I heard the sound of footsteps chasing me, and it was no surprise to me that it was Ky. My best friend joined me at my side. I turned to the thick wood of trees and began cutting through to my cabin.
“Fuck, Styx!” he said. “You just fuckin’ spoke! The brothers are just stood there like zombies, fuckin’ dumbstruck!” I kept pounding forward. My pulse was slamming in my neck. “SHIT!” he screamed and balled his hands into fists. “Our old men would be rollin’ in their fuckin’ graves at the shit that just happened! We can’t let our bitches do that again; the brothers were right. Hell, our old men would have slapped the fuck outta their women for pullin’ a move like that. That can’t happen. They need to keep their mouths shut.”
I didn’t respond; I just moved faster. “Styx,” Ky called as he followed me up the wet verge. “STYX!”
I spun around and shouted, “Wh-what the f-f-fuck do you ex-expect me t-to d-d-do?!”
The rain poured down my face and I yanked my hand through my hair. Knowing I couldn’t speak for shit right now, I signed, “You gonna kick the fuck outta Lilah for that shitshow? You think Flame is gonna lock Madds away and beat her for goin’ against him?” I tensed my jaw. “No, the fucker would kill any brother who even expected it of him. And don’t for a second think that I wouldn’t kill any prick in this club who wanted to punish Mae in my place.” A growl rattled in my chest. “I’d fuckin’ murder them, Ky. Any fucker tries to even speak to her about that fuckin’ interruption and I’ll fuckin’ rip out their tongues.”
I pointed at Ky. “And we both fuckin’ know you ain’t gonna do shit to Li. So you tell me, brother. What the fuck do we do now? ‘Cause Bella ain’t gonna let us get near that cunt. And Mae, Madds and Li ain’t gonna watch us tear Bella outta the fuckin’ way to get to him either.”
Ky sighed and leaned back against a tree. “It’s the rules, Styx. He needs to be killed. Ain’t no Hangmen rat ever been spared since the club was founded. We gonna be the first to let this shit go?” He huffed a humorless laugh. “We’ll be fuckin’ laughed at.”
“Fuck, I know!” I signed, managing to calm the fuck down. “Those brothers in there want blood. Our bitches want us to crush the kill.”
Ky shook his head. “We can’t. The debt needs to be paid.”
I moved to the tree opposite Ky and leaned against it. All I could fucking think of was what Bella had spewed about us forgiving Mae, Li and Madds. About how if it came down to it, if I would kill Ky. If he’d kill me.
“Would you do it?” Ky watched my hands. “If you had to kill me, could you do it?”
Ky looked away into the black woods. I didn’t think the brother would answer. Then he shook his head. “No. Not a fuckin’ chance.”
I closed my eyes and thought back to watching Rider as he choked his twin to death on the commune floor. The fucking look on his face as he watched him thrash beneath him . . . the hundreds of bodies surrounding him as he killed his fucking blood.
Jesus fuckin’ Christ.
“These bitches are makin’ seepin’ wet pussies outta us, you know that right?” Ky said, and I opened my eyes. Ky was smirking as he stared at me. My chest fucking lightened as I smirked back.
“We were stronger before,” Ky said, and this time he lost his smile. “Before the women. You and me were unbreakable. A fuckin’ ruthless unit. Now . . . ” He shrugged.
“You tellin’ me you wish you’d never met Li?” I signed.
Ky’s eyes moved to the direction of his cabin and that fucking smile was back. “No. Fuck, I should. After that shit they did tonight, I should . . . but I can’t. That fuckin’ bitch is my kryptonite.” He huffed. “She fuckin’ knows it too. And now I got Grace.” The brother shook his head. “Fuck, Styx. I just got what I thought we would never get. I ain’t gonna fuck up now. You saw the change in Li as much as I did. She’s happy, Prez. She’s fuckin’ happy.”
I thought of Mae in that damn sonogram room weeks ago, and I fucking knew what he meant. ‘Cause, Christ, she was fucking happy too. “I’m goin’ inside,” I signed and pushed myself off the tree.
“Yeah,” Ky said and turned toward his cabin.
Just as he was about to disappear from my sight, I said, “Ky!”
He walked back and tipped his head. “I-I’m r-r-really fuckin’ h-happy for y-you, brother. Gr-Grace. You deserve h-her.”
Ky’s lips curled into a smile and nodded his head. “You ain’t goin’ soft on me, are you, man? Like, you ain’t expectin’ me to fuckin’ man-hug you or some shit?”
I shook my head and gave him the finger.
Ky laughed and walked to his cabin.
When I pushed through my front door, the place was silent. I had to take deep breaths to stop myself going up to the clubhouse and tearing Mae away from Rider. If I went near him, I’d kill him.
I took a bottle of beer from the bar and kicked off my boots. I slumped onto the couch and took a swig of my drink. The house was too fucking quiet. I was used to hearing Mae laugh, or her soft voice singing some Dylan somewhere.
I reached for the remote and flicked on the TV. I froze; the first thing that greeted me was a helicopter view of the fucking commune. Cops were swarming all over the land, the dead bodies still scattered around. AK had called in the information to the cops as an anonymous tip. Looked like the fuckers finally found New Zion.
The ticker along the bottom of the news channel read “Mass Suicide at Austin-based Doomsday Cult.” Even from the distant camera angles, I could see the one fucker in a white tunic at the front of all the bodies.
Judah. Motherfucking Judah, who Rider killed with his fucking bare hands.
Fuck!