Chapter 34

Thirty-Four

Rook

T here were only so many times you could drive up to your home, or anywhere that feels like home, and see it up in flames before you break. My limit was once, but as I pulled up in front of Maverick Moto after spending the night with Regan, I realized someone came to push my limits.

The entire front of the building was engulfed in flames. Firefighters were already there, making progress on putting it out, but I could see there wasn't much to save.

Thick, black smoke billowed into the sky, the flames burning hot as it took over.

I kicked my stand down, jumping off my bike and running up next to Aiden as he watched the building burn.

"Nobody's inside?" I asked. The panic of history repeating itself made me nauseous.

"No, everyone's out," Aiden said in a daze as Evie walked around the firetruck towards us. Hero wasn't far behind her.

"What the fuck?" My brain struggled to find anything else to say, but with Aiden, I wouldn't have to.

"Evie and I just got here. They were already here getting it out."

Evie came over, wrapping her arms around me as tears welled up. She wasn't one to cry, but I knew she remembered that night. She never talked about it, but it wasn't something you could easily forget, even if she was younger when it happened.

Hero came up, the tightness in his jaw making him look as pissed off as I felt. Evie stepped back, leaning against Aiden.

"They are thinking that accelerant was used on the lineup of new bikes in front."

"All gone?" I asked.

"All those are. The bikes in the back might be okay. They don't think it spread to the back as much yet, but they are struggling to get it under control. The chemicals and gas that we have all over keep popping and reigniting fires. They don't know how much will be saved."

"So we are kicked out of our home, and now can't even stay here," Evie said, turning to me. "What do we do now?"

My fists clenched at my sides, rage simmering just beneath the surface. If accelerant was used, this wasn't just random, this was a targeted attack. I stood there in silence, watching the flames consume more and more of the building. It was like watching someone eat away at your life. Inch by inch, foot by foot, the flames ate away at everything we had built.

"How sure are they that accelerant was used?" I asked Hero.

"If you are asking what I think you are, yeah, it was deliberate."

I nodded, taking a deep breath to steady myself. Did it have to be fire? It wasn't like it was a unique way to attack someone, but it felt so targeted at me. I hadn't told many people outside the group what had happened when we were younger, and even then, I didn't tell new guys like Zack and Kane. Not until I knew them better.

I had told Regan, though.

I didn't think she would set it on fire, but maybe her dad had connected the dots after Sweet Haven. Or maybe he found me through the work we did. I had no proof, but the nagging voice in my head made me wonder if Cameron Fletcher was behind this.

I leaned back on my bike, pulling out my phone.

Rook

Your dad been around today?

Regan

No? I think he left already. Why?

It wasn't enough. He could have and probably did, lie to her about everything. Including where he would be. I didn't know why she would tell him anything about my past when she hadn't even told him my name, but I still had to check.

Rook

Just wondering if you were still home alone.

Regan

I am. Are you coming over tonight?

I looked back at the fire, the snort of laughter coming from me, making everyone turn their heads.

"This is suddenly funny?" Evie asked.

"Regan asked if I would be coming over tonight. Is it too much to tell her I have no option but to come over?"

Aiden started laughing now. "There are enough rooms for all of us. Can we all come over?"

Hero didn't laugh, but turned to me. "That's not a bad idea. Could we all get in the rooms?"

"He's got a lot of cameras, but we could put up our dummy screens again," I said, actually contemplating it.

"You guys are dumb. Do you really think all of us could move into a house and go unnoticed? Where are you locking up your bikes every night?" Evie asked.

"True," Aiden said. "I'm not risking leaving them all out in the open to be found by Cameron."

"Or that we could all be found by Cameron," Evie said with a shake of her head. "Dumbasses."

I shoved a hand through my hair, trying to think of any solution that wouldn't get us kicked out or killed.

Rook

Miss me already?

Regan

That would be ridiculous.

Rook

You can be pretty ridiculous.

Regan

Look who's talking.

Rook

I'll be there, Rebel.

I wasn't going to add that six of my friends might be, too.

"We'll see what's left of this place and then find somewhere for the night," I said. "Maybe Regan will let us stay until her dad is back. That way, we aren't sneaking you all in, and at least have time to fucking think."

Mason drove up, pulling off his helmet as his mouth dropped open. "How the fuck did this happen?"

"Someone is after us," Hero said. "Decided to burn the building down."

I nodded to Aiden, urging him away from the rest of them.

"I don't want to say this in front of Evie," I said once we were out of earshot.

"You think it was Cameron," he said, the words a statement, not even a question.

"I'm wondering. Yeah. It seems a little coincidental that this happens right around the time we are catching on to him and I'm fucking around with his daughter."

"We have no way to know if it was."

"But I'm going to have to find out."

"Let's wait until our entire lives aren't burning down in front of us before running off."

