KATRINA

 

The engine rumbled underneath me. The wind blew through my hair. I hugged Jordan tight as we made our way through the streets of Ivory.

It was the middle of the evening and everybody was about to get their night started. After more than a week away from Ivory, I was more anxious than anybody else to finally get away from the trees that surrounded me. It didn’t hurt that I had to deal with seeing Blake kill four men who were trying to murder us.

We arrived at the clubhouse faster than I expected. Jordan was driving like he was in a hurry.

I felt safe with my brother. It was the same kind of safe I felt when I was with Blake. But seeing the rest of my brother’s club in The Bone Pit helped me forget about everything that happened the day before Blake headed back to town.

As soon as we got inside, everybody greeted me warmly. The club members all patted me on the shoulders. Even some of the patrons I didn’t know smiled at me. Blake cleared a path for me toward the bar.

“She’s had a rough experience,” he said. “Everybody give her some space. And don’t even think about trying anything. Anybody who makes my sister uncomfortable is gonna have to answer to me and the rest of the Cobras.”

Everybody cheered and toasted their glasses before returning to the usual debauchery they were up to.

It was a rowdy night in The Bone Pit, the same as all the others. But everybody else seemed distant. Right now, it was just me and my brother.

“Two shots,” Jordan said to the bartender. “Something lighter for my sister. How about some vodka?”

“Vodka?” I said with a laugh.

“You gotta drink something. You’ve been through more shit than I could imagine. The alcohol will help you with some of those frayed nerves you’re dealing with.”

“Right… It would be nice to have a drink. How about just a beer?”

“A beer. You heard my sister.”’

The bartender poured me a mug of beer while my brother downed the two shots of vodka like they were nothing. The bartender kept serving my brother up while I stared at the glass of beer.

“How are you feeling?” he asked.

“I told you,” I sighed. “I’m fine. You don’t have to worry about me.”

“They didn’t get you, did they?”

He put a hand up to my face and examined me like he was a doctor. It was hard not to laugh at his overprotectiveness.

“I’m fine,” I said. “Pushing his hand away.”

“You had a run-in with the fucking Spades. That’s not some shit you get over easily.”

“I know… But I didn’t really have a run-in with them. It was more Blake that had to deal with them.”

“Blake… Right…”

Jordan rolled his eyes when he heard the name. He swallowed another shot of liquor and let out a satisfied sigh. Even though he could drink with the best of them, Jordan was drinking more than he usually did.

He looked at me and grinned. It was such a relief to see his smiling face.

“It’s good to see you,” I sighed. “For a moment there, I thought I would never see you again.”

“Fuck that! Reapers are weepers. There’s no way I was gonna let them hold my sister captive like that. Trying to blackmail me into playing along with their stupid game. The nerve of those motherfuckers… He didn’t do anything to you, did he?”

“I’m fine,” I said.

“You can be honest with me. Nobody is gonna hurt you now.”

“He didn’t hurt me. He didn’t tie me up. He didn’t lock me in my room. We were out in the middle of nowhere. I was free to roam around because nobody was gonna find us.”

“Someone did find you.”

“Yeah… How did that happen?”

I raised an eyebrow at my brother. I knew Jordan better than anybody. He would never lie to me. But there was a feeling in my stomach I couldn’t shake.

Jordan’s eyes widened.

“What are you getting at?” he asked.

“They tried to kill Blake.”

“It’s a shame they didn’t…”

“You don’t sound too upset they almost did. You wouldn’t happen to know anything about it now, would you?”

“The fuck has gotten into you, Kat? You know I would do anything to protect you.”

“Like hiring a white supremacist gang to try and rescue me.”

“Nah,” he said, shaking his head. “I might not care much about the Reapers but I’d cut off my hands before I did business with the Spades. Those motherfuckers are insane. No honor. No loyalty. Just looking out for their own skin color. There’s no place for them in Ivory.”

“But there is a place for the Reapers, isn’t there?”

Jordan chuckled as he ordered another shot. I crossed my arms and waited for a response. When he noticed that I wasn’t laughing along with him, the smile disappeared from his face.

“The Reapers will stay on their side of town,” he said. “And we’ll stay on our side. As far as I’m concerned, our business with them is finished. Let them figure out why the Spades are trying to kill ‘em. Let them figure out who hit Garnet’s old lady. I’m washing my hands clean of them.”

“That’s not how it works.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Blake brought me back because I told him I would tell you to keep working with them.”

“Good,” he said. “You tricked him. You always were the smarter Harris.”

Jordan stuck his tongue out and laughed. All the alcohol he had was beginning to affect him.

“Don’t you care?” I said. “There’s some maniac out there on the loose. They hit an innocent woman. They just tried to kill a patch from one of the major clubs in this town—”

“What the hell do you want me to do, Kat? Huh? What the fuck can I do? There’s no evidence. We don’t know where to look.”

“What about the Spades? They attacked Blake for a reason.”

“That’s not my concern. It’s not yours either. Let the Reapers deal with those motherfuckers.”

