Page 21

CERBERUS

After I finish showering the blood and evidence from my skin, I step back into my room to find Ember sitting up, waiting for me. At least there wasn’t a bunch of trash left for me to clean up. The ol’ ladies had taken all the garbage with them when they left.

I was glad Ember hadn’t been alone the entire time I was dealing with business, but I hadn’t wanted to come back to my room to find all of them, I mean all of them, camped out on my bed.

Not that it wasn’t something a man wouldn’t mind seeing, but after what I’d been dealing with, I wasn’t in the mood to think about that shit.

All I wanted was to climb into bed and hold Ember. To hell with food. I just needed her. She’s not healed enough for much of anything else, but I could hold her. I haven’t been able to do that since the day she was shot.

“You okay?” she asks, cocking her head slightly and watching me closely. “Don’t lie to me, please,” she says before I have the chance to answer her question.

Sighing, I cross the room, not bothering with putting clothes on. I drop the towel and climb into the bed next to her, pulling the sheet up over both of us. “I’m good, baby. Just need to hold you for a bit. Club’s gonna be meeting in an hour to talk about what went down.”

“What went down?”

I don’t want to tell her that shit. She doesn’t need to know the violence that’s within me.

But if I know anything about Ember, it’s that I can’t hide anything from her.

She’s the type of woman who, when she’s in, she’s all in.

If I don’t tell her, then it could come between us.

I do tell her, it also puts her at risk if the cops end up getting involved.

I don’t want them to use her against me.

It’s a possibility.

However big or small it is, she has a right to know.

Fuck.

“You shouldn’t be told any of this.” I sigh, watching her closely, making my decision. “You need to know that if I tell you anything, it could make you an accessory.”

“You don’t have to tell me everything, just something. You were covered in blood, Jase.”

Yeah, I had been.

“I killed Jon Coleman, Em,” I tell her, not dropping her gaze as I explain the reason and she listens.

Not once does she flinch or look horrified at what I did.

The only thing she does is give me a look of worry when I finish telling her the parts I’m allowing her to know.

“What I’ve told you, Ember, you can’t share with anyone, not even the ol’ ladies. ”

Ember nods and curls herself into me. “I grew up in this life, Jase. I’ve seen more than any of my uncles wanted me to.

But more than that, I wouldn’t speak of it to anyone because it’s not mine to share.

I learned the differences in justice and know that the best course to take comes with a price.

The judicial system is faulted in a big way.

You can trust me to keep what you share to myself. ”

Nodding, I tuck her tighter to me. “You have a good time with all the ol’ ladies in here?”

“Yeah,” she answers with a small laugh. “I understand them all more now.”

“Why’s that?” I thought she was already friends with them .

“Because over pizza and wings, we all got to know each other. They shared their stories, and with them sharing, I found out they would get me better than any therapist ever could. My uncle told me weeks ago that I needed to find someone I could talk to, and now I have.” The last of her words were no more than a whisper.

“That’s good, baby,” I murmur and plant a kiss on the side of her head.

Lying together, I hold her until she falls asleep.

Her breathing steadies and her arm around my waist goes limp.

If I could, I’d stay right here in this bed with her and sleep like I haven’t slept since before she was shot.

I’d slept in that chair next to her bed in the hospital, though I don’t think anyone could actually claim what I did as actual sleep.

I dozed off and on, that’s about it. I could easily lie here with Ember and sleep.

Unfortunately, that’s not something I can do.

Not yet.

Soon.

I will soon enough, I’ll be able to do so without thoughts of her being in danger haunting me. Until then, I won’t rest.

Needing to get back to the others, I press another kiss to the top of Ember’s head.

I move without waking her from the bed and tuck the covers around her to keep her from getting cold.

One thing I noticed is that she gets cold easily, and with it getting colder out, I don’t want her to be uncomfortable, even if the heat in the clubhouse is on.

The thought of it getting colder out reminds me Christmas is right around the corner, and I need to do something to make this one special for Ember. It’s our first one.

Moving to my dresser, I quietly pull everything out that I need and dress. Once I’m ready, I glance back at the bed, wanting nothing more than to rejoin her.

After this is done.

Releasing a heavy breath, I look away from her, shove the rest of my shit in my pockets, check my gun clips, holster both guns, grab my knife, and head for the door. It’s time to get this shit handled once and for all.

I want to be able to tell my woman when this is over that she’s got nothing to worry about.

Making sure not to wake her, I open the door, step out into the hallway, and come to a stop directly in front of Azrael.

“What’s up?” I ask.

“Was just coming to get you. Everyone’s ready,” Azrael remarks, eyes watching me assessing.

I nod, answering his unspoken question. “I’m good, brother, let’s get this done with.”

Azrael nods at me. “Let’s go burn these fuckers.”

Burn them is right. I intend to make sure they burn on their way to hell.

The two of us head down the hall and make our way to the main room where we hold church. Everyone else was already seated. Closing the door behind us, both Azrael and I take our seats.

“First things first,” Reaper starts and leans his seat back. “I’m sure those of you who were in the cabin during the show know what happened. The prospects are there now cleaning up everything before we place Jezebel back in her cell.”

“We should just kill the bitch and be done with her,” Beast remarks. “She’s a nuisance none of us needs.”

“I agree,” Angel grumbles.

“I had something better come to mind regarding our houseguest we’ve kept in there,” Reaper grunts.

