Property Of Drex #2 (Death Chasers MC #2) (22 page)

It runs alongside my theory that a fed would have done it to get the info that way. A lawyer never crossed my mind. I don’t even know what to say. But Sarah does, because she continues.

“Your uncle has all the makings of a criminal mastermind, but he has bad luck. First there was your father. He recruited him as the perfect scapegoat. A chunk of money goes missing, you blame the man who has immediate access to your accounts. My guess is that the Death Dealers threatened Aaron, and your father was smart enough to figure out it was your uncle. He hacked your uncle’s computer, somehow found the account, and transferred the money back, while also locking your uncle’s access out. If I had to guess, your uncle had a bug in your dad’s work computer to find out account codes to begin with. All your father would have had to do was change the access codes.”

Mind. Blown.

Headache.

“Then there’s you—his second string of bad luck. He recruited Ben as muscle and a scapegoat in case shit went south. Ben assumed all the risks because he wanted the girl, and I’m guessing your uncle is good at selling someone whatever they want. But you got desperate and went to Benny for help. Herrin has been taunting Benny for a while with knowledge of how the feds knew so much about his business and how they broke up a few of his associates’ gambling rings. Benny used you as a bargaining chip, and well, the dominos fell after that.”

I lean back, sucking in air as we pull up to a crappy one-floor motel that makes my old place look like a five-star hotel.

“Where are we?” I ask as she turns off the car.

Only a couple of other vehicles are in the parking lot.

“My current squatting place. It’s nicer on the inside. Promise. No one here asks questions or eavesdrops. No one here wants to know what you’re doing in a place like this, since they have their own dirty shit going on. Gotta love these places.”

I get out as she walks toward a door and opens it, motioning for me to hurry up. I take in the fact she’s dressed in all black leather like she’s definitely an assassin and dressing the part. Her makeup is heavier than she ever wore it before, and her hair looks even blonder than it did, and it’s cut differently.

I don’t study her long, because her appearance is the last thing I need to focus on right now.

“How are you processing all of this?” she asks as she shuts the door behind us. Surprisingly, the inside really is a lot nicer.

“I’ll let you know when my mind catches up. I need to call Drex.”

“Not yet. He’ll trace your phone and they’ll come here. I’d rather not have to kill anyone else today.”

“You’d kill one of them?” I ask in disbelief.

“Not unless they tried to kill me first. I don’t just let someone point a gun at me without pulling my own trigger, Eve. Speaking of which…”

She pulls a gun out of her purse and hands it to me—the same one she used to kill Dumb and Dumber. I take it and look at her like she’s sprouted a second head.

“If anyone walks through that door without knocking three times, shoot them until they drop. Understand? I have to call the hospital to check in on Colleen. When she called me, I heard what was being said and I showed up in time to put a tracer on that SUV.  Fortunately I was fishing out some information from a guy nearby. I cut them off at the alley when I realized where they were going.”

“Why can’t you call from in here?” I ask her as she pulls her phone out of her purse.

“Because I’m paranoid for one, and for two, I don’t want you hearing who I’m talking to. I trust you, but I also know you well enough that I know you’ll tell Drex anything and trust him with it. Two can only keep a secret if one of them is dead and all that. For now, I have someone on the inside, and I’d like to keep it that way.”

“Why?” I ask, only because I can’t help myself.

She raises an eyebrow at me. “Think of how you feel about Drex. That’s how I feel about Jude.”

“Jude?” I ask, confused.

“That’s Snake’s real name,” she says with a sad smile. “I only call him that when the guys aren’t around.” She blows out a breath, and that chipper look fades ever so slightly. “I fucked up, and I regret not trusting him with my secrets, but… Anyway. Doesn’t matter now. I’ve heard how he feels about this entire situation, and it’s fine. I get it. Doesn’t mean I’m willing to just walk away until I know he’s safe. Stay put. Shoot anything that walks through this door without knocking three times. No more. No less. Understand?”

I nod, even though I really hope no one walks through that door.

“I’ll only be gone for a minute.”

She disappears out the door, and I listen to it click shut. It’s an automatic locking door, so I stare at the handle for no real reason. It’s not like someone can just walk in.

Why did Colleen call Sarah instead of one of the guys? One of the guys could have saved her sooner. Sarah could only listen, since Colleen couldn’t talk. Would the guys have even figured out where Colleen was? Would they have hung up if they answered and just met silence?

Then again, they might have shot both of us with their cowboy antics. Sarah is like a snake that coils and waits to strike.

Getting up, I peek out the window as Sarah’s car pulls away, and I move back to the bed, sighing as I try to wrap my head around everything.

