Released(Devil's Blaze MC 3)(19)
My attention is brought back to the meeting we’re watching on Katie’s phone when Skull starts talking. When he orders Torch to call the club doctor out here to check me out, I nearly lose it.
“What the fuck is he thinking? If that skank comes within two feet of me,” I growl. I stop, however when the men start going over who they think will win in a fight. When Sabre brings up Annie, I laugh.
“Darn tootin’ I would! No one is touching what’s mine!” she says with a blush, and we all laugh. I stop when Torch thinks that whore Teena would take me.
“I’ll kill him,” Katie growls. “Kill him dead.”
“I might help you,” I tell her because that kind of hurts. None of the other members know me quite that well, but I expected Torch at least to have faith in me.
“Well, to be fair, he doesn’t realize the training we’ve had,” says Katie. “I haven’t ever told him, or showed him for that matter… though that might change tonight, the damn bastard.” That last part makes me smile.
As they continue the meeting, I’m still smarting over being discussed in the same breath as Teena. The only part that makes me feel marginally better is when Skull denies having a girlfriend. That’s short-lived, however, when I remember back all those years when Skull told me he didn’t have girlfriends. I guess old dogs keep the same old fucking tricks.
As they reveal more and more, my mind goes into planning mode. Nothing about this is going to be easy, but it can be done. The hardest part will be getting away from the club to attack. Plus, Skull is planning on attacking Friday, which only leaves us tomorrow to do it before he gets the chance. Not much breathing time for sure.
“I know where the lake is,” Candy pipes up.
“I have a small john-boat we can load in the back of Briar’s old truck. I’ve been on the Green River. It’s pretty lazy, not a lot of current. We can put a trolling motor on there and be across the lake in no time,” Sacks says.
“We need a diversion, really,” Annie puts in. “Someone who can distract them and get all eyes on her while the rest of us make our move.”
“Damsel in distress,” Louise says, grabbing our attention.
“What do you mean?” asks Annie.
“She’s saying one of us can pretend to be stranded and distract them and get inside while the rest of us come up from the river,” I answer, seeing the plan unfold in my mind. This could really work.
“Especially if the woman who’s distracting has big boobs and a ready smile,” Katie joins in with a wry grin.
All eyes go to Louise, who is easily a double D, possibly larger. She’s pretty too, with dark black hair that falls in waves over her deep chocolate skin, which glistens. She could easily double for Sanaa Lathan.
“Do you know any self-defense? Can you shoot a gun?”
“And then some,” she says confidently.
I don’t like it. I wish I could be the one to do that part, but I’d be recognized immediately. This will have to be the way it is, I guess. My eyes go back to the phone when I hear Skull.
“Damn it, Torch!”
“Oh, shit,” Katie says, and we all watch the screen again.
“Damn you, Skull. You don’t know what Redmond did to Katie,” he growls. Katie gasps, and I reach around to hold her hand. “You don’t know what he let Matthew do to both of them!” Torch growls, and my heart stops.
“What does he know, Katie? What did you tell him?”
She looks over her shoulder at me with tears in her eyes.
“Almost everything,” she whispers, and I feel a cold splash of dread fill me.
No…
“Damn it, Torch!” I yell, distracted by the way Gabby is moving and shifting in my arms. She pulls herself up and immediately starts tugging on the gage in my ear.
“Damn you, Skull. You don’t know what Redmond did to Katie. You don’t know what he let Matthew do to both of them. I’m going, and the only way you can stop me is to put a bullet in me.”
His words makes my blood run cold.
“Matthew tortured Beth?” I ask, not even recognizing my own voice.
“Daily,” Torch growls. “Her and Katie both,” he delivers in a deadly calm, but it’s full of hate.
“Unka Torch!” Gabby squeals, pushing against me to try and get to him.
“Hey, kiddo,” Torch smiles, even if it doesn’t touch his eyes, and he reaches for her.
Bastard has no idea the knife he’s twisting in my gut right now. The wound burns white hot. Knowing my child chooses Torch over me kills. I’m still a stranger to her, despite being around her just as much as he is. She’s bonded with him. I want to scream at the unfairness of it. I’m her father! I should have been there for her first breath… her first tears, her first tooth, her first words… I’ll never get any of it back. Never.