“What?” Tombstone asks.

“We send her back to her family.” Reaper grins and looks at Beast, “She’s been missing for long enough, I have a feeling they think she’s turned against them. Especially if I make it known that she was sleeping with the enemy. ”

“They’d never allow her back.” Beast grunts, nodding. “They’d kill her themselves.”

With having Jon in the cabin, I knew they moved Jezebel out of the way for the time being.

She’d been a prisoner of ours since going after Beast’s woman.

She wasn’t ever going to see freedom again.

If this is what they want to do with her, then it’ll be good.

However, they want to handle the situation with her is fine with me.

I don’t care. I just want to get to the main reason we’re all sitting here.

“Anyone against this?” Reaper asks, glancing around the table.

There are a few questions about if they don’t do as we expect them to, but Beast answers those for them.

Finally, it’s agreed that Jezebel be returned.

Scythe mentions that he’ll put out the leak that she’s been sleeping with the enemy.

Styxx mentions having their cousin Finnigan transport her where she needs to be.

By the time we finally start talking about Samir and his militia group, I’m on the edge of my seat, more than ready to get the fuck out there and start taking them out.

There’s no way my brothers will do that or allow me to do it without a plan in place. They’ll lock me down before I can get out there and take the militia on myself.

Hours pass before we have everything organized and ready to go.

I knew what I needed, and I was more than ready to get out of there and get it done.

I wanted the problem of the men who not only threatened the club, but also shot my woman taken out.

They’ve breathed easy long enough. It’s time they stop breathing once and for all.

“You got your head in the game?” Reaper asks quietly.

“Yeah, I’m good. Not gonna let anything jeopardize me getting back to Ember,” I tell him, keeping my eyes on the clearing where Diablo was standing with Beast.

The plan was simple enough, lure them here with what they want most. Let them think they were going to get the money they wanted from Diablo. Too bad for them, they weren’t going to be leaving with it, though. They weren’t leaving, period.

I start to get antsy, thinking they were not going to show up, when a car pulls into the clearing. It’s a beat-up Beamer that looks like it’s not seen many good days in a while. It was rusted out. How the damn thing was even solid enough to drive is something I find remarkable in itself .

“Take it easy, brother. Don’t move too soon.” Azrael grunts from my other side.

We’re all lying in wait to make sure the man we want most shows himself.

Luckily enough for us, the man himself steps out of the passenger side, his eyes glancing around, a smirk playing on his lips. From a distance we can’t tell exactly what he’s saying to Diablo and Beast, but whatever it is causes Diablo to tense.

After a few more minutes, Beast gives the sign, and we move. Hell rains down upon us, but I don’t care. Samir hadn’t been alone just as Diablo hadn’t. I didn’t care about who was after whom. My focus was on taking out Samir.

Gun fire rings through the early dawning day. I dodge bullets, though I feel one or two nick my arm and leg. I didn’t care. They were nothing compared to the shot Ember took.

Aiming for Samir, his body jerks, but he doesn’t fall.

Bulletproof vest.

Guess I’ll aim higher.

Doing just that, I gain his attention. He looks at me, grins, and points his gun at me. Looks like it’s gonna come down to who pulls the trigger first or moves the fastest.

I pull the trigger and watch as my bullet hits its mark between Samir’s eyes. His expression as his body drops to the ground, I’ll never forget. His body goes limp, and he falls to his knees, then drops, his head bouncing on the ground.

I want to take the time to enjoy the kill, but I can’t. If I’d had my way, I’d have preferred to torture the man, though, I know he wouldn’t have given in to the pain. He’d have laughed in our faces and begged for more.

Turning to help my brothers, I fire my gun, hitting some until the remaining men retreat. As much as I want to follow, I stick with my brothers. Thanatos and Ghost were hurt pretty badly, but only a few others were bleeding from wounds. Reaper being one of them. He’d taken one in the leg.

“You know Ivy’s gonna kill us,” Angel remarks, shaking his head.

“She ain’t gonna kill y’all. It’ll be me she plots murder on,” Reaper grunts, tightening a tourniquet above the wound to stop the bleeding. “Let’s get out of here before the law comes. Someone’s gonna have reported the gunfire.”

The fact that we’re just outside of Palestine on the way to Jacksonville, off seventy-nine isn’t a coincidence.

Samir might have been the one to choose the location, but we all know the area very well.

If we’d gone a little bit farther to one side, it’ s where we go when we go to the river. So, we knew these woods.

“She won’t be the only one to want to kill us,” Hellhound grumbles, holding his arm. “As for reports coming in, I say we get the fuck out of here and not chance that shit.”

I couldn’t agree more. All I cared to do right now is get back to my woman. With Samir dead, most of the men in his ‘Nameless Milita’ dead, there’s nothing more they can do. Means for Ember this is over, and we could move the fuck on with our lives.

For me, I was sure as hell looking forward to moving the fuck on with Ember. She doesn’t know it yet, but she’s marrying me. I intended for us to both get branded with each other’s names. I wanted anyone and everyone around to know she was mine and I was hers.

I planned to make sure that the two of us spent the rest of our lives together in a way that when the time comes, when she goes, I’m gonna be right there with her. Her last breath will be mine. But the two of us are gonna have a family together. We’re gonna build a life with just us and with kids.

First, though, before anything else, I intend to climb into bed next to her and sleep knowing she’s mine.