worked.
And the bag I’d stowed in the wheel well was right where I left it.
I pulled out the burner phone and fired it up as I changed clothes.
It rang twice.The man on the other end answered with a quick, “Yo, who’s this?”
