Page 9 of Karma (Deranged Drifters MC #23)

Chapter Nine

Griffin’s Beach Lex

“ O h, she did, did she?” Lex asks, her smile turning evil.

Hailey sniffles and nods from the other side of the kitchen table, her eyes watery and staring at the soda in front of her. “She said she might try to take Gavin, too. Just depends on how she feels.”

Tilting her head, Lex laughs loudly despite how pissed off she is. “Oh, she needs another talking to. This time, I think Felicity and I both need to share the dangers that accompany these kinds of threats.”

“She already told the waitress that threatening an old lady is a bad idea.”

“It’s bad for her fucking health. She threatened my family. My daughter. My granddaughter. Considering she didn’t want to be a mom, she has no idea what happens when you enrage a mama bear.”

Just like Everlee said. Emme may not have taken a gun to Hailey, but she’s threatening the life she’s built. The love she has with a child she views as her own.

“What if Gavin doesn’t want me to adopt her? I mean, I kind of ambushed him.”

“Oh, sweetie, he does.”

“Then why hasn’t he brought it up before?”

Giving her a smile, she reaches across to take Hailey’s hand. “Do you want my honest, unfiltered opinion?” When she nods, Lex sighs. “I think he still expects you to walk away again. If he pushed something he wasn’t completely positive you were ready for and wanted, he could lose you.”

“I’m not leaving, Lex. This is my home and my family. Will I ever outlive my past?”

“You will,” she assures. “It just takes time for people who have been hurt to realize the pattern has broken. But he loves you.”

“What if it’s not enough?”

“What if it is?”

Lucas runs into the kitchen and takes up post by the knife block as he peers out the window. He’s under six feet, and he’s nearly as tall as Colt, but he’s still a lanky teenage boy. “I think we have a problem, Mom.”

“What are you talking about?”

“I can’t see Ty outside,” he says. “I’ve looked out every window, and he’s gone.”

Standing, Lex joins him at the kitchen window where Tyson Reeves had been sitting reading a book—something she wasn’t entirely certain he knew how to do—and gasps when she sees Phillip coming out from the tree line.

“Hailey, take the kids outside. Go into the wooded area where Colt and Lucas built the treehouse. Hurry.”

“Come on, Luke,” Hailey says.

He shakes his head. “No, I can’t leave her alone with him.”

The protective nature of such a sensitive boy melts Lex’s heart, and Hailey gives Lex a worried look before calling the younger two.”

“Noah knows where it’s at,” Lex says. “And call Colt. Tell him Phillip’s here, and we can’t see Ty from the house.”

She runs out the sliding door with Noah and Calla just as the front door opens. “Alexis!”

“Phillip?” Lex asks, pretending to be surprised even though she knows they saw each other through the window. “What are you doing here?”

And how did you get here without Brock knowing?

“Did I give you enough time to get the kids away from me?” Phillip asks as he walks into the kitchen but stops. “Who’s the kid?”

“My adopted son.”

Normally, she wouldn’t specify, but knowing he seems to want his own flesh and blood dead, she needs to make it clear that Lucas isn’t blood related. She just hopes it keeps him safe.

“I thought we should talk. The kid looks ready to kill me.”

“He’s protective,” she says and reaches out to squeeze Lucas’s arm. “You don’t know how to knock? Just walk into people’s houses?”

“I wasn’t sure you’d answer.”

She frowns at him. Playing dumb may work to her advantage. Or it might piss him off more. “Why wouldn’t I answer?”

“Well, I’m sure our father has filled your head with all sorts of crazy things about me.”

Forcing a laugh, she nods. “Yeah, he said you were nuts.”

“Do you believe him?”

“I don’t trust him with anything.” And it’s probably the truest statement she’ll ever make to this psycho.

“That didn’t answer my question.”

He looks intrigued, and Lex sees an opening. “I don’t know you well enough to trust you, and I know him well enough to know that he’ll say whatever makes him look better. Take it as you will.”

“But he’s still your father.”

Lex rolls her eyes and shakes her head. “A father who cares more about the son who tried to kill me in a fit of rage. He’s actually more concerned about the danger Zane might be in right now, not me.”

