Page 67 of Hell Yes

Another customer called out for a coffee refill and Sage went back to work. Simeon threw a wad of cash on the table and quickly left.

“He’s heading out,” Sage whispered into her mic. “I think he bought it.”

“Over to you, Dante,” Xander replied. “Sage, good work, on the story and on placing the tracker on his jacket.”

“I love this shit,” she replied. “I should have been an actress.”

“There’s still time if you want to leave for Hollywood,” Xander quipped.

“Over my dead body,” Dante’s voice echoed loudly.

Jesse and Xander bit back a laugh. Dante was just a little bit possessive of his woman.

And Jesse totally understood.

CHAPTER 24

VAL

TWO DAYS LATER

To say Val was shocked by the news of Simeon being here in Longford was the least of it.

The tracker Sage had planted on the man was working. It appeared that he was spending the last two days getting ready to kidnap Val. Simeon made stops at the hardware store, the gun shop, and then headed to the only local ATM machine to withdraw cash. A lot of it. He was staying at the the Longford Inn, the only motel within a ten-mile radius, near highway 101, just outside of the town proper. It was used mainly by truckers and local sex workers.

Simeon hardly left the motel yesterday and Dante’s surveillance told them why.

This morning, Dante had taken pictures as a man and a woman left Simeon’s motel room. According to Jesse and Xander, they recognized the couple. They partied with the Hellraisers a lot and were known sex workers.

And it made Val wonder, when all this was over, would Jess and Xander go back to that? Was she just a fun time to them, a diversion? Would Xan and Jess kick her out when they were done with her and go back to their random?

Her gut told her no, but now her head was full of doubts.

The past few days, it felt like they were in as deep as she was. They’d hardly left Jesse’s place, except to take the dogs out and get some fresh air. Other than that, her and Xander and Jesse spent the entire time in bed, exploring each other. And it wasn’t just sex. Val cooked, they shared meals, and talked late into the night. She wanted a real relationship with these men, but now she wondered if they wanted the same.

But there was no time to worry about that. Today was the day. Val needed all her focus on their plan. To get Simeon. To remove him from her life for good. At the back of her mind, she always worried that her past would come back to haunt her. And she was done with that. Val had a new life now and she was only looking forward.

And did she feel guilty about the fact that she was conspiring to seal Simeon’s fate? She should have, but she didn’t. Because she knew that evil lived inside that man. And with him gone, maybe some of the other members back in Mosley could start over too. Be free of his authoritarian rule. Val often thought about her sister, Annika. She wondered what Annika was doing now, was she married with kids, was she still living on the farm?

Val had an opportunity, once they captured Simeon, to find out. And she wanted the whole truth. Only then, could she let go of the past and bury it forever.

“Here’s the plan,” Jesse announced as they sat in the clubhouse. “We get ready to head out to Drumheller tonight. Thanks to Sage’s idea, Simeon will likely approach the front gate and try to bribe us to hand Val over. We’ll laugh at the amount of money he’s offering, take it anyway, and nab him. We’ll have guys hidden across the road and around the perimeter just in case he somehow does a runner.”

“I want to speak to him once he’s caught,” Val added.

Xander shook his head. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

“I need answers. I want to know what happened to my sister, Annika. I know I ran from my family, and most of it wasn’t good, but I still wonder and worry.”

“What if he refuses to talk?” Jesse asked. “Sonny has a way of getting people to speak, but it ain’t pretty. You gotta be prepared for that.”

Val nodded. She’d heard enough from Avery about Sonny’s job in the club. The enforcer. He did whatever was necessary to get people to tell the truth.

“I think it’s only fair given the abuse Simeon levelled at his followers for so many years. And I don’t think I saw the half of it. Many people went into reparations and were never seen again. Now I wonder, if he killed them. I should feel bad about this, but I don’t,” she sighed. “Does that make me a bad person? I don’t know anymore.”

Jess and Xander held onto her.

“From what you’ve told us about Holy Sacrifice, the abuse, I’d say he deserves punishment,” Jesse replied.