Blizzard (The Brotherhood Journals #1) (18 page)

“You need to pull her out then,” I growled, throwing my hands in the air.

Optimus made me wait until this morning before he would give me any details about what went down last night with Rose. All he’d told me, before ordering me back to bed, was that she was okay.

I was tempted to ring her myself, but Jayla had started fussing again in her sleep, and since Op had confirmed that Rose was all right, I decided to focus on the little girl who needed me the most right now.

Now, after a restless night and early morning, I was attempting to get some caffeine into my system so I would calm down and not rip my best friend’s head off in my over-tired state.

“Will you fucking let me explain?” Op snapped, glaring at me from his seat at the head of the table.

He’d called church to fill everyone in. While the situation in Arkansas didn’t directly affected the club or us, we had offered our support, and Rose was technically one of ours.

Mine, if we’re being specific, but I would let my brothers know that later if they didn’t already.

Long story short, if they end up floating in shit creek, we
will
be the paddles.

“As I said. Rose explained that a picture was snapped of her during her routine. He’s loaded it into the search engine, which has brought up other photos of Rose. Obviously, the DePalmas are one of the most well-known Mafia families in the United States. When Marco was killed in his prison cell recently, the press was all over that shit.”

My stomach churned. “How did they get that kind of information and pictures of her? It’s not like it was plastered everywhere. Anthony keeps his family issues locked down tight.”

He slid me a piece of paper that had several printed pictures of Rose with Rico—Anthony’s youngest son—and also her and Anthony himself. Some were close up and clear, her face the main focus.

Wrench spoke up, his eyes were locked onto his computer screen as he typed away. “These were taken several months ago. People wondering who the new woman was. Some suspected an illegitimate child, others that she was a new girlfriend. Someone finally confirmed who she was last week after Marco passed. Could have been a leak in the ranks, I’m not sure.”

“So he knows who she is, but not her connection with us?” Anxiety filled me, my heart heaving in my chest.

Why the fuck had I let her leave?

Reclining in his chair, Leo hooked his hands behind his head casually. “Even if he did, what they would hear is stories of how she deceived us and joined her father in trying to bring the club down. There’s nothing that would make them even suspect she would be working with us or another MC.”

Op nodded in agreement. “Just as a precaution, we’ve got Wrench attempting to pull everything humanly possible off the net that would somehow connect us with Satan’s Sanctuary. Your birth certificate with your mom’s name on it, baby pictures that could have somehow been floating around, info about your dad and their marriage.”

Wrench bobbed his head but his fingers never stopped. I knew he was doing everything he could to make sure that Rose was safe, and I thanked the universe silently that he was one of my brothers.

We hadn’t spoken much since I’d walked in on him and Sugar right in this room. I’d hoped that they would do the right thing and tell Optimus about what was going on, but I knew that they hadn’t. I wasn’t the only one who knew about it, there were others who’d noticed the buzz between the two of them. I had no idea why Op hadn’t picked up on it yet. Maybe he just trusted that if there were something, that the man who was meant to be his family would own up to his shit.

If it weren’t for the fact that all this crap was going down with Rose and my mom, I probably would have told him myself. But right now, my focus was making sure all my brothers had their heads screwed on tightly. So that if anything happened, we were prepared.

“So what’s the next step?” My leg bounced under the table in anticipation.

“She’s meeting with Edge again tonight. That will tell us whether we have our way in or not. Rose needs to gain his trust, assure him that they are friends. When we get a location we can start to make a plan.” Optimus seemed confident. But that was his job. A leader had to be strong even in the midst of chaos. The second the captain lost his head, the ship would go down, crew and passengers with it.

I knew he was watching me carefully, maybe gauging my reaction to all of this. It was so cliché to say, but my brother knew me better than I knew myself.

In my head I was already out the door, ready to climb on my bike and hightail it to West Memphis.

“She’s
fine
,” Op said slowly like he was trying to communicate with a foreigner. Or maybe he just thought I was stupid and he needed to dumb it down for me. I snorted, pretending not to be impressed by the fact he knew exactly what I was thinking. It was almost comical. Op and I were usually such a perfect team because he was usually the one that got angry and I was the chilled out one who told him when to pull his head in.

Seems our roles had switched.

Couldn’t say it was a bad thing.

I needed someone right now to help me to focus because currently all I could see was Rose getting hurt and me living in hell for letting her walk away. Even though I knew now that the spark I’d felt between us those few months ago was still there, that there was still a chance I could have her and that we could make something amazing, there was still a part of me that wanted to wait.

I wondered if I could trust someone who had so easily deceived me.

Part of me screamed that it wasn’t her fault, the other part determined to hold strong to its grudge.

But was that all this was? Was I just being stubborn because I had failed to see that there was more going on in her life than she had let show? If I was as good at reading people as I thought, shouldn’t I have spotted the signs?

Instead of taking responsibility for my own actions—or lack of—I was placing all the blame on her.

