Page 30 of Wild Card (Royal Bastards MC: Cody, Wyoming #1)
TWENTY-FIVE
Hack
“ Y ou're such a fuckin’ idiot,” I growl at myself in the mirror when I’m back in my trailer, washing the blood off my hands.
I was right there in front of her, and I was too damn scared to tell her how I felt.
Too fuckin’ cowardly to ask her if she wanted to grab a drink or hang out sometime.
That prick who cut me up, as I pulled into the gas station, paid the price for it, and he sure looked like the kinda prick that would wanna press charges for the ass-kicking I gave him.
I was wearing my cut at the time; Byron’s gonna be pissed at me for bringing unnecessary heat to the club.
My trailer rattles when someone starts knocking at the door, and while I finish draining away the blood from the sink, I grab a towel to cover my scuffed-up knuckles.
News spreads fast in Cody, and I’ll bet that's Sheriff Underwood, come to fuckin’ arrest me already.
“Alright, I’m coming!” I call out when the knocking gets more and more persistent, and when I fling the door open and see some scrawny kid standing in front of me, I frown at him in confusion, waiting for him to explain what the hell he’s doing banging on my door.
“You're one of them, right?” he asks, looking over to the clubhouse.
“What's it to you if I am?” I ask, still wondering what business he’s got being here.
“I need to find Ash. I know he was one of you, too. I’ve been looking everywhere for him. He’s not at the bar anymore, ” he explains, looking jumpy as fuck.
“Ash left town weeks ago. What d’ya need him for?” I question the kid, starting to get impatient.
“He…he needs to know something. It’s about Kaleb Kingston,” he tells me, looking over his shoulder nervously.
“Tell me whatcha know.” I instantly step outta the trailer and grip the kid by his jacket, so he can’t run.
“I…I need to speak to Ash. I trust him. We met at a party once, he was kind to me.” The boy screws his eyes tight shut, like he’s prepping himself for me to swing at him.
“Ash is a friend of mine. A good one; whatever it is you came to tell him, you can tell me.”
“I…I’d rather talk to him.” He shakes his head, and instead of rattling the truth outta him like I wanna, I decide to try a softer approach and release him.
“Listen, you obviously came here lookin’ for some kinda help.
If you tell me what happened, I can offer you that help.
” I dust off the shoulder of his jacket as a sign of goodwill.
“I was at the vigil,” he starts explaining. “I had to watch him shaking everyone's hands; acting all sad and sympathetic toward the Kingston family.” He shakes his head in disgust.
“Who ya talkin about, kid?” I ask because the last thing we need right now is this.
“Brett Porter, the mayor’s son. He killed Kaleb,” the kid whispers. “And now he’s acting like some kind of fuckin’ saint.”
“What the hell are you talkin’ about?” I’m starting to panic because it’s sounding a lot like this kid knows something. “Brett Porter didn’t kill Kaleb.” I scoff, acting cool while I try and figure out what to do with this.
“He sure as hell did. And I know that for sure because I watched him do it.” He’s looking me straight in the eye, and I can’t see any trace of a lie.
“I was up on the landing, crouched down, hiding, and I saw everything.” He keeps looking over at the clubhouse warily.
“I came here to give Ash the information I got because I trust him, and it’s the right thing to do.
Those people shouldn’t be searching for their son when there’s no hope of finding him.
I have a friend who knows I’m here, and if I’m not back in one hour?—”
“Quit the bullshit. You were there?” I need to know for sure because if what he’s saying is true, this is bad… really fuckin’ bad.
“I’ve been staying at the Kingston place,” he explains.
“I take it the Kingstons don’t know you’ve been staying there?” I look at the worn, raggy clothes he’s wearing.
“Of course, they don’t know.” He shakes his head.
“No one's ever there; the place is practically empty all year, and I got nowhere else to go.” He takes a long breath so he can get back to his story. “Kaleb never comes back during the school semester, and his parents hardly use the place, so I was surprised when he showed up a few weeks ago. He caught me off guard, and I had no choice but to hide. I stayed upstairs, crouched down on the landing, waiting for an opportunity to get out of there, but Brett showed up before that could happen.” He’s still fidgety and nervous, and it's putting me on edge.
“Tell me what you saw,” I remind him to focus.
“Kaleb was pissed that Brett had called him back from college. I heard him say he didn’t want to work for him anymore. Especially now that you guys were involved.”
“He said that? Are you sure?” I gotta check if what I’m hearing is right because if it is, we’ve made a terrible mistake.
