CHAPTER ELEVEN

– VELOZ –

“I’m going to shank you one day when you least expect it,” Pax growls.

He’s giving me a death glare as if that would give me any remorse.

A grin slides over my face and I flip him off. “Keep voicing that shit and it’ll only make you sound suspicious, a-fucking-gain.”

“I didn’t do shit, asshole. Not in the past, not now, not ever. I’m loyal. None of you gave me any chance to defend myself,” Pax growls.

I shrug. “We kinda knew you weren’t the killer. You had everything working against you, don’t get me wrong, but we caught crucial parts that only made you look suspicious.”

“Kinda knew?” Pax wipes the blood from his chin as we all stride in the direction of the clubhouse. “Then why the fuck did you punch me?”

“I had to make sure,” I simply state. “Can’t leave room for errors, especially not when it comes to my old lady.”

“I can respect that. It might be the only sane explanation why I won’t hold a grudge,” Pax mutters.

“Yeah, right.” I snort. “It’s why you mentioned shanking me.”

Now Pax is the one grinning as I hold the door of the clubhouse open for the fucker. Archer, Chopper, and Asher follow us inside. It’s quiet and when we step into the main room, I can see the door to church is open and there’s no one in there.

Turning to my prez I ask, “I thought you said your old lady was working with mine in church?”

Archer frowns and glances inside. He takes his phone in hand while I glance around the main room. There’s a laptop on the floor near the bar. I stalk to it and as I squat down I notice a tiny plastic cap right next to it.

“That’s from a syringe,” Chopper snaps from my left. “Knowing Pax had a puncture wound in his neck, and the laptop looking like it hit the floor? I’d say something went down here.”

Archer appears on my other side. “Bee just told me she left Leontine working behind her laptop in church about an hour ago. Our kids are sick so she left to help Ivy.”

I shove the laptop at my prez and whirl around to stalk into church.

“Where are you going?” Pax asks.

“Retrace her steps. Bee said she was working on her computer but it’s lying closed on the table. If one of us would have called her she would have left it open,” I state.

“You’re still thinking it’s one of us who is involved in all of this?” Asher questions as I open Lea’s laptop. “I know you’re new here, the way I’m new to Blennies Hitch, but Broken Deeds is a tight brotherhood that’s mostly filled with members who are family by blood.”

I keep my attention on what I’m doing when I mindlessly reply, “I’m the new guy, I get it if it’s hard to accept. Things just don’t add up otherwise. The crucial details of the case, and Broken Deeds for that matter, aren’t shared with the outside world. Pax’s tracker for instance. No one in this chapter knew about the second one, but someone was very aware he had a tracker, and where it’s normally placed. How the fuck can it be an outsider, eh? Most stuff a person can become aware of by stalking or observing, but these details? No. I’m not buying it: it’s an insider.”

I take in the screen of the laptop and with it the information Lea had when she closed the laptop.

Taking my gun in hand I point at the laptop. “I don’t care about anyone’s opinion or am listening to anything you have to say. ’Cause Sully just became my prime suspect.”

“Motherfucker,” Asher growls when he leans in and sees what just spiked my attention. “Where is he?”

“I’m gonna check the house,” I state. “Can one of you go through the surveillance cameras to see if he left the property?”

“On it,” Archer grunts and turns Lea’s laptop.

“I’m coming with you,” Chopper rumbles as I walk past him.

Ignoring everyone else, I jog through the hallway and out the door. I take in my surroundings as I get closer to the house.

“Wait up,” Asher whisper hisses.

I don’t give him any attention until I’m being grabbed by my arm. “I said, wait up. You can’t storm into the house, asshole. He doesn’t know we consider him a suspect. He could be drinking coffee with her, minding his own business, have her locked up, or have a knife to her throat for all we know. Now, follow me because I’ve been sneaking in and out of my own damn house for a long damn time.”

“Fine,” I grumble and let him take the lead.

