Page 21 of Stripping Keys (Devil’s Riot MC Tennessee #6)

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

MARLA

I was going to lose my mind. All I keep thinking about is how Keys left me in his room when he stormed out. I asked him a simple question, and suddenly he was gone.

Blow and Nines had asked me what happened, and I told them.

I don’t know why I did, but I told them.

Keys was their brother. He trusted them with his life.

Just as he does with all the others in this club, but these two men hold the highest ranks in the club here.

They would do more to protect their brother if need be.

Maybe. I don’t know. I don’t really know how clubs work.

All I know is, right now, I’m not sure what happened, and that I’m freaking out.

Why?

Because of a man who broke through my barriers, I knew without a doubt how I felt about Keys. He’s gotten not just under my skin, but he’s taken my heart. Something I swore I’d never allow to happen.

What I don’t know is if the feeling is mutual. Not after he left the way he did. We’d been talking. I asked him a stupid but simple question. Why did I have to ask him about it? I didn’t even know the answer for myself if I wanted something so important in my life as children.

So, why ask him?

Who the hell am I kidding? Deep down, if given the chance, I’d totally have a child with him. Still, it scares the hell out of me. Life isn’t fair, and I wouldn’t want a child to go through what I did.

“You okay?”

I lift my head at the sound of my sister’s voice. She didn’t have the typical snarkiness that she usually would have when talking to me.

I nod rather than use words.

“You’re not okay,” Marley states. She takes a seat across from me at the table I’d fallen into moments after Blow and the others went after Keys.

The look that both Nines and Blow shared after Blow got off the phone with Keys bothered me. They knew something but hadn’t shared. I wanted so badly to know what it was, or to have followed them, but I didn’t. I stayed behind, leaving it to them to handle.

It didn’t help that things have spiraled around here. Olive, Shiner’s ol’ lady got a call from an unknown number, and it had been them. She freaked out.

I didn’t blame her for it. I knew what those men did to her. She’d been through hell at their hands. She needed to be free of them.

All of them needed to be free of them.

I wanted that for them.

A thought crosses my mind—a plan. Something I knew no one here would let me do if they knew it popped into my head. I could tell West, but even he would be against it.

Looking at my sister, sitting across from me, I hold her gaze. She wouldn’t be against it, though. Not completely. All I needed was a head start. That’s all.

With a head start, I could get to where I needed to go. They could track me. I didn’t care. To take them all out, I needed to go to them. They all congregate together once every quarter. That being this weekend.

How had I not thought about that before?

Stupid.

No wonder they called Olive this weekend.

I knew they regained numbers. I knew they were planning something. That they were going to go after the club sooner rather than later.

Damnit.

This is on me.

I need to fix it.

And fixing it, I will.

“What are you planning?” Marley asks, cocking a brow and watching me closely.

“I need your help,” I tell her, darting a glance around the room, seeing who is where.

“What kind of help?” She leans forward.

“I normally have West at my back, but this isn’t something he can help with and not get punched in the face for. You thought, you could help and not get in trouble.” I pause and shrug. “Well, not like he will.”

Marley grins and scoots across the chairs until she’s even closer. “I’m all ears.”

“I need to get my car, and then I need to go find the den of snakes. This needs to end, and I know exactly how to do it. I have everything I need in the trunk of my Camaro.”

“Tell me and I’ll help.”

Grinning, I tell her all that I put together in my head. She nods and listens without interrupting. It was actually nice to be able to do this with her and not have her look at me like I was an idiot, or even us getting into it. By the time I finish, she simply nods.

“We can get you out of here. I’ll give you as much of a head start as I can get you, but it won’t be much.”

“I don’t need a lot. Just enough to get on the road. My car will do the rest. They can catch up to me after I get where I need to go. I’ll even call Calyx when I’m on the road.”

Marley nods again, her smile dropping slightly. “I wish I could be more help, but I’ll do what I can.”

“That’s all I need, Marley. I know what I’m doing. It’s something I’ve done plenty of times.”

