Angels and Ashes (Heaven's Rejects MC Book 2) (10 page)

He sighs before he turns to face the sleeping Dani on the couch. His eyes are filled with love as he watches her rounded belly rise and fall with each breath she takes.

“I just hope I don’t fuck it up and put a thumbprint in my kid’s head because I forget about that soft spot they’ll have. I’ve never held something so fragile before.”

“You’ll be fine. I promise you. I’ll be here for the both of you just like you’ve been here for me with Roxie. If I can handle raising two rambunctious boys and now this precious little girl, you can handle twins. By the way, did you ever find out what the second baby’s gender is?”

Hero’s eyes flick with a mixture of tension and happiness. “Two girls.”

A laugh rumbles from my chest and I nearly double over. Hero stares at me in confusion as Dani leisurely rises up from the couch at the sound of my laughter.

“What’s so funny?” a sleepy Dani asks.

“Oh, nothing,” I reply. “Hero just told me the news about the twins. He’s fucked, isn’t he?”

Dani nods her head in agreement while chuckling. Hero starts to interject his frustrations, but the ringing on his phone interrupts him. He looks down at the screen after pulling it from his pocket and immediately steps outside onto the porch. Dani and I watch in silence as he paces back and forth on the cement outside the sliding glass door, angrily speaking into his phone. We watch while he talks and note how short the conversation is by how quickly he presses the screen to the end the call. Anger pours out of him when he roughly opens the door and nearly slams it shut, sending Roxie’s eyes flying open in fear.

“Babe, are you okay?” Dani sheepishly asks. “Did something happen?”

Hero shakes his head and walks over to his wife, kneeling before her. He takes her hands into his as her eyes lower to meet his.

“I need you to stay here with Darcy today, angel. Some shit has gone down at the club, and you’ll be safer here than home alone.” Hero quickly rises and looks to me. “Lockdown here goes for you, too. Raze wants everyone inside until he gives the all clear.”

How dare he issue orders for me like a dutiful old lady?
I’m not a part of this club anymore, and if he thinks for one second that he is going to bark orders at me and expect obedience, he has another thing coming.

“Darcy, did you hear me?” Hero barks.

“I’m not an old lady anymore, Hero, so you can tell Raze he can shove his lockdown bullshit up his ass. Dani is more than welcome to stay here, but I won’t be kenneled like a fucking misbehaving dog. He has no jurisdiction over this family anymore.”

Hero’s eyes flare with anger at my defiance. Those men may follow Raze lock, stock, and loaded barrel, but that’s not my life anymore.

“If I have to duct tape you to that chair, I will, Darcy. Raze doesn’t issue lockdowns without a good reason, and if he thinks it might spill over into our families, he is doing this for your own good. Stay your ass in the house, and we’ll all be happier for it.”

Hero waits for me to make another comment, but I remain silent. I’ve learned in the years of being involved in this club that sometimes it’s best to remain silent. It’ll get him out of this house faster, and I will be able to move freely once he’s gone. I can play the good little widow role until I hear his pipes rumble from the drive, but after he’s gone, I have shit to do, and the fucking Heaven’s Rejects and their bullshit isn’t going to stop me.

He leans in to give Dani a quick kiss and rubs her belly just before he turns to stalk to the door. Without another word, he slips through the doorway and the loud rumble of his bike’s engine roars to life. As the sound fades while he speeds out of the distance, Roxie cries out.

I rush over to her bassinet, pick her up, and cradle her in my arms. She wails for a few minutes, but quickly quiets again as Dani hands me a prepared bottle. Swaying her little body in my arms, I watch as she drinks her bottle and the smile I know so well finally comes back to her face.

“I’m going to go check on the boys,” declares Dani as she disappears into the hallway.

Looking back down at Roxie, her smile soothes my burning soul. Patting her butt, she falls back into a restful mid-morning snooze. Leave it to my daughter to wake up to the sound of a Harley. She’ll probably grow up having gasoline and chrome fever pumping in her veins just like her dad. As I lay her back down, Roxie smiles in her slumber. I lean down and plant a gentle kiss on her forehead before taking a step back from the bassinet. I watch her tiny body relax knowing her mama’s home. This sweet little girl means the world to me, and knowing how much she would have meant to her father only drives my need for information about what Raze found in that packet and why Hero left here in a blaze of hellfire and brimstone.

“Mama’s going to find out one way or another, baby girl, even if it kills her.”

“What did you say?”

I turn quickly to find Dani back in the room with Wesson trailing quietly behind her. He runs to me, sending me falling to my knees as he wraps his arms around me and nuzzles my neck.

“I missed you, Mama. Why did you go away?” he questions.

“Mama didn’t want to have to leave, baby, but she had to go do take care of something for Daddy.”

His face moves from my neck and comes to look at me directly. His sleepy eyes look so confused at the mention of his father, but even I can tell he doesn’t know what to ask.

“Baby, I know it doesn’t make sense, but I promise it’s okay. Now, how about Aunt Dani and I make you breakfast and pick out a few movies to watch?”

He looks even more confused by the promise of a movie morning.

“But, Mama. I have to go to ‘chool today. It’s my turn at show and tell.”

Running my hand through his messy hair, I rise from the floor and grab his hand before leading him to the kitchen.

“School’s closed today, Wes,” interjects Dani. “So, you get to spend the whole day with me and your mama. Aren’t you excited?”

He nods his head vigorously and bounces in excitement when I pull a package of bacon and a carton of eggs from the refrigerator.

“Well, duh, ‘unt Dani.”

After making quick work of breakfast, I leave Dani alone with Wesson while I head to my office. I told Dani I needed to get some invoices sent out since I was gone yesterday, but that’s not the reason why I am isolating myself in my office. I slide my dead phone from my back pocket and plug it into the charger I keep by my laptop.