My uncle. At the center of everything is the man my father saved over and over. Dad wasn’t kidding when he said Uncle Marshall was a sociopath.

After twenty minutes, I start to get worried. But then the knob of the door jiggles, and my stomach muscles tighten. If that was Sarah, she’d be knocking, right?

I slowly lift the gun, feeling my entire body start to shake as adrenaline and fear collide. The handle jiggles harder and something snaps on the other side as a man’s voice mutters a curse.

“AJ?! You fucking in there?” he growls, causing me to tense so painfully that I can barely even feel anything but knots upon knots.

As the door swings open, I don’t hesitate.
One. Two. Three.
Three shots fired, and all three shots slam into the walls nowhere near the man who just stumbled inside with dark shades and long dark hair.

“The fuck?!” he roars, ducking like he heard those silent shots, even though he doesn’t look my way.

I start to fire again, when I hear the distinct sound of Sarah’s voice.

“Bentley? What the hell are you doing here?”

The guy cocks his head as though he’s confused, but he still doesn’t look my way.

“Who the hell is shooting at me if you’re out here?”

“Who is—
Oh shit.
Don’t shoot!” Sarah gasps, leaping past him with apologetic, fearful eyes landing on me immediately. My hands are shaking violently now, and the gun is still clutched in front of me. Sarah looks at the three bullet holes I’ve made by glancing behind her. Then she looks back at me.

“You’re a terrible shot,” she says, amused.

“Thank fuck for that,” Bentley—I think she said his name was Bentley—snarls.

“How could you think that was me shooting?” Sarah asks while whirling around to face him like she’s insulted.

“Why is there someone shooting at me at all, damn it?” he gripes.

It’s like a morbid sitcom is playing out in front of me, and I can’t let go of the gun in my hands. It’s frozen in place, just like me. I’m legitimately locked in place like fear’s bitch and adrenaline’s toy.

“You shouldn’t be here,” she tells him. “I told you not to come.”

“No, you left a message saying to come by and bring you that file in person if you didn’t answer your phone. You said you might be getting tracked.”

“That was four days ago. I left another message with my new burner number and email address.”

“No you didn’t,” he growls.

Why is he still wearing his sunglasses? Why do I even care?

“Oh,” Sarah says while frowning. “Oops. Well, I meant to call.”

“Un-fucking-believable,” he grumbles.

“I lost my tail, tossed all my phones, and got some new burners. I meant to give you the number.”

“That makes it okay that the girl shot at me. Get the damn gun out of her hands.”

“How do you know it’s a girl and that she’s still holding a gun?” she asks him as she walks over and pries the gun out of my shaky hands before patting me on the head very patronizingly.

“Her hands were shaking so bad I could hear the metal clanking, and I can smell the cherry from here. Don’t know too many guys who wear cherry-scented shit. Here. I brought the file. I need to get back to my driver and away from this shit. I’m mostly legit nowadays, remember?”

He hands her something small before a small wand turns into a cane with the snap of his wrist, and I watch as he feels his way out with it.

I just shot at a blind man.

Holy shit.

“Thank you, Bentley! I love you for this.”

“Love gets my dick sucked. Not shot at,” he mumbles from just outside the door.

Sarah laughs like I’m not in a full blown, cold-sweat panic over here.

“I owe you one,” she tells him, even though I can’t see him anymore.

“I won’t need those services. Like I said, I’m legit now.”

“But you could have problems one day in the future because of your past.”

“Speaking of the past,” Bentley says, “you need to get out of here before yours catches up with you. Your father has men all in the feds, and now the feds know who you really are. It won’t be long before that information spreads to him. There’s nothing else left here for you anymore.”

Sarah’s face falls, and she clears her throat. “Not until I’m sure he’s safe.”

“He’s a fucking criminal and a big boy. He’s never going to be safe and he can take care of himself, A. Just get the hell out of town before it’s too late.”

As they continue to talk, my heartrate slowly starts getting under control. Unfortunately, the rest of everything else catches up to me, and that rug that was firmly planted under my feet gets ripped away, and a painful realization hits me. Everything Sarah said earlier sinks in and resonates, bringing to life a very harsh truth that I believe.

My father didn’t kill himself.

He was murdered.

Chapter 37

DREX

“Where the fuck is she?!”

Sledge jerks back like he’s ready for a fight, as I kick over the Death Dealer bike that has been abandoned not far from the warehouse. A fucking SUV drove up, took my motherfucking girl, and no one stopped them.

