Page 48 of Ruin (Hell’s Mayhem MC: Maine Chapter #2)

Chapter Forty-Seven

Kolton

As my brother and I drive to the clubhouse to meet Coyote, I can’t help but wonder what I would be doing if he hadn’t told us to go with him—if I hadn’t had the conversation with Kaison and let him stay at my house.

Would I be lying around and moping because Lucian was gone?

Would I be able to function with him so far away?

I admit, when I think about it, my chest gets tight, but having a distraction helps.

Still, I know it isn’t good to worry so much about Lucian.

It’s not healthy to be this needy and obsessed… right?

“Hypothetically speaking,” I begin, causing Kaison to glance at me. “If Cora had to be across the country for work, and you couldn’t go, how would you feel about that?”

“First of all, that wouldn’t happen.”

“I said hypothetically.” I shoot him a glare, holding it for a moment before turning my attention back on the road. The sun is starting to go down, and by the time we get across town to the clubhouse, it’ll be dark.

“Why can’t I go?”

I huff out an annoyed sound. “You just can’t.”

“Nah, I don’t like that,” he says with a firm shake of his head.

“Jesus, Kaison. Forget it.”

“I’m just being serious, Kolton. Like, why can’t I go and be with her? There isn’t a reason in this universe that would make me let her go across the country alone.”

“That’s because she’s a woman.”

“No, it’s because I love her and I want to be with her and know she’s safe.”

“You wouldn’t worry about her cheating on you?” I ask and regret it instantly.

“Is that what you’re worried about? Because if so—”

“It’s not,” I snap. He doesn’t answer, and then I add softly, “Not really, anyway.”

“How about you just tell me what’s going on?”

I blow out a sharp breath. “It’s a long fucking story, Kaison.”

“So we make Coyote wait. Let him live a few more minutes.”

I chuckle, then with nothing else to do on the ride, I get into it.

I explain everything to him—mostly. I tell him about the years between me and Lucian, all the bad and all the good, the way he left and how it’s been hell, but now he’s back and is trying to make up for it.

I tell him my worries and concerns but let him know how sure Lucian is that he won’t fuck up again.

The only thing I hold back is the stuff with Luke.

I don’t know how Kaison will handle that, and we need clear heads tonight, so I save that part for another day.

Honestly, it all makes me feel a little better when Kaison doesn’t look at me like I’m an idiot.

“Well,” he says. “Honestly, I know it sucks, but I think he was right.”

I sigh, because I think I’ve known that all along too.

“Yeah.”

“I mean, if you can’t deal with him gone for a weekend, maybe you shouldn’t be together, ya know?”

“I know, it just sucks. I don’t like feeling like this.”

“It’ll get easier, Kolt. The more he has to leave, the more he’ll come back. Eventually, you won’t worry about it at all.”

I go around the bend in the road, then make a U-turn in an empty dirt parking lot to head back toward the clubhouse since we passed it because I needed more time to talk. Now that the conversation is over, and I feel slightly better, it’s time to kill Coyote.

Though we pull up late, he isn’t here yet.

“Well, this makes things easier,” Kaison comments as I shut the truck off .

“If this were us, he’d lose his shit.”

Kaison chuckles as he gets out, and we make our way to the clubhouse. It’s dark, as it usually is at night since no one hangs out inside, but the lights are on over in the bar, just across the lot. Trudy will be there serving whichever of these idiots don’t want to go home for the night.

Kaison and I went back and forth on how we would handle this, since we knew there would be people on the property, and the only thing we came up with is to be quiet.

The guys knew we were meeting here before we left, so they won’t think much of it when they see my truck.

Only problem is we have to make sure they don’t see Coyote come in.

If they do, well… we’ll need to brainstorm.

I put the code into the screen above the door handle, but just as I go to open it, my brother grabs my arm to stop me.

“Do you hear that?” he asks softly.

My brow furrows, and I force myself to listen. The lock beeps, letting me know the time to open the door is dwindling.

“I don’t hear anything,” I respond just as quietly.

“Exactly.”

My attention turns toward the bar. The lights are on, but it’s quiet. Too quiet. Someone is always there because someone has to be on the property in case something goes down—usually it’s the prospect who’s required to be there, but a few of the guys end up hanging out. The quiet is all wrong.

I carefully and quickly go to my truck, pulling a handgun from beneath the driver’s seat and point to the glove compartment. Kaison opens it to get the second gun I keep in here. I don’t bother closing the doors, so we don’t make any noise.

The ground beneath our feet is a mix of dirt and rock, that doesn’t make much sound as we walk.

Once upon a time, it was all gravel. I remember my father shoving me so hard I fell, and a small pebble embedded in my knee.

I was only eleven, and I had to go home and dig it out with tweezers.

It hurt like a bitch, and I still have the scar on my knee.

We move as quietly as we can across the lot, with not much of anything for cover except the building and the tall grass that hides the buildings from the road. We walk through a dark patch that keeps us hidden until we’re in the light of the bar. It’s still too quiet.

Kaison makes a motion for me to stay, and he moves forward, toward the door. He hesitates a moment before pulling it open and ducking inside. I grab the door before it closes and move in after him, bumping into his back.

“What the fuck,” Kaison grumbles, sounding upset but not quite angry.

I step around him to see Trudy gathering up her clothes from the top of the bar to cover her naked body. I roll my eyes and shove my gun into the waistband of my pants.

“Do I want to know who the guy is?” I ask.

