Dex
I look over at Baze and I could slice his throat clean open and not hesitate, or lose any sleep because of it.
Pope kicks out the back of his legs and he drops to his knees. Leaning on his shoulders, the prick isn’t going anyway with Pope around. I should be with Libby, what is Cas playing at? I should be the one taking her back to the motel.
“You should see what we did to the guy who killed Oak, what we’re going to do to you is going to be much worse. Taking out a brother cause of pussy is the lowest,” Pope growls low and menacingly.
Baze has the grace to keep his mouth shut and hangs his head. Finally, Cas walks out of the cabin, flanked by Sparky and Slade. Fuck knows what they’ve been doing in there, but we’ve been freezing out here.
For a minute, I don’t think Gabe and the other northern brothers are going to show their faces, but one after the other, they head outside and form a circle around us.
With his gun in one hand and a cigarette in the other, Cas stands there staring at Baze.
His head slowly turns to Gabe and disgust fills his eyes.
“Tell me why you shouldn’t be joining him in the ground?”
Gasps and mutters bounce around the club, and Zander moves closer to his president.
“What?” Gabe frowns.
“You’re the president of this chapter, yet you acted like a prospect. You were going to punish a young girl for a crime she didn’t even admit to, and you threw a brother out when he came to you with the truth…”
“I’ve known Baze since we were kids, he said there was nothing going on and he was innocent. He’s my brother.”
“Fine, I’ll accept that, but from now on, I’ll be checking in up here more often until I’m satisfied I don’t need to shut this chapter down.”
This gets everyone attention and they see Cas isn’t fucking around. He’s deadly serious.
Cas fades into the background, my line of vision is glued to Ricky climbing off his bike. He searches the brothers until he seeks me out and heads my way.
The motel key is swinging around his finger and I feel sick. I shouldn’t be here, I mean, I want to watch him take his last breath for what he’s done, but I should be with Libby making her see that she is all I need.
Backing up, I turn for my bike and make it halfway across the dirt before Cas calls my name.
I stop and turn around. He walks up to me and hands me his gun.
“I want you to take him out, after all, he’s the one who tried to set up your girl and put a shiner on your face. That’s who you’re running off too, isn’t it? Libby?”
Nodding, he presses the gun into my hand.
“This isn’t like before, this is for the patch. The patch you killed for when you saved my life. Use him to right your ghosts that still haunt you.”
I don’t need him to save me from my ghosts, Libby drives them away just with her presence. However, I will take him out, so he can never haunt Libby again. Adjusting my grip on the gun, it takes nine strides before I’m standing in front of him and I raise the gun to his head.
He doesn’t say a word and closes his eyes. Pope steps away from him and drops to his knees.
“Look at him, look down the barrel, and watch the bullet come for you,” he growls.
Baze doesn’t open his eyes, Pope doesn’t scare him into watching his death hurtle towards him.
“Does anyone have any last words for our soon-to-be dead brother?” Sparky hollers.
Silence falls, and Cas says, “It’s time.”
For the second time in my life, I’m standing with the weight of someone’s life on my shoulders, only this time, it doesn’t push me down. Shutting my eyes, I squeeze the trigger and before I can change my mind, not that I will, the gun kicks back in my hold and I hear the thud of Baze’s body hitting the hard, cold ground.
“We do not tolerate disloyalty, nor do we accept that we don’t have consequences for our actions. We are brothers, we don’t take shit from anyone, we don’t allow anyone to get the better of us without dire retribution and we certainly don’t fucking kill one another over a woman. Our only salvation is the bond of our brotherhood. Baze will be buried and he will be forgotten, disgraced and like an animal…”
I drop the gun by Baze’s body, ready for it to be handled and dismantled. This time, I make it to my bike and Cas doesn’t stop me.
Revving the engine, I warm my baby and pull away against the cold wind whipping around my face.
Riding down the mountain and into town is becoming second nature to me now, and I’m glad I won’t have to make the trip up there again.
They might be our brothers from another chapter, but I don’t like any of them one fucking bit.
I didn’t want to come here in the first place when Cas called, I’m glad for it now because of Libby.
I swing by her house first, now her mom is back, they might have gone home. Only, it’s all shut up and no one is home. Riding out to the motel, she isn’t there either.
I’m not surprised they’ve left town, I would have probably done the same in their position. They’d be long gone now and without giving them time to use a credit card or something, I can’t get Slade to track them.
By the time I’ve shoved my belongings into my bag, and searched the room for anything I’ve missed, my brothers are returning from the mountain.
