Page 22

(Creature)

“Sit down,” Creature snapped the moment he’d locked the door behind them.

Wide-eyed, Axel did as he was told. Parking his butt in the chair Creature had begun to think of as his after just a few short days of him living here.

Their trip to Joker’s Wild had just cemented Creature’s desire to spend more time with him there and on the road.

While they hadn’t done as well in the hippo game as Axel had hoped, they’d still come in third, which wasn’t bad at all for Axel’s first time playing.

Afterward, he’d cheered Creature on at the arm-wrestling table, where Danger had managed to pin his hand to the wood after Creature’s shoulder had cramped and begun to burn from the strain.

Whether he wanted to or not, it looked like it was time for a break from his favorite pastime.

The only thing that had given him a moment’s pause was seeing Axel and Scout beside the bar, worry etched into Scout’s face before he hurried for the door.

“I’m going to ask you a question, and you are going to tell me the truth. Is that understood?” Creature declared.

“Yeah, okay,” Axel replied. “Did I fuck up tonight?”

“I don’t know, did you?” Creature asked. “You and Scout looked awfully cozy for two guys who supposedly met in the middle of a robbery.”

“Isn’t that the definition of trauma bonding?” Axel asked.

Creature raised an eyebrow at him, almost amused by the display of smart-assery.

“Did you two have anything to do with the robbery?” Creature asked, his hands planted on the table as he leaned across the space that separated them, staring into Axel’s eyes.

“Hell no! What the fuck? Seriously? Dude. I had guns pulled on me. I nearly pissed myself when the first shot went off.”

Creature slammed his hand on the table, and Axel knocked the chair over, backing away. The panicked look on the younger man’s face was the only answer Creature needed.

“Your behavior with him tonight raised some suspicions,” Creature declared as he lowered himself into his chair and gestured to Axel, who still hesitated for several moments before righting his chair and sitting back down. “That was quite the animated conversation you were having.”

“Is that illegal?”

“No.”

“Then why does it matter that we were talking?”

“It’s not that you were talking; it was the way he stared at you like you were a drug he was already addicted to,” Creature said.

“You stood close without touching, almost intimate, except you were so rigid it looked like a stiff wind would snap you in half,” Creature asked.

“So, tell me, Axel, what exactly was going on?”

Creature watched as Axel scrubbed a hand over his face, his groan one of pure frustration.

“I just wanted to let him know that the cops came back to the gas station today asking more questions,” Axel explained. “They’re looking for him, and I thought he should know.”

“And why would they be looking for Scout?”

This time Axel sucked in a breath and squirmed.

“Listen. If you’ve gotten yourself caught up in something, let me help you,” Creature offered. “Was Scout involved in the robbery? Are you covering for him?”

Axel shook his head, lower lip caught between his teeth as he fidgeted with the sleeve of his long-sleeved t-shirt.

“Has he threatened you?” Creature asked, gentling his voice as much as he could, despite the fury that had begun to simmer inside of him.

This time, Axel immediately shook his head. “No. It—it’s nothing like that.”

“Then what is it like?”

Huffing, Axel groaned and shoved his fingers through his hair.

“Scout didn’t do anything wrong. The only thing he did was try to help Ms. Esperanza and smart off that one time I already told you about.

The cops came back because they interviewed Ms. Esperanza, and she told them that she’d heard a fifth man’s voice when she was by the coolers.

She said that she was certain that a man in a leather jacket came in after her but didn’t know if he’d left before the robbers came in.

They asked if I remembered seeing anyone that fit that description. ”

“And did you?”

“I-I, there, I mean,” Axel stammered, before finally hanging his head. “Yeah, there was a guy in a leather jacket in there.”

“Did he leave before the robbers showed up?”

Axel shook his head and muttered no .

“Was he a part of the robbery, maybe scoping out the place so he could tell them when to come in?”

“No.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah.”

“And he was there through the whole robbery?” Creature prodded.

“Yeah, but he left before the cops arrived.”

“Do you know who he is?”

“Sort of.”

Now, Creature prided himself on being able to read between the lines, and he cocked his head, studying Axel in silence until he started squirming again.

“It was Scout’s brother, okay,” Axel blurted before Creature could ask anything more.

“Does Axel’s brother have a name?”

“Sawyer.”

“Any clue why Sawyer would take off without talking to the cops?”

“No.”

Creature raised an eyebrow at him, and Axel turned his hands over, shrugging.