“Fuck both you pricks,” Trudy says, dropping behind the bar. Her arms raise in the air as she puts her shirt on. “You all get to fuck who you want, when you want, where you want. No one is around, so I wanted to have a little fun! ”

“Why is no one around, Trudy?” I call out.

“Coyote took Ghost to the clubhouse!”

“No one is at the clubhouse,” Kaison says, giving me a concerned look.

“Well, that’s what they said!” Trudy says as she pops up from behind the counter, running her hands through her hair to tame it.

“How long ago?” I ask, eying my brother.

Why would they need to go over to the clubhouse together? And why did they leave?

“I don’t know. Twenty minutes, maybe?”

I turn to head out the door to go back to the clubhouse.

“If your man ain’t making you come within five minutes, you need a new one!” Kaison calls out with a chuckle.

“He was working on number two, smart ass!” she calls back.

I shake my head as we make our way to the clubhouse and let ourselves in. There’s definitely nobody here, and Coyote is officially late—or missing. He was here, according to Trudy. Now he’s not. Where the fuck is he? And where the fuck is Noah?

The rumble of a bike sounds in the distance, getting closer. Kaison flips on all the lights inside and I go to the front door just as Coyote pulls into the lot with Ghost behind him. They park across from my truck and share a few quiet words before Ghost heads to the bar and Coyote walks toward me.

“What the fuck was that about?” I ask.

“Just went for a ride,” he says .

“When you’re supposed to meet us?” my brother says.

“You weren’t here yet,” he argues.

“We were on time,” I argue, even though we were a few minutes late.

He scoffs, then walks deeper into the main area and turns down the hall to go into his office.

I raise a brow at my brother. Not only do we have to worry about Trudy, now we have to worry about Ghost too.

He’s an iffy one—I can’t be sure which side he’s on.

If this were Grizz, I wouldn’t be worried.

Rhino either. But I don’t know about Ghost. Him, Spam, Tank, and Bullseye are a younger crew, all in their twenties and closer in age to Coyote.

They don’t know him any better than we do, but they don’t have ties to this club like me, my brother, Rhino, and Grizz.

We go all the way back to our grandfathers, while they only go back to their fathers.

And this is the problem. We shouldn’t be looking at the club like this, but with everything going on, it’s hard to trust people.

“What do we do?” Kaison asks.

I glance at him, then down the hall. I pull the gun from my waistband and walk toward Coyote’s office.

“Snapper,” my brother hisses, but I keep going.

I shove the door open and hold up the gun, stunned momentarily when I see a man standing beside Coyote with a gun to the side of his head. Coyote is sitting at his desk, hands flat in front of him.

“Don’t even think about it,” the guy says to me, cocking the gun. “I’ll blow his brains out. ”

I don’t feel Kaison behind me, and that could be a good thing. Either he’s hanging back, so this guy doesn’t know he’s here, or there’s another one who has him. Not something I should worry about right now. Kaison is a big boy and he can handle himself. These are the situations we thrive in.

“You think I give a fuck about him?” I ask. “I came in here to do it myself.”

Coyote’s eyes widen, and I cock my gun too, taking better aim.

The guy holding the gun to Coyote’s head laughs.

“You really pissed them off when you told them, didn’t you?”

“Told us what?” I ask.

Coyote is staring at me, almost pleading with me to not say a word. Fuck him if he thinks I’m doing anything he wants. He’s a prick, and he deserves whatever he gets.

The guy laughs again, staring at me with excitement in his dark brown eyes. He’s in an expensive suit that fits him well, so he must work for someone important. Definitely not from around here.

“Did he not tell you?”

“Tell. Us. What?” I demand, taking a step closer.

He shoves the end of the gun against Coyote’s head, and his eyes fall closed as he takes a shuddering breath.

“I already told you I don’t care if you kill him,” I repeat. “He’s a prick. ”

The guy shoves the gun harder against his head. “Coyote here owes me a shit ton of money that he ain’t paying back quickly enough.”

“That has nothing to do with the club,” I say.

“Oh, it has everything to do with the club. It’s what was promised to us as collateral.”

“Excuse me?” falls from my lips.

For the first time in my life, I have feelings toward this club that aren’t negative. I’ve never liked it, but I don’t want it taken over by whoever the fuck this guy is. I don’t want to lose it, not like this.

“What the fuck did you do?” I say harshly to Coyote, jerking my gun toward him.

“It’s fine,” he says. “I’m handling it.”

“Like hell you are,” I bark, then turn my attention back on the guy. “Who are you? What does he owe you? I’ll pay it and let you kill him.”

A low chuckle, and he says, “It’s too late for that.”

“We can make a new deal—not involving him.”

“There’s no need. We’re taking over the border.”

“Like hell you are!” I shout, turning the gun on him.

He lowers the gun from Coyote’s head. “Best you fill him in on all the upcoming changes, Coyote.” His attention turns to me. “Then you can go tell everyone else.”

I don’t think before I pull the trigger, hitting him right in the eye. Blood splatters the wall and window behind him, and his body hits the ground with a thud. There’s a loud grunt from the hallway, then two more gunshots.

“What the fuck did you just do!” Coyote bellows, getting to his feet frantically. He drops to his knees, checking out the guy on the floor as if he cares about the piece of shit.

I lunge into the hallway to make sure my brother is okay.

“Fuck, Kaison,” I breathe out when I see him walking toward me, blood sprinkled on his face and a body lying on the floor in the main room. He moves right past me and goes into the office.

“You better tell me what the fuck is going on right this goddamn second,” he says as he walks up to Coyote.