“This doesn’t feel right,” he said. “You were supposed to stay put.”
“There’s a dying animal in there with a man who has had that animal since he was a kid. Did you have a dog when you were a kid?”
“I didn’t even have a home.”
“Oh. Well, you would do anything for your club because it’s family. This is family to me. These animals. What I do for them. And I don’t care how crazy that sounds.”
“Let me walk you in.”
“Shouldn’t you stay out here on the lookout?” Jessa asked.
The prospect shook his head. “Yeah, sure. If anything goes wrong, scream. As loud as you can.”
“Nobody is in there that I don’t know.”
“Please hurry. Blaine is going to kill me…”
Jessa smiled. “I’ll put in a good word for you. He listens to me.”
Jessa hurried to the door. She went inside and the place was bright and quiet. She half expected to hear Jim crying or yelling for help.
She called for Terri.
The desk chair was turned, facing the hallway. Terri’s purple hoodie was draped over the back of it. If Dr. Ashland was here, she’d yell at Terri for having her hoodie there.
Jessa touched the hoodie and called for Terri again.
This time Terri called back. “Back here!”
Jessa walked the hall. The baby started to move like crazy. Her insides were fluttering, almost like the first time she and Blaine fooled around. Jessa touched her stomach and sighed. Maybe the baby knew something was going to happen. Poor Brandy waited in the exam room to be put down. Somewhere inside Jessa she wanted to believe she could save the dog, but if it was time, it was time. There was no changing that.
At the first exam room, all the way down the hall, Jessa knocked. “Terri?”
“Yeah,” she said.
Jessa opened the door.
Terri stood at the counter. It took Jessa a second to process the scene.
Terri was there. But her hands… they were tied in front of her body.
Tied?
When Jessa looked to the table, there was no dog. There was no Jim either. There was…
“I’m sorry,” Terri said and tears filled her eyes.
“I’m not,” a voice said.
The door shut and Jessa felt a gun touch the side of her head.
“If you scream, I’ll blow your brains out.”
It was Vin… and he was going to get his revenge.
thirty-two.
Blaine couldn’t make sense of anything.
Levi, Anderson, and Victor stood there, arms out, letting Erik, Landon, and Shay search them. They were free of weapons. Levi then pointed to his crew and then all put their weapons on the ground.
“What happened?” Miller asked.
“Shit went south,” Levi said. “Figured we call you. We’re backing out of Frelen. We’ll figure out something else.”
“It doesn’t work that way,” Gaige said. “You caused a lot of shit for us. You kidnapped people from this town.”
“People?” Anderson asked. “They were strippers.”
“Strippers are people,” Blaine said. “Show some respect.”
“What do you care?” Victor asked. “Aren’t you tied down, Blaine?”
Blaine froze. How the fuck…
“This isn’t done until we get Vin,” Miller said. “There’s some internal stuff we have to take care of.”
“Hey, Miller,” Levi said. “I’m standing here without a gun. I’m offering myself to you. To your club. You’d do the same if you were me. We were working the streets, struggling. Eight Under was pretty much dead after what you guys last did. Then we got some information from Vin. He wanted to put something big together. Offered us serious cash and serious weapons. Just opportunity.”
“I’m glad that worked out for you,” Miller said. “You don’t understand how dangerous Vin is. We need everything about him. You give it all up and we’ll take a vote on how to deal with your MC.”
“We don’t even have guns,” Anderson said. “He took everything. The trade, the deal, everything.”
Miller looked at Gaige, then to Blaine.
Blaine felt his blood starting to boil.
These guys were lying. They knew about the guns, cash, the car. Maybe they were trying to play Back Down Devil MC. If Vin took off but left the car, then in theory Eight Under would have a shipment of guns and a lot of cash. But that would require them to leave the cartel hanging high and dry, which was very dangerous to do.
Little did they know, Back Down Devil would be intercepting that car of guns and cash very shortly.
“Why the change of heart?” Gaige asked.
“He liked the other side better. Badges over patches.”
“Bullshit,” Blaine said. “He loves to kill. He loves to hurt.”
“I’m telling you,” Victor said. “He said he would rather deal from the inside.”
Blaine stepped back. He looked around, wondering if this wasn’t some kind of set up. But the entire Eight Under crew was there. There was no attack coming. No ambush.
“What are you thinking, brother?” Nate whispered to Blaine.
“I smell shit everywhere,” Blaine said.