“Seriously, I don’t know. He was out the back moments before the cops burst in.”

Okay, well, there were a billion and one reasons to avoid the cops, that Creature knew. He’d gone out of his way to steer clear of them many times himself.

“Tell me the parts you haven’t told me yet,” Creature insisted.

“There’s not a lot more to tell.”

“But there is some, so spill it.”

“Sawyer was giving the robbers shit,” Axel said.

“Like I told you, they were confused and contradicting one another right from the jump. When Scout joined him in giving them shit, one of the robbers turned his gun on Scout; that’s when Sawyer jumped him.

The other guy, I don’t know; I was on the ground by then.

When the shooting stopped, the robbers were dead, shit was knocked over everywhere, and Ms. Esperanza was bleeding.

Sawyer didn’t have a mark on him, just some blood splattered on his cheek from one of the men he’d killed. ”

Ahhh, now it made sense why Sawyer had taken off. What a clusterfuck.

“Scout came up with the whole chip thing when the cops started asking what happened,” Axel admitted. “He’s hell-bent on protecting him, and I don’t blame him. Those fuckin’ tweakers could have shot him.”

“You’ll get no argument from me about that,” Creature said. “Though it might have been safer for all of you if Sawyer had kept his mouth shut.”

Creature didn’t add that, as a member of the Hounds, he doubted Sawyer knew the meaning of discretion or shutting the fuck up, but then, neither did most of his club brothers.

Several in particular came to mind who’d have been in there heckling the robbers too, and yeah, Creature could admit that he’d have charged the bastards if they’d pointed a gun at someone he cared about.

“So, now what?” Axel asked.

“Now we figure out a solution to get the cops off your asses,” Creature said as he pulled out his phone.

“You can’t tell the cops what happened,” Axel said, leaping up like he was about to bolt for the door.

“Piff, I ain’t callin’ the cops,” Creature said as he pressed the phone icon beside Mark’s name. “I’m calling the Prez, and then I’m calling Kong and telling him to find Scout and get over here with him so we can all have a little chat.”

“Do you really think you can fix this?” Axel asked.

“Only if Scout is willing to trust us enough to be honest and let us help him,” Creature said.

“He’s scared,” Axel blurted, “and not just about what happened at the gas station. When he ran into me the other day, he was walking back from somewhere. Limping, actually, and he hissed and winced when he leaned against the building. I figured he’d wrecked his bike, but he said it just needed maintenance, so I don’t really know what happened to him for him to be fucked up that way. ”

“Didn’t I just talk to you?” Mark said by way of greeting.

“Yeah, but I need you over here like, yesterday,” Creature replied.

“See you in five,” Mark said, hanging up.

Kong’s greeting wasn’t much better. “What do you need? I thought you said you weren’t ready for a rematch yet.”

“I’m not; my shoulder is still bugging me,” Creature admitted. “But I need you to track down Scout and get him here.”

“I’ll do my best, but in case you haven’t noticed, the little shit has been ducking me every chance he gets,” Kong admitted.

“Then you’d better hone your tracking skills and ferret out where he’s gotten to,” Creature demanded. “Mark is on the way here too. I doubt he’s going to be pleased when he hears what Axel has to tell him.”

“I’ll find him,” Kong declared before ending the call.

“D-do I have to move out now?” Axel asked, his voice soft and almost timid as he stared across the table at Creature with sad eyes and a hangdog expression.

“No. I believe you when you say that you didn’t do anything wrong,” Creature said. “I’m not even going to chastise you for not telling the cops about Scout’s brother.”

“Are you pissed at Scout?”

Sighing, Creature shook his head. “Naw, he did what most of us would have done. It’s a shitty situation, which is why we need to put our heads together to figure out a way out that will keep you both clean and off the cop’s radar.”

“He’ll never agree to give up his brother.”

“And I would never ask him to.”

“Will Mark?”

A solid knock on the door cut off the answer Creature had intended to give. Instead, he stood and let Mark in.

“Why not ask him yourself?” Creature said as he locked the door behind him.

Axel’s face visibly paled as Mark pulled out the chair Creature had vacated and stared across the table at him, much as Creature had done less than a half hour before.

Creature pulled out the chair to Mark’s right, while Axel sputtered and started fidgeting with his sleeve again before telling the story he’d previously told Creature.

When he finished, Mark let out a long, low whistle.

“You called Kong, correct?” Mark asked.

“Yeah, he said he was going to track down Scout.”