Page 15 of Blood & Honey (Saint’s Outlaws MC: Deadman’s Beach, AL #2)

Chapter Fourteen

I received a text from Momma Tee this morning asking to meet, telling me to come alone.

I’m not stupid. She’s trying to ambush me. The second I show up alone with the money to exchange for Ash and Candyce, she’s going to kill me or at least try.

The meet is at Deadman’s Island. At the old fort.

Shelby and I would hang out there as kids, drinking and skinny dipping. There’s a certain irony in the fact that it might also be the place where I meet my end. Of course, I have no intention of going down without a fight.

We all know this bitch is setting a trap for me. That’s why some of my guys will be stationed at various locations near the drop spot disguised as tourists.

As far as the money goes, we dipped into the club’s treasury, but it isn’t the amount she’s asking for.

The evil cunt won’t live to see a dollar of it.

We put the bigger bills on the tops and bottoms of stacks held together by rubber bands, giving the illusion there’s not a bunch of ones in the middle.

We can’t afford to make any mistakes. Candyce and Ash are counting on us.

“You ready to do this?” Hemlock questions.

I do another check of my weapons, making sure I have an extra knife in my boot. “As ready as I can be.”

“Good luck.” He pats me on the shoulder, and I roar off on my bike, making it appear as if I’m on my own in case that bitch has eyes on us.

I pull up at the meeting spot. Gravel crunches under my boots as I tighten the straps on my backpack that carries the money as I enter the fort.

I doubt Momma Tee will show up. She’ll send some goon to collect the money.

She never does her own dirty work. That’s why she recruits people like Shelby.

Once they have it in hand, she’s going to release Ash and Candyce in the parking lot.

That’s where the rest of my men come in. They are already waiting there, watching for any sign of them or her.

I walk around for a minute taking pictures, pretending I’m here to tour the historical site. Eventually I get to the drop spot where the powder cannons face the ocean. Shelby steps out from the edge of the small, wooded area. Momma Tee is behind her, no doubt pressing a gun to her back.

“This isn’t what we agreed to,” I call out.

“You’ve gotta help me, Blood,” Shelby cries.

“You’re not my problem anymore.”

“Shut up.” Momma Tee punches her in the jaw. “Do you have my money?”

I hoist the sack of cash onto my shoulder, giving it a little shake. “Where are Candyce and Ash?”

“That’s not how this works, sweetheart.” Her voice drips with false sweetness, but I know she’s far from nice. She keeps her gun trained on Shelby with one hand while outstretching her other one for the bag of money. “Come on. Pay up.”

“Where are they?”

“Safe enough. For now.”I grit my teeth but sling the bag toward her. It lands near her feet.

“Pick it up,” she snaps at Shelby. She does as Momma Tee asks, and the greedy woman snatches the bag from her and looks inside while an evil smirk spreads across her face.

“All there?” I ask, my mind racing.

“It seems so,” she says, still smiling.

“Now let Candyce and Ash go,” I demand, itching to pull one of my guns.

“Not yet, Blood,” Momma Tee drawls, her smile sinister now. “You see, I’ve been thinking. What’s stopping you from coming after us once you have them back?”

“Nothing,” I say. “But if you don’t let them go, there will be nowhere on this Earth you can hide from me.”

She laughs maniacally. “You can have Shelby in good faith. When I get to a safe location, then I’ll deliver them to you.”

“That’s not what we agreed on.”

She shrugs. “Hate the player, not the game.”

This whole situation is about to go even further south. Once she gets somewhere to count the money, she’s going to know I’ve fucked her over.

“Tick-tock, Blood,” she says with a sneer, moving backward slowly, Shelby held tight in front of her like a shield. I step forward, and Momma Tee lifts the gun to Shelby’s temple in warning. “No sudden moves, tough guy.”

Shelby’s eyes meet mine, and I see terror swimming in their depths, but something else too.

Resolve. She suddenly lashes out, elbowing Momma Tee in the stomach.

The two of them fall to the ground, wrestling for the gun.

I can’t see who has it in their grip. The gun goes off, the sound echoes off the stone walls of the fort, and my stomach sinks.

Shelby is up first.

I lunge forward to go after Momma Tee but she recovers from their scuffle faster than anticipated, shoving Shelby towards me. The force sends us both sprawling. During the chaos, Momma Tee flees with the bag of money, disappearing into the woods.

I scramble to Shelby’s side. My hands already slick with the warmth of her blood. She gasps, clutching at her side where she took the bullet. “Fucking hell.”