I was frustrated, confused, angry and anxious.

I needed more time. More time to see what we could be, more time to see the real Rose that I’d caught flashes of over the last couple of days.

But time was running out.

There was a clock ticking, and soon the hands could stop moving forever.

I either waited and risked losing her—never knowing what could have been—or I threw myself in, head first, and risked my heart being smashed to pieces if I got it wrong.

Tick, tock.

“Golf, really?” I giggled.

Edge shot me with a warning look. “It’s a calming sport. It’s about precision and power, both are important, and finding the balance is key.”

I nodded and sipped at my glass of wine. “Sounds like you know your stuff. I’ll have to take your word for it. I’ve never played myself.”

“They’ve got a course around here, we could go sometime if you’re still around.” He let the offer of us spending more time together hang in the air. I had to mentally high-five myself for managing to get this close with just two short visits.

We’d been sitting in this small room for over half an hour already. I’d made Skins drag in another comfortable chair like they have for the men to watch the girls. I’d also opted for a sexy but comfortable outfit—a short denim skirt and a simple halter top that showed off my stomach as well as dipped low to accentuate the soft swell of my breasts.

We’d already discussed what he knew about my family and me. I’d wanted to cover that first to make sure that any links between the Brothers by Blood and me had been severed completely.

I was disappointed this morning, thinking that I might have heard from Blizzard, even if it was just to check in and make sure I was okay. After the way we left things yesterday, I was sure that there was more to our story. Instead, it was Wrench that called and explained what he’d done. They had managed to take almost everything that could possibly connect me with the Brothers and remove it, but what he had done was leave up anything that indicated my involvement in trying to bring them down.

There were a couple of news articles, including the court date I had where the judge ruled that I was not responsible for what had happened with regards to Chelsea’s car being blown up and Deacon’s gym being destroyed. They found that I was not acting with a sound mind and that I feared for my life if I didn’t follow Marco’s orders.

I had a sneaking suspicion that both Uncle Anthony and the Brothers by Blood played a part in getting me out of that mess.

But I knew the DePalma’s would never admit to making deals with the justice system, and the Brothers by Blood would never admit to helping save someone who attempted to destroy them.

“I’m not really sure how long I’m going to be in town,” I admitted. “Depends if there’s a reason for me to stay. I do pretty well here, and Iris is great… despite her sexual escapades… so I’m tempted.”

Edge chuckled lightly. “She’s feisty for an old woman.”

“Horny, too.” I laughed. “I’ve caught her in more than one compromising position.” It was true. After the first day I met her with Skins, I’d caught her twice with other employees. I wondered if that was really good for business.

He screwed up his nose. “Fuck that! How old is she?”

“Old enough to be your mother, at least.”

He scoffed, setting the beer he had in his hand on the side table.

I seemed to have struck something important by the way he avoided eye contact and seemingly shut down.

“You don’t know how old your mother is?” I pried, trying to start with something small.

He leaned back in the chair and folded his arms across his chest. I could see he was closing himself off, this wasn’t something he was comfortable talking about.

“She’d probably be about fifty if she were alive.” His voice was tight and his eyes stayed focused on me like he was gauging my reaction.

I cleared my throat before I spoke. “Ditto.” His brows rose like he was surprised, but after studying me for a few seconds, he lifted his chin and with that, we were connected. I wasn’t sure what it was about that small part of my life that he felt allowed him to trust me, but it was like that was my opening to his world.

“My dad is the VP of the Vicious Vultures MC over in Utah. We’ve got a handful of clubs all over the states but we aren’t exactly high on the totem. We could be picked off pretty easily if someone decided to come after us.” Today he wore a trucker’s cap, covering his light hair. It was on backward and suited him well. He lifted it up and scratched at his hair before replacing it. “My dad sent the boys and me here. The club that’s in town at the moment isn’t big either, so there’s more of a chance of us convincing them to let us have the town, or allowing us to patch them over.”

He talked like it was a simple business transaction. That Judge and his club were going to sit down with them and discuss things like civilized groups. But I already knew more than what he was telling me. They hadn’t approached in peace. They’d gone straight for the jugular.

“Have they already accepted the offer? I haven’t seen any bikers around other than you and your friends.” I took another sip of my wine, hoping that it would hide how nervous I was.

He copied me, lifting his beer to his lips and swallowing back the liquid as he watched me. Placing the bottle back on the table he finally answered. “Let’s just say we’re giving them time to think about it and consider their options.”

I cringed inside but forced myself to nod as though I thought that was a great idea.

The tone of his voice was one I’d yet to hear from him. It was toneless, emotionless and dark. It sent a shudder up my spine, and I had to convince myself not to make an excuse to leave, that I was so close now there was no going back until I had achieved what I needed to—or died trying. The dark feeling that filled the air evaporated as quickly as it came when the sharp ding sounded within the room.

Edge cracked a smile and inside I let out a small relieved sigh.

