Page 10 of Karma (Deranged Drifters MC #23)

Chapter Ten

Griffin’s Beach Felicity

“ A re you sure you’re up for this?” Felicity asks as she parks outside the hotel.

“What? You think having a brother who wants to murder me is something new for me?” Lex asks from the passenger seat.

Sarcastic humor becomes her default coping mechanism.

Ky told her how Lex threw up after the encounter with Phillip in her house, and it’s obvious this entire situation weighs on her.

More than she wants to let on, but Felicity sees through her facade.

Lex is tough. She’s always had to be, but there’s fear buried beneath it.

They made the plan to wait for Emme to get off work and follow her home to have the conversation that needs to be had. Marnie, finally able to move around after being shot, helped them learn Emme’s work schedule.

“Does Marnie know what she helped us with?” Felicity asks.

“Yep. I was honest with her, and she didn’t even hesitate. They were friendly when she worked at the bar, and I think she’s a good fit for the club,” Lex says, resting her head on the headrest as they wait.

Looking at her blonde friend, Felicity sighs. “Lex, talk to me.”

“This feels normal. This is something I know, and I can control things.”

“I know. But I see the wheels turning in your head. You’re not yourself. Not like I know you to be, and it’s because I know you. Really know you. Please don’t try to bullshit me.”

Never looking at her, Lex sighs. “The past, what… two years have felt like total chaos. I mean, first, we lose Lane. My brother hates me because I was asked by a dying woman to let her die, and I did. He’ll hate me even more than he did before for the rest of my life.”

Lane’s death to cancer had been hard. She asked Lex to be her medical power of attorney because she knew Zane wasn’t strong enough to carry out her wishes, and it took its toll on Lex.

Felicity had no idea what was going on, and she was on the outs with the club at the time.

Realizing she had no idea Lane was even sick still bothers Felicity. So much time was wasted.

“Then we have Brock and Beckett going rogue and getting locked up in prison. They were supposed to be thrown in there and left to die. Hell, Brock got stabbed for it, and it was because a powerful man wanted Shannon.”

Shannon Walters knew Beckett Cohen long before he joined the Drifters.

She’d gone through rough times, and she struggled to stay above water, which is how she landed herself into hot water not once but twice.

The last time created quite a bit of trouble for the club, but at least it all had a happy ending.

The powerful villain was slayed, and the princes and princesses found their happily ever afters.

My God, I read too many children’s books to my grandkids.

“Then we had a serial killer terrorizing the town, and we thought we stopped him. But he wasn’t. He was really my long-lost half-brother who kills women who look like me and men who look like Zane.”

“Yeah, that kind of sucks.”

This earns Felicity a small chuckle. “And don’t even get me started on the whole Autumn thing. I haven’t really begun to process that.”

That one bugs Felicity, too. Autumn Sims was one of the original three friends before the guys were old enough to patch into the club. The three girls were inseparable until Lex moved to Arizona. The decades of history make her betrayal hurt even more.

If she’s honest, Felicity has to admit that this betrayal hurts worse than learning Ky lost his virginity to her dead sister and kept it a secret for almost twenty years.

That hurt her, and only her. What Autumn did had the potential to hurt her entire family.

Her husband, her son, and her grandchildren.

“I don’t know how you did it,” she says. “I don’t think I could have pulled the trigger on Autumn.”

“I didn’t,” Lex says, her voice quiet.

Confused, she turns and leans her back against the driver’s door. “What?”

“You can’t tell anyone. Only those of us there that night know the truth. I wasn’t the one who killed Autumn.”

“Who did?”

“Rocco.”

If her eyebrows could fit any higher on her forehead, Felicity would lose them in her hairline. “What?”

Glancing at her, Lex nods. “He killed her. It was quick. He blamed himself, and the truth is, I don’t think Autumn was ever meant for the club. I regret helping Rocco get her to go out with him. If I hadn’t, maybe she’d be alive and happy somewhere right now.”

Lex played matchmaker for both Rocco and Ky in high school. Felicity never planned to get together with a biker, but Lex made it happen. Same with Rocco and Autumn. It’s not Lex’s fault, but Felicity knows she feels guilt about it considering everything that happened.”

“I didn’t know he had the balls,” Felicity admits. “Not that I’ve really thought too much about it. I can’t imagine any of the others having to kill their old lady.”

“Their relationship was over a long time ago, but neither had the strength to walk away. He cheated on her, and she despised the club for it. He loved her, but he didn’t love her enough.

He was selfish. Back when he realized he couldn’t give her what she wanted, he should have let her go.

He admits it, too. If he had, things would be so different right now. ”

“Not really something you can talk to your therapist about, huh?”

Snorting, she shrugs her left shoulder. “I stopped going. There’s too much I can’t talk about, but at least I’ve learned enough to know that I can’t make VP love me. Nothing I do will be good enough, and I need to accept it.”

“I’m sorry, Lex.”

“Promise me something, Felicity,” she says, finally turning to fully look at Felicity. “When Phillip gets me, or… a fucking bus runs me over tomorrow… Promise me that you will help take care of Colt and the kids. Make sure he knows it’s okay to move on.”

The words feel like ice poured down the back of her shirt. Venom and Shep aren’t far away, and she wants to holler at them for help. To make them take Lex home and put her in a locked room no one else can get into until they find Phillip.

“Lex—”

“He’s going to kill me. Then he’s going to kill Zane, and then himself. It won’t stop until we’re dead.”

“Then we kill him before he kills you.”

Looking back out the window, Lex chuckles with no humor.