I try to put pressure on the wound to staunch the bleeding, but that bitch must have loaded her gun hollow point bullets. There’s no way I can stop Shelby from bleeding out.

She grabs my arm and squeezes. I stare down at her and I don’t see the woman I hate. I see the strawberry blonde-haired girl I feel in love with as a kid.

“Make sure my boy knows I wanted to be his mom, and that I wasn’t always a bad person.”

“You can tell him yourself,” I lie. We both know she’s going to bleed out before I can get her any help.

“Tell Ashley. I’m sorry I wasn’t a better sister, and I love her,” she croaks out.

I nod. “I promise.” The lump in my throat makes it hard to speak. “Just hold on for a while longer and you can tell both of them.”

“Promise me you’ll take care of him. Promise me you won’t let him grow up hating me.” Her teeth chatter, and her eyes roll back as she goes into shock.

“I’ll tell him.”

“Th-th-thank you,” she murmurs, letting out a shaky breath. And then she’s gone. Just like that.

Shelby, a woman I’ve loved and hated in equal measure, is gone.

Guilt and sorrow wash over me in waves, but I push them aside. There’s no time for mourning when Ash and Candyce are still missing. I pull out my phone and dial Hemlock.

“Momma Tee’s on the run with the money.”

“I’ve got the bitch.” Before I can tell him to take her alive, I hear the shot ring out.

I take off, leaving Shelby where she is. There’s nothing more that I can do for her.

I get to the parking lot and find my guys standing around a very dead Momma Tee. Before I can even comment, Grave’s cell phone rings with a call from an unknown number.

His brows raise. “Got it. I’m coming.” He ends the call. “Candyce and Ash. Got their location.”

We ride out, leaving this mess for Buford to clean up, and I wonder how I’m going to tell Ashley her sister is dead.

I walk into the clubhouse with Ash in my arms.

Ashley is already running toward us, assessing us with her eyes, scanning for any injuries.

Thankfully Momma Tee didn’t leave anyone guarding Candyce and Ash.

She only had Shelby helping her. When they left to meet up with me, she was able to escape.

She said that Shelby left the key to the handcuffs she was in close enough for her to reach.

I guess in the end she wanted to do the right thing.

“We’re okay. It’s not my blood.” I hand Ash off to her friend, Melissa. “We need to talk.” Ashley takes in the seriousness of my expression and my tone. “Watch him for a minute,” I tell Melissa and take Ashley upstairs.

She follows me into the bedroom as I strip out of my ruined clothes and walk toward the bathroom.

“Whose blood is that?”

I ignore her question, trying to find the words to ease the blow, but no matter how I spin it, there’s no easy or soft way to tell her that her sister is dead.

“Whose blood is that?” she stresses, her voice coming out sharper and more demanding.

I step into the shower and lather up my body, washing away the blood, willing myself not to shed a tear over that cunt.

“I asked you a fucking question.”

“It’s Shelby’s. She’s dead, Ashley.”

“My sister Shelby?” her voice cracks in a strained whisper laced with a pain I know all too fucking well.

“I’m sorry.”

“Was it…” she hesitates, unsure if she wants to finish her question. “Was it you?” she finally says.

“No.”

I watch the relief roll through her as the tension slowly leaves her shoulders. They drop, and she closes her eyes. “How… w-wh-who,” she says, sounding like a bird.

“I went to make the trade with Momma Tee. The money for Ash and Candyce. When I got there, she had Shelby with her. Said she’d give me Shelby and when she got somewhere safe, she’d give over Ash.

The two of them got into a scuffle. Momma Tee’s gun went off, and Shelby took the bullet to her abdomen.

Was nothing I could do for her. I hated her, but I would have tried to save her for you. ”

Ashley slides down to the floor, resting her back against the sink cabinet. Tears stream down her cheeks, and I wish I could take her pain away, but she needs to feel this and grieve her sister.

I step out of the shower, wrapping a towel around my waist. I close the toilet and use it as a seat. “She was conscious in her last few minutes.”

Ashley’s ravaged expression meets mine, and it breaks my heart to see her in so much pain.

“She made me promise that I’d tell you that she’s sorry she wasn’t a better sister, and that she loves you. She wants us to make sure that Ash knows she wasn’t always bad, and that she wished she could have raised him.”

Ashley falls forward, laying her head in my lap. I stroke my fingers through her hair as her body shakes with her sobs.

I’m not sure how long we stay in the position, but my ass is numb, and her tears have dried when she scoots back. I help her up from the floor and get dressed while she blows her nose.

By the time I’m discarding my blood-soiled clothing, she’s ready to go downstairs and collect Ash from Melissa.