Chapter 18

Phoenix

“You need to calm the fuck down!” Leo growls as I slam my fist into this guy’s face. Someone knows something. They have to. She couldn't just disappear off the face of the earth. I’ve taken my anger out on half of Miami as I rip through every asshole that I can imagine had their hands on her.

“He knows where she is!” I roar, punching him again until his lifeless body falls to the floor. I’m not sorry either. I don’t typically kill without reason, but I have a good damn reason. Kenna is gone, and I have no fucking idea where she is. Leo slaps a hand on my shoulder before I finally step back. Running my hand over my face, I sigh.

“Where could she be, Leo? Intel says it wasn’t anyone around here!” Leo grabs my cut and drags me toward the door of the abandoned warehouse until we step into the hot Miami heat. Pulling a cigarette free, he passes me one.

“We need to think, Prez. Runnin’ around killin’ everyone that doesn't have an answer isn’t the right decisions and we both know it.” Fuck, he’s right but someone has my girl and that is not acceptable.

“She could be hurt, Leo. If one motherfucker lays a hand on her, I will tear this city apart to make them pay,” I tell him before inhaling the nicotine in my lungs.

“We’ll find her.” We stand in silence for a minute when I hear the familiar sound of a car engine. Leo and I both share a glance when we see Ascher’s car pull to a stop in front of us. Cocking my head to the side, I watch him climb out and head straight toward us.

“How the fuck did you know where we were?” I growl becoming increasingly annoyed with him popping up where we are.

“Doesn’t matter. Need to talk to you,” he says quickly looking at my bloody fist before moving to meet my gaze.

“I’m a little too busy for your shit, Ascher.” I shove off the wall and head toward the bikes, but I can feel his presence behind me.

“I’ve been hearing a lot of shit, Phoenix. I’ve investigated Philip and Kenna. This motherfucker isn’t who you thought he was.” His words cause me to stop in my tracks. I spin around and grab him by the throat, narrowing my eyes at him.

“You lookin’ into my girl? I thought I told you that she’s off limits to you, Ascher! Fuck this game her daddy wants her to play, she’s mine!” The growl thunders out of me causing Ascher to jolt.

“It’s not like that, Phoenix! I get it, okay? You love her. I’m not stupid enough to try to cross you over some chick but she’s missing, is she not?” Releasing the grip, I have on him, I step back and scrub my hand over my head in frustration.

“You wanna tells us what you heard, or you want me to let your brother hand your ass to you?” Leo chimes in. I know he’s just as much on edge as I am. He’s formed some sort of bond of his own with Kenna and it does my heart good to see that. She needs that, and she needs to know that this is her family now too.

“Ever heard of a club called Muskrats?” Ascher asks pulling a cigarette out and offering me one. I take one and light up needing something to do with my hands besides strangle him.

“They’re not from around here. Some little shit club right outside of Miami. What the hell do they have to do with Kenna?” Blowing out a puff of smoke, Ascher reaches into his pocket, pulling out a piece of paper and passing it to me. I look at it for a moment before taking it from his hands, glancing over at Leo before I open it.

“What the fuck is this?”

“It’s a contract between Donnie, the President of Muskrats MC and Philip. They have every reason to take her. According to this if anything happens to Donnie, Philip takes over the Muskrat MC and Miami.” My eyes scan the paper and everything Ascher just said is true.

“How the hell would that happen? They have to be married. There is no way in fuck that Kenna would marry that bastard. She’d die before she did that.” As the words leave my mouth, reality slams into me. She would rather die than hand anything over to anyone. Miami is her life. It’s her world and this is where she belongs. The thought of her out there pisses me off and fuels my rage.

“Call Lucky. Get the guys together. We’re goin’ after the Muskrats,” I tell Leo before turning back to Ascher. Leo walks away to make the phone calls as I stare at the man that has been my enemy for as long as I remember. With all the strength I can muster, I extend my hand to him. Much to my surprise, Ascher takes it in his.

“Appreciate you lookin’ into it. Muskrats weren’t even on my radar. I fuckin’ missed that one.” Ascher shakes his head, resting his hands on his hips.

“Don’t be hard on yourself, bro. I wouldn’t have looked if one my guys didn’t have a run in with one of his yesterday. I wanted to know all there was about those assholes. They threatened to ruin some of our coke runs so I had to see for myself what they were all about. My guy dug up some information on them and happened to stumble upon that,” he informs me. Nodding at him, I flick my cigarette through the air, watching it as it falls to the ground.

“Where does this leave us?” I ask looking him in the eye.

“Even. It leaves us even, bro. I don’t have any other family, Phoenix and you’re right. I left. I went to live my life and fucking left all this behind me. I do love this city, but it isn’t my heart like it is yours. Maybe after you get your girl back, we can talk.”

“Yeah, I think we can do that,” I tell him. Ascher nods and turns to head back to his car when he stops. He glances over his shoulder and asks,

“You want help with this? My car’s pretty quick. Get in, get out.” Without giving it much thought and knowing that Kenna may not be in any condition to ride, I nod.

“Yeah. That’d be great, brother.” Ascher smiles and it’s like looking in a goddamn mirror. If I’m being honest here, I missed my brother. I missed the other half of me that was always within reach, but we never could see eye to eye.

“Look, Phoenix. I know I fucked up in the past, bro. I know we’ve never been close and all that shit, but I at least want to be able to say hi to my brother without a fight, you know?”

“Fuck yeah I know. We’ll work on it, yeah?” Ascher starts to open his mouth to say more but Leo steps up next to us.

“Guys are on the way to the clubhouse and Lucky is pullin’ up an address.” Nodding my head, Ascher slaps a hand on my shoulder.

“Let’s go get your woman.”