Page 18 of Massacre
I snorted. “Guess some people are just born unlucky.”
“Nah,” he said, idly tracing a crack in the tiled floor with his boot, “luck’s got nothing to do with it. Just a talent for being in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
The fluorescent lights overhead buzzed, casting harsh shadows on the linoleum. Around us, the low murmur of officers and the distant shuffle of paperwork made it easy to pretend this was just another late night at a diner, not a precinct.
Bane pulled a pack of gum from his pocket and offered me a piece. “Cheapest vice I got left.”
I took it, popping the stick in my mouth, the sharp mint staving off the bitter taste of anxiety. “Cheers.”
He gave a low laugh, rubbing his jaw. “You want to tell me how you know my daughter?”
Sighing, I leaned my head back and closed my eyes. “Not sure my face can take another pounding.”
“Get over it.”
“I met her in Louisiana. She was one of the trafficking victims our Louisiana club was trying to peddle. Reaper had gotten word his ol’ lady was down there. It was only after we arrived that we learned the extent of what was really going on at the southern chapter. Let’s just say Reaper lost his shit and let his demon out to play. We rescued close to thirty men, women, and children that day. Your daughter was one of them. When I found Bethany—”
“Bethany?”
I nodded. “Yeah, that was the name she gave me. She wanted nothing to do with me. Not that I blamed her. The second she saw my cut, she thought I was one of them. Took me forever to get her to calm down. In the end, I gave her my patch and explained that it would protect her. Gave her my word that nothing would ever happen to her again. I eventually got her to trust me enough to get her out of there and get her to the hospital.”
“Then what happened?”
Shaking my head, I scoffed. “You mean what didn’t happen? By the time I found out what room she was in, Val was there, along with a few of her Nyght Nymphs and a nurse named Jessica, getting ready to take her away. Let’s just say words were said. It wasn’t my finest moment. In the end, I agreed to give her time. I gave her five years.”
Bane was silent for a moment, his expression unreadable. “Val didn’t tell me any of that.”
“Why would she? If everything had gone according to plan, she would have never seen me again. Well, that was that plan.”
Bane’s brows drew together, a shadow flickering across his face. “You waited five years?”
I let out a rough chuckle, my voice edged with regret. “Waited as best I could. There wasn’t a day I didn’t think about her, wondered if she was safe or if she even made it out of the darkness that place left behind. I saw her once, less than a year after. I was in Chicago. She was working at a coffee shop. She wore my patch, tucked under her sweater like some secret shield.”
He was quiet, studying me with a weight that made my skin prickle. “You still think you did the right thing?”
I forced myself to meet his gaze. “I don’t know. Maybe. Maybe not. But at the time, it was all I could do—walk away so she could heal without my face being a reminder. Figured if she ever needed me, she’d know how to find me.”
For a long moment, Bane seemed to wrestle with something unspoken. Then, with a heavy exhale, he muttered, “We’ve got a problem here, Massacre. She’s my daughter.”
“I know,” I replied, my voice low as Sheriff O’Rourke walked over with several sheets of paper in his hands.
“Multiple counts of resisting arrest, several counts of possession of a firearm, assaults with a deadly weapon, grand theft auto, and one instance of prostitution?”
I smirked. “Told the kid it was a long list.”
“What do you have to say for yourself, Dr. August Lansing?”
At that, my head damn near snapped off my shoulders as I whipped my head toward Bane. “Respect, man. Didn’t know you had it in ya!”
“As for you, Dwayne Sean Buchanon,” the sheriff sneered, letting a reem of paper fall to the floor as he glared at me. “I’m not even going to list your crimes. How you are walking free is a miracle but let me be crystal clear here. As long as you are in my town, you will obey the law. If I have to arrest either of you again, I will throw the fucking book at you. Do I make myself clear?”
“Crystal.” I smiled up at the man.
“Yeah,” Bane grumbled.
“I’ve called King, since I figured you two idiots are staying with him at the clubhouse. He’s waiting for you outside.”
Chapter Six
