Page 18

Wrath

I t seems like I missed quite a fucking lot yesterday when I left The Clubhouse early with Flame to talk with Cam about the situation he’s having at school. Talk about waking up to one hell of a situation on my hands. I expected to wake up this morning and get down to planning on how to deal with the teachers and students at Cam’s school. Instead I was woken up by my phone ringing and Pete on the other end telling me there were police at the gate with a woman demanding entrance because we were holding her son hostage.

Yes, the word fucking hostage was used, and I couldn’t have been more fucking pissed off if I tried. We don’t fucking do anything to kids, even when they’re little fucking shits who deserve to be scared onto the straight and narrow. I was also more than a little fucking confused about who the fuck they were talking about and why this woman even remotely thought we were holding her son hostage.

Due to being away from The Clubhouse last night, I immediately rang my twin Shadow; if anyone would know what happened in my absence yesterday, it would be my VP. When he told me exactly what I missed and who he suspected was outside our gates, I saw red. How dare this fucking woman turn up here accusing us of anything after what she’d done to her own son?

As much as I really want to handle her, I don’t plan on doing anything of the sort. I don’t need to. Flash will be dealing with her personally, that I know for a fact. I’ve known him far too long to even consider that he’ll let what she’s done go. Her turning up here like this is actually just digging her grave bigger. It’s just going to piss Flash off more, and a pissed-off Flash isn’t something to take lightly. Especially not when family is involved.

I can’t ignore the police at the gates as much as I wish that I could, so I need to drag myself away from my own family and go deal with this shit. Sometimes being President sucks, but I wouldn’t change it for the world. These guys are more than just my club; they’re my family. Each and every one of them, and even without Flash’s connection to Micah, I owe the kid. He risked a hell of a lot showing up here trying to protect my son. He paid the price too by the sounds of things.

With that thought in mind, I drag myself out of bed as slowly as possible. I’d rather not wake Flame up right now; he looks so fucking peaceful while he’s asleep, and after everything we’ve been through this year, peaceful sleep isn’t something that’s come easy to him. So fuck if I’m going to risk waking him up and have him come with me to deal with the latest shitshow going on around here.

Thankfully, I manage to get myself out of bed and dressed in my discarded black jeans and clean white top, which I pull my kutte over the top of. No way am I going out there without showing just who I am around here. I want this woman to realize she’s fucked up. Everyone in Devil’s Point should know better than to try and pull the shit she is right now.

It doesn’t take me long to leave my house and hop on my bike, heading straight towards the gates. I use the few minutes to ride over there to calm myself down and pull on my president mask. I might be mightily pissed at this woman, but it will be a cold day in hell before I ever let her see that. No, she’s about to come face to face with the man that terrifies even hardened criminals.

I’m not even remotely surprised when I arrive at The Compound Gates and find Shadow there straddling his bike waiting for me. There is no chance he’d stay away after I rang him and asked what I did. Also, it’s a show of force and solidarity having both the Devil’s Inferno President and Vice President out here.

I park my bike next to Shadow and glance over at him. The smirk he gives me makes me internally chuckle, but I don’t let any of it show on my face, not right now. I’m all business right now.

“You ready?” Shadow asks as we walk side by side towards the gates.

“Always.” I reply, not taking my eyes off the sight in front of me.

It’s fucking insane. There are three police cars, multiple uniformed officers, and what could only be a couple of detectives by the way they’re dressed in ill-fitting suits. Then there’s the woman who must be Megan and Micah’s mother; she’s certainly putting on a show. She’s standing there sobbing hysterically, and even from my distance, I can hear her saying we’ve stolen her son and holding him.

“Fucking hell. I can see where Megan got her acting skills from. How did I fucking miss how nuts these people are?” Shadow mutters under his breath.

I know he doesn’t expect me to reply; he’s more thinking his thoughts out loud than actually talking to me. Though he does bring up a good point, just how did they manage to fool Shadow so well? My brother isn’t an idiot; he knows the signs when something isn’t quite right. Were Megan and her mother really just that good at lying and acting that he missed it all? Or was he blinded by his ‘relationship’ with Megan? Even in my own head I can’t help but use quotation marks when I think about their relationship, because I don’t see it as a relationship as such, more a fucked-up situation my brother found himself in.

