Page 119 of Ruin
“You sure about that?” Kaison asks.
We thought it was the Iron Runners…
“Very,” Coyote says, getting up and going to the mirror on the wall. It’s in the shape of a motorcycle. He holds his breath, grabs his nose, and resets it. “Fuck!” He bends over, breathing through the pain and then says, “They got to Norman right away.”
“So what the fuck are we supposed to do with you now?” I ask.
Coyote turns to look at us, wiping his eyes of tears and smearing more blood. He throws his arms up, letting them drop. “May as well just kill me. If you don’t, they will.”
“No,” Kaison says. “Then, what? They come after us? The whole fucking town? I don’t think so. You may not give a fuck about any of this, but we do! So you’re going to help us figure this shit out.”
“There is nothing to figure out. They’re bigger and stronger. They are going to win. It’s a miracle they haven’t taken us over yet. We’ve got prime land here. We’re sitting on the border to another fucking country. Do you know what that means in this world?”
“Don’t talk to us like we’re idiots,” I say. “Of course we know what it means.” I turn to my brother. “And I think we have only one solution.”
“Well, it better be a quick one because if we aren’t in New York tonight, and those two goons don’t return, they’re going to send a fucking army.”
“Then I guess we better build ours fast.”
The drive to New Hampshire is much quicker than the drive to New York would have been. We aren’t going there at all tonight. They can come for us all they want. I’m confident we’ll get all the help we need where we’re going.
“How much longer?” Coyote asks from the back seat.
I glance at my phone. “Thirty-four minutes.”
“I don’t think this is a good idea,” he complains.
Kaison turns in his seat to look at him. “Whatever you’ve been doing to bullshit us into thinking you knew what you were doing, do that again.”
He curses under his breath, and Kaison turns back around, giving me an annoyed look.
I wouldn’t say Coyote is scared, exactly, but all the confidence he’s had is gone. These guys he got mixed up with have instilled serious fear in him. Or maybe he’s just given up. He thinks there is no way out of this, but the Hell’s Mayhem aren’t just in Maine. We’re all over. Each state has their own faction. We work and run separately, but we share the same values. Our grandfathers knew that and used it to their advantage. Our fathers were too proud for the help. Me? I ain’t too proud to keep my life and protect the people of my town, especially from a fucking cartel. Honestly, it’s a surprise we haven’t dealt with shit like this before. Being on the border puts us in a dangerous spot. Maybe his idea of growing wasn’t such a bad idea at all, if it means we will have more protection.
“This why you were trying to get more people?” I ask.
“Yep,” he grunts.
That’s why he was keeping it quiet—he didn’t want it getting out.
“Should’ve just asked for help, man. It’s my fucking job,” Kaison says.
Coyote grunts but says nothing, and we drive the rest of the way in silence.
My phone rings again and I stare at Lucian’s name scrolling across my screen. I press the button on the side to send it to voicemail. I feel Kaison’s gaze on me but ignore that too. I know what he wants to say but won’t because of Coyote. I’ll call Lucian later. The club comes first. At least, in this situation it does. It won’t always. I won’t allow Lucian to get involved with the club. Our relationship comes beforethat.
My phone dings. Another voicemail. He’s left four already. He’s probably worried, but he can’t be my priority right now. I hope he understands.
When we pull up in front of the clubhouse, I shut off the truck and grab my phone to type out a text, but the front door bursts open and a bunch of guys flood out, probably wondering who the fuck we are and why we’re pulling up. We’d do the same thing.
My brother and I open our doors at the same time to get out. I shove my phone into my back pocket.
“You boys lost or something?” the big guy in the front says.
He’s a big dude. Maybe about ten years older than us, with a long blond beard and bald head. A dozen guys stand behind him, the light from inside shadowing them. It’s dark out here, and I doubt they can make out what’s on our cuts from here.
“Nope,” Kaison says. “We’re the Maine chapter.”
“Maine chapter?” the guy asks. “What the fuck are you doing here?”