We walk around the house and Asher slowly approaches the window of his bedroom. He pulls a knife from a sheath strapped to his leg and works on the window.

Without looking at me he whispers, “I put this window in there myself with a crappy lock I can open this way. Living on club property means this place is secure for outsiders.”

“That does shit when someone from the inside has evil intentions,” I grit.

Now he does look over his shoulder to shoot me a glare. “In Broken Deeds history, it only happened once that a member turned on their own. We’re a tight-knit family and hardly take on outsiders for this very reason.”

“I don’t want to stand here and argue, especially when a man like Sully has a background where someone would scratch behind their ears for at least a fucking second or two. I’ve read up on him and noticed his parents had a violent background.”

Asher shoves my shoulder. Hard. “A nasty past doesn’t mean you turn into a killer. Hell, our VP’s old lady was adopted as well because she was found in a pile of body parts when she was barely a year old. Does that make her a stone-cold killer? No. She became a damn fine detective.”

My anger is itching to come out and punch Asher’s face so I can get inside. “Again, we can argue later or you can talk some more by yourself right here, but let me fucking pass.”

Asher shuts his mouth and enters the house. I follow after him and wait till Pax and Chopper are in the room before I move toward Asher who is slowly opening the door. We all freeze at the sound of Sully’s voice.

“What am I going to do with you, beaut?” His voice sounds tormented.

Asher points two fingers at his eyes and shoves his hand with one finger into the hallway before he touches his heart with his palm. I give him a tight nod, understanding his gestures. At least, I hope I do ’cause by the sound of Sully’s voice it seems as if he has Lea in her bedroom and Asher has eyes on her.

Lea’s twin leans slightly to the side, allowing me a glimpse of what he just saw. I can clearly see my old lady’s head on her pillow, eyes closed as she’s lying on the bed. He must have given her the same shit Pax had in his system. Ketamine. Fucking dangerous.

“It wasn’t supposed to go down like this. I shouldn’t have killed that woman the same way you were injured. That gave me away didn’t it?”

The urge to put my finger on the trigger and blast into Lea’s bedroom is sky-high. Yet, I stay put because I cannot risk her life.

“I was so fucking angry, you know that?” Sully sounds as if he’s pacing her bedroom. “Peter never should have touched you. When he sent me those pictures, I wanted to kill him myself. He didn’t know you were my sister. How could he? I was trying to earn his trust by giving him a few pictures of people I killed. Peter needed to be killed. I saw him for what he was and that’s my job…to take down killers by using any means possible. We’re above the law and he fucking stepped into my world when he hurt you. Fuck.”

Sully is seething and my gut is turning at the thought of my woman being knocked out on the bed while at the same time, it’s also good she can’t respond. Goddamn, I don’t think I’ve ever felt this kind of fear. I’ve been in life-or-death situations with my previous jobs, but this is different.

The woman held hostage is mine. The one person I want to build a future with. Who managed to boil up emotions inside me I didn’t even know existed. We barely started and seconds are ticking away when things can happen that would obliterate any chance of growing old with her.

“That woman I killed by giving her your injuries? That’s how it should have gone down. You didn’t deserve it, she did. That woman killed her own son, did you know that? Living under a new name, trying to start a new fucking family. And that Presley fucker? Same thing. He was a killer. Such a whiny asshole in the end, though. He couldn’t shut up when I played with him a bit before I killed him. Presley mentioned it was that woman, Elora, the diplomat’s daughter’s fault. She was two-timing him with that guy they took hostage, and his other teammate, the one who Veloz shot. Presley made Elora lure the guy into that building and told him to give the gun to the first SWAT guy that stepped into the room. You were right, Veloz is a good guy. He’s squeaky clean and you deserve someone good. And that Presley fucker was following you guys. I had to take him out to make sure nothing happened to you again. Then Pax screwed everything up by stumbling onto Presley’s car that I still needed to dump, turning everything into a clusterfuck.”

