“No. I didn’t even know about Jack.”
“I appreciate your help with Kaity’s car. I’ll pay you soon, is that okay?”
“Sure,” Willy said. “Take your time.”
“Sorry your ex is a whore.”
“I knew it the whole time,” Willy said. “That’s how I met her. I was a concert and we were all high as fuck. I woke up to someone sucking me off. It was her. She’s pretty damn good at it, so I ended up marrying her. My mistake.”
Erik laughed to himself and walked out of the garage toward Kaity. She stared at him, refusing to back down.
“Everything good?” Gaige asked.
“Give us a minute?” Erik asked.
“Yeah, bro.”
Gaige walked away and Erik was alone with Kaity.
“You don’t have to do this,” Kaity whispered. “It’s not fair.”
“Nobody knows what fair is,” Erik said. “The amount of danger right now…”
“I know,” Kaity said.
“You’re better off where you want to be. On the road running from a man who can’t get to you.”
Kaity touched Erik’s arm. “I feel safe with you, Erik. That’s why I told you everything.”
Erik backed up. He shook his head. “Just… don’t.”
Erik heard the sound of Kaity’s car starting. He turned and saw the ass end of the car appear as Jack backed it down to the front. The car suddenly stopped and Gaige looked at Erik, confused. Erik took one step and the car exploded.
The booming thunder and flames shot everywhere. Gaige dropped to his stomach and Erik rushed backwards until he crashed into Kaity. She cried out and fell to her ass. Erik couldn’t take his eyes off the scene. The fire. The destruction. The sound of Willy’s screams as he ran to check on his cousin.
Erik turned and looked down at Kaity. “Don’t get up. Don’t fucking move.”
Erik ran. He stopped at Gaige to help him up and they both ran to the car. The destruction was impressive. The windows were busted. The roof of the car opened and peeled back. And then in the driver’s seat was the charred remains of Jack, already melting into the steering wheel.
“Holy fuck,” Gaige said.
Willy dropped to his knees and touched the door of the car. Then he screamed and fell back, his hands black and instantly burned.
Erik grabbed the back of Willy’s collar and pulled him away.
“Come on, man,” Erik yelled. “You’ll end up dead, too.”
“My cousin! He was like my brother!”
“Christ,” Gaige said as he pulled out his cell. “I have to call this in.”
“You know who did this, right?” Erik asked.
Gaige froze and swallowed hard. He turned his head and looked in the direction of Kaity. Erik did, too. That bomb was meant for Kaity. Whoever was doing this shit knew everything about the MC. Someone was spying on Back Down Devil. And someone wanted to kill Kaity. To hurt Erik, again.
Erik dragged Willy to the front of the garage and forced him to stand. His legs were wide and wobbly. Tears streamed down his face, collecting grease, turning black.
“I wasn’t mad at him,” Willy said. “I knew my ex-wife was a whore.”
“You need to go somewhere safe,” Erik said. “This…”
Willy collapsed to the ground again. Erik shook his head and went to Kaity. He put his hand out and Kaity took it. He lifted her and pulled her close.
“Fuck,” he said.
“What was that?”
“That was for you,” Erik said.
“What?”
Erik grabbed Kaity by the face. “This is serious, Kaity. Very serious. Whoever is coming for the club just tried to kill you. You were supposed to be the one in that car. Not Jack.”
Kaity felt very faint and started to fall. Erik caught her and lifted her as her lips quivered.
“You’re safe, babe,” Erik said. He put his hand in her hair and forced her to look at him. “You’re safe with me. I swear. I’ll never let anyone hurt you.”
Erik didn’t need to say anything else. Enough had been implied. Kaity wasn’t going anywhere whether she wanted to or not. And for a second, Erik was happy that bomb had gone off. He couldn’t have let her go; it would have driven him insane.
“Bro,” Gaige said, “we have to go. Meeting. There’s information, man. This is… this is serious.”
Erik looked over his shoulder at Gaige. Behind Gaige, Willy sat against a car, sobbing. Next to them was Kaity's car in flames with Jack dead in the front seat.
This is serious?
No fucking shit.
twenty.
Kaity held Erik tight the entire ride back to the clubhouse. She was shaking with fear. She had come close to dying many times already in her life… because of Brad and either his potentially violent hands or the situations he pushed her into. Each time Brad forced her to take on another assignment she knew there was danger involved. There had been many times when she faced the end of a gun or a knife or watched illegal activities happen. But it began to seem normal to her. Until today. Seeing this bombing struck her deep inside. Someone had blatantly tried to kill her to piss Erik off. Whoever was doing this made two huge mistakes. They failed at killing Shay. And now they failed at killing Kaity. But because of their mistakes, Erik's scars haunt him everyday and Jack, the mechanic, was dead.