“That bit I heard clear as day. The rest was kinda muffled. They were arguing, talking over each other a lot, and next thing I know, Brett shot him dead,” he explains, turning pale.
“Are you tellin’ me that Brett is the person behind all this? That he’s the person supplyin’ these drugs?”
“That's what I’m telling ya. But that's not all.” Now he really looks like he’s gonna crap his pants. “He called someone on the phone after he’d killed him. They were telling him what to do, and he started bringing stuff into the house and hiding it in real obvious places.”
“What kinda stuff?” I grab the kid again, needing to know every shred of information he can remember.
“Pills, money. He left a whole bunch of those little white pills on the coffee table. I could see what was happening; he was fixing Kaleb up to take all the blame,” he tells me. “I know Ash was trying to find out who the dealer was. I thought he should know the truth.”
“All this happened weeks ago; did it not cross your mind to tell us before?” I question his motives.
“Of course, it did, and I’ve been trying to find Ash; I just haven’t been able to track him down.”
“And what did you do after all this happened? You see anythin’ else?” I have to check because the less people who know about the club involvement in this, the better.
“Soon as Brett left, I ran as far away from that house as I could. My fingerprints will be all over that house. I could become a suspect in this if the cops find his body.” The kid looks scared.
“That ain’t gonna happen, and you did right in telling me. I swear you can trust me,” I assure him. I guess him not knowing that the club helped cover this is one good thing.
“There’s something else you should know. But I have to have your word that I can trust you.” The kid looks unsure, like he could bolt any moment.
“You got it. I swear, all we want is good for this town. This is our home, too,” I remind him, hoping it puts him at ease.
“You sure about that?” he questions me, and it gets my fuckin’ back up.
“Hell, yeah, I’m sure. This club has been defendin’ Cody for years. Never question that.”
“Yeah, well, that person he called after he shot Kaleb was your president. He was the one who told him to fix the place up.” My whole body goes cold, and I shake my head back at the kid.
“No.” I refuse to believe it. I’ve known Byron for years. He took me in and made me feel welcome when I tracked my brother down to this charter, and he played a big role in making me who I am today.
Our leader may be short-tempered sometimes, but he’s as loyal as they come.
“I promise you it was him. I wouldn’t lie.
He came to the house soon after; he checked everything over.
I saw him and I heard. He told Brett that it wasn’t gonna be easy to convince the club, but he’d make sure they helped clean up the mess.
That’s why I’ve been too afraid to tell anyone other than Ash.
I don’t know which of you is on his side. ”
“Fuck.” I look up at the pitch black sky and have no idea what to do. I’m not an established member; I was the latest one to prospect. How do I tell my brothers that the man who leads us is a fuckin’ traitor?
“Kid, are you sure? Because if this is true, it’s gonna cause one helluva war.” I’ve never had the privilege of meeting the club founder, Jameson, but I know that he takes no fuckin’ shit. Only those he trusts the most earn their roles as presidents, and he and Byron go back years.
“I swear it, and I couldn’t sit back and let Ruby marry that man tomorrow. She’s a nice girl; she notices me when I’m in town, always says hi, and asks if I’m okay. She cares for people. She should know what she’s getting into, and you men in those leather cuts should know what you're supporting.”
“You know, coming here could have gotten you killed. You're real lucky it was my trailer door you knocked on tonight, kid.” My own words make me realize that I have no idea who I can trust, either. Does Byron have other members on his side, or has he been working alone?
“That's why I was looking for Ash, I knew I could trust him to do the right thing. He’s a good guy, even if he tries to hide it.” He smiles at me sadly.
“Get outta here, Newt. And don’t ya tell a single soul whatchya saw, that kinda shit’ll get you killed.”
“Newt?” He stares at me, waiting for me to explain.
“You live at the lake, don’t ya? You're tall and gangly, I thought it kinda suited ya.”
“Like a road name?” He pushes his luck.
“Who knows, maybe one day, kid.” I shake my head and laugh.
“You’re gonna fix this, aren’t you?” He reminds me of how serious all this is, and that the responsibility to do what's right falls on me.
“I’m gonna fuckin’ try,” I assure him, leaning back in through my trailer door and grabbing my keys.
I don’t know who from the club is in on Byron's little plan, but there's one person I can be sure isn’t. Wild Card is the only person I can trust right now, and he doesn’t know it yet, but he’s gonna be the one who helps me.