I quickly check a few business e-mails while it charges enough to make a quick phone call.

Once the phone fires up, I slide my finger to unlock the screen and pull up the contacts. The one I am looking for is at the top next to Brent’s number. Seeing his name still in my phone makes my heart plummet into my stomach. I haven’t been able to bring myself to delete his number because it only makes his absence more real.

I click on the name, and the phone rings twice before a gruff voice answers.

“What?” says the man on the phone with a grunt.

“Trax, it’s Darcy. It’s time you and I had that little talk about the information I asked you to get me.”

“You got the cash?” he questions.

“Yes, ten grand just like you asked. I just need a time and place so we can exchange the cash for my information.”

“We’re on lockdown, but I suspect you already know that.”

“Yeah, it’s why I am calling now. I can’t wait anymore for the answers I know I’ll never get from Raze or any of the guys.”

“Meet me in three days at the diner in Delano at noon. If shit changes with the lockdown, I’ll let you know.”

Before I can reply, the line goes dead. Trax may not be the best way for me to find out information, but he’s my only choice. He’s the only brother whose palms can be easily greased. I know that makes him a traitor to his club and the brotherhood, but that’s
his
problem. Not mine. If he can tell me who killed my husband, I’ll gladly watch him hang afterward. In my book, all’s fair in love and revenge.

I hate myself for the way I treated Darcy at the bar, but deep down, I know it had to be done. I could smell her need to eliminate anything that stood in her way of her quest for the truth. She may have acted as if she was going to give me that packet once she found it, but her eyes told another story. Darkness danced behind those brown eyes, and with each moment she lingered on that packet, I knew how desperate she was to find the truth even if she had to kill me to get it. I refuse to hurt a woman, but I doubt she would have given a damn if she hurt me.

I forced myself to turn off after we made it back to Upland. The need to wrap her in my arms and let her cry out her frustration wafted over me when I told her she was no longer needed. My heart has always held a soft spot for her, but that’s the only piece of me she’ll ever get. Maj and all of her bullshit ruined me for another chance at happiness, and the likelihood of that coming with Darcy is slim to none. Even if the both of us were interested, she would always see me as the man who killed her husband even if I wasn’t the one who strung him up and left him for dead.

Pulling into the clubhouse, I find that the parking lot is nearly empty, as it should be at eight in the morning. I park my bike and slide off while my muscles are screaming for a good stretch. The ride back was way too damn long with the increased wait from the lines at the border, but I forced myself to stay awake. Darcy’s stop for gas outside of San Diego was my only chance for relief on the trek back, but I never dismounted from my bike in the off chance of her trying to give me the slip or try to take the packet from me. I couldn’t let her leave my sight for a single second. The way her eyes were constantly checking to see if I was still hot on her trail told me she would do anything to shake me off her tail if given the opportunity.

Unlocking the door, I flick on the light as I enter the room and slap the packet I retrieved from my saddlebags on the desktop. I take a few steps and plop into my chair and hope a chance to relax will ease my back ache. The pain sucks, but it’s worth the fact I know that Darcy arrived home safely. She is so hell-bent on digging into her husband’s death that I think she forgets sometimes that her kids need her more than avenging the memory of her husband. I know all too well that revenge can cloud your best intentions and it takes someone like a child to bring you back to reality.

I stare at the packet on my desk for several minutes before grabbing it and ripping open the seal in a swift movement. I dump the contents onto the desk and find five more envelopes inside. The smallest envelope catches my eye as my name is written across the front of it. With a sigh, I run my finger under the seal and rip it open, exposing a folded piece of paper. I slowly unfold it knowing that my life is about to explode further. Jagger was the kind of guy who never sugarcoated the truth, and having a personal letter from him means that the news contained inside was of the worst kind you could deliver to a man.

Raze,

Before you even think about busting my balls, yes, I wrote you a fucking letter so shut the hell up and stop laughing. I could start with the “If you are reading this, I am gone” bullshit, but we both know that I’m dead and buried so why sugarcoat it. There are some things you need to know, Raze and, fuck me, they are not easy to write down.

It wasn’t my ticker that made me step down from being VP in the club, but your lying, cheating bitch of a wife, Raze. I’ve always had my suspicions about Maj, but it wasn’t until the last lockdown that I realized how deep her betrayals ran. She’s been playing you and the entire Goddamn club since the day you two met. She’s in bed with the cartel, Twisted Tribe, and your own fucking brothers. Maj has been bringing guys from the cartel into our ranks across the other chapters.

Stepping down gave me the extra space to follow her to get some proof about what I had witnessed, which since I’m dead as hell right now probably means they caught me on one of those long runs. There is a file that Darcy should have brought with this letter that has everything I’ve been collecting. I know you’re probably pissed that I didn’t tell you about this before I handed the reigns over to Hero, but I needed to find proof before I accused the woman that you loved of treason. I’m not the kind of man to break up a marriage without a good fucking reason.

Go through the file, Raze, and for fuck’s sake, when you confront her about it take someone with you or at least a gun. I know she’s the mother of you children, but the bitch needs to die for what she’s done. Your kids would be far better off without a woman like her in their lives anyway.

This brings me to my next point, my wife and boys. I need you to protect them, brother. Darcy and my boys were the best thing to ever happen to an old man like me. That woman showed me that even a fucked up soul like me could deserve a woman like her and to have a family. I’m not naïve enough to think that she won’t find someone else and for my sake, I hope it’s one of our brothers. I know that’s kinda fucked up, but I know with one of my brother’s by her side that she will be safe.

In this file, there’s two more letters that I need you to give to her and her new old man. I know it’s a sappy gesture, but I need them both to know I’m okay if she moves on, but even deep down I had hoped I ruined her for all other men.