Page 25 of Last One Standing (Saint Brothers #5)

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

KONA

It was insane what these guys could do. If Brick or the MC knew just how dangerous they were, I wasn’t so sure they’d fight them head on. Maybe they did know and that was why they were waiting. The thought sobered me, distracting me from the grand display of what was in front of me.

I didn’t want anything to happen to them—they were helping me and Pika, but I did know what Brick was capable of. I didn’t know if these guys could take them if the Dead Kings had strategized.

“We’re pulling down the street.” Gabe’s voice came through the speakers, and I jumped.

“Sorry, should’ve warned you.” Angel lightly and briefly touched my leg. Something about his touch anchored me.

You’d think after all I’d been through, anyone touching me would have me running and screaming, but he didn’t.

“It’s okay, now I know.”

A few minutes later, Mason pointed to the TV we were all watching. “There’s Four.”

“I have a reservation, name is Bill Darling.”

I chuckled at the name, and Nick shrugged. “It was this old guy I met years ago that worked at a bodega. Nice guy, loved the name.”

We watched Four enter the club; then the screen cycled to the larger view inside. Four went to the bar as instructed, and Leo approached him for an order. It all looked normal.

“Any MCs there?” JJ asked, and Noel expanded another shot.

“Three are.”

“One of those is a prospect named Dill, and the other two are patches, Mike and Fly,” I said.

“Who were the two we killed at the clubhouse?” Angel wondered.

“Prospects, Tick and Robby.” I hadn’t known them well.

We all sat in silence as the show began. Ima Cummings was amazing, and the girls all slayed. Brick had made sure to keep the show going even in my absence, and Ima explained that I was recovering from an accident. A bunch of awws made my eyes roll. I missed performing.

“An accident.” I snorted, and Angel patted my leg again. I didn’t want him to keep removing his hand, so this time once he was about to, I placed mine over his. I heard him gasp but he settled, and I couldn’t hold in my smile.

Halfway through the show, we heard Four tell Leo he was headed to the bathroom but ordered another drink. It made it appear like he’d return.

The bathrooms were in the same direction as the dressing rooms, so no one batted an eye when he went there. Not even the MCs—they were watching the show and the floor.

There weren’t cameras in my dressing room—I’d made sure of that—so we couldn’t see Four, but we listened. He didn’t speak, probably not to draw attention, so it was all light thumps and rustling noises.

After maybe a minute, he whispered, “Got it.” Damn, that was incredibly fast.

I watched the TV as he exited the dressing room. The corridor did have cameras, and he’d need to move fast. I was sure he was going to get caught, but it was as if I blinked and he was out the door and sliding into the car.

“Holy shit!” I laughed. “That was flawless.”

“Four is like some ninja!” Pika was standing, fisting his hair, an expression of hero worship on his face.

“He surprises us every day,” Angel muttered and when I glanced at him, I could see pride shining in his eyes.

“Later, they will go through the video. Brick has someone do it every night.” It was how Brick had known one of the queens had been getting high during performances.

“It might be what pushes him to act.” JJ shrugged. “Honestly, I wish he’d just try, so we could get this over with.”

Mason guffawed. “Shut your whore mouth, JJ! Can we not enjoy peacetime?”

“Is it peacetime, Mason? Seriously, why not strike them now, finish it?” JJ was looking at Angel.

“We need to be careful, JJ. Maybe it’s their hope that we attack them. We don’t know. We’re watching, Noel and Nick are digging. Let’s not start fires we can’t put out.”

JJ sighed. “Yeah, okay, fine.”

His petulance reminded me of how Pika got when things didn’t go his way, and I chuckled. “Believe me, JJ, quiet isn’t something Brick is good at, and he never lets anything go. I suggest you enjoy the quiet while you can.”

“I’m sure you’re right; they make me feel uneasy.”

I understood the feeling and was going to say something, but Pika interrupted. “Look.”

We were all involved in conversation, so we hadn’t been watching the TV. Fly and Mike were yanking Leo out from behind the bar.

“Shit!” Nick hissed.

“Do you think they were watching the video already and put two and two together?” Mason wondered.

“If that’s true, Leo is a dead man.” I squeezed Angel’s hand. “Seriously, Brick will kill him if he realizes Leo let Four in and then saw Four leaving my dressing room with a bag. He will get whatever info out of him he can first, though.”

I could see Angel trying to figure out a way to make this work. Four, Gabe, and Shep were on their way to the house. Maybe they could turn around and go and do something?

On the television I watched them throw Leo onto the bed of a pickup truck. Dill jumped in with him while Mike and Fly got into the driver and passenger seats.

“We still have eyes on the clubhouse?” Angel got up, my hand sliding off him and the coldness that seeped through my skin at his absence jarred me.

“Yeah. Using a drone, I hooked a camera onto one of the tall trees so we can watch comings and goings.” Noel was typing and a moment later, the clubhouse came onto the screen. “You think they’ll bring him there?”

“Where else would they go, if not the clubhouse?” Nick turned to me.

“Brick didn’t talk a lot of business with me. I knew of some factory, but until you all lit it up, I wasn’t sure where it was.”

“Maybe Shep can turn around, see if he can follow them?” Mason suggested.

“It’s our best bet right now.” Nick hit a button and then let Shep, Gabe, and Four know what was going on.

“We’ll see what we can do. What color was the pickup?” Shep asked.

“Black, maybe a dark blue,” Noel chimed in.

“Okay, we’ll keep you posted,” Gabe responded.

There was little to nothing that we could do. The clubhouse was in view on the screen so if they went there, we’d see. I didn’t know what anyone could do if they did bring Leo there. The MCs outnumbered everyone in this house, and from what I’d gathered, not all of them could fight.

It felt as if my bones were vibrating under my skin. Leo was a good man, always kind, so helpful, and would never hurt anyone. To know this was happening because of me made my stomach roll.

I thought about what Aziza said about not talking about what happened to me, not wanting to put a voice to what Brick had put me through.

Even considering how out of control those horrifying moments were between the two of us, I understood my resolve, my strength.

I was tethered to the belief that I could overcome.

With Leo, I had no idea what was going through his head, what he could endure, and if he’d even make it home tonight. But what I did know was that if he died, I’d never forgive myself.