Long Way Home

“All that stuff I mentioned, we could possibly get past it, but what we can’t get past is Eli. He took my sister, turned her against us, and because of him she’s not in our life. My niece isn’t in my life.”

Emily is the one person I envy more than anyone else. She’s a blood child of the Terror and the Riot and she grew up far, far away from both clubs.

My temples begin to throb. I’m tired and I’m ready to fall to the floor in exhaustion. “Why are you talking to me?”

“As I said, we’ve been watching you. You’re not happy with the Terror. You’re not happy with Eli. What if I could offer you an opportunity to do what your father always wanted? What if you could bring peace to the clubs? What if by doing so, we’ll help you get the Terror out of your life and help get you out of your town?”

I’d be lying if I said he didn’t have my full attention. “If you want peace, all you have to do is leave the Terror alone.”

“We will leave the Terror alone, once we have Eli out of the way. He’s hurt too many people we love for him to be around. We can’t kill him. My mother still has hopes Emily will want a relationship with us someday. If Eli dies, she’ll blame us. But if Eli happens to be caught doing something illegal, caught betraying his club, caught by the police in the process and sent to prison, then we’ll be happy and we’ll pretend the Terror never existed.”

My blood freezes in my veins, and I shake like I’m having a seizure. “Why are you telling me this?”

Justin looks straight into my eyes. “I want to frame Eli. Make it look like he’s been embezzling money from the club’s security company and from their clients.”

Eli may not be my favorite person, but... “No one will believe that.”

“Leave the belief up to me, but in order to frame Eli, I need account numbers. The club’s account numbers, the clients’ account numbers, as many numbers as I can get my hands on.”

The throbbing in my temples increases. “What is it you think I can do?”

“Your father was the accountant for the club and for the security business. We’ve heard how your mother is having a hard time dealing with his loss—not moving on very well. Even heard his clothes still hang in her closet.”

There’s a burst of painful fear in my chest and it steals my breath. He’s been in my house. This man has been in my house.

“I bet everything of your dad’s is still where he left it. If you search hard enough, you could find something. Some old files. Maybe search around on his computer.”

A cold tingling in my bloodstream. I may be mad at the club, but I’m not a traitor. “Why didn’t you just look for it while you were there?”

Justin smiles and it’s the type that causes you to fear the devil. “Me, in your house? That would mean breaking and entering. Plus, or so I’ve heard, your mom doesn’t leave the house very often. I’m hypothesizing here, but it would be hard to get things done when she’s around.”

Bile rises in my throat.

“Just to make this situation move faster rather than slower, if you’re wondering if the Terror clubhouse is a place where little birds can’t see, you’d be wrong. Birds have a way of looking through all windows. Even ones that belong to the Terror. Hiding there brings vultures to your doorstep. Your home—it’s like hanging out with songbirds.”

Dear God, I’m not safe anywhere.

“Think about it, Violet.” He uncrosses his arms and uses my name as if we’re friends. “You can bring about the peace your father always wanted between our clubs. You want out—we’ll help you get out. Help pay for college, help you find a job—whatever you need. All you have to do is keep your mouth shut to the police about this whole misunderstanding, search around the house for some numbers that really mean nothing to you and then sit back and watch your father’s lifework come to fruition. What do you say, are you in?”

My stomach cramps, and when I look down the hallway, Chevy’s nowhere to be seen. Eli is like a father to Chevy, he used to be my father’s best friend, but he’s also brought so much heartache to the club. It’s because of his past garbage that I’m standing here today. It’s because of his past garbage my dad was on the road that night.

But still, am I capable of being a traitor? “What if I’m not?”

Justin slides his hands into his pockets and his blue eyes go cold. The hairs on my arms stand on end and I rub at the bare skin as if that would grant me warmth. “Just so we’re clear, I wasn’t there last night when Fiend took you. Because if I were, I would have put a stop to it. We all have our boundaries and I don’t kidnap kids, but let’s say I heard things.