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. I was trying so hard to get through to Jordan but he insisted on not listening to me.

I took a step back from the bar and crossed my arms. I went over everything in my head as I stared out into the clubhouse.

Everything that happened was still fresh in my memory. Getting abducted by the Reapers. Spending time with Blake. The attack by the Spades.

It wasn’t over.

Jordan may not have wanted any part of it but he was still involved in this, one way or another.

When my brother noticed how upset I was with him, he sighed and put a hand on my shoulder.

“You’ve been through a lot,” he said. “You’re my sister. Mom and dad are gone. It’s just you and me now. I have to do everything I can to protect you.”

“I know that. But this is about more than protecting me.”

“The Reapers abducted you.”

“Because an innocent woman was in an accident and they were trying to get answers.”

“Answers I don’t have…”

He squeezed his hand around my shoulder and shook me gently. He was doing little to console me even though it probably sounded good in his head.

“Let it go,” he said. “Move on. I know that was a tough ordeal for you but there’s no reason you have to—”

“Do you care about me?”

His mouth hung half-open. He blinked his eyes like he was hurt.

“Kat… How can you say something like that?”

“I gave my word to Blake. I told him that you would help get to the bottom of this.”

“What do you want me to do? We spent more than a week looking for answers. If there’s someone responsible for all of this, they’re not out there—”

“The Spades. It starts with the Spades. You have to at least look into them.”

“They were trying to kill him, not you.”

“What does that matter? Blake protected me from them, don’t you understand? They would have abducted me or raped me or even worse—”

“Enough!”

He cut me off, his voice loud enough to distract some of the other patrons around us. Some people turned and looked at him. He sighed a deep breath to calm himself down then stared at me with a sincerity I knew he had inside of him.

“The Spades are not somebody you want to deal with,” he said.

“Look at you. The big, bad, tough biker. Afraid of another gang. You think they might hurt you?”

“I’m not afraid of them hurting me. That’s not what makes them scary. No, I’m afraid of them hurting the ones I love most… That’s how they get you. They hit the ones you care about.”

Jordan had his hand on my shoulder the entire time. He squeezed me gently before releasing me.

“They hit the ones you care about,” I said. “Like the old lady from the Reapers who’s in the hospital right now.”

Jordan didn’t say anything. He didn’t even look at me. He just downed another shot, trying to use the alcohol to escape from the pressure I was trying to put on him.

“I thought you’d be happy to see me again,” he sighed.

“I am happy.”

“Then why aren’t you acting like it?”

“Because you know this isn’t finished. There’s still business—”

“Reaper business. I’m not a Reaper. My loyalty is only to my club and the people I care about.”

“What about the people I care about?”

He narrowed his eyes at me. His brow furrowed like he was angry.

“No,” he said, shaking his head. “What’s gotten into you? Why do you care so much—”

He cut himself off. Jordan knew the answer he didn’t want to admit.

“He manipulated you,” he sighed. “He used you. He tricked you into thinking that there’s some honor in being a Reaper.”

“He didn’t manipulate me. He didn’t trick me or lie to me. No, I did everything on my own.”

“No, Kat…”

“Yes, Jordan. I did it. I fucked a Reaper. And I loved every second of it.”

I said it loud enough to draw the attention of the people around us. But I didn’t care. There was nothing else left to hide. The disappointment on my brother’s face wasn’t enough to make me care.

“Why are you doing this to me, Kat?” he sighed.

“I’m not doing anything to you. I’m just trying to reason with you. If you really care about me, you’ll keep working with the Reapers. You’ll look into this and try to figure out why the Spades tried to kill me.”

Jordan bit the inside of his cheek. His throat bobbed up and down with a swallow. Despite all the alcohol he had, I could see in his eyes that his thoughts were clear and sober.

He wasn’t looking at me as he spoke.

“I love you, Kat,” he said. “You’re my sister. You matter to me more than anybody else in the world.”

“Then why won’t you do this?” I asked. “Why won’t you look into the Spades… for me?”

He slowly turned his head toward me and shook his head.

“Because you don’t know what you’re saying,” he said. “You’ve been gone for a long time. Spending all that time out there has messed you up. Once you take some time to clear your head, you’ll forget all about this guy and this whole situation. That’s all you need.”

“What I really need is to get away from you.”

“We haven’t seen each other in more than a week. You can’t be serious.”

“Jordan,” I sighed. “I haven’t seen you in more than eight years before I came back to town. If I knew you were going to be like this, maybe I shouldn’t have come back at all.”

“Kat… We’re supposed to be celebrating. Like family. At least have a drink with me.”

“No. I… I gotta go.”

“Where are you going?”

“Home. I’m going home, so I could lie in my bed. It’s been a long time.”

“It’s not safe.”

“I’ll be fine. I’m not a little girl anymore.”

I turned on my heel before he could try to convince me to stay. I got a cab as quickly as I could.

As I rode down the street back to my apartment, I sent a text on my phone.

Blake.

I had to see him again. Maybe it was because I’d spent so much time with him, but he was the only thing in town that made any sense.