Page 13

VIRUS

“Okay, little man.” Unstrapping Adam from his booster seat, he led him into the clubhouse. “Let’s go see your uncles.”

had barely managed to control his rage. If it weren’t for Adam, he would’ve hopped on his bike and hunted that fucker down.

It was all he could do not to leave Adam with his brothers and do exactly that, but Rae asked him not to, so he would hold off until he had all the information.

He wasn’t convinced that Barker hadn’t put his hands on them. Rae sounded terrified, more so than just an exchange of words as she’d put it.

He would not get the chance to hurt anyone he cared about. He’d been obsessed with Rae for as long as he could remember. When he tried to convince that Rae had flirted with him, he blew it off to just harmless jealousy. He’d never told Rae about Barker, mostly because he didn’t want to give any thought to what he’d said, and a little because he started doubting it was all lie whenever he’d catch them with their heads together laughing when he wasn’t around.

When Barker claimed he’d come this close to fucking her but they were interrupted, had beat the shit out of him and never spoke to him again.

He’d tried not to believe it, he’d tried so hard, but then Barker mentioned her birthmark. The one that could only be seen when she was naked with her gorgeous peach of an ass in the air, and that’s when he’d broken his fucking nose, but things had never been the same between Rae and him after that.

He told himself Barker was lying, but a sliver of doubt had remained and poisoned their relationship.

Shame washed over him at having never asked her, instead he refused to comfort her or ease her insecurities about Celeste because he was battling his own. Even more shame pelted him that he hadn’t confessed that to her when they were trying to start over, especially when she’d mentioned him. In all honesty, he’d forgotten the depths of it until he’d seen him today.

But he refused to ask Rae now, especially when she’d just accepted his explanation about Carrie and didn’t ask for details. He owed her the same, especially about the past.

He didn’t, however, owe Barker a goddamn thing. It seemed to ; he was up to old tricks and still trying to get Rae. Over his fucking dead body.

“Oh my god, look at that face,” Heidi gushed when she saw Adam. Before he could take his next breath, all the ladies had whisked Adam away and were promising goodies and movies and a million things couldn’t track. His soul focus was on his president.

“Can we have a word?”

“Sure, just us, or …” He trailed off before asking club business or private without saying it.

“Everyone.” He nodded toward church.

Zombie whistled and pointed, causing all brothers present to follow.

Zombie banged the table and turned the floor over to .

“Barker Langdon. He and I used to be tight back in the day, but he became obsessed with Rae. I ignored the noise and, well, you see how well that worked out for us. Anyway, apparently, he wormed his way into her life pretty deep after we split. She calls him, or called him, her best friend—until today when he threatened her and Harmon at their place. Adam even calls him Uncle Barks.”

Outlaw shot up from his seat. “What the fuck? They all right?”

Zombie silenced him with a raised hand. “Go on, .”

“That’s really all I know for now. She claims he didn’t put hands on them, but she sounded terrified, so?—”

Hook piped in. “She’s either trying to keep you in check by downplaying any physical altercation or he threw down a pretty scary threat.”

“Exactly. I had a run-in with him in the diner earlier and he rubbed me the wrong way. Said I may have fucked her, but she wasn’t mine. Shit like that.”

“And you didn’t feed him his teeth?” Santa asked incredulously.

“No, he was sitting next to Adam, and then this waitress sat down. One I fucked once and, well … look, I didn’t give him the message and that’s on me. But I don’t like it. The way he looked when he spoke about her was just off, coupled with the past and whatever transpired today with the girls, well, I’ve got a bad feeling.”

“Care to elaborate on what you mean by obsessed with Rae in the past?”

It wasn’t pleasant to talk about.

“It started as little comments disguised as compliments about her body or jokes. Then they seemed to always be together. Heads together laughing and whatnot. It built inside me and one day he claimed they would’ve fucked if not interrupted, so I beat his ass. He backed off after that, but the damage was done. I had doubts, and because of Celeste, she had doubts, and …”

“Poisoned the well,” one of his brothers whispered with a little too much knowledge lacing the words.

“I hate to ask, but was there anything to the claim?” Squatch asked.

turned a murderous glare to his brother. “That’s my ol’ lady you’re talking about.” He didn’t miss the fact that no one questioned his claim on her.

“We just need all the facts, man.”

The reality of his words deflated ’s anger a little, at least any directed at his brothers for asking the hard questions.

“At the time I thought maybe, but the more I think about it, the more I don’t believe it. Rae isn’t like that, never was.”

“Then why would you doubt your girl like that based on just the word of another man? Men lie when it comes to getting what they want, especially women.”

He wanted to be pissed at Santa for asking the question, but there was a wisdom in it.

“He mentioned a physical trait that can only be seen naked. But honestly, it was more because I was an idiot back then.”

Silence prevailed for a few moments. The only sounds were his brothers’ breathing and the clacking of a keyboard. His gaze followed the source of the latter sound.

Wall Street was tapping away at the club’s laptop. His head snapped up.

“Do you think he and Celeste were in cahoots to break you guys up? She wanted you; he wanted Rae. Two heads are better than one, especially two as close to you two as they were. Feeding information back and forth that helps their cause. Including physical traits that a sister would know about.”

Stunned silent. That was the best description of what was experiencing. He sat there unmoving as the past pelted him. It was like staring out of the front of a spaceship, moving at warp speed. All the stars flying at him were little bits of the past.

