As much as Trev needed to stay the fuck away from the Frelen charter, he needed to stay in constant contact to discuss what he found, learned, and when to lure Ripper in to finish him off.
The second Trev pulled into the Daurian charter, he felt instant tension. Two prospects opened the gates and Trev rolled right up to the bar. He turned his motorcycle and walked it back into an open spot.
Giovanni’s spot.
It was a complete sign of disrespect and that’s what Trev wanted. He wanted to rattle every motherfucker in the bar and get right to Ripper as fast as possible.
The door to the bar blasted open and out came Jasper and Xavier.
“What the fuck?” Jasper yelled.
Trev climbed off his ride. “Where’s Ripper?”
“What the hell happened to you, man?” Xavier asked.
“Where the fuck is Ripper?”
“You can’t put your ride there,” Jasper said.
“Why? Giovanni gonna beat me up?”
A total shot to Jasper’s gut and he took the bait.
A second later Jasper charged at Trev. They tangled up and ended up going up and over a motorcycle to the ground. Trev got on top of Jasper and landed a punch, just to calm him down. He could have destroyed Jasper but he wasn’t there to do that to him. Instead, he tangled with Jasper again and was able to get close enough to talk.
“I’m here to save everyone,” Trev said. “Go along with everything I do and say or you’ll end up dead.”
A gun boomed and Trev broke away from Jasper.
“Get him up,” Ripper’s voice yelled.
Xavier ran to Trev and lifted him up. Trev shook Xavier away and stared right at Ripper.
“Now I know Jasper didn’t do that to your face,” Ripper said. “And you’re missing a leather cut.”
“You’re pretty fucking smart, Ripper,” Trev said. “So then tell me what I’m doing here.”
“Don’t talk to him like that,” Jasper said. “You hear me?”
“Fuck off, Jasper,” Trev said. “I’m running outlaw. I take orders from no one.”
“Interesting,” Ripper said. “And you come here?”
“We need to talk. Right now.”
“You don’t get to order me around,” Ripper said.
“Fair enough,” Trev said. He walked to his motorcycle and climbed back on. “I’m going to head east. You change your mind, you call me.”
“Everyone inside right now,” Ripper yelled.
“What about me?” Jasper asked.
“I said everyone,” Ripper growled. “Get the fuck inside.”
Trev was grinning on the inside.
The guys all went into the bar.
Ripper stood with his hands at his side.
“Ready to talk?” Trev asked.
“Fuck yourself, Trev. You think I’m going to buy into this? You come up here all bloody… where’s your cut?”
“I lost it,” Trev said. “I gave it up.”
“Fuck you. Liar.”
Trev stood up with his motorcycle and looked back. “Whatever, Ripper. I don’t owe you shit. You don’t owe me shit. But you’ll be an asshole if you don’t at least let me tell you where Jenn is.”
Trev started the motorcycle and revved the growling engine. He saw Ripper approaching in the mirror and waited. As Trev was about to leave - calling a big bluff on Ripper - he watched as Ripper reached for his shirt.
“Turn that fucking thing off!” Ripper yelled.
Trev killed the engine. He climbed off the motorcycle as Ripper dragged him.
“Something wrong?” Trev asked.
“What the fuck do you know about my old lady?”
Trev grinned. “I know where she is. I know who her fucking daughter is. The daughter that’s not yours, Ripper. But you knew that, didn’t you? They did this to me because I refused to buy into their bullshit.”
Ripper’s eyes went wide. “Who?”
“Miller,” Trev said. “The entire charter down there. They need to be stopped, Ripper. I was outlaw before and I got patched in thinking I was helping. Then I learned the truth about Griffin. I wish I put the bullet in his fucking neck. I can’t do that but I can put a fucking bullet in Miller’s head.”
Ripper let Trev’s shirt go. He slowly nodded. “Okay. Let’s get you a beer and let’s have a conversation.”
Ripper started to walk away and Trev took a second to collect himself.
All he could think about was Eden.
How is this all going to shake out for her?
__
twenty-five.
Eden clutched her stomach and sat on the edge of the bathtub.
Her stomach was emptied out. The stress of Trev leaving had won the battle. There was no sleep to be had and the last thing Eden expected was to cry until she threw up. She couldn’t stop getting sick either.
As she shut the lid of the toilet, Eden felt her eyes fill with tears again.
There was a knock at the bathroom door.
“Can I come in, sweetie?” Jenn asked.
“Yeah, sure.”
Jenn opened the door. “Heard you in here. Sick.”
“Yeah. Stress. I can’t stop thinking about it.”
Jenn sat next to Eden on the edge of the tub. She put an arm around Eden and pulled her close.
“I’ve waited so long to do this.”
Eden put a hand to her mother’s leg. “Me too.”