“He’s spent decades watching me based on his creepy Lex wallpaper.

He hasn’t killed since Nina while he decides what to do next.

He came to Griffin’s Beach without setting off Brock’s alerts.

His level of crazy is beyond anything we can anticipate or fight against.”

“Lex—”

“There she is,” she interrupts. “We came here for a reason, right?”

I don’t have any counter to what you’ve said, but I don’t want to think about your death, Lex. And I sure as hell don’t want to know what Colt will be like if anything happens to you. What any of us will be like.

Felicity puts the car into gear and slowly pulls out of the space to follow Emme to a row of condos a few blocks away. They didn’t want to bother Brock with everything else going on, and Gavin never went to Emme’s house.

“Damn, she must make decent money to live in one of these.”

“I don’t think we can assume it’s all from the restaurant based on what Gavin shared.”

Climbing out of the car, they hurry to meet Emme before she can reach her front door. All lights are off, and Lex blocks the path up to the porch. The motorcycles idle not far away, and Felicity can only imagine the show Venom and Shep are looking forward to.

“What are you doing here?” Emme asks.

Blonde hair pulled away from her face in a messy ponytail, Felicity wonders if maybe Lex’s half-brother would do them a favor and just take this woman out of the equation.

Her button-down shirt is unbuttoned damn near to her navel, and the pushup bra she wears has her nearly overflowing the cups. She looks like she’d be better working at a place like Twin Peaks or Hooters than a hotel bar.

“You made a threat to my daughter,” Lex says with a smile that looks sweet, but the sinister look of her blue eyes screams danger. “I don’t take that lightly.”

“You’re not a mother, Emme,” Felicity says from behind the woman. “If you were, you’d understand that you never, ever mess with a mama bear. And Lex is the most vicious mama bear you could ever encounter. Including real, live bears.”

“Felicity’s a close second,” Lex says.

Crossing her arms over her chest, Emme glares at Lex. “She’s playing house with my kid.”

“You gave up rights to your kid, Emme. You only want to provoke her because you realized you will never measure up to Hailey. No matter what tricks you pulled in the bedroom, my son only used you for sex,” Felicity says.

“That’s not all of it, though, is it?” Lex asks. “No, you want to use Nancy as a pawn to hurt Gavin, not Hailey. He’s the one you’re upset with.”

She scoffs. “Yeah, whatever.”

“You know he was never going to fall in love with you, right? No matter how good you are at sucking his dick, you weren’t good enough.

Even when you got knocked up, he never once thought about settling down with you.

That’s what pisses you off most. He chose to settle down with another woman and let her be the mom you can’t be. ”

“I gave him everything he could have wanted,” she hisses.

“But you aren’t Hailey,” Felicity says. “And you never will be.”

Grinding her teeth, Emme tries to hide her fear behind her anger. But just like Lex, Felicity can smell fear a mile away.

“So, what are you going to do? Beat me up? Teach me a lesson?”

“I’m offering one last warning,” Lex says, stepping into Emme’s space and damn near touching her nose to the waitress’s chin. “Go near my daughter, or our granddaughter again, and it’ll be the last thing you ever fucking do.”

“I told you that threatening an old lady was dangerous. It’s very dangerous for your health, Emme,” Felicity says and brushes invisible dirt from her shoulders. “Are we clear?”

Rather than back down, like a sane woman would, she doubles down. Felicity almost has to admire her conviction. “I’ll call the cops. I’ll get a restraining order on you and Hailey. Then I’ll get my parental rights back, take Nancy from Gavin, and none of you will ever see my daughter again.”

“I don’t think she’s aware that I’m the one who got the Chief of Police and Police Captain fired,” Lex says. “What do you think, Felicity?”

“No, I don’t think she’s aware at all.”

“If you think I, and the club, don’t have favors to call in, not to mention connections with other authority figures in town, you’re setting yourself up for a world of hurt.

Go ahead. Try to make good on your threat.

But that’s all it’ll ever amount to. A fruitless threat that does nothing but piss me the fuck off. ”

Emme swallows and breathes heavily as she maintains eye contact with Lex for a few moments before backing down. “Fine. You win.”

“That wasn’t so hard, was it?” Felicity says with a smile. “You have a good night, Emme.”

“Have a good life,” Lex counters. “I don’t want to see you again until we happen to cross paths at the hotel. Even then, avoid me. Are we clear?”

“Crystal.”

The younger woman hurries inside, and the lock clicks loudly. Felicity laughs, but Lex begins looking around. “What’s wrong?”

“He’s here,” she says. “Phillip. He’s watching us.”

“Venom!” Felicity shouts. “He’s here!”

The two men appear in front of them on their bikes in an instant, their guns out and ready. “Where?” Venom asks.

“I don’t know,” Lex whispers. “I feel him. He’s following me.”

“Get in the car,” Shep says. “Go.”

Felicity doesn’t hesitate and pulls Lex with her, the reality hitting her. This man really is determined to hurt Lex.

“Felicity—”

“I promise,” she says, hoping she never has to make good on it. How does she tell Colt Lex knew she was going to die and wanted him to know he was okay to move on? “But I’m confident the club will figure out a way to keep you safe. And if they can’t, I know you will.”

Seat belt buckled, Lex slumps down in her seat. “I don’t know if I can this time, Felicity. It’s different.”

“No, it’s not. Not if you don’t let it. We’re all getting out of this alive.”

Even as she says it, Felicity worries she’s wrong. Lex’s instincts are usually spot on, and if she isn’t confident she’ll make it out of this unscathed, Felicity needs to prepare herself for something she dreads more than anything.