Chapter 14

Taylor

" H e's in good hands," Andy says, holding Andrew close to her chest. It's not easy leaving him, not with us being so on edge. None of us have been able to eat or sleep in the past twenty-four hours.

"Go," my mom tells me, tears staining her cheeks. "Go get your girl."

I know it's killing her, knowing that we're walking into the very pits of hell that she worked so hard to get us out of. But we're not those little boys anymore, and our girl is at stake. We can do this for her. We would do anything for her.

"Tell Samantha we're going to get her back." I kiss my mom on the forehead. Pulling back she gives me a sad smile.

Samantha has been a wreck since she found out. I don't blame her. We've been the same, if not worse.

With one last kiss on Andrew's chubby cheek and a promise that we'll get his mama back, we pile into the car and begin the very long fucking drive.

When we pull up to the compound, a sick feeling takes over. I never in my life thought we would ever have to step foot back here. The things we had to endure at the hands of that fucked up monster who called himself our father will forever haunt my brother and me.

Shaking my head, I open the car door and get out.

"So, like what do we do?" Hunter asks, eyeing up the massive walls around the compound. "Just knock on the door?"

"No," Travis huffs. I already know we have eyes on us, waiting to see what our next move is.

Turning around, I step closer to Hunter. "There isn't a chance in hell they're going to let us bring in our guns. Do you have anything else on you?"

Hunter lets out a huffed laugh as if I insulted him. "Who do you think I am? Of course I have something else."

"Good. Don't do anything stupid; do not use it unless you think we don't have any other choice. "

Hunter gives me a firm nod.

Turning away from him, I give Travis a look before turning to the gate. "We want to speak with Thrasher," I call out.

"Thrasher?" Hunter snorts a laugh. "What kind of name is that?"

"It's a road name," Travis sighs.

"Right. Forgot, this is a MC. You think I'll get to meet someone named Mad Dog?" he chuckles.

"Maybe, if he's not dead already," I tell him as I search for any movement.

"Wait. You're telling me there's someone actually named Mad Dog?" he asks, voice filled with gitty amusement.

"Shut up," I hiss, my eyes snapping down to where the guard door opens.

"Who are you and what the fuck do you want with Thrasher?" A guy smoking a cigarette steps out, gun in hand as he points it right at us.

"My name is Taylor, this is my brother Travis."

The guy's eyes widen. I don't recognize him, but he seems to know who we are. "Well, no fucking shit," he chuckles but doesn't lower his gun. He looks behind him. "Hey, Razor. Let the boss man know the twins are back."

"Oh, boss man?" Hunter questions. "Sounds important."

"Would you shut the fuck up," I snarl. "You don't understand. These guys will shoot just for looking at them funny. Please don't let your mouth get us killed before we get Raven back."

That seems to shut him up.

"Well, I'll be damned." The voice isn't my father's. A tall man steps out of the guard door, followed by two other men. Titus. He's a lot older than the last time we saw him. But he's the spitting image of our father. Tattoos peek out the top of his black dress shirt and on his arms and hands. "Never thought I'd live to see the day I'd get to see my little brothers again."

"What the fuck?" Hunter gapes. "You have an older brother?"

"Hunter," I hiss, not taking my eyes off the man who I once thought loved us. What a fucking joke.

"Look, we don't have time to beat around the bush. We need help, and we've come to ask Thrasher. We are willing to do pretty much anything. It's urgent," Quinton says, and I shoot him an angry glare.

You don't just show all your fucking cards to these kind of guys. Is he fucking stupid? He should know that by now.

I guess we're all just desperate to get our girl back and being logical isn't really our strong suit at the moment.

"Well..." Titus huffs out a chuckle, rolling up the cuffs of his shirt. "Sorry to break it to you, but Thrasher is dead and gone. So unless you've brought an Ouija board, you're shit out of luck."

A wave of pure fucking joy hits me knowing that fucker is dead. Sad it wasn't by Travis's and my hands like we've always planned. But beggars can't be choosers, I guess.

"So sorry to hear that," Travis deadpans.

"I'm sure you are, little brother," Titus replies mockingly.

"Don't call us that," I spit. "We stopped being brothers a long fucking time ago."

Titus shoots me a look that tells me if I was anyone else, I'd be dead. That's something I guess.

"Look. Thrasher is out, I'm in. I've been prez of this MC for five years now. This is Arcadius, my VP, and Otto, my enforcer. I'm sure you remember them?" He raises a brow.

I do. The guys were my brother's best friends growing up. If it wasn't for the three of them, I don't think Travis and I would have lasted as long as we did.

Arcadius looks a lot like he did back then, still has the same dirty blond hair, but fucking hell, the man looks like he eats bodybuilders for a living. Otto with his black hair and piercing blue eyes still has that look like he's plotting how many ways he could kill you before lunch.

"We do," Travis answers.

