Page 20 of Risk (Mayhem Makers: MMM #3)
CHAPTER
NINETEEN
Risk
“The freakshow is here!” Conan bellows, his voice sounding relieved. “Wrecker, Dragon, Butcher, what brings y’all to our part of town?”
“My nieces told me to come, so I came and these two stragglers decided I couldn’t be trusted on my own,” Wrecker answers, tossing his thumb over his shoulder where the two others are standing.
Before we became the Deviant Knights, we were the Midnight Riders.
Dragon was our president back then when we were nomads.
Now, he’s an Imperial Knight with our brothers who split and went with him.
That’s when Kodiak stepped in and took control of our wild and unruly ways.
For a few years, we ran the roads causing mayhem anywhere we landed.
I’ve missed these guys; when they went away to do their thing, our family felt fractured.
It took a long time for me to forgive them.
Kenna helped me heal from their desertion.
We both felt their absence and in our bashing them, it made us closer.
“You always were a nosy fuck,” I grind out. “You didn’t come for the party; you came so you could partake in the drama that is my life.”
“I came to save you from yourself, Risk,” Wrecker advises. “Dragon, make him a puppet and pull his strings.”
Dragon peers over at him and says, “You’re getting a little big for your britches ordering me around, Wrecker. But in this instance, I’ll forgive you because you’re right, someone needs to get a handle on him because he’s a bomb waiting to go off.”
“Keep your mind warping shit to yourself, Dragon,” I order, pointing the tip of my knife at him. “I’m not motherfucking Pinocchio.”
While my mind is preoccupied and on our new arrivals, Kenna is ripped out of my arms and a wall is formed in front of her by my betraying brothers.
When my feet move so I can ram my way through them, my body stills mid movement.
I’m stuck with one foot lifted from the ground and my arms outstretched.
When I go to speak, my mouth is more or less wired shut.
“That’s better,” Dragon says, and I find myself unintentionally walking back over to the table where Butcher lifts a chair from its laid down position and sits it upright. “Now sit and keep your trap shut while we catch up.”
If I could move, I’d wrap my hands around his neck and choke the life out of him.
How could he do this to me? He knows that I don’t like feeling out of control—it makes me homicidal.
While I’m unable to cause any bodily harm, Kenna is sat down next to me.
She’s fidgeting but I’m forced to listen to her as she relays what was told to Kodiak when he had her pinned to the corner.
The wind begins to get knocked out of my sails as I am forced to do nothing but hear her words.
I’m still angry, so damn volatile that I want to see someone bleed for this level of duplicity, but I’m beginning to understand the perilous position she was in and why she made the choices she did.
My ego takes a hit when I think about how she didn’t trust me to keep her and our son safe from any outside threats, but when Kodiak speaks up and tells us that there are political forces that could obliterate not only our club but the members as well, I mentally slump.
“Do we know where this Marshall is?” Butcher inquires.
“No, but I’m sure he’ll be coming to town once he realizes we have two of his women,” Conan expresses. “We can set a trap.”
A mumbled sound escapes me, and that’s when they remember I’m still in the room. “Is he calm enough to be released yet?” Kodiak inquires. “Because if he is, we could use his help with this.”
“He’s beginning to see reason,” Dragon states. Then I feel a warm gust of breath on my neck as Dragon leans in so he can whisper in my ear. “You try and put a finger on her in anger and I’ll rip it off and have you drooling in a nursing home quicker than you can blink.”
When his hold over me releases, I reach out and pluck Kenna from her chair and place her in my lap where I bury my nose in her neck.
“I still have a lot of anger toward you, Vixen. But I will protect you and our son, even if that means laying my life on the line, but you have a lot of answering to do. I want to know everything you’ve left out and I want to know about him.
And when it’s safe, I want him with me.”
“You’re going to take him away from me, aren’t you, Risk?”
“No, I’ll never take my son’s mother away from him. But that doesn’t mean I’m going to leave you alone with him, either. You’re a flight risk, Kenna.”
“Not as long as he’s safe, I’m not,” she refutes.
“Keeping him away from you was never about you, it was about him and keeping him away from Marshall. Were you paying attention when I told you that you and your brothers, all these new kids, and the women are in danger now that I’m around?
Every decision I made, no matter how bad it was, was about you and him.
If I thought there was a way to protect us all, I’d go pick him and Mom up now and bring them here. ”
“That may be the best course of action,” Wrecker says, intruding on our conversation. “As a matter of fact, I’m going to have to insist on it.”
“Why?” Kenna perks up, her face pinched, repeating, “Why, Wrecker?”
“Because they may not be there in the morning if we don’t,” he answers, causing every fine hair on my body to stand up on end.
“Is that a premonition?” I ask.
“It’s a fact, brother,” he responds.
Every man in the room jumps up when he tells us this.
He’s never, not once, been wrong when his voice has that tone.
I turn to my wayward woman and demand, “Give us the address, Kenna, and stay here with the other women. We’ll be back with our boy soon.
” She begins to adamantly shake her head in denial.
“Kenna, we don’t have time for this. I need you to stay behind where I know you’ll be safe! ”
A hand clamps down on my shoulder as Wrecker states, “She has to come too.”
“What? Why?” I rapidly ask the questions in succession. My heart rate amplifies as I scan the room hoping one of my brothers will have my back. “Guys?”
“Why is it best if she goes, Wrecker?” Kodiak asks, ignoring my pleading eyes. “What I want to know most of all is will she be safe if she accompanies us?”
“I wouldn’t let her come otherwise,” Wrecker avows. “And she has to come because if not, her mother will act… irrationally and one of our brothers won’t be making it back with us if you catch my drift.”
Choosing between my woman and one of my brothers isn’t something I take lightly. My confused gaze meets Wrecker and he nods his head at me, mouthing, “She’ll be safe, brother.”
Not for the first time since sharing a brotherhood oath, bound by blood with him, I elect to give him my steadfast trust. Closing my eyes, I force myself to accept the reality that she’s coming along no matter how much I stomp my feet and protest her doing so.
I cannot manage to wrap my mind around the phenomenon that I’m purposely allowing her to accompany us and come face-to-face with potential danger. I have no other options since I’ve been outvoted by my officers—if I had my way, I’d swaddle her in bubble wrap and stuff her in a padded room.
Turning around, I place both of my hands on her shoulders and lean in, making sure she sees the seriousness in my eyes.
I’m not messing around. If she doesn’t agree to my decree, I’ll go against my brothers and face tribunal.
She’s been through enough and now it’s my turn to take the lead.
“You stay glued to my side, no matter what, Kenna. I will lose my shit if you don’t. Understand me?”
“I’ll stay with you, Risk. No matter what. I promise.”
“You better. I’m this close to snapping, Kenna,” I say, holding my fingers a hair’s width apart. “I can’t be held responsible for my actions if you step even a foot’s length away from me.”
She places her hands on top of mine and nods her head. “I know, Risk. I’ll follow your orders to a T.”
“I don’t like this, not at all,” I warn her. “But I’m going to trust you on this. Don’t make me regret it.”
“I won’t,” she whispers, her eyes beginning to mist with tears.
“Let’s go!” Kodiak thunders.
And that’s exactly what we do. But when we arrive, it looks as if a war has just seen its conclusion.
Bullet holes line the aluminum siding on the house, debris is lining the walkway, and I emit a roar unlike any sound I’ve ever exuded. My son better be alive and kicking or I’m going to decimate every town and person in it until I get my revenge.