“Let the games begin.” I mutter so only Shadow can hear me as we reach the gates, and I signal for Pete to open them with a tip of my head.

Pete obeys me without a second thought, and the gates begin to open in front of me and Shadow. Neither of us makes a move to step through them; we know how to play this game. We’ve been through similar situations before when we’ve helped someone escape a bad situation.

“Jackson. Alex. We have reason to believe you are holding a young boy inside your property.” The detective standing at the front of the crowd says.

I can never remember his name; I always just refer to him as tool in my head because that’s what he is—a fucking tool of the highest order. He’s one of those people who lets the power he holds go to his head; he thinks he’s a fucking god, and that couldn’t be further from the truth. He’s absolutely shit at his job; the number of times we’ve had to help victims of crimes he’s investigated because he has screwed up one way or another is staggering. It honestly baffles me how he even still has a job. The man must have friends in high places or something. It’s the only thing that makes any fucking sense with how inept he is at his job.

“Well, that’s news to us. Who are we supposedly holding, and what proof do you have?” I reply, keeping my voice low and calm.

“Don’t play games with me, Jackson; I will arrest you without a second thought. Where is Micah Williams?”

“He’s not here.”

“Don’t you lie!” Micah’s mother shouts. Her outburst causes the tool to turn around and whisper something to her in an attempt to get her to calm down.

“Hand over the boy, Jackson. Don’t make us have to come in there and find him. That won’t end well for you.”

“I’ll only repeat this again because clearly you aren’t hearing me. Micah Williams is not here, and unless you have a warrant, you won’t be stepping foot on my property.”

“You’re lying! Where else would he go?” Micah’s mother shouts again.

“Trish, we have no reason to lie; what reason would we have for having Micah?” Shadow says gently, and I know what my brother is doing. He’s playing on the fact he knows her. He’s also exposing it to the police gathered here in the same breath. Smart man.

“Miss Williams, you didn’t mention knowing anyone here.” The other detective who is here says, I don’t know who he is; I’ve never seen him before, so he must be new on the force or something.

It’s brief, but I’m paying attention, so I see the looks of annoyance pass over Trish Williams’s face at the detective’s words. There’s no doubt in my mind she’s trying to come up with a plausible reason she never mentioned her connections to anyone here. She’s saved from having to come up with something when the fucking tool decides to get back involved, clearly deciding to ignore what his partner has to say.

“You have five minutes to produce Micah Williams before we storm your property.”

“Not without a warrant. Now why don’t you turn around and stop wasting my time? I don’t know what Trish Williams told you, and honestly I don’t care. She’s lying and wasting your time. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a family to get back to.”

I turn around and don’t even have time to signal Pete to close the gates before I hear them already closing behind me. The Prospect is on point this morning; clearly he was listening to what I had to say and preempted the fact that I was done with these idiots.

There’s a loud clanging sound of something hitting the now-closed gates. Turning around, it takes everything in me to control my reaction to the scene in front of me. Trish Williams is throwing herself at the gates, banging on them while shouting threats about what will happen if we don’t give her Micah. Well, actually she doesn’t quite say that; her threats have a few more derogatory words in regard to Micah. She’s losing her shit if I’m being honest and has just gained the attention of the new detective. Not smart on her part at all.

“I’m ringing Flash. He needs a heads-up. This could get fucking messy now she’s got the police involved.”

“Do you honestly think Jake didn’t think about this possible scenario happening? That man may only be a Prospect, but he’s fucking smart and normally ten steps ahead of the game.”

“You think he put his brothers on the case to ensure no one can take Micah from Flash?”

“I’d bet my fucking kutte on it, bro. Not only because of the things I just said either, but I’ve seen the way he looks at Flash when he thinks no one is paying attention. He cares about him, and there’s no chance in hell he wouldn’t do everything in his power to make sure he got to keep Micah.”

“Even if you’re right, I’m still ringing Flash to give him a heads up.”

“I’m not saying not to. I’m just saying I think you’re worrying about nothing.”

Shadow doesn’t say anything else, just pulls out his phone, and starts a call to Flash. I don’t bother sticking around out here while he makes the call; I want to head back to my husband and son. Plus, I have no doubt once he’s finished talking to Flash he’ll head for my house to fill me in on what’s been said.