Chapter Seven
~Dover~
We ride for about an hour before we stop for some chow. My phone pings with a new email, another flagged one from another bogus account, yet it still calls to me.
Subject Line: X needs to know
Waving the guys inside the small shack of a restaurant, I click the button to open the email. My heart pounds wildly in my chest, adrenaline reaching a pitching point.
You boys have made a name for yourselves, Collector, one that calls out to Owen Gallow’s past. She’s no ghost, and she’s in bed with the enemy. He’s waiting for X to call his name. He’s watching. Everywhere you go, he’s watching.
What the fuck!
With my frustration building and the cryptic email only leaving me with more questions than answers, I make my way inside the place.
Turning the chair backward, I straddle it against the table as I toss my phone down.
“Got two emails, both flagged suspicious and both calling out X.” I look at my brother, watching his brows draw together in confusion.
“I got a shitty past, a shitty future, and everything I have right now is at this table.” He tells us all what we already know.
“I didn’t open the first one. The second just pinged.”
When I slide my phone across the table, X picks it up and enters my password. I have nothing to hide from my brothers. The same respect and trust are given to me.
“X should know,” he reads the subject line to us all. “Hadley’s in deep.”
The scar on his face seems to tick, and I see a slight tremble in his hand before he stills himself.
With a flick of his thumb, he opens the second email and reads it to the guys while I watch my brother try to remain impassive as his past clearly collides with the present.
“Hadley,” Trapper says her name with a smirk. “We gotta meet her just so I can say I had me some Hadley and had her howling ‘owe, owe, owe,’ as I pounded into that tight cunt with my camel cock while Owe, Owe, Owen here watches. Yes, fellas, dreams can come true.”
X looks at Trapper. “You are one sick son of a bitch; you know that?”
“Tell me something I don’t already know,” he continues to arrogantly push X to the limit. He pauses for a moment, leaning his chair back on two legs as he taps his finger on his chin. “Well, currently, I don’t know what Hadley’s pussy tastes like or feels like, but given the email is calling for us to come save the day, I’m sure I’ll find out.” He winks.
X pulls his switchblade from his side, flicking it open. He kicks the chair out from Trapper, and Trapper slams his hand down on the table to catch himself.
X jambs the blade down into the table between Trapper’s middle and ring finger. “First, Hadley has never been the type of girl to let a single soul save her. Second, if you ever even fucking think of tasting that pussy, I’ll cut your tongue out of your big fucking mouth and lay it on the table in front of you.”
Trapper stands without missing a beat and casually slaps the back of his hand to X’s chest. “Temper, temper. You can have Hadley to yourself, but could you at least let me watch?”
“X, focus,” Collector growls as he throws his fork at Trapper. “You, go wash your hands, rub one off in the bathroom, drop some logs in the toilet—I don’t give a shit. Just get the hell outta here for a few minutes, Trapper, before you get yourself killed.”
Sticking his tongue out and down to flick it, Trapper makes his way from our table.
“Gene Simmons has left the table,” Judge calls out loudly enough for Trapper to hear.
“The KISS singer only wishes he could work his mouth like me,” Trapper calls out without looking back.
“You work more like Richard Simmons: a lot of jazz hands and show with a lot less action, you fucker,” Judge spits back, making us all laugh and taking away the tension for a moment.
We all settle down while Trapper goes off to do whatever the hell it is he needs to do to wind down. The man is seriously warped. He’s seen some fucked up shit, lived when he should have died, and he’s so twisted up inside it’s impossible to know what his next move should be.
“He needs fucking meds,” X spits out, still staring at my phone with his knife sticking in the table.
“Hadley’s in deep,” I redirect all of our attention back to the matter at hand.
“Hadley Combs is fucking dead,” X says coldly. “Least, that’s what the hospital said when I went looking after finding her blanket bloody under the Pontchartrain Expressway where we shared a tent.” His expression hardens as the man fights back the memories.
“Looks like we need to dig into things,” Deacon comments, picking up his phone and clicking away.
We each order a burger and fries, as well as one for Trapper, while we wait for Deacon to get a response from his contact.
It’s not long before Trapper is strolling back to our table with smeared lipstick around his lips and readjusting his belt. He slaps our waitress on the ass as her co-worker steps out from behind him with the buttons on her shirt out of order and her hair a disheveled mess.
“You’re next, darlin’. And if you’re lucky, I’ll have you both at the same time.” His words get a giggle from both women as he continues on in our direction.
“Dirty man-whore,” Rowdy says, taking a drink from his glass.
“That one was a little dirty,” Trapper gives back as he sits down just before our food arrives. “Thanks for thinking of me, sweets.”
“Jackass, we ordered for you,” X informs him, causing the waitress to drop her smile.
I get two bites into my cheeseburger before Deacon’s phone pings.
He chews his food and swallows while the rest of us are literally waiting with our sandwiches in hand for the information.
While he picks up his phone, I watch X carefully as he steels his emotions.
“Hadley Combs is alive,” Deacon reads the screen. “Possible whereabouts in Dyersburg, Tennessee.”
When he doesn’t say anything else and sets the phone down, X looks ready to pounce.
“Well?”
“Well, what?” Deacon asks, picking up his burger.
“What else?” X barks with his jaw ticking anxiously.
“Nothing else. That’s what I got. We eat, ride out to Dyersburg, and see what we can find,” Deacon, ever steady, says, continuing to eat as if he didn’t change the entire course of X’s past.
Just when I think, I will be able to leave Tennessee behind for a while, I get sucked back in.
Dyersburg, here we come. I hope we can solve Hadley’s shit. After all, when the devil demands his due, nothing and no one will stand in our way.