Chapter 16

Trix

Iwake up in the morning and it only takes a minute for everything that happened yesterday to come flooding back. The whole situation is pretty damn surreal. I know the best of all possible solutions is an arranged marriage with someone I actually like, and I swear when that hot biker smiles at me I can't think straight. Maybe if I could, then I'd be protesting against being used as bargaining chip, but the situation is what it is. And I think I might be okay with it all.

Vapor had to leave super early, apparently there was some mix up with an order for his shop, so he had to go to Heartsford and deal with it. Since Vapor brought my phone back, I reach over and check the messages, only Vapor and Hark have this number. I find a slew of messages and they're all extremely alarming.

I quickly get dressed and I creep downstairs, tiptoeing over the brothers passed out on the floor, and somehow make it to the front door without being caught. It looks like there was a party last night. I hadn't heard anything, then again, I'd been too busy enjoying Vapor's company to notice.

Once I'm out of the clubhouse entrance I open the first message, it's from Jamus who apparently made it back to the Hounds' clubhouse after he was released.

Listen up, girl. If you manage to get away from the Legion, don't you dare come back to the clubhouse. It's not safe for you here. Go stay with one of your friends and keep your head down, I'll explain later.

Panicking, I scroll through and listen to a voice message from my oldest brother, Tracker.

"I've got no time to explain. There's been an incident at the clubhouse. Don't come here under any circumstances. I'll call you back when I can."

As I walk toward where I parked my car, I listen to the last message, it's from Hark.

His voice sounds panicked. "Trix, run. Get as far away from Las Salinas as possible. Decker was furious that Gramps reneged on the deal with his family in favor of the one offered by the Legion. He said you belong to his family. There was a fight and Decker ended up shooting Gramps in the chest. He's in surgery but things aren't looking good. Tracker, Jamus, and me are at the hospital and I don't know what's gonna happen to us when this is all over. I don't think we're gonna survive this, but you can. Just get out of town and don't come back. It's the only way, I love you."

Well fuck that, I think to myself. Rummaging in my bag I realize I left my keys on the nightstand. Damn it. If I go back in, there is a good chance one of those bodies I tiptoed over will wake up. If that happens, they're not going to allow me to go anywhere, much less to see my piece of shit grandfather. He's the last person I want to see, but if Tracker, Hark, and Jamus are there then they can fill me in and maybe I can figure out how to get them to safety. I quickly call Uber and a car shows up fifteen minutes later. I climb into the back seat, still lost in my own thoughts. "Take me to the hospital, pronto."

"Yes ma'am," the driver replies crisply.

I sink back into the seat and pull my coat closer around my body as I think about the messages I got. Decker has always been all ‘yes sir, no sir, three bags full sir' with my grandfather. Now, he's suddenly got balls of solid brass. Shooting my grandfather should have bought him a bullet to the head by the Hellfire Hounds. Decker isn't even a Hound, he's a Grave Digger. So how the hell is he still alive, much less in a position to kill my brothers? For something like that to happen, Decker would have had to wrestle control of the club away from my grandfather. I can't see how that could happen. Decker has always been subservient to my grandfather and most of the other brothers as well. Something's going on and I don't like the sound of it. The sooner I can get to my brothers and Jamus the better.

A horrible thought creeps into my mind. I can't see Decker doing something like this unless his father or brother showed up. They might make him shoot the club president to prove loyalty to the Grave Diggers or something along those lines. In fact, they might have shown up in force. Holy shit, this could mean they've taken over my grandfather's club by force. The Hounds might even be looking at being patched over the by the Grave Diggers.

If so, my grandfather would have fought tooth and nail to keep that from happening. It would have taken nothing short of a bullet to the chest to take him out of action.

***

We pull up at the hospital, I pay some of the money Hark gave me to the driver and rush into the emergency room. I don't make it three steps before someone grabs me and shoves me against the wall. It's Decker.

"Didn't you get any of the messages your brothers sent? You're supposed to fucking run."

I shove his hands away. "Don't touch me. I'm not going anywhere until I speak to my brothers and check on my grandfather."

"Prepare yourself," he whispers. "The stupid fucker is not going to make it."

"I don't understand why you would kill him over a marriage you clearly didn't want."

A nurse walks by, giving us a weird look. Decker steps back to give me some room. I don't stop badgering him for information. I can't hope to help my family unless I have a clear idea of what's going on. "Why did you try to kill my grandfather? You were a trusted associate of the Hellfire Hounds, and our families were creating an alliance."

"You think I shot the crazy old man because I wanted too? He reneged on the deal he made with my club. My old man wanted compensation, but your grandfather thought it would be a better idea to kill me instead."

Shock rolls through my body. "What? Why would he do that? He got territory and cash in the deal he made with the Savage Legion. He could have split it with the Diggers."