I run a hand through my hair, unable to focus on anything and have no fucking clue what to do. Colleen is in the hospital with a bullet in her stomach, and she’s never been on Pop’s bad side. I was fucking arrogant and stupid to think he wouldn’t come after her. And even fucking dumber not to realize he had assholes like Lester under his command. Lester hates me because of Jessie, and Jessie died two days ago.

I overestimated myself and underestimated him. A locked door was never enough to keep them out, and I was an idiot to think it could.

Now… Now this is all on me. Eve is missing all because of me.

Rush walks toward us with a look on his face that doesn’t set well with me.

“What?” I snap, clenching and unclenching my fists in rapid succession.

“We found Lester and the SUV that took Eve.”

“And?” I prompt impatiently.

“And the shit was blown up.”

My legs try to collapse under me, but I force myself to remain upright by locking my knees into place.

“Eve?” I ask hoarsely.

He shakes his head.

“Two men’s bodies were found outside of the vehicles. They’re saying they were dead before they were burned, but they don’t know exactly what killed them or how they burned so fast. Burning a body to be unrecognizable in a short span of time isn’t fucking easy.”

No one even bothered to fucking interrupt our meeting to tell me, and Eve has been missing for over a fucking hour.

“Where the hell is Dash?” I growl.

“He’s been gone since he found out they took her. He’s literally riding up and down the roads, asking anyone what they saw, Drex. He’s killing himself enough, so get the hell off him,” Sledge barks.

Just as I spin around to get in his face, a heavy hand clamps down on my forearm, dragging me back.

Before I can fully go ape shit, Axle walks up. “Don’t worry, Drex. Eve is alive. Just got word she’s safe,” he says while exhaling heavily.

I’ve never felt so weak in my life as I do in this moment, especially when I’m forced to sit down on the ground because my entire body goes limp at once from the swarm of relief I feel.

“How? From who?” I ask him, clearing my throat.

“She’s going to be coming back soon. I also know who is working with Ben now, and it’s not good. It’s—”

“Where the fuck is Eve?” I interrupt. He’s lucky my body is being a bitch right now, or I’d be beating the fucking information out of him.

Axle’s eyes narrow.

“She’s coming.” He glances around, eyeing everyone, and they take the not-so-subtle hint to take a walk. As soon as they’re gone, he turns back to me. “Sarah—or AJ, rather—saved her. She called me to let me know she has Eve and that she’s sending her back to us with a lot of information on our giant pain in the ass. It’s not good, Drex. We need to take care of this.”

Before I say anything else, a car rolls up in front of the warehouse, and a tall, unknown driver gets out. My legs start working again, and I shoot up from the ground before running toward the vehicle, ready to pull my gun.

But I stumble to a halt when he opens the back door. Eve slowly climbs out, and bile rises up my throat. Her face is bruised, her hair is everywhere, and her bottom lip is swollen. I don’t even know if I can handle hearing what happened to her right now.

I should have fucking killed my father when I had the chance.

Her eyes seem distant, as though she’s not staring at anything in particular, but the second she looks at me, the far-off look fades into relief. In five more long strides, I have her in my arms, and she clings to me, burying her head in my chest as her body begins to shake. It takes me a second to realize she’s sobbing, clutching my shirt in her hands, as small, suppressed sounds escape.

She’s gone through hell since coming here, and I’ve only seen her really cry once. One time. And… I really hope they didn’t fucking do what made her cry.

My entire body is rigid, but I force my arms to stay around her, denying my anger so I can focus on her and whatever in the hell she needs right now. Axle’s eyes meet mine as he approaches, but neither of us even think to question the driver as he speeds away. Fucking shit.

I wish I knew how much damage they’ve done, but I sure as fucking hell don’t want to ask Eve right at this moment.

Axle shakes his head, as though he’s in my head and hearing my thoughts run wild, but I ignore him. He can’t possibly fucking know. There’s no other reason she’d be sobbing and holding me like she can’t let go right now. Nothing else has shaken her but what Jessie
almost
did.

I bend and lift her, cradling her to me as she tucks her head under my chin. Dampness touches my neck as her tears continue to stream, and I swallow thickly before saying the first stupid thing that comes to my mind.

“Tell me who to kill,” I whisper against her forehead. “I’ll make them disappear.”

Even if she says my father, I’ll fucking do it. At this point, I want a bullet in his brain as much as I want to watch Eve smile. Never thought I’d see the day when I hated him enough to kill him myself.

Eve doesn’t say his name. I really don’t even expect her to answer, because Eve isn’t dark and sick like me.  She doesn’t want blood to spill for any reason.

However, she shocks the fuck out of me by actually making a request.

“My uncle.” She leans back, staring at me with watery eyes as her lips thin. “And I want to be there when you do it.”