We watch as Sully gently takes a seat on the bed next to my woman.

“You and Mom were the only women I’ve ever loved, and who I knew loved me in return.” His shoulders heave. “Total strangers welcomed me with open arms and the kind of love that I never experienced. All of you gave me a place I needed. I fucked up, I realize that now. I thought I could skip writing reports, taking out criminals no one would miss anyway, just to make it safer. I mean, I did it with my parents and it made the world a better place. There was no other option. No choice. The woman who gave birth to me was blind to what my father did to us. She made excuses for him every time he beat me or her for that matter. I wanted to fight back but she wouldn’t let me. She locked me up and threatened to tell the bastard so he could kill me instead. I guess that didn’t go the way she planned either. Fuck. Nothing ever goes as planned, eh?”

I’ve heard enough. I won’t stand here and take his sorry-ass excuse to justify anything because there is no explanation for killing people without jurisdiction. Broken Deeds might obtain justice by using any means possible, but we’re no fucking killers. We build a case, gather evidence, write reports, and then handle it. Preferably throwing them in jail unless they shoot at us first.

I might not have been a member all that long, which means the rules are still freshly engraved inside my head, but the brothers at my back all have grim faces. What Sully just confessed to are murders, plain as day. He started out young with his parents that was clearly falsely ruled as a murder-suicide.

“Stay here and be the element of surprise,” I whisper to Asher, Pax, and Chopper. “I’m going to sneak my way to the front door and loudly enter to hopefully get him out of the bedroom.”

“Want me to do it?” Chopper asks.

I give a quick shake. “I’m living here, the rest of you wouldn’t have a logical reason to be here.”

They fall silent and I make my escape out of Asher’s bedroom. Reaching the front door, I carefully open the thing without making any noise and then slam it shut.

“Yo,” I bellow. “Anyone here? I’m gonna head to the diner, anyone want something? Sully? Lea?”

Nothing. No. Fucking. Sound. Dammit. I hoped Sully would have come toward me to make some bullshit excuse, but I should have known better. He might assume we’re on to him or doesn’t want to risk playing nice anymore, who knows?

In this moment his train of thought doesn’t matter. What does matter is getting Lea out of this safe, which means Sully needs to get the fuck out of her damn bedroom. I reach for my phone and try to dial the fucker, hoping he has his phone on him.

A ringtone breaks the silence and I shove my phone away. “Yo, Sully, you there or did you forget your phone?” I try to keep my tone even as I act as if I’m talking to myself. “The fucker probably fell asleep.”

I have my reason to stroll into the hallway and finally, the fucker appears, both his hands hidden behind his back.

“Did you just come from Lea’s bedroom?” I question, not liking the fact that he’s still within the option of stepping back into her bedroom before I can take him down.

Sully shrugs. “I was looking for some cotton balls and thought she might have some.”

“Why the fuck would you need those?” I jerk my chin in his direction. “Did you paint your nails or something? Is that why you’re hiding your hands behind your back?”

Half a smile slides across his face. His gaze shifts and I can see the moment Asher fucks up; it’s when Sully notices him and then bullets start to fly. Sully stumbles back into the room. I squeeze the trigger, not caring at all that I’m shooting him point blank.

Asher is aiming at the fucker’s leg and it makes Sully stumble back as he throws his arms out to catch himself. I move forward, even if I feel the impact of a bullet fired by Sully. I grit my teeth and rush toward Lea, watching in horror as the knife Sully is holding is impaled into her thigh.

Sully’s eyes are wide, grunting with pain he shifts his hand. I’m barely in time to grab his throat to keep him in place. Dropping my gun, I snatch his wrist to prevent him from removing the damn knife out of Lea.

“A little help here,” I bellow.

“No,” Sully croaks, his gaze fixed on Lea. “I didn’t…it was–”

“Don’t you fucking dare say it was an accident,” I snarl.

