CHAPTER 29
AXLE
Just as I shut the door behind me, I freeze to my spot.
Sledge is sitting on a chair across from me, his eyes cast downward, and his hands clasped together.
“Liza is loyal to the club,” he says calmly, his eyes coming up at the end of that sentence.
Tensing, I step closer to him, but keep my body between him and the door that shields Maya.
“I know,” I say cautiously, warily gauging his body language that would trick someone into thinking he’s relaxed.
He glances at me then past me to the door, and I grow tenser. No doubt he heard all that. I assumed everyone was outside.
His gaze settles on me again.
“The way you’re protecting her, keeping yourself between me and her, that’s not something I’ve ever done for Liza. She would have kicked my ass for thinking she needed my protection,” he states emotionlessly.
I say nothing at first, but finally find something diplomatic to respond with. “Liza is tough.”
He nods slowly.
“She joined the Death Dealers at fifteen, worked her way into a respectable position at one of the bars. I was twenty when I joined the club. She was twenty-five, and she liked the way I looked. She wasn’t my piece of ass; I was hers.”
My arms cross over my chest as I try to figure out where he’s going with this.
“Mean as a rattlesnake, she was. Still is,” he says, smiling tightly. “Tough as a bear.” He pauses as he holds my gaze. “And cunning as a fox.”
Slowly, he stands, and I let my arms fall to my sides as we stand at almost even heights—me, just a little taller than him.
“She wouldn’t have screamed,” he says while looking down, confusing the hell out of me. “Even if they’d chopped her arms off, she wouldn’t have given them the satisfaction of screaming.”
His eyes come back up to mine, as I try to decide if he’s saying what I think he is.
“She would have fought,” he goes on, biting the words out like they’re acid. “She would have had skin under her nails. She’d have drawn their blood. They’d have had to beat her almost unconscious to get their hands on her, but there wasn’t a mark on her.”
I nod slowly, letting him know I understand. And honestly, I agree.
“She’s always thought me a fool,” he goes on, clearing his throat. “Always thought me too soft. Even hated it when I took Rush in because she thought it made me look weak to care about some kid. She always treated me like I was beneath Herrin, but good enough to warm her bed.”
He grabs a blunt that is idling on the table, lighting it and taking a long puff. As the smoke billows from his lips, he adds, “She’s loyal to the club. Just not ours.” His eyes move to the bedroom where Maya is. “And your girl is too smart to be fooled. She’s outside all this, looking in. And she knows how to run an operation four times the size of ours.”
“I’m aware,” I state dubiously.
“She’ll see shit we can’t. Listen to her. Because she saw through Liza immediately…probably saved lives today. It took me some calming down before I thought about it, and I felt like I was a fucking asshole for considering it. I’m glad I overheard her talking to you, because now I know I’m not a reprehensible piece of shit for my suspicions.”
That was a hell of a lot easier than I expected, but then again, I expected him to be emotionally attached. He seems resigned to the truth as though he’s been defeated by it already.
“How much does Liza know about Maya?” I ask as he reaches for the front door.
“Not a thing,” he answers, turning his head to look at me. “Never felt right telling her something that could be dangerous. But also…just didn’t feel right telling her at all. I guess that should have told me I was in the wrong relationship to begin with.”
“Herrin never meant for us to find Liza, but it’s likely that he planned to return her,” I tell him.
He gives me a tight smile. “I know.”
“No one expects you to deal with this. You decide how we play this.”
He cracks his neck to the side before answering. “She just played me. She was willing to watch me go to my death at that factory, which might have happened if we’d taken the bait. She was willing to put all those girls at risk just because Herrin asked it. I think it’s only fair I return the favor and play her for all she’s worth. Then we’ll take a vote on what to do. This is Drex’s show. He loves a good vote.”
He cracks a smile, though I can tell how weighted it is.
As he opens the door to leave, I turn and walk back into the bedroom, curious if Maya overheard all that. The second I’m inside the room, I see her on the bed, her eyes trained on me.