“Where’s our brother?”

Shrugging, she sighs. “Hell if I know. He got kicked out of the club and abandoned his daughter who just lost her mother to cancer. If anyone’s heard from him, I don’t know. Granted, I don’t know that VP would tell us if he does talk to Zane.”

Moving into the kitchen, he takes a seat at the table, but she stays beside Lucas. If Phillip attacks, she plans to be a barrier to keep Lucas safe. She’ll be damned if she lets him get to her son.

“Why do you call him VP?”

“Because he’s about as fatherly as a fatherless man?”

“No,” he says with a chuckle that has no humor behind it, “why do you call him VP instead of Nash?”

There’s something in his eyes that wasn’t there the other day when she met him. A darkness, and she’s surprised at how dark his eyes are. They’re almost black.

For someone stalking her and killing women who look like her, Phillip doesn’t seem to be big on research into their father. It confirms that VP isn’t his target, and it makes her uneasy. He wants her and Zane.

“He was the Vice President of the Deranged Drifters for thirty-some years.”

Tilting his head, he stares at her with a look that sends a chill down her spine. If they weren’t related, she’d assume he undresses her with his eyes. No, he’s sizing her up. Like a snake determining how long it needs to fast before eating its prey.

“But he’s not anymore?”

“No, he stepped down over a year ago.”

“So, someone else is the Vice President?”

She snorts. “Yes. My husband’s best friend.”

“Doesn’t that get confusing?”

“Not so much. It’s all about context. If the subject is being talked about in a not-so-favorable light, it’s definitely our father. He has very few friends these days.”

“He’s a jackass,” Lucas says.

This makes Phillip smile, and Lex worries it’s a bad sign more than a good one. The last thing she wants is any sort of commonality between her crazy brother and her son.

She just has to bide her time until Colt comes home. Maybe they can put an end to this today. It’ll also stop the endless stream of babysitters she has.

“I like you,” Phillip says. “I hate him, too.”

“Are you here to hurt my mom?”

He just continues to smile. “I want to get to know my sister. And maybe ask a few questions.”

“Yeah? Like what?” Lex asks.

Leaning back, he props his shoes on the table. She grimaces, and he smirks. “Does this bother you?”

“Why would you put your shoes on someone else’s kitchen table?”

“Is that rude? I’ve been told I struggle with self-awareness. Apologies.” He sets his feet back on the ground, but the smile doesn’t fade. “Your club identified me before I introduced myself to you, didn’t they?”

Lex could lie. She could feed him a line of bullshit, but she suspects it would backfire terribly. Plus, the more he talks, the more time Colt has to make it home.

“Sort of. They didn’t know we were related, but they knew someone named Phillip was hurting women who look like me. Didn’t say anything until I confronted VP about you, though. They thought I was in danger but said nothing.”

“Gerard ratted. I figured he would, and his little investigator had to pay for trying to help him. He wasn’t my type, so I had to hire it out. It was rather disappointing, though. No imagination. Gerard was a lot smarter than I gave him credit for, but he actually played right into my plan.”

“Your plan?”

“For the record, the girl they found in the warehouse that night was never going to die. It wasn’t the plan.”

Her head spins. “What was the plan?”

“Getting one step closer to you.”

An evil smirk appears, and Lex suddenly longs for Scarface. At least she could read him. Phillip’s a mystery and unsettles her far more.

“So, your plan… It’s to kill me, right? Why?”

“You know why. You also know why we have to do this together.”

She doesn’t, but it seems like a much better option to avoid pushing him. His eyes continue shifting from normal to crazy, and she reaches out to take Lucas’s hand.

“So… how much do they know about me?”

“They know you’ve killed thirty-four women and thirty-three men. The women look like me, including your mother, and the men look like Zane. Or, VP, I suppose, depending on how you want to look at it.”

“Do you think I look like our father?”

Trap! This is a trap. “Do you think I look like your mother?”

“She tried, but she just couldn’t keep the demons reined in.

But yes, you share similarities with her.

