What I see when opening the door sends my bad day from bad to fucking shit in about two point four seconds. Big Ray, the owner, is trussed up above the bar hanging from a chain, field dressed like a fucking side of beef in a meat locker awaiting a butcher. The other five customers have all been killed and the two waitresses have their throats slit.
It’s a fucking blood bath.
It’s all been done for a day or so because the rotting stench is already overwhelming. There’s nothing quite like the smell of death. It’s an odor that, once you’ve smelled it, you will never forget.
“Jesus H. Christ,” Sabre rumbles behind me.
“Do you think the Saints did this?” Torch asks, and he has a right to be skeptical. Visor and his crew are fucking bastards, but even they wouldn’t be this messy, unless he had a reason. That would mean the Chrome Saints’ presence here isn’t just an annoyance. It means something else, something else entirely.
“Fuck, this smells of Donahues,” Beast says, and he’s not wrong. The Donahue Gang are famous for leaving scenes like this.
Fuck me sideways. What caused them to do this? They’re bastards, sure, but to start a war and send a message this big without reason? It just doesn’t ring right. There’s more going on here.
I look around and my hand curls into a fist as I think of a way to deal with this shit. I’m going to have to meet with the Donahues. First, I need to clean this fucking mess up before my area comes under scrutiny from sources I can’t contain. Christ on crutches! I did not need this headache.
“Call Martinez,” I tell Torch, naming our main guy with the Calloway County police force. “Make sure this shit gets contained.”
“This isn’t exactly going to be easy to sweep under the rug, Boss,” Sabre speaks up, and I flip him off. I’m not stupid, and Sabre knows it. Martinez will know with one look who is responsible for this shit. He’ll know who to contact and where to sweep it.
I walk out of the bar and drink in the fresh air. This shit is going to get ugly. I can feel it. The only good point is, it might keep me from dreaming about Beth. I’ve got enough on my plate. This was a message tonight, and the message is clear. For whatever reason, my truce with the Donahues has ended. I need to keep my mind focused and my wits about me. There’s no time for Beth in my life. I need to keep remembering that.
It’s been a week since I’ve been under house arrest. One week with no one for company but Colin, Matthew, and the staff. One week in which Colin has been watching me like a hawk. He hasn’t laid hands on me again, but he has touched the bruises he inflicted, petting them and warning me that I should not make him do that again. The thing that has become clear though is, he likes the bruises. I get the feeling he wants more of them. Looking at him across the table makes my skin crawl.
“You will go back to school today, Beth.”
Joy spreads through me at the announcement. I was beginning to think he wouldn’t ever let me go back.
“Thank you, Col,” I say, hoping I sound suitably remorseful. My time here has been hell. I have this plan slowly percolating in the back of my mind. I think I might try to run away on a bus, if I can make it to the Greyhound station. I’ll just start riding until Georgia is nothing but a bad, bad memory. I won’t miss anyone unless you count Skull. Then again, I can’t have him anyway.
“Gerald will drive you. Do not disappoint me again, Beth. There will be consequences if you do.”
“I understand.”
“I will also expect you back home every weekend. We need to start getting to know each other.”
“We do?”
“We do. You have a future and a place in our family. The biker does not fit into that. Do not forget, or I’ll show you in a way you won’t be able to forget.”
I can’t answer. My voice has fled once again. I just nod in agreement and walk towards the front door. My body stiffens when Gerald’s hand touches my back, and he guides me to the car.
* * *
I never thought I’d be glad to see SPH, but as it comes into my line of sight, I’m nearly jumping for joy. When the limo comes to a stop, I don’t wait. I open the door and jump outside. I don’t turn around when I hear Gerald call my name—I just keep going. I don’t take a breath until I make it behind the locked gate. Even then, I keep going. Friends try to stop and talk to me, but I don’t answer them. I walk past everyone, my mind on only one thing. I walk down the stairs and into the basement. I don’t have my cell because Colin took it, and even though I got it back, I left it in the hall when I first entered the building. I don’t know if he did anything to it, but I wouldn’t be surprised if he put some kind of tracker on it.