Unchain My Heart(84)

Hammer evaded my question. “It's three-thirty a.m. Any normal person should be sleeping. Including you.”

I chuckled. “Since when have I been normal? My girl’s in hospital, and I couldn’t sleep at our place without feeling sick because of what happened to her. Everything there reminds me of her. Fucking nurse kicked me out of her hospital bed, so I came here. But I couldn’t fall asleep here either, so here I am . . . at the fucking bar.” I filled my glass, adding a few ice cubes this time. I took another sip and grimaced. This stuff tasted like shit compared to the scotch I drank with Bill. I needed to talk to whoever was ordering the booze and get them to upgrade.

If Demon was indeed alive, this was going to shake shit up. Big time. I turned my attention back to Hammer.

“They never did find his body, did they? Just items of clothing and other personal stuff in his car. But no body—”

“Correct. The cops weren’t going to waste taxpayer’s money trawling the river for too long. Nobody really cared if he got a decent burial or not, so why bother? Besides, it was winter when he’d supposedly swerved and gone off the bridge. The water would’ve been freezing and the crocs hungry, and nobody was in the mood for digging too deep.”

“And because it happened in another state, it was just too hard. I remember.” The details were slowly coming back to me. Just over five years ago it was big news, but because nobody ever spoke of it again, the memories had started to fade.

“It made the news at least. Everyone was disgusted by the idea that he was eaten by crocs. That’s what happens when you run away from home and get kicked out of a MC.”

“Would’ve been a fitting ending for him, anyway. Demon always was a fucking bastard. He got the bad genes. The rotten egg.”

“Black sheep of the family. Even his old man wasn’t surprised his life ended so young. He was trouble from the day he was born, I heard—that’s why his mother ran off with another man. That, and old man Malone’s drinking.”

I still hadn’t figured out why Hammer thought this strange news was important. So what if Demon was indeed alive? He wasn’t likely to come home to the Scorpio Stinger fold like the prodigal son, anyway. And even if he did, he’d wish he were indeed dead because Cobra would kill him this time, and not just chase him out. Once a brother was ousted from the club, they were banished forever. And after what he’d done, Cobra would rather see him six foot under than back at the club.

“Cobra’s going to go ape-shit when you tell him.”

“Yeah, that’s why I figured I’d wait till morning and have a sleep first. I’ll call you when I get to see Cobra. I think it's a good idea that you’re there when I tell him.”

I chuckled. Cobra was scary as shit when he was mad. I didn’t want to be in Hammer’s shoes. “Yeah, I’ll make sure he doesn’t shoot the messenger.”

“I'm going to have that shit, shave and shower now, then hit the sack for a few hours. I’ll set my alarm for ten a.m., around when Cobra comes in to the club. Be ready for hell to break loose.” Hammer saluted me like we used to when we were kids, and went off back to the living quarters.

This was an unexpected twist. Demon Malone, born five minutes after his twin, Cobra, was a nasty piece of work. He was in jail more than he was ever home—until he disappeared. He would sell his own mother if he could make a buck out of it. Luckily, he wasn’t with Cobra and Razor the day they saved my life in juvie, because if he’d been there, the chances were that he’d actually side with the boys trying to kill me. He was a bloodthirsty fucker, and my demise would have meant nothing more to him than a few minutes of entertainment.

Demon hated that technically Cobra was the eldest. And he’d hurt Razor as a baby and toddler just to see how far he could push his mother. Since Razor was two years younger than his twin brothers, he’d pretty much stayed out of their way whenever Demon was around.

I was relieved when the evil fucker went missing and was presumed drowned. It was the best thing that ever happened at the club, because his presence had always brought animosity and conflict. Now, if Hammer was right, the motherfucker was alive.

Chugging the awful cheap scotch down, I reasoned that I’d better get some sleep too. Tomorrow was going to be a mind-fuck. And I wanted to be there when Hammer told Cobra.

Before I could get up, April came into the bar, wearing nothing but a torn off T-shirt and a thong. I turned my back to her, not wanting to acknowledge her presence.

“Ryder, why hello.” Her raspy voice had sounded sexy to me months ago; now it just irritated me.