Page 34 of Wild Card (Royal Bastards MC: Cody, Wyoming #1)
TWENTY-EIGHT
Ash
“ W hat the fuck are you doing here?” I get off my bike, grip the cunt by his shirt, and slam him back against his car.
“I’m here to get my fiancée back. Ruby…If you know what's good for you, you’ll get in the car,” he calls over to her, and I slam my fist into the side of his face.
I can see by the way he smirks that there's something going on, and when I hear sirens in the distance, I figure since I’ve come this far, I might as well do some more damage.
I hit the fucker again; knee him in his balls and make him fold over in pain, then after tossing him to the ground, I feel arms pulling me back that are far too strong to be Ruby’s.
“Quit! You know what he’s fuckin’ doing; do you wanna go back to jail?” Grizz yells at me.
“For this cunt, it’d be worth it.” I spit on the prick, who’s groaning on the floor.
“Yeah, you're right, but unfortunately, my daughter’s in love with you and I won't have her heart broken, especially not by you.” He forces me away and lifts Brett off the floor by his tie before laying the shit into his face.
The cop car pulls up, and the two officers who get out look scared as they race to pull him off.
I see a second car pull up behind ’em, and when the sheriff climbs out and calmly puts on his hat, I get the sense this is all about to go south.
“Arrest these men, they’ve assaulted me.” Brett remains on his ass as he scurries back to rest against his car door.
“Actually, Mr. Porter, I’m here to arrest you.” Sheriff Underwood throws a curveball and shocks us all when he nods to one of his officers, and they start to cuff Brett.
“What? That's ridiculous, what the hell are you arresting me for?”
“On suspicion of murder, sir. We had an anonymous tip this morning; ended up finding Kaleb Kingston’s body in a shallow grave down by the old railway line.
This is the gold watch you got for your thirtieth birthday, isn’t it?
” Sheriff Underwood pulls an evidence bag from his pocket and holds it up in front of him.
“I remember chipping in twenty dollars for the collection Margaret did,” he laughs to himself,
“That's mine, but… it doesn’t prove anything.” Brett shakes his head, starting to look worried.
“It does when we found it right where the body was buried; add that to the fact that the last two calls made to Kaleb before he died came from you, I’d say we had enough evidence to make an arrest,” he informs him.
“No, I didn’t do it. It was them. They killed Kaleb; they buried him. I know they did.”
“Take him to the station,” the sheriff tells his men, before looking to Grizz.
“Jameson called, said you boys would have the evidence handled, but hell, that was fast work.” He lowers his voice and looks impressed.
“Oh, that. I buried that with the kid two weeks ago. Smelled somethin’ was off and wanted to make some assurances,” Grizz informs him. “I thought I’d lost my touch, ain’t stolen a watch in years.” He smirks to himself.
“I hear you're running things from now on.” Sheriff fixes his hat to block out the sun.
“Looks that way.” I still can’t decide if Grizz is happy about Jameson's decision to make him prez, but he’s proven his loyalty to me by what he just did, so he’s got mine.
“How d’ya know Brett would be here?” I step forward and ask.
“He called in a report of an assault ten minutes before we got here,” Sheriff tells me, shaking his head and laughing at the prick as he gets manhandled into one of the cars.
“I knew it.” I shake my head and move to the window where he’s being detained in the back.
“Looks like you're going away for a long time, Brett. I’ll be waitin’ for ya to come out.” I smile at the prick before I go and stand beside Grizz again.
“I’ve spoken to Jameson, and the club is gonna deal with Byron in our own way,” Grizz assures Sheriff Underwood. “Believe me, it’ll be a better punishment than you could serve.”
“What if Brett rats?” I ask; I’ll bet the slimeball will squeak the second they get him in an interview room.
“Don’t you worry, Jameson’s fixed up a deal for me to offer him. If he’s got any sense, he’ll take it.”
“And if he doesn't?" Grizz asks.
“Then my bets are on him not making it to court.” Sheriff Underwood sniggers. “You have a good day now, and try to stay out of trouble. I’ve done far too much work for one day.” He looks over to Ruby, who's clinging to Earl by the clubhouse doors..
“Lookin’ beautiful, Ruby,” he calls out to her with a wide smile on his face.
“Thanks, Sheriff.” She dries her eyes and puts on a smile for him, and when he gets in his car and drives away, Earl leads Ruby inside while Grizz steps in front of me and stops me from going in after ’em.
“I don’t like this,” he tells me in that low, grouchy voice of his.
“Oh, come on. I might grow on ya.” I shrug.
“This ain’t a fuckin’ joke, Wild Card. You ever call me Pops again, I’ll feed you your own testicles.”
“And risk the chance of no grandchildren?” I shake my head at him sarcastically.
“Be fuckin’ serious for once in your god damn life. Now this all out, I don’t want her to regret who she’s got for a father. I wanna be part of her life, which means she has my sole protection. If you break her heart, I’ll?—”
“Save your speech, Prez. That ain’t gonna happen. I love her and I mean that. I’d die before letting anyone hurt her.” I let him see that I am serious. Ruby has changed my whole life; she’s got me wanting things I never thought I’d want.
“Yeah, well, you better mean that.” He drops the fingers he’s pointing at me and starts heading inside.
“Guess this means I’ll be gettin’ a yay from you when I ask to patch in here permanently.” I slap him on the back as we walk in through the door. “Wouldn’t wanna break your little girl’s heart now, would ya?”
Grizz turns his head and snarls at me. “Just go be with her; she looks like she needs you,” he orders, and I happily obey.
Hack returns, pissed off that he lost Byron on the freeway, and I hate having to leave Ruby while Grizz takes his first meeting as president and fills the boys in on what's been happening. It’s a relief for me and Hack to learn that Grizz’s little investigation proved no one else here was involved in Byron’s enterprise.
Looks like our old president was finding a way to make his own money, and we got enough evidence on Mayor Porter and his son to ensure they both stay silent.
“So, you and the president's daughter?” Hack smiles to himself as we leave the meeting and head into the barroom. Ruby is still sitting in her wedding dress, looking all pretty. Despite all that's happened today, she’s laughing as she shares that bottle of scotch with Earl. Laughing as if a weight’s been lifted off her shoulders.
“No one likes a drunk bride,” I interrupt them, taking my girl's hand and raising her to her feet.
“Please…I can handle my liquor. Guess I must get it from my dad.” She looks over to the bar where Grizz is now talking to Wraith. He asked him to be his VP during the meeting, and although I don’t know the guy all that well, I sense it’s a good choice.
“How d’ya feel about that?” I ask her; we haven’t had much chance to talk about all of today's revelations. Now, we got a whole lifetime of it, because now I got her, I ain’t ever lettin’ her go.
“Shocked, but relieved. I don’t know him all that well, but I guess it could be much worse.” She smiles.
“He’s a good man.” I look over to the guy who was my dad's best friend and decide I’m gonna do whatever it takes to prove to him that I’m good enough. Good enough to wear the cut. Good enough to carry my father's name and good enough to spend the rest of my life making his daughter happy.
“You wanna get outta here?” I ask, pulling her closer to me so I can kiss her. I figure, after the day she’s had, she’s gonna be tired.
“Not yet. I called Esmé, she's on her way.” She smiles. “And this place is starting to feel like home.” She laughs to herself, taking her eyes away from mine to take in her surroundings.
I press my forehead to hers and ignore all the whoops and cheers that come from around us when I kiss her.
“Tell me about it.” I sigh in defeat.
The End