Blonde with blue eyes. She didn’t have the curls, though.

I had so much fun with the ones with curly hair.

” Phillip pauses and continues to give her the Cheshire cat smirk. “I do have one last question.”

Licking her lips, Lex stares hard at him. “What’s that?”

“How’d they get all the information on my victims? I never gave Gerard specifics, just that no one will ever find the first ones.”

“That’s not how they know. I’ll tell you if you’ll answer a question for me.”

He nods and looks amused. “Of course.”

“One of your victims knew one of our members. You killed her friend, and she sought you out. Got the information on you, but you killed her before she could get our help. All her stuff got sent to us.”

“Which one?”

The excitement behind the question makes her skin crawl, and her heart races so fast that she begins to feel light-headed. The sound of motorcycles calms her enough to answer. “Nina.”

“The last one, she was feisty. So much fun. Besides you, I think she’ll be my favorite.”

“You’re not getting her,” Lucas says and pulls out a large chef’s knife from the block, holding it out in front of them. “You’re not killing my mom!”

Phillip whips his head towards the door. “Motorcycles. I guess the hubby saved you. This time.” He stands, walking to the door, but he turns and smiles at her. “Until next time, Alexis.”

He disappears, and Lex leans forward to rest her hands on her knees as she lets out a shaky breath. Lucas keeps the knife aimed and ready in case Phillip comes back. Her protector.

“Lex!” Colt shouts as he runs into the house, his gun out and aimed. “Where is he?”

“He left,” Lucas says and sets the knife on the counter. “He heard the motorcycles and took off. At least for now.”

She swallows and stands upright, her stomach churning as the weight of everything settles. “Where’s Ty?”

“Out cold around the side of the house,” he says and hurries into the kitchen to pull her into his arms.

Venom and Ky rush inside while the others stay outside, and Lex’s legs give out the moment Colt wraps his arms around her. For the first time in a long time, she’s paralyzed with fear. She can’t fight crazy.

“Lex, are you okay?” Venom asks.

Leading her to a chair, Colt sets her down and kneels before her, taking her hands in his. “Baby, you’re shaking.”

“VP wasn’t wrong,” she says and fights back the tears. “And neither was I. He’s not after VP.”

“He had crazy eyes,” Lucas says. “Black. His eyes turned black.”

Undertaker walks inside with Shep as they help Ty. He has blood on his hands, and she guesses he took an unsuspecting hit to the back of the head.

“I didn’t even see the fucker,” Ty growls. “Why didn’t he just kill me? That’s his thing, right?”

“You’re not his type,” Lex says. “Oh my God.”

“What?”

Colt asks, his thumbs rubbing the tops of her hands.

Jumping up, she rushes to the sink and empties the contents of her stomach, which consists of coffee and a few cookies. Lucas rubs her back in concern. “Mom?”

She rinses out her mouth and turns to look at Colt. “I know what he has planned.”

“How?”

“Not how. Who.”

“Huh?”

Laughing as tears fall, she puts her head in her hands. “I’m the thirty-fifth victim. Female, anyway. Zane and Phillip will be thirty-four and thirty-five for the males. That’s why he stopped. The three of us will make an even seventy.”

“You don’t know Nina was the last—”

“He said she was,” Lucas says. “The girl in the warehouse was never meant to die. The plan was to get closer to Mom.”

“He’s been biding his time. This is his plan, Colt.”

Venom steps further into the kitchen. “Keep me back from runs, Colt. We’ll double protection, and I’ll take up residence here. That motherfucker won’t make it past the goddamn driveway.”

Shaking her head, Lex says, “You have a wife at home, Venom.”

“A wife I wouldn’t have without you,” he says. “I wouldn’t make it if anything happened to her, but there are a lot of us who won’t make it if something happens to you. This guy is crazy, and you need a crazy motherfucker to counter him.”

The men work out a plan, and Lex just looks around at the men promising to keep her safe. She doesn’t have the heart to tell them it won’t do any good. Phillip is not only determined but capable. He’ll get to her because he wants to, and there’s nothing any of them can do to stop him.