Page 31

Chapter Thirty

A Walk in the Woods

D arrow only knew what he didn’t know. Sometimes you had to ride with the confidence to fight the world with only a dull pencil in your back pocket. Aside from all the tech shit that Darrow brought to the club, he had the ability to think. And really think. Think five, ten steps ahead of a lot of people around him.

Fitz. He wanted to take over. This whole thing was based on the fact that a while ago there was a situation between Priest and Fitz where Cyrus took Priest’s side. Fitz saw himself as Cyrus’s right-hand man. Doing all the dirty work and loving every second of the insane violence.

A guy like Fitz could never accept his place in the club. He wore that right on his sleeve too. The other guys saw that as a sign of strength. And Fitz played it perfectly too. He never talked back. He never strayed too far from the club. Yet he had his own secret deal on the side. And he left his wife to rot in the middle of it all.

Darrow throttled his motorcycle and picked up even more speed. They weren’t far now. At least not far from turning their engines off.

Fitz never bolted from town. That meant he wanted to be seen. He wanted to be heard. He knew he was fucked. His only escape was turning rat. And that detective was his barrier.

Fucking moron could have left town. Although he knew the drill. He knew that Cyrus would have SOFRAS, SOFRAN, and SOFRAE on the hunt. Fitz had been placed into a corner so he hung around town and attacked when he wanted to.

Like what he did to Macy. That was step one. He set that up knowing it would fuck with Mara’s head. And it would put the MC on notice that Fitz was around and very dangerous. And it worked.

Darrow pulled to the side of the road. Slade pulled up next to him.

“What now?” Slade asked.

“We walk,” Darrow said, nodding toward the woods.

“Walk…? How do you know, brother? Talk to me.”

Darrow was off his motorcycle and on the move. There wasn’t a second to waste right now. Darrow’s love and Darrow’s unborn child were at stake.

“Darrow, you have to tell me something,” Slade growled as he caught up to Darrow.

“Fitz has no place to go,” Darrow growled. “He’s a person of habit. He’s been circling and spiraling. Waiting to get caught. Wanting to have this epic fight. Yet at the same time if he really wanted to do something insane, he could have come for us at the clubhouse. No. Not Fitz though. He thinks he’s strong but he’s not. Remember what happened with him and Priest?”

“You’re talking… a long time…?”

“Yes,” Darrow said.

They climbed through the woods, moving up. And up.

And… up…

Climbing a fucking mountain, avoiding the dirt road. Just in case.

“Darrow, can you get to the fucking point?” Slade asked. “And tell me what we’re doing.”

Darrow stopped and turned. He grabbed Slade by his leather cut again.

“He’s going to use her to make a statement to us. He knows more than we think but he can’t escape. He can’t let go. That time with Priest? Fitz was the one to pull the trigger but he hesitated. Remember that? I do. The guy started to fight back and it almost turned into a goddamn war. Priest finished the job. We never talked about it. It stuck in my head. I hated the idea that someone that weak had his ink on someone like Mara.”

“Man, you are so lost in this woman,” Slade said.

“Dare I even bring up what your relationship with Nelle has done to us?”

“Fuck you, Darrow.”

Darrow pushed Slade away. “The only place Fitz has to go to feel safe is that shitty cabin.”

“With the dead body in it?”

“It’s all I’ve got right now, Slade. I’m going up there and I’m going to kick in the fucking door. If Fitz isn’t there… if Mara isn’t there…”

Slade understood. It made sense to him. Sort of. The two outlaws climbed the mountain through the trees together, side by side. It was obvious they avoided the dirt road for two reasons. First was so they didn’t make any noise. They needed to sneak up on Fitz. Second was they weren’t sure if Fitz was smart enough to set any traps.

“Darrow,” Slade said a few minutes into their silent thoughts. “What if he’s working with someone? What if we’re really walking into something bad here?”

“Then the rest of the guys will find out and figure out what to do,” Darrow said. “And if Fitz isn’t running solo, the wars that will start…”

Slade noted the look of insanity in Darrow’s eyes. He understood it. It wasn’t all that long ago Slade was ready to take off his leather cut and take on the Russian mafia alone to protect Nelle. Love was violent. Love was mean. Love was a goddamn awful thing.

“There’s the cabin,” Darrow said.

“Doesn’t look like anyone is here,” Slade said.

