Razing Grace: Razing Grace Part 1 (23 page)

Oh crap. A smile spreads across my face.

MILLIE

I pull my eyes away from Raze and turn them towards who I know owns that voice.

“Frost.” I grin and lock my eyes onto his.

“Jesus, fucking look at you! What the fuck!” He gasps, dropping his gun and walking towards me. “Jesus, Millie! We all thought you were dead! Melissa—?”

“I don’t want to talk about Melissa, Frost.”

Raze steps up in front of me and the air shifts. Frost’s eyes find his instantly.

My hand flies up to Raze. “Don’t, he’s fine.”

“What’re you doing here?” Frost asks, pulling a cigarette out of a carton and placing it in his mouth. His dirty blond hair contrasts against his tan skin and dark green eyes. He has a couple tattoos on his face, one being an upside-down cross that sits under his eye. It used to bother me, but not so much anymore. Under all the tattoos and with eyes that could probably melt the panties off most girls, he’s hot, but he’s Frost and he’s one hundred shades of psycho. Which seems to be my type as of late.

“Just came to see if everything was fine. This is Raze…”

Frost’s eyes come up to Raze’s and for a few seconds there is complete silence. “You look familiar.”

Raze laughs. “I doubt it, son.”

Frost laughs. “Son? We look the same age.” He shoves a hand in his pocket.

“Maybe in age, but that’s not what I was talking about.”

“Okay!” I butt into the pissing contest. “We’re going to go. Please don’t tell anyone I was here, Frost.”

A shuffling noise is heard in the bush behind Frost and Raze pulls me behind his massive wall of muscle.

“Jesus, what the fuck?” Hannibal steps out and I cuss under my breath. “Holy shit, Millie?”

I step around Raze and smile. “Hey!”

Hannibal looks to Raze before stepping toward me and wrapping his huge arms around my waist, pulling me in for a hug. “Whoa, put me down.” Hannibal steps back, his hands gripping around my arms as his eyes scan up and down my body.

“Damn, if you were sexy before, you’re fucking lethal now.”

I laugh. In the corner of my eye I see Raze step towards us. Being in Hannibal’s hands suddenly felt… wrong. “Thanks, I think. Please don’t tell anyone you saw me. I’d rather Melissa, you know, just moved on.”

Hannibal narrows his eyes and Frost blows out a thick cloud of smoke, both of them wearing their Devil’s Own cuts. “Yeah, alright, but where are you?”

“She’s with me,” Raze all but growls from behind me.

Hannibal’s eyes drift over my shoulder and the moment they settle on Raze, his head slowly tilts back. “Shit. I know you.”

“No, you don’t.” Raze’s hand finds mine, and he pulls me back against him.

“I’m sure I know you.”

“You’re mistaken.” He looks down at me. “Ready to go?”

I nod my head. “Yup.” I glance back at Hannibal and Frost. “Please don’t say anything.”

“We won’t,” Frost assures me.

I give them one last smile before I let Raze walk me back towards the car, this time scooping me up into his arms.

“I really hope they won’t say anything.”

“They will,” Raze confirms. “They run in a pack. They both have loyalty to Beast, to tell him that they saw you tonight.”

This is true.

Once we get back to the car, he pulls open the passenger door and places me into my seat before going to his side and getting in. We pull out of the gravel road and back onto the highway when I turn to face him. “So does Beast know that he has a brother?” I’m trying to clarify, ease into my questions slowly.

He shifts gears. “No, he doesn’t.”

“Well, are you going to tell him?” I ask, watching him closely.

He stretches his neck. “When the time is right.” He continues to move us through the traffic.

“Why do you need me, Raze?” It was a hoarse whisper.

“It’s not that I need you for a particular reason. I mean, I do, but there are other people that are involved in this, Millie. Have you forgotten about the priest?” He looks at me, the passing lights casting shadows over his face. I haven’t forgotten; it’s still in my mind. “He wants you. He wants you bad. He’s been back at the base a few times since ‘Hachiro’ purchased you.”

“Wait,” I say, rubbing my hand up my arm. “They actually think Hachiro bought me?”

Raze’s jaw clenches. “Yes, Millie. That’s why you have to just sit fucking still. Your very breathing could blow up years’ worth of planning.”

Okay, the seriousness of this whole situation is beginning to resonate with me.

“But you just took me to an event?”

Raze nods his head. “Yes, an event where Hachiro was present.”

I tilt my head, my eyes glazing over. So that’s why he kept me at a distance for most of the night. It makes sense now.

“Wow.” I breathe out. “I’m just a puppet in your show.”

He smirks, pulling into McDonald’s. “You have no idea how accurate that is.”

After getting the value pack of nuggets, we make our way back home. “Cassia,” I say, biting into the deep fried happiness.

“Millie…” he warns.

“No, I’m talking. Why? Why is she still here?”

He exhales. “It’s a little more complex than that. Do you know who Cassia’s father is?” he asks me.

I mull over it. “Well, no. What can I say? I’ve been locked in a castle with an angry dragon guarding it with his steed.” Rolling my eyes, I dip into the sweet and sour sauce. I’m still wondering why he lets me eat in his car.