He reaches out and gives my arm a jerk. "You're a woman. You don't know anything about how our world works."

"You better make this make sense or I'm calling the police. We'll let them figure out if it was self-defense or not. At this stage I honestly don't care what I might be bringing down onto the club."

"It was, there were twenty eyewitnesses. Look Trix, you know that I like Tracker but we both know he's not club president material."

"Shut your mouth. The Hellfire Hounds belongs to him, now that King is down."

An aid pushes a wheelchair past us. We stop our conversation until the hallway is clear. There weren't many people milling about this early in the day. Once the area is clear, Decker speaks again.

"Tracker loves that fucking bar the Legion owns enough to work there for free even after his debt was paid. That tells me he was avoiding the responsibility of transitioning into one of the officers' slots."

I don't say anything, I remember the conversation I had with Tracker weeks ago when he said he wanted to leave. I know that's what he wanted at the time, but if something had happened to my grandfather, would he still walk away—or would he claim his birthright?

"You can't expect my brother to let you walk off with everything our grandfather built. Surely the Hounds are never going to vote you in as club president." I was getting exasperated trying to talk sense into Decker.

He lowers his voice. "They already did."

I gasp as my hands fly to my mouth. "You're now the club president of the Hellfire Hounds?"

"No. Look Trix. There is no Hellfire Hounds MC anymore. The club got patched over by the Grave Diggers, my old man is the president."

"I don't understand. Why would you do that? Why would my grandfather's men agree?"

"I know this will come as a shock to you, but this was the plan all along. The Hounds were always going to get patched over. The marriage alliance was just a way to get close. Everyone knows that the Hounds were on their way out, a failing club led by an old man with no vision. Once some time had passed, I was supposed to talk Tracker into a patch over. King was always the problem. None of the other brothers cared what the club name is. They're in it for the money, which King could never keep flowing in sufficient quantities for all the brothers to be satisfied."

"Jesus, you used to ignore the hell of me and now you're my new best friend, telling me all the club business I'm not supposed to know."

Decker rolls his eyes. "There's a fuck ton of shit I'm not telling you."

"Why tell me anything?" I shoot back.

"I want you to understand enough to convince Tracker and Hark to find something else to do with their lives. To back the fuck off. We burned their fucking cuts, I can't have them out there trying to start the Hounds back up. I don't want to be always looking over my shoulder and wondering when they're going to pop back up and try to take the club back. They're both good kids, I'm giving them a chance."

"My grandfather owns the land and the building, if anything happens to him then it'll go to us."

"No, he doesn't. That was in the club's name. The minute we patched over the Hounds all their property became legally ours."

I open my mouth to object, but he stops me by holding up one hand. I don't flinch when he leans closer and whispers, "If they don't stand down immediately, I'll be forced to let my gun do the talking, like I did with King. This is your chance to save the lives of two out of three of your remaining family members."

I want to scream at him to stay the hell away from my family and that I hate him for gunning down my grandfather, but I don't get the chance because someone jerks him away.

He's there one moment and gone the next. It takes me a second to realize that Vapor grabbed him by the scruff of the neck and has him pressed against the far wall in the little alcove we're standing in. I watch Vapor whisper something into Decker's ear. I can't make out what he said but it pisses Decker off to the point that he throws his elbow back into Vapor's chest. He absorbs the hit like it was nothing, before perp walking Decker a few feet to the door and literally tossing him out.

When he turns, I rush over to him. Before I can say anything, he opens his arms to me. Relief surges through my whole body. Once I'm locked safely in his warm embrace, he whispers, "I heard about your grandfather and came as soon as I could."

"How did you know where I was?" I ask, still shaking.

"You don't think I'd give you back the phone without putting a tracker on it. It's not that I don't trust you," he pauses and gives me a pointed look reminding me that I'm the one with trust issues. I motion for him to explain why he's tracking me, "The Hounds and the Diggers are sneaky fuckers, I wouldn't put it past them to do something like try and take you. Okay, there's a chance they'd toss the phone, but it was all I could think of aside from getting you chipped."

"Chipped?" I ask, having horrible visions of microchipped animals.

"Exactly what it sounds like. Many of our club members and their families have a small tracking device inserted. We did it when we were having problems with a ruthless organization called the syndicate, it saved lives."

I left that hanging, I really didn't like the idea of having a tracking device on my person. Changing the subject, I addressed the elephant in the room, "I'm sorry I left without sending you a text. When I checked my messages, I kind of panicked." We both knew that wasn't the full extent of the story, but he didn't push me to talk about why I didn't trust him to let me come to the hospital. In retrospect, I should have, but I guess I'm gonna have to work on my trust issues going forward.