Outlaw's Promise(72)

I put my head on Carrick’s chest and all three of us sat there, watching the debris drift down, until the first fire truck arrived.#p#分页标题#e#





44





Carrick





Word got around fast. Everyone in town had heard the explosion and the compound was soon full of fire trucks, sheriff’s department cars and bikers. Incredibly, no one was hurt, but fragments of Mom’s trailer were found way down the street.

Our hearing came back after a few hours. Mom had some minor burns. Annabelle had escaped with some singed hair and a few bruises. After digging in the debris, she even managed to find the sneaker she lost and held it up proudly. I grabbed her and clutched her to my chest. She could have been killed. They both could have been. I could feel the rage start, deep inside me, a red-hot storm that grew and grew.

I had a hacking cough and it hurt like a motherfucker every time I took a deep breath: I’d inhaled a lot of smoke when I fought my way back out of the trailer to get my bike. The paramedics wanted to take me to the medical center but I shook my head. I helped clear some of the wreckage, hurling big chunks of blackened metal into a dumpster, but however much anger I vented there was always more inside.

I saw Mac having a heated argument with Sheriff Harris. The explosion was way too big to cover up, especially after the fire at the warehouse. Either the FBI or the ATF would be starting an investigation into the club, even though we were the victims.

I stalked into the clubhouse but there was more bad news inside. Ox had come through the surgery but he hadn’t woken yet. There was no way of telling if he would, or if there’d be permanent damage to his brain. My anger flared, white hot, my whole body trembling with it. The whole club’s being torn apart. Just like Volos promised.

I got Mom moved into one of the spare rooms in the clubhouse. I made sure Annabelle was okay and then told her I needed to go for a ride to clear my head.

I passed Mac on my way out to my bike. He grabbed hold of my arm. “Where are you going?”

“I need to think,” I snapped.

“You need to stay here. We got to figure this out as a club.”

I snatched my arm away. “Fuck that! Mom nearly got killed, Ox is in the hospital, our warehouse is gone...what’s next? You? Hunter? Viking?” I swung my leg over my bike. “You figure it out as a club.” And I roared off before he could stop me.

Riding down Main Street, I could feel the eyes of the townsfolk on me. Sure, they’d always feared us...but that fear had been balanced by respect, even need. We’d always protected the town. Now we’d brought chaos to it: rocks coming through the window of the diner, a major fire and now an explosion right in the center of town.

They didn’t trust us, anymore. And even an outlaw club can’t operate unless its town is on its side.

I rode down to the lake and cruised along the road that skirted it. The sun was catching the waves, the sky was blue...everything was perfect, just like the day I’d first brought Annabelle here.

Except now, a thick, black plume of smoke rose from the center of town, spreading out and hiding the waterfalls. The picture postcard was ruined.

I’d started this, when I’d kept my promise to Annabelle. I’d brought this down on the town, on the club, on my friends. I had to fix it. And that meant doing the unthinkable.

I dug in the breast pocket of my cut and found the card Agent Trent had given me. And then I called him to make a deal.





45





Carrick





When I got back to the clubhouse, Mac was waiting for me outside along with Hunter, Viking and the others. “We gotta talk,” he told me.#p#分页标题#e#

I shook my head and pushed past him. Found Annabelle, grabbed her hand and led her out to my bike.

But Mac was standing in front of it. I could see his fists clenching and opening: he was hovering on the very edge of rage, just like me. “Brother, you’ve got to tell me what’s going on. Where are you going?”

“I don’t have to tell you that.” I tried to push him aside but he held fast.

“Who were you talking to, last night at the hospital?”

“Get out of my way, Mac.”

“Was it a fed?”

I froze. Which was all the answer he needed. He grabbed the front of my cut and slammed me up against the clubhouse wall. “Are you fucking kidding me?” he roared.

“It wasn’t a fed!” I snapped. But I’ve never been good at lying. I heaved him away from me but he grabbed my arm and we spun around. Both of us went crashing through the doors of the clubhouse and we sprawled in the hallway.

He was up first, leaping astride me and driving a fist into my face. It hurt, but what hurt a lot more was when I glimpsed Annabelle through the half-open doors. She looked horrified...and disappointed. But I’m doing this to save you!