Jessica’s strangled squeak met my ears and I ignored it, fought the urge to look at her.
“That’s not fair,” Cletus objected through clenched teeth.
“I’ll do it.” I stepped forward.
“Duane…” Beau’s protest was choked, and I heard him say, “No, I’ll do it.”
A hand closed over my shoulder and I turned my head to find Jethro behind me, his eyes unusually serious. “It should be me.”
The president pulled a straight razor from one of his pants pockets, flipping it open at the hinge. He was smiling again. “Should I give y’all a few minutes to decide who gets the honor?”
“No,” Claire shouted, standing and bringing Jessica with her. “No one will have the honor. There won’t be any of that shit today.”
“Dearest daughter, I didn’t mean you would be leaving. Remember what I said? You ever come back here, you ain’t leaving again. This is where you belong.”
She shook her head slowly and lifted her hand, and that’s when I saw the 9-millimeter handgun in her grip. My eyes darted to Jess, and despite looking scared, she didn’t look surprised. She looked determined. In fact, at that very moment she lifted her arm as well, and in her hand was another 9-millimeter.
“You didn’t frisk her?” Razor thundered at Catfish and the other mountain sized biker. “What the fuck is wrong with you? She’s my daughter. Of course she’s got a weapon.”
Truly, you could have knocked me over with a feather.
“We’re leaving, those Winston boys are coming with, and no one is getting carved today.” Claire’s voice was unnervingly calm.
“You try my patience, baby girl.” Razor took a step toward his daughter and she responded by flicking off the safety, murder in her eyes. He stopped dead in his tracks.
“You dare raise a gun to your daddy?” Christine stood as well; her eyes and voice were full of loathing.
“Like I said, we’re leaving. And there will be no retribution either.” Claire ignored her momma. She and Jess moved in unison to where we were standing. Jess’s gun was trained on our eight biker escorts and Claire was covering Razor, Repo, Catfish, and the other mountain-sized Order member.
“Boss?” Catfish questioned, his eyes darting between us and Razor.
The club president squinted at his daughter for a long moment, his expression unreadable. At last he shook his head. “Let them go.”
“All the way?”
“Yeah. All the way.” Razor nodded once, his eyes still on Claire as he addressed her. “I’m only doing this ’cause you’re my blood, girl. I still got a soft spot for you. But don’t you forget, you don’t come back unless you plan to take your place.”
Claire shook her head, her lip curling with disgust. “I won’t be back. But don’t you forget, Cletus ain’t the only one who knows where the bodies are buried.”
CHAPTER 28
“A good traveler has no fixed plans and is not intent on arriving.”
― Lao Tzu
~Duane~
Claire saved us.
She guided us out of the compound via a much faster route than the maze we’d taken. It exited through a pair of above-ground cellar-like doors, opening to the outside at the edge of the parking lot. The temperature had dropped in the last half hour and we were dusted with big, fat snowflakes.
Once we were all outside, Jessica handed her gun over to Jethro, her eyes cutting to mine for the briefest of moments, and then the two of them were off running to Claire’s truck, which was parked nearby.
“Wait!” I started to follow, but Cletus stopped me with a hand on my arm.
“No time for that right now. Claire knows what she’s doing. We need to leave.”
I pulled out of his grip. “No. No fucking way. I need to see—”
“Duane, let her go. We ain’t got time for this and she ain’t got time for this. Claire will keep her safe.”
I wasn’t so sure. Not because I didn’t trust Claire or have faith in her level of badass, but I had a choking need to be the one to save Jess. I needed to see her to safety, witness it with my own eyes, hold her and know with certainty she was okay. But Claire and Jess were already in the Nissan Frontier and Claire was already maneuvering it out of the lot.
Cursing, I nodded. Cletus was right and I hated it.
We sprinted to the GTO, Jethro covering us with the gun Jess had passed him. I heard rather than saw Claire’s truck peel out and the engine rev as she sped away.
The outside of the bar was vacant, no soul in sight. The four of us quickly piled into Beau’s car and I sped off like a demon, hoping to never lay eyes on the godforsaken Iron Order headquarters again.