“Cassia’s last name is Jacobs on paper, but her actual last name, by blood, is La’ Mont.”

I pause, chicken nugget stuck in midair. “La’ Mont… as in Peter La’ Mont… as in fucking President La’ Mont of the United States of America…?”

“Yes…” Raze hisses.

“I didn’t know they had a daughter! I thought they only had a son, that hot playboy who’s always in the media.”

His grip tightens around the wheel. “Cassia was a love child. Her father, Peter, only just found out about her a couple years ago.”

I clear my throat. “Um, how long has she been with you?”

“She’s not with me, Millie. No chick is ever with me. She’s a mere dot on a very messy business deal.” Business deal? “But it’s been almost three years.” He cracks his neck and my eyes dance over how the veins on his neck contract with the movement.

“Okay, three years. I fail to see your reason for keeping her, though.”

He scoffs, pulling into his long private road. “Consider yourself lucky for not knowing.”

We both get out of the car and start walking towards the house.

“Raze, wait.” My hand reaches out to his. He stops, his head turning over his shoulder. I’ve tried really hard to ignore the question that’s constantly swimming in my head, but this dead heart still sits in a woman. “Us,” I say, and he turns to face me, shoving his hands into his pockets.

“What about us?” He cocks his head, his tongue running over his bottom lip.

“What are we? What is this? Am I just a plaything until I leave, or… something else?”

He steps forward and takes my hand in his.

“You’re mine.”

“For…?”

“That’s the best I can give you until this shit blows over. I don’t make promises, pet, and I take my word seriously. So when I say it’s on, it’s on forever. For now, I have too much hanging around to give you anything.”

I smile. “Thanks for being honest.” Then I follow him up the stone steps and through the massive heavy double wooden doors.

I still want to know what else is going on, and my patience is running thin.

RAZE

The piano plays through the speakers and I shuffle in my seat, adjusting my jeans. I’m waiting inside the room at the base where Millie was after she was sold. Last night was a bust. I thought that if Millie saw the clubhouse again that it would line her thoughts back together. No such luck. I’m beginning to think that this is just her now, which works fucking perfect for me.

“Yo, apparently she’s the daughter of who didn’t pay his debt.”

“What? Who?” I answer, looking to Joker.

“Yup. Daddy didn’t pay his debt to Kurr so off goes daddy’s little princess.” Joker laughs and picks up his glass of whiskey, swirling it around a few times until the ice clinks in his cup, and then shoots it back. Even though he ignored my question, I take it he’s talking about the latest lost cause that’s shackled up in the dungeon.

“What kind of debt? And how old is she?” I take a cigar out of the humidor sitting in the middle of the table and place it into my mouth.

“Drugs. And she’s barely legal. Eighteen, I think.”

“When the fuck did Kurr start fucking with drugs?” I answer, sparking the zippo and rolling the cigar around in my mouth.

“Ahhh, he’s been doing it for a while now.”

Jesus fuck. Kurr dealing in drugs comes as a shock because he’s never mentioned wanting to get his hands dirty with something so mundane like drugs. It runs too much risk and not that much power because you have to spend years upon years building up your respect and street cred. Cred I have, but I’d never taint my image by selling drugs. That’s giving cops something to pin on you. What I do keeps me safe, there’s no law on being a kingpin.

The countless murders, however….

The door swings open and Kurr walks through. “You’re needed.”

Puffing on my cigar, I raise my eyebrows. “Doing?”

“Doing what you were born to do. Now.”

I drop the cigar and follow him, walking back down the dim hallway. The backrooms that display the podium are in a circle, each room features a full glass window which gives bidders a direct view of their purchases. Pushing open the door which leads to the exit, the bright sun hits my eyes as I attempt to readjust them from the dark depths I came from. Slipping the cold mask back over my face, we carry on towards the main house.

“Heard you made an appearance at Archer’s last night,” Kurr says from beside me. Archer is the name of the charity we attended.

“Yeah,” I answer, keeping my head straight. “Hachiro was there with his new toy.”

“Mmm,” Kurr grunts. “I did hear that.” He opens up the main house door and I follow in behind him. “We have an issue that needs resolving, but it’s to happen very delicately and with severe intellect.”

“Alright,” I nod. “What is it?” he walks into the armory and I lean against the door frame, folding my arms in front of myself.

“Your brother and his pack.” He raises his eyes to me and I look at him, waiting for him to continue. “I want to deal with them once and for all.”

“Yeah, somehow, I think there’s a lot more that goes into taking out an entire MC. It’s not as simple as sending me in there in full shred mode.”

“Why not?” he asks with a sadistic smile, what’s left of his burnt skin crinkling under his expression. “I’ve seen you take out an army of men, son. You can handle a pack of bikers.”

Though he has a point, I wasn’t planning on him bringing up Beast. I knew he wanted revenge, and I knew he wanted it bad, but I didn’t think he was in a hurry.

“So what are you thinking, then?” I step forward and take a seat on the chair beside the table.