Page 24 of Shine: Sins of the Father (Evil Dead MC: Second Generation #8)

Shine—

My phone goes off, and I pull it out. “Hey, Reckless. How are you?”

“Where are you?” he asks.

“The clubhouse, why?”

“Go out on the front porch and look at the sky.”

I frown at the odd request. “What for?”

“Just do it,” he snaps.

“We havin’ a meteor shower or something?” I step out and look at the sky. A crescent moon hangs over the Spring Mountains, and a million stars fill the sky. “Okay, I’m outside. It’s a pretty night. I don’t see any shooting stars, though.”

“Take a picture of the sky.”

“ What? You doin’ drugs?”

“Just do it.”

I roll my eyes and do it. “You want me to send it to you?”

“Nope. I just want you to remember this night. February 20 th . Okay?”

“What’s so special about February 20 th ?” I ask.

“Someday, I’ll tell you. I love you, brother.”

“Love you, too, you weirdo.” I laugh, and he disconnects.

My eyes scan the lot on the way back in.

“What the hell?”

I move toward my bike and kneel. “Fucking shit.” The air whizzes out of my already mostly deflated tire. “When the fuck did I pick up a nail?”

Then, my front tire draws my attention. A nail protrudes from it as well.

I rise slowly and scan my surroundings. The air is still. The only sound is the coyotes in the distance. Still, my hand pulls my piece as I move toward the clubhouse.

“What’s wrong, Shine?” Lobo asks when I walk in holstering my gun.

“I’ve got nails in both my tires.”

“Okay…” Lobo waits for me to say more. “That sucks.”

Wood scrapes across the floor as Daytona rises from his chair. “You think it’s him?”

“Between this and my brakes being cut last week and my truck tires slashed last month, he’s gotta be fucking with me.”

“I agree. Maybe we can use this against him. Catch him in the act.” Daytona scratches his beard.

“That’s ballsy of him,” Trick cuts in. “I mean, we are all thinking he fucked with his bike while it was parked at our own damn clubhouse, right?”

My phone vibrates, and I slide it from my pocket.

“Hey Ma, can I call you back? I’m kind of in the middle of something—wait, what?” She sounds panicked, and I spin away, trying to hear her.

“The neighbors called, son. My house is on fire.”

“Is there any damage?”

“I don’t know. I need to go there.”

“No way. You stay where you are. Do not leave that safe house. Understand? I’ll head over there now.”

I hang up and turn toward the questioning eyes. “That motherfucker just tried to burn my ma’s house down.”

Our clubhouse is miles outside of Vegas, but the pack of us make it in record time with me on the borrowed bike of one of our prospects.

When we reach my mother’s neighborhood, we barrel down the street, Harleys roaring.

I’m off the bike in a flash. The lights of the fire engine flicker on the surrounding buildings, and the smell of smoke fills the air with burning wood and plastic.

I skid to a stop, taking in the scene. The house appears intact as I approach a police officer who has the road blocked off.

He holds up a hand. “Sorry, sir, you can’t come through here.”

“This is my mother’s house.” I gesture behind him. He takes in my cut and the brothers at my back. I lift my hands. “We won’t cause any trouble, I swear.”

He nods and points to the command vehicle. “The fire Marshall is over by that truck.”

As I approach with Daytona on my heels, the man turns.

“Are you the owners?”

“My mother is,” I supply.

“Was she home? We didn’t find anyone.”

“No. Thank God, she wasn’t.”

“We got it extinguished. There’s a little cosmetic damage to the exterior, and the landscaping is gone.”

“Thank God.” I brush my hand through my hair. “How did it start?”

“Well,” he eyes our cuts. “It was definitely arson.”

My hand flexes at my side in anger even though he didn’t reveal anything I didn’t already know.

“Of course, they were amateurs. Probably kids.”

I nod, but Daytona and I exchange a look.

“What makes you say that?” Daytona asks.

“The bushes at the front are where the accelerant was used. They made quite a bit of smoke, which alerted your mother’s neighbors.

Since the bushes are in a bed a little off the house, they had to get a decent blaze going before the house even started to take on damage.

If it were someone who knew what they were doing, they wouldn’t have started with the foliage. ”

I nod. “Well, I’m glad for that.”

“Your mom got any cameras on her house?” the Marshall questions as he scans the exterior.

“Unfortunately, no.”

I provide my contact information, and he informs me they should be out of there in the next twenty minutes before I thank him and return to my other brothers and pass on what Daytona and I were told.

“So, what you guys are saying is Donnie’s a dumbass.” Lobo shakes his head.

“Yeah, pretty much,” I agree. “But he’s also unpredictable.”

“And that makes him dangerous,” Daytona finishes my thoughts.

“We’ve got to get a line on this asshole. He’s slippery as fuck,” Trick mutters.

“Got any ideas? When we bugged his mother’s condo, we never heard a damn thing about Donnie Ray,” Daytona replies.

Lobo folds his arms. “She’s a smart cookie. And now she’s sold the place.”

“That was a prime location, right on Lake Tahoe,” I add. “She must really love her son to give up her retirement home.”

“We should have taken her when we had the chance,” Trick mutters.

Daytona shakes his head. “We don’t make war on women. That’s a line in the sand for me.”

Lobo slaps my shoulder. “We’ll catch him. He can’t hide forever.”

“We need to set up some surveillance around Shine,” Trick chimes in. “The asshole is obviously targeting him.”

“My thoughts exactly.” Daytona twirls his finger in the air. “Mount up. Let’s get out of here.”

Over the next couple days, security cameras are installed at my apartment, facing the door as well as the spots I park my truck and bike.

Daytona even adds a couple extra to the clubhouse lot as well.

But Donnie seems to have backed off. If he’s watching me, he probably saw us putting them up.

But at least I’m not having to change so many damn tires anymore. I’ll take it as a win.