Blood is gurgling up from his mouth and spilling over his chin. Good. I hope he damn well dies.

Trying to regain some calm I tell the fucker, “Remove your fingers off the hilt of the knife.”

He instantly lets go and I move his arm, lifting his whole body away from the bed. Chopper and Asher are moving past us to get to Lea. I want nothing more than to check on her but right now all my focus needs to be on Sully; the biggest threat in the room. Asher is her twin and also a doctor, he’s the one she needs right now.

“Tell me if she’s okay, Asher,” I demand, unable to remain calm.

Pax steps up next to me and places his gun against Sully’s head. “He’s not going anywhere except in the damn ground with those injuries. I got him till he takes his last breath, brother. Go check on your old lady.”

“Ambulance is two minutes out,” Archer states and his eyes go wide when he glances at me. “Veloz, you might want to sit down.”

“Fuck off,” I grumble and point at Sully. “Help Pax to keep an eye on him. I don’t like turning my back on a backstabber.”

“No, really, brother.” Archer approaches me and points at my chest. “You really should sit the fuck down.”

It’s getting hard to breathe and I’m a bit disorientated. Ignoring my prez and my body screaming at me, I move toward the bed. Lea still has her eyes closed and Asher has stabilized the knife in her leg by the looks of it.

“Is she okay?” I ask once more.

Asher keeps his gaze locked on his sister when he says, “She’s still breathing. The knife is still keeping everything in place so we won’t know till–” He throws a quick look at me over his shoulder and is suddenly standing in front of me. “Archer get another ambulance here fast. Dammit, Veloz, why didn’t you tell me you were shot?”

I glance down at myself. “Oh, that?” I stumble back a few steps. “It’s just a little nick. Lea’s more important.”

“Yeah, right,” Asher snaps. “And you think the rest of us will survive when she wakes up to find her old man died of a damn gunshot wound? Motherfucker.”

I cough and taste the copper in my mouth. I wipe the back of my hand against my lips and see the crimson smeared over my skin. My blood. Coming from my mouth…lungs…whatever.

“That’s not good,” I murmur.

“Ya fucking think?” Asher snarls. “Someone get me a piece of plastic and some tape. Dammit, you popped a lung, how are you still standing up and talking?”

“Adrenaline?” I grit, having trouble with not only breathing but getting words out. “I’m also extremely good with holding my breath.”

“Stop talking, fool,” Asher mutters and takes my cut off, ripping my shirt off next.

“Not getting it back.” I close my eyes for a moment in an effort to push away the pain tearing freely through my body.

I guess the adrenaline is fading. Fast.

“What are you talking about?” I faintly hear Asher ask and feel different hands on my body along with other voices.

“EMTs are here. Leontine is stable, let them work on you, son.” Chopper’s voice sounds from somewhere on my left.

I want to nod but my body feels too damn heavy. My eyes won’t open and I want to fight to keep conscious except I don’t have the fucking energy.

“The cut,” I mumble.

“What?” Asher says. “There’s no cut, Veloz. You were shot and Leontine has a knife wound but the knife is still in there sealing the wound. She’s on her way to the hospital, Dad is going with her. They are going to take it out there. It’ll be okay, I swear. She’s lived through a hell of a lot more, you know that.”

“Patch.” I try to smile, liking the odds he just gave me.

My woman is damn strong and the knowledge that she’s going to live through this is a comforting thought.

“Yeah, well, why don’t you live to see another day, huh? ’Cause if you don’t, I’ll rip the fucking thing from your cold dead hands, asshole.”

It takes everything I have to open my eyes and grit, “I’d like to see you try.”

I’m being sucked into a vortex of darkness where I’m completely weightless, hoping I do come out of this alive to punch Asher in the damn face for even thinking he can rip my cut from me. Not while I finally have everything I’ve ever wanted…except maybe life itself ’cause I can’t breathe.