Titus looks around at Hunter and Quinton. "I'm going to guess these are some members of your little crew."

Hunter laughs. "Little? You do know that Black Venom Crew runs pretty much the whole west coast, right?"

"And we run the east." Titus cocks his head to the side. "For the most part."

My brows furrow. When we left, they only held power in a few big cities. This is something we should have known about.

"No, you don't," Travis says. "Tyrone does."

Titus's eyes flare and his lip pulls back. "Not for fucking long. With him dead and fucking gone, everything will be ours."

"Wouldn't hold your breath on that one," I tell him. "That's why we are here. He's not dead."

Titus looks us in the eyes. He doesn't seem surprised by that news, meaning he knows more than we do. And I need to fucking know.

"Come in," he says. "Leave your guns with Razor." Titus turns around and steps back through the guard's door.

"Are you sure he's going to be able to help?" Quinton asks, grabbing my shoulder as we start to follow, pulling me to a stop.

"He knows something. And at this point, he's our best bet."

Quinton holds my stare for a moment and nods. After giving our guns to his man, we follow after.

My eyes can't help but drift around. Everything looks different, yet the same somehow.

The most surprising part is, I don't get that sick feeling in the pit of my stomach I used to live with.

My eyes find Travis's, and they tell me he feels the same way.

Stepping into the clubhouse though, I see that some things have changed.

"Damn," Travis mutters. The place is empty right now. Not surprising since we've driven all night to get here and it's only noon. "This place is..."

"Clean?" Titus snorts. "Yeah, that was a bitch to make happen."

I remember this place being a cesspool coated in cum, sweat, and other bodily fluids. Now it's clean and gutted into a whole new club.

"How come you're not more on guard?" Hunter asks me.

I'm about to open my mouth when Titus answers. "Because he knows that we don't kill blood."

It's true. Ridicule, beat, and treat us like we don't exist, sure, but kill? It's oddly the one thing my father stood strong by. Maybe it was just some sort of pride thing, not being able to live with something he made being taken away from him.

"Oh, well, that must be nice. My dad sure as hell would have loved to get his hands on me. Good thing he's fucking dead." Hunter snorts. "Although, I'm not sure Link won't kill me when we get back."

Link. He's still locked up, some of the crew members keeping an eye on him. It wasn't easy getting people to agree, knowing there could be a good chance he would shoot them as soon as his hands were free.

We follow them back to the office, another room that's changed. Any trace that this was my father's space is gone. It's like this whole damn club got a makeover.

"Sit," Titus instructs, taking a seat behind his desk, his men moving to his side. He sits back in his chair and raises his chin. "I know why you're here."

"You do?" I ask. "And how the fuck do you know that?"

"My sources tell me they brought your girl in the other day."

My stomach sinks, my heart pounding painfully in my chest. "What the fuck do you know about my girl?" I snarl.

"That her name is Raven West. Pretty little blonde thing I might add. Tyrone has been looking for a very long time for his daughter. I do have to give that leader of your's a pat on the back. You lot have been so well hidden, that none of his men, or mine could find her."

"So you work for him." I try to keep my composure but this could go one of two ways. If he's working for Tyrone, then he could warn him. Although I'm sure he already knows we're doing our damn fucking best to find him. Now more than ever. Or, he gives us the information we need so we can find her. If he's right, then he already knows where Raven is.

Titus runs his tongue along the top of his teeth and looks up at his guys. "You trust them?" Otto asks.

Titus looks at me, really looks at me. "Yes," he says, and honestly I'm surprised. "Because we have a mutual goal."

"We do?" Travis asks.

"You want your girl, we want ours." Titus nods.

"Wait, he has your girl? Then why haven't you stormed the palace down to get her?"

Titus lets out a frustrated breath. "It's not that fucking easy. Trust me, if it was, we would have gotten her by now. The fact is, he wants both of them for different reasons. To him, they are pawns to play with and move around on the board. Here's what we know. He's not dead, but he's close to it. It was all a ploy to get eyes off his back so he can work bigger and better things. It also means he's desperate to get things done before he does die. And we can't take the chance of him doing something to our girl."

"Who is she?" Hunter asks.

"None of your business," Otto hisses.

Titus holds up a hand. "We're offering our resources if you offer yours."

"So, like, team up?" My brows furrow.

"Pretty much." He shrugs. "We're not as big as you. We don't have as many men as you. Yet. We plan on changing that once he really is ice cold and in the ground."

"Deal."

"Wait. Shouldn't we talk to Link?" Hunter asks.

"Link is ready to kill anyone he lays his eyes on just out of pure fury that the bastard took Raven. Do you think he's going to mind me agreeing to work with someone who could lead us right to their fucking door?"

"True," Hunter says. "You got a deal."

Titus slowly smiles, and it's not a nice one.

"Pleasure doing business with you, little brothers."