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22

WRAITH

S moke and I give chase on bikes that miraculously work despite the hail of bullets, but the van is long gone.

Our bikes have been shot up good, and I mourn the damage to my favorite ride. As we park up by the diner, I see the bullet holes peppering her body, highlighted by the flashing blue lights of the cop cars outside.

Sure, I can work night and day in the garage to fix her up, but she’ll never quite be the same again.

“Fucking Bratva,” Butcher says when I find him looking up at the wrecked diner.

We called him while riding for backup and cleanup.

We’re not going to let Ma carry the brunt of this on her own. The club looks out for this town, regardless of what Tanner Radcliffe thinks. And they were after us.

“Definitely Russians,” I say. “Fuckers knew where we were and came for us in a public place. That’s as ballsy as it gets. They’ve got eyes on this town if they know where we eat.”

Butcher lights a cigarette and takes a long draw. “Did you get anything?”

I tug a hand through my hair. “Nothing. No plates. Nondescript van. Probably torched somewhere down the highway. At least, that’s what I’d do if I were them.”

“Fuckers. I’m gonna kill each one of them and feed their entrails to the fucking wolves,” Butcher says.

I got other ideas for their entrails. Gonna pull ‘em out slowly and watch each of the fuckers suffer.

“They aren’t gonna let us do anything here until they’re finished with it as a crime scene,” I say. We’re a small town. Decent-sized police force due to our presence. But other things like true crime scene investigators, coroners, and the like have to come in from the next town over. It’ll be an hour before the cops have all the resources they feel comfortable having here.

“You left a crime scene,” Tanner says when he reaches me.

“So fucking sue me,” I say.

Tanner rubs a hand over his jaw. “Don’t be unreasonable when people are dead.”

“Like you were?”

His nostrils flare, but he says nothing in return. He knows what he did the morning Hallie and Lottie were killed.

Catfish joins us, and over his shoulder, I see Raven giving her statement while holding Fen close. Her hand is acting like a horse blinker, shielding him from everything that’s happening.

And now I feel like a complete shit.

I should have stayed. I could have advocated for her being interviewed in her own home so her kid didn’t have to see all this. Should have gotten Catfish to take the kid to the burger joint at the other end of Main Street for a milkshake or some shit.

I’m immune to violence. I dispatch it. I’d step over a dead body without breaking a sweat. But a kid. He shouldn’t be here.

“We need a statement from you,” Tanner says.

“Didn’t see anything,” I say. “Heard the gunfire, acted on impulse to protect Raven. Spent most of the time with my back to the window and body lying in shattered glass.”

Butcher raises an eyebrow at my statement.

“Don’t look at me like that,” I say to Butcher.

“Didn’t say a word,” he replies.

Tanner coughs, like some polite fucking interruption. “Well, we’re still going to need to get all that on paper.”

I shake my head. “You know my name, you know where my clubhouse is, and you sure as fuck know the way to my home.”

When I found Hallie and Lottie, the first person I called was Butcher. Butcher called Tanner. Said the more eyes looking for their killers, the better. It was the first time I ever heard him suggest the cops as an option. He said it with tears in his eyes and a throat as raw and dry as my own.

Tanner was first cop on scene. The way he handled that moment set the tone for our future relationship. Questioning whether I’d killed my own fucking family, whether it was abuse, before looking at the security footage I wanted to show him.

The footage that showed four men breaking into my house at three minutes after ten in the morning and leaving twelve minutes later.

“Mr. Fischer,” Tanner says firmly.

“You can shove the formalities up your ass,” I say, cutting him off before he insults me further. “That woman over there shouldn’t be here with her kid. If you see shit like this, you can’t unsee it. I’m taking her back to her place because what just happened is enough to rattle anyone. Her kid shouldn’t be all she has to lean on today.”

“She’s in the middle of giving her statement. It can?—”

I cut my glare away from Tanner to my president. “You got this, Butcher?”

He nods in understanding. “I’ll make sure Margie is taken care of and this place is locked down once the circus is finished.”

I’m just on my way to Raven when Margie cuts me off, practically falling into my arms for a hug. “Did you get them?” she asks quietly.

I know what she means. Did we catch them up? Are they all dead? She was an Outlaw old lady. She knows the score.

I shake my head. “We didn’t. But they’ll pay, Ma. I promise.”

“Thanks for calling the boys in to help with cleanup. They aren’t gonna let us do anything here until they’re finished with it as a crime scene.”

I put my palms on her shoulders and nudge her away a little. I know she’s looking for comfort, like many people do when they’re scared. But I can’t be it for her. “Butcher is gonna make sure it’s secure for you. Call him when you need the club’s help shuttering it up.”

