Chapter 28

TWENTY-EIGHT

GNAW

Sal's eyeswiden as soon as I walk into the room. He's tied to a chair in the middle of the room, with a cloth in his mouth. With quick strides, I walk around him and untie the cloth. It falls from his mouth. He lets out a whimper, which sounds nothing like the Sal I know.

"I knew you boys would find me," he rasps.

"You okay?" I ask as I start to untie his arms and legs from the chair.

He doesn't say anything at first but then he clears his throat. His voice is so hoarse, and I can't help but wonder if they've not only starved him of food, but water as well. I walk around the chair and hold out my hand for him.

It takes him a moment to lift his hand and wrap his fingers around my forearm. I realize he's weak. Really fucking weak. "Sal, you okay?" I repeat.

"I will be," he says with a trembling voice. "I just need to move, get some food and water."

"Then that's exactly what you'll get," I murmur.

I don't walk away from him. Instead, I help him as we move toward the door. Slowly, almost at the speed of what I assume a turtle would move, I make my way down the staircase with him.

Once we reach the bottom of the staircase, I see there are now five girls instead of three and Sal. Fucking Sal. I can't explain how happy I am that we found him. Talon made it sound as if he'd killed him. I'm glad we didn't take him at his word. Fucking Talon. I'm glad he's dead.

Even if I'm sure that whoever is above him is going to come looking for his ass, and then the real war will likely begin. Unless he was going rogue, which I have a sneaky suspicion he was. I think he was trying to prove something to someone. I just haven't figured it all out yet.

But I will.

We will.

"Are you ready to get back to the clubhouse?" Nash asks.

"No other men?" Atomic murmurs.

Nash shakes his head. "We looked everywhere. We found nothing. I don't know what the fuck kind of skeleton crew or what he brought here."

"Maybe we got the main men in Shreveport, and these were the only ones left," King suggests. "A few guys, Talon, and Kyle's ex. Plus the women."

The women.

That is another issue we have yet to work out for the future. What the fuck are we going to do with these women who are clearly loyal to a man who is no more? Nash clears his throat, and as a whole, we swing our attention to him.

"I know Talon's grandfather. The Southern Mafia did about what we did. He retired and left the whole organization to Talon before he moved out to Arizona to retire."

Atomic growls. "And you're just telling us this?" he says with a snap.

Nash doesn't respond. Instead, he arches a brow and stays silent while he waits for Atomic to calm his shit. And he does. I watch as Atomic dips his chin in a silent instruction to move forward with his thoughts—that is an alpha.

"It wasn't important until now. I didn't know Talon, and I didn't think his grandfather was going to come into play, just like nobody thinks I'm going to come into play on things. But this will definitely need his involvement now."

"What about Talon's father?" King asks.

Nash snorts. "Died in a car accident. Anyone wanna take bets on whether that little pissant fucked with his car?"

Things begin clicking into place. "And the men who were once part of the Southern Mafia?" I ask. "Because they were big, huge even."

Nash shrugs a shoulder. "Don't know the inner workings of their shit, but my guess would be that they all fucking bounced when Grandpa's little prince took over. Because I know I would if I had to follow a single order that little shit gave me."

Nash is probably right.

We didn't lose any members of the Dark Horse MC when Atomic took over, but it was a transition that was right for the time. The original members all left, and the new generation took over. It doesn't sound like any of that happened with the Southern Mafia.

"So, what do we do?" I ask.

Nash takes a step backward, reaching into his pocket for his phone, and I watch as his fingers slide across the screen, then he lifts it to his ear. We watch him in silence, then listen to him.

"It's Nash with the Dark Horse MC," he begins. "Yeah, well, Talon fucked shit up. He's got his whole crew taken out, including himself."

Fuck. I don't know if that's how I would have opened the conversation, but Nash knows better than me. He knows the Southern Mafia, at least the original members. I'm itching to get back to Xavier and my woman.

Though, the longer we stand around here, the more time I'm wasting when I could be torturing that motherfucker.

And I will torture him—in more ways than one. I'm fucking excited about it.

"He decided to start a war with us, kidnapped people, including an old lady, tried to take over a bar that we were investors in, and attempted to force them into giving him protection money. He was trying to work his way into Texas."

Silence. Nash doesn't show any emotion on his face as he listens to the man on the other end of the line. He grunts after a long moment before he speaks again, and when he does, I have to say that I'm surprised by what is transpiring.

"I'll stay in town for a few days, wait for your arrival," Nash says. "But I'm telling you right now, there are no apologies for what's happened to Talon. And we will not, absolutely not, allow anyone into Texas."

Nash ends the call and shoves his phone in his pocket. "We need to figure out a way to keep that body from rotting. Grandpa is coming to town," he announces.

"What happens now?" Atomic asks.

It's been a while since Nash has taken the lead of anything, so I'm a bit surprised that he is now, but at the same time, being the OG Dark Horse MC president, he's the best person for any of this.