“Sledge is only thirty-five?” she asks, her brow pinched in confusion. “Not that he looks older or anything, but I thought he raised Rush. And Rush is in his twenties.”
“That’s what you ask?” I swear I’ll never figure her out or see her zigs and zags before they come.
She shrugs. “Seriously. Only thirty-five? Or is my math wrong? Liza was fifteen when she joined, and she’s been with the club for twenty-five years, so that’s forty, minus five—their age gap—and that makes him thirty-five,” she says so earnestly.
“You’re really fucking hard to predict,” I grumble.
“Thank you,” she states as though she truly finds that to be a compliment.
Rolling my eyes, I answer, “Sledge just turned thirty-six last month, same day Rush turned twenty-two. Rush was fourteen when Sledge found him on the streets. He took him in like a big brother, but turned into more of a paternal figure when he realized Rush needed that. He was twenty-seven or twenty-eight and wise beyond his years.”
“This is going to sound absolutely terrible that I don’t know, but how old are you?” she asks.
My lips twitch. I honestly think that’s the first time a girl has asked my age. “Twenty-seven and nowhere nearly as wise as Sledge was by my age.”
She glances down at her hands, idly picking at the hem of a skirt she’s wearing—a red one that has the same flowy bottom as the last one. But there are leggings on underneath it. Or tights. Hell, I don’t know the difference.
“He seemed so okay with all of that. But I thought he and Liza had been together for fifteen years.” As the words leave her mouth, they almost sound sad.
“I’m not sure exactly how long they’ve been together, but it’s been more off than on over the years. Liza didn’t want to be tied down, and Sledge was the only one to give her the freedom she wanted.”
I study her expression, wondering why she looks a little upset.
“This is good, Maya. Means I don’t have to bust up a friend to keep him from wanting to bust you up.”
She peers up at me, nodding absently.
“It is good,” she agrees. “Just didn’t realize how hard you had to be on the ground floor. Makes me wonder if they ever even cared about each other. I mean, truly cared. My father would have never believed something like that about my mother, even if he’d seen it with his own eyes.”
She stands and joins me.
“Are we still going outside?” she asks abruptly.
How hard you had to be on the ground floor? What does that mean? I’m tempted to remind her she had her ex tortured and executed for siding with the wrong people when her Family was attacked. But it seems a little cold to throw in her face like that.
Instead of saying anything and prolonging this unexplainable awkward tension that’s settled between us, I nod and put my hand on the small of her back, guiding her out. We walk out to join the others who have a fire burning as Drex writes in the sand with a stick.
It’s rare they light up a joint, but tonight…well, hell. It’s been a shitty time of things lately.
I wave it off as a blunt is offered to me by Drake, and opt to simply drink beer.
Maya joins Colleen, who I’m surprised to see, and she leans against the back of a SUV to talk to her.
One day, I’ll fucking figure out what’s going on in her head, but apparently that’s not today.
Just as I take a seat by Drake, who is obnoxiously spilling out his own conspiracy theories about what went down today, I hear what Maya said earlier. I really hear it. As though it’s just now sinking in.
The words echo in my head like a distant memory instead of something that happened moments ago.
This is me caring about you. It’s a side effect of loving you.
Drake has the blunt in his hand, and I tear it away from him as I bristle. He starts to object until I take three long drags in quick succession.
“What has you chasing the dragon?” the prick asks with a grin.
I say nothing, my eyes on Maya as I take two final draws and hand it back to him.
“Nothing bonds two girls more than nearly dying together,” Drake says, stoned as fuck, gesturing toward Maya and Colleen.
Eve is in Drex’s lap, and I’m admittedly a little annoyed with the fact Maya seems so content so far away from me. Which is stupid. That’s not who I am. That’s not what this is between us either.
She’s going back to New York, after all. After the shit-storm she barely survived, that much is glaringly evident.
That thought has me taking the blunt away again. Damn girl is fucking ruining me.