I can see the confusion etch her face when it hits her. “Why wouldn’t I call you?”

“Because I have other shit I need to do.” I don’t elaborate.

“You aren’t going to be here?”

Raven crouches, teary-eyed, to say something to Fen, who is sobbing. He throws his arms around her neck, and it’s enough to break Raven. They cry together.

“No, Ma. I’m gonna get Raven and Fen out of this shitshow. Little kid shouldn’t be caught up in the middle of this.”

“Are you coming back?” she asks. But there’s a hint of derision in her tone. Her eyes narrow as she understands what I’m saying.

“Not tonight.”

“But what about Hallie and?—”

“Stop.”

I can’t think about Hallie or Lottie or my mother-in-law. Not right now when I can hear and feel Fen’s distress. There’s blood on Raven’s uniform, probably mine, hopefully not hers.

When Fen sees me, he breaks free of Raven’s grip and runs to me. “Wraith.”

I bend down and pick him up, holding him to me as his little arms snap around me, and I feel the drip of warm tears on my neck. I place my palm on the side of his face, hiding the chaos from him.

The wounds I carry, not just to my body, burn and stretch as I walk to Raven, but I wouldn’t have it any other way in this moment.

I reach for her hand, and she grabs mine tightly. Everything that has already happened between us disappears in the need to comfort and be comforted. I squeeze my fingers around her cold ones.

“I’m taking her home,” I say to the young officer taking her statement.

I can see the panic when it registers who he’s dealing with. “But…she’s in the middle of giving her?—”

“Not anymore, she’s not. Come on, Blue.”

“But we need to…”

The cop’s words fade out as I lead Raven and Fen down Main Street and we cross the street by the hardware store.

“Will I get into trouble?” she asks quietly. There’s a hiccup in the middle of the sentence as she tries to calm herself.

“Spoke to Tanner. Told him what I was doing and that he could have your statement later.”

There’s a stirring by my shoulder. “Is Momma gonna be okay?” Fen asks.

“She’s safe. So are you. I’ve got you both.”

Fen relaxes back against my shoulder. I feel his steady breath against the side of my neck.

There’s a reflection of the three of us in the window of the hardware store. It’s a shock to see how we fit. How right everything looks.

Because this trio looks and feels perfect.

Her black straight hair and my light blond curls are startlingly different. But other than that…

When we get to the apartment, Raven’s hand shakes as she tries to get the key in the lock.

“Let me,” I say, gently moving her hand so I can grab the key. One turn, and I push it open. “Up you go, Blue.”

Raven treads up the stairs, and my eyes follow her ass. It’s a fine-looking one, and my cock stirs at the memory of how it felt when I held onto it as I thrust into her.

Then Fen stirs against my shoulder, and I’m reminded why I’m here.

I turn my mind to counting the number of steps in the damn staircase to shake the inappropriately timed memory.

When I get to the top, I put Fen down, but both Raven and Fen simply stand there. As if what happened stripped their propulsion.

Shock has set in for both of them. You can see it in their glassy-eyed stares.

“Fen. Go run a bath, kid. I’ll take care of your mom until you’re done, okay?”

His fear-filled wide eyes look up at me. “I need my pajamas.”

“We’ll bring you some once I’ve got your mom settled.”

“You won’t go anywhere?” he asks.

I don’t make promises I can’t keep. “We’re gonna need something to eat, so I might have to leave. But I’ll be back. Leave the bathroom door open so I can see you’re okay in there.”

He nods and goes to the bathroom, and I hear the splash of water hitting the tub.

“Come here,” I say to Raven, tugging her into my arms.

Her body shakes against me. Definitely shock. I run my hands up and down her arms to increase the circulation in them. “You’re safe in here.”

When she finally looks up at me, I hate the fear etched on her features. “I think they came for me.”

I shake my head. “Don’t know why you’re here, Blue, but I guarantee they were here for the club. We had a run-in with them recently. Can’t tell you any more than that. Club business is club business. But they were here for vengeance. They saw the bikes and took their chance. Foolish, really, with the cops sitting right there.”

I feel her shoulders sag and the whoosh of air she releases. “Oh.”

There’ll come a time when we’ll need to discuss why she thought they were here for her, but bringing more trauma up when she’s so shook up would be plain cruel.

“You’re in the shower next. I’ll take care of Fen when he gets out. For now, I’ll go grab us some dinner. You guys need some food in your stomach, and you could use some whiskey to deal with the shock.”

I turn to leave, but her hand grips my wrist.

“Don’t go. Please.”