Page 28

Fury

After Carly dropped the nuclear bomb, Montana took off.

I didn’t blame the man. Everything that Carly laid bare was a lot to take in; so when I got a text telling me to get my ass to the clubhouse the next morning and to bring Carly, I didn’t question it.

What I did question was seeing Reaper, along with Ravage, sitting at the bar waiting when Carly and I entered the clubhouse. Montana grumbled at something Reaper said, flipped him off and stormed off toward church. Mercy shook his head and followed behind him.

Rushing over to Reaper, Carly gave him a hug, smiling.

“I can’t believe you’re here.”

“Yeah, well, when it comes to you, Carly, I know to sit up and pay attention. What have you uncovered this time, girl? Because I’ve never seen fucknuts so unhinged.”

“Reaper,” I interrupted, gently removing my wife from Reaper’s arms.

Reaper sneered. “Dead Man Walking.”

“KILL HIM LATER!” Montana roared. “CHURCH! NOW!”

“I see he’s still thinks he’s in charge.” Reaper grinned.

“Do us a huge favor, Reaper,” Torment cautiously said. “Give the man a break today. He’s barely keeping his shit together.”

“What happened?” Reaper frowned, looking from me to Torment.

“I’m sure he will tell you.”

Well, I hoped, praying that was why Montana called Reaper here. It was the only thing that made sense.

Taking Carly’s hand, I led her toward church. Quickly finding my seat, I pulled out the chair next to me, which was generally reserved for Vicious, and motioned for Carly to sit. After doing so, I pulled her chair closer to mine.

Watching as everyone else sat, Montana leaned forward and began, “I want it on the record that I knew absolutely nothing, not one damn thing until last night.”

Reaper grinned and leaned back in his chair. “Sounds interesting. What did you learn?”

“There is a connection between our clubs,” Montana admitted. “I’ll let Charlotte explain. That way, you don’t kill the messenger.”

Reaper narrowed his eyes, then turned to look at Carly, who sat next to me, looking down at her hands.

“Carly?”

When Carly lightly shook her head, I reached for her hand and squeezed. “I’ve got this one.”

Turning to Reaper, I began, “Long story short, Thena Hartley is the daughter of Kathleen Doherty, William’s sister, and Edward Goldman, Sandman’s grandfather.”

“So, she’s Golden. Thanks.”

Reaper moved to get up, when I added, “Dakota Stone raped her and Thena later gave birth to a daughter.”

And just like that, Reaper sat back down.

“I’m gonna need you to repeat that.”

When I did, Reaper sneered at Montana.

“That motherfucker was near my wife.”

“I know,” Montana replied.

“He had hands on my wife.”

“I know.”

“HE KISSED MY WIFE!”

Montana stayed silent as Reaper began pacing church. If I thought Montana was a hothead, Reaper had him beat as he ranted at no one in particular. “I’m gonna kill him! I’m gonna rip off his dick and shove it so far up his ass it tickles his fucking throat! I’m going to rip the flesh from his bones and watch as Sandman bathes in his blood!”

“And I thought you were bad, Montana.” Mercy chuckled. “But I gotta admit, I like Reaper’s flare.”

“Shut up, Mercy,” Montana growled. “Help me figure a way out of this.”

“Give the man what he wants.” Mercy smirked as Reaper continued to rant angrily as he furiously paced the room.

Montana groaned. “Not helping, Mercy. There is no way Vicious will come back with Linsey dead.”

“She’s not dead,” I inadvertently said as I kept an eye on Reaper from my chair.

“What?” Montana gasped.

Shit. I didn’t mean to say that.

Slowly nodding my head, I muttered, “She’s alive. Someone named Judge was able to save her.”

“The fuck you just say?”

Jumping at Reaper’s voice, I found myself staring into cold, dead, fathomless eyes. Not moving, I gulped as Reaper slammed his hands down on the table and seethed.

“Did you just fucking say Judge?”

I nodded. “Yes.”

“Bullshit,” Reaper raged. “Judge died in Florida. Toxic killed him.”

“That’s what I was told.”

“Who fucking told you Judge was alive?”

When I said nothing, Montana ordered, “Answer him, Fury.”

Looking at Reaper, I said, “Joshua Stone told me. He and someone else called Hemlock. Said he was the twin brother to Shamrock. They came to bail my ass out of jail after Steele attacked during the tree lighting ceremony.”

“My cousin Joshua Stone? Your former mentor and president of my Nebraska Chapter?” Montana questioned.

“Hey, Reaper,” Ravage piped up. “Didn’t you say that Remi visited the Nebraska Chapter before she came home?”

Ignoring that comment, I added, “He was wearing different colors, too.”

“What colors?”

“Golden ones.”

“You son of a bitch!” Montana jumped across the table, trying to get to Reaper, who backed away, laughing.

“Not my club, fucknuts. I don’t have a chapter in Nebraska. You fucking know that.”

“You calling my brother a liar?”

“Nope.” Reaper smirked. “Maybe he’s just colorblind.”

“I’m not fucking colorblind, asshole. Joshua Stone was my mentor when I joined this club. I saw the cut he was wearing. It had the Golden Patch, along with the title of Vice President.”

“Fuck this shit,” Montana groaned. “I don’t have time for this shit. We need to find Thena before Dakota does.”

“Carly knows someone who could help locate her. Kevin and Kyle Kreuger.”

“Do you know how to locate them? Because I got the impression they moved around a lot,” Reaper asked, looking at Carly, who nodded.