My jaw clenched. "I don't need to stand here looking at this."

"Maybe not, but I think the rest of us are going to need you to. Evie included."

He was right. I couldn't run off quite yet, even if I wanted to hunt Cameron down.

"Fine, but I'm going as soon as I can."

"I can go, too."

"Thanks," I said as we headed back. "It looks like they are starting to get some control on the fire. I guess we go see what's left of our lives?"

Aiden groaned, but he headed towards the building with us.

For one more day of my life, I would get to sift through the ashes and see what I had left.

I was going to kill whoever did this. That was pretty easy to decide on, but that nagging voice still made me wonder if it was Cameron.

And if it was, what I did to him was going to be so much worse than death.

A few hours later, the fire department cleared out, leaving us with a smoldering shell of a building. None of the bikes made it. Even my backup bike was ruined. The office we had was gone. Luckily, most of the back of the garage had nothing in it except steel and our toolboxes, which were charred, but everything inside made it.

"My computer is trash," Evie said, looking at her little corner that had her desk. "I'm going to need a new setup immediately."

"And where the fuck are you setting it up?" Hero asked. "Going to set up thousands of dollars of computer equipment in the alley?"

"Shut up, Hero. I don't need your smartass comments," Evie snapped.

"No? I have to deal with your smartass comments all the time. What's the difference?"

"Fuck you," she snapped.

"You wish," Hero said. I knew he meant it as a joke, but I wasn't in the fucking mood for his jokes. Aiden apparently wasn't either.

He stomped over, throwing one punch to Hero's jaw.

Hero stumbled back, already coiling to throw a punch back at Aiden, but I froze, hearing the squeal of tires on pavement before they did.

"Shut the fuck up," I yelled, turning back towards the road. The building was so burned, I could see out the front easy enough. A car peeled out, the back of it disappearing before I even had a chance to look at the plate.

Everyone finally stopped bitching long enough for all of us to head out front. A heap of clothes sat near the road. I kept moving, getting close enough to see part of an arm sticking out from the clothes.

My heart stopped.

It was a body.

Zack, Kane, and Regan weren't here, which meant all three of them were a possibility. I ran now, rolling the body over with a small sigh of relief.

It didn't last long when I realized that I did know who it was.

My informant, the guy I had worked with for years, was now rolled over dead in our driveway.

A bloodied note was stapled to his body.

"You're next," Aiden read over my shoulder. "Is this for you?"

"Me or all of us," I said, looking the guy over. It seemed like he had been beaten to death, but there really wasn't a way to know if he had been shot.

"So someone is burning down our place and threatening us on the same day?" Mason asked.

"Looks that way. I'm guessing it has to be the same person," I said, standing up and pacing. I needed to think. I needed to figure out what was happening, and I needed to do it fast.

But I wasn't even sure where to start.

"What are we doing now?" Hero asked, picking up the bloodied note to inspect it more.

I looked from the burned building to the beaten, wrecked body of the man I had worked with for years. He wasn't an upstanding citizen by any means, but he was a good guy and didn't deserve whatever torture they put him through.

Tortured because of me.

What if any of them were next? Or Evie? Or Regan?

We had nowhere safe to go, no way to stay protected or regroup. Once again, I had to sort out my life without a fucking thing to start with besides ash.

I grabbed my helmet and swung onto my bike.

"We find out what the fuck is going on," I said. "Reach out to anyone you think could know something. Aiden, can you?—"

"Not let Evie out of my sight?" he asked with a smirk. "Yeah, no problem."

"Thanks. We're out for blood now," I said. "So let's go spill theirs before they spill ours."

I parked my bike in front of the office building. The ridiculous ways these drug lords didn't even try to hide anymore made me roll my eyes. A sky-high office building right in the middle of downtown Valeport.

Asher, one of the top four drug suppliers in the city, was nearly a friend now. Or at least as much of a friend that you can call a drug lord when you do business together. I pulled open the glass doors, stepping inside to see the receptionist, who smiled at me.

She was younger, but she didn't seem worried or scared. Which made me think she had been working here long enough to know the type of people that walked in here.

"How can I help you?" she asked, still smiling.

"I need to see Asher."

"Don't we all," she said with a shake of her head. "Do you have an appointment?"

"Does he even take appointments?" I asked, leaning on the counter. There were plenty of times I would blow past a front desk, or ignore the receptionist to get to the boss, but not here. I wouldn't fuck with Asher or the security setups he had in place. I would be dead before I made it through the door.

The receptionist was laughing now, clicking at her computer. "Not really, but I still like to ask. Let me see if he's in. Your name?"

"Rook. And it's urgent."

She picked up the phone, whispering into it before hanging up with a smile. "Apparently, he was expecting you to come by at some point. You can go up."

I didn't say a word, pushing past through several doors and one ridiculously long elevator ride before I stepped into Asher's office.