“Damn,” declared in awe. “That makes so much sense. Everything fits. All the shit he would tell me about Rae that would get under my skin and make me doubt her.” His voice started to rise. “All the shit Celeste knew about me. It was like she was operating out of a playbook I wrote.”

He stood and paced, raking his hands through his hair. God, he’d been so stupid not to see it.

“Wall, you’re a genius,” Squatch praised.

“Wow, you don’t have to act so shocked.” Wall Street’s nose was out of joint because he was constantly being underestimated.

knew what Wall was capable of. He’d been working at Royal Guard longer than . So, had been working closely with him, upping his computer skills and hated to admit it, but he might even be better than him. But he’d be damn if he’d ever say that aloud. Wall Street was still better at the physical security side of things, and , the cyber, but they each could hold their own on the other side if needed.

“Get all that from a computer search, did ya?” Santa asked.

“No, that was a hunch, old man. It was him being on her old cell phone plan that made me ask it though.

“Is there more to your history with this son of a bitch other than him wanting your girl?”

“Just high school shit. I took his spot on the soccer team, and his prom date … on prom night, oh, and I fucked his sister.” He didn’t speak in a bragging tone, just a matter of fact one.

“If you’d done that to me, I would’ve kicked your ass, then fucked your next three girls as revenge.” Outlaw declared.

“Dude, you weren’t a very stand-up guy back then, were you?” It bristled to hear the disappointment and shock in Squatch’s tone, but it was a true statement.

“No, man. I wasn’t. I didn’t give a shit about anyone above myself. As much as I hate to admit it, Rae dumping me was the catalyst to me growing the fuck up and finding the Bastards. If not for this family, I’d be dead in a ditch somewhere because I messed with the wrong man’s woman or wallet.” Yeah, he wasn’t just an asshole to women, he’d swindle anyone in a pool game just for fun.

“Well, good thing I didn’t meet you back then. I never would’ve given you the nod.” Coming from Santa, that fucking burned.

“Yeah,” he agreed. What else could he do? “But it was high school—would he really be holding on to that? Not that it makes me sound any better, but it’s not like I can sound worse at this point. The truth was, we changed girls and shit more than we cleaned our rides. We were still tight after all that, or so I thought. We didn’t even meet Rae until years later. So why wouldn’t he have moved on by now?”

“Some dudes never graduate, if you know what I mean. Plus, you fucked the man’s girl and his sister, brother. You don’t get over that. Just ask Croon when he comes in. He doesn’t even know who or if, and it’s been eating away at him for months now.”

“Fuck. I don’t even remember that chick’s name. Hell, I don’t even remember his sister’s name.”

After a few moments of silence, Wall Street spoke. “Tricia Langdon. Oh. Her and her mother were killed in a suspicious single vehicle accident across the state line,” he drew out the last word as he typed. “Thirteen years ago.”

“Suspicious?”

“Yeah, police believed they were run off the road, but there were no witnesses and tire tracks were plentiful and generic, etcetera.”

Something scratched at the back of his mind. “What month was that?”

“January,” Wall Street answered.

“Why?” Outlaw asked.

He couldn’t even wrap his mind around what he was thinking. It was too impossible. He must be misremembering. Barker was a dick, but surely he wasn’t?—

“Why?” Outlaw now demanded.

“It was the Christmas formal where I was with his sister in the bathroom. He caught us and took her home. It was heading into Christmas break, so I gave no thought to not seeing him until January. When he came back, he and I were fine, but he was acting weird. Even bailed on soccer practice. Told the coach he had a cold, but he told me the truth.” Or what he believed was the truth back then.

“Said his mom took the sister and left while his dad was on a run, long haul driver, and when he came back to find his wife and daughter gone, he took it out on Barker. He begged me not to say anything, and I felt bad for him, and also for sleeping with his sister, so I didn’t say a damn word. I was just grateful we were still good.”

When he wondered why Barker never said anything about losing them, a pit formed in his stomach.

“You don’t think …”

“That Barker ran his mother and sister off the road?” Outlaw spoke with his lawyer voice.

nodded—he couldn’t voice it.

“I don’t know, man, but the truths that come out in court make me believe anything is possible. I think no matter what, needs extra eyes watching Harmon’s, and a couple of stealths on Barker.”

“You got it, Vice. I’ll grab Teach and Home,” Santa said and exited the room.

“, why don’t you get level before you head to your girl’s? Be sure to update us as needed. Either way, your boy’s safe here.”

“I’ll call Nova and have her and Flower come stay too. It’ll make him more comfortable.” Hook was a lifesaver, and Prez was right. As much as he wanted Adam to see Rae and she missed him, it was best if he stayed where he was at.

“I’ll take Rae to my place. Not sure if I can convince Harmon to come, she’s always been stubborn.”

“Leave Harmon to me. I’ll tell her where she’ll be sleeping tonight.” Outlaw smiled.

would rather stick his hand in a bear trap than tell Harmon to do anything. Outlaw was welcomed to try, but he might draw back a nub.

With that, they filed out of the room and dispersed. knew his brothers wouldn’t fail him. If any new information came to light, he’d know. And depending on what it was, Zombie would act accordingly. If he put a hand on either Harmon or Rae, they’d take a pound of flesh. No one hurts family and gets away with it. If it turns out he had something to do with more than that, as was starting to believe, they take more than that.

Hurting women and especially family was a cardinal sin, and you could say the Bastards were not so divine retribution.