Cas looks more tired than usual, and Sparky looks like he could do with a session on the punch bag.
No one ever wants to take out a brother, but sometimes, needs must.
“Is she gone?” Slade asks.
Cas and Sparky disappear into Cas’s room and the rest head over to the bar across the street.
“Looks like it.”
He begins tapping away on his phone, and grins.
“Looks like your luck is in, or she’s dumped her phone, but, Rebecca’s phone is still just outside of town, about ten minutes south.”
“You’re fucking joking me, brother?”
“Nope. Go on, I’ll let Cas know where you are if he asks.”
“Thanks, brother.”
I’m jogging over to my bike and bringing the engine to life before another second is wasted and Slade appears at my side.
“If you ever want to talk about today, I’m here for you. Day or night.”
“I know, but this time, I’m good. I swear.”
I peel out the motel parking lot and onto the main road. I push the speed as fast as I can and laugh to myself. This is how fast I wanted to be leaving last week and now I’m scared to leave and never see her again. Well, that’s being dramatic, I know Slade will track her down for me.
I need her with me now, not in a few days or next week. It doesn’t take long before I’m slowing down. In the near distance, I see her coat huddled at the side of the car. Pulling over, I park up on the side of the road and take in the sight of Libby changing the tire without effort.
Her mom is visibly upset, her arms cling around her torso as if she’s in danger and is waiting for another blow.
Libby smiles shyly my way, before returning to the tire and tightens the nuts and bolts.
Swinging my leg over my bike, I walk over to offer my assistance, but it’s clear she doesn’t need it when she stands and wipes her hands together.
Impressive. I don’t think I know a woman who can change a tire on the side of a road.
“How did you know we were here?” she asks.
“Slade told me. I want you to know I don’t need to get right with myself, you are what’s right for me. Come back with me to the motel and we can figure out where we go from here.”
“Elizabeth?”
Rebecca steps towards us, and she clearly doesn’t want to go back.
“Mom, can you pass me a pen please.”
The woman is broken, it would be clear to see to a blind guy. She moves with hesitation, she doesn’t hold her head high, and she holds herself like she’s protecting herself, not just from one person, but from the whole world.
She brings over a pen, and Libby offers her a small smile before she walks away and climbs in the car.
“My mom has been beaten and put down for so long, she has forgotten what happiness is. She needs me, and I need her to come back to me.”
I remain quiet while she lifts my hand in hers and uses her mouth to uncap the pen lid with her mouth.
I don’t move and let her run the ink over my skin as she starts to draw a skull around the black heels.
It shocks me, I used to use them as a focus to wash away her blood, but I haven’t noticed them in the last couple of days.
Once she’s finished with the skull, she draws barbed wire wrapped around the skull, then to finish it off, she draws outlines of roses in the eye sockets.
“I would never tell you to cover up a tattoo, but this one doesn’t belong on your skin. As long as you keep looking in the past, you can’t see me in the future, no matter what you say.”
She’s wrong. I can see her, and she’s all I do see now. The drawing is impressive, I admit, we still have a lot to learn about each other.
I want to know everything about her.
“You’re all I see,” I tell her, rather than keep it in my head.
She runs the pen over her sketch again, “We’re always going to be wrapped around death,” she says, as the pen darkens the barbed wire around the skull, “The trick to surviving the pain of loss, is to find the beauty that doesn’t only mask death, it makes you forget about it.”
Her drawing makes sense now. The roses stand for beauty and it’s all covering the heels that stand for Melissa and bad times. The past.
“What if I’ve already found my beauty?”
She looks up at me and smiles.
“You’d let her go until you know she’s going to have one hundred per cent of your soul.”
That hits me hard and she takes advantage of me zoning out. She walks over to their car and turns back at the last minute.
“I will find you,” I vow.
“I’m hoping you do.”
I’m moving, and I don’t stop until she’s in front of me and I’m holding her face between my hands.
“Make sure you look after yourself,” I growl, not knowing what else to say.
“And there’s me thinking you came over here to kiss me and then watch me longingly drive away into the distance,” she chuckles.
I bark out a laugh and crash my mouth onto hers. I’ll give her the kiss she wants, the little romantic. Sliding my hand around the back of her head, I fist her hair into my hand and I have to force myself to let go.
Pulling away, I say, “It’s going to suck watching you go.”
“I’ll see you soon, Dex.”
She slips out of my hold and into the car, and like she wanted, I stand there watching the car drive in the distance.