A pained expression crossed Shaggy’s face, but it was so fleeting Holt wasn’t sure if he’d seen it at all. “Rough life.”
“It’s worse than I told you,” Holt said, gritting his teeth. “And it means Viper’s got more to answer for than just what he did to me.” He gestured to the rifles. “He’s going down the minute he comes in range, and if he goes in the back, I’ll get him through the window.”
“How are you gonna get off the roof?” Shaggy swallowed, cleared his throat. “There will be over one hundred Jacks in town this weekend, not to mention their support clubs. You know Viper will have guards all over the block.”
“I’m gonna jump to the next building from the fire escape.” Holt pointed to the brick building beside them. “Then I’ll go down the stairs to the basement. I rented a mini van, filled it with sports equipment. Gonna put on a ball cap and pretend like I’m a civilian dad and drive myself outta town.”
“You’ll never make it.”
“Maybe I will. Maybe I won’t.” Holt shrugged, feigning a nonchalance he didn’t feel in the least. “All I care is that Viper is dead. That’s what I lived for all those months in the dungeon. That’s what Naiya deserves.”
Shaggy walked across the roof and stared down at the road, fiddling with his ring, the gesture so like Naiya’s that Holt’s heart squeezed in his chest.
“You didn’t live in the dungeon,” Shaggy said. “You survived. I know someone who went through what you did. He came out of it a changed man. He lost his heart and soul. You don’t want to wind up like him, but if you leave Naiya, you will. A woman like that can save you. Maybe she already has.”
Holt joined him at the edge of the roof. By Friday, the main street would be a sea of headlights, everyone showing off their bikes before heading out to the campground for the real party. The rally organizers had booked a kick-ass headline band, and there would be all the booze, girls, and drugs a biker could ask for.
“You got something else to live for now.” Shaggy shoved his hands in his worn, frayed pockets. “You got a girl who loves you. You got a president who was so overjoyed to have you back that he forgot to give you a chance to breathe. You got a club full of brothers who sacrificed themselves to rescue you. You got the kind of friend a man only gets once in a lifetime—the most loyal man I’ve ever known—who doesn’t understand why you walked away from the club, and who’s gonna spend the rest of his days waiting for you to come back.”
Stunned, Holt just stared, trying to take it all in. Shaggy, the recalcitrant loner, the grouchy old timer with more miles under his belt than all of the MC combined, of all people, lecturing him, telling him Naiya loved him. That Jagger, the man he admired most in the world, had made a mistake. That Holt had meant something to the club. That Tank would never give up.
“She doesn’t want to be part of the club, Shag. And I totally get it. She had a shit time growing up. She had no one to protect her, no one to have her back, no one to care when Viper … well I can’t say what he did to her.”
Shaggy made a choked, strangled sound, and thudded his hand on the concrete ledge, like he’d just done a shot of Gunner’s moonshine. “We’ve let him live too long. First Evie. Now Naiya. Even the civilians aren’t safe from him anymore.”
“He didn’t break her,” Holt continued. “She’s strong. Strongest woman I know except for Arianne, but then she’s Viper’s daughter so you gotta be made of steel to survive that. Naiya turned away from all that shit, went to college and made something of herself. She’s a scientist now—she does forensic stuff like on the crime shows. She’s gonna get a job at a crime lab out of the state. She’s not part of our world, and I would never drag her back into it. It’s better that I leave her. For both of us. And for the club.” Except, coward that he was, he hadn’t been able to say goodbye. For all he knew, Naiya thought he was coming back.
“Yeah?” Shaggy’s eyes burned into his soul. “You think Viper’s gonna just leave her alone? Did he leave her alone after she escaped? What if you miss? What if they catch you? What if they shoot you in the fucking heart? Who’s gonna look after her then? Who’s gonna protect your girl from the fucking ATF agent who was sniffing around her hotel?”
“What the fuck? How did he find her? Where is she?” Fear and regret stabbed Holt in the gut. This was Lucy all over again. He’d left her unprotected and she’d died for his mistake.
“She’s safe at Rider’s.”
Holt drew in a relieved breath. “Tank will look after her.”