“I heard how you had an argument with your mom in your house and then left with your brother to go to the football game. Heard how you had a fight with Eli outside the game over tickets and how you wanted him and the club out of your life. Heard how your brother was with you when you broke down and how the reason Chevy probably didn’t kill one of my guys was because your brother was in the backseat of the car and you two were protecting him.”

“You heard this?” I shiver while heat flushes my cheeks. This man, he was there, and he saw and knows everything.

Justin walks closer to me and stops on his way out of the room so that our shoulders touch. “As if I was there watching, but as I said, I don’t kidnap kids. It would have been a shame if Fiend hadn’t taken you on the side of the road. Maybe waited until you were tucked safely in your bed, entered your home and took you and your mom. Would have been a shame if Fiend had known about your brother in the backseat and brought him along for the ride.”

My head ticks to the side. “Are you threatening my family?”

Justin smiles as he tries for mocked shock. “No, because I don’t do things like that.”

Then he winks. A small part of me wishes that the bullet had hit me and I was dead because then he wouldn’t be using my family as leverage over me.

“We’ll find a way to stay in touch,” he says. “After all, we know where you live.”

CHEVY (#ufa3e80b5-765b-5d24-9e67-9a882593b3af)

MY BRAIN’S FOGGED. Like I was plowed on the football field by a two-hundred-pound linebacker. Like I slammed my head on the ground and I wasn’t wearing a helmet. The world’s fuzzy and I’m having a hard time registering Skull’s words, but he’s talking and I’m trying to listen.

I’m sitting at the table now. Skull’s sitting, too. He’s been explaining that my father didn’t get along with Cyrus—the man who’s raised me as one of his own. That my father, James, joined the Terror because he didn’t feel like there was another option and he later regretted it.

Cyrus told me Dad often felt trapped by Snowflake, so he would go to Louisville and stay for long periods, but he never mentioned Dad being at odds with him, with the Terror.

Skull has a different version. That Dad had a place in Louisville, that he had a steady girlfriend in Louisville, that he hung out and worked with the Riot and they trusted him because he gave the Riot information on the Terror.

My lungs hurt like I’m drowning. If what he’s saying is true? My father was a traitor.

No. My father was no traitor. This asshole is messing with me. “My father was loyal to the Terror.”

“No, he wasn’t.” Skull has the nerve to look at me like he’s sorry to be breaking the news.

“There’s holes in your story. Dad didn’t do steady with women. Even I know that.” From the club and from my mom. A rare moment of information verified on both fronts.

“He didn’t, but the woman he had in Louisville he cared for. Called her a friend, let her live with him after she had run away from home. I can give you her name if you want. Meet her. She’ll confirm everything I’m telling you. In fact, I hope you do. There’s things about her you need to know. Things, as a man who values family, that I think you need to know.”

Probably because he paid her to tell me what he wants me to believe. “You’re full of shit.”

“If I were in your shoes, I’d think the same thing, but it doesn’t change the truth. That Louisville detective figured it out recently. Won’t be long until he’s going to try to use that information against the Terror...and against you.”

I slouch in the seat. “The Terror’s legit and anything my father did or didn’t do doesn’t affect me.”

“Maybe, maybe not. Way I look at it, how well do you know your club? What is it that the Terror are hiding that the son of the president traded sides? Other question to ask yourself is how the other members of Terror are going to treat you once they find out your old man was a traitor. Are they going to be wondering how far off the tree that apple falls?”

Footsteps down the hallway and the man with the scar emerges. Violet limps in behind him. I stand so quickly that the legs of the chair bounce against the floor. She glances over at me and the lost expression on her face is worse than any punch.

Nausea twists my gut. She was alone with him and I fell for it. Skull waved his right hand in order for me to lose focus on his left. “You okay?”

She nods.

“Did he hurt you?”

Violet shakes her head and it bothers me she’s gone mute.

I set my sights on Skull and make it perfectly clear we’re done talking. “Call Eli now, get us home or I swear to God I’ll make each of you bleed before you get a chance to put a bullet in my brain.”