If anyone can keep us from heading into straight-up war, it's him. Atomic seems to be on the edge, and I know I am ready to kill first and ask questions later. So, I'm sure he feels the same way, but Nash is a lot more coolheaded than we are—at least, that's how he seems.

"Now," Nash begins, "now we get this dumb fuck on ice and keep the girls locked away for Grandpa Albert to deal with. I am officially finished cleaning up after the Southern Mafia. We deal with Albert, and that's that."

"Appreciate you, Dad," King mutters.

Nash lifts his hand in a simple wave. "I'm just glad this didn't get as nasty as I thought it might. As far as wars go, it was tame as fuck."

It was.

I'm also not convinced that it's completely over. I don't think something like this is going to just be done. Especially with the death of Talon. When his grandfather gets here, no matter who is in the right, that is going to cut like a knife, and revenge will, without a doubt, be on his mind.

But I have a bunch of personal shit to handle. I can't worry about what's possibly to come. As far as I know, it's over. I need to move on and handle my business. When we separate and leave the house, Sal is taken to the van along with the women.

Nash calls in another vehicle to take Talon's body somewhere to put on ice. I don't want to be the one in on that conversation. Before we walk out of the house, I hear a phone ring.

King and Atomic pause.

It's coming from Talon's pants. I walk over to him, crouch down, and pull his phone out of his pocket. The number that flashes on the screen is familiar.

Too fucking familiar.

Not only is it a local area code, which, if Talon were based in Louisiana, why the fuck would he have a local calling him? But also, I recognize it. I'm just not sure who it belongs to off the top of my head.

I pause.

Then, before I can second-guess myself, I slide my thumb across the screen and answer.

"Hey, boss, I got Kyle. Where do you want me to take her?"

My heart starts to race. He has Kyle. Who the fuck is he? I start to ask him that but snap my lips closed. There is only one way to play this, and that's to fake it. So, I'm going to pretend to be Talon until I find out just what the fuck is happening.

"Bring her to the house in Waskom." I try to sound as much like Talon as I can. I'm sure I fail completely. I wouldn't believe me, that's for sure.

The man on the other end of the line agrees and then ends the call. As I stare at his number, I decide to go through my own phone to check if I can match it with a contact. When I find the owner of said fucking phone number, my blood turns cold.

Turning my head, I look behind me at King and Atomic. "It's fucking Loner. He's the rat. He's got my woman."

Their attention lifts, and their eyes meet mine. I watch as they widen, but it's Nash who speaks first.

"Then we'll be fucking waiting for him. This shit is done today. He has no fucking clue that Talon is gone. And we're going to enjoy pulling information out of him."

Nash is right. We are going to enjoy all of this. Then I'm going to fully enjoy fucking my woman covered in the blood of these fucks who thought they could use her as a pawn. This shit is done today.

Over and done.

KYLE

I don't knowwhere we're going, not that I would even if he gave me a play-by-play, because I don't know this area at all. I've only lived in Pineville for a few weeks as it is. I'm surrounded by pine trees, on a two-lane road, and empty land for miles on either side of us with a random house here and there.

Until Loner turns down one country road, then guides the pickup truck down a dirt road. I start to tremble in my seat. My body shakes uncontrollably. It's secluded out here, not just a little bit, but really secluded.

I don't think I'll be able to get away, not that I thought I could anyway, but if there is an opportunity, it will without a doubt be lost on me, because I'll be found by them in an instant with everything being so open and without any other people anywhere near.

The pickup pulls up to a house at the end of the long drive, and my lips part in awe. It's beautiful. I only wish this weren"t such a scary moment, because the house is gorgeous, and I would love to explore it.

Old houses are totally my thing. I love to look around, to take them in, to envision the past that once called this home. There are a million stories to be discovered in these old houses, and I want to hear them all.

"Stay the fuck there," Loner snaps once the truck stops.

His sharp words and warning tone cause me to snap out of my thoughts and back into reality. He jumps out of the pickup, and I do as he demands, staying perfectly still and wondering if I could get away, and if I did, where could I even go? Nowhere. That's the answer. There aren't even any trees to hide behind at this place. There's nothing but open fields of grass.

The passenger door flies open, and he doesn't even allow me to let myself down. Instead, he reaches for my arm and pulls me hard until I'm on the ground. Then he yanks my arm up and forces me to stand.

I don't understand why he's being so aggressive, but I don't chance asking him. He drags me behind him as he moves toward the front door of the house. I try to stay upright, not wanting to be dragged across the dirt drive. But I stumble and hit that red dirt more than once.

When we're finally to the front door, he pushes it open and throws me inside. My body is flung across the entry foyer of the house, and I land on my hip, sliding across the floor, trying not to make a sound but likely failing because that shit hurt.

I'm greeted with the sound of silence. Then I hear Loner from behind me somewhere. "What the fuck?" he hisses.

Slowly, I lift my eyes to the room and see him.

Him.

Rider.

His expression, which is focused directly on Loner, is nothing less than murderous.

Oh shit.