Darrow nudged Slade and pointed.

There was a car near the cabin. It wasn’t a beat up piece of shit car either.

“Stolen,” Darrow said. “Fitz always loved to steal cars.”

“Nobody else here but him…?” Slade asked.

Darrow looked Slade dead in the eyes.

“There’s only one way to find out.”

Mara feels pain in her stomach. Intense pain. Her skin is on fire. There’s wetness. She knows the wetness is blood. She can’t breathe. Fitz has his hand over her mouth. He’s almost pinching her nose. She has to be careful with kicking and thrashing. The knife keeps cutting her. Fitz is insane. He’s beyond insane…

“I can’t wait to cut you open, whore,” Fitz growls into Mara’s ear.

Mara throws her head to the right, smashing against Fitz’s left cheek. She throws an elbow from her left. The knife disappears from her stomach for a split second. That split second allows Mara to bite Fitz’s hand. He lets her go and lets out a scream.

“Whore!” Fitz yells and pushes Mara forward.

She falls to the floor and quickly turns. Fitz reaches back and pulls out his gun. He has a gun and a knife. Mara is on the ground. She’s shaking her head. Her body aches. Her stomach stings in pain from all the fresh cuts from Fitz’s knife. She needs to protect her baby. She needs to survive.

“You’re such a pussy, Fitz,” Mara said. “You’ll never shoot me. Just like you didn’t cut me all the way open. You’re a pussy. Fucking weak!”

Fitz pointed the gun. He pulled the trigger.

The explosion of the gunshot happened just as Darrow readied to kick down the door.

“No!” Darrow roared as his foot connected with the cabin door.

The door jolted off its hinges and fell to the inside of the cabin. Darrow and Slade walked into a bloody scene of hell. Darrow saw Fitz standing there with a gun in his left hand and a knife in his right hand. Blood on the floor. Blood on Fitz. Blood on the couch.

And there was Mara. On the floor, cowering and shaking, screaming… Screaming was good. That meant she wasn’t dead.

“It’s over, asshole,” Slade called out to Fitz.

Darrow was already on the move toward Fitz. Fuck Dr. Smile , Darrow thought. Darrow would lose his cut and black out his ink and never ride a Harley again if it meant saving Mara and ripping Fitz’s head off with his bare hands.

Fitz turned and slashed the knife at Darrow. It cut his arm. Darrow threw a fist and punched Fitz in the jaw. Fitz stumbled back and pointed the gun into the air and started to shoot. Darrow dropped down and threw himself over Mara.

“She’s bleeding everywhere, Slade!” Darrow called out as he looked back at Slade.

Slade had his gun drawn. He watched as Fitz put his own gun to his head. Fitz gasped for deep breaths.

“You don’t have the balls to do it,” Slade said. “You won’t kill yourself.”

“True,” Fitz said. “But…”

Fitz moved the gun fast and shot at Slade. Slade dropped down. The bullet missed him. He wasn’t even sure if Fitz actually wanted to shoot him or not. Now Fitz was on the run through the cabin. Throwing tables and chairs behind him. Throwing his own body into the door off the kitchen, making his escape.

“Fuck,” Slade growled.

He scrambled to his feet but then saw Darrow looking at him. Darrow’s hands were covered in blood.

“Help me, brother,” Darrow said. “Call someone. She’s… he cut her…”

“Darrow,” Mara whispered in a weak voice. “Darrow…”

Darrow looked at Mara. “It’s okay, babe. We’re here. You’re safe. Everything is okay.”

Mara’s chin quivered. There was so much blood, Darrow didn’t know where to start to check her. Mara reached up and touched Darrow’s cheek.

“I… I got him,” Mara whispered.

“What, babe?”

“I got him,” she repeated.

Slade was on the phone with Cyrus, screaming that Mara was hurt badly and that Fitz had gotten away.

“What do you mean?” Darrow asked Mara.

She started to smile.

Her chin shook. “Tracking… him…”

“Huh?”

“I’m tracking him, Darrow.”

“Who?”

“F-f-fitz,” Mara said. “I brought one of your trackers. I slipped it into his boot when he was attacking me. You can… track him…”

“Are you fucking crazy, babe?” Darrow asked.

“Anything for the club… right?” Mara asked.

That’s when Mara’s eyes shut.