“I got lost, and I found things I’d never expected to find again—powerful, colorful, precious things.”
His eyes met mine in the shadows seeping through the room, and I settled back onto his chest. Sheeting rain pelted the windows, hailstones battered the roof and the sides of the house. One of those sudden, unpredictable Dakota storms. It would be over quickly. Its startling, ugly, jarring violence would pass.
“I NEED TO COME WITH YOU.” I wiped the hair back from my face.
“What?”
“I need to see Creeper. I need to—”
Boner’s frown deepened. “You sure?”
“I’m sure.”
I knew Butler and the men were going to bring Creeper into the club later this morning, and I wanted to be there. I had dropped Becca off at daycare and went straight to the club and found Boner.
I had to face Creeper and look him in the eyes. This man had stolen my daughter months ago, treating her and us like she was a worthless commodity for his greedy bargaining and blackmail.
In an act of both the Flames and the Jacks moving forward in a new spirit of cooperation, Butler had invited Catch in on finally putting Creeper into the ground. Butler had intended on making this move sooner to bring the clubs closer, but when Catch had taken Dig’s gun, that had blown up that plan in its tracks. Now it was back on.
By helping the Jacks rescue Boner, the Flames had achieved what they’d wanted: severely weakening the Broken Blades and getting rid of the Calderas Group. The single bullet that had killed Alejandro Calderone couldn’t be traced. Assassin unknown.
Compensation to the One-Eyed Jacks for Catch’s dishonorable robbery of Dig’s revolver had been fulfilled.
There was satisfaction and excitement in the Jacks’ clubhouse. Butler was pleased that his plan for cooperating with the Flames was back on track. The Blades had been crippled, their property frozen by the Feds, their president in a rage. Only Jump didn’t share in the excitement, and the tension between him and Butler had intensified. Not to mention the awful tension between Jump and Alicia.
Catch had stopped over to see Rae and Becca this morning, and from what little he’d told me, I’d figured out where he was headed after he visited with his daughter and mother. His anticipation was obvious.
“He’s gonna pay, Jill. I got this,” he’d told me as he started his bike at the end of Rae’s driveway.
Creeper had taken a piece of me when he’d kidnapped Becca. I hadn’t known what he was doing to her, if she was crying out for me. Was she hungry? Was her diaper a mess? Was he hurting her? Was she scared? Did she miss me?
I had become that sobbing helpless girl again, like I had been when Mole had taken me. Tied up, terrified, desperate, demented. Screaming on the inside, weeping silently, and shuddering on the outside. When Becca was missing, I’d been raked raw, and then I’d finally exploded in a rage. It was as if Creeper had tied me up to Mole’s fucking motel bed all over again.
I had to do this.
I held Boner’s hard gaze.
“I’m very sure,” I repeated.
He took my hand and led me into the clubhouse to the kitchen, through a short hallway to the left of it, and down a well-lit stairwell, our boots making noise against the metal steps.
Bear stood in the open doorway, his arms folded. In the room beyond, Dready and Lock tied Creeper facedown on a long table, his arms over his head. Butler, Dawes, and Tricky stood to the side watching. Catch’s eyes narrowed at me.
But I only had eyes for Creeper. That bitter rage I knew so well coursed through me now, like acid instead of blood. That sour swell rose in my chest, buckling my veins. It compelled me forward into that stifling room. I hungered to smell Creeper’s blood, his fear, his helplessness, his desperation.
Boner squeezed my hand, and I squeezed it back.
He brought me to the table where Creeper lay bound. The men stopped what they were doing around the table and stared at me. Boner let go of my hand and ripped Creeper’s shirt, exposing his back, exposing the great tattoo of the glint-eyed skull of the One-Eyed Jacks. Disgrace, dishonor, shame would all be paid for at last.
Creeper’s battered eyes blinked up at me and slackened.
“You took my girl,” I said to him. “You were going to rape Tania and Grace.”
Knives had been planted on the edge of the table, alongside his torso, like weeds in a junkyard. I took a knife in my grip and yanked it from the old wood table.
Catch darted forward. “Jill, what the fuck are you doing?”
“No,” said Boner, his voice low and steady, the authority of it stopping Catch. “Leave her alone.”
My eyes rose to meet my old man’s.
“Do it,” he said.
He knew what I needed to do. He understood what I wanted to do, no matter how low or bad or dirty, and he was giving it to me.
Creeper’s body tensed then jerked, his one bloodied eye glaring at me, his breaths short and ragged.
“This is for my daughter.”