Well, I’ve done things similar and always with backup, but she doesn’t need to know that. I can do this. I know it.

“Then let’s get you and your car out of here.”

“You know where my car is?” I ask. Keys had my car, I knew that, but I didn’t know where exactly he put it.

“Yeah, they’ve got it behind the clubhouse, covered up.”

“Good.” I didn’t need the keys to my car like Keys thought I did. I could easily start her up without. I made my car so I could in case of an emergency, and I didn’t have what I needed.

Getting up, the two of us start toward the back of the clubhouse like we were heading toward rooms instead of going out the front. Go out the front, at least one of the guys is sure to go with us.

“One of the prospects is at the gate. I’ll send a text, cloaking the number to get you through. It won’t take long for them to figure it out, but it’ll get you out of here. Call me when you can to let me know an update.”

“I can do that,” I tell her, stopping at the back door. I look at her, my head tilting slightly to the left. “I know we said we’d be friends instead of siblings, but regardless of everything, I still love you and am glad you’re my sister.”

It’s not something I would normally say to Marley, but it’s the truth.

Marley’s smile grows big, her eyes shimmering with unshed tears. “Same, Mar. We fight and that’s us, but we’re family. We do what we do to have each other’s backs.”

Nodding, I lean in and hug her.

This getting over ourselves is definitely different.

I clear my throat and step back from Marley and check my back pocket for my phone. “I’ve got the phone. They’ll be able to track it. Calyx can track my car. They call me, and I won’t answer. I can’t. I’ll be focused. Just tell them I said this was ending today. No one else is getting hurt.”

“I’ll tell them,” Marley agrees.

“Tell West I said, I’m going for it. He’ll know what that means. He’ll be pissed and cuss a lot, but he’ll do his part. Just give me about ten minutes before you tell him that.”

Stepping to the door, I open it just enough to slip through. I was wearing just a pair of black leggings and a tank top with flip flops for the time being. I didn’t need to change yet. I’ll do that when I get closer. Like I told Marley. I have everything I need in my car.

It doesn’t take me long to find my car covered up.

Removing the tarp, I press my finger to the print identifier I installed and unlock the door.

Getting inside, I do the same thing, and my car starts right up with a beautiful purr.

I love how great my car sounds. The engine purrs so beautifully that, at times like this, it sends a giddy feeling along my spine.

Taking my phone out of my pocket, I place it in the drink holder. Putting the car in reverse, I back up ever so slightly before putting it in drive.

I crawl toward the gate, it opens without hesitation. The prospect waves me through. Good. Marley was able to do what I needed without issues.

Outside the gate, I floor it, my car getting up to speed in seconds, only to exceed well over the speed limit.

Five minutes later, I placed the call into Calyx that I need to put in.

“What the hell are you doing, sweetheart?” he demands as his greeting.

Grinning, I keep my grip on the steering wheel light.

“What needs to be done, Calyx. You know me. I can’t let things go.

I’m not someone who can sit on the sidelines.

I told Marley what I’m doing, and she’ll relate the intel to them when they find out.

They’ll track me. Just as you will. But this ends. ”

“Fuck.” Calyx snarls. “You better believe this will be the last damn time you do this. You hear me?”

It’s not the first time said this to me.

Smiling, I give him the same answer I always do. “Of course, it is.”

We both know it’s a lie. I won’t stop what I’m doing unless something makes it so that I won’t do it again. Meaning I’d have to be put in the ground to not do what I’m doing.

“We’ll be behind you,” he states, letting out a frustrated breath.

“I know you will. It’s why I’m calling.”

I hang up without another word or waiting for him to say anything further. There was nothing else left to be said. I knew my plan. I knew what I was doing.

I wasn’t one who could sit idle and not do something, especially when I see the outcome of someone I care about being hurt physically or emotionally.

As much as I want to talk to Keys. Figure things out with him. See where his head is at. That’s going to have to wait. I didn’t care if he was going to be pissed with me later or not.

I was putting an end to the Crimson Blood Clan once and for all. I had everything I needed in my car to do just that, and I was seeing this through.