Page 44 of Blade
My fingertips trailed over the scars.
He turned his head to put his face in the pillow. At first, I didn’t think he was going to answer. Then he returned to his original position. “I got tied up with the cartel. I made a mistake and I paid for it.”
Tears welled in my eyes, but I blinked them away. I had no idea what to say to that and I decided maybe it was best I not say anything.
When I was done, I set the tube to the side.
He rolled to his side and patted the bed. “Snuggle with me.”
Hearing this big bad tatted biker, who by self-admission did and does scary things, say he wanted to snuggle, made me grin.
“What?”
“Nothing.” I snuggled into his body heat. Though it was hot as Hades outside, it was cold in his cabin.
He wrapped an arm around me, tucking it in between my boobs. Then he kissed the top of my head. I fell asleep with his nose buried in my hair and his even breaths fanning the back of my neck.
“LoveAbuser(SaveMe)”—Royal&TheSerpent
It ended up taking two weeks before the members of the Ankeny RBMC began to roll in. All of their bikes arrived first, loaded up in an enclosed commercial bike hauler out of Kentucky. The driver had us sign for them, and he was gone.
We had no idea how they ended up in Kentucky, but I recognized Voodoo, Chains, Angel, and Squirrel’s bikes right off the bat.
We also had no clue where anyone was because they had left their phones behind after Facet wiped them and incineratedthem. Hawk had called from a burner phone to tell us they had all split up and left on different days. Then he disabled that phone and ditched it.
Angel, Korrie, Trace, and Angeline were the first to arrive. They were surprised to hear they made it before anyone else. We set them up and continued our wait.
Later that day, Facet and Willow, then Ghost and Laila arrived—all with little ones in tow. Two days later it was Hawk and Julia in the wee hours of the morning, then Chains, and Jasmine arrived with their kids Ehria, Draco, and Adira later in the day.
The last ones to arrive were Voodoo and his family, then Squirrel with the two prospects.
After they were all caught up on sleep, we had our first church with both chapters. The chapel was packed to the gills despite the prospects waiting out in the clubhouse. They still looked rocked to the core.
“There are no words to describe this loss,” Raptor began. The Ankeny boys wore a combination of anger and sorrow. Hell, we all did really. It seemed unreal that Rhino and Tigger would never walk through the doors again. I kind of felt like it hadn’t sunk in though because it had happened while they were out of the area.
“We need to come up with a plan going forward,” Raptor continued. “What all has happened?”
Hawk filled everyone in on what they knew so far. Facet added in details afterward.
“So, you have no idea who the rat could be?” Gator asked when they finished.
“None. We even had Chains look into everyone. He saw nothing. Facet checked the clubhouse top to bottom and didn’t find a trace of surveillance equipment. It doesn’t make sensethough. Someone is finding out details that only members had.” Hawk fell back in his chair.
“Maybe whoever it is has an ability to block intrusions into their memories,” Torque murmured.
“That’s what we’re afraid of,” Voodoo chimed in. He was leaning against the back wall sporting a faint new scar that went through his left brow, down his cheek to his jaw. For it to still be visible after Angel healed him, his face had to have been fucking blown open.
We sifted through all the information again and again but still came up empty.
Raptor chewed on his lip as his fingertips tapped on the tabletop. Finally, he asked them, “What do you all think of staying here?”
“I mean, it’s the safest place we could think of since half your chapter are members that came from ours,” Hawk replied with a half grin.
“No. I mean permanently,” Raptor clarified. Several of the members looked at each other, then at Hawk.
Hawk cleared his throat. “Well, that’s the thing. We’ve decided we’re leaving the RBMC.”
You could’ve heard a pin drop.