Asher glanced up from his desk. The suit and tie he was in almost made me laugh.

"Such a proper businessman now. This is nothing like the shit warehouse you used to work out of in jeans and an old t-shirt."

He smirked, leaning back in his chair. "Really moved up in life, didn't I? Business is good and you've helped keep it that way."

"Does this mean you aren't the one threatening to kill me and my guys?"

His eyebrow cocked. "Your guys? I think you mean your girl, too."

My blood ran cold, and I fell back into the chair across from them. "Evie, too?"

Asher knew all of us well enough and I knew he still had a thing for Evie. If someone was out to kill her, he wouldn't be in on it.

"Her, too, but apparently you have a new girl on your bike and people have taken notice. No word on who she is, but there is a price on her head, too. Actually," he said, clicking open his phone, "it looks like someone will get paid pretty nice if they kill you or you and her, but if they manage to just kill her for now, the price is higher."

The words took too long to process. Someone wanted me dead, and not only did they want me dead, but they wanted me to suffer first. They wanted Regan killed, and me left alive, probably just long enough for me to suffer before the price on my head went up.

"You've got to be fucking kidding me," I mumbled.

"Who the fuck did you piss off so bad for this?"

"I piss off a lot of people. And with you all continually getting your shit stolen and having me come clean up your mess, the list of people wanting me dead seems to get longer with each job."

He shrugged. "Yeah, I'm getting pretty fucking sick of whoever keeps messing with my shipments. You figure out anything about it?"

"Considering the guy I had running for information was dropped off dead in front of my garage that was burned down today? And he had a nice note left for me that I'm next. No. I have an idea, but no fucking proof."

"Wow, you're having a great day," Asher said with a smile. "Someone is causing trouble for you. Want to share who?"

"I think it's Cameron Fletcher."

"Why?"

"I have my reasons," I said. I didn't share about my past, leaving nothing clear enough to trace back to who I was whenever I could.

Asher shifted in his chair and leaned back. "He has come around asking if I needed help with my security. Supposedly, he wants another meeting tomorrow."

"Did you take him up on the offer?"

"Not a fucking chance. The man is a rat. He'd weaken my security before he ever helped it. He works for hacks and is a hack himself."

"I heard that a few of your competitors are taking him up on his offer."

"Are you fucking kidding me?" he asked, mouth dropping open. I shook my head. "Those fucking idiots. So they are taking him up on his offer of extra security and now we have rats running through the city stealing shipments?"

"What a coincidence, right?" I asked.

"And how does this tie back to you getting your business burned down and a hit on your head?"

"History. If he knows who I am, he would put a hit out on me immediately. I'm telling you this because I know damn fucking well you wouldn't put Evie in danger."

He didn't say a word, but he gave a sharp nod in agreement.

"That girl on my bike with a bigger price on her head is Cameron Fletcher's daughter."

His mouth dropped open again, before he burst out laughing. "So we are looking at possibly her own father putting a hit out on her and not even knowing? God, that's fucking good. I miss you guys. You're always up to some wild shit."

"I think he fucking hates her. He might even know it's her and still put the hit out."

"Cold. What a piece of shit. How are you going to find out if it's him? If he's turning the rest of the lords against you, you're fucked."

"Has he said anything to you about me, then?"

"Not yet, but like I said, he's coming back tomorrow, and now I'm more curious than ever what it's about."

"You going to turn on us, too?" I asked, not truly thinking he would.

"You can do more for me and my business than Cameron ever could."

"What about the hit on my girl? Because there is no way they will know if it's her or Evie on my bike."

"I hope you know just because I had a thing for your sister years ago doesn't mean I care now."

"I know that."

"But, yeah, already told my guys to stand down and they won't get paid even if they do the job. Can't guarantee anything, though, because we are talking about a life-changing amount for most of these guys."

"I get it, but appreciate it. I have to go sort out… Well, sort out fucking everything. Will you keep me updated? I'll do a few jobs on the house if there's no delay in information."

He smiled, standing up with me. "You know I like keeping my money, don't you? Yeah, I'll keep you updated. I suggest finding somewhere locked up for a few days with your pack. People will be combing the streets for you all. I don't think there will be any concern if they hit the wrong rider."

"Already on it. Hey, since someone burned down my shop, you know any good buildings I can buy?"

Asher smiled. "I might actually know just the place. I'll text you the address, but you're not allowed to go by until after this shit is settled. I don't need to lose my sales because of you."

"No problem. One more thing. If you find out any confirmed information that Cameron's behind this, let me have him. We have plenty of history and I would like to be the one to get rid of him."

"No problem. Easier for me if he's dead and I don't have to clean up. Does this have anything to do with you fucking around with his daughter?"

I headed back towards the elevator, turning back to him.

"I'm not fucking around with his daughter. I don't care who she is to him. She's mine, and he just threatened to take her away."