“Fury, take your wife and go pay them a visit. See if they will help,” Montana ordered, then turned to Reaper and sneered. “In the meantime, you and I are going on a road trip to Nebraska.”

“The fuck I am!” Reaper scoffed, heading toward the door. “I’m going home to my wife and kid.”

“You go with me, and I will consider granting Vicious dual membership.”

And just like that, Reaper stopped dead in his tracks.

Turning back around, he glared at Montana and said, “If you’re fucking around with me, I won’t hesitate to shove my blade up your dick until it comes out of your ass.”

“As frightening as that sounds, I’m not playing around. I said I would consider it, and I will.”

“Fine. But I’m driving!” The president of the Golden Skulls stormed out of church without a backwards glance.

“The fuck you are!” Montana shouted, rounding the table as he marched after him. “I am!”

Standing in church, dumbstruck, I muttered, “So, who wants to babysit those two?”

“Fuck that shit.” Ravage shivered. “I’m catching the first flight home to California.”

“I’ve got Largo and Sophia waiting for me at home,” Mercy added.

Turning to the others, Rage quickly piped up, “I’ve got termites!”

“Donating a kidney,” Torment stated.

“I’ve got a splinter,” Payne muttered, looking at his thumb.

When I looked at Malice, the fucker huffed and simply said, “No.”

“I’ll call over to the Silver Shadows and ask King to send someone to Lincoln,” Mercy said, reaching for his phone as he walked out of church.

Looking at Carly, I asked, “Alright, babe. Where are we going?”

“Babe, are you sure this is the right address?” I asked, looking up at the seven-story walk up, knowing damn well this building didn’t have a fucking elevator. Hell, it didn’t even have windows, but I wasn’t going to mention that, or the fact that the building was deep in Irish territory.

Fuck, that’s all I needed. O’Malley on my ass for snooping around his shit.

“According to the map, it is,” she said as she craned her neck, staring at the dilapidated building.

“Babe, I don’t think anyone has lived here since the reconstruction.”

“Which one?”

“Does it matter? The place is boarded up and vacant.”

“Well, if you want to go back to your place, I can try to get them to come to me.”

“No,” I groaned, looking around the area. “Might as well go in and take a look around.”

After jimmying the lock, I managed to open the steel door just enough for the both of us to slip inside. The second we were in, I wanted to get the fuck out of this place. Something about it didn’t sit well with me. Judging by the appearance of the building, it seemed like no one had resided here for a long time, and upon noticing the urine smell and rodent infestation, my suspicions were confirmed.

“Stay close to me. Places like this are havens for homeless and drug addicts.”

We quickly scanned the first floor and proceeded with caution to the second floor until the sound of a door slamming caught my attention. With a swift motion, I retrieved my gun from behind me. Uncertain about whether the source of the disturbance was the wind or the presence of another person in the room, I decided not to take any risks.

The building was set up like a brownstone. The fact that each floor resembled an apartment made the search process a bit more organized and efficient. Just as we ascended to the fourth floor, I unmistakably caught the sound of someone speaking.

“Where is she?”

“I don’t know!”

“That’s too bad,” another man said before I heard the gun go off.

“Stay here,” I whispered, before dashing the rest of the way, bursting through the door to discover a man slouched in a chair, lifeless. Moving swiftly into the apartment, I noticed something out of the corner of my eye while I scanned the room.

On the kitchen floor lay another man, clutching his stomach as blood seeped through his fingers. The instant our eyes met, he muttered almost inaudibly, “Help me.”

“Oh my God,” Carly gasped, running past me to kneel before the man on the floor. “Kyle.”

“Stay with him, Charlotte. Try to stop the bleeding. I need to find the other guy.”

“Fire escape,” Kyle coughed.

Understanding that the fire escape was the only exit option aside from the front door, I carefully scoured the apartment until I stumbled upon it in one of the rear rooms. With haste, I made my way to the window and cautiously peered outside, narrowly dodging a bullet that ricocheted in my vicinity.

“Fuck!” I roared loudly, feeling the rough texture of the wall against my back as I turned to look out the window and spotted the familiar man in a black tweed coat making his way down the fire escape. Knowing there was no way I could catch him, I holstered my gun and headed back to Charlotte.

“How is he?” I asked, entering the kitchen to find Charlotte with tears streaming down her face as she sat next to Kyle, holding his hand.

“He’s dead.”

Kneeling before her, I whispered, “I’m so sorry, but, baby, we need to go.”

“I can’t leave him. He was my friend.”

“I know, baby, but it isn’t safe here. Someone is bound to have heard the shots. The police will be here soon.”

I didn’t give her the option to stay. Instead, I helped her to her feet and hurriedly led her out of the apartment. We descended the four flights of stairs, and I intentionally paid no attention to the front door we had entered through and swiftly guided her to the back of the ground-floor apartment, fully conscious of the presence of another exit. Without hesitation, I kicked the door open, the sound of it crashing to the ground echoing through the room.

With Charlotte’s hand clasped in mine, we quickly made our way down the alley, the faint sirens of a police car growing louder when it neared us from the opposite direction. We emerged onto a side street, and I quickly scanned both ways before spotting a cab driving toward us from my right. With a loud whistle, I waved my hand to flag down the cab, and as it came to a stop, I guided Charlotte into the backseat before joining her and closing the door.

Not thinking, I quickly said, “47275 Verona Street, Little Italy.”