“What are you doing now?” he asked as he threw back the last of his beer and pushed himself to his feet.

It was about eleven p.m. I’d booked the room out for an hour.

I shrugged. “Probably just walk home and climb into my bed.”

Edge rolled his eyes. “How boring of you.”

I smiled. “Let me guess, you have a much more fun idea?”

“Well, now you mention it.” He grinned at me before pulling the door and standing to the side as he held it open for me. “Shall we?”

He was inviting me to take that step with him. If it wasn’t for the fact that I knew what was going on behind the scenes here, I had the feeling I could possibly fall for Edge.

You could tell he’d been through some shit in his life. But for the most part, he seemed like he was level-headed and understanding. He had his moments where you could see the darkness sweep over him, but didn’t we all have those times?

Life wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows. We all went through shit that made us wonder why. Why we were here on earth only to be tortured? Why we were so alone in a world full of people? Why we seemed destined to make bad decisions?

He must have noticed me stall but he didn’t get angry, he grinned. “If you’re scared I’m whisking you away so that I can take advantage of you away from the safety of this place, you’re wrong, I’ve got an Old Lady back home.”

I actually wasn’t worried, but now I was intrigued. “Oh, you do, do you?”

He laughed and stepped out, releasing his hold on the door. I jumped through the small gap before it slammed shut on me and shadowed him as he walked back toward the main stage.

“Yeah, I do, and I ain’t a cheater. So you don’t have to stress.” His broad shoulders filled the small hallway. My legs had to work at double time to keep up with his long strides. He never looked back to see if I was following, I assumed he knew I was there.

I caught sight of Hadley as we weaved through patrons that had gathered in the main room watching the show. She kept her head down as he passed, but made sure to catch my eyes with hers and give me a soft smile.

Kev was standing at the door, we’d talked last night with Judge and Skins, sort of like a debrief on what had happened, even though I knew they had heard everything. Kev was softly spoken and from what I could tell, he didn’t anger or get irritated very easily. He was calm and took everything in.

He was also a killer shot from what I’d heard.

Kev caught my hand as I moved past, slipping my cell phone into my hand. I slipped it quickly into my back pocket and mouthed a
‘thank you’
at him. He gave me a quick wink before taking off running.

I knew he’d be heading for the SUV that was parked at the back of the building, no doubt with Skins already waiting in it, ready to follow us. I took a deep breath as I stepped out into the cool night. A cold breeze chilled my skin instantly and I shivered.

“Put this on.” I looked to the left to see Edge already straddling his bike, holding out a jacket to me. “You’re gonna freeze otherwise.”

I rubbed my hands up and down my arms before taking two steps forward and reaching out to take the heavy leather from his hands. Edge wore his club colors over a long sleeved shirt. He started the bike as I shrugged on his jacket, pulling it tightly around me.

I looked up to find him watching me, his eyes were heated like he was seeing me for the first time, like he hadn’t just told me wasn’t going to make a move. Because with the look he was giving me right at the moment, I could swear that’s exactly what he was thinking of doing.

I pulled the jacket tighter around me and my foot lifted up, ready to take a step backward, maybe run. Edge didn’t scare me, but I knew that look. It was the look of a man who wanted more than I was willing to offer him.

I’d seen the exact same look in Blizzard’s eyes the first time I climbed on the back of his bike. Knowing I was deceiving him, and knowing exactly what he wanted, I did it anyway.

Knowing I was about to watch history repeat itself almost stopped me. I’d broken Blizzard. I’d made him hate me, and I was only just now gaining back his trust and respect.

What if these people are wrong about Edge? What if he isn’t the dark Vicious Vultures member that his brothers are? What if he’s just trying to get by?

What if I break him too?

“Lily?” I spun to see Hadley standing in the doorway looking between us nervously. “Are you okay?”

My eyes shot back to Edge when he began to laugh. “She’s fine, Satan’s Slut.” He was smiling, but I could see the sneer that he expertly covered. “Lily?”

“If you leave with him, don’t bother coming back to work here,” Hadley’s voice was stern but shaky. This was another part of the game, let him think my loyalties were being tested.

Let him win.

I forced a smirk.

“No problem.” I took two quick steps, placing my foot on the peg and my hand on Edge’s shoulder before hoisting my leg over the bike and settling in behind him. I wrapped one arm around his waist and held out the other toward Hadley, raising my middle finger in the air.

Edge laughed as he revved his engine and we took off out of the carpark with me clinging tightly to his waist.

If Hadley hadn’t come out I probably would have run.

I was sick of constantly pretending to be something or someone I wasn’t. I’d done it with Marco, I’d even done it during the time I was living with Uncle Anthony and my cousins. I may have been free from my father, but I still couldn’t be the person I wanted to be.

The only time I’d felt free was with Blizzard.

He always brought out my smile. He joked, he took little shots that made me bite back or